1. Roundup you memories for the month of June with Katie the Scrapbook Lady.

It’s Roundup Time Again!

On the last day of every month, I post this little reminder to “roundup” your memories for the month. This simple little exercise will prompt you to take a few minutes and jot down the details of the ending month before the new one takes over. Look over your calendar, your blog posts, your photos, or whatever types of records you have kept throughout the month. I find that even reviewing my bank statement jogs my memory about what has happened in the month.

I’ve been doing this for 4 years now and I can’t even begin to tell you how much easier it has made memory keeping for me! I am constantly referencing my monthly roundups for ideas for scrapbook pages and I always have material for journaling now. After I answer the questions I just post them to my blog and my roundup is done. If you don’t have a blog, just save them on your hard drive or print them out.

Here are the questions I use:

1. What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
2. What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?
3. What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?
4. What gifts did I give and/or receive?
5. What special or unusual purchases did I make?
6. What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
7. What were my accomplishments this month?
8. What were my disappointments this month?
9. How did I do on my goals for the month? (Or any current short or long term goals)
10. Anything else noteworthy to include?

Here are the tasks I try to make sure are done by the end of the month:

1. Upload all digital pictures to my hard drive and clear off memory cards in camera. Place all photos for the month in a computer folder labeled with the month and year. Make a backup copy of the photos from the month on my external hard drive and a dvd. I also upload all photos to my flickr account (you can use any offsite photo storage site, but here’s why I love flickr). Ideally, these activities should be done every time you process any pictures through your computer so you don’t lose any precious files, but if you have lapsed during the month, now’s the time to get it done!
2. Choose photos or digital layouts to be printed out and get it done while I’m thinking about it.
3. Backup any other documents or files as needed. I use an external hard drive, I also upload many documents to Google docs. I don’t like to lose stuff.
4. Backup my blog. It’s easy to do if you have one, just use Typepad backup or blogger backup.
5. Clean off my work area, empty my inbox, and clean up my computer files. Here’s a link to my digi organization post.

This is a great way to finish off the current month and prepare yourself for a fresh start.I hope you will try it! If you post your roundup on your blog, it would be great if you could give a link back to me so others know where to find the roundup tool, but it’s not a requirement or anything. LOL! Also, feel free to edit the questions and tasks however you want to make them useful for you.

The important thing is to just take a few minutes to record the memories of the month before they are forgotten!

Celebrating Blog Anniversary with some blog candy

Originally uploaded by crzy4stamps-kathy

Celebrating Blog Anniversary with some blog candy

Giveaway for my blog anniversary
http://thedailymarker.blogspot.com/

I don’t know if you have been to Persnikety Prints yet or even heard of them but I have to tell you, they are awesome. Not only can you store all you pics from your computer for FREE but…you can print your digital layouts on waterproof photo paper. The best part is the prices! A 12X12 LO is only $1.99! You have to check this out, if for no other reason the peace of mind to know all your photos are backed up and safely stored in case your computer ever crashes. Here are the details for the April Challenge:

Here is your April Challenge:

Get that Hard Drive cleared out! Upload your layouts to your free online account here at PersnicketyPrints.com. It is free unlimited storage & you can re download the same high resolution file back to any computer… forever.

We are providing you with loads of FREE quick pages to get you all caught up! Check back for more free stuff from our Designer of the month, Meredith Cardall!
Here is your first layout… yep, it’s an EXCLUSIVE Persnickety double page spread! Just look at all of those spots for your pictures! Grab the alpha and more coordinating elements for this QP at Merediths store for only $4.49. (that is less than a Wendy’s combo meal!)