Thank you for all of your thoughts. We are basically doing a kitchen facelift. My kitchen has perfectly nice maple cabinets which happen to have an orange hue. All of the counter tops are black galaxy and I've found it oppressive since we moved in. It's funny, but men generally love this kitchen and can't understand why I would want changes; but I do, I have and I've lived with it for 12 years and I'm ready to make changes. Most of the appliances are near the end of their useful life. So we're painting the cabinets and replacing some with glass and gorgeous mullions in 2 of the doors (another budget buster!), new sink, new appliances, my high microwave will be replaced with the Sharpe drawer model. I'm going to try to do something with my soffits, but we won't know exactly what until we get in there. I'm changing the granite on my island and also the shape of it. We may add a banquette if it makes sense space wise. We also will be re configuring some of the other cabinets and adding embellishments such as moldings and new hardware.I'm getting rid of my Black Galaxy bs and have found gorgeous options for the bs, yet another budget buster...... I also have to change all of the carpet in the house, redo all the bathroom cabinets. Since I'll have a lot of my huge slab left over I want to use it in the upstairs bathrooms. We are also painting the entire house, adding some crown moldings, changing out armoires made for old tv's to be refitted for the new slim ones. etc. etc. So it's a big project with lots of parts. I just got stuck on the sink! I also discovered Edgar Birabi hardware. Need to stop looking at this stuff! Green Designs, I love both of those sinks but they're only 21 inches and I need a bigger sink. The one I want is 33 and it would fit perfectly in the granite without having to change it. This will save some money since I won't have to replace the existing slab. Sorry I may have forgotten to mention that I have to keep the perimeter BG since there's so much of it and it would cost way too much to replace all of it.We won't be overspending at all for the neighborhood even if we doubled the budget! Shannon and Remodel, I'm putting new appliances back into existing cabinetry so there's no changing it without a significant amount of money being spent on the cabinets. I really like the look of "disappearing" appliances so it's important to me as well. I did hit a bright spot today when I found the EXACT double convection wall ovens I want for a $1,000 savings at Fegusons clearance room!!!! I could not find any of the other appliances for any less and I called and went everywhere. I'm in South Orange County, California. I have to run out now but will try to post my rudimentary plan when I get back. I also have an old post that shows my kitchen currently somewhere so I'll try to revive that thread.

Oh- I forgot- I don't want to spend 40 or 50 dollars on a bottle of archival mist, either. I want to be as cost effective as possible. Thanks again! -Sarah

I have not done this myself, but I have seen postings on other boards. I think the standard going price is about $5.00 per hour plus supplies. I think it should be AT LEAST minimum wage but you can ask for what you think you can get. Most people will never understand how time consuming it really is! But I have heard it was easier to do other people's pics because you are not "close" to them. If you are going to include journaling you will need them to submit info so you will have it. If you can make ANY money at all, I say go for it !!! As for me, I might not live long enough to get all my own pics done!! Good luck! Rebecca

Dear Sandra, I think it's a great idea! If she doesn't already own one buy her a camera you can get a pretty decent one for as little as $30.00, then she can capture her own shots. I would also suggest checking out the scrapbook store to see if they have a teen crop or youngster crop. That way you could get her a gift certificate for that shop and she could buy supplies as she uses them, and she would not have to buy all the punches, etc. as she could use the ones at the store for free while she is there. I would look at a couple of pictures that she wants to scrap and then buy a few supplies for just those photos so that if she finds she doens't like the craft she is not stuck with unused supplies. Penny