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Scrap Space Organization: Progress Report #2

I was busy working, etc all day Thursday and Friday. But as of 1900 hrs last night, I’m officially free from my office job (and taking kids back and forth to school) for over 2 weeks!! Yippee Kie Yay and Yee Haw! I slept bunches and am now starting to feel The Urge to Purge and the Need to Organize. Christmas is only 3 days away, so obviously I’ll be busy with those things. But come 12/26, I’m ready to rock!

Today I’m sitting at the computer trying to ‘organize’ my thoughts and, taking Yvette’s suggestion, I’m writing things down. I’ve started “Mom’s To Do List for Christmas Vacation 2007”. I’m including a box to put little check marks as I accomplish things, so I can see my progress and hopefully that will motivate me to keep going. My list is probably going to end up being unrealistic for the time frame I have, but oh well. At least I’ll get SOME things done. I have 2 at-home work assignments due that will take lots of hours, and general house cleaning. I’m hoping to get those out of the way first, and then concentrate on the organizing and some other projects. The challenge will be staying off the darn internet! I have so much fun with this blog, the CKMB, reading other blogs, e-mailing friends, etc. that I could end up here for hours each day…will have to force myself NOT to do that, or maybe just limit it to my ‘night owl’ hours as a reward for accomplishing great things during the day, LOL.

The other things on my plate are my mom visiting from 12/25 to whenever, and I’m holding a scrapbook crop on Friday 1/4 and Saturday 1/5. That was just decided yesterday, so unfortunately it does affect my ability to accomplish things for this Challenge, since at the end I won’t even be here for 2 days :( So I’d better really bust tail between 12/26 and 1/3, and stack up some extra hours to meet my own 12-hour challenge (see below). The good thing about my mom being here is she will help me & is a very talented organizer herself. Is that wrong to put her to work while she’s here? (j/k, she actually loves it and ASKS for things to do; LOVE her!).

I’m not only working on my scrap space, but the rest of the house as well. Spring Cleaning kinds of things, like washing all the pillows and bedding, purging my kids’ school work, and getting our personal files caught up (they’re already in pretty good shape). It’s kind of become a tradition to rearrange our living room after the Christmas tree comes down, which is good because every little nook and cranny gets wiped down or vacuumed. If I have time, I’d also like to purge and better organize our Christmas stuff when I put it away. I did it a few years ago, but there are the same things that don’t get used each year, so why hold onto them? Honestly, I’m not really into holiday decorating and just do it for the kids, so the stuff we have is already minimal ~ ornaments, stockings, and a few decorations. Although I do now have the new Advent Calendar I put together this year, along with the one I bought from Starbucks (thanks to CKMB Enabling):

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So far today, I’ve got couch throw pillows in the washing machine, school work into one pile after gathering it from around the house, and a bunch of housecleaning done. Is it just me, or do you get a lot more done around the house when DH isn’t home? I don’t know why, because he’s not the needy sort. Hmmm… So! The other thing, in addition to my checklist, is that I’m going to commit (from 12/26 through 1/6, the end of The Challenge) to spend at least 1 hour per day on organizing my scrap area. That will be….um….I’m no math major…let’s see…12 HOURS of scrappy organizational time! More time than I’ve probably spent on organization over there this entire year. I think I can get a lot done in 12 hours, don’t you? Are you setting any goals for yourself? What progress have you made so far? I’d love to hear about it :)

Scrap Space Organization: Going Vertical

In a comment on my LAST POST about the progress I’ve made toward Total Scraproom Organization, YVETTE made a very good suggestion about putting my vertical space to better use. Now, I don’t have a bunch, because my space is in the corner of the room with two big windows. But there is one wall spot with a cute house-shaped shelf with little cubbies ~ originally bought to store/display my rubber stamps. It came as naked wood and I painted it dark green to coordinate with the ‘decor’ of the room (and I use that term loosely…very…very…loosely). However, it has turned out that the spaces are not the right size for the most part so, as much as I hate to, I need to junk it (but it’s sooooo cute!) (and I hand painted it!). Good golly gosh, I’m so good at making excuses NOT to get rid of stuff & that needs to change. Like, yesterday.

I think it would take a little sting out of the pain if I replace the cute green house-shaped shelf with this Making Memories Embellishment Center:

mm emb ctr

I saw one at Michaels the other day and was very intrigued by it’s sassiness and usefulness. However…#1 it was $80, #2 I had nowhere to hang it because my only wall already had a VERY cute little…oh, you know! But now I’m wondering if it will ever be 30% off, or if I can use a 40% or 50% off coupon. That would put it in my price range, ya know? If I remember right, I think there are two versions of this shelf and the other one is bigger with an additional cubby/section per row. Anyone have this item? How ya’ liking it?

I know that Scrapperdays, for one, is rockin’ this Organization Challenge. Go check it out on HER BLOG. Yay for you! Anyone else making progress you want to tell us about? Keep going…you can do it!

Scrapbook Organization: My Space…AGAIN

This is so embarrassing. After all my bragging about organizing my scrap space earlier this year (it was THIS POST), it’s a mess again. Holy cow! I think it’s even worse. Yeah, I just looked at the Before photos from last time and it is much, much worse now. My excuse is that I started as a scrapbook consultant this year and now, in addition to all my own stuff, I have to ‘keep stock on hand’ of Memory Works products. At any given time, I also have boxes of orders here until I distribute them. But, that being said, the real reason it’s a mess is because I haven’t kept up on it. I didn’t create a solution before I had the problem. And I’ve kept buying new scrapbook supplies while hardly using any. Okay, here is the disgusting evidence:

This is as you walk into my scrapping area, which is the back half of a larger room with the kids’ play area in the front. As you can see, the walkway is closing in on itself and I can barely walk through there without losing body parts. The box of red albums is a Daisy D’s Year in Review and Christmas album. I’m doing a class/party on that the week after Christmas. There’s my little Lexmark standalone photo printer that I got at Target for $25 on Clearance. I tried to use it once, got frustrated when it wouldn’t print anything but green photos, and it has sat collecting dust ever since. Although I did recently buy that Lexmark-specific photo paper (it’s sitting on top of the printer) to try again before I toss the thing out the window. The blue bins I bought last month to try and better display my products at crops, etc. (will be a separate post about those later). Until now, I’ve been using a big clear Rubbermaid container and small, white plastic baskets to display things. The Rubbermaid is just plain ugly and the white baskets are cute enough, but the sides are too low and everything just kind of flops over and won’t stand up for customers to look through it. You can also se my XXL tote and another smaller one (don’t remember what that one is called). I load them up with MW products when I go to crops and it’s nice because they protect everything from dust and getting bent in transit, and the XXL is on rollers so I can really carry lots of stuff. The problem is then I have no room to take my own crop stuff (tool kit, page kits, etc.). Needing a solution to that problem. The cream tote is all my Memory Works catalogs and paperwork. Well, I shouldn’t say “all”…there is another huge white binder of stuff in my home office. The black box is a Creative Memories Power Sort box full of photos and memorabilia from my Europe cruise. That was in 2006 and I’m only about half way through the album (if you don’t count journaling, of which I’ve hardly done any). Everything in the Power Sort is getting dusty because I can’t put the lid on or it will crush my brochures, menus, etc. To the far right is my shelf which has stayed pretty organized, mainly because it’s packed and there is nowhere to put anything else. But it needs work, for sure. The two ziploc bags on the floor are my templates, CM cutting system, Coluzzles, etc. They used to go on that shelf but they got kicked out when I bought some new blank albums.

mess1

After you walk in my scrap area and take a left, you’re looking at the window and my desk. That stack of paper with the black and white Jenni Bowlin on the top (love it!) is my December kit from Memory Works Express. I had it out of the box to look through it and never put it away. Under that are some other recent purchases: K&Co. Wild Saffron slab; DCWV cardstock pad with the jagged edges (what’s that called?), and two SIS tool packs that are empty. I had all my acrylic stamping stuff in one of them and it got full, so I bought an identical one when they were on a great sale at Tuesday Morning. Then I found the black tote at Michaels (you’ll see it later in the tour) for 40% off and moved all my stamps into the tote. Not sure if I’m liking it, so while I decide, the empty blue tool packs sit empty. The ribbon jars on the right look fine ~ I’ve managed to keep up with my ribbon this way, just tossing in any new ribbon I get right away. The large white box and another stack under the brown box (that you can’t see here) are picture frames from Costco that I bought about two months ago. Okay, let’s be honest, it’s been more like six months. I HATE the picture frames I have around my house right now and keep saying I will redo them, but there they sit. It just seems so intimidating to figure out which pictures I want to put in which frames, get them enlarged and/or converted to black and white, choose which pictures go where in the house, and hang them. I’m procrastinating big time on that one. The basket on the top right is full {bursting at the seams} with letter stickers. Even though I have a Cricut, I can’t seem to stop buying alpha rub-ons, Thickers, chipboard alphas and sometimes even sticker letters. Although I’m proud to say I don’t buy those much anymore because I know I won’t use them; I have years’ worth to use already. Although most of my letters are at least in one place (that basket), they definitely need to be purged and organized.

mess2

This is the top of my legal size filing cabinet. Inside is actually very organized, with all my greeting cards sorted by event; receipts, instruction books, etc in files; and office supplies like printer paper, extra cartridges, etc. Again, ribbon jars look good although they’re dusty on top. I purged magazines and idea books last time I did The Big Cleanup and now the stack is back! New magazines, idea books and other books that need to be purged or put away.

mess3

Here is the heart of the space, where i actually scrap, my L-shaped desk. With the missing front trim that never got put on because we didn’t follow the instructions properly when we put it together from the box. Once the desk was together, waaayyyy too much trouble to pull it apart again just to add some silly little trim. Anyway, you can see my black tool pack which holds many of my essentials – various adhesives, stylus, stapler, etc. The papers on top are envelopes from Christmas cards we’ve received so I can update my address list. I mean, really, that doesn’t even belong in here and that’s what happens a lot. If I want to straighten another area of the house, I just put things in here. Voila! We have a mess! On the right side are sticky notes and mailing supplies; my new ToteAlly Cool totes (larger for punches, Stickles, etc and smaller one for Cropadile, pens and scissors); the ever present Diet Coke. In the back are recently developed photos that have nowhere to go so I keep stuffing them back there. To the left is my ScrapRack which is very organized but too full so, see, the little K&Co. tags are falling out of the Christmas section. And my glorious new Basic Grey Magnetic Mats and faithful Cutterpede paper trimmer.

mess4

Here is my little corner with my stereo (new Pebbles Inc. Ribbon Iron on top cooling off because I just used it); high dollar printer and scanner that I never use; random Mike’s and Target stamps for long-overdue RAK’s; baby wipes to clean acrylic stamps; and my labeler which surprisingly gets a lot of use in my space. I’m very organized about being disorganized! The desk drawers have computer equipment, font and software CD’s, etc and are very organized but I don’t seem to go in there very much, so maybe that stuff could go elsewhere and open up some space for scrap-related things? The cupboard side contains my Cricut, mats, and cartridges on top, a bin with electrical cords, phone cords, power strip, etc on bottom. Again, why is that stuff in here? I do have an old laptop on my desk that I just use for journaling but I hardly ever use the accessories anymore so they could go in a closet or something. See, progress already!

mess5

Here is the rest of my desk. There is the black Michael’s tote I told you about. All my acrylic stamps, ink pads, alcohol inks, stamp cleaners, etc are in there. Behind the tote are: a bucket of Prima flowers I’m borrowing from a friend, my ink pens in Creative Memories Pen Holders, and random new products that need to be put away. The Colorbok paper pads under the black tote will be for sale, but I need to log them in my computer first. The pile on the left is mostly the stuff from my Secret Santa (thanks again!) and the right side pile is memorabilia to file and a new notebook for scrap ideas, to do lists, etc. (First entry should be: TO DO ~ Clean up your damn space!).

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Wow, okay… Seeing your mess in a big full color photo is even MORE eye-opening, even MORE embarrassing and shocking. Deep breath. Count to 10. Breathe out through the nose. Yoga breaths, yoga breaths. Okay. I’m back. This is the table to the left of my desk (the far side of it is near the walkway we already saw). I brought this table in the last time I organized, thinking it would be extra space to work on big projects, sort my photos, or have a friend over to crop. Yeah, right. It’s become a primo dumping ground for the stuff I guess I just used to leave on the floor. On the table you can see more gingerbread jars which I’ve been dumping various embellies in that either need to be put away, or are prizes for crops. The 12×12 stack back there is mainly paper to file or put a price tag on. The white baskets I was using to display my products ~ one is empty, the other has in it two Memory Works Express Kits from May 2007. One is mine, one is for sale. There are papers and embellishments in a super large Ziploc, including a box of glitter chipboard letters from K&Co. which I need to keep bagged together to sale and/or act as a sample of the kit. The problem is that each of these kits comes with an alterable project and this one was a small paint can. I mean, jeez, how to you even store that?? I guess my lame answer is, “In a white plastic basket.” Down below the table are my very organized page kits in a white plastic crate, another jar, and a Target bag with a flattened postal box and some acrylic stamps to sell once I get them in the computer and price tags put on. At the bottom middle of the photo are two cardboard file boxes on the floor. Hiding under the bag of Figgy Pudding Card Kit stuff (with cards in progress) is one project box (album, papers, embellishments, photos and souveniers from a big trip we took in, yes, 2005). The other is a project box for my 2006 cruise album. Neither has even been touched in months, except to add or take papers from. What you can’t see is that the entire space under my desk is filled with bins of my old photo storage system (remember THIS POST about how I was going to re-do that?), altered projects to make (photo cubes, shadow boxes, etc.), and Christmas presents. I’ve been shoving gifts under there all year because it’s the perfect hiding place. Everyone is scared to come over here! Seriously, my DH sends the kids in to grab the wastepaper basket once in a while or he just yells over to me, “Hey, how’s your trash? Bring it here if it needs emptied, please.” Smart man. Very, very smart man.

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This is just a close up of the jars on the table, and you can see the blue basket in the background where I’ve put some of the paper packs I have for sale. They are elsewhere in the house, but I have a total of two large blue bins (like the one on the table), two medium sized green ones, and two small blue ones. They are all filled with MW products for sale. The baskets themselves are organized, but I have nowhere in my scrap space to put them.

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So, I have survived the ultimate in humiliation by showing you my ‘crap’ area. I mean, SERIOUSLY?? SERIOUSLY?? And why am I subjecting myself to this, you ask? Because that’s what it takes for me to get to work and get this place cleaned up again. Last time, I entered an Organization Challenge on the CK Message Board. This time, I’m sharing it here on my blog. Now I’m accountable (I mean, if you guys out there really care??) and I WILL get organized again. I’ve come to this conclusion: Now that I’m a scrapbook consultant and have to keep a lot of extra products and paperwork around, this space just isn’t big enough anymore.

Part One of My Plan: My wheels have been turning about how I can re-work this space, maybe somehow utilizing our guest bedroom/office also. I already got DH’s approval to get rid of the old king sized bed in there that takes up half of the room, yet only gets used about four times per year when my mom visits. (No worries, Mom, we’ll findya another place to sleep!).

Part Two of My Plan: I have two weeks off from work for the holidays. Granted, I could get busy with my ‘from home’ jobs, I have at least one scrapbooking event, and we may go out of town for a few days. But I think this is a great opportunity to spend some time getting my scrap area organized…once and for all…um, yeah, right! Do I have your support? You got any suggestions for the dilemmas I’ve shared? I challenge YOU to organize your scrapbooking area over the Christmas break, so post in Comments if you will join me. I would love it if you sent me some photos I could post of your before/after or link us to your blog showing same. DEADLINE IS SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 2008 (‘cuz ya gotta have a deadline or else you won’t do it!)…

Good luck and God Bless Us all!

Basic Grey Magnetic Mat: I Have a {Crush} on You!

It’s been awhile…not since last May with the Cropadile…since I’ve fallen so madly in love with a new scrapbooking tool. But after first playing with my new Basic Grey Magnetic Mat a couple weeks ago, my heart is still going pitter-patter ever time I relive the experience. Maybe it’s that I’m still in that “I-just-met-you-and-you-can-do-no-wrong” stage with my BG baby, but I hope to stay perpetually infatuated. I know that many of you have the Basic Grey Magnetic Mat on your Christmas list, so here is my review:

This thing RAWKS! Here is a picture:

thankful layout

The retail cost is $24.99 and the mat is 15”x15”. The premise is this: The mat itself has a sheet of metal in between the black self-healing layers. Then the ruler and the little “tacks” are magnetized. So you use them to hold things in place while you cut with a craft knife, say, a curvy flourish or some letters. Or you use the tacks to hold down your pages in progress, which has two benefits: One, you can move things around while you’re deciding how to place your photos, journaling, and embellishments. Two, the magnets hold everything down and let you walk away from your project without worrying about all the pieces blowing away, falling on the floor, being tipped by a toddler, or batted by a cat. I even carried a partially done layout to a crop in my bag and it arrived completely intact. Those little babies are strong. For another $5.50 retail, you can get 10 additional magnetic tacks (the mat comes with 8). It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I’ve heard on the message boards that the silver paint on some people’s tacks begins to peel off. What a pain, but I heard you can paint them with clear nail polish to stop or prevent that from happening. I also heard that the customer service has been good with getting BG to replace them, yet who wants more tacks that are just going to peel. Someone else suggested getting little magnets elsewhere like the Container Store or wherever, so that’s an option (see why I love MB’s?? everyone is so helpful with sharing problems and solutions!).

I got my BG mat, of course, through Memory Works. When we first started carrying them, I wanted one but hesitated to buy a BG mat because I wasn’t sure if I should spend that much money on something I wasn’t sure I would use or like. I mean, for $25 I could get a lot of PP, ya’ know? Also, I didn’t exactly have $25 laying around so… But as time went by, I kept hearing people raving about their BG mats so, when I made a little money from a crop I held, I decided to buy it. Well, then they were out of stock for the longest time (How does that saying go? “She who hesitates is lost…”). FINALLY! They were in stock again and I ordered that baby right away. Actually, I ordered 4 because I had another crop coming up by then ~ 2 to sell, and 2 for me. Yes, TWO for me. I had also heard that if you get one, you may as well get two especially if you do mostly 2-page layouts (which I do). The thinking is that if you have 1 BG mat and get everything laid out, aren’t you going to want another one right next to it? See, scrappers are very logical girls J Well, I sold one of the remaining mats as soon as my mom saw it and I showed her how it works. She scraps 8.5 x 11, so one mat for her is fine I think. Then she used hers at the crop and I demo’d it for everyone, and sold a few more. Also sold FIVE of them at my Holiday Open House. It’s crazy…if you see this tool in action, you will want one!

In preparation for the Open House, I needed to put together a double layout called “Thankful” by My Minds Eye. Here is a photo of the finished product:

thankful

Anyway, perfect opportunity to try my BG mat, although I didn’t anticipate using it much because there weren’t any fancy craft knife cuts and the layout didn’t look very complicated. But was I wrong! I only broke out one mat for this project (can I confess…that was because my desk was so overtaken with ‘stuff’ that there was only room for one mat??). Anyway, I used the heck out of the BG mat. I made all the cuts to the papers on my Cutterpede according to the measurements on the Class Kit instructions. I cut out the exact phrases I would use on the layout, from the die cut sheets and the rub-on sheets. Then I placed everything for one layout arranged on the mat, using the magnets to hold everything down. I don’t know about you, but when I’m scraplifting a layout or putting together something from a class, I’m so nervous to tack anything down. I’ve had to do a LOT of unsticking in the past when I thought I had put this or that element where it should go, only to find when I got to the last step….urrrghh! No room left or something didn’t line up where it should. Well, here I was doubly nervous because this was a class project that others would be copying from, not a layout I could just shove in my album and hope no one noticed ‘my lil boo boos.’ It had to look just like the picture, y’know? So I was really loving those magnets in a big way. It was so cool to lay out the elements, tack them, notice something wasn’t going to fit later, and be able to easily move things around til it was perfect.

The other thing I loved was the ruler. First of all, BG was very smart to make it longer than 12” long. It’s a full 18” long, which allows plenty of room on either end of the ruler hanging off past the edge of your layout. I had the background paper down on the mat with the ruler either horizontally or vertically across the paper. Making sure both the paper and the ruler were lined up with the markings on the mat, I was able to easily make sure my photo mats and other elements were perfectly straight. Now, this is something I’ve needed help with for a while. In a way, I’m a perfectionist with straight lines and really prefer the look when everything is straight (if it’s meant to be so). But I hate trying to make it that way, with my old 12” long plastic ruler and the Creative Memories 10”x12” cutting mat I had been using (yes, I was long overdue for a larger mat). Anyway, I really enjoyed being able to easily have straight lines…I think, for me, that is one of the most addicting things about the BG Magnetic Mat.

So if the Basic Grey Magnetic Mat is on your Christmas list, I hope you’ve been “nice” this year, and Santa puts one under your tree. If you already have one, give us YOUR review in Comments or link us to your blog!

Scrapbook Secret Santa @ CKMB

ss loot      

Well, I missed out on it last year because I joined the CK Message Board right before Christmas.  So this year I made sure to say “sign me up!” at the first mention of a Secret Santa gift exchange.  These are the goodies I got.

American Crafts ELEMENTS metal tags

Almond Roca!

Making Memories Boho Round chipboard alpha

K&Co K-Ology Addison 6×6 paper pad

Bazzill Creative Cafe 12×12 multipack cardstock (red, pink, orange, green, blue)

Patterned paper (unk. co.) w/kraft background (5 sheets)

KI Memories Pop Culture paper (6 sheets)

Quick Quotes Instant Journaling rub ons about Family

Studio G/Mikes stamps, Christmas series (7 sets)

and a Mount St. Helen’s postcard from “Lisa.  The return address was WA state.  So, I posted on the CKMB a big fat “THANK YOU” and calling my Secret Santa out of hiding. 

 ETA 12/13/07:  Yippee, I know who my Secret Santa is!  She left me a Comment here (thank goodness, because I missed her post on CKMB).  I pasted it here:

Hi Erika!
I left you a message on the MB, but I’m not sure if you saw it, so I thought I’d post here as well. I am your SS and I’m glad you like your goodies! I was a bit worried.
I’m really enjoying your blog. That is how I found out about the new BG line (which I now love) and the Pop Culture line is perfect for my daughter. I like reading your reviews too. I’ve been wondering about the MM Magnetic Mat system as well. That is on my Christmas list.
Anyway, enjoy your stash!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Lisa 

THANK YOU LISA!!!  What a generous gift.  I {heart} every single thing.  I can’t even get those Mike’s stamps around here, and my LSS doesn’t have Pop Culture yet so you are DA BOMB.  And YOU RAWK!  As a mommy who doesn’t get much under the tree, you can’t imagine how much this gift made my Christmas :)  I was good all year, I promise…

PS:  As you know, I’ve been having “issues” with my blog formatting.  I’m now trying to edit it from my work computer…let’s see if this holds…pretty please, pretty please, pretty please….

Scrapbook Shopping on Craigslist.com

candy jars

Aren’t these candy jars cool?!?  I’m so excited.  Every year around this time, with the new year approaching, I get into Organizer Bunny mode.  Well, I found these glass candy jars on Craigslist a few weeks ago and scored them…for $10 under the asking price.  The seller was a local candy shop who had just piled up too many jars in their stockroom.  Coupla’ e-mail exchanges, quick trip to the ATM, then the candy store, and these babies are mine!Okay, there are still two ‘Best Parts’!  1.  I got MANY of these jars ~ 8 of the large ones w/6 lids and 10 of the small ones w/4 lids.  Yeah, lots and lots of jars.  2.  They were listed for $50 and I got them all for $40. They are really heavy, good quality and very clean.  Actually, I was kind of disappointed they didn’t smell a bit like chocolate or Twizzlers or something :( So anyway, my mind is swimming with ideas for how to use them.Here are some things I’m considering:1. Chipboard storage2. Mike’s stamp storage3. “Halfway Houses” for things before I put them away, like photos, smaller embellishments, etc.And that’s just the scrapbooking ideas ~ here are more:1. Making gifts by using rub ons to decorate them2. Using them in the kitchen for flour, sugar, etc.3. Vacation money jarThe best things about them is they are big and they are see through. I know from experience that when I can see things, I use them more. Ever since I put all my ribbons in jars, I reach for them all the time. Besides, it looks so pretty and colorful to have all your goodies displayed in glass jars.

Now, it would have been the perfect marriage but it was not to be ~ at the same time I found these jars, I also found a bunch of the Target and Store in Style scrapbooking storage cubes for sale on Craigslist. Again, buncha e-mails and a trip to the ATM but I was never able to meet up with the owner and pick them up. She lives about 50 miles from me and I headed down there one day, but there was a mix up (supposedly) and she wasn’t home. I e-mailed a couple more times trying to set something up but she wasn’t being very helpful. I mean, if you’re going to sell over $100 worth of cubes, wouldn’t you be willing to fit the person into your schedule or perhaps meet them in a town halfway between you and the buyer? Well, she wasn’t and I didn’t want to stalk the poor girl, so I gave up.

The price was fabulous and I can’t tell you how much I wanted those darn cubes. I have only part of my desired “wall of cubes” and these would have finished it off so nicely. In my head, I could just picture all my pretty-pretty glass jars filled with scrappy goodness atop my wall of cubes. So, I still search Craigslist all the time for that next crafty bargain.When something I think I really, really want doesn’t work out, I believe it didn’t work out for a reason. So I will patiently wait for what was meant to be…perhaps a free Expedit shelf will fall out of the sky, or maybe even someone nice from MY town will sell all their cubes! You never know…

Now some questions for you:  Do you Craiglist?  Buy or sell?  And what would YOU do with these candy jars?  Can’t wait to hear from you! 

“New” Organizational Tools by MM

Perhaps just in time to be #1 (and #2 and #3) on your Christmas list, here are some new organizational items from Making Memories.MAKING MEMORIES DESKTOP CAROUSEL:  

mm carousel

I have yet to see it in person, but word is that it’s showing up at Michael’s stores around the country as we speak. Therefore, I assumed it was “NEW!”. However, when I found THIS PRESS RELEASE about the Carousel on the MAKING MEMORIES WEBSITE, I noticed a press release date of July 20, 2007. Jeez, sometimes I’m really behind the power curve, aren’t I? Anyhow, assuming it’s not such “old news” that you might still be interested, here are the deets:

“The Desktop Carousel is a hexagonal shaped, multi-level storage unit that offers top-loading cubbies as well as slide-out drawers in a 12″ x 14″ footprint. Each upper compartment is accented with a metal label holder for easy product identification, while the lower drawers are outfitted with curved handles and magnetic closures.”

It retails for $39.99 so grab that next Mike’s 40% or 50% coupon and get this baby for roughly $20 to $24. I found one art supply website selling it for friggin’ $55.95. WTF?!?!

Per the press release, “In addition to working as a desk organizer, the Carousel can double as a makeup organizer, school supply caddy, and even kitchen accessory…(It) is constructed from sturdy MDF, and currently is available in a white glossy finish. The company also has released coordinated Desktop Storage units (MSRP: $19.99), constructed from chipboard, to hold 12″ x 12″ papers, as well as sticker sheets and other embellishments.”

And ~~TAH DAH!~~ Here are the aforementioned Desktop Storage Units:

MAKING MEMORIES DESKTOP ORGANIZER

dt org mm

“Your workspace will always be dressed for success, thanks to our desktop organizer. Neatly store 12″ x 12″ paper and tools while stowing away stickers, embellishments and more in convenient removable drawers with label holders. Get organized!Ideal storage for 12″ x 12″ paper, embellishments and more. Made of sturdy paper-covered chipboard”

MAKING MEMORIES DESKTOP ORGANIZER – EMBELLISHMENT BOX

mm emb box

While you’re over at the Making Memories website oogling all their cool stuff ~ like the FABulous Noteworthy paper that WILL be mine (oh yes, it will be mine…)…

mm noteworthy

and the Shimmer Brads….mm shimmer brads

…make sure and check out their very scrumptious MAKING MEMORIES BLOG, where there is tons of MM news, yummy recipes, and wonderful page ideas.

Okay, enough sounding like a Making Memories commercial because, NO, they don’t sponsor this blog like they should, so I’m going to tell you what I really think about their products.#1: The Carousel is awesome looking but I won’t be getting it. First of all, I bought a similar one from Target several months ago. It was cheaper but not nearly as cute. It’s a square shape, white, with drawers and metal label holders. Secondly, the footprint on the MM Carousel is huge, so I probably wouldn’t get it even if I didn’t already have one. What I find is that carousels just don’t work great with my set up because the only space for it is kind of at the back of my desk. Then it bangs into things every time I rotate it, including the window blinds, my Leaning Tower of Memorabilia-to-File, and my Diet Coke. I recommend a carousel if you have a project table where it could sit in the middle of the table. Also, I ‘travel scrap’ a lot and it’s not like I can take this heavy wooden thing with me to a crop or event. So I end up putting less-used items in there like flowers, smaller punches, etc.

What has been the better item for my needs is the Tote-ally Cool Totes I got at Costco recently, which even come with a rotating metal stand that fits in a pocket of the tote when you’re not using it.  I wrote about them HERE.

 
#2: The Desktop Organizer and Embellishment Box. If you’re going to order it online, just please note that the material they are made of is “sturdy, paper-covered chipboard.” My experience with that material on a heavily used item is not good. The item scratches easily, the drawers stick, and the paper starts to come up at the corners.  They’ve had an older version of the MM Embellishment Box sitting dusty on a shelf at my Mike’s for, what, a couple of years? It’s tan with a black lid, and the price is decent for the box and all the embellishments inside, but the thing is totally scratched up. That’s the same reason I never give in to all the adorable “cloth covered” or “linen covered” storage boxes at Tuesday Morning. They are so cute, but oh-so-scratchable. Anyway, the MM website says it’s “new and improved,” so maybe they brought down the scratchability quotient.

All that said, I like the looks of both items. I like how the Organizer holds 12×12 stuff and could sit back on my desk out of the way…Hey, a girl’s gotta’ have her creative space! It would be a perfect place to store my new stuff AFTER I sneak it past DH into my scrap area (oops, did I say that in my “out loud” voice?), but BEFORE I find time to put it away in it’s proper place in my properly organized scrapbook area, which is always 100% clean and organized just like Martha Stewart’s.  

I would still pass on the embellie box, only because I love the system I already have for storing all that tiny stuff. I have these and each little snaplock compartment is filled to the brim. Must…not…buy….more…brads…til…4,000 I have…are used!

CRAFT MATES EZY SNAPPIN’ ORGANIZERS

the little girl…

<img src=”https://www.craftmates.com/images/products/90363.jpg” alt=”ezy snappin petite” />

and the big momma
ezy snappin org

When I’m berating myself for having too many embellies, I remind myself that my mom has this…

ezy locking caddy

Mom can always make me feel better. Here is the link to the CKMB THREAD on the Carousel if you want to see what others are saying.  If I find a thread on 2PEAS, I will add it later. 

So, what do YOU think of these Making Memories storage products?? Do tell us in Comments.  

PS:  At least on my screen, the formatting is still all screwy with photo captions next to the photo instead of above them.  And none of the line breaks or spacing I entered are showing.  Which is SO annoying to me as an English major because it looks like one big run on sentence to me!  Is my computer broken, or do you see what I see? 

Wicked Cool Scrapbook Website

If you checked out Amanda’s amazingly organized scrapbook studio in my LAST POST, you may have already taken a look around over there. But if you didn’t, you MUST check out her entire website. Here are some of my favorite features:

~ Handwriting Fonts that she calls “FONTS FOR PEAS”, which I assume means she is a 2peas regular and has made fonts using other Peas’ handwriting. If you scroll down on that page, it appears she might make a font of ANYONE’s handwriting. Are you game? I have always been so jealous of those with wonderful handwriting as their journaling looks so nice or funky or pretty. For instance, don’t you just love the handwriting of Ali Edwards, Lisa Bearnson, and Becky Higgins? I have Lisa’s and Becky’s fonts downloaded and use them often (note to self: see if Ali’s handwriting is downloadable somewhere). My scrapper friend J. has some of the most gorgeous handwriting I’ve ever seen, and hand journals all of her layouts. It’s a pure pleasure to look through her scrapbooks because you can feel the love she has for her family just oozing out of her handwriting. But drats, my handwriting ranges from decent to atrocious, so I don’t think I will bother Amanda asking for my own font. But YOU please submit your cool handwriting and let us know if you do, so we can all download it. I just downloaded a ton of the Pea Fonts – yippee, can’t wait to play! Two of my favorites were Pea Bethany Doodle and Pea Dalovely Damanda Doodles. I have, like, below zero talent with doodling so I will just borrow their talent, LOL. Other faves were Pea Jenny Script, Pea Lacey, Pea Lacey Chunky, Pea Lindsey, and Pea Reese.

Here is her own “hand”:

amandas own font

There is also a link to FREE SCRAPBOOK FONTS. One is called “Bosshole”…hmmmm, some combo of two words = one word we can all relate to. Anyways….I could do a whole post (and almost have, jeez) just on the font features of Amanda’s website.

~ Amanda’s PHOTOS are wonderful. I especially love the ones of her home and all of it’s special features. I swear, if I had an ounce of money or decorating talent, my house would look like hers! Seriously, I love her style as a whole, from the way her website is “decorated” to the way her house is.

~ Her SCRAPBOOKS and projects are so fun to look at and gave me tons of ideas. Who is this girl?? Is she famous and I missed it?? If she isn’t famous, why not?? Totally talented… Just look at the adorable cover of her Wedding Scrapbook.

amandas wedding book cover

My only complaint is that it seems Amanda doesn’t post often enough! However, she has obviously taken a lot of time on this website. I truly appreciate all the hard work and that she’s taken the time to share her talents with everyone.

So ~ if you haven’t already ~ go check it out: www.kevinandamanda.com. Have fun & let me know what you think! I’m off to download some Amanda’s free scrapbook fonts…

Diary of a Scrapbook Retreat

As I posted about HERE, I was lucky enough to spend last weekend at a scrapbook mini-retreat. It was nothing fancy, not an organized retreat house, just 5 friends who got together. One friend T. has a sister-in-law who owns a beach house, so we only had to pay $250 to have the house from Friday through Sunday. We agreed to do all our own cleaning and laundry to save on the cost, plus the Sister Discount came into play, I’m sure.

On Friday, I worked until 12:30, then had a bunch of shopping and errands to do. One thing I did was buy a little goodie for each of the girls…they each got 2 of these Autumn Leaves acrylic stamps from Target. They cost $1.99 each and are so cute!

target stamps

I picked stamps that applied to each girl, like the baby carriage stamp for T. who’s about to start her famliy and the one with the stars for L. who has a cute little boy. I found some cute bags and tissue, too. I love shopping for friends, don’t you? Since it was K.’s birthday we were celebrating, I also got a card for her. Inside I wrote that her gift was a $40 credit towards her Memory Works order. I thought that way I know she’s getting things she loves! Then I got some food and drinks from the grocery store, as we were each responsible for one meal and our own snacks/drinks. I finally got to the house around 4:30 and was so happy to be there! I was the last to arrive, so I quickly got set up and started scrapping. We each had 1/2 of a large table (T. had her own table which shared the laptop).

The in-depth chatting started up right away and didn’t stop until we left Sunday afternoon. They were 4 of the nicest ladies ever and we had lots in common. I had already known T. and L. through K., and they had all come to my crops so I knew them as acquaintances. I met S. that day, and what a sweetie. When you talk to people non-stop for 2 days, they definitely become Friends. We now know probably more than we ever wanted to about each others husbands, kids, families, jobs, medical crises, and scrapbook preferences! That’s one of my favorite things about scrapbooking is that you can sit around and talk while you do it. And because you’re sharing photos and journaling that are so personal, you truly get to know the scrappers you share time with.

We had a late dinner of Italian takeout (eggplant parmigiana for me, yum!) with an expensive bottle of Rotta zin that my husband insisted I bring to share with my friends. Then back to scrapping! We lost T. to her beddie bye at 10:30, L. and S. at 1am, but K. and I were up until 3am. I surprised myself because I’d only had 3 hours of sleep the night before when I stayed up late packing for the retreat. Then Saturday morning K. and I woke at 7am with the other ladies, which also surprised me. I guess we were so excited to get some more scrapbooking done, and we didn’t want to miss a minute of the fun. I made lunch, spinach ravioli and french bread with homemade chocolate chip cookes, but I didn’t have any. My family came over to the beach and we met for lunch at a cool outdoor restaurant. I was so happy to see them all, you would think I’d been gone for 24 days instead of 24 hours. It was a gorgeous day, with a fun and delicious meal. Afterwards, they headed off to the pier to see if they could find the Great White Shark that had been sighted there recently, and I headed back to the beach house. We scrapbooked all night again, only stopping for dinner that L. had made in her crockpot. It was a delicious chicken tortilla soup from a recipe she got in Fix It or Forget It. For desert, T. and L. surprised K. with a cake T. had made ~ German Chocolate, her favorite ~ and we sang Happy Birthday. No one ate cake just then as we were so full from the soup. S. had to leave that night because she was going to a 49’ers game the next morning. She’s a Creative Memories rep and she was able to help out K. with a brown leather Compass album that K. had been looking for (they are no longer in production). That night, K. and I were the last ones up scrapbooking again…I think we made it til 1am.

On Sunday morning, everyone was up drinking coffee and slowly starting to scrap by 9am. K. made us a great breakfast of fruit salad and scrambled eggs with sides you could add like cheese, green chilis, etc. L. had to leave at noon; me, T. and K. kept scrapping and talking until 4pm then starting packing up. We loaded our cars with all our own stuff ~ and there was lots of that! ~ and we packed the tables and chairs in T.’s Suburban. Then we spent about an hour cleaning the house, finishing the laundry, remaking beds, and divvying up all the leftover food. I came home with the rest of my ravioli and bread, 2 bottle of Pellegrino, half of a German Chocolate cake, cookies, a bottle of OJ, some wine, and the remainder of my Diet Coke 12-pack. We were joking how my DH would be like, “Oh, yes honey, you can go on the next scrapbook retreat!” because I was bringing home some of his favorite foods.

At 5:30, it was time for me to head home. As much as I missed my family, it was hard to leave. I had such a good time and got a lot done. I seem to rarely scrapbook at home these days, because there are always so many other things to do. I hope to unpack all my gear soon and keep this momentum or mojo going. Retreats and crops always get me ‘in the mood’ again. I loved looking at everyone’s completed pages as we went along, and learning new techniques from them. The things I got done: 9 pages for my Europe album, 4 family pages, 10 cards, & organized my Bazzill by color and my Basic Grey by line (Blush, Phoebe, etc.). I have been blessed by K. with A LOT of BG and it’s what I’m solely using in my Europe album, so it was getting out of control. I feel so good now that it’s organized. I also sold some Memory Works things kind of by accident. I fully looked at this as a ‘getaway weekend’ and did not want to sell anything while there. But I still had the box full of stuff in my trunk from the crop a couple weekends ago. Plus on Saturday DH brought over a box that came Friday that was full of stuff K. had ordered and lots more. So of course, we all got excited about new things and the rest is history. But I was very glad I had things the girls needed to complete projects they were working on. For example, T. started her SNAPSHOT OF ME album (Becky Higgins, CKU album) and said she’d looked around but hadn’t found a paper line she like enough to do her entire album in. Then she saw I had Basic Grey’s Infuse pack and she loved it!

bg infuse

Her album was turning out very cute. I can’t wait to see it when she gets all her photos in and journaling done. All the girls are such talented scrapbookers and I was very lucky to be in their company this weekend. If you haven’t gotten together with YOUR scrap friends, gotten away for a little retreat, I highly recommend it.

The Scrapbooking Industry: My Take

As you know, I’m fairly “scrapbook obsessed.” (REALLY???? We hadn’t noticed!). Which means that, yes, I scrapbook but also that I think about it 24/7, read all the scrapping books and magazines and blogs, participate on message boards, watch scrapbooking on tv, attend and hold crops, work as a scrapbooking consultant and have my own little s/b business as a compliment to that, etc. etc. (Yes, I could go on!). As a person who is this involved, I have some opinions on what I think is happening in the scrapbook industry so I thought I would share them and see what you think. Note: When I refer to the scrapbooking industry here, I’m talking about paper scrapping not to include digital. First of all, it’s no secret that in late 2006/all of 2007, the industry has slowed down. By that I mean it’s not making as much money for the biggies, i.e. the magazines and the major scrapbooking product companies. Secondly, tons of local scrapbook stores (LSS’s) are closing with only a few new ones opening. Since LSS’s used to be the heart of the industry, I take this as a major hit. I think there are 4 major reasons for this downturn: the economy, the internet, digital scrapbooking, and the industry itself.

Okay, the first and easiest reason is the economy. Not that the economy is horrible, but it has taken a hit in the last few years with gas prices so high, mortgage rates going up while home values stagnate or recede, and jobs being outsourced to other countries where they can pay someone 50 cents an hour to do the same job an American would be paid $12/hour for (major pet peeve of mine, but we won’t go there). But the bottom line of our economic shift is that we all have less disposable income to spend on scrap supplies. Yeah, I know, horrors! Everyone I’ve talked to – ladies like me who have scrapped and shopped for years – has had to tone down their spending. I used to fill my Honda with gas for $25, and now it costs $45. There went the $20 I would’ve spent on supplies last week, and that adds up to $80 less from this one consumer over the course of a month. May seem small but not when you multiply $80 by the millions of scrapbookers who routinely shop. Before we used to think nothing of dropping $80-100 at the LSS every few months, but now it might happen once a year by using those gift cards from Christmas. Because our money is so tight, we’ve become smarter shoppers who rely on…big box craft stores and their lovely coupons. While this is convenient and cost-saving to we consumers, I feel it has really hurt the industry. I’m the most guilty of it than anyone I know, so I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it, just pointing out that it has had a definite effect. When I can get a Colorbok 12×12 album using a 40% off coupon for $12 instead of $20, or use a 50% off coupon to buy a Crop in Style Cube for half-price, I’m going to do it. But when I do, I’m taking the money I would have spent at the LSS and giving it to Michaels which is a huge nationwide chain. As much as I adore Mikes, they are not contributing to my community, donating items to my crop, or supporting my local scrapbook community like an LSS would. When we continually give our (few) scrappin’ dollars to Mikes, Costco, Hobby Lobby, et al., we are making it virtually impossible for the LSS to stay in business. When I asked one local owner why she was closing her store, she said, “Everyone thinks running a store is so profitable because scrapbook supplies are expensive. But it takes A LOT of pieces of 69 cent patterned paper to pay my light bill.” In other words, sure, there is a good mark-up on scrapbook supplies but it’s not like owning an appliance store or a car dealer where each sale can net you hundreds/thousands of dollars. A person has to walk out of the LSS with a bagful of supplies (or a full-priced Cricut or a full-priced QuicKutz) for them to see a significant profit per sale. I don’t know of one LSS owner who is making a killing, even the very savvy, business-smart ones. When I used to have 7 LSS’s within 100 miles, I enjoyed shopping at them so I could have the latest and greatest and enjoy the atmosphere there, even if it cost a bit more (see THIS POST for more on my love of LSS’s). But after I heard that comment from the owner, I made even more of a point to spend my scrap budget at LSS’s. Now I’m down to 1 LSS and I go there at least once per month even though it’s a 45-minute drive. The rest of the time, I do use my coupons and look for deals at big box stores. I suppose as a matter of principal, I could refuse to shop ‘big box’, but #1-I’m not that strong (LOL), and #2-Would it really make a difference if one lone scrap shopper in America made that effort? Nope. It would take a banding together of many of us, and I don’t see that happening. For most of us, the slowing economy has made it so that we put our budget ahead of the things we enjoy about our LSS’s.

The second trend that has negatively effected our industry is the internet. It’s tied in with the big box/economical reasons above but, basically, there are so many advantages to internet shopping that many of us have transitioned to it either partly or fully. There are so many positives to buying scrapbook supplies from the internet: easily view everything that’s available, compare prices to get the best deal, and take advantage of screamin’ deals on Ebay – all in the comfort of your warm, dry house while wearing your jammies! The only negatives: credit card/ID theft issues, waiting for the package to arrive, and sadly, taking our money away from the LSS’s. The major upside is that the internet has allowed any scrapper who would like to open up their own ‘store’, whether it be Ebay, Etsy, or a full-on store website. As a scrapper who recently quit full-time work and was interested in working from home, I can appreciate how that kind of opportunity could be irresistable and even considered it myself. However, this freedom in e-commerce has led to a saturation in the scrapbook market…and the eventual failure of many online stores. Don’t get me wrong, I think you can still make some pocket money in this type of venture but I don’t see many people making a full-time income from it. There are many huge sites that have done very well for a long time (ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOBBIES, EMBELLISH IT, etc.), but they are rare in my opinion. (If I’m wrong on this, please educate me :-). Bottom line is that if we’re all shopping online and forcing vendors to give us the rock bottom price or go out of business, and forcing the closure of LSS’s which offer all the products that keep the big magazines/companies going, then we as online shoppers have negatively impacted the very industry that we so love.

The third big effect I see involves digital scrapbooking. I don’t know any official statistics, but I’ve concluded that a large portion of paper scrappers (maybe 50%?) have transitioned partially or fully to digital scrapbooking. I base this on the number of people who talk about it on MB’s, post their digital pages, demand representation in the ‘paper scrapbooking’ magazines, and the number on digi-websites and blogs. I’ll bet Costco is making a killing on 12×12 page printing! Digital scrapbooking is very popular and it has to have had an effect on the paper scrapbooking industry. It goes something like this: A paper scrapper wants to try digital scrapbooking. She looks around online and downloads one free digi-kit from 50 different sites. She tries the digital thing and realizes she can complete a whole album while sitting in the car with her laptop at 5 of her son’s baseball practices. Not to mention no fuss, no mess, no sticky desktop to clean when she’s done. She thinks, “Why didn’t I try this sooner?” and tells all her friends to try it, which they do, and they all love it. Ms. Digi Scrapper looks at all of her paper scrap supplies and says, “I’d better stop buying supplies because I will never even use what I have, much less new stuff. And besides, why pay money when I can get all those digi-kits for free?” Now the only money she is spending is on printer cartridges and digital page printing (although I hear from lots of digi-scrappers that they don’t even print most of their pages; the pages live in their computers to view onscreen, post on their blog, or e-mail to relatives). Anyhow, even if some of this 50% of scrappers remain hybrid, I’d bet they still don’t spend anywhere near the amount of money on supplies as they used to. As for the creators/sellers of digi-elements, are they getting rich? Have we just transitioned the profit from the paper scrap companies to the digital designers? Personally, I don’t think so. Again, why pay for something when there are so many freebies? I love the ARTICLE Kim Guymon at Scrapbiz.com wrote about this subject and she explains it very well. But, again, the bottom line is this huge transition to digital scrapbooking has changed the face of the scrapbooking industry as we know it. I imagine if you’ve gone totally digital, you aren’t concerned but as a ‘completely paper’ scrapper, I kinda’ wish it wasn’t happening. I’m not blaming anyone – the digital scrapbookers or their industry – I just wish digital had come along after my lifetime or something, LOL. It’s like when I get mad sometimes and DH says, “Why are you mad at me?!?” and I say, “I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at the SITUATION.” (Pout, pout).

“Fourthly” and lastly, I place some blame on the scrapbook industry itself. I think they have bowed to the pressure we put on them for something new, “the latest and greatest”, all the time and they just release too many dang products! Coming from me, this statement probably shocks you, right? I can shop like nobody’s business and drool over all the new products. I discuss them here on my blog and post links to enable your shopping as well. But just because we want the new stuff all the time, doesn’t mean the industry has to provide it. I think the popularity of the scrapbook magazines with their ads for new products, their awesome pages and articles featuring the new stuff, and all the internet advertising of same has pressured the makers of scrapbook products to keep putting out new collections. Well, I’m no expert but I imagine that costs a lot of money – designing, advertising, attending trade shows, sending reps to the stores, and filling orders. When the industry was really thriving, that was all well and good. But now that it has slowed, we’re still expecting tons of the latest and greatest, and they are still delivering. How can that be profitable? Add to that the new companies that continue to appear and it boggles the mind. A few of the longtime, larger companies have recently gone out of business and I predict that more will follow. I’ve also noticed limits on production that frustrate stores and consumers. It has to eventually fall apart, as much as I absolutely hate to say that.

So there are my thoughts on today’s paper scrapbook industry. I think about it a lot as I read the message boards and hear so many complaints lately like this: “CK has gotten so thin”, “My LSS closed :(“, “The freebies at CKU/Expo have gotten so limited,” and “Why is there no Michael’s coupon every week like there used to be?”. I’ve noticed that CK, the premiere scrapbook magazine, has changed to a company with horrible customer service and thousands of loyal subscribers dropping their subscriptions. I see Creative Memories, the premiere (or at least original) scrapbook home party company, firing employees and making decisions that continue to alienate their consultants and, hence, customers. To me, the answer to these questions and the reason for the negative trends all lies in the fact that the scrapbook magazines and the companies who make the products are not thriving like they used to be. As scrappers, that’s just something we have to realize and live with. Hate to be Debbie Downer, but I think it’s only going to get worse… Please don’t shoot the messenger. I’m not happy about it either, fo’ sho’. Now tell me what YOU think – I would love to know if I’m ‘in the dark’ or ‘on target’.

An Amazing Disney Album with Cricut

Am I right when I say that pretty much every scrapbooker has gone to Disneyland or Disney World, taken loads of cool pictures, and needs to make a Disney album? Well, if you would like some awesome inspiration or just want to drool, go check out this DISNEY ALBUM that was posted on the Cricut message board. Her post says that she worked on it for 3 1/2 months and completed 182 layouts! Her layouts are pretty detailed and she includes lots of photos per page. I, for one, am truly impressed. I love all the bright colors and fun fonts which really go along with Disney.

Memory Trends 2007 – New Releases

The Memory Trends show going on in Las Vegas is one of the wonderful scrapbooking trade shows held every year. Most companies show off their new product releases. Memory Trends is similar to CHA, the big show by the Craft and Hobby Association. This week at Memory Trends they are also announcing the winner of the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooker of the Year (aka SOY). There are a few of the Top 10 Finalists who frequent the CK Message Board, so if you want to chat with them or view their galleries, come on over to the CK WEBSITE! We’d love to have ya’.

I found this great site called REMEMBER THE MOMENTS where all the new product releases for Memory Trends are shown – wha hoo! And there is some gorgeous stuff as usual. Every time I think the designers couldn’t possibly top themselves, they do. I picked one favorite from each line shown:

3 Bugs in a Rug, from Playful

3 bugs playful

7 Gypsies, from Pretoria

7 gypsies pretoria

Basic Grey, acrylic stamps!

bg stamps

Cosmo Cricket, love the whole Hey Sugar line…

cc hey sugar

Flair Designs, from Rejoice (the true meaning of Christmas…)

flair designs rejoice

Hambly Screen Prints, a sampling

hambly sampling

Karen Foster

KF ballerina

Luxe Designs

luxe designs hearts

Making Memories, 5th Avenue, Elizabeth
There was some talk lately that MM had kinda’ lost their edge, but I must now eat my words! They are definitely back with some rockin’ stuff. If you look at nothing else, check out the MM stuff. They have 3 new lines!

mm 5th ave

My Minds Eye, from Frost.
They also have 3 new lines; love them all, very Basic Grey-ish..

mme frost

Paper Salon, clear stamps

paper salon stamps

Rouge de Garance, a cutting edge company, very cool stuff – check it!

rdg pinwheel

Rusty Pickle, feeding the acrylic album craze…
RP acrylic albums

Scribble Scrabble, Spencer’s Collection
I’ve never heard of this company. Could you have fun with this paper, or what?

SS Spencer

Studio 8, Falling Leaves (NEW COMPANY)

studio 8 falling lvs

Technique Tuesday, acrylic stamps

TT stamps

So head on over to RTM and check it all out, then come back and Comment with your thoughts, your likes, your dislikes.

Video Tour of a Very Organized Scrapbook Room

Here is a LINK to a VERY beautiful and organized scrapbook room. You should really check it out. It belongs to Mellette Berezoski, who is a frequent contributor to various sites and magazines. You can see how she is able to create such great layouts in a fabulous studio like hers! (I do realize it also takes loads of talent, LOL). Take a tour of her room and let me know your thoughts. My favorites were:

How she mixed modern and vintage, like all the Ikea shelves with the old locker bins.

The groupings of like items – ribbons, stamps, magazine bins, etc – which makes it look even more organized.

The very efficient use of the shorter walls. Also, the labels! I, too, am label crazy.

All of the work space on the L-shaped desk and the computer desk. She has really made the most of that room!

The only elements I didn’t care for were: The horizontal paper storage – I think vertical is clearly the way to go for less dust, less wrinkles, and more space efficient; and the open tops on a lot of things like the locker baskets – in my experience, those are dust collectors.

Those are just tiny negatives. I absolutely adore this room. I think it’s full of great storage, organization, and decorating ideas. I would just love to own this studio, wouldn’t you? Thank you to Kelliannie on CKMB for showing me this room :)

New Basic Grey – Periphery, Mellow, Recess, Obscure & Infuse

My favorite site for Basic Grey papers and Bazzil – Embellish IT! – is now taking pre-orders for the new Basic Grey themes. Tell them I sent you! Here’s the new BG:

BG Periphery papers
BG Periphery paper sneak peek

BG Periphery extras
BG Periphery extras sneak peek

BG Recess papers
BG Mellow papers sneak peek

BG Recess extras
BG Mellow extras sneak peek

BG Mellow papers
BG Recess papers sneak peek

BG Mellow extras
BG Recess extras sneak peek

BG Obscure papers
BG Obscure papers sneak peek

BG Obscure extras
BG Obscure extras sneak peek

BG Infuse recently released, ifya haven’t seen it already….
I just ordered this paper pack and letter sheet. There are also die cut shapes and another version of letter stickers. Can’t wait for Mr. UPS Man!
BG Infuse papers out now

BG Infuse extras out now

As I may have mentioned a time or twelve, Basic Grey is my absolute favorite scrapbooking company. They are always innovative while staying true to what we all like about their stuff: a distressed look, great colors, patterns and colors that coordinate well even from line to line, and such great quality. The new line I’m most antiicipating is probably Periphery. I think the colors are intriguing and will be so adaptable to different pages. But it’s hard to choose because they all look great. I especially love the new wide range of alphas, and patterned die cuts that I’m sure we’ll be seeing on a lot of published layouts in the coming months. What do you think of the new Basic Grey? Which one is your favorite?

Scrapbook Peeking at Tuesday Morning

First of all, I apologize to my friends at CKMB who’ve already heard this story. But I just had to share it on my blog too. I’ve been finding scrapbook stuff for quite awhile now at Tuesday Morning. The store is about 40 minutes from me, but whenever I’m in that town, I stop in. Sometimes I find nothing, sometimes I hit the motherload – like the huge KI Memories pack for $30 with 80 sheets of paper and tons of embellishments I found last January. So I got my ad in the mail last week and it showed “Mini Scrapbook Kits for $3.99, Compare at $11.99. More than 100 pieces and assorted styles.” The picture in the ad was so small, it was hard to tell the brand or even what you get in the kit. But that price sure sounded intriguing. I drove down that way Sunday to shop at Costco, then went to Tuesday Morning. I looked through all the scrap stuff and didn’t see the kits. Then I realize…duh, their sales don’t start until…..everybody say it with me…..”TUESDAY MORNING!!!”. They always put the sale items on the endcaps, then cover them with huge white butcher paper and writing that says, “Will Be Revealed on Tuesday Morning”. So I’m standing there wondering if my Tuesday Morning will be getting these kits – should I drive all the way back down here in 2 days? Well, a girl’s gotta know! Was it wrong of me to try and untape the butcher paper to get a teeny weeny peek inside the endcap shelves? Well, all the shoppers around me seemed to think so because I was getting some crazy looks. My eyes brightened as I saw the words “K-Ology” and “K&Co” on the packaging!! But that wasn’t enough information, so I decided to look at the little sign that describes the item. It was attached to the top shelf with magnets and I reached up on tippy toe to grab it – and it falls with a crashing sound, banging between the butcher paper and the metal shelves several times before it hit the ground. Red-faced, with everyone staring at me, I tried to stick it back on the top shelf…and it crashed down between the paper again. I set the sign on a nearby shelf and walked away. It’s embarrasing the lengths I’ll go to just to save money on scrapbooking items!
PS: Today being Thursday, the kits “have been revealed” but I haven’t had time to get back down there (color me sad).
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Scrapbooking Organization: Mission Accomplished

At 3am today, I finished the challenge from CKMB to organize my scrap space…wahoo! Here are the BEFORE pics: BEFORE #1
BEFORE #2
BEFORE #3

And AFTER pics:
AFTER #1
AFTER #2
AFTER #3
100_2537

I still have some work to do, like organizing my massive quantities of photos (heritage, childhood, high school…to about 2003). I’m also looking into a bookshelf or some other way to store my finished scrapbooks in my living room. Right now, they take up a good chunk of my scrapping bookshelf. For the living room, I’m digging this IKEA Expedit bookshelf . We don’t have an Ikea around here but I think I can purchase it online…if I can get hubby to agree that it’s $200 well spent (wish me luck). Edited: Ummm, make that over $400 when you include shipping. May have to wait until I can travel to an IKEA, gulp.

Back to the scrapbook organizing! Other than what I mentioned in my last post, here are the top 10 things I did to organize my space:
1. Went through a huge stack of patterned papers that I bought or was given over the course of the last year and didn’t put away. I already had specific Cropper Hopper vertical holders or files for Chatterbox, Memories Complete, SEI, Doodlebug, KI Memories and Bo Bunny. In this process, I located enough Basic Grey, Daisy Ds and My Minds Eye (thanks to that Costco double pack) that I had to create folders for them too. They all look nice and comfy standing next to each other on my bookshelf.
2. Went through a huge stack of embellishments that needed were scattered everywhere. I got some of them put away in my ScrapRack, and put the rest in an Iris drawer for later filing. By cleaning out all my 12×12 Iris drawers, I now have someplace to store things until I have time to file them instead of piling them on my desk or leaving them in shopping bags all over the floor. I will try to file things right away, but if they do go in the Iris drawers, I only have so much space to fill before I have to stop and put things away.
3. Dusted! Wow, a lot of dust builds up when you don’t scrap for a year. Yuck….but nice now :)
4. Put all my computer-related software, blank photo CD’s, etc in one drawer of my desk. Sorted through two other desk drawers and made room for tools I don’t use often.
5. Got rid of two old wooden vegetable crates that I’d been using in the corner as a little shelf and moved my Iris “project sorter” into their place with the mini stereo and telephone on top.
6. Fixed my “letter E” collection that had fallen off the shelves when my husband was pounding on the garage wall awhile back.
7. Took most of the white plastic baskets out of my little shelf unit and filed that stuff elsewhere. They were not covered baskets and everything got too dusty. Moved all my mini-albums from various places around the room onto the shelf instead. Note to self: Dust once in a while.
8. Things that were sorted through and tossed or moved out of my scrap space: old scrapbook catalogs (do I HAVE to hold on to every single one?? Jeez.), past issues of scrap magazines, birthday gifts for others that I have been stashing under my desk, and my huge collection of photo frames.
9. Purged a stack of newspapers after cutting out and Archival Misting the obits or articles I wanted (someone close to me is quoted in the paper a lot).
10. Consolidated my page kits and project kits from crops, CKU, the cruise etc into one plastic crate which now sits under the table.

Oh, speaking of table, I added a table to my area and am thrilled with the amount of workspace I now have. I can even have a friend over to crop with me in there now! (DH will be happy we’re not all over the dining room table anymore, LOL).

I don’t think I have any great organizing advice above, except to say “Don’t wait as long as I did to purge stuff you won’t use or doesn’t belong in your scrap space”. From things I already had organized, I would highly recommend using cute jars to store your ribbon (decorative, cheap and practical), and utilize Cropper Hopper vertical storage for your papers. They even have 6×6 and 8×8 holders now. It’s so much easier to access your papers and not crush them than with horizontal storage.

I still have a little work to do on sorting embellishments and such, then onto the next project: photo and memorabilia organization!

Anybody Got an Apple?

I’m going to buy a new laptop in the next week or so.  Okay, this IS part of my Scrapbook Obsession, because I use my computer to journal and store/print photos (and to blog, ha!).  I’d like to use the new one for my Memory Works business and possibly try digital scrapbooking.  I’ve been thinking about what to buy for some time, but I really need to JUST DO IT!  I researched things like dependability, customer service (from an English-speaking country, please?), speed, and memory.  I had settled on a Lenovo laptop and was just waiting for the money (which has arrived).  Well, then I’m scrapping at a friend’s house one day and she has a beautiful Apple desktop with the 20 inch monitor.  It was gorgeous, and seemed so easy to use.  My friend said that, when she was recently computer shopping, a mutual friend recommended Apple because of their user-friendliness, security, and they don’t crash as often as PC’s do.  I really trust his opinion because he’s one of my “go to” guys on techie issues.  (Me = so far from a techie I can barely spell it).  Now, I’m pretty much sold on a MacBook Pro, Pro because I want the larger screen.  I’m thrilled that Macs can now run Windows and all the MS programs I’m used to, like Excel and Word.  They also run every type of software I’ve checked so far, like Photoshop and programs I’d need for work.  Now it seems like wherever I look, everyone’s got an Apple.  The local Mac store was way busier than the other computer stores I went to (no, it wasn’t because of the Ipod’s, those were in a separate section next door).  Is it just me, or is some big switchover happening?  Is Apple the way to go? 

I’ve been asking around and no one has had anything bad to say about Macs.  Ooohh!  And I want that iPhone that comes out in June 2007, too btw.  I guess my only remaining concern is that going with an Apple might hamstring me somehow down the road, and not run a crucial program or download that I need.  I won’t have a PC to back me up, because the laptop I have now (an HP Pavilion) is borrowed.  I’m sure the rightful owner will be happy to have it back.  Also, Macs are definitely more expensive – are they worth it?  I wish the computer fairy would descend from the clouds and tell me what to do.  Anybody got an Apple, and some advice??

Perfect Just the Way You Create

I walked past the table today and my own layout caught my eye.  It’s one I’m doing for the infamous travel album.  It made me think to myself, “Wow, I really like my style”.  Do you ever have those moments?  For me, they are few and far between.  I spend much more time criticizing myself because my pages don’t look as good as the pages shown in magazines or that people post online.  I know we all have our own style and there are reasons behind our style.  Here is mine – let’s ‘break it down’!

1.  Lots of photos per page – Nope, won’t see any single photo layouts in my albums.  I don’t scrapbook to be artistic or to showcase my graphic designer skills.  I scrap to get my pictures in albums where we can look at them.  I take a lot of pictures, always have.  I’ve gotten better about selecting which one’s to file vs. include in layouts.  But there has been many a time when I was looking through an album and thought, “Hey, where’s that picture of…?”.  I remember it, I feel it was part of the story, and I want others to see it so why is it stored separately in a box?  I don’t want any more of those regretful moments.  Honestly, how often do you gather around to look through the photos that are stored?  Me, never.  But I constantly look through my albums.  I always have one placed on the coffee table for easy browsing.  So mostly I store doubles or photos that are very similar to others.  Other than that, it goes in my scrapbook.

2.  Good journaling – I love to write (duh!) so journaling has never been a hardship for me, like I know it can be for some.  I have more of a problem keeping it simple and not writing down TOO much.  As for handwritten vs. computer journaling, I try to handwrite unless it’s extensive journaling that won’t fit…because my handwriting is on the larger side.  I look at my scrapbooks as a journal, and I want to remember the details.  I always make sure to include the date, place & people details because those are the most important.  I also include my initials and the date I scrapped it really small in the bottom right corner of the page.  I don’t scrap chronologically, so it helps me to see how I’ve progressed (or not, in some cases!).

3.  Nice photos without much editing – I’m not that great with computers.  I don’t know how to use PhotoShop (yet).  I don’t have time to sit and individually edit each photo.  I’d rather spend that time scrapping.  I take both digital and 35mm photos but everything is developed at my local Longs Drugs.  I can’t tell you what an excellent job they do.  The colors are rich and the photos are clear and sharp.  The digital ones, I might play with a little on the kiosk-thingee when I download them, but mostly I just order 1 or 2 of each, a CD, and pick ’em up when they’re done.  With a coupon, their prices are pretty good and I’ve never found that photo quality anywhere else.  Yes, I’m very picky.  I don’t like photos with that “digital” look.  And I don’t believe in editing other than red-eye or cropping.  For me, my scrapbook captures my real life with all it’s imperfections.  I don’t want to show off my digi-family, our digi-dog, and the digi-4th of July parade.  Gimme real life anytime.  (My stepdad is an amazing photographer who does graphic artist level stuff to his photos in PhotoShop.  We got into quite the debate at Christmas!)

4.  12×12 layouts – I have done several mini-albums for theme stuff, but my everyday albums are 12×12 postbound.  I started scrapbooking with Creative Memories (who didn’t?), so I have several strap hinge albums.  But when I discovered how easily you can move pages around with post-bound, I was hooked.  I also love the variety in album choices because they are the most popular type of album and most companies have some version of a 12×12 postbound.  I have to go 12×12 because of all the photos (see #3).  I have a friend who scraps 8.5×11 and I can’t even comprehend that.  I keep trying to convert her to 12×12, pointing out all the advantages, but she won’t budge.

5.  Pretty simple style – Not Becky Higgins simple, or Cathy Z. simple, but simpler than most I see.  Here is my typical page:  Base of Bazzill cardstock or subtle patterned paper; embellished a bit with more PP, or store bought embellishments (I don’t ever make my own like some talented ladies do); title with rub-ons, letter stickers, paint stamps or computer generated; a mixture of cropped and uncropped photos, with the focal photo(s) matted with cardstock; journaling either hidden or showing; and maybe some ribbon as a border or little bits stapled here and there.  That’s it.  I know about embossing, UTEE, quilling, layered stamping, etc. but you won’t see it my pages.  I admire those that will spend that kind of time on a layout, but I’m not a patient girl.  Let’s get some layouts done – chop, chop!

I hope when others see my scrapbooks and my style, they see me reflected there.  I’m a practical, smart, attractive, traditional, talkative, passionate, loving wife and mom.  I hope those attributes also describe my pages (well, except a page can’t be a wife and mom…).  Anyhow, it was a good moment to see that layout and be pleased with it.  I hope you have moments like that too.  I completely love Donna Downey’s motto:  “Perfect just the way you create”.  Now, go create something!

Hello world!

mm emb ctr

I’m so excited!  My very own scrapbook blog!  How cool is that?  I figured since I’m thinking about scrapbooking 24/7 anyway, I might as well write about it.  I love to scrapbook.  I love to shop for supplies.  I loves me some scrapbooking magazines and idea books.  I spend too much time on the internet reading scrapbook message boards and blogs.  I have a scrapbook area in constant need of organizing – which I love to work on.  I TiVo all the scrapbook-related shows on television.  A lot of my relatives and good friends scrapbook, which I love, love, love!  Jeez, is there anything about scrapbooking I DON’T like???  Nope.  Can’t think of anything.

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