Organization Nirvana!

I am messy.  I've always been a little messy.  My mom used to get notes from my teachers about my messy desk in grade school.   Not much has changed in 37 years.

 

 

You can see that I attempted to be organized. I bought drawers upon drawers and I labelled everything in sight.  I tried to have some kind of system.  But I never could keep it clean.  I had too much stuff I didn't use clogging up space.  I would put things away only to forget that I ever had them, and I'd buy MORE stuff.  This hindered my creativity because who wants to sit in a pig's sty where things get lost and there is no space for anything?

 

  Then I took a course by Tiffany Spaulding.  She is then inventor of the Scraprack, which is an organizational system.  You could also call it a "miracle," because it finally got me on the track to cleanliness (which as we all know, is next to Godliness) and being able to access stuff quickly and put it away (which is KEY) just as quickly.  I had the ability to group like things, label them, and put them away.  But not being able to find things, purchasing more things, and then running out of space was killing my creativity. 

 

So I watched Tiffany's webinar on organization, which was free.  She said we didn't have to purchase a scrap rack.  I looked at it and decided I would make one out of large three ring binders and plastic sleeves I found at wal mart.  I quickly found out this was not going to work.  Stuff was slipping out of the pages, etc.  I realized I needed a genuine scraprack.  I was taking a risk, it wasn't cheap (my initial purchase of scraprack unit plus extra sleeves cost approximately $200.  I wasn't sure I liked the way the scraprack looked, either.  But I was in.  I was desperate.

 

Tiffany has you separate things into categories.  You create your own categories, and she gives helpful guidelines.  My categories are:  Letters and Numbers, Templates and Tags, Sentiments, Animals, Baby/Boys and Girls, Birthday, Bling/Flourishes, Ephemera, Faith, Floral/Nature, Masculine, Travel, Vintage, Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, White, Black, Neutrals, Multicolor, and Shapes.  Instead of putting stamps with stamps, and eyelets with eyelets, etc.,  all alphabet things (alphabet stamps, alphabet stickers, alphabet chipboard) went together.  All birthday themed things went together, all red things went together and so on.  I had to separate EVERYTHING in my stash into these categories and purge some stuff. It was hard to let go of some things, but I found giving to friends and to good causes helped the pain of that.  I gave away about 5 medium size boxes of stuff.  I got a little discouraged when I realized I'd have to have an expansion unit for my rack.  And all this took a VERY long time to complete.  But I will say it has been worth it!  Now look at my more functional and certainly MUCH cleaner space! 

 

 

I have the rack sitting directly behind me, so all I have to do is turn around to have easy access to supplies.  Looking through the supplies gives me inspiration and encourages me to USE what I HAVE instead of buying more stuff.  I can very easily put things away. 

I put cork board on the back of the shelving unit so my kids could put pictures up there of their artwork. 

Look at all the space I have on my desk now!!! 

 

I have a few finishing touches I'd like to do, but I'm so pleased with how this has gone so far.  I've made a few cards and a couple of layouts and I love the access to things and the ability to put things away! 

I did learn a few things about myself.  I buy way too much, especially letters and alphabets.  I tend to buy two or three sets of a type of letter so I don't run out of letters.  I also am something of a pack rat....I had *8* magazine holders full of scrapping magazines.  I need to be more prudent about what I buy from now on. 

 

But I wholeheartedly endorse the Scraprack and the method Tiffany uses!  For more information about the Scraprack and her organizational methods, go here

http://thescraprack.easystorecreator.com/

Tiffany is expanding her organizational expertise into other areas of the home as well, and plans to make more classes about general home organization. 

 

 





 

 

 

A Valentine for my Valentine

This is the Valentine I made for my husband this year.  I always try to make him a special one, because I love him the most!  This year I put lyrics to a song called "The Book of Love" inside. It's a beautiful song that expresses so much when I hear Peter Gabriel sing it.  My husband and I love music, it's something that brought us together and we share in a special way so I like to use lyrics in my Valentines to him. 

I used Spellbinders Dies (Fleur de lis and Labels 18). Patterned paper is from the French Market Collection by Recollections.  Heart and key were cut using a Spellbinder's die (Antique Heritage).  I cut copper sheeting and inked it using Ranger alcohol ink in Pitch Black, then rubbed across the top with sandpaper.  Inked the edges of the paper with Tim Holtz Distress inks in Black Soot. 

Here's a video of the music and lyrics that I placed inside for my Valentine. <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-sJSJd-V2c

Valentine's Day Cards 2013

I think hand made Valentine's Day cards are a beautiful thing.  Not necessarily because of the skill shown in the card making itself, but because someone took the time to lovingly think about you and make something that is truly from the heart.  They are old fashioned in the best kind of way. The oldest Valentine known to be in existence is from 1400.  In the 1800's in Europe the Valentine Card was the gift one would receive from an admirer.  So in this day of email, text, and skype, I think it's really sweet to make your own Valentines for those you love. 

Here are the Valentine's I have made so far this year: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Emma Jane!

I have a new niece, and as you can see, she's just gorgeous.  I can't wait to meet her! Meanwhile, I am sure I will have fun making some baby layouts!

I made this card for her: 

Not sure what patterned paper that is, I used some scraps I had.  The cardstock is Die Cuts With A View.  And I used the Fleur De Lis dies from Spellbinders through my new Grand Calibur for the mats.  Sentiment is from My Mind's Eye, lost and found collection. 

Happy New Year!

I saw this line by Graphic 45 and I KNEW I had to make a calendar with it!  "A Place In Time" is just like all of Graphic 45's other lines...gorgeous.  I'm so in love with that company. If someone offered me a job there I'd be over the moon!!!  Hey, I'd be the cleaning lady there if it meant I'd get a discount on their beautiful products! 

I have January and February completed so far.  

January:

I used images from the Graphic 45 paper and coordinating cardstock from Coordinations.  I used a Spellbinder's die for the matting behind the calendar, Fleur de Lis frames. I got a Grand Calibur for Christmas and am loving how easy it is to use.  I made the snowflakes using my Silhouette electronic cutter, inked them with Versamark ink and added generic rhinestones.  The small snowflakes are from Joleee's and the swirly silver brad on the tag is from Recollections.  Not sure if you can see it in the photo but I also used a Sakura glitter pen on the snowflakes around the "J" in January.

 



 

 

 

I used some generic buttons, twine from The Twinery.  I inked the twine a little bit with Tim Holtz "antique linen" distress ink so the white would look a little aged.  Silver charms are from Recollections, paper flower from Prima.  

 

 

 

I made this heart and the mat behind it with Spellbinders dies.  The mat is Fleur De Lis, and the heart is a die called "Timeless Heritage".  I sanded the surface of the coordinations cardstock to make the embossing on the heart stand out, then I used UTEE on the whole thing, making it shiny. 

 

 

March is up next!

Birthday and sympathy cards

I have quite a few friends and family who are celebrating birthdays in late December and January.  I designed this card for them.  I used a card base from Studio G, stamps from Stephanie Bernard's Stamps of Life, versamark ink, Crayola glitter paper, and Die Cuts with a View cardstock.  The patterned paper here is some leftover wrapping paper.  It was too pretty to throw away!

I also used this design to make a condolence card for the families of Newtown, Ct.  I thought the snowflake was appropriate because the lives of those lost were unique, beautiful, pure and fleeting.  I hope that the cards and letters help comfort the families a little.

Christmas Time!

For the past few years I have joined in with my "scrapbook home on the web" Creative Chaos friends and had a Christmas card swap.  Here's my card for this year. 

 

 

This technique is really useful for using up scraps.  I cut different papers into one inch squares, ran them through the Xyron X machine and laid them on the diagonal.  K and Company die cuts of cardinals and snowmen were perfect for this.  I used the sentiments from Stephanie Bernard's  Stamps of Life.  The eyelet paper is a dollar store find from a few years ago. 

 

Merry Christmas!