Lisa, Some ideas from an "older" woman! Please take them in the vein they are offered, and do what you please. I'm not really that old, but I can get considerably grumpy at times, LOL. BTW, I just turned 50. The only baby showers I expect to be invited to anymore are for my son's wife if he ever has one, or one child of my very best friend. I know the idea of having the guests address their own thank-you envelopes is an idea that has taken off among the younger set - but seriously, as an "older person", I was shocked the first time it happened to me, and a bit offended, too! Reasoning - I've been invited, I've taken time to either make or shop for a gift, and the bride (in my case) or mother-to-be can't take enough time to write her own thank-you notes? Either thank me, or don't, but don't make me work for a thank-you note. I'd rather not have it. If you're going to be having a large number of older people, you may consider having (assigning) someone to fill out those envelopes, or have it done in advance, or just skip it. The older folks will be offended. And you or your daughter will all ready have the addresses if you've invited the people. Use a computer and print out the address labels in advance. Also, JMHO, favors are not necessary! I came for the party to "shower" the mother-to-be with a gift, and I really don't want a "thing" to take away. A thing means I have to store it, or use it, or pitch it - in other words, it puts an additional obligation on me. And a favor that is a food item will be left by more than 1/2 the guests - been there, seen it happen too many times. Save the money and start a savings account, LOL. If you absolutely must do favors, please, an unscented candle (I have asthma), wrapped in the tulle with a ribbon, but I don't want to have to throw out a plastic safety pin, diminutive bottle or other "baby" thing. And I will throw them out, and so will your guests! But I could possibly reuse the ribbon. I find it wasteful of both money and resources to stick little plastic things on gifts. I much prefer to be provided with a beautiful chocolate truffle to eat AT the shower - and one is enough. I LOVE, LOVE the idea of a clothesline on the wall to pin the outfits on!! I think that's brilliant! I also think the decorated onesies are a wonderful idea! Also great is the idea of having guests sign or draw on a quilt block. Have them all over-sized, with the freezer paper already ironed on. Draw the border, so they don't go into the seam allowance. Have fabric crayons or pigma markers ready, as well as some ideas for simple drawings from coloring books, or a list of "baby sayings" for them to write. As to the games - I'm not hard of hearing, but I also have little tolerance of shower games. I would not participate in a measuring of the mother's belly. I was 29 when I had my baby, and I was horrified when people at work wanted to touch my belly - and work people threw me a shower. Fortunately my DH worked at the same place, and he stopped them from playing that game. LOL. They still made me a fricking hat from all the ribbons, and insisted I wear it for a photo. I didn't like that either, but tolerated it with good grace. Bingo might be tolerable. Understand, all of these shower games started when it was giddy 18 and 19 year old girls having babies, and the people who attended baby showers were all the same age, and the only older people were the mums and grandmums. Friends of the parents didn't usually attend. They showed up AFTER the birth with a lovely blanket or outfit, several days after Mother and baby were home. So I don't know how old your DD is, and you have to consider both her and the audience. I was a good 10 years older when I had my first than my mother was. My sensibilites and preferences were too. Shower food - crudite and dip, fruit and dip, finger sandwiches if you wish, cake, punch, tea and coffee. Maybe a truffle. Please take this in the way I intend it - tongue in cheek for the most part, but also trying to save you some money. I would concentrate on nice food and drink, no favors, only one game at the most. Sit around! Eat! Open presents! Nothing more is required of a good shower. Hoping I didn't sound too grumpy, LOL. Mary

I am definitely a "3 ring binder with page protectors" scrapper. I started making these scrapbooks this way before I had even heard of Creative Memories and they work great for me. I definitely like the flexibility it affords me to move pages as I am organizing. Norma - I am in the middle of doing a heritage scrapbook of my maternal family. It sure is fun but a lot of work! Where have you gotten some of your ideas for arranging pictures on the pages? Do you have any advice for the heritage scrapper? I would love to hear any ideas and suggestions. I am looking for 5X7 embossed frames with rectangular centers but can't find any. They only carry ovals. Any ideas? Thanks! :-)

Good Luck with your project. I am working on them for my high school kids and I have done a separate album for the sports seasons(have combined all the sports into one album) and the other book is their social events, family gatherings, etc. If you have enough pictures that you could do a separate album for your special events(trips to Europe) but also do a two page spread to put into your bigger album so you have your life in chronological order. Does this make sense-for instance if you went to Europe during the summer of 99-include that in the order of your bigger book? Send a response if that doesn't make sense. I always try to do a two page spread if possible so that the pages look nice together so if you have homecoming pictures and then nothing until Christmas you don't have a fall scene next to a winter scene. Just respond if this doesn't make sense. I also do some cheating with my books. Because I do pages for my daughters that I want in my book-I take my pages into Staples(office supply) and get a color copy made for $1.58 to put in my book. I use the 81/2 by 11 inch pages. Good Luck.

Hi Angela ! I too am addicted to scrapbooking !! If you do a search under Yahoo, Excite, or any other search engine, you should find several listings for scrapbook conventions. I received a beautiful Christmas card last year from a relative that had vellum paper on it. I will do my best to describe it. It had a decorative cardstock sheet (6 x 8 1/2) as the background(it was white with large red polka dots all over it). In the center of that paper was a lime green sheet of cardstock cut to the size of 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 that had been pasted down. On top of that she had cut the same size from a sheet of ivory vellum paper. This vellum paper was not pasted down to the lime green.. instead, it was attached by a ribbon. To do this, you simpy lay the vellum paper down ontop of the lime green card, lining it up, and punch two holes (about 1" apart) at the top of the entire stack. She then threaded sheer red ribbon through it and that is how the vellum was attached. She had printed her Christmas greeting on the vellum paper prior to attaching it to the card and when you lift the vellum paper, you will find the photo of her children. Very beautiful and creative. Needless to say, I kept the card as a "template" for invitations, birthday cards or any other reason I can think of to make this card. Just an idea! Tracye Here is a link that might be useful: Tracye's Treasures