November Page Goal Challenge Winner We had six ladies who reached their page goal for the month of November! With the holidays and all the festivities, a special
----------------- Use Your Stash Challenge Our November Stash Challenge winner is kscraps1/Kelly! Way to go Kelly! Kelly completed all four of the November Stash challenges as well as staying within her November scrap budget. For her accomplishments, her name was entered into the drawing five times and so she easily won! For all of the fun details, please check out this thread. If you have a lot of scrap supplies that you need to use, please jump in and complete some of the December Stash Challenges. The guidelines are easier this month since I know we will all be busy with holiday preparations! The current challenge is to do a layout using red paper and a red embellishment of your choice. New challenges are posted each Wednesday.
----------------- Theme & Technique Challenge Each month The Shaker Box announces a new theme and technique. The Shaker Box Design Team has uploaded their new layouts into the gallery and would love to have you join them. The Shaker Box challenges each and every one of you to upload at least one new layout this month into both the Theme and Technique folders. We all look forward to seeing your creations! Our December theme is December Traditions/Memories. December is a month of sharing family moments and special traditions and memories. No matter how big or small the tradition may seem, document these special times and memories and share them with us here! Our December Technique of Transparencies can be used in so many ways and is becoming quite popular. So, dig out those transparencies and use them on your next layout or project! We would love to see your ideas! If you need inspiration, be sure to visit our Beginners forum thread for tips on printing on this wonderful medium. If you design a layout that includes both the theme AND the technique, be sure to enter our December layout contest sponsored by Forever Yours! The winner will receive an album valued at $25!!
----------------- Shake It Up Challenges Shaker Designer Mickey will inspire you each week with a new layout challenge. Challenges can help motivate you in getting a layout done and can also create interesting diversity. So try something today that you normally wouldn't and have fun! You can see all of Mickey's Challenges in our Shaker Challenge forum. To go along with our newsletter theme, the challenge for this month is transparency journaling. Transparencies turn any journaling into a focal point in itself. Challenge yourself this week to us this popular technique in your next layout! Don't forget to post a link in the challenge thread and upload your creation in the gallery. Can't wait to see what you come up with. ----------------- Card Challenges If cards are your forte, then join Designer Jen for her monthly Card Challenges! Tjeu are an excellent way for you to use your scrapbooking supplies. Join her monthly challenge by signing up with your monthly card goal and posting to the thread when you complete one! Jen will keep a running total of how everyone is doing and also issue various card challenges to keep you motivated. To join the December Card Challenge or to simply check on the progress, please visit our Shaker Challenge forum. The current card challenge is to create a card and somehow incorporate bells into the theme. So be inspired and hopefull motivated by these card challenges and submit your one-of-a-kind creations today!
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In the Spirit of Giving My family had the worst year financially, in 11 years, last winter. My husbands hours had been cut down to 30 hours a week, or less, so I started job hunting. The bills were starting to get behind, and everything we owned was in pawn. My husband works in construction, so slow winters were not a big deal, but this one seemed a little harder than the rest. I had gotten a job within 3 weeks of starting my search. It was not a glorious job, by any means, I had to go back to fast food, something I had not done, since I was in high school. It was extremely hard to swallow my pride and take a night job for $6 an hour at the age of 28, especially considering the job I worked last paid $13.50 with full benifits. By November my husbands hours were cut more, and the bills were still late. He searched every job opening, went to job sites, & hit up everyone he knew, but he couldn't find a job. My husband and I found that it is almost impossible to buy food and pay the bills, on unemployment and our tiny checks, and decided to ask the state for some help. I filled out all of the paper work and did all of the interviews, and then found out it would take up to 14 days, before we would get an answer, let alone financial help. Of course the bills wouldn't wait 14 days, most of them, were going to be shut off-phone, gas and power. The rent was 3 months late, and we had began looking for another place, but how do you go about getting into a new apartment or house without money? By the grace of God, we had always gotten through tough times without much help, but this time it seemed like an impossible task at hand. I was handling things fairly well, or so I thought. Things had begun to build up inside, and had gone unnoticed. One night at work, while washing dishes, it all hit, and it hit hard. Standing there in the back room alone, I broke down. I couldn't quit crying. All I think about was being homeless with two little ones, something I swore I would never allow to happen to my sweet babies. It all seemed so huge, and unreal. I was devestated by the fact that no matter what we tried it wasn't enough. My manager came back to ask me something, and all I could do was bawl. I'm not a crier, in fact I hate crying in front of anyone, except for my husband, so seeing me in that state, she knew it was serious. I had to tell her what was going on. She was shocked by had bad it had gotten for my family. I hadn't told anyone, not even my family. She let me cry on her shoulder, an! d get it off my chest. I had no idea what telling her would mean, but things were going to change. Less than a week later, around 7:00pm, on my only night off, there came a knock at our door. A really nice lady from the LDS church had received a call telling her of our situation, and she had come to see if we would like some help. Now, my husband and I had quit going to church about 15 years ago, so going to the church and asking for help, wasn't much of an option, so we were shocked when the church came to us. We told her about the bills and the lack of money,she set up an appointment with the Bishop later that week. He told us he would give us food and pay our utilities, until we could get on our feet. At first, we both had a hard time accepting help, we had always made it through, we never needed or wanted help before. We sat down after the appointment and discussed all of it. We finally agreed that there was no other option, so we accepted the help-graciously. This is not where it ends, but only gets better. I came home to a box of wrap presents on the front porch one night after work, with a card attached, telling us that our utilities were taken care of for 3 months. I was numb with shock-who would help us, like this. It was a strange feeling inside, knowing that people care enough to help, without wanting anything in return, it was a great feeling, but definately new to me. The next night I came home to two boxes on the front porch, one with more wrapped gifts, and the other was full of can goods, and a turkey. It just amazed me that there were peole out there who cared enough about me and my family, that they would give us so much. Christmas was great. I made sure to have bought all of the Christmas giftd for the kids, before winter hit, so they weren't going to have a bad Christmas, but with all of the secret santa gifts, they had a great one. My husband and I had decided not to give each other anything, so we were pleasantly suprised to find gifts to us, too. I found out later on in January, that one of the 17 year old girls that was working the night of my break down, overheard some of the story, and went to her parents and told them. They always pick a family to give secret santa gifts to and they had decided that it would be our family. They had paid the utilities and given us the box of gifts. It was amazing, that a girl so young, had such a big heart! I also found out that my land lord, not only let me pay my rent as I could, owing her $1850, but she and her daughter had been the ones to bring the gifts and food. I had always thought of the Spirit of Giving, as just that Giving, but I found out, to know the whole meaning you have to receive it too! My Husband and I have decided that we need to repay those who helped us out last year, so we have picked a friend who could use a little extra this year. So, please remember, Christmas is not about the gifts, but about sharing your heart with those around you! ----------------
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D e s i g n T e a m C o n t e s t W i n n e r ! The Shaker Box is pleased to announce our newest designer: Mac Stanley! Our contest really took off this month and we had many talented and deserving applicants but the choice came do Mac possesses a unique talent for making our members and ourselves feel welcome. She graces us with her personality and anecdotes about scrapbooking and life in general. Very quick to compliment and very supportive is her nature, a welcoming addition here at The Shaker. I'm sure you will all get to know Mac well in the coming months, but for now here is a little more about her. Mac has been a scrapper for as long as she can remember and she states, " I joined the yearbook staff and was the editor of it and the high school newspaper, later receiving a minor in journalism in college because I couldn't stay away from my paste and crayons and paper!." Thus the beginning of serious scrapbooking addiction! She began safely scrapbooking in 2000/2001 and soon after started swapping and creating albums. Her favorite themed albums to work on are All About Me and Heritage albums because they allow her to " tell stories." Mac explains, "I love the stories behind the pages and could journal forever - as you can tell!" Mac is surrounded by her loving family, three children and a wonderful husband, high on a mountain top on a sprawling 10 acres slice of heaven. Mac is a nature lover and explains that "the nature that surrounds me is often the inspiration for much of my work!" Mac hopes to "inspire others to create pages that will preserve their own stories for many generations to come." We are absolutely thrilled Mac has accepted the Design Team position and we look forward to many inspirational works of art sure to come! We can't wait to see what treasures she will upload next! Congratulations Mac! ---------------- |
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wn to one shining star. Since Mac joined The Shaker Box, she has jumped in with both feet and has never looked back. From taking part in our Grand Opening festivities to welcoming new members to uploading amazing layouts in our gallery, she has really outdone herself. 
