I know it’s the lazy, hazy days of summer for some of you, but here in southeastern Tennessee it’s back to school time! The kids have been in school two weeks now, and we’re settling into our regular routine of sunrise drop-offs, music lessons, club meetings and general mom-taxi time.

We’ve had a busy summer – I put on two art camps for the museum where I work, Stan got promoted to Director of Marketing at the pro photo lab where he works, and the kids did a thousand things, most of them involving sleeping or playing video games!

The other thing we did this summer is travel to New York to help both of our mothers move to the next stage in their lives. My mother has Alzheimers and needed to move to an apartment with assistance. Stan’s mother is widowed and is looking to downsize her life. So it was a bittersweet trip, filled with poring over family photos, deciding what to preserve and what to share with other family members, and tons of childhood memories as we prepared for the end of our ‘homes’ as we knew them.

We came home with a treasure trove of things which we will share as we work thorough them. There are bound to be lessons in preservation, restoration and more that we’ll share with you. I used one of the photos of my mother in high school for my tips at Scrapper’s Guide this week, take a look. Elements Tip/ Photoshop Tip. If you don’t get the Scrapper’s Guide newsletter to see the great weekly tips, you can sign up on the homepage (scroll down on the right).

Meanwhile, we’ve recorded a few video tutorials you might enjoy. You can access them from the Tutorials menu in the navigation bar at the top of the page, or find our channel on YouTube.

Hope you’re enjoying the last few days of your summer vacation, or if not, hope you’re adjusting to your new schedules!

Jenn