The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, declared the Games of the 30^th Olympiad closed just before midnight: ‘On the first day of these Games I said we were determined to do it right. I said that these Games would see the best of us.

‘On this last day I can conclude with these words: When our time came — Britain, we did it right. Thank you!’

And with those words, it was over. It will now be forever a part of Olympic history. The Olympians from the USA represented us very well. We extend our thanks and appreciation to them for their tremendous. They made up very proud.

Please join me in congratulating all of our Olympians as they return home to our eternal gratitude. The results varied for individual Olympians from tremendous success to personal disappointment. They all represented us well.

Take a minute and leave a comment. I’d love to hear how you feel about these Olympics. For complete Olympic results, click here!

Join Wacom’s Joe Sliger Wednesday, May 30

If you’re struggling with understanding the buzz around tablets and pen-centric design and crafting, you’re not alone. Join Wacom’s Application Specialist, Joe Sliger, on ReneeTV for a tour of Wacom’s current product line and Q&A.

Joe demonstrates why drawing, sketching and tracing with a pen and tablet is the natural way to create on a computer. See how a pen opens up your creativity in ways you may have never realized could be so easy.

At the end of this informative webinar, Joe will give away a brand new Bamboo tablet to one lucky participant. Seating is limited, so get there early!

When? Wednesday, May 30 at 9pm EDT US
Where? ReneeTV

Tags: Bamboo | meet the pros | pen tablet | ReneeTV | Wacom

Continuing in the spirit of blog hopping, we’re celebrating International Scrapbook Day with our friends at Design House Digital. If you have no idea what’s going on, head over to the Design House Digital blog for the low down. If you came here from another participating blog, welcome! Today’s post is chock full of goodness so read on!

1. A Tip

A well-placed drop cap can add visual interest to an all-text blog post. You can create your own in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, but why do that when designer Jessica Hische provides a beautiful collection of illuminated alphabets at Daily Drop Caps? Jessica even provides the code and instructions to drop into your post. It doesn’t get any easier than that! Check out how I used one below.

2. A Free Kit

appiness is a free massive digi kit. Design House Digital is celebrating International Scrapbook Day all week, and you can pick up this gorgeous collaborative kit, Retrospect, for free! To get it, you need to collect all of the letters in a special phrase. Each participating blog in today’s hop has a secret LETTER for you to collect as you pass through. Get more info at the DHD blog.

3. A Challenge

If you’re doing the Design House Digital layout challenge, my contribution is to add a drop cap to your journaling. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, a simple alpha will do.

4. A Giveaway

Add a comment below and tell me how you’re enjoying the hop so far. You could win a $10 gift certificate to Design House Digital. The giveaway has ended.

Got all that? Good.

I’m sure you’ve figured out that the drop cap was a tip-off. The letter you need to pick up from me  for the fabulous Retrospect kit is…

Thanks for stopping by! Your next stop on the hop is Celeste Knight’s place.

Tags: blog hops | scrapbooking

Because my camera of choice is my ever-ready iPhone, I’ve developed a simple workflow to keep track of daily photos and memories. This preparation significantly speeds up my Project Life page creation. Here’s how the first part works:

TIP!
On your iPhone or iPad, setup an album called “Everyday Photos” and at the end of each day, add the best of that day’s photos from the Camera Roll or Photo Stream to your everyday album. If you’re a prolific shooter, set up an individual album for each month.

To add a new album, go to the Photos app. Tap Edit in the top right corner just above the Camera Roll. Tap Add in the top left corner. Name your new album and click Save. Done!

The rest of my Project Life prep steps are included in the new e-book,  “Everyday Storyteller: 33 Practical Ideas from Real World Scrapbookers,” available this Friday!

In “Everyday Storyteller,” I’ll show you how to record your stories…every day…using either your iPhone or iPad! Collect each day’s photos, journaling, the date, a location map and even a thumbnail of the kits I plan to use. It’s all in “Everyday Storyteller,” available this Friday, May 4^th!

Party Over There! I’m personally inviting you and a friend to be my guests at the Everyday Storyteller Launch Party this Friday, May 4, at 8:30pm CDT. All you need to do is register at the Everyday Storyteller site to make sure your name is added to the VIP list. There’ll be over $700 in prizes given away!

Giveaway Over Here! And speaking of giveaways, I have a copy of the book to giveaway to one lucky blog reader. To enter, leave a comment below before 11:59pm CDT tonight answering the question: What’s your favorite part of the memory keeping process? The giveaway has ended.

See you at the party Friday night and thanks for stopping by! Visit Lynnette Penacho at Nettio Designs next for another memory-keeping tip!

More Blogs, More Tips!

1. Cheryl Ashcraft
2. Anna Aspnes
3. Katie Clemons
4. Elise Blaha
5. Paula Gilarde
6. Sara Gleason
7. Michelle Hernandez
8. Debbie Hodge
9. Katrina Kennedy
10. Amy Kingsford
11. Cindy Liebel
12. Crystal Livesay
13. Robyn Meierotto
14. CD Muckosky
15. Nancy Nally
16. Christine Newman
17. Ashli Oliver
18. Amanda Padgett
19. Renee Pearson « YOU ARE HERE
20. Lynnette Penacho
21. Elle Price
22. Heather Prins
23. Traci Reed
24. Lauren Reid
25. Amber Ries
26. Kristin Rutten
27. Betsy Sammarco
28. Jenn Smith-Sloane
29. Jessica Sprague
30. Melissa Stinson
31. Amy Tan
32. Tiffany Tillman
33. Jennifer Wilson

Tags: scrapbooking

Join Wacom’s Joe Sliger tomorrow, December 6

If you’re struggling with understanding the buzz around tablets and pen-centric photography and crafting, you’re not alone. Join Wacom’s Application Specialist, Joe Sliger, for a pen/tablet-centric tour of Adobe Photoshop.

Revisit things you’re struggling with when using a mouse and see how easily a pen opens up your photo-editing and collaging in ways you may have never realized could be so easy.

At the end of this informative webinar, Joe will give away a brand new Bamboo Capture tablet. Enhance. Engage. Personalize. Bamboo Capture helps you take your digital imagery to the next level.

Seating is limited, so get there early!

When? Tuesday, December 6 at 9pm EST US
Where? ReneeTV

Tags: Bamboo | pen tablet | ReneeTV | Wacom

For over 15 years Laura Coyle has worked as a freelance illustrator, creating her distinctive art for major brands like Amazon.com, American Express and Disney.

Publications including Better Homes and Gardens and The Wall Street Journal have commissioned her to illustrate for them. Her lively, modern paper product designs also appear on the shelves of Target, Hallmark and Papyrus. Laura also teaches Adobe Illustrator classes and workshops here at ReneePearson.com.

Don’t miss tonight’s opportunity to chat with Laura live. She’ll talk about her holiday workshop, Holly Shop, and take your questions about all things vector and Illustrator.

When: Tonight, Nov 9, 9pm EST US
Where: ReneeTV

Tags: chats | Illustrator | Laura Coyle

The Digital Scrapbooker’s Toolkit

As the popularity of digital scrapbooking has grown, so has the need for easy-to-follow instruction. In this fun and informative webinar, Renee Pearson will lead you through fun, fast and yet stress-free paced webinar. Using her raw talent and trusty Wacom pen, she will show you methods and techniques for piecing together history that are difficult, if not impossible to achieve with a mouse. Renee will cover material appropriate for the beginning digital scrapbooker as well as reinforce the more seasoned memory maker’s knowledge of the tools at hand. Using a Wacom tablet and the software that comes with it, Adobe Photoshop Elements, you’ll be whipping out digital designs and embellishments in no time.

Tags: Bamboo | pen tablet | Renee Pearson | Wacom

It’s inspiring. It’s educational. NOTHING CAN STOP IT! 

It’s The Spawn of True Scrap!

True Scrap is a unique, live, online papercrafting event. You’ll learn, interact, and experience the excitement and inspiration of a live event, all from the comfort of your own home and computer! The fun starts Thursday and culminates Saturday with lessons, interviews, giveaways and more.

With True Scrap, you receive 17 classes for one low price of $127 (that’s less than $8 per class!). Included in your registration fee are virtual make-and-takes, recordings of all the events, a digital goodie bag with exclusive designs and more.

This weekend, October 20–22

Join the private web room where you can mix and mingle. Teachers will come in live to introduce classes, then you’ll watch a streaming video presentation, followed by Q&A. The schedule is jam-packed with classes running Thursday afternoon and evening, all day Friday, and half-day Saturday. There’s even a live interview with Cathy Zielske! Everything will be recorded so if you have to miss a class, you’ll still be able to catch the info again and again!

Oh! Did I mention that I’m one of the 17 teachers? I’m on at 6pm Friday, October 21^st. And our own Tiffany Tillman is leading a virtual make-and-take. We’d love to see you there. This is a not-to-be-missed event.

Learn more at the True Scrap site.

Tags: Renee Pearson | Tiffany Tillman | True Scrap

The winner of the free ticket to Boot Camp is commenter #16, pastor suzie. Please contact us at info@reneepearson.com to claim your prize.

Get your scrap-bootie in shape!

That’s right Angie & Wendy over at Ella Publishing are kicking off this year’s 6-day Boot Camp next week. And we’re giving away one free ticket to a lucky reader. All you have to do is answer the following question in our comments below. Comments will close at 9pm ET on Sunday, September 18^th.

Why do you want to attend Boot Camp 2011? Easy-peasy question, right? (more…)

Tags: journaling | scrapbooking | stamping

If you were lucky enough to attend in the original True Scrap, you’ll be happy to hear this. If you missed True Scrap in the Spring, you won’t want to miss out on The Spawn, a live event taking place from October 20–22.

What exactly is Spawn of True Scrap

You ask? Well, I could tell you that:

Spawn of True Scrap is a three-day online scrapbooking extravaganza that brings you the excitement of a live event without the travel hassle and cost and…

At Spawn of True Scrap you’ll learn the most inspiring scrapbooking techniques from 17 of the best teachers in the industry and…

In addition to classes, there’ll be virtual Make-and-Takes. (Who doesn’t love Make-and-Take?) And…

Spawn of True Scrap brings papercrafting inspiration right to your desktop and…

Our own Renee Pearson is teaching at Spawn of True Scrap!

I could tell you all that, or, I could just let you watch the…

Video

…and then tell you to head over to the Spawn of True Scrap site for all the details.

Tags: crafting | scrapbooking