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More on Project 365 and Life Documented / Simple Stories by Memory Works

Okay, okay, okay! You all convinced me to take the plunge and actually commit to doing Project 365 next year. Sheesh. We’ve been talking about it on Scrap Sisters Studio HERE and have quite a little group going of scrappers who’re going to participate.

If you’re already an SSS member and are going to do P365, please come join us. And if you aren’t a member, Good God, why? You’re missing all the fun! So come join SCRAP SISTERS STUDIO and then be part of all the P365 fun over there. There is also a 2009 group that does daily posts on 2peas; I’m sure they’ll do it in 2010 also. Some people are going to do variations on 365, like a “52” weekly layout, or a “12” monthly layout. No matter how you slice it, join in on the message boards and help us all stay motivated with this project, okay?

The new year is only 9 days away, so we need to get moving and make some decisions. What size and type of album are you going to use? Will you do a full layout per day/week/month, or use the pocket page method shown in my last post? Which paper and embellies will you use ~ scraps, lines you already have on hand, Becky Higgins’ Project Life kit, or are you shopping for something? If you’re using the pocket page protectors, figure out which direction the slots go and make sure you’re taking your photos correctly (the correct mix of horizontal vs. vertical), or be aware that you’ll have some editing or cropping to do to your photos.

I’m waiting on the new line from MEMORY WORKS to use for my Project 365 album, which isn’t due out until mid-January, so I can’t concretely answer all of these questions myself. However, I’m paying attention to what other scrappers are doing and am getting some great ideas for my own album. Here is what I do know: I’m going to use the pocket pages method, and do a 2-page spread with 7 photos for each week. Using the sample in my last post, that would leave a slot for a title for the week, 4 slots to hold (7) 4×3 journaling cards and (1) 4×3 miscellaneous card or embellie.

The kit I plan to use is called “Life Documented” and it’s from the new Simple Stories system by Memory Works. I don’t know a ton about it, because they are being quite saucy about revealing sneak peeks little by little. But I’ve read through all the material on THIS site and here is my impression: It’s the perfect line for Project 365! LOL

Let me be more specific … There will be pre-cut journaling cards and embellishments in various sizes (12×6, 4×6, etc.) to slip into pocket page protectors of the same size. It’s a paper product, not digital, although free digital downloads will be available to enhance it. There is mention of a “catalog” so I’m assuming it won’t be one huge kit like Project Life, but separate elements you can purchase according to your own specific needs.

Here are some peeks of what it will look like:

I’m loving the colors and this is so totally my style. Hello!?!? Scallops, graph paper, and brackets? Hollah! I think the look is very versatile, and will go with pretty much any photo. I like the binder looking paper, the flourish swirls, all of it. No, I’m not just saying that because I’m a Memory Works consultant and it’s a Memory Works product. How dare! I think you know by now that I call it like I see it. If I think an MW product is fugly or stupid, I don’t mention it at all. That’s just how I roll.

Like any scrapbook company with a new product these days, Memory Works is hoping to use the power of the internet and social networking to get the word out about this new product. To that end, they are giving away ONE FREE KIT per week between 12/17/09 and 01/18/10 and you enter by spreading the word. Details are HERE. So if you’d like a chance at winning, or you just want to be nice and help me publicize this new kit (Seriously? Yeah, I was very cheeky there, wasn’t I?), please check it out and participate. If you like what you see, and think you could sell this and/or other MW products to your friends, talk to me about becoming a consultant. It’s basically a no-lose situation. (Ha ha, “situation.” Do you watch Jersey Shore on MTV? When Mike says, “Cuz that’s The Situation. If you’re a hater, I got a full-time job for you.” Oh, love it!)

They even have 4 cool blinkies for your blog or siggie line on message boards. Here is but one rockin’ blinkie:

Okay, MW commercial is over. I mainly wanted to share that I have in fact committed to doing Project 365 in 2010! Uh, why did I just break out in a cold sweat? I’m really counting on you guys to keep me on top of this thing. Don’t let me slide. Like people have said, you don’t HAVE to take a photo every day. You can fill in those slots with journaling, with a receipt from your trip to the grocery store or other ephemera of your life, or you can fill in with undated photos that you (if truth be told) took on a different day (Gasp! Wouldn’t that be like lying to myself and future generations?? Ha ha, just kidding. Crap, even I’m not THAT anal).

Hearing things like that takes the pressure off a bit. And that’s a good thing because I have enough pressure in my life without adding this on top of it. Do I take the Mercedes or the Escalade to Pilates today? Do we go to the opera or a Broadway show on Friday night? Should we send little Johnny to astronaut camp or Olympic skiing camp this summer? I mean, really, do I DESERVE any more pressure in my life? I think not.

Once January 1 arrives, I’ll start taking my daily photos and writing some quick journaling on my computer or in a journal. Then when I do have more information about Life Documented, and do have the actual “stuff” in my hands, I’ll start putting it all together. Ideally, it would be great to get the whole album kind of “pre-flighted” (is that just a military and law enforcement term?) with all the pocket pages, title cards, and journaling cards actually in place in the album. Then you just add the photos in as you print them, and write the journaling then too. I’ve heard this as a helpful hint from those who did P365 in 2009 and it sounds brilliant to me!

So, I hope you have decided to join me in Project 365 next year, but if you haven’t, I totally understand, girlfriend. Uh huh, yes I do….

Friday Night Scrapbook Randoms #7

Just some random scrappy things to end your week with …

~*~ You know that “First” magazine you see in the supermarket checkout aisle? Well, buy THIS one … there is a scrapbooking article in it!

~*~ Word on the street is that Big Lots has older Cricut cartridges for 30 snaps. Okay, “the street” = “The PEAS,” you caught me! I’ll be checking my BL this weekend, but this is the store that got one lame shipment of Thickers when everyone else had tons of them, so I’m not holding out much hope. I guess for all the bad that comes from this seriously sucky economy, we will be seeing cooler items trickling down to the discount stores because of it. Mixed blessing, I guess…

~*~ Do you like scrapbooking novels? Well, did you know that JOANNA CAMPBELL SLAN has two scrapbooking mysteries out, and another one on the way for May 2010? I’ve read “Paper, Scissors, Death” and really enjoyed it. Now I need to get “Cut, Crop & Die” which has been out since summer. (Yeah, I’m totally lagging, cuz I DO want to read it!). Well, to tide us over until the next book comes out {details are HERE}, she shares a free scrapbooking short story HERE. She must’ve JUST finished writing it because there are some mentions in there about Twilight and the Tiger Woods situation. Timely, Miss Joanna, very timely… Anyway, it’s a fun story to devour with your next cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy!

~*~ What do you think of the January issue of CREATING KEEPSAKES? The Peas are talking about it HERE and, let me tell ya’, reviews are really mixed. I just got my copy and hope to pour through it this weekend, but have had a quick browse through and like what I see so far. It is definitely weird with all the usual suspects like Ali and Becky gone.

I’m putting off reading Lisa Bearnson’s last column ‘cuz I know I’m gonna cry. I had the pleasure of going on a week-long Mediterranean cruise with Lisa/CK in 2006, and she is THE nicest most caring lady you’d ever want to meet. It always kills me to hear her ripped apart by Mean Girls because I don’t think you can spend a week with someone and not see some mysterious evil side come out at some point, if it really does exist (which it obviously doesn’t). Yep, big Lisa fan here. Remind me to tell you about her on that cruise some time, k?

Oh gee, I seem to have gone off on a tangent. That NEVER happens, LOL! But back to the CK January issue … Your thoughts?

~*~ I am SO frick-frackin’ excited about a new product that MEMORY WORKS has coming out in January!! They have always sold all the latest and greatest products by other manufacturers {like Basic Grey, Fancy Pants, etc.}, but MW is coming out with their OWN line. I’ve seen some sneak peeks and it’s rockin’. Stay tuned…

~*~ Isn’t this an adorable layout from KELLY GOREE with Basic Grey “Sugar Rush”?

I love love LOVE the letters used in “reward” so I’m going to ask her how she did them. The SSS girls are thinking Silhouette and a sweet Sista named Lisa has offered to cut me something if I can find out which font it is.

ETA: Color me bummed. Kelly said “reward” is from the handwriting of a Basic Grey staff designer, and Kelly hand cut it. Alas, there is no way to replicate it. Even IF I could pretend to approach that gorgeous writing, there’s no way I’d have the skill or patience to hand cut it, LOL!

~*~ I shall leave you with the news that SCRAP SISTERS STUDIO (my home-away-from-home message board) is having an online crop this weekend. If you’re not already a member, join up and join in! Lots of fun chatting and doing challenges, sharing our work and ideas.

Have a wonderful weekend! Peace out.

Memory Works: My Minds Eye “Tres Jolie” Mega Pack

So, I have your attention now, right? LOL!

You may have missed out on THIS, but here is your second chance to get a great deal on a FEE-YOU-JUS pack of scrapbooking goodies from MY MINDS EYE for only $29.99. Or, like me, you got that first MME kit and loved it, so you want/need another one :)

“That’s right, Bob. Now tell them what they get…”

Well, you get “200 piece paper & accessories pack. This kit includes 39 sheets of 12×12 double-sided cardstock paper plus over 170 mix & match accessory pieces including frames, journaling cards, titles, quotes, rub-ons, and transparencies.”

The MEMORY WORKS SITE says this pack is worth $170, so you’re saving 83%!

If you need some prodding….erm, I mean…inspiration to buy and use this kit, HERE is the Tres Jolie gallery from the My Minds Eye site.

If you’d like more info or to place an order for the fab-O kit, click HERE. Have questions on how to place an order? Check THIS out…

Isn’t this a gorgeous kit? Now that I see this one, I like it even better than the prior one. The colors are brighter and prettier. You likee?

Friday Night Scrapbook Randoms #5

So what if it’s Sunday Night when I’m finally getting around to publishing my Friday Night Randoms? Who wants to be on schedule? Not me. That is so cliche and expected….and I’m anything but cliche and expected. For shizzle.

~~ Speaking of shizzle….if you ever need a translator for when I speak Snoop Dog, HERE YA GO. Bladizzle.

~~ A bunch of (22!) First Day of School scrapbook page ideas are HERE, provided by Scrapbooks Etc. I think this one is my fave, but I loved them all…

~~ There is a wonderful discussion of why the Peas think the scrapbook industry has tanked HERE. And a related ARTICLE on SCRAPBOOK UPDATE called “Is Scrapbooking Fading….Or not?,” is asking for your thoughts so go chime in, why don’t ya? I think many “industry folks” read that website so let them hear from you. I scored the first Comment ~ yeah! Guess sometimes it pays to be up blogging in the middle of the night, lol. Anyway, if you’d like to read my ever so humble opinion on the whole thing, click on over to the Scrapbook Update article … I wrote a novel … or at least a chapter ;)

~~ Remember when I said that my Michaels wasn’t going to be putting ads in Sunday paper flyers anymore? {It was HERE}. The cashier had given me a flyer and everything, saying that Sunday flyers would be no more, and that I could get my flyers and coupons online from now on. But here it is 6 weeks later….and I’m still getting Michaels ads in my paper on Sunday. What up with that? I dunno’, you got me. Guess they changed their minds…

~~ According to the GOLLYG at 2peas, ROSS has some scrapbooking stuff again: “Enabling Alert! I stopped by Ross today and they have tons of new scrapbook stuff. They had Making Memories paper kits for $2.99, American Crafts paper pads $5.99, K&Company Stuff, and lots more!” Also, rumors of Disney scrapbooks….read the thread HERE. I used to find 12×12 postbound albums there all the time, but nothing scrappy in ages. But what do you know, there is a Ross store smack dab between my Target and my Michaels. I happen to be headed to Target for prescriptions tomorrow, so I’ll check out Ross and let you know if I find anything.

~~ “I’m so far behind!” Have you ever said that about your scrapbooking? Well, read my blog friend Susan’s great article HERE and you’ll feel better soon :)

~~MEMORY WORKS now has Basic Grey “Nook and Pantry” in stock. Here’s a peek…


Please let me know if I can get some for you. Order it HERE, or contact me HERE.

Diary of a Scrapbook Room Makeover: Part Three

If you need to get caught up on my diary, here are the entries so far:

PROLOGUE
PART ONE
PART TWO
QUESTIONS ANSWERED
PHOTOS HELD HOSTAGE, DAY 3

And now it’s time for Part Three! Yeah, like, FINALLY! Most of these photos were taken on October 5, which is 10 days ago. This is pretty much what my room still looks like today (10/15/09), other than a few little changes. As always, I apologize for the quality of my photos. My nice digi camera is out of commission because the charger doesn’t work and until the Money Fairy makes a drop at our house, I can’t afford to buy a new one, or a new camera. Thus…I have for you iPhone pictures!

So this is as you look into the room from the dining room doorway. Kids’ homework/crafting table in front, my scrap desk behind that, coffee table and couch back by the window, and the junk corner in the very back left.

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Here is my “cube wall,” which are Store in Style cubes with mostly Cropper Hopper vertical storage of paper/embellishments, and jars with ribbons, chipboard letters, etc. In other words, if there is a fire, this is the stuff I’m grabbing. Yep, one by one, cube by cube. Not. Kidding. What’s that? Oh, of COURSE I’d grab my kids and hubby first! Sheesh.

On the left, the white bin has office supplies I need to find a new home for; they came out of a cupboard in the L-shaped desk. The bag and cardboard box are things I brought home from my office when I was allowed to start working from home. That was in April 2009. Nope. Not unpacked yet. This is one example of things that were dumped in my scrap area and I was too busy to do anything with them at the time, so they just cluttered the place up. Don’t judge. It won’t take long to put the stuff away, I would just rather sort and put away scrappy supplies than work manuals, paperclips, baby wipes, and boxes of tea, wouldn’t you? Procrastinators Unite!….Tomorrow.

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Here’s the oak cabinet that used to hold a TV, VCR, old school Atari games, and kids’ DVDs/games; now it’s a resting place for my grossly overpacked SCRAPRACK. I have always had a big crush on my Scrap Rack, and it’s insane ability to sort my scrapbook supplies by theme. But I have abused Scrap Rack. I have overfilled Scrap Rack. Now I hardly ever touch Scrap Rack and we miss each other. I flipped through it a bit tonight and it was embarisken. I have some reeeeeeaaaally old things in there that need to be purged in a big way. Like Creative Memories stickers circa 2001, some Mrs. Grossman’s border stickers, and various shape die cuts from Paper Pizzazz.

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Note to scrappers who began after 2007: You are lucky. By the time you started scrapping, most of the products being put out there have been pretty designer-ish and awesome. But prior to that, especially late 1990s/early 2000s? There was some pretty rough stuff out there. You would cringe. So if you don’t know what “Mrs. Grossman’s” or “Paper Pizzazz” means, no worries. You didn’t miss a thing. Trust me.

Here is the new and improved bookshelf #4! It used to be toys from top to bottom. Now the toys have been moved into the new playroom, freeing up space for kids’ crafts. There is coloring, drawing, painting, scratch art, activity books, puzzle books, foam stamps, crayons, acrylic paints, markers, and brushes. Wait, what? That all sounds fun! Do I REALLY have to share with my kids? Hee.

It was fun but sad to purge the coloring and activity books, seeing things my kids had drawn and colored when they were much younger (yeah, it had been awhile since this stuff had been gone through). But I gave the old color books to a friend who’s going to use them in her Sunday school classes so that made me happy and they were easier to let go. I have tons of art and schoolwork from my kids, so in the scheme of things, they had to go. In return, clear and organized shelves – yahoo!

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Here is the homework/craft table. See the clear mat in the middle? I got 2 of those at a craft store years ago and they were a smart purchase; the other one is on my scrap desk under my BG mats. They’re great for protecting your table from permanent damage, portable for moving to other tables or counters, and easy to clean. The clear mat was about 1.5 inches too long when I laid it horizontally across the table like this, so I cut the excess off. Guess what I used? My Basic Grey Magnetic Mat. How many times have I said I love that thing?!?! I lined the clear mat up on the BG mat grid, put the metal ruler over it, and sliced down the clear mat with a craft knife. It didn’t go all the way through so I flipped it over and cut in the same place and Voila! Then I used my Creative Memories Corner Rounder to make the 2 new corners match with the existing rounded ones. I was pretty darn proud of myself because that’s about as handyman as I get, LOL! Ideally, I would like this same kind of mat but large enough to cover the entire table. Then again, it’s an old banged up table so I’m not gonna stress on it.

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Here’s a top view of the newly cleaned up, cleaned out, organized, and labeled craft carousel. As you scrappers know, this is actually a Making Memories DESKTOP CAROUSEL, intended for scrapbook supplies. I tried to use it as such when I first got it, but it never worked for me. The main problem is that I need to keep my most-used tools in something portable for taking to crops. Even if I used it for least-used tools, the footprint is so big, that it takes up a lot of desk room once you leave it a wide berth to spin around. It really needs to be in the middle of a table or desk, and while my scrap area doesn’t allow for that, it does work perfectly on the homework/craft table, doesn’t it?

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The carousel had been on our dining room table for about the last year or so which has been Homework Central. It had crayon marks, broken erasers, pencil shavings, you name it. It was looking pretty beat up and fugly, and was not organized whatsoever. So I took everything out of it, turned it upside down over the trash to get the gookies out, and Windexed it within an inch of its life. Then I lovingly organized and labeled each section. Oh, and I spent about 30 minutes one night hand sharpening all of those regular and colored pencils. Now that was good fun.

See, lookie! Look at my labels! They totally rock, huh? Pencil sharpeners, little tapes, mini gel pens….

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Staplers and big tape, scissors, and all that other fun stuff…

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The husband and children have been instructed in the proper care of my baby. My baby has been labeled so there are no excuses. If they eff it up, there will be hell to pay. And I mean it! Don’t mess with me, I’m the mommy! And you know our family motto: (Say it with me now!) “If Mommy ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy….” See? Simple.

Okay, here are the 3 measly shelves I have restricted my books to. I know, it’s riDONKulous but something had to give. Scrap supplies or books? Scrap supplies or books? Hmmmm….SCRAP SUPPLIES! But clearly, my bookies need to be organized, alphabetized, and color coded. By Dewey Decimal System. Yet another project in the wings.

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Here in the Corner of Shame #1 are 3 boxes that need to go in the attic (“oh, dear??? honeybuns??? love of my life??? would you please do me an itsy bitsy little favor wavor?? thanks, hun!”). Cuz I don’t do attics. Did you know there are, like, SPIDERS up there?!? And it’s hot. Very hot. In other words, not happening. {Please revert to the family motto listed above…}.

The wire cube and panels sitting on top used to be under my desk; I used them to hide…erm, I mean….STORE a multitude of things. Like Christmas and birthday gifts, a family quilt, my sugar-free cookie stash…you know, that kind of thing. I don’t know if I’ll use them in my scrap room again. If not, they would make great toy storage for the new play room. If you want some of these cubes, you can get them at Target or Costco. Not the most sturdy storage, but they do work and the price warms the cockles of my ever-lovin’, bargain-huntin’ heart.

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Here is the front side of my big L-shaped desk. I had 3 of these 12×12 Sterlite containers before; they were on my bookshelves. When I moved the couch away from the front of my desk, I realized *gasp* people would be able to see all the crap I keep under there and also my fat heifer thighs. I decided, “No, this just will not do.” When I realized how perfectly these Sterlite drawers fit, I bought 3 more sets and killed 2 birds with 1 stone: lots more storage room and Fat Heifer Thigh View Blockage. A good purchase, don’t you think? {And I got them on sale for $9 instead of $12 each, hehe}.

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That big blue navy thing is my Crop In Style XXL aka Old Faithful. That thing has been jammed full of supplies, crammed into my Honda trunk, and rolled over bumpy hotel entranceways to more crops than I can count. She will be retired this Christmas when I get a new set of crop bags from DH and mi madre.

This clear container is under the homework/craft table. It’s all organized and has scrappy hand-me-downs for the kids to scrapbook with. We make handmade cards a lot, too. My entire extended family and friends could totally be lying to me, but they all say they love our personally designed cards with custom artwork and handwritten messages. And if they ARE lying? Screw ’em.

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Here’s the couch, so exciting. Ugly, old throw pillow. Oh, remind me to talk about pillows later. And now you can see the reason my scrap room looks a might bit better than it did last time you were here (see PART TWO, link at top of post). It’s because I stuck a bunch of ugly junk behind the couch. I’m calling it the “I’ll Deal With You Later” pile. It’s mostly old family memorabilia and photos that need to be sorted. It’s such a huge project, I can’t even fathom it right now. So I’m (partially) hiding it. It’s out of the way so I can continue making progress with my room….but it’s like the great white shark under the water while you blissfully swim in the ocean. You might be having fun up top, but you now it’s down there stalking you. Damn shark.

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It’s actually been really nice having that coffee table there. Just in the last month or so since I put it there, it’s been used for: Jetmax cube assembly, homework, hubby doing paperwork, a foot stool for kids reading on the couch, a game of table hockey, and a nice big area for me to sort and organize scrap supplies. Unfortunately, it’s also been used to lie on, stand on, and hide under. Hey, nothing’s perfect.

Here is Corner of Shame #2 aka Big Daddy Shame. I think I’ve told you already what most of it is. The two blue bins are monthly kits I used to get from MEMORY WORKS EXPRESS. I’ve always kept them together as a kit but I think I’m going to separate them out. I’m not sure…what do you do with kits? Keep them together or mix the items in with the rest of your stash?

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There’s also a wide format Epson printer that I spent boo coo bucks on a few years ago, and never used. I’m a horrible person. I won’t bore you with all the details. I have my reasons. But, yeah, now I need to get rid of it. Sell it? E-waste it? Goodwilll? I dunno. Of course, I would prefer to sell it, even for just $100 or something (I paid over $300 and used it maybe 20 times). But to prove to a buyer that it works, I’d need to spend about $100 on printer cartridges and I just don’t know if it’s worth it. Would it even sell? Bah.

Above the Corner of Shame #2 is my MM Embellishment Shelf. It’s pretty well organized but I now have THIS to install somewhere once it’s painted and cleaned up, so I’m still figuring out what goes where and whether to move this shelf.

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This photo is probably hard to figure out, because I was focusing on the scene outside the window. It’s the view into my backyard, the view I see when I sit at my scrap desk. Our backyard has a pretty pool and a gorgeous view, but this dog pen thingee is ruining everything! Must go. Will go soon. We borrowed it from our neighbors when we got LANDRY, who didn’t care to stay in the big dog pen on the side of the house. This kennel is a pain in the arse to return to our neighbors, as all four adults need to take a corner and walk it through a gate and across an acre of their property. But I need to make that happen, don’t I? And those atrociously dirty windows! Disgraceful. When is that window cleaner girl going to do her friggin’ job?!! Oh, wait. That would be ME, wouldn’t it? There is only a little overhang over all three of my scrapbook room windows/slider (no patio cover) and also no grass out there, just dirt, concrete, and gravel. So especially when it rains like it just did, the windows get very dirty, the screens very dusty, and it’s hard to keep up on them. But I must. What a waste of a wonderful view.

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Here is the Epicenter of Erika’s Craftivity. Chair, Basic Grey mats, Cutterpede trimmer, flat pack with most-used tools, Ott lite, little tote with scissors and pens, and the main requirement for scrapping, Diet Coke. There’s a single Cropper Hopper vertical file that I was thinking of keeping on my desk as a place to keep projects in progress and/or new purchases until I put them away. Now I have another idea for where to put recent purchases, but I like the projects in progress holder idea. I tend to be a “stacker,” with various piles on my desk. 12×12 piles take up a lot of desk space; at least getting them vertical would save some room.

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Also, I put my little bookshelf stereo here. I didn’t think I would, but I really miss having the television in here, just for the white noise if nothing else. So I was compelled to hook up my stereo and play some K-Life and the college radio station also has awesome music. I don’t do well with total silence. It makes me spun up. Eeeeeee!!!!

Here’s the left side of my desk. Blue flat packs full of acrylic stamps and inks, shopping bag with some RAK stuff in it, Ziploc with a scrappy project, white holder for Prima flower jars and skittles, black tote for punches and Xyron “X”, and Amy Butler tote for cards and RAKs to and from scrappy friends. I’ve been slowly cleaning that out, putting stamps and other gifts away. I need a good storage system for or project to make with all those handmade cards that I cherish…maybe bind them into a mini book or something.

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Here is the view if I’m standing in front of the couch. Standing ON the coffee table??? Who, ME??? Nah, I would never do that. As you can see, I haven’t sorted through those idea books and magazines yet. In fact, I think the pile has grown larger as I come across more of them. Yes, it’s a sickness. And I don’t care.

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Just don’t look under the desk. Move along. There’s nothing to see here….

So that’s a tour of my scrapbook room and how the makeover has been coming along. I’m so happy you’re on this journey with me. Yes, it’s embarrassing to share my major clutter issues and extreme scrapbook supply hoarding. But, oh well, you still seem to like me.

I’m learning so much as I go along; basic scrappy storage things and even things about myself that are deeper and more telling than one would expect from a mere room makeover. Like I’ve learned that I’m happy with how much I cherish my memories and all the “things” that go with it. Yet I don’t have to keep it all. And just because I spent money on something doesn’t mean I have to be guilted into keeping it forever. Selling it or giving it away can bring happiness to someone else, like Sunday school kids, so that’s a good thing.

Please keep checking in with me and cheer on my progress so I follow through and don’t give up. And don’t forget about my 500,000 hits blog candy because we’re coming up on the end….at 499,413 as I post this entry. Good luck!

Memory Works: SEI “Moravia” and Jillibean Soup!

For a limited time, MEMORY WORKS (who I’m a consultant for) has in stock:

“Moravia” by SEI…. How about a tease? This is what the Theme Set looks like ($6.00)…

There are matching “Moravia” rub-ons, stickers, and chipboard. I love the rich colors and textures of this line, don’t you?

We also have some new stuff by Jillibean Soup ~ the Alphabet Soup theme set ($6.75)…

…”Bean Stalks” ribbon ($6.00)

…”Journaling Sprouts” ($3.50) in a bunch of colors (here’s one)…

…”Corrugated Kraft Alpha” ($5.00)….super cute and so textural!

…and this stinkin’ adorable “Calendar” stamp ($7.00); you can make your own Journaling Sprouts!

What exactly is the limit on the number of acrylic stamps one could own before you would consider them, say, mentally ill? Because I really need these Calendar stamps…but I’m probably pretty close to that theoretical acrylic stamp limit where you’d say, “Biz-natch, you need to STOP with the stamps already!” Just sayin’…

The Jillibean Soup BLOG has a ton of GREAT layout and project ideas for the above items. I was pleasantly surprised to see that SHANNON ZICKEL is designing for them. I’ve seen her layouts in magazines so many times, I’d recognize her son if I passed him on the street, lol! And hey, whaddya know, Laura Vegas is also on the Jillibean Design Team; I just linked to her scraproom makeover in my last POST. It’s a small scrap world after all…

You can see all the SEI and Jillybean Soup HERE, and also place an order. Please contact me at the e-mail shown HERE if I can help with an order or any questions :) . These items are our Trend Essentials for October…only here while supplies last, or until October 31, 2009. Hurry before they’re gonzo!

Diary of a Scrapbook Room Makeover: Part Two

I’m slowly making progress on the big overhaul of my scrapbook room. If you’re not caught up, you can read the PROLOGUE and PART ONE, if you like :) But the Prologue is important reading; it’s where I tell you what happens if you make a smart ass comment about how much crap….erm, STUFF I have. Yes, I have a lot of paper. No, you can’t shop here. Yes, I have a life. Blah blah blah….

So, I’ve done lots of furniture moving. This is going to take awhile, so get comfy…

1. Unloaded everything from the desk – underneath, off the top, and in the drawers – and moved it about 2 feet closer to the sliding glass door. I didn’t repack the office supply and computer-related stuff I had in the desk cupboards; need to find a new home for all that. It’s in a pile here somewhere…

2. Unloaded all the DVDs, videos, and board games from the oak cabinet and moved them into a cabinet in the guest room/new play room. Moved a bunch of toys that were along the wall into the new play room. Moved the oak cabinet to the wall where the toys had been. Moved the Scrap Rack to the oak cabinet (temporarily, I think…). Moved office supplies, and office machines (fax machine, transcription machine, etc.) from guest room to bottom of oak cabinet (where movies and games had been). This cabinet is going to be Office Stuff Central…unless I change my mind.

3. Emptied out the legal filing cabinet, moved it from a back wall to align with one edge of the L-shaped desk, and refilled it with the same stuff I had in there before, which are greeting cards, school supplies, and more home office stuff. I gathered scrap magazines and idea books from various places around the house and piled ’em up.

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As you can see, it’s time to purge these again. I usually do this about once a year but, yeah, it’s been awhile. A friend that I scrap with recently finished her project of pulling pages and ideas from her magazines and organizing them into page protectors in a binder. I’m so jealous….it was great! So I’m deciding now if I have the time, patience, and devotion to do the same thing. Purge or make “the perfect idea binder,” THAT is the question.

As for all those idea books….I don’t think I’ve EVER gotten rid of an idea book. Something about throwing away a book that I paid $15 to $40 for is much harder than a $5 magazine. But I should look through all my idea books and maybe toss some older ones. I’ll bet I don’t even “scrap like that anymore” for some of them, huh?

4. Moved the table that I’d been using for scrappy stuff (okay, to dump things on…) over to the area by the storage cubes. This will be the famous Homework Table.

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5. Moved the couch and coffee table from in front of the desk to behind the desk by the back window. The original plan was to put it flush against the wall and lined up directly under the window (I’m all about symmetry, baby!). But once I got it there, the couch seemed kind of squished over into the corner and the coffee table was somewhat blocking the walkway to the back part of the room. So I tried the couch at an angle, and I liked it. Bonus: It creates a hidey space behind it for ugly stuff, lol. And I felt so “HGTV” about it, too.

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6. Unloaded just about everything from 10 Store in Style cubes (see couch pic above), moved the cubes to the opposite end of the room, and reloaded them pretty much the same way. The SIS cubes are now on the wall that the oak TV cabinet used to be on. This is the area I talked about where I have to keep a walkway to get to the slider, so the cubes are a good thing to put here. They fit nicely and I can stack more on top someday if need be (God forbid!).

I first thought about configuring them like this, with a kind of “turn the corner” at one end….

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…but decided not to. The positives were that it would be a little different-looking, and it would create a handy little empty space back there in the corner to store crop totes or something. But the negatives were that it made the walking path a bit too slim, and put the cubes right next to the cord for the blinds. And when I put embellishment jars on top of the one by the door, they would block the light switch. No super big deal, but I just decided to go with putting them all flush against the wall, like this…

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All this furniture moving happened way back on 9/10 (it’s now 9/27!), so when I say “making slow progress,” I’m not exaggerating. It took me awhile to remember and write all this down, the order I did things in. It was quite the feat of engineering to move things AROUND the room while still having everything IN the room. I apologize for any dark photos but most of my madness occurs late at night after everyone has gone to bed. Man, you should’ve seen the wide eyes of my husband and kids when they came out the morning after all this! They were like, “You moved ALL that by yourself!?!? The couch???” and I’m all, like, “Desperate organizers take desperate measures.” (Like, totally…I did all that “like” stuff just to annoy you). Then the daytime photos are overly bright because of the sun coming in all the windows, so I can’t win, lol.

Once the furniture was in place, I’ve just been slowly putting things away, whether within this room or the other parts of the house where they belong, and below is what the room looks like as of today.

Down there is the new back half of the room, with my cool slanty couch, and my corner of chaos. The couch was my dad’s before he passed away so it’s sentimental. Luckily, it’s also functional so I have an excuse to keep it always and forever. That big tub is all the paperwork from my two scrapbook businesses, MEMORY WORKS and Calla Memories. I can get rid of most of it. I just need to go through it and save some paperwork for tax records and such.

The white shelving unit has all my mini album stuff – supplies and some completed albums – but I want to get rid of that shelf and find another way to store my mini album kingdom. That’s actually a shoe shelf so I’m hoping to then move it into my closet and use for, oh, I don’t know…..SHOES???

The basket on top of the white shelves contains letter stickers, which were all nicely sorted by color at one time, and easy to thumb through when I scrapped. Then….I discovered THICKERS. Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn! I use Thickers lots and I buy Thickers lots. I have a Thicker addiction and I hope there ain’t no cure! But, yeah, I need to go through that basket and purge some old alphas I’ll never use. Like the first major set I bought oh so many years ago, of punch out alphas (I think they were by COLORBOK) in every color and pattern known to man (including plaid and leopard!), in a bubble font, a lollipop font, etc. Eek. Perfect for the kids to use on school projects but NOT for my scrapbooks).

The black boxes are POWER SORT BOXES from CREATIVE MEMORIES and that’s where most of my printed photos are. But photo and memorabilia organization is an ever-changing and never-ending project/battle for me. I’m not even gonna’ GO there right now. The white cubes they’re in are ITSO brand from TARGET. As you can see, I had more photo boxes than Itso cubes, so I bought another Itso from Target when they were on sale recently. (If I remember right, I paid $12 instead of $20). You can see it on my desk in the next photo.

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Below is my mess of a desk, and my flooded floor (flooded with scrap crap, that is). There’s the new Itso cube, and one of my new 3-drawer JET MAX cubes. Actually, “new” is relative since I’ve collected 3 of these units over time from MICHAELS using 50% off coupons. I’ve just never put them together, knowing I had this big re-org project coming up. Recently I assembled one and, man, are they a pain in the asset! Don’t get me started. If you’ve put these together, you know what I mean. (I feel sorry for THIS poor scrapper!) I’m dreading the assembly of the remaining 2 but I shall do it, I shall.

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I’ve done a little more work on the Wall of Cubes and this is how they look as of now…

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The cubes themselves were already pretty organized before I started this crazy project, as they contain the staples of my scrapbook world: Bazzill cardstock sorted by color, die cut/shaped papers, extra page protectors, scrapbook projects, etc. Most of the vertical files by CROPPER HOPPER are sorted by manufacturer and include patterned paper and all embellishments from that company. They could use some tidying but for the most part, the vertical files are good as they are. The gingerbread jars on top, however, are another story. When I first got them way back when on Craigslist (read about it HERE), I had them organized pretty well, but over time I lost control and just started throwing new things in with no rhyme or reason. I’m going to do a post soon about using 2 of the jars for my chipboard letters. There’s one full of flowers, and the rest I plan to use for random embellishments by color. I also put my ribbon jars back on my cubes…ribbons are sorted by color. I love my cubes and jars…they’re my favorite part of my scrapbook room. Can’t wait til I get this part totally done! My pretties, LOL…

So, that’s where I’m at for now. Thanks for sticking with me. I promise I’ll get done eventually, but real life has to come first, so it’ll continue to be slow progress. But progress is progress, right?

Making Memories 12×12 D-Ring Albums

Okay, so I’m doing a BOOK OF ME, thanks to my friends at AMR. I only have a few pages done but this is definitely a project I’m going to continue with throughout my life. I’ve been putting my completed pages in a 12×12 postbound album I had already, an older one by Chatterbox. But … and I’m peeved … the album cover is warped even though it’s been stored properly since I bought it. So I need something else to use.

ETA 9-27-09: Okay, I finally took some pictures….

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It’s hard to see in a photo but look at the top 1/3 of the album. It’s all wavy. Here’s a little better view.

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Let me just say it looks much WORSE in person.

I’ve been thinking about going D-ring for this album, even though I’m pretty firm on sticking to Snapload for my everyday family albums. I hate the D-ring “interruption” in the middle of 2-page layouts, which is what I mostly do in my family albums. But so far, these BOM layouts have been 1-pagers and most will probably continue to be. So why not get a D-ring, right?

Well, the other day I was placing a MEMORY WORKS order for a friend from the crop I went to last Saturday. Tangent: She is getting these, from the Fancy Pants “Christmas Magic” line……sooooo pretty:

Anyway, I thought what a shame to pay $8.45 for shipping for just 2 little things, and have all that empty space in the box, right? I mean, it’s a travesty of some sort, yeah? So I’ll just search around the sale items at Memory Works and see if I can find something to add. You know, something I NEED not just want. I opened the SHOP OUR PRODUCTS section and noticed there was a new section called “Limited Time Only,” which are products they now have a limited quantity of and won’t be able to get more from the manufacturer (I tell ya, girls, it is SUPER hard to stock a scrapbook store or reselling company these days, with the limited and unpredictable quantities being released by manufacturers…not their fault, “it’s the economy,” right?).

So what do I see but this! The perfect color. The perfect design. THE PERFECT D-RING ALBUM!

It’s the Making Memories 12×12 embossed leather D-Ring ALBUM for only $20!! Yep, 20 bucks and with my consultant discount it’s only $16. It’s hard to see in this pic, but it has a pretty embossed design on it. They have several colors….light blue, mocha brown, red, pink, black, and yellow {you can see them all HERE} and it was hard to choose. But I went with pink since it’s one of my favorite colors, and it’s girly and “all about me.” LOL I also got some extra pages ($6 for 10 minus my discount).

If I can order one (or several) for you, please let me know. Just click HERE for info, or up in the top right where it says “I’m a Memory Works Consultant.”

Anyway, I’m so very happy…only $16 (plus $4 to split the shipping with my friend’s order) for a leather, embossed, D-ring album…I’m still in shock, but happy. And pretty in pink! Have a great day…

ETA 9-27-09: My new album is here!! So pretty….. and not warped, LOL!

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Friday Night Scrapbook Randoms #3

It’s the Friday night before a Saturday of cropping, yahoo! Yeppers, I’m going to crop with some friends tomorrow, from about noon to 9pm. I’m working now, and I haven’t even packed yet so it’ll be the usual, me scrambling to pack my crop bags late the night before, hoping I’m remember everything and putting together some semblance of things I can use to make actual layouts with, lol! I am the WORST about packing ahead for crops. The magic package I talked about HERE did indeed arrive today, and I’m so excited to look through it all. Since I’m busy anyway, I’m saving it to look through with the girls tomorrow. If I can resist…

One of the new things I got was the “AMBER ROAD” theme set from PINK PAISLEE. I saw something today that made me love it even more…CHECK IT OUT! And THIS TOO. Isn’t she amazing and ever-so-talented? Love what she did with Amber Road…

Saw this over on 2peas and wanted to share it with you. I had bookmarked this link a long time ago but forgot all about it, so I’m glad it was posted again….Free printable graph paper, ledger paper, binder paper etc. for your scrapbooks ~ you can make some super cool journaling spots, for one! LOOKIE HERE

This useful computer tool was also posted by a Pea: SCRAP BY COLOR color matching tool It takes the colors from your photos and gives you color swatch matches to use in your scrapbooking. Love it. Thank you, ROSALYNN!

About THIS, all I can say is WTH?

I will leave you with THIS. Talk about a scrapbooker’s dream trip! Ali, Karen, and Jenni plus that amazing place. Wow. Wish I could go…

Before my crop tomorrow, I’m going to the beach ~ it’s a family tradition, Coastal Cleanup day ~ so it’s my two favorite things in one day. No, not litter and cigarette butts, silly! The ocean and scrapbooking. Hope you have a great weekend and get some time to scrapbook to your heart’s content.

Bo Bunny: Delilah, Kitchen Spice, Flutter Butter, Boo Crew, Tis the Season, and St. Nick

Yep, all of these new Bo Bunny lines from CHA Summer 2009 are now in stock and ready to order at Memory Works! I’ll just give you a tease of each line by showing you the Theme Set, which is an exclusive to Memory Works. You get a set of 5 sheets of double-sided paper and 1 shaped paper for only $6.25. Also, there’s a sample layout or two so you can see each line in action. {Layouts are all from the Bo Bunny website, unknown artist(s)…}

DELILAH by Bo Bunny


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KITCHEN SPICE by Bo Bunny


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FLUTTER BUTTER by Bo Bunny


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BOO CREW by Bo Bunny


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TIS THE SEASON by Bo Bunny


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ST. NICK by Bo Bunny

Aren’t those great?!?! We carry each Theme Set with matching Cut-Outs (journaling tags and accents, 12×12, double sided), Buttons and Bling, iCandy Brads, Combo Stickers (a 12×12 sheet with alpha, swirlies, and such), Rub-Ons, and acrylic stamps.

You can see all of our new Bo Bunny stuff from CHA right HERE. I notice that a few of the items are showing Out of Stock, which either means they haven’t been received yet, or that the item was so popular, it already sold out.

Memory Works, along with other scrapbooking materials distributors, has been struggling recently with the fact that vendors are not able to sustain product availability over the whole season like they used to. This is, of course, due to the downturn in the industry of late. MEMORY WORKS has responded by deciding to issue an additional catalog every year. We all hope this offers better service and more predictability to our customers. It’s very frustrating, I know, to want an item and see that it’s already out of stock, and the manufacturers won’t be able to provide any more to Memory Works. It seems everyone is doing their best to make it all work! Thank you for understanding….

Anyhoo, if you see any items you like, I would encourage you to order soon! Just sayin…. LOL :) Click HERE for more info on ordering, or becoming a Memory Works hobbyist or consultant.

I think my favorite of these new BO BUNNY lines is Flutter Butter. I’m a sucker for that color combination. So pretty and so versatile….beach, outdoors, park, family, just about anything. Which one is your fave?

Memory Works: Amazing Deal on Cosmo Cricket Stamps

These stamps are the latest addition to the MEMORY WORKS section called Steals and Deals. You get all 3 sets for only $7.50, which is amazing. I mean, $2.50 for each whole set of acrylic stamps…sweet. They usually retail for $13 each, so you’re getting $39 worth of stamps for $7.50 (that’s 81% off!).

They are from the Cosmo Cricket lines called MR. CAMPY, HAUNTED, and JACK’S WORLD. When I was just over at Cosmo Cricket’s own WEBSITE, I see that they sell these stamps for $11.99 a set (which would still be $36 total vs. $7.50).

HERE is a link if you’d like to order them.

Hurry, hurry! My Minds Eye “French Market” Mega Kit!

It’s back in stock at MEMORY WORKS!! Whoo to the hoo!

Shockingly, it’s only $29.95 (over $100 value). I ordered this last time and have it; if you’d like photos or have any questions about what’s in this amazing kit, just let me know :)

More info HERE and HERE.

The My Minds Eye “Bohemia” embossed chipboard is also back in stock. I’m getting some this time, cuz I was so mad I missed out on it before.

It’s only $3; retail value is $8. Can’t beat that, I say…These will be fun to color with chalk inks, alcohol inks, maybe rough ’em up with sandpaper or my BASIC GREY FILE SET.

They will go perfectly with the MME “French Market” set above. Eeeee! Can’t wait to get the chipboard and can’t believe it’s only 3 bucks.

More about the chipboard HERE and HERE.

Just click on the “I’m a Memory Works Consultant” up top, or through the links provided, to order these goodies. Seriously, hurry. They went out of stock very quickly last time.

Fancy Pants “Happy Holidays Mega Collection”

Oh, Memory Works, WHY must you tempt me so?? I opened up my MW website today to see if the MME MEGA KITS and MME BOHEMIA CHIPBOARD KITS were still in stock {they’re not; they were very popular as predicted … and gonzo}. But there is this next “mega” deal…. {The colors look quite nice with my blog header, don’t they?}

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Fancy Pants: Happy Holidays Mega Collection
Come celebrate Christmas in July with the Fancy Pants Happy Holidays Collection.
RETAIL VALUE OF $80.00 which we are selling at only $34.99

This collection includes:

1 – 8X8 Happy Holidays Paper Pad (32 Sheets) $9.00 Retail

1 – Happy Holidays Embellishment Kit (Epoxy Brads, Label Holders, Binder Clips and File Folders) $15.00 Retail

1 – Happy Holidays Printed Chipboard Shapes $13.00 Retail

1 – Happy Holidays Printed Chipboard Alphabet $13.00 Retail

2 – 3X3 Christmas Stamps $4.00 Retail Each

1 – 8X8 Happy Holidays Binder Album (includes 10 8X8 page protectors) $22.00 Retail

(Retail) Price: $80.00
ON SALE Price: $34.99 (Save 57%)
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Looks like such a cool way to scrap one entire holiday season, or else maybe a “layout a year” type Christmas album. My normal scrap size is 12×12, but this 8×8 would be fun to keep out on the coffee table each Christmas season to share with guests. And the kids would love it, too, I’m sure.

Alas, I cannot afford this sweet deal at this particular juncture. Just blew the rest of my birthday dough on the MY MINDS EYE KIT {which has arrived in my hot little hands, btw!!!!}. But click up top on the “I’m a MW consultant” (or here’s a direct LINKEE) if you’re interested in it… Then I can live through you vicariously :)

Bohemia Embossed Chipboard by My Minds Eye

Sorry for another Memory Works “advertising” post so soon, but I just saw that they had this other new item and it would go so well with the MME 29th Street Market MEGA PACK.

MY MINDS EYE – BOHEMIA EMBOSSED CHIPBOARD

Distress it, paint it, ink it, sand it, show it off. Unique mulit-dimension Bohemia Chipboard. Includes 52 shapes and pieces. An $8 retail value for only $3.

Here are some sample layouts from the MY MINDS EYE GALLERY, showing this cool product being used:

ALL THREE LAYOUTS BY “KRISTEN”

Wish I would’ve seen this stuff before I placed my order yesterday. Just the package itself didn’t catch my eye, but seeing it in use makes me want some….want some BAD. If you’d like to order some ~ maybe throw it in with that MME mega kit ~ click on “I’m a Memory Works Consultant” at the top of this page.

If you’re not a shopper, I hope you enjoyed the layouts anyway. Aren’t they gorgeous? Kristen is such a great photographer and I love the way she used all of the MME products, not just the chipboard. I like going straight to the manufacturer’s galleries when I have a certain product I’m itching to use. They give such wonderful ideas.

Cropping, Journaling, Inking and Decisions…

I went to a crop Saturday, the one I talked about HERE. Only 4 of us ended up being able to go. I talked more than I cropped, and we stopped to eat twice (lunch/dinner) so I didn’t get much done. I completed 5 pages and started a 6th, and I was there from about 11:30 to 9. One thing I did different this time is that I promised myself I would get the journaling done AT the crop. I can’t tell you how many unfinished layouts are sitting on my desk from past crops, that were done, they “just need the journaling.” Ya’ got any of those on your desk? I mean, they’re, like, 30 minutes of effort away from being in a scrapbook for everyone to enjoy and yet…they’re on my desk. Why is journaling something I put off? I really do like to write, it’s not that. It’s like I lose my mojo to work on that layout once I leave the crop. But anyhow, that’s why I forced myself to journal these layouts and I’m glad I did. They are going straight into the album, baby!

Another new thing I tried was a technique that’s been around awhile but I’m always late to the party. I had a white Bazzill background, and I laid out the title of my layout with letter stickers (a block style of cardstock sticker alpha by American Crafts; $1 from Big Lots, LOL!). Then I went over the title in a circular motion with deep turquoise chalk ink by Martha Stewart (it’s just like the kind by COLORBOX). Then I removed the stickers and, voila! The white Bazzill showed through the turquoise ink and it looks rad. The only problem was some bleeding around about three of the letters, but it’s not that noticeable. At least, that’s what my sweet crop friends told me, LOL! I learned my lesson, though…make sure those suckers are stuck down pretty well before you rub the ink on. I like this technique so much, I used it again when I started that 6th layout. I used a different kind cardstock alpha sticker, made sure the letters were stuck down really good, and it came out great.

The Memory Works “party” part of it didn’t work out because, like me, everyone is broke, LOL! The hostess ordered some things and I’m going to split shipping with her and throw in something with her order. I can’t decide….the new Basic Grey ‘Junebug’ or ‘Lemonade’ (see them HERE and HERE), or Little Yellow Bicycle ‘Traveler’ (which I shared HERE). Tough decision. If you could get something from these lines, what would you get?

I’ve also been eyeing this for a while…THE COTTAGE Theme Set by Scrap Within Reach, which is a company that’s new to me and I have nothing of theirs yet. I’m curious what the quality is like/what it’s like in person. I love the colors and it seems a very versatile set to work with. And the price is good ~ you get six 12×12 sheets of double-sided patterned cardstock paper for $5.75, so less than a dollar a sheet for double-sided cardstock PP…not bad.

Yeah, decisions, decisions…

New: “Junebug” by Basic Grey @ Memory Works

I just posted all the new BG ‘Lemonade’ stuff that’s now being carried by Memory Works HERE. Now, I want to show you ‘Junebug’ by Basic Grey, which we also just got in stock. {To place an order, please click on the bold product name}.

June Bug THEME SET {Price: $7.75}

June Bug CARD KIT {Price: $15.00}

June Bug ALPHA STICKERS {Price: $3.00}

June Bug BUTTONS {Price: $5.00}

June Bug CHIP STICKER SHAPES {Price: $7.00}

June Bug FLOWER DOILIES {Price: $3.00}

June Bug NAVY DOILIES {Price: $3.00}

June Bug GLAZED BRADS {Price: $4.00}

June Bug POPS {Price: $4.00}

June Bug RUB ON BOOK {Price: $7.00}

June Bug TAKE NOTE {Price: $5.00}

June Bug WOOLIES {Price: $5.00}

HERE is some inspiration from the Basic Grey website.

My favorite things in this line are the Woolies and the Alpha Stickers. Oh, and that Navy Doilie is sooooo pretty! Did you see the dogs in the Chip Sticker Shapes? The pink poodle is especially cute.

Any thoughts on June Bug?

Going to a Crop

Well, my bags are packed and I’m going to a small crop with friends today. There are 6 or 7 of us who try and meet up every few months, which I love, because I never seem to crop at home anymore. The only time I get anything done is at crops. Anyhoo, since I’m starting up doing MEMORY WORKS again, I asked the hostess if she wanted to turn the crop today into and MW “party” so she could have the hostess credits. I was happy she said yes. So what happens is I take new catalogs and some products with me today and sell/take orders. Everything that’s ordered will be shipped together to the hostess and she distributes it to everyone. Which is easy, since we all live near each other and see each other often. The cool thing is you “share the shipping” that way instead of each customer paying it themselves. And the best part is the hostess, if we reach $150 in orders, gets a hostess credit. It’s a win-win. Actually, I’m a bit concerned with so few of us that we won’t meet the $150 minimum. It’s such a tough economy and I know everyone can’t afford to scrapbook spend the way they used to. If we get close to $150, I may add my own items to the order, so that my hostess can earn her rewards. But I just spent the last of my birthday money on THIS, so I don’t have a ton to spend right now either. Well, I’m just hoping it works out.

The main thing is this….I GET TO SCRAPBOOK TODAY!!!!! Even if the MW order thing doesn’t work out, I’m one massively happy camper. I was up late packing for the crop last night and am fairly disorganized. I’m here at the computer this morning printing photos (and order forms). So we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, I packed enough of the right things to make some kickin’ layouts, LOL!

Hope you’re having a fabulous weekend. Do you have any plans for creative time?

New: “Traveler” by Little Yellow Bicycle @ Memory Works!

Everybody say, “Hey-aaaayyy!” Got some new shizzle in the hizzy! Yes, the goodies have landed at Memory Works. We now carry the following items:

“TRAVELER” by Little Yellow Bicycle {Just click on the BOLD title of each item to place an order}

THEME SET {Price: $6.75}

CLEAR CUT SHAPES {Price: $5.00}

RUB-ONS {Price: $3.50}

STICKERS {Price: $4.00}

CARDSTOCK STICKERS {Price: $3.50}

JOURNALING TABLET {Price: $4.00}

CHIPBOARD ALBUM {Price: $10.00}

5.75×11.75 Chipboard Album with Acrylic Cover

PAPER TABLET {Price: $9.00}

11.75×5.75 paper tablet designed to work with the chipboard album.

I have to admit, I’m kind of a collector of travel-themed papers. I’ve scrapped some long trips (12 days in Europe, 8 days in northwest US, etc.), and have a few more on the Scrap To Do list. I’m always on the lookout for cool travel papers and I really like this line. The colors are bright but distressed (did that even make sense?), and the color combo will go with just about any travel photos. No, I promise I won’t dress my family in navy polos and orange jackets on our next trip! Really, I won’t (wink). Nah, this line will match the photos on it’s own.

I think my favorite item is the Journaling Tablet. Yeah, you know me, a sucker for journaling spots…. And I love the paper shaped like a highway sign, with the journaling lines.

HERE is a link to their website gallery with some great inspiration ~ projects using the LYB Traveler line…

What do you think of this new line, “Traveler” by Little Yellow Bicycle?

More Tutorials for EK Success & Fiskars Border Punches

I’ve posted links to border punch tutorials in the past and know how much we all love them, so here’s another one. Check it out HERE. Thanks to ABBY aka ScrapbookFrenzy for pointing this out! It’s from the Studio Calico BLOG, which has lots of other yumminess. I confess to owning 2 of the punches she uses (Threading Water aka eyelet punch, and Leave it to Weaver, with the ribbon slots). Now, of course, I’ll be getting the 3rd one with the waves … if I can find it with a coupon.

I love the idea of threading ribbon through the THREADING WATER punch. That punch is so versatile. You can also put brads in the eyelet holes, or STICKLES, or SKITTLES.

When I saw the card she added the border to…

…I started to feel like there was an online conspiracy against me. I want that new line from Cosmo Cricket called EARLY BIRD soooo bad, and I keep seeing projects all over the place where it’s used but I don’t have mine….yet! I will be ordering it from MEMORY WORKS, like, pronto. I can’t take it anymore.

These border punches by EK Success and Fiskars are so popular. HERE is a thread on 2peas asking, “How many border punches do you have?” I was glad to see I’m not alone in having quite a few.

Confession time: I have …… um, let’s see …… 3 Martha Stewart ……. plus 2 Fiskars ……. plus 2 EK Success ……. equals 7! That’s not TOOO embarrasing, is it? What’s embarrassing is how many more of them I want.

You’re turn to ‘fess up…How many border punches do YOU have?

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