Everyday Creativity Day 2

I did create yesterday for a little while. :) I'm glad I did it earlier in the day because I was BEAT by the end of the day. I did 2 more cards based on the CPS sketch. I need either some ink or my picture order to come in so I can attempt a few layouts. :) Until then, here are some of the LOs I did for the SYTYCS contest at Scrappers Bliss.

CPS sketch #26

Today's creative endeavor was the CPS sketch. :) I'll upload it tomorrow.

Something creative EVERY day

I can do this, right? Riiighht?! That's my goal. I have a lot going on now. School aka work is only two short weeks from starting and I have a to-do list a mile long that still needs working on. So I'm going to work my list AND still try to make sure that every single day I do something creative:
- work on a scrapbook page
- make a card
- work on ebay albums
- work on Christmas gifts

Something! Every.day. I haven't carved out my time yet today, but I will and I'll share too. :)

I bet you didn't know

I have a lot of hobbies. Yes scrapbooking is one of them, but home decor and organizing have gotten more of the attention lately. The purging/organizing continued today. I've been in the garage ALL day. And I'm sadly not done. I'm having a garage sale tomorrow. I've got everything just about set up but I think I'm going to ravage the house ONE more time to make sure there's nothing else that needs to go. I'd rather this NOT become a yearly necessity.

Lots of stuff needs to GO, go, go out of our garage. Still trying to figure out what to do with grandpa's rocking chair. :( I don't Really want to sell it, but it has no place in the house. Our house is only 1400 sq. ft and we have no attic or basement for storage, and the garage is a one car. *sigh* And I feel like Lily Tomlin in it; my feet don't touch the ground. *hehe* I better consult with my mom first though.

Alright, back to the grind. I've even gone so far as to color code my storage. All Christmas stuff is in the silver rubbermaid, Easter is bright blue, Halloween black, etc. But for posterity's sake I'll make labels too.

Beach

Usually it has to be 80 and sunny for me to even think of going to the beach and the weather today was more like 75 and cloudy. Not beachy enough for me. Today, however, since the inlaws were camping at the North side of the lake (it's a big lake ;) ) we headed over there. Being as we live on the South side, we only go to the North side 1-2x a year. Sat around their campsite and chatted for awhile and then headed to the beach. Xander and Erick were the only two swimming. Xander gets cold when it's 90 out fast so I knew they wouldn't be in long. Came out and dried off and then we built a sandcastle together as a family. Everyone but grandpa got in on the action. I really don't think I've every MADE a real sand castle before. It was fun. :) It took us nearly an hour and when we were done X destroyed it, but I got pictures first.

Headed back to their campsite and the boys changed, we chatted and ILs made dinner. After dinner we pretty much came right home.

And the not-so-much-my-birthday celebration continues

with the purchase of . . .

Some new Autumn Leaves stamps:

All because I wanted one little embossing folder that wasn't in stock at the other place. *blush* I've spent a lot of money on scrapping this summer considering I've made maybe 5 pages and 6 cards. Well, and about 10 mini-albums for ebay. Better get back to that considering I need to pay back the checking account at some point. ;)

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, okay, so technically it's not my birthday. But, should someone who is about to turn thirty want to buy themselves anything they want in the weeks approaching that D-day it shoud definitely be allowed. So Happy Birthday Carrie! ;)

I bought myself a bug. I JUST got a QK but I think I might sell the handle. I only paid $35 and the alphabet alone is worth that price. And I have the WB which is great, but not so great for quick little things and it cannot emboss. I found a great price on the Cuttlebug and a bunch of dies/folders and bought it. DH isn't so happy but he'll deal. He was going to get me QK embossing folders for my birthday. Those are almost 4x the price of the Cuttlebug ones though. I hope it's here next week so I have some time to play before going back to school.

I'm still way behind on scrapping and behind on uploading already finished layouts. I'll get there someday though. Right now I'm just enjoying the ebay thing. :)

Scrapper's Bliss

I was in the So You think You can Scrapbook contest at Bliss. Well, I'm officially out as of this week. It was a challenge, that's for sure but I discovered I do not like scrapping people I don't know. LOL!

So you see, everything was going peachy while I had my own photos to use. Week one I had Boho Chic and I made the CUTEST little owl. Definitely going to use him again. I found him on a retro 60's pillow, traced him in my Wishblade program and then cut him out and stuck him on a tree limb. The second week I had romantic. Found this coaster my MIL had crocheted and figured out where to go from there.

Then the next week two bad things happened (1) I had to use someone else's pictures and (2) I got Freestyle. Now, freestyle is just about the polar opposite of my style except for maybe that we both like bright colors. And while the little girl certainly was cute, I wasn't feelin' the layout. Probably because for me, 1/2 the layout is the story. So I was scrapping for my life this week. And again we used other people's pictures. I eeked out a decent layout I thought but apparently it wasn't good enough. But really, it's okay. I'm not upset at all. :) I was getting to the point where I was ready to be done. In 2007 so far I've scrapped maybe 10 layouts and two of them are now of unknown youngsters. And I really LIKE my own style. So now I'm ready to go on being myself. The contest taught me a lot. First of all that I can step outside my box and still create some good work (like the Romantic LO) and secondly that I still have the groove to really create something fantastic. It is like riding a bike. I really enjoyed finding my inspiration again. The last two weeks were hard because of time commitments and the fact that other people's kids don't really inspire me. LOL! But, I'm back in the groove. Right now my time is pretty much being given to making great albums for eBay, but at least I'm scrapping again. Maybe cards will be next. I'm just so proud that for the first time in a long time I scrapped in a contest not really caring about the results. I lost and you know what, I don't care! It doesn't bother me at all that I lost. That's a big hurdle to cross and it's one reason I stopped scrapping for a year; I just got too caught up in competing. But I'm good now. In more ways than one. All is well.



As I'm not suppose to share the layouts yet I'll leave you with my losing layout. :) I figure since it was posted on the blog with my name attached it would be okay.

Just a peek

I've been busy working on mini-albums. Lots of 'em. I'm still having some problems scrapping. I just don't feel like scrapping pictures so I've decided to give a go to the world of eBay. I've dabbled before and was able to maintain a decent balance for my scrappy supplies. I'd like to try to make a more regular income this time. In order to do that I need to keep listing stuff. :) So, my goal is to have 50 projects made or sold by the time school starts. I'm at about 18 right now including some I made but never listed before. I have plenty of ideas, but between summer school and other things I haven't had a ton of time. I'll get there though even though I have less than 30 days to get 32 done. EEK! Here are some of the covers of what I've photographed.

Back in the Groove, sort of

I have finally willingly and eagerly visited my scrapnook. :) It was a long time in coming. I haven't scrapped any pictures although I might do that tonight too, but I did make two mini-albums to sell on ebay. More than for myself I'm eager to get back in the groove of selling on ebay. A little money certainly wouldn't hurt our family, especially now that I have finally decided I'm ready to add a fourth member to our family. That's *HUGE* for me. HUGE. It's taken me over 3 years to decide that Xander probably wouldn't be an only child.

So, I made two mini albums today. Both using Chatterbox Greenhouse papers and using my Zutter Bind-it-All which just might be the coolest thing *EVAH*. So smooth. And each book only took 6 rungs of a full spine so I could probably make 2-3 more of the same size off of ONE circular spine.

That's all from here for now. Stay tuned for project posting. Coming SOON. *Weee*

I swear . . . .

Someday I'll scrap again. *sigh* No end in sight for the hectic"ness". Finished school on Tuesday, left Wednesday morning for the Upper Peninsula to see my parents, came home Saturday to spend Father's Day with my wonderful hubby and now tomorrow I start with summer school. So far I think I'm missing out on the slow paced summer I was planning for.

Trying to get back in the swing of things

Still trying. Poking along and not feeling very inspired. Several months ago we bought a new computer, desktop. It's awesome. It rocks really; has the TV tuner and I can record shows, etc since we didn't have tivo previously. BUT, the kicker is that it's Vista. And my WB isn't Vista compatible. So, I haven't used it. Now, I need to get the laptop all Wishbladified so I can start using it again. Maybe tonight I'll finally do that. :) I downloaded a bunch of GSD files for cutting. Fun new ones. Cool! I need to make some Father's Day cards and a Baby card too and I have a layout that's been on my desk for pretty much forever now. Scrapping has just never been so HARD for me as it has been lately.

Still MIA

Lots going on here. Lots. Trying to make decisions. Big decisions. Life altering decisions.

And trying to stay sane whilst the school year finishes up. I'm not sure I'm winning that battle.

Scrapping is still on the back burner. It use to be an automatic habit; now it's an afterthought. Something I think, "oh, I should have done some scrapping tonight." I'm hoping to rekindle my relationship with paper this summer. ;) Of course, by then it'll be too hot in my windowless hallway to scrap. HA! Might have to get one of those moveable air conditioners. ;)

But, the school year is almost over - 6.5 days left. Then it's off to the UP for a visit with the parents for a few days and then back again to spend Father's Day with DH and then Monday I start summer school. So, yeah, maybe by August I'll have some time to scrap. ;)

Cards

While I've scrapbooked for nearly seven years not, cardmaking was just one of those things that I sucked at. Well, lately that's all I've been doing. Truthfully, it's been nice and I think I'm finally getting a knack for it. That's a good thing in many ways. 1) It gets me using my scraps 2) It's a bit faster. 3) It's something else to submit to magazines 4) It's something to send in the mail to brighten their day.

The best of intentions

Ah, the best of intentions to scrap the weekend away went out the window when the weather turned out BEAUTIFUL. So, I spent lots of time ouside with my best little friend. And then I shopped online . . . a lot. I just want this house finished. I was waiting and paying it all off a little at a time in cash but I just pretty much relented and decided to buy everything now - it'll all be paid off in the next month or two and the headache and annoyance it will save me will be worth the few dollars in interest it'll cost me.

So I bought this bedding for the guest room/playroom. It's very colorful and will work great in the playroom. I swear it has every color Fisher Price and Little Tikes ever used. ;) The bedskirt will be white and the pillow shams are lime green. Can't wait until it gets here so I can get that room done.

I also ordered shelves for the living room. I'm tired of the boxes of books sitting against my wall. Plus, the bottom shelves are 14" which would be perfect for storing scrapbooks.

I did play on Saturday night when it rained a little. I made one page with the April OPAAT kit. LOVE these kits. They tend to be pretty girly, but I find them really packed full of goodies and look forward to them coming every month. They're having a DT call for the summer. I may or may not try out. Ironically, there's was the last team I tried out for as well. I was going to make a few cards as well, but I never got around to it. Maybe next weekend since DH is off on Saturday AND it happens to be NSD. AND, I ordered a few new goodies from Scrap Supply including the For the Record stamps from AL and the Bind it All machine. I figure the binding machine can be used in my classroom as well which means TAX WRITE OFF! :) Love dual purposing. My kiddos just wrote autobiographies in English class and I encouraged them to "be creative" and "add pictures." I never called it a scrapbook though for fear of turning the boys off to the project. Anyway, I'm sure I can find a cheaper source of wire bindings and then I can bind all of their projects for them. :) Plus, I'm thinking of reviving the ebay mini-album business this summer. I might try regular mini-albums rather than paper bag albums.

Free weekend

Alright, I'm home a lot on the weekends. I'm a bit of a homebody truth be told. :) I like being here. BUT, the last 4-6 weekends have been full of house related work. It's slowly all coming to an end now. My scraproom is now a spare room (which I'm hoping to turn into a nursery in the very near future), the hallway is my new scrap space and in my bedroom is a new computer armoire. Lookin' GREAT all the way around. I feel like we're using our space a LOT better. We have decorating to do but nothing else major. I ordered new shelves for the living room tonight since JCP had free shipping.

So, this weekend I was kind of looking forward to the rain so I could hole up in my new scrap area. It's suppose to be nice this weekend now, but I just might go ahead and stay indoors this weekend anyhow. I have new goodies that haven't even been opened yet including an April OPAAT kit and an order from RMH. PLUS, I ordered some more goodies last night. *blush* What can I say, I haven't scrap shopped in awhile. :)

Hopefully I'll have some new stuff to share, or maybe I'll make something that I'll deem worthy of "holding onto" for another 12 months. :D I'm solo parenting again this weekend though so I've got to hope that nthe new temporary playroom in the spare room keeps the squirt occupied so I can do some scrapping. I did also promise some cookie baking. And we have to grocery shop, but other than that, I'm not going to do ANYTHING that I don't feel like doing.

Nonstop

Life has been b.u.s.y. We've now had every room's carpeting replaced. We've dragged 1/2 of our belongings to the garage and I've gone through it ALL deciding whether it REALLY needed to re-enter the house. We've ordered new furniture and built new shelves. We've put up 5 new closet organizers. I've purged, purged, and purged some more. I've spackled and sanded and primed and painted and now I am exhausted. It has been a LONG month of projects. And we're not done. The garage is still a mess. I need to have a garage sale. I still need to organize all of the stuff I've thrown onto the shelves in the playroom/guest room. I need bedding still and the whole house needs a good top to bottom cleaning. Someday soon, when it's allllll done, I'll share pictures. :)

I didn't make it to 50

I proably should have set a more realistic goal. Like 20. I think I hit 20. I had what, 12-15 things done before. Then I made another 5 cards or so (I've been on a card kick lately) and I finished another layout. :D AND, I broke down and ordered stuff. AND, I have a basket full of more stuff from my most favoritist scrappy site. There were only a few things I loved from CHA and Scenic Route was one of them (of course). LOVE SR. The other thing has been out awhile - the curvy cutter circle system and I love me some circles so I bought that too.

I'll have to post my cards later. They don't suck as bad as my cards usually do.

Sharing

It's been awhile since I've shared much of my scrappy work. Before I took my break I accumulated lots of work I wanted to shoot off to publishers before posting. Then I stopped submitting and never posted. So, here's some work - MOST of it is nearly a year old now.

This was a gift I made for my MIL for Mother's Day. She loved it. I never submitted it because it was a TEDIOUS project. I do, however, have all of the supplies for another one that matches MY living room this time. ;)

An untraditional twist on a birthday layout. :)

My boy - now a FOUR year old, but this was him holding up three fingers last year.

My niece; cute little monkey girl.

Downsizing

I have officially downsized. :) So far I actually LIKE it. Now, it COULD be that I was getting a smidge bored with my old room, or it could be that I know that I was taking up too much space. At any rate, my space is almost complete.

This is what you see as you come up the stairs. Just a little corner, but it's my corner and it is more than some people have. I went with a fresh green color. The wall to the left is "Wheat Bread" which starts downstairs and comes up that wall that it shares with the stairs. The green helps the space retain some brightness, plus my mom bought me a super bright daylight lamp too. And, as you can see I decided against the plastic boxes from the previous post. I saw these baskets at Walmart and decided they just looked nicer. Since I cannot shut the door to this space I want lots of hidden storage. I need to buy two more tomorrow, they'll go on the shelf missing in that gap there - I ordered another shelf from the Container Store, since there's room it might as well get used.



My counter top is wider too. That helps. I cut the melamine myself tonight. (My dad likes to buy me power tools; I used a jigsaw but I think I need to let dad know that a table saw would be lots handier ;) )I was going to wait until it warmed up (because we got 3 inches of snow today) but I couldn't stand not having it done. HA! When we first moved into this house three years ago, my scrap space was the first room completely set up. Some things never change. Our house is a complete disaster area right now! We got new carpeting in our bedroom, the hall/landing and the living room. So there's lots of displaced stuff. PLUS, we're currently installing closet organizers in every closet of the house so there's more displaced stuff. UGH! I cannot wait for everything to be put away, but it'll probably be like this for another month because tomorrow we're ordering the carpeting for Xander's room and the spare bedroom.

Anyway, here's the other cabinet which actually holds most of my stuff, and you can see my clock there which is still in the package waiting to be hung. :)



So I'm all set to create. While I was on hiatus I printed some pictures to scrap later . . . I spent all afternoon looking for them to no avail. BAH! Maybe I'll try some cards; cards have always been my weak spot. I made some sketches for cards awhile back though so perhaps I'll dig those out and see if I can remember how to scrapbook at all.