How to Make a Baby’s First Year Scrapbook

The first 12 months of a baby’s life are filled with precious moments that need to be photographed and saved. You may have noticed the wonderful photo trend that’s encouraging moms and dads to document a baby’s first 12 months in creative ways.

I’m going to share with you how you can create a baby’s first year album as a gift for a friend or family member. As an avid scrapbooker, I absolutely love sharing my completed albums with those I love. Not everyone in my life shares my passion for paper-crafting, but they all see the value in having memories preserved. Plus, they love spending time looking through the photos and reading the journaling. As you can imagine, when a completed album is gifted to them the response of appreciation is overwhelming!

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Meet Us Monday: Dan Perlinger

Hey all!  My name is Dan Perlinger, and I am the Operations Team Lead for Creative Memories.

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I joined the company in March 1995 and my first duties were picking and packing orders in the shipping department on 2nd shift.  Being raised on a farm in rural Minnesota, it was easier work than picking rock or baling hay and the hours fit perfectly into my class schedule at Saint Cloud State University.  After 2 ½ months we added a 3rd shift in shipping and I was approached to be a Team Lead responsible for training the new staff.  “Sure, I’ll do it!”  The Spring Semester had just ended, so I gladly accepted the position until classes resumed in the fall. I was majoring in Operations Management and CM seemed like a great place to work until I completed college.  Before I knew what was happening, three years had passed and I advanced three more times in the shipping department.  At that point, the light bulb went on that CM was a great match for what I wanted in a future career.

In 1999 I graduated from SCSU while Creative Memories continued growing exponentially each year. Many employees grew right along with CM accepting the challenges, learning new skills, and gaining advancement opportunities along the way.  The years, Showcase Marketplaces, system implementations, company adaptations, and employee faces continued to fly by.

I was honored in 2014 when asked to join the employees responsible for bringing in the new Creative Memories and looked forward to the challenge.  I am privileged to be a part of the Operations Team which consists of just 11 members with diverse personalities, communication styles, and skill sets.  Our biggest task involved moving and setting up all the product manufacturing equipment, warehouse racking, inventory, and building a pick to light distribution system in a new facility.  November was the target CM launch, so we had only a matter of months to accomplish these goals.  Impossible you think?  Ha!  Not with this team!  Although communication may have become “colorful” at times, those diverse personalities took the challenge head on and let their skills shine through.  It was felt throughout the facility when Operations built and shipped their first albums that November hitting the intended CM launch date.

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As we march forward continuing our mission to provide quality products in an accurate and timely manner, we challenge each other to improve internal processes and also our team.  Each member came on board with specific areas of expertise that we continue sharing to make us stronger as a whole.  I am proud to be a part of such a great team and an exciting company!

Outside of work I strive to put “Mr. Serious” away and find ways to relax.  I am a 10 year WBT member at Old Chicago and recently completed my 50th World Tour.  Being a huge sports fan, it is a perfect environment to watch the game or swing by after work and talk to the locals.  We schedule many fun events during the year such as a charity golf tournament, group buses to catch Vikings, Twins, and Wild games along with a smaller group visiting Vikings Training Camp in Mankato.

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The favorite place for me to relax is at the land that my family still owns from when we used to farm.  Now it’s used for recreation rather than work with awesome trails cut throughout the property for 4-wheeling or just going on a nature walk to take photos.

Mom and I celebrate Mother’s Day weekend there and I also invite friends out several times a year including our Annual Snowshoeing Weekend that my 71-year-old Mother still participates in!

 

If you made it this far, congratulations and thanks for reading my rant!  Ha, ha, ha!  Here’s to a bright future!

Meet Us Monday: Carrie Hyopponen

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In a past life, Carrie had a cabin nestled up in the woods on the MN North Shore, miles away from crowds of people.

Her cabin was equipped with a professional grade kitchen and her own library that had one of those tall slidey ladder thingys and a wall of windows overlooking the water.

She cared for a herd of cats and would spend her days making art.

She would eat as much pizza and buttered toast as she wanted because she wasn’t allergic to gluten or dairy.

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Scrapbooking Layouts on Black Pages

Black pages are an ideal backdrop for the bright lights and costumes in photos from performances. In this layout with photos from a Disney on Ice show, I coordinated some light coloured products to contrast with the black background.

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Disney On Ice Page Layout: Kelly Batten – AUS

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Meet Us Monday: Diane Lampert

Hello! My name is Diane Lampert and I am in a new Advisor Services role.

My relationship with Creative Memories started in 1996 when I signed as a Consultant. I loved it and excitedly built a team for twelve months and reached Senior Unit Leader. Then our family had a transfer to Australia in 1997, where I had the opportunity to meet hundreds more people and rebuild my business. Now, almost 20 years later I’m thrilled to be back in the U.S. and part of the new CM getting to do what I love best: helping others succeed.

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Your Biz, Your Way.

Creative Memories Independent Advisor LogoCM Advisor Stefani Jones did a little digging for us to find out exactly how other Advisors run their businesses. We love the variety, the flexibility and the opportunity to make this business fit into anyone’s lifestyle. If you’re interested in learning more about the opportunity, visit our website. Thanks for such a great post, Stef!

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It’s a Thursday afternoon. I’m wrapping up at my full-time job and texting tonight’s host to let her know how pumped I am to come teach a card class at her house in a few hours.

After I tie up some loose ends and log off my work email account, I’m looking through my card class checklist. I’ll get the supplies and tools I need, pack them into my car, and head out soon so I can help my host and her four guests create the cards I’ve designed using fantastic CM tools and papers. Click to read full post

Steps to sign up as a CM Advisor

Signing up as an Advisor is as simple as ordering a product. Learn more about the CM Advisor opportunity.

If you are planning to sign as an Advisor, sign up before ordering and make sure you receive the email titled Welcome to confirm your Advisor status. It’s important to sign up BEFORE you place your first order to ensure your order is included in your account balance. If you order as a customer, then sign as an Advisor, your customer order will not count toward your balance.

These examples show someone signing up direct to the Company. If you wish to sign under a current Advisor, you’ll want to come to the site through their Advisor link. You can also choose your intended upline Advisor as you’re going through checkout.

To sign up, select “Join” on the top or left navigation.

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Steps to become a CM Advisor

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From the Join page you can click Learn More to get more detail on the Advisor program. Choose Sign Up Now to purchase the Advisor fee.

Steps to become a CM Advisor

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After reviewing the Advisor Agreement and Policies, click the check box accepting the terms, then click Add to Cart and go through the Checkout process.

Steps to become a CM Advisor

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Next you’ll want to click on My Account on the top of the site.

Steps to become a CM Advisor

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This is your Dashboard where your personal order history will appear. To get to the Advisor back office, click the blue button.

Steps to become a CM Advisor

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Below is the Advisor back office home page. It shares the three things you’ll want to do first. The most important is visiting the Advisor Basics page. It offers step-by-step tips on getting started, including how to set up your link, upload your photo, appear on the Advisor locator and more.

Steps to become a CM Advisor

Follow the steps, and that’s it – you’re in business! Welcome!

FAQS:
1. “Your Advisor:” – links and cookies. When I come through another Advisor’s link to sign up, I see their name and “Your Advisor” under the shopping cart. Once I signed up as an Advisor, their name disappears. Does that mean I am no longer connected to them?
Steps to become a CM AdvisorThat means the site is working as it should. Once you sign up as an Advisor, you will see your own name on the site. Your upline’s name is shown under your Settings in the Advisor back office, as shown to the right.

Cookies are set when people visit an Advisor’s site. Here’s how they work:

When you come through another Advisor’s link, the site thinks you are a customer. So it will show “Your Advisor:” and their photo next to the shopping cart.

If you are a customer and sign up to be an Advisor, the “Your Advisor” (now your upline) will disappear from under that area and it will be you instead.

image8The way to know if the site recognizes you (and that you’re logged in) is whether or not it says “Welcome, Your Name!” in the top left of the black header. If you see that, you’re logged in and the site knows it’s you. So you can order, check your back office, etc. as an Advisor.

2. I just signed up as an Advisor, and as I’m ordering, the site is not showing an Advisor discount.
Advisors order at retail so that your account balance grows faster, and so you have the same experience your customers do. You receive your ‘discount’ back as profit, as well as commissions earned on team members weekly for all Advisors who are signed up for direct deposit.

A new, unique, no-holds-barred opportunity

The new CM Advisor opportunity was designed with both the casual scrapbooker and the income- and team-builder in mind. It’s based on the simple principle that the more you do, the more you earn. With this plan, noting what it isn’t is as important as what it includes.

There are no minimums and no personal volume, group volume or leader requirements. Really. There are no titles or ranks…everyone who signs up is a CM Advisor. You can sign up directly or under an existing Advisor…the choice is yours.

To offer you the freedom and flexibility of working when you want, how you want, it’s an annual plan with a low annual fee (the only mandatory amount payable to be an Advisor). So you can share the mission and products by working seasonally, monthly, weekly or daily…it’s up to you. Click to read full post