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scrapbook organization

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Scrapbook Room Organization: Store in Style Cubes and Glass Jars

As I said in my LAST POST, now that the scrapbooking part of my office has been reorganized I’m going to do a series of blog posts showing the befores and afters and explaining how I organized.

From the whole room photo in my last post, you couldn’t even see this but it’s probably my favorite part of the room. It’s the wall made up of STORE IN STYLE CUBES and a variety of jars.

Here’s how the setup looked before my latest reorg project.

BEFORE

And here is the new and much improved version.

AFTER

So back to how it looked before:


*Disclaimer: I own so much MME paper because I bought a few of those huge packs that they sold at Costco years ago. I used the papers for goody bags when I held crops, sold them open stock, etc. There’s no way I’m EVAH going to use all that MME paper. But I have no plausible excuse for the rest of it.

In the past, I’d bought these cubes, assembled them, and put them in a good configuration for the room. I didn’t want to stack them too high because I need to be able to get to the jars spread across the top. {Otherwise – I love these stinkin’ cubes so much, I totally would stack them to the ceiling, lol}. In the past, I had also started using the CROPPER HOPPER VERTICAL FILES to store my paper and embellies by brand name.

I used a label maker to label each file with the brand name, then put in 12×12 papers along with embellishments. I like to store a lot of my things by manufacturer because when I go to scrap, I pull out that whole file and pretty much everything matches. I don’t have to rack my brain going, “Now, did I buy the matching letter stickers to go with this?” or “What paper would look great with this one?” Everything I need is right there.

So that organizing scheme worked out well but, as you can see, as I bought more items, instead of taking the time to pull the vertical file out and put the new things in their proper place, I just kinda’ shoved them on top. Hey, at least I got them in the right cube! But yeah, not the most effective way to find things later on and it sure started to look messy.

As you may know, my original plan to reorganize my scrap room/home office was to take 3 days really focusing on it, emptying everything out of the room, then put things back in an organized way, purging unwanted things as I went. {Details are HERE}. Needless to say, it didn’t much go to plan after Day 3 :)

But this photo is from Day 1 when I cleared most of the cubes out and moved all the paper files and other things to the dining room and living room.

I decided to keep some things where they were because their organization wasn’t going to change. The drawer jam-packed with adhesives and SNAPLOAD packs was left alone, as was my filer cube which has generic patterned papers filed by color.

Then it was time to install the doors on cubes that were still open.

I’d bought the doors months {gulp – or maybe even a year} ago but they’d just been sitting in boxes in my scrap room since then. I ain’t gonna’ lie … I absolutely HATE putting stuff like this together, even when it’s something this easy. I’d rather, like, go to the dentist or watch paint dry than assemble something. But I finally did it.

And leave it to a scrapbooker – when I couldn’t find any Elmer’s or white glue to install the magnets, I just used my trusty GLOSSY ACCENTS. Hey, same diff. It’s all sticky, right? And just think how glossy and shiny it is inside those tiny holes in the cubes. I bet they feel really special.

Okay, here’s some more things that didn’t get removed from the room because they were going to stay essentially the same.

These 4 gingerbread jars were chock full and had been organized already (journaling spots, flowers, and chipboard letters sorted into baggies). They didn’t need anything but a quick wipedown with Windex to get rid of some dust.

Speaking of cleaning …

Here are all the lids of the gingerbread jars laid out on the homework table drying. Yep, I washed everything with soap and water because I wanted to start over sparkly clean.

In the background of the photo, you can also see where I started to fill in the cubes. I decided to move the Vertical Paper Holders to another part of the room. Part of the reason was to prevent fading of my papers. Can you see the lightswitch to the top right of the photo? To the right of that is a sliding glass door that gets full sun for half of the day. I noticed that the edges of some of my Beloved BAZZILL was fading :( I know, right? We CANNOT have THAT. So even though doors were going on those cubes, I thought it would be a good idea to move all my papers away from the sliding glass door.

Here’s what the cubes looked like once I got all 7 doors installed.

It looks so much neater, doesn’t it? The Store in Style DOORS only cost $13 each which I think was a good investment for my space. Other than the fading issue, another important advantage is that now I can use the cubes to hide things I don’t feel are very attractive to look at: empty albums, pages/page protectors, projects, etc. Most of these items used to be kept on an open bookshelf and I just hated looking at them. They looked so sloppy not to mention uninspiring. Now they’re hidden {wink}.

Here’s a closer photo of some of the things that are now kept on top of the white cubes.

Jar, jars, and more jars! There are also a few decorative things that I’m starting to collect that are in my favorite colors ~ turquoise, ocean green, robin’s egg blue, and white. These are colors that remind me of my favorite place in the world: the ocean. The Ball canning jar on the left I got from an antique store in Seattle last year. The pretty vase on the right is from a nursery near the beach house we stay at each summer. {I know I should put something cute inside it but I like that grassy straw stuff it came with for some reason, lol}. The dish is from my mom who is an expert at collectable china and often gives me pretty things. I’m thinking I can use it as a holding area for pretty embellies or flowers until I put them away in the proper jars.

Speaking of all those jars … I don’t have a good picture of them all put together, do I? But I’ll go across from left to right and tell you what I have stored in them:

– Sport embellishments
– Making Memories embellishments
– K & Company embellishments
– Ink pens
– Bling
– MAMBI/KI Memories embellishments
– Mists
– Flowers
– Chipboard
– Ribbon
– Twine and jute
– Photo corners
– Chipboard letters
– Journaling spots
– My Minds Eye embellishments
– Misc. embellishments (2)
– Decorative river rocks
– Decorative glass shells
– Empty (1)

Yes, I actually have a small ginger jar that is empty. It’s one of the jars without a lid so it’s harder to think of things to put in those. Maybe that will be an “embellies to file” jar or something :)

So back to the final product.

AFTER

You can also see my travel art hanging on the wall above the cubes. As I mentioned before, I wanted to add some personal touches that WEREN’T about scrapbooking this time around. I love to travel although I don’t get to do it much, so I dream through pictures of other countries and reading books about them. My first love is Italy but I dream of traveling all throughout Western Europe someday. For now, I can look up from my desk, see images of Paris, Provence, and Tuscany, sigh, and be content with dreaming.

With each of these entries, I’m going to put a list at the end of products I’ve used and where I got them, so here goes…

STORE IN STYLE CUBES: I collected these over time by using 40% or 50% off coupons at MICHAELS. You can also get them from Oriental Trading (the link is above).

GINGER JARS: I got these ones AND MORE for $40 from a local candy store via CRAIGSLIST. I’ve seen these at BED BATH & BEYOND which seem to be the same thing. THESE are sure cute from Pier One; you can label them with chalk.

MASON JARS: I’ve had these for ages but I got them at Pier One. I can’t find them on their website but THESE ONES from Amazon.com are sure cute.

Thank you for checking out my “cubes and jars” wall in my scrapbook space and please let me know if you have any questions!

Scrapbook Room Organization: Sneak Peek of the Finished Room

Well, the “three day project” that I talked about HERE, ended up taking slightly longer (okay, a month, sheez…) but I got it done. Well, done enough to show you an AFTER photo at least, LOL.

So here is the view of my scrapbook room/home office from the doorway (it’s right off the dining room):

When I see this photo, I’m wondering if – to you – it still seems very cluttered in here :) But believe me, for all the junk you see now, it was WAY worse! This is a huge improvement, fer shizzle.

I’ll be doing a series of blog posts with before and after pics of different sections of the room and what I did to organize things. But I wanted to start by showing the entire room that I’m very blessed to have, clutter and all…

Scrapbook Room Organization: Almost Done …

Thought I would check in again with my progress. Here are some of the things I’ve accomplished since last post:

– Organized my mini-album stash including changing their location so I could get to them and, uh like, USE them more easily. I had too many – got rid of some – kept too many.

– Went through 3 crates kinda’ like this that I’ve had forever, like, since my early days of scrapping in the early 2000s, LOL. I knew I had a lot of unfinished projects and project ideas, but it was ridonculous how many I actually had. Again, I purged a few and kept too many. But they’re in a new location now, better organized, easier to get to … and actually finish? We shall see :)

– Organized my 6×6 and 8×8 papers and refill pages, got them all from various places into one place … so I can start using them in my mini albums mentioned above, right?

– A LOT of cleaning and dusting.

– Took out years’ worth of things I’d been hiding under my big L-shaped desk, purged, moved, got better organized, and made room for things I use (but want to hide) today. I’m happy to report that I still have leg room!

I’m planning the Big Reveal for this coming Monday. So stay tuned …

Scrapbook Room Organization: Day 492

Okay, fine, that may be exaggerating a little bit but Geez Oh Pete, this is taking a long time!

Remember, I had planned to finish it in THREE DAYS. I know, right? What in holy hell was I thinking? Maybe for a normal person who is not a SCRAPBOOKER HOARDER that would’ve been puh-lenty of time. But not for me. No sirree bob.

If I count every day since I started minus the days I worked out of the home all day or was out of town – I’m really on Day 12. I’ve just been plugging away, doing little things when I have a few minutes and bigger projects when I have chunks of time. Here are some of the things I’ve accomplished:

– Assembled a 3-drawer cube; I own 3 of the JETMAX STORAGE CUBES from Michaels and there is still 1 left in the box. Ugh. Dreading putting that last one together, although it WILL be glorious to be done and to have that extra storage.

– Added doors to all of my STORE IN STYLE CUBES that didn’t have them already; I think I added 6 doors. GREAT addition. Makes it look so much cleaner and I can hide more. Oh, shite, did I say that in my “out loud” voice?

– Emptied all my glass ginger jars, rinsed and dried them, and re-did what I stored in most of them. Yes, you will have to wait until the Great Reveal to see for yourself :P

*This is from an old blog post – one of the many times I’ve posted about working on my scrapbook room. You can see the cubes I talked about above, before they had doors :)

– Cleaned out the piles of stuff under my large, L-shaped desk. It’s really great at hiding things. But it’s nice to have some legroom back, I tell ya’.

– I am labeling like crazy, girlfriend! Love my good ol’ label maker. I would marry it if I could. Well, wait, I’m in California. Maybe it IS legal? Hrm, have to look into that.

– Started and labeled IRIS clamshell cases for “Projects,” “Incomplete Layouts,” and “Put in Albums.”

– Purged boo koo (yes, I do know that’s not the real way to spell it but I did anyway, ha!) scrapbook magazines and catalogs.

– Got my magazine holder full of 8.5×11 cardstock arranged in ROYGBIV color order.

– Purged and cleaned the kids’ homework and craft area. Of course, it’ll be a hot mess again in 3.2 days but at least it was pretty for a while.

– Pulled everything out of my computer/electronics/office supply cabinet, cleaned, and re-arranged.

Okay, I can stop now, right? I’ve given you enough of a list that you can see I’m cereal about this, right? I am NOT Joshing you. I really truly am working on my scrap space. Not that you’ve ever known me to lie, but still.

{Well, there was that one little white lie when I said I would NEH-VUR buy another stack of any sort from Michaels again. But really, who can keep a promise like that? Can you? Yeah, that’s what I thought}.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. How about you? Anyone else on this “fun” little journey of scrapbook room reorganization? Tell us about it. Or just tell me how awesome I am. Whatever.

And in the finest seque seen in a super duper long time … Speaking of JOURNEY (my favorite band EVAH!), my bestie scrapbook friend sent this to me. Go ahead, laugh your ass off. I did. Toodles.

Pink Paislee 2011 Warehouse Sale = Grab Box of Goodness!

It’s that TIME again! It’s their 3rd annual sale.

The Peas are talking about it HERE and HERE.

I got the PP warehouse boxes in both 2009 and 2010. However, I think I’m going to pass this year. When I look at the sample in their ad and also think about the lines they’ve come out with since the last box, I have to be honest and say not a lot of it was up my alley. Not that it wasn’t great stuff – ‘cuz it was, it was! Just not my style.

{Not to mention the fact that my current scrapbook room reorg. has me VERY well aware that I have puh-lenty of pretty papers and general scrapbook goodness}.

Yeah, I’ll probably kick myself later, especially when everyone starts posting pics of their boxes when they arrive. But I’m gonna’ hang tough.

How about you? Did you order a PINK PAISLEE 2011 warehouse box … or are you gonna’?

Scrapbook Room Organization: Going for Broke, Day 3 @ 1:30 pm

Can’t write much because … I’m going like gangbusters on my scraproom! I have it about 1/2 emptied out. I’m grouping, purging, and organizing as I take stuff out so it’s taking longer than I thought. I’m hoping that means it will be quicker to put back together.

Yes, I’m taking photos along the way so you can witness the devastation later ;)

I thought I was going to keep things arranged pretty much the way they have been because I like my system (it was just out of control). But I just made a decision to make a major switch and I think it’s going to be great.

Okay, back to work! Just wanted to check in :)

Scrapbook Room Organization: Going for Broke, Day 2, 10:30 pm

I’m not going to tiptoe around this, okay? I got pretty much nothing done on my room today.

NOW.

If you’re going to throw things at me, here are your choices:

– Chocolate
– Xanax
– Martini fixings
– Scrapbook supplies
– either things I want like BASIC GREY embellies or SMASH BOOK accessories
– or things that won’t hurt very much when they make contact, e.g., eyelets, glitter, ribbon, and the like (shop carefully, please)

Once you’re done being mad at me … what, you’re still mad??? Jeesh. I can give you some sad eyes. Oh! Better yet! I’ll have my dog give you some sad eyes. He gets stuff past me all the time with those freakin’ sad eyes. “Now, Mom, I know I barked all night when you had to get up for work at 5am but …” and – bladow – SAD EYES. Shoot. He got me again. Can’t be mad.

So … I had to work today. A lot. My plan this morning was to work for 30 minutes, organize for 30 minutes. However, that didn’t happen … too much work. It’s 10pm and I just wrapped it up. If I’d stopped to organize every 30 minutes, I’d have been working until 6am tomorrow, LOL. Which is probably what YOU would’ve preferred but, srsly, have some pity on me, willya?

But now I’m panicking. I have ONE DAY left to get my room done!

BLURG.

I mean, it’s not like the room self-destructs after Day 3 or anything. It’s just that after tomorrow, I’m tied up for several days and I want this room dunzo. I’m SO tired of putting it off and not getting it done. How many times have I gotten this portion or that portion of my room organized, but never the whole entire thing? Lots. Very lots.

I want my scrap space organized so I can find things and be creative. I want my home office organized so I can work efficiently.

I really thought this was going to be my time :( There’s nothing I can do about work – in fact, I’m inordinately grateful that I have so much work right now, because the life of an independent contractor can get scary at times – when the work doesn’t come.

But but but …

You know what I mean, right?

So now I’m going to decide between these two plans:

1. Start drinking coffee now at 10:30 pm, pray for a second wind, and get a bunch accomplished late into the night. Work while there are fewer distractions. Sleep in a bit in the morning, and finish up tomorrow afternoon.

2. Chill the rest of this evening, watch the “SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE” next-to-last episode I taped earlier tonight, then turn in early (well, early for me). Get up early tomorrow and power through everything in one day.

I’ll let you know tomorrow which option I went with :) And for those of you who asked, I’m going back to add photos to my past entries that show a bit of what I’m dealing with. But the best photos will be posted tomorrow of PROGRESS and hopefully SUCCESS.

And there WILL be progress. Damn it.

Scrapbook Room Organization: Going for Broke, Day 1, 5:00 pm

Well, it’s now 5:00 pm on Day 1 of the Great Scrapbook Room/Home Office Reorg … and not much has changed in here from the 10:00 am update, I’m sorry to say :(

From 10:00 am to noon, I worked in the garage and the spare bedroom, aka The Junk Room (where all the home office stuff is going for now). I pulled an oak file cabinet out from the corner and put it in the hallway, vacuumed and cleaned up that whole corner, and started making piles in that room.

I had to get the file cabinet out of the corner because it’s eventually going in my home office near my computer desk. One of the reasons I have so many work/school/misc. paper piles on my desk (other than I was apparently genetically predisposed to pile-making) is that there’s no real office storage near my work desk.

I have some accordion files on a shelf under the desk but they’re for specific things I need close at hand. And I’m not going to tell you what papers those are because all you technology smart, super-organized people are going to tell me that I shouldn’t even SAVE those papers because I can do paperless bill paying, paperless banking, and paperless paychecks. Well, I’m an old-fashioned girl and I prefer to have some things on paper. So quit trying to talk me out of it already. Jeez O Pete. You’re so pushy!

Back to the Junk Room … Now, I know you’re going to say, “I thought you were trying to get away from piles?!?!?” Well, yes, long-term but you have to admit, some pile-making must occur during the organizational process, right? So there’s the office stuff pile, the toys/games pile, the wrapping paper/gift bag pile, etc.

I promise to get the Junk Room organized next. In the meantime, it’s one of the staging areas. Mmm, kay? Anyway, I got all those piles sorted, threw some stuff away, etc. The room had already been purged of toys, games, books, and puzzles for our garage sale last weekend. The big job I have to do in there is going through school papers/art and files. I used to feel the need to save everything but I’ve finally come to the conclusion that, srsly, there is so much of it I don’t need.

I mean, I just sold all my cookbooks at the garage sale. I know, GASP! But honestly, whenever I wanna look up a recipe, I look online. I kept a few but the rest were sold. See? I’m ready to quit being such a packrat. Baby steps, baby steps …

Another thing that got moved back there was a childhood set of encyclopedias we just got from my mom-in-law. There are mounted bookshelves in there that DH wants them on; we just need to clean the shelf and get them placed in away that evenly distributes the weight. Them muthas’ are HEAVY. I know ‘cuz I carried all the boxes back there :)

I had the kids clean up their homework table (it’s in my scraproom/home office). It was a mess of projects, papers, and pencils. In my last post I said I was planning to keep my photos/memorabilia in the garage so all that crap … erm … stuff was not clogging up the dining room while I did the shorter-term scrappy organizing. Well, as someone pointed out, that is a baaaaad idea. Doy. Leaving photos out in the heat of a California summer is dum-dum-dum. So I’ll have to hatch another plan.

Then the fun had to take a break. I had to run some errands. One involved my new printer … ya know, the one I mentioned before that I might return? Well, yeah, now I’m sure I will. I just got it 2 days ago to replace my antiquated Canon because I wanted to get a multi-use machine that would fax in addition to copy/scan/print, and also that had a document feeder. Then I could also get rid of my little cheapie Brother fax machine. (Yes, I know you can fax online but I have a client who prefers to use a machine so I need to have one). The organizational point is: I’m trying to consolidate and have fewer things on my desk, especially since I just had to add the second laptop.

Long story short, the EPSON 325 WORKFORCE printer that I got at Target the other day ($99 marked down to $69) isn’t going to work out. I wasn’t able to sell my old printer or fax at the garage sale so I didn’t want to spend the $150-200 I had originally planned for an printer. But the document feeder keeps jamming and it takes forever and a day to print a 1-page letter. I’m sure I just got a bad one but meanwhile … I went to OfficeMax today for something else and found the Artisan 835 that I really wanted. Not only is it on sale ($299 marked down to $169) but I can also get $50 off for turning in my old printer. Suh-weet! Don’t have to try and sell that bitch on Craigslist :P

So, the moral of that story is … sometimes it’s good to save the box!

I was gone doing errands until 5:00 and once I finish this blog post, I need to work for a few hours. The good news is … while I was out, I bought a triple-shot latte so I’ll be good to go for organizing into the night. When I’m on a roll, I’ve been known to stay up until 2 or 3am so don’t give up on Day 1 progress just yet.

See you on the flip side :)

PS: I know there are typos but I have to get to work. I’ll either fix them later or you can just ignore them. Whatevs.

Scrapbook Organization: Going for Broke, Day 1, 10:00 am

I’m going to keep a blog diary as I go along for the next 3 days.

I was up early today … anxious to get started! I even dreamt about organizing my room, lol. I had to do some paperwork first but it’s 10 am and I’m off and running. I’m going to move stuff mostly to the dining room next door.

Things that are going to take some time to go through before they come back into my space will go to the garage (my memorabilia and some old photos are a huge mess right now, for one thing). I’m hoping most of what I put in the dining room can be back in the scrap room by the end of today. I hate leaving a mess in other parts of the house but we’ll see …

Here’s what I’ve accomplished so far:

– Folded up boxes from recent purchases of printer, laptop, and foot pedal (for my transcription business). This printer is giving me fits and I might return it so the box is in the garage for now. Other boxes to the recycle as I’m happy with my laptop and pedal.

– Found 2 new baskets for my {extensive, embarrassing, but oh so loved} Thickers collection. One basket had my “recently purchased/inspiration stuff” that I keep on my desk. Now that’s all sitting in a pile on my desk. Must find another home for it. Well, better yet, by the end of the 3 days, all that stuff will be put away and I’ll have an empty basket other than a few things I want to use soon. The basket that my Thickers were in also included all my other letter stickers, sorted by color in manila folders, standing up in the basket. Now that basket is 1/2 empty and, since I don’t see myself buying many more non-Thickers letters in the future, I should probably downsize that storage and free up the large basket for something else. The good thing is I have lots of empty baskets and bins to choose from :)

MY EMBARRASSING THICKERS COLLECTION(there are also faux-Thickers in there by Miss Elizabeth’s from the Dollar Tree)

MY SAD “OTHER THAN THICKERS” LETTER STICKERS (Yes, I used to have almost all of those Thicker packs jammed in this basket, too. Yike)

– Put my Heidi Swapp paper folder back together and on the shelf. I took it to a recent crop, so all the papers were pulled out and a mess.

– Also from the recent crop, my crop bags were strewn everywhere. I had managed to get them unpacked but not put away. I collapse the smaller bags down into the huge one for storage. So, got that done.

– For now, I’m going to take all office-related stuff to the guest room. That’s a whole NOTHER issue! Taming the paper tiger. I need to get a handle on that for sure. But for today, I’m only going to worry about the scrapbook portion of the room.

– Took a big bin of MEMORY WORKS stock and catalogs to the dining room. There’s not much I can do about this bin. It’s big but it’s organized and necessary. Same goes for a tote full of MW stock. My MW things have always just sat on the floor. I wish there was somewhere I could put them away. Maybe as the room progresses, I’ll find some free space. Hey, a girl can dream.

BIN OF MEMORY WORKS STOCK

Okay, I’ll check in again later today with a progress report! I’ll post some photos then, too.

ETA 8/10/11 10:45 pm: Added photos that go with this post :)

Scrapbook Room Organization: “Going for Broke”

Hey peeps, long time, no talk. Well, I hope you’re fittin’ to get sick of me because I’m about to take on ~ and blog about ~ a big project. I’m writing it down here so I don’t back out AGAIN with the “I’m too busy” or “I don’t have time” or “I don’t have the space” excuses.

I AM GOING TO ORGANIZE MY SCRAPBOOK ROOM-SLASH-HOME OFFICE.

Can I get a witness!?!?!

HOLLAH!

This is a WAY long time coming. OMG, just WAIT until you see the before photos! You’re going to fuh-reak when you see what a pigsty I’ve been working in. And by “work” I mean do bills, play on the computer, and do my home transcription biz.

I do NOT, however, mean scrapbooking. Because that particular activity hasn’t taken place here in quite a damn while. {When you see the BEFORE pictures, you’ll see why}.

Did you know it’s impossible to scrap on top of piles? Yeppers, I’m a “piler.” That means that instead of putting things away right when I get them, I just pile them on my desk, the floor, the couch, whatever blank spot I can find. It’s like I think the Pile Clearing Fairies are going to come when I’m sleeping and put it all away for me. {Hey, if there’s a Scrap Santa, I don’t see why there can’t be Pile Clearing Fairies!}.

Here are the things that tend to end up on piles in my scrapbook room/home office:

New scrapbook supplies – because who am I kidding? that goes at the top of the list
Memorabilia – because apparently I have to save every. stinkin. thing.
School and work papers – “until I have time to go through them” … um, yeah, right …
Scrapbook magazines and catalogs
Receipts – because you *know* as soon as I trash a receipt, I’ll need to return one of the items on it

Like I said, I’ve wanted/planned to do this for a long time but HERE is the 2peas thread that’s motivating me to finally do it. Well, that thread plus the fact that I’m tired of stubbing my toes in my scrap room and I’m REALLY tired of not being able to scrapbook at home (crops are the only things that have kept me sane).

According to the scrapbook-organizing Peas, you can either attack your room’s “hot spots” or you can “go for broke.” Going for broke means emptying most everything out of your scrap space, getting it sorted and purged, and only putting back what you’ll use. I’ve been doing the Hot Spot deal for years and, honey pie, it ain’t workin’. Time to Go For Broke, I say.

I have three days off from work starting today ~ although I have some transcription work to do, plus all the “mom” stuff like entertaining kids on summer break, making meals, laundry, etc. Oh, I have a question: How many frozen pizzas do you think a family can (be forced to) eat before they stop speaking to you? Hmmm … then again, if it’s quiet around here, I can get this done faster ;)

So wish me luck, I’M GOIN’ IN!

A Family History Blog … {Sigh} … Someday …

LORELLE ON WORDPRESS is basically, for me, “The Goddess of All That is WordPress.” I’ve been reading her blog for ages and, as a long-time blogger-slash-computer dork who has learned relatively little in my 4 years of blogging, I “follow” her and read her words (most of which go over my ever-lovin’ head) with amazement and deference.

To sum it up, this is how I feel about Lorelle:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FucbvoFFy0]

Well, just like that except picture Lorelle as Alice Cooper and me as Wayne and Garth.

ANYWAAAAYS. THIS was Lorelle’s blog entry today. As if she couldn’t get any more perfect-er than being a WordPress Guru Blogger, she is also a Family History Blogger. We scrappers LUV us some family history, don’t we?

And not only is she a Family History Blogger, but she made it into her local paper … and to top it off, on her blogs she tells US how to start and run a family history blog. All the links you need are right HERE.

Do you SEE why I’m not worthy?!?!?

Honestly, until I saw this article, it had never occurred to me to start a family history blog. But what an awesome idea, right?

My maternal grandmother was a geneologist … like back in the day, where you had to travel to LIBRARIES and look at MICRO FICHE and make DITTO COPIES of things. I mean, my Gramma ROCKED it. She was hardcore. She even went to Europe to research her family. Then I have an aunt on my dad’s side who compiled a bunch of family history, documents, and photos into a large bound book. A cousin and my mom have been using ANCESTRY.COM to do geneology research in recent years.

I’ve gone on that site a few times and found copies of things like a census from when my granddad was little and that was super cool but other than that, I get totally lost and overwhelmed at all the clicks and links and documents and searches. I feel like Alice down the rabbit hole. I need to spend more time there to figure it all out, although at this point, I’d probably just be duplicating what my other family members have already found.

Anyhow, it just seems to me that a family history blog would be a cool place to bring all these disparate elements together into one place. Srsly, check out Lorelle’s articles on how to do a family history blog … it’s SO cool! You can scan documents in, tag entries by family name, have authors who are “dead or alive,” post photos, share information and stories, etc.

Honestly, it got this little scrapbooker all kindsa jacked up! {Dork}.

The good news is: I’m TOTALLY adding this to my Bucket List for Life. I so want to do a family history blog.

The bad news is: Not only is my plate full right now, but I got a stack of plates that are all full. So this won’t happen anytime soon. Maybe when I retire (gulp). Or hit the lotto. Or become so famous for blogging that I can quit my day jobs. Uh, yeahhh, right!

But the GREAT news is that when I’m ready ~ or you are ~ Lorelle has laid out the process for us so we can do this cool thing she has done. She’s just a share-y person like that.

Mad props, Lorelle, mad props.

Storage for Cricut Cartridges and Tools

Do you need some cool storage for your Cricut cartridges?

It’s official name is “Art Bin Super Satchel Electronic Cartridge Storage” … but we’re going to call it “Art Bin Cricut Storage” for short, LOL. It retails for $19.99 and the dimensions are 9.825 X 11 X 2.25″. It holds up to 16 cartridges along with booklets and tools.

On the ART BIN website, THIS ITEM shows as “temporarily out of stock.” However, it has been spotted recently at stores like AC MOORE, JOANN’s, BEVERLY’s, and various online sources.

If you have a ton of cartidges, you could get a bunch of these satchels and stack them in SUPER SATCHEL CUBE?

I first came across this awesome Cricut storage at a Beverly’s craft store a couple weeks ago. Right when I saw it, I knew I had to have it! I’ve never really had a good storage option for my Cricut stuff and, though I don’t have much by some standards, it still would be nice to have it all in one place. Beverly’s had it for $19.99 and I used a 40% off coupon … can’t complain about that price.

Here’s a look at my very own Art Bin Cricut Storage:

I like that it’s so easy to take to crops. I only have 9 cartridges but now I have an excuse for my collection to grow, LOL! The books I have fit nicely although I do still need to tear out the non-English pages to save some room … and make room for more booklets. The satchel is very good quality, as Art Bin products are known for, and I’m very happy with it.

What do you think?

Does Your Scrapbook Space … Have to Share Space?

If so, you might find the latest episode at PAPERCLIPPING.COM interesting.

It’s called, “Non-Crappy Shared Scrap Spaces” and the panel members are Lisa Dickinson, CD Muckosky, Nancy Nally, and Noell Hyman. I haven’t had a chance to listen yet but will soon. I’d love to hear what you think of it.

My scrapbook area shares space with my home office and a kids’ craft/homework area. It is a challenge to make it all work. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I have to “share” (hmmph!) but most of the time I just feel blessed that I have a dedicated scrapbook space … because I know that many scrappers don’t.

Anyhow, give it a listen and tell me what you think. Did you glean anything helpful from the discussion?

“Creative Spaces with Megan Hoppener” ~ Creating Keepsakes Special Issue

This came out recently but I haven’t been able to find it on my local newstands :( Have you seen it anywhere? I only have Walmart, Target, and Michaels. I ended up ordering it from THE CK WEBSITE. I had a free shipping code but it’s since expired … maybe search and see if you can find another one?

The Peas are talking about “Creative Spaces” HERE (including a Pea whose room is IN the magazine!).

I happen to really disagree with the negative opinions of it posted HERE. I’m finding it to be very inspirational and, as MARTHA STEWART would say, “aspirational.” I’m different from some of the posters in that thread because I *don’t* want to see scrapbook spaces of “everyday” scrappers that are a hodge podge of furniture and organizational bins. I can look in my own non-designer space if I want to see that, LOL!

When I plunk down $15 for a glossy magazine, I want to see all the fancy schmancy scrap digs I’ll never be able to afford. Kinda the same theory of Architectural Digest showing amazing homes you’ll nevah, evah be able to afford, or Vogue with its clothes you can’t afford worn by women (um, teenagers?) who weigh as much as your pinky finger. It’s all about the eye candy, baby! And, yeah, maybe you’ll pick up tips here and there that you can incorporate into your own life.

As it happens, I am finding MANY scrapbook organization ideas in this magazine that I can incorporate into my space. Whenever I get a few minutes of quiet time, I sit down with this amazing issue and take my time with the articles and photos. I think it’s very well organized with great pictures and ideas.

Have you seen this issue? If so, what did you think of it? As always, diverse opinions are welcomed :)

Knee Deep in Organizing Photos

Two weekends ago, I had the bright idea to “once and for all” (yeah right!) organize all of my photos. And we’re talking years and years worth here, people! My ancestors, DH’s ancestors, my childhood/young adult photos, his childhood/young adult photos, our dating/engagement/wedding photos, our kids’ baby/toddler/childhood photos, vacation photos, … Okay, you totally get the idea, right? LOTS of photos!

NOT having them organized has been such a hindrance to my scrapbooking over the years, I really, really, REALLY want to get this done!

I’m Half LUDDITE … and it took me longer than most to convert from a point and shoot film camera to (gasp!) “going digital” several years ago. So I have more printed photos than the average bear. Plus, I’m probably older than you :P (I remember 45 records, rotary dial phones, and typewriters). (If you don’t understand these terms, e-mail me *wink*).

Here is the plan and progress so far:

1. Gather photos from all the nooks and crannies I have stashed them in over the years.
2. Add both leaves to the dining room table and put all photos in one place to work on.
3. Take Creative Memories Power Sort Boxes* out of packaging and assemble.
4. Put all negatives, CDs, index prints, and (now obsolete) Advantix cartridges in one box.
5. Sort photos into CM boxes by decade/year.
* I’ll take a photo of mine and post it later. Apparently, they no longer make the big ones like I have so I can’t find a photo online anywhere :(

I’m on Step 5 now. It’s taking a lot of time to get through all the photos and get them remotely in the right place. I know the biggest problem is that I love my photos so much, I feel the need to look at almost every single one. Which is a silly way to make any kind of progress, but I can’t help it. I *LOVE* my photos! The memories, the laughs, the tears, my beloved family and friends, good times, celebrations, sadness, missing my dad, seeing how my kids have changed and grown … ah, I love it all!

Now it’s about two weeks after I started this project, and I at least have my photos into their major categories. Now the plan is to go through each Power Sort Box and get those photos in the best order I can. Some of them are in pretty good shape already; I’ve made attempts at photo organization many, many times before … and made some actual progress each time. I just never seem to get the entire job done. Or something happens like my mom brings me a stack of old photos when she visits, or I find another box or album of pics somewhere.

When I took 35mm, I almost always got Twin Pix for, like, a dollar extra. I’m debating what to do with all my duplicate photos. Should I scrap one set and keep the other filed? Should I pass the duplicates on to other family (or trash them if they’re not wanted?). Should I pack them away and save them for my kids? I’m just not sure. What do you think?

I have a lot of work to do with my pre-marriage photos. There are SO many … all shapes and sizes … from those tiny wallet school pics that I exchanged with friends to 4×6 prints to portraits, etc. There’s my dad’s side of the family and my mom’s. Friends, school, sports … oh my! They’re going to be the biggest challenge because of the variety of sizes and also because they’re the hardest to place dates on and in get in some kind of chronological order.

I’m hoping that the next time my mom visits, we can go through the photos together and she can help me with times, places, and people … also any memories she has of the events. I figure I’ll put sticky notes on the back of the photos. Then someday when Martians land on earth and I actually get around to scrapping these photos, I’ll have some of the journaling ready to go.

So that’s what I’ve been up to! And you know what the absolute best part is??? As soon as I’m done getting my photos organized … I’m going to start on all my memorabilia ~ Yippee Skip! Decades of letters, awards, ticket stubs, programs, school papers, art, and all that other fun stuff. I’m sure that all of the fun memories will get me through that task, too :)

I can’t even contemplate the topic of COMPUTER photo organization. I’ve had a Mac for about 5 years and regularly download the photos from my iPhone and camera card to iPhoto. That program does a great job of organizing them by date and I’ve started tagging the ones I’ve scrapped but that’s about it. The thought of scanning old photos and negatives, assigning dates to them, keeping everything updated on my external hard drive, etc. is just too, too much. By then, I will have seen all the photos already so it will just be the sheer agonizing task of if all.

Aw crap.

Scrapbook Room Organization: Starting with a Clean Slate?

So I’ve been watching Peter Walsh’s new show “ENOUGH ALREADY!” on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). He’s the organizing guy who’s been on The Oprah Show many times, and you also may remember him from the old TLC show, “CLEAN SWEEP“. He has also written several BOOKS on organization.

This one wins the award for Best Book Title:

I’m on the waiting list at my library for his latest book and judging by how long it’s taking to get the ding-dang thang, it must be REALLY popular :P

Peter uses a 5-step process to declutter rooms; HERE it is.

STEP ONE: EMPTY THE ROOM

Watching them do this on the show is always cringe-worthy. The look on people’s faces is kind of sad when they realize how much stuff they’ve crammed into their space. Now I’m no hoarder but I’m not BECKY HIGGINS, either. So I’m the last to cast stones … my rooms may not be as bad as theirs, but I have one or two that could use some serious help, one being my scrapbook room. No matter how many times I begin to organize it, I never completely finish it. Then the clutter cycle starts again and we’re off like a day at the races.

I’ve often wondered, while watching Enough Already, if I could ever clear out my scrapbook room entirely and start from scratch. Would it be worth it? Where would I put everything? Could I block off two or three days to get it moved out, then replaced, so my Scrap Crap wasn’t bogging up the rest of my house?

Anyway, my conclusion has always been that it’s a crazy idea. Just totally cray-cray.

Then I saw THIS THREAD at 2peas, LOL. Yes, ladies, it HAS been done. Repeatedly. And from the sounds of it, successfully. So my wheels are really turning now. I’m scanning ahead, wondering when I have a free weekend to try this, a holiday at work, anything? ‘Cuz now I’m kind of hooked on the idea.

When I’ve attempted to organize in the past, I do often feel like I’m moving this pile so I can get to that pile, then I put it on that shelf, which is now taken up, and I have nowhere to put this stuff … kwim? It would be so nice to pull everything out, kind of packing like things together as I go, then purge items as I put it all back in an organized fashion. I’ll bet I’d get rid of a lot of things this way, don’t you think?

It’s like on the show: Peter asks, “What is your vision for this room?” Then anything that doesn’t fulfill your vision is tossed, given away, or put elsewhere in your home.

I guess the final and most important question is …. how much do you think I’d have to pay Peter Walsh to come and help me?

Yeah, I know, you’re right … there ain’t enough money in the world, baby! HA Not once he saw my scrapbook room anyway.

Have you done this before … cleared out an entire room and started from scratch, except for maybe furniture? How long did it take? Was it worth it? Did you maintain the organized room?

If you haven’t done this, would you consider it? Do you think it’s a good way to go about it? If you did it, what would be your method … like someone on the thread mentioned using banker’s boxes which I thought was brilliant. How would you do it all?

Scrapbook Sketches Organization

I didn’t get any scrapbooking done this weekend, but I still feel like I accomplished something good … something that will help me scrapbook mo’ betta in the future. I printed and organized a bunch of sketches and sample layouts.

Let me backtrack a bit: Please read THIS ENTRY first so you’re up to speed :) Since I wrote that post last April, ALLISON DAVIS and SCRAPBOOK GENERATION have come out with Volumes 6 and 7 of layout sketches, along with a Volume 2 of card sketches. ETA 3/21/11: Their Sketch DVD has also been released. Man, I hate it when I’m wrong! The DVD was never released and I just blogged an update about it HERE. Sorry for the misinformation, folks!

Alas, I haven’t purchased any of them yet although I plan to.

In the meantime, I’m still getting much use from Volumes 1 through 5, and I’m so loving the way I pulled the books apart and have filed them into a binder. They’re in order by number of photos and they’ve been SO helpful to the way I scrapbook. To add to my beloved sketch binder, I go to Allison’s blog and take advantage of her monthly Sketch Weeks. It’s where she takes a sketch and shows a week’s worth of layouts based on that sketch, including helpful notes about variations she used and how/why she did them.

If she uses a sketch from Volumes 1 through 5 ~ since I already have the sketch filed in my binder ~ I print out the sample pages and file them behind the sketch. If she uses a sketch that I don’t have, I print the sketch along with the sample pages. Those go into my sketch binder, too, based on the number of photos used.

I hadn’t printed any since last spring when I started my binder so I had many months of printing and filing to do. In the sidebar of Allison’s blog you’ll find all of her Sketch Weeks broken down by month and even by Day 1, etc. I would click open Day 5 since that’s when she posts ALL of the layouts from the week in one post, which is ever so helpful.

Now she also has a blog called SKETCH SUPPORT which has even MORE sketches to print and play with! I’m in Sketch Heaven, I tell ya’. {I’m a 2-page layout girl so I only utilize that part of Sketch Support}. I guess the only problem is … now I have so many sketches printed out … I’m going to need a second binder, LOL :) Such a problem to have …

I keep my sketch binder on my desk at all times. It sits horizontally (which is the way the sketches are printed) on a cookbook stand like THIS:

I flip back my binder to the sketch I’m using … easy peasy. The stand is really nice because it makes it easier to see the sketch while I work and it also doesn’t take up as much room on my precious scrap desk real estate.

Sooooo … did you get any scrappy organization done this weekend?

Scrapbook Items for Sale

I’ve been organizing my scrapbook space yet again, and have been coming across things to sell. They are either gently used things of mine, or products I got to sell at my crops.

I’m selling everything well below what it’s worth because 1. I really want this stuff to go to a good home (wink), and 2. I know shipping is going to cost some and I want the overall price to still be affordable.

Okay, here we go …

=====================================
LOT #1: ACRYLIC STAMPS AND CLEAR BLOCK $40 plus shipping
Retail value is about $100! All of these stamps are brand new, never been used, in the original packaging.

This is the entire lot, which includes clear acrylic stamps by AUTUMN LEAVES, CLOSE TO MY HEART, and STUDIO G* (from MICHAELS).

*If you love Studio G stamps, I have some older complete and incomplete sets. Stay tuned! I’ll list them soon :)

Autumn Leaves “Hand Drawn Alphabet by Katie Pertiet”.
This set retails for $25. I have it myself and use it often. It’s a very versatile font and is a great size for both cards and scrapbook layouts. Unlike a lot of stamp alphas, it includes both upper and lower case AND numbers with punctuation.

Autumn Leaves “Stitched Journaling Panels by Marianne Wise”
This set retails for $15 and is fabulous for journaling. I also have this set and use it quite often. All of the shapes look great on layouts and the stitching is so much cuter than plain, solid lines, don’t you think?

{NOTE: With just these first 2 items, we’re at the $40 I’m charging for the whole lot!}

Autumn Leaves “For the Record by Katie Pertiet”
These acrylic stamps retail for $15 and were super popular when I sold them for Memory Works in a past catalog. I can’t believe you get so many detailed stamps in one set. I use this one a lot also. The photo record stamp (2nd one down on lefthand side) would be so great to stamp on the back of your photos ~ especially the ones you don’t scrap ~ so you can remember the details of each picture.

Autumn Leaves “Clear Stamps Acrylic Block”
Yep, retails for $15 (seems to be a trend here, huh?). This is a solid acrylic block, 4×6″ in size, to be used with your acrylic stamps. If you’ve never used acrylic stamps, I’d be happy to walk you through it. I have this block myself and it’s the one I use the most, out of the many sizes I have, because you can lay out an entire word or title on it, or fit even the larger stamps on it (like THESE).

Close to My Heart “My Acrylix Doodle Alphabet (D1242)” (retired)
This is a really cute alpha. My favorite thing is the cute little birdie in the lower right corner. I also love the curly frame in the upper left; that would be fun to use like a monogram, i.e. stamp the frame and then stamp a single letter in the middle of it.

Autumn Leaves (8) various “Clear Stamps” that retail for $2 each, and Studio G (2) sets of “Clear Stamps” that retail for $1 each.
These are all stinkin’ adorable stamps, about $16 worth altogether.

So, that’s all of Lot #1: ACRYLIC STAMPS AND CLEAR BLOCK
$40 plus shipping

========================================

LOT 2: BOTTLECAPS and JUNKITZ “ROUNDERS”
*** TAKEN ***
Probably about $5 retail
I just want them to go to a good scrapper’s home, LOL. I’ll throw them in for free if you make another purchase, or will mail them to you in a padded envelope for $3 to cover shipping. HERE is one of the rounders used with some ribbon for a flower center (layout by LESLIE ASHE).

=========================================

LOT 3: KAREN FOSTER “CLIKIT” EYELET SETTING KIT $5
Retailed for $40. This item is gently used.

I bought it right after it came out at a CKU and fell in love with it. What a fun tool! You can read a bunch of reviews HERE. I used it a few times at the convention; that’s why you see white paper leftovers in the dual tip, LOL. Alas, I am a fickle tool girl, and quickly became fascinated with some other method or three for setting eyelets (“What a cool eyelet tool! I really like it. It works so … oh, look, shiny new tool over there!”).

All of the pieces, mat, instruction book, even the free eyelets are still intact. On the bottom of the box, I wrote my name and phone number in small print; it’s been blacked out with a Sharpie. Other than that, it’s like new.

=====================================

LOT 4: COLUZZLE “STARTER KIT” AND “TAGS” $5 plus shipping
Retails for $22. These items are brand new, still in original packaging.
*** RESERVED ***

HERE is the Starter Kit at Scrapbook.com for $9.99. HERE are some customer reviews. If you’ve never used a Coluzzle to cut shapes, I’m happy to explain it ~ super easy.

I’ve had a Cricut for a while now, and I know many people have all kinds of fancy die cutting machines now, but I still use my Coluzzles. I have all my templates handy in a drawer and it’s so much quicker and easier to pull them out sometimes than to get the Cricut going just for one or two shapes. I have quite a collection and you can find shapes other than these tags now for great deals. The tag template is perfect for making gift tags for birthdays and Christmas, and of course you can use them in your cardmaking and scrapbooking.


===============================

LOT 5: MEMORY STOR “HANDMADE PAPER-VELVET” $5 plus shipping
*** SOLD ***
Retails for $24. This is brand new, still in the package.
72 sheets of thick paper with velvet flocking in gorgeous colors and textures. The paper itself is surprisingly light in weight, so I don’t think it would be terribly expensive to ship. There are 12 designs with 6 of each design. These papers make unique and textural additions to your scrapbook layouts. Yes, I own this set of papers, too :) I’ve found the colors really easy to work with and so striking. Below are a few samples up close …

This is a dark aqua flocking design on a lighter aqua paper …

Black vine flocking on a white background …

My favorite … A delicate swirly pattern. I used this paper on some ATCs for a swap I did once. Just that little square of this paper made such a difference and set my ATCs apart from everyone else’s.

=======================
LOT 6: CREATIVE MEMORIES “DECO FILE” with EXTRA FOLDERS $5 plus shipping
*** SOLD ***
Retails for roughly $20; not sure as it seems they don’t make this item anymore (?). This item is gently used.

When I bought this, I used it to sort my paper scraps. I love how it accordians out so you can easily see everything you’ve stored in it. The lot includes a pack of additional folder inserts; 3 have been inserted in the Deco File and 3 are still in the package. When the deco file is empty, the black elastic is a bit stretched out … although when it’s full, I doubt you’d notice. Also, you could easily replace the elastic, probably with something cuter than a plain black band anyway, LOL! HERE is a similar lot on Ebay for $27.99.

==========================

LOT 7: CREATIVE MEMORIES “CROP TALK” FLYERS *** Free plus shipping ***
*** TAKEN ***
These all came to me via a friend when she cleaned out her scrapping stuff. She attended Creative Memories workshops for years and had this good-sized stack of Crop Talks. They are older ones but kind of timeless. I could just throw them away, but I was wondering if there was a CM GIRL out there who would like them just for the cost of shipping. I’d mail them in a manila envelope and send Media Mail so it wouldn’t cost much, I don’t think.

ETA: I hadn’t listed these yet but the same sweet lady who requested the Crop Talks also bought this lot …

LOT 8: CREATIVE MEMORIES STICKERS, ETC. $5
*** SOLD ***

Miscellaneous Creative Memories items in their original packaging (handled but not used)

===========================

That’s what I have to post for now, but keep checking back, because I’ll be posting more as my scrapbook room clean-up continues :)

1. All items are from a pet-free and smoke-free home.
2. Prices do not include shipping; we can work out the best shipping for you.
3. First come, first served, as based on time stamps from e-mails and comments.
4. I will show items as “Reserved” but they may still be available if the transaction doesn’t work out, so let me know of your interest. Once an item is actually sold, it will be marked as such.
5. I have a great track record of customer service with Memory Works; please let me know if you’d like a reference or two. {And if you’ve ever purchased from me before, please leave a comment about your experience ~ thanks}.

I accept Paypal and will send you an invoice; a super easy process :)
If you don’t use Paypal, please e-mail and let’s see if we can work out a check/money order.

Contact info: If you’re interested in any of these items …

Leave a comment on this post, or …
E-mail me at scrapbookobsession(at)gmail(dot)com

I really just want these items to find a good home, so if you want something but the price isn’t right, make me an offer!

Ciao bellas!

I’ve Got Photos of the New Scrapbooking Stuff at Michaels!

I have one of the best scrappy friends in the world. She lives in another part of the country and we’ve never met in person, but she always has my back. To that end, when she was at her Michaels today and saw all the new stuff and the new store layout … she KNEW I’d want to see pictures, and she knew I’d want to share them with you.

So, here are photos provided by “mah gurrrll” Abby …

This is new Jolee’s. Can you believe it?!?! Totally different packaging from their usual. I’ve never really been a Jolee’s girl, but there are some really cute things here. I might just become a convert …

Some pretty and unique Jolee’s border strips …

Finally! Some new THICKERS!! Suh-WEET! And those look like some pretty textured papers in nice colors.

Here’s one of the new “themed” sections: Christmas.

A wider view … This looks SO different from how my Michaels is set up. Mine has the really tall racks with shelves on top where they store extra stock. This store has lower racks and pretty little signs.

Here’s a new kit called “The Merry Days of Christmas” by MY MINDS EYE

… and a new 8.5″ x 8.5″ paper pad called “Sleepy Tree” (I think) by K&COMPANY. I can’t read it perfectly in the photo, and there’s nothing called “Sleepy Tree” K&Co’s website … but that isn’t saying much. Sometimes the stores have things that aren’t on the manufacturer’s website.

Looks like some new kits and stacks, and down in the bottom left corner, did you see? BASIC GREY “Ambrosia” and “Eva” paper stacks! My Michaels has had these as open stock papers but not as a stack.

New Recollections single papers. I see some really pretty colors and designs there. Does your Mike’s have tall racks sitting out in the middle of the floor like this? Mine doesn’t. Gasp! That almost resembles and LSS!

Here’s the new MARTHA STEWART Scoring Board. Apparently, this is the hot new item to have. I’m plugging my ears and singing “la la la” because I don’t NEED another expensive tool in my life. I don’t, I don’t, I DON’T! {But it does look cool!}

Remember when I posted HERE and HERE about the themed sections that were “coming soon.” Well, they’re finally here, LOL! In THIS discussion at 2peas, there seems to be a general dissatisfaction with the whole “sorted by theme” idea. Some scrappers feel it’s being done to cater only to the beginning scrapbooker who wanders in to solely do a baby, wedding, Christmas, or travel scrapbook. The feeling is that more seasoned scrapbookers (get it? seasoned? Christmas? huh? huh?) like us shop not by theme but by brand name and/or by item type.

Now I know this is a selfish perspective but, wth, this is my blog and my opinion: I want Michaels sorted the way my scrapbook room is organized, which is to say, by brand name for the most popular brands, then by item type and color beyond that. But, no, Michaels Corporate did not ask ME, did they? Boy, they’d better not ever ask me stuff … ‘cuz I will tell them! Huh. They would rue the day, baby.

Okay, say Michaels corporate ever did ask me. Here are the top 5 things I would tell them:

1. Less Jolee’s, more Thickers.

2. Bring back coupons on books and magazines. At least on books, come ON!

3. Do NOT. Under any circumstances. Organize by theme. And keep all the alphas in one place.

4. Make “knowledge of scrapbooking” a condition of hire.

4a. Better yet, hire me. Make me Director of Scrapbook Buying, Merchandising, Publicity, and Employee Training.
I will make you millions and jillions of dollahs.

5. Anything that has been on your racks for more than 6 months … CLEARANCE. Then get new stuff.

I swear to G, they still have things in Michaels that were there when I first discovered it back in two-thousand-ought-two. Hello? Take the loss already and move on, Mike’s.

Okay, this was not meant to turn into a MIke’s Rant Post, so very sorry. This is actually a Happy Mike’s post. Yay! We are so happy they got some new stuff! We are happy we have new things to bust out our coupons on! We are so happy they are getting OCTOBER AFTERNOON! Rah rah, Mike’s!

Okay, now tell me about your Mike’s. Got all this new stuff yet? What have you bought recently? What new items are you most looking forward to if, like me, you still have the same old stuff?

Oh, and tell me your feelings on the whole “sort by theme” debate. Don’t be shy … yea or nay?

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