Scraps-R-Fun

Online Card Class - Stenciled Day 3!

I knew this would happen. Once I got started, I'd have a hard time stopping. But today was the day I was waiting for! I've owned a jar of Gluden's Modeling Paste for at least four years, and yet, I've never used it. When I saw a sneak for this class, and it showed a sample of paste and stencils together, I thought, this was the class for me! And really, that's all it took for me to be hooked. I pulled out a stencil I made with my Cameo and some cardstock, my base and went to town. 

To make this card, I first sprayed the base with some Heidi Swapp Shine in mint green. Then I laid the stencil down and smeared the modeling paste over it. Before lifting the stencil, I sprinkled some Zing embossing powder on top of the paste... love how it matches the shine so well! I then went into my stash and grabbed a Maya Rd chipboard crown and sprayed it with HS Tinsel Shine. Under it I put one of those Basic Grey petals things... the banner is from Spellbinders and run through my Epic 6. Hero Arts Ocean ink for the sentiment (two different HA sets), and almost done. I took some pearlescent stickles like paint thingie and dabbed the silver dots on the crown and background and the final touch were the stars (from a random Studio Calico kit...). I can't wait until it is dry so I can mount it on a card base! 

Tim Holtz is a Creative Genius

I have always been a big fan of Tim Holtz. His work is so messy and fun and grungy and inspiring. Several years ago he started doing a "12 tags of Christmas" blog post. For those not in the crafty world, for twelve amazing days, he'd design and create these gorgeous tags using all kinds of inks and paints and well, stuff. But the best part, was that for each tag, there was a tutorial. Step by step, we'd see how the elements of the tag all went together... AND we could try it too! 

12 tags of Christmas turned into 12 tags of the year with one tag and tutorial each month. I haven't played along in a while though, and I've missed getting paint under my fingernails! So, this year I decided I wanted to create bookmark tags for each of the women on my team and present them at our retreat on Friday. I need to make four, but I'm so excited about what I've done so far, I needed to share. 

The first one is a copy of the tag from January 2013, seen here:

Here's how mine turned out.. man this was fun!

I didn't have the gear die, so I subbed Maya Road chipboard pieces instead. I also didn't have the metal gears, so I did without... but overall, stayed true to the design. Instead of metallic distress paint, I sprayed my chipboard with Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Tinsel and Bronzer... love those things. 

My second tag use a variation of this tag, but with a more girly feel...

I dug DEEP into my stash for this one... I've had those NRN charms and metal pieces for AGES - maybe 10 years, and I finally used them! I'm also pretty sure those flowers are an old Making Memories treasure. Man, I miss that company. 

I wanted to try out some new techniques too, so for the third tag, I was inspired by Tim's first tag of 2014! You can see his here:

I have been dying to use my metal tape, but as I pulled my tag together, I was really stuck because I had NONE of the supplies needed except for tape (which wasn't wide enough) and some distress stain. So, I really had to go out on my own for this one. But here it is! In the end, I'm happy with it... 

I didn't have any stencils, and I didn't feel like breaking out the Silhouette, so I used a Heidi Swapp mask instead. I really loved the way the background came out... the little words are from a Cosmo Cricket sheet, the flower - old Prima (still love), the brad, American Crafts, the rub on, Jenni Bowlin,  and the charm is something from my vintage stash. Man it feels good to play! 

Off to figure out Tag #4! 

No Time Like the Present...

It's that time of year again... a time during which we as sentient beings pause, consider, and reflect on the last 12 months. What joys have we felt? What trials have we endured? How could we have done better? But why do we do this? 

I don't really know the answer, nor do I expect one from anyone who reads this. But I do know that I take this natural transition in life to consider how life is going, and of course, how life will go for the next 12 months. 

In doing so, I'm reviewing my Project Life Albums. For my non-scrapbooking friends and family, for 2013, rather than simply create pages that highlight big events or feelings, I chose to do a Weekly documentation of my year as it happened - capturing the more day to day experiences of my year. I learned I have a pretty boring life! Nonetheless, rather than baring my soul and deepest reflections of my near past and uncertain future, I'll highlight my year through some of my favorite moments captured. 

This year I experienced my first snow day - work/school closed because of the snow. It was my first winter in 19 years, and living in Flagstaff allowed me to relish in its beauty rather than feel miserable (which is how I felt in Illinois). I also fell in love with my first foster puppy. Hugh was such a card. So smart, but such a stinker. It was a bittersweet day when he found his forever home!

Early in the year we moved my dad into his own apartment. It was hard. He was sad. But he tried to make the best of things. After MANY months, he finally felt at home in his new place. But the week I moved him, I made sure I spent time with the friends I missed so much since moving to Flagstaff. That made it a highlight. 

Ahhh, summer... I wish it could have lasted forever. Although we had record amounts of rainfall this year, I was able to get outside just barely enough to feed my spirit. But learning and playing with my fellow doc students, and then having Val arrive with the horses. That made the sunny moments even more enjoyable. This is such a beautiful place to live. Some days I feel very lucky.

One of my favorite moments of summer though was our stakeout. We had naively been storing extra bags of dog food on our front porch. After a while, we started noticing holes in the bags, then dog food all over the porch (whoever it was, didn't like the dried carrots and peas amidst the food). Then after coming home from a late dinner one night, we witnessed THREE racoons scurrying around on the porch. I failed to get a good photo though. So, I decided to wait up that night knowing they'd be back. Sure enough, I captured the moment perfectly. I almost didn't want to move the dog food into the house because these guys made me giggle so much! 

Then, before I knew it, it was fall. With cooler temps, but warmer colors. As free and breezy as I felt in summer, the fall warmed me. I felt grounded with the start of the season, the start of school, the start of my very last academic year of coursework. I had much to look forward. 

It will come as no surprise to those who know me well that the best highlights of the year had to do with animals and wildlife. So, the final moment I'll share here is the morning I headed to work and a small group of elk decided to cross my path. These are majestic animals. They take my breath away every time I get a glimpse, and I will never tire of it. 

Here's to 2014 everyone! 

My Small Space Solutions: Part III - Paper, Kits, and Scraps

Welcome to Part III!

First, an update as to how my reorganization is working. I am pleased to announce that it's working GREAT! I didn't expect that I would need both table tops, but I've been working on playing catch up with my weekly review (aka Life Documented) album and what I've done is used the table behind me to lay out all of my various kits and supplies in little piles. So, as I work and design on one table, I sift through and have access to all my kits spread out on the other table. This has worked brilliantly and I've used a large variety of new and old supplies! Gotta love a system that helps you use what you have. Here's an example using Simple Stories lines, Smarty Pants and 24/7. I even used a vintage 7 Gypsies roller stamp on this layout proving my point that if I can SEE it, I will USE it. 

Today, I'm going to tackle kits and paper in general... I started subscribing and/or purchasing scrapbook kits since 2007. To say that I may have a large pile of kits would be an understatement. Though, I can proudly say that I don't have any older than 2 years.  How do I know? Because one rule I've always held is that I give myself limited space to accumalate kits. In my old studio it looked like this:

And this goes with Small Space Solution #6: Limit Your Collections

 My system was this... as a new kit arrived, I took the supplies and transferred them to a Cropper Hopper Page Planner. These are no longer available. If I were to buy them now, I'd either use the Page Arranger or the Envelope. If I had multiples of kits, I'd use the latter since it provides more depth. 

Once I put the kit contents into the envelope, they would go into the wire basket shown above on the left (I'll talk about the one on the right in a moment). If the basket was full, and no more kits could fit, then I went through the basket and emptied one or more of the envelopes. This way, I never had more kits than what fit in the basket. This was a great system until I moved to my smaller space and I had nowhere to store the basket. Yet, I still like the system itself. I discovered the Cropper Hopper pockets fit perfectly in my Expedit. So, I devoted one full shelf to kits.

The shelf in the bottom right hand corner of the photo holds all my kits. Once the shelf is full, I empty a kit (some into my stash, but mostly to a donation). The photo above also shows how I store all my letter stickers and...

Small Space Solution #7: Sort General Supplies by Color

This I realize is not a new idea. But I can tell you that for supplies like my letter stickers, sorting by color is the only way to go. I can easily get my hand on any form of sticker from Thickers to my old KI Memories. Each color has a Cropper Hopper envelope (or in this case the Paper File). Then they are stored in the top right shelf shown above in "Rainbow Order." 

Also stored in rainbow order is my cardstock. Remember I said we'd return to the right basket. Well, in that basket I store my 12x12 cardstock.

scraps worth saving are also stored here. They are slid into more page planner pockets and sit behind the coordinating color cardstock.

In a previous solution post I explained that I purged all my 8.5x11 paper. I went from having paper here (cardstock on the bottom, patterned paper on the top):

AND in the basket to just the cardstock above and here:

Which brings me to Small Space Solution #8: Keep Only What You Will USE, not what you love:

When I went through to purge my paper, I thought only about what kind of scrapping have I been doing lately? What colors, patterns, and themes are most likely to support my photos? I also considered age of the paper and if the company was still in business. But my number one question when downsizing was still, "will I use it?" Then I sort the patterned paper by manufacturer in the Cropper Hopper vertical storage. I did have to cut the storage containers so they would fit inside the Expedit. I recommend cutting first and then assembling if you are buying new. I also recommend using tin snips or some other heavy duty cutter as it was difficult with scissors. 

Well, that's where we stand on paper and kits today... more details coming soon. Have a great Sunday as we eek out the last few days/weeks of summer.

 

My Small Space Solutions: Part II

Yesterday, I explained how I've had to downsize my creative space from over 200 sf to less than 70 and shared this with you.

I heard from some folks who have even greater space challenges, some working out of their closets or on their beds. When I started scrapping (in the late 1990s), I didn't have a "room." Scrapping rarely happened for me. Clutter was everywhere. Scrapping was a chore, not a fun hobby. So, for those of you with those kind of challenges, I have empathy for you! But once I gave myself a dedicated space, I blossomed. I enjoyed the process so much more, and scrapping became just a little more than a side hobby. If you think that this crafty adventure is something you want to do for years,

then my Small Space Solution #3 is: find SOME place, ANY place in your home to dedicate to your craft.

Get creative, put it on the back of a closet door with a hanging shoe bag and murphy bed style desk. Get one of those portable work stations from Bed Bath and Beyond and put storage under your bed. Get a space SOMEwhere that is just for your scrappy (or general paper crafting) happenings. I promise you, it will change your hobby life.

One way to get creative with space is to make use of all spaces to keep tools and materials handy and off of your table space. That is actually...

Small Space Solution #4: Keep table space clear by thinking beyond the shelf. 

I screwed these swivel hooks (from Ikea) to the legs of my scrap table on both ends so that I could use containers and shelves for other things. To be completely honest, on this side of the table, these hooks are where my daughter and I have ended up hanging our keys so they don't get lost. But on the other end I hang my scissors, quilting ruler which doesn't fit anywhere else, and my tin snips (random, I know). In other iterations of my space, I've hung 12" border stickers, stamp packages that I wanted to be sure to have handy to use, or mini alpha sheets. 

I was searching the web and also found this from California Closets. The hooks under the shelf work too! The key is maximizing whatever space you have and thinking above, below, and beside the shelf. 

Over the years, I've purchased multiple bins and baskets in which to store things. Sometimes these have worked, others, not so much. I do have one metal bin (an older purchase from Target) in which I keep all of my adhesive and now sits on the shelf next to my table and pictured above.

But I was getting frustrated with sorting through stuff in my bins, and I had multiple little buckets in which I was putting several items for my Project Life work. This leads me to my next solution.

Small Space Solution #5: Divide and Conquer.

I was inspired by these Bento boxes by Rubbermaid (Target and JoAnns) 

You can pop out these sections and create a divided bin. Ah, that was the ticket. So, I did two things. 

First, I put this tray and letter sorter together on top of the new bookcase.

In this I keep my kit supplies from PL kits. I have my cards in the sorter, my small embellishments in the chevron cup and my precut Silhouette printables in the wooden bowl. When I have a new stamp I want to be sure to use I also include it in the tray. You see, for me, it's all about access to opportunity for use. If I have it and see it often, I'm more likely to use it. But there is more to love in my album, and I had several small containers that again were taking up too much space all over the place and making things feel cluttered. So, I repurposed a large bin (originally holding all my cards now moved to one of the bamboo and canvas bins and out of sight) into another bento style... 

In here I'm keeping my little basket that used to hang from a wire shelf, but was in the way of my table top and another little wooden bowl. In the bowl I have Flair, and in the basket I have misc. packages of small embellishments that I think are good for PL. Ah, but what else is in here? My photos for PL... they used to be on the tray, but again, made too much clutter... AND by putting my photos in here, I am forced to pull this basket out and notice the items inside. The idea being I have more access opportunities making it more likely I will use the supplies. Finally, my 6x6 pads, also which get underutilized have their home in this bin and I am hoping this strategy works... I'll let you know! 


 Tomorrow we'll talk paper and kit clubs. Sound good? 

Studio Reorganization: My Small Space Solutions Part I

So the time has come to accept the fact that I may never have a studio space like the one in my old house, one that measured about 22'x 10'. It was huge.

You can see the rest of it in my side bar... I LOVED that space. I loved having two table tops (one for sitting and one for standing), I loved how it was divided by function, I loved the organization and how it looked good together, but most of all, I loved how it functioned. It worked. I knew where everything was from my multimedia to my jump rings. It was roomy enough for several friends to share with me, and it was colorful, which made me happy and inspired. 

But life happens, and I found myself moving from my 3 BR, 1500 sf home to a 2 BR 1000 sf home. It was time to downsize. And downsize I did! My new space is a whopping 9.5' x 7' and doubles as our dining space, which means the counter and dining table need to stay clean and open. So, when I unpacked and rearranged, I was left with this:

And that brings me to:

Small Space Solution #1: Keep only what is essential. 

I purged ALL my 8.5 x 11 cardstock - ALL of it. Let's face it, if I want 8.5x11, I can cut it down from 12x12. That allowed me to release the mailbox slots, which I donated to school. I also purged the majority of my patterned papers. 

For a while, my space seemed at least functional. It took getting used to, but there were two significant problems: I didn't feel it was pretty or colorful enough which in turn kept me from feeling inspired or happy in the space, and second, it was crowded and cluttered.

• I kept knocking things over on top of the Expedits, 
• the album pages would fall through the slats on the shelf and hang, 
• the green photo boxes were hidden behind the ugly black plastic drawers, 
• I hated the polka dot and kraft boxes that didn't seem to go with anything else 
• and there simply wasn't enough table space. 

But I didn't know how to fix it. I mean, there is NO room here, and similar to my old space, I didn't have a lot of walls on which I could hang shelving - I had windows, which are really better, but it adds to the challenge. Worst of all, my barstools were too short for the breakfast counter and upon a relatively extensive online search, I found NONE that I could afford and would fit that tall of a counter (what the heck was the builder thinking, anyway?). 

I decided what I really needed was more shelf space. So, a 5.00 coupon motivated me to check out my local Bed Bath and Beyond store. Here I found this:

For 50.00, I afforded myself SIX more shelves! They are not as big as Expedit ones, but they have lots of fun options. There are added shelves you can buy to make the squares more divided as well as one that is a cross that makes four mini spaces. The bamboo and canvas bins were also purchased there, and the brand is Real Simple. Although it's not an Expedit size, it fit my one little 2' space of wall that I had left. The angle on the photo is bad, but it really does sit just inside the doorframe (rather than covering it up like in the photo).  And that brings me to:

Small Space Solution #2: Make Use of Any and All Shelves. 

That means buying units like the one above, but also, this:

My table stands directly in front of the window. Since there is no wall space, I utilize the windowsill as a shelf. Here I store my general embellishments in glass jars so I can always see them (thereby remembering to use them more).  I also bought this at the same store as the shelf above.

And with that shelf and spinner, the reorganization began. I have a tall bookshelf in my living room from which I moved a bunch of work and school related materials to my office on campus. Then I moved my albums which were driving me crazy on the bottom shelf to the bookshelf in the living room. I did a ton of other rearranging of embellishments, emptying drawers, using additional boxes, and condensing. In doing so, I opened up space both on top of the Expedits AND my scrap table. We also added a dining table which was a hand me down from my dad which he no longer needed when we moved him out of his apartment after my mom died. So, here's my current view:

No, wait! That's what it looked like DURING the reorg. ;)

Here's where we are left now:

I finally feel like I can breathe again. Even though there is more furniture in the space, there is also more table top space - which makes it feel more open - and best of all, is more functional too. 

Come back tomorrow and I'll share the details of how I've organized things like photos, Project Life and Life Documented materials, etc. I may even give a video tour if I can figure it out! 

'Til then, I'll be scrapping and enjoying my studio. 

 

She's Such a Smarty Pants!

So, I'm back! How'd you like yesterday's reveal of the Say Cheese line? Pretty adorable, right? Well, this next line might be my fave of the season. With school starting up right around the corner, Smarty Pants is sure to be a big scrappy hit. Getting this great school line in my hands inspired me to finally scrap some of my favorite graduation photos from my daughter's high school graduation. 

Although I love all the touches and embellishments, I think my favorite part of this line is the set of basics papers - one side lined notebook and the other side a composition book print! I am in love with it! Here it is in red. But the navy! Oh, the navy! Go check out all the colors at the Simple Stories blog!

And here I used some Paper Smooches dies. I mean, how cute is that little notebook pad die? I love. The numbers were made with the Paper Smooches dies also. 

I can't wait to see this hit the stores and see what everyone else makes with the line! 

That Time of Year

I love this time of year! Not only am I spending my time relaxing, with my school brain shut off, it's also the time when scrapookers know that new product is on its way! Simple Stories has some fun stuff this summer that is about to debut at the trade show, CHA. The first line out of the gate is Say Cheese. Check it all out at the Simple Stories blog. Although this line is perfect for those grand California or Florida adventures with the Mouse, it also works for the every day! Here's a little sample I did with this fun line:

 

I added some stickles for a little sparkle in the star on the left and the heart on the right, and I also paired this line with some Paper Smooches stamps. The speech bubble is filled with stamps from the Kinfolk set and the journal cloud is filled with a fun little design from Cyber Cafe. 

I also love this line for cardmaking! Here's another Simple Stories/Paper Smooches pairing... 

Here I used a piece from the paper with the 3x4 cards. I love that paper! Then I added the sentiment from Salutations and a zig zag border from a set whose name I cannot remember! The Maya Road Paper Twine finishes it off, and this card might have taken 15 minutes to make. Love it when it just all goes together! 

Now, go check out the blog for more peeks at the full line. I'm sure you are going to love it! 

Life Documented

I'm so excited to be sharing the news from the Simple Stories family... we're expanding! Check out the behind the scenes details here... and be sure to check back TOMORROW, June 2nd, to see the announcement of the full Life Documented team! You are going to be blown away by the amazingly talented women who have all come together to show how quick, easy, and meaningful you can make scrapping with a Life Documented philosophy and Simple Stories' supplies. In the meantime, I've added our new logo and a sneak peek of my pocket page layout going up on the blog next week. And don't worry, the current scrapbook team isn't going anywhere, so you can continue to check out their amazing work as well! I hope you'll join us all month for the fun and inspiration! 

Holy Moly, TEN DAYS!

Where did the last 10 days go? I have no idea. All I know is that today is my last day of EDF677, and I have a lot of work to do to finish up. But finish, I will.

In other news, be looking for a happy, scrappy announcement tomorrow, June 1st! Som exciting stuff happening. 

To hold you over, here's my latest layout posted on the Simple Stories blog using the I {Heart} Summer line.

The photos are from our first week in Flagstaff last summer. It was so beautiful up here. Taylor and I fell in love with our surroundings instantly. In addition to the SS line, I also snagged a piece of my Jillibean Soup Placemat from a recent Cocoa Daisy Kit to frame my focal photo. Those placemats are a fun little item from the Jillibean lines! 

I'm off to a meeting at the university and then to bury my head in my computer to finish my class before the weekend! Have a good one all!