Scrapbooking Organization - Keeping It All Together

Scrapbooking is one of the fastest growing hobbies in the United States. It is a wonderful way to preserve your precious photographs and most important memories. For many, scrapbooking is also a way to relieve stress in their hectic lives. But, if you've ever spent two hours trying to find the perfect embellishment for your scrapbook page, you soon realize that without organization, your wonderful hobby can actually be a cause of stress instead.

If you are a beginner scrapper make sure that you start the organization process immediately. If you are a seasoned pro but things have gotten a little out of hand in the scrapbooking supply area, there is hope. Commit yourself to taking the organization process one baby step at a time.

Keep in mind that your scrapbooking organization system should work in harmony with your personality and living conditions. If you are the type of person that likes things out of sight then an open shelving system probably wouldn't work for you. Likewise, if you live in a tiny apartment and only have a small space to work in, large filing cabinets just won't fit the bill.

The first step in your scrapbooking organization process is to arrange your photographs and memorabilia. Many people assume that the best method is to put them in chronological order, but a better way might be to organize them by events such as holidays, vacations or birthdays. Whichever method you choose be sure to store your photographs in photo safe or acid-free containers, like photo boxes, to protect them from light damage, curling or discoloration.

Of course, technology has made it much easier for us to organize our digital photographs with paid and free computer software programs. In fact, digital scrapbooking is fast becoming a popular method of enjoying the hobby due to its convenience and efficiency.

When beginning the organization of your scrapbooking supplies, start by gathering all of your items in one place. Group each similar item together to determine exactly how much storage space is needed.

For organization of smaller scrapbooking supplies, a simple and inexpensive method is to use plastic Ziploc bags. This is especially useful for leftover scraps of paper and small embellishments.

Scrapbooking pens, markers and glue sticks can easily be organized and stored in drawers and stackable trays.

Organizing your scrapbooking papers will probably take up the most space as you are sure to have a large variety on hand. If you have the space for it, open shelving is a great option for being able to see and quickly retrieve the necessary paper for your particular scrapbooking project.

If your scrapbooking work area is small, baskets can make convenient and beautiful storage for your scrapbook papers and supplies.

Another very popular option for organization of your scrapbooking supplies are plastic carts on wheels. You can have them handy next to you while you are working and roll them out of sight and into a closet when you're finished.

If you have the budget for it, there are many products available in craft supply stores and online that are made specifically for organization of scrapbooking supplies.

By using some of these ideas, you can spend more time scrapbooking than looking for lost supplies and photos. Keeping your scrapbooking supplies organized is the key to creating beautiful albums while remaining stress-free.

For additional tips on scrapbooking organization, supplies, paper tips and much more visit us at: www.Scrapbooking-For-Fun-And-Profit.com Our website is in audio and print versions and is constantly being updated with helpful and inspiring information to help you get more enjoyment out of your favorite pastime.

Fighting Homophobia

Homophobia has been a prevalent issue for many years. It was of a particular commonality among many individuals in the early 20th century, before many people began to come out of the closet with their feelings. Particularly in a Christian nation like United States, homosexuality is seen as a condemned and sinful act. It was widely rejected. Homosexuality is still not accepted by many individuals or in some groups to this day, even though many have some to consider homosexuality as socially acceptable.

There are different types and levels of homophobia. In general, homophobes see gays as simplistic, weak, feminine, and possibly inferior. Many straight people display homophobia as a hatred, disrespect, or upfront rejection and desiring to have nothing to do with them. Gay bashing and ridicule are common among homophobes. Like any phobia, there is a fear involved. There could be a fear of that type of sexuality, or just a fear of that type of lifestyle. They see it as too bizarre, unnatural, freaky and scary. Extreme cases of homophobia display anxiety over the gay problem and tend to exaggerate the behavior of gays and overact in their presence.

Another, very interesting type of homophobia is the type that gays have to fight within themselves. Gay bashing does not only take place when straight people speak out against gays. It is also true that some gay men will bash other gay men or themselves. Sometimes men who feel that they are gay are not happy with the fact. The struggling homosexual then begins to reject the idea of homosexuality, relationships, and sex. They believe that they are gay, but dont want to be.

Those gays who struggle with homophobia against themselves might completely withdraw. They might avoid sex, relationships with partners and even distance themselves from family and friends as well. Some may try to fight the issue by indulging in promiscuity to try to shake that struggle. Wallowing in the self-hatred of homophobia, many gays have indulged in self-destructive behaviors (both sexual and non-sexual).

Another way that this homophobia can be manifested is towards other gays. They might cheat on their partner, as a destructive behavior. Some might out other gays. Announcing someone as homosexual when they dont want to announce it themselves is to say that being gay is bad or embarrassing.

Homophobia among straights may not be on the surface. There are ways of disguising homophobia and making gays feel uncomfortable about themselves. Withholding approval, offering negative criticism, and denying sympathy or affection are some of the ways that homophobes secretly display their fear or hatred for gays. These actions or inactions cause pain, shame and uncomfortable self-loathing for some gays.

All kinds of homophobia have negative impacts on the gay community, particularly the kind that gays impose upon themselves. No phobia is necessarily healthy. They all have negative affects on the way that a person conducts their everyday life and thinks about life and themselves overall. Phobias in general are typically exaggerated views and irrational fears.

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The Childbearing Year

In Europe, five hundred years ago, men tortured and burned the Wise Women who healed with herbs, the midwives, the ones who celebrated the cyclical ways. Calling them witches, they burned them in millions and broke the flow of mother to daughter transmission. In the Americas, their sons down the way killed the medicine women and curanderas, the Wise Women of the New World. Then they denied the existence of Wise Women in history.

Without our connections to each other and the earth, without our mothers' wisdom, we forgot our power. When we were told that we had no souls, and no minds, and no sisters, we believed it was true. When they told us that childbearing was too dangerous and difficult for women, midwives, and herbs, we believed it was true.

But the Wise Women live in our dreams, our visions, our deepest memories. We hear their whispers and we listen.

Wise Woman healing works in cycles and seasons, with the turning of the planets, and the pulsation of life. Wise Women gather each herb at its time and use it to nourish and build the sixty million cells we each create every second. They understand the attunement built into our cells after thousands of generations nourished on wild foods, the special kinship our bodies have with the vital elements condensed in herbs.

Wise Women herbalists see the whole herb, the physical forces and the subtle forces, and respect this wholeness. Wise Women make use of the color, form spirit, and substance of a plant, using it as a whole, not dividing it into parts and seeing power only in the "active" principle. Wise Women know that we are each whole and unique, in an individual, ever-changing, symbiotic relationship with herbs.

Wise Woman healing is grounded, earthed, rooted. The Wise Woman accepts herself and her changes, her moods and her bleedings. She tends to birthing and dying without alienation from herself or the ones she helps. She is open to the life song surrounding her; devas bless her. All that she needs for health and well-being grows within the fall of her foot. She prepares the nourishment, she concocts the medicines. She is filled with creativity. Her life, her children, her art, her healing are shaped by her understanding of color, tone, harmony, and balance. She is wise in the ways of heart, body, and spirit.

Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year speaks to the Wise Woman in you, the pregnant woman, and to the Wise Woman in your mate, lover, midwife, doctor, childbirth educator, and friends. It is based on the belief that you are capable of observing your own body, heart, and mind, responding to the messages you receive during the childbearing year, and caring for yourself in a context of loving support and assistance.

The information I share with you here represents the careful experiments and experiences of many herbalists and ordinary people. It is not a compendium of herbal remedies gathered from other books with the hope that these herbs will work, but a record of herbal practices which have been tested in many situations and with a wide variety of people. I see this work as a link in remembering ourselves as Wise Women, joining with the Wise Women in China and other areas where herbal medicine has an unbroken tradition, joining with the Wise Women in plants, joining with the Wise Woman mothering earth.

Do you remember? Is that a picture of your grandmother in her garden? We are all Wise Women.

Legal Disclaimer: This content is not intended to replace conventional medical treatment. Any suggestions made and all herbs listed are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, condition or symptom. Personal directions and use should be provided by a clinical herbalist or other qualified healthcare practitioner with a specific formula for you. All material contained herein is provided for general information purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or consultation. Contact a reputable healthcare practitioner if you are in need of medical care. Exercise self-empowerment by seeking a second opinion.

Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081

Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative.

Susun is one of America's best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women's health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at http://www.susunweed.com