December: Rock the Block!

Veteran’s Day 2011

I sit here in my scrap room enjoying the fact that I have a home, a job, and a creative outlet that I love.  I am watching Fox News and all of the Veteran's Day ceremonies – but there is someone very special to me that I need to say a a personal thank you to.  It is because of HIM and those like him that we enjoy our freedom.

This is my brother – Thomas B. Wilson

I do not tell you enough how proud I am of you!  Thank you for your service and your love.  We will never forget the personal sacrifice you made to severe your country.

  I will never forget the cases of sardines and mustard

that I shipped overseas to you.  

Have a wonderful day Butthead!

Family 2009 - January

After being rudely wakened by the cat at 3:30am because she was hungry I decided that since I was up I would work on some more layouts.  These are the “January” layouts for the 2009 Family Album.

You will notice all kinds of different paper packs.  I use what ever paper I have that matches the feel of the photos.  You might see paper from the 2008 catalog and you might see papers from the 2011 catalogs. 

So you are asking why you have seen some of these photos before?  Well you have seen them in Kaela’s School Albums.  She will take those albums with her when she grows up and moves out so I always include some of her school photos in the family albums too.

Starting the 2009 Mega Album

My room has been clean long enough now it is time to start working on my next project.  This one will be the Family 2009 album.     My family likes to call my albums “mega albums” because they get so big but I just can not make a small album.  I have tried! 

Here is the start of my process:

I have all of my photos and journaling in the black totes and inside each tote is an envelopes for each month with inside the large envelope is a smaller envelope  with pictures and journaling done for each  subject I want to scrap. 

It normally only takes a couple of nights to get organized. I print off a years worth of photos in January for the family stuff and at the end of the school year for Kaela’s school albums then get them organized and in their totes before I forget the information.  Once this pretty quick process is done then it does not matter how long it takes me to scrap them, the memories are documented and the photos are sorted…. just sitting there waiting on me.

Here are the totes:

And here is a picture of what is inside the small envelopes

Here is the full set up:

So with coffee in hand and an Ipod full of music it is time to get started. Today is November 10, 2011 let’s see how it takes me to finish the Family 2009 album.

  Wish Me Luck!

How Do You Store Your Idea Books?

My Scraproom has been so clean this week that I almost have not wanted to mess it up again.  My box of supplies came into today and it was so easy to put the supplies away yet in a fashion that I could find them again when needed.  You know exactly what I am talking about  

So I was thinking… How do you store all of the Idea Books / Catalogs that I send to you? Do you even keep them for reference materials or once they are retired do you recycle them?

Well I keep all of my copies for a couple of reasons:

1. They are an Idea Book along with being a catalog

2. I have needed past catalogs to find colors to older paper packs

3. I cannot get all of the artwork made during one catalog cycle

4. They are so gosh darn pretty – who can recycle them?

Since I have a hard time letting my catties go here is how I keep my catalog organized.

I spiral bound them!

 

It only cost about $4.00 for Kinkos to spiral bound them for me and just like that all my catties for each year are together. 

Give it a try, you might like it.

My Scrap Room 2011

Well I just finished cleaning the scrap room after finishing the mega album so I thought while it was clean I would take some updated photos.  I have made a couple of changes since the last time I posted pictures.  It is about 5:30 am so the lighting might be a little off.

This first picture is looking in from me standing in the closet.  I moved my paper out of the window area because I really missed the natural light and being able to open my windows if the weather is nice. 

This next photos is with me standing in the door way. BTW can you tell I wore out the Radar the Pug tonight? 

The cubbies with the black bins are from Target and I love them.  I am going to have to find more ALBUM store very soon.   This next photo is my desk with me standing beside the cardstock racks.

When we designed my room in 2004 I wanted a desk large enough that Mike and I could work side by side.  Mike also built the work table slightly shorter than an normal table because my legs are short and if I moved the height of my chair then my feet would dangle.  Problem solved.

The paper racks next to the closet doors hold my “older”  Level 2 paper packs.  I have the newer papers with in reach.  When a new catalog comes out if there is any paper left then I move it over to the paper racks.  Works great.

This is my side of my workstation.  I have everything within easy reach while working.  I love it!

These buckets are were I keep all of my scrap cardstock.  As you can see they fit nicely under my table but right beside me when working.  These 2 buckets save me a ton of money in cardstock because I check here first before cutting a full 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock.   This idea is also why I love my CTMH sisters because this idea came from them!

This might seem like an odd ball photo, but since moving my heat gun to this location I use it more often.  In fact so much more that I have warped my cutting mat    I still crawl under the table to plug it in but that is only because I am scared to leave it plugged in. 

And what would a scrap room update be like without and updated photo of my little buddy Radar.  The poor old man still follows me all over the house and sits with me in the scrap room no matter how long I am in there. Only now he snores while I play.

So this is my room as of today November 5th, 2011

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Finally Finished!

It has been a long haul and one of the biggest album I have ever made but the 2010 Palo Duro State Park  Vacation Album is finally finished!

Here are the last pages:

These were fun pages to make.  I was able to combine my love of needle and thread with my Cricut.  I am still very new at using my Cricut so it feels like I am making baby steps but I am getting there

We spend about 2 days going to Museum's mainly because they were cheap and air conditioned but we found out that we did have a good time learning about the area.

 

I am not very happy with the last 2 pages but I think it is because I am just ready to be done with the album and ready to play with a different set of papers.

BTW, if you are in the area and want to attend one of my crop nights, I have bagged up the scraps and full sheets that are left from the papers used in this album.  I am willing to give them away.  So come by and check out just how much is left. 

Now I need to get my scrap room cleaned up and get all of the supplies that I have been using put back away.  It might be fun to see my desktops again  

I am not going to start another project tonight.  I think I will watch “Water for Elephants” then get to bed.  I will be back at work for the next 4 nights and if I start a new project it will drive me crazy while I am at work.

Have a fun and safe weekend.

I am so relieved….

I have a set of photos sitting on my desk that I have had scrappers block with.  Even with the wonderful CTMH books I just could not get the creative process stared with these photos.  I am not kidding, these photos have been sitting here, stalling me for over a week.

Since when do you see me not scrap for a week?

So I have the design done, the photos down and I am just working on the stitching.  Yes I have added my touch again.   So as soon as I finish with the needle and thread I will post the photos.

I am so happy to have my block resolved.  I almost skipped using these photos, it was that close!

Not CTMH related but….

We paid off my truck on Sunday and I am still excited.  Now both the camper and the truck are paid for.  YEA!