Scrap Paper Organization (At Last!!!)

I am a big believer that you should keep your scraps when you are a scrapbooker. Not sure if it is my upbringing, my nature or that the first show I watched on scrapbooking (DIY's Scrapbooking with Sandy Genovese) kept pounding in the uses for the left-over pieces - I have accumulated a ton. I am on my second rather large box where I toss them when done with my layouts. I then dumpster dive when I need a small piece for something. Actually, it is sofa-diving because I need to lean over the edge of the love seat to get at the box where it it wedged.

That is not a safe thing to do when you are as klutzy as I am!

I had to get a better system. A safer system.

I thought about it. I went to some stores. Saw lots of boxes.

Then I bought 1-gallon plastic bags.

I pulled the box out of its corner (of course losing my balance in the process!) and dumped the contents on the floor. I then started separating the pieces by colors. There were alot!

Then DH came home. The look on his face - well it was not quite priceless.

Surprise and quasi- horror would be better adjectives. (Guess I shouldn't mention purchasing more paper for awhile!)

It took me a few days, but now I have all but the biggest pieces cut and bagged.

It feels good!

Now I really have no reason not to start the Christmas Cards........

A Tree & An Owl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so EXCITED!!!

Finally QK has developed a tree die that is big enough for my needs. It is 12 inches long and has lots of branches. I am finally going to be able to work on my Animal Kingdom layouts since I really needed a big tree for the Tree of Life photos ( I have lots of them.) A giant bamboo would be a fantastic addition, but this tree is perfect and it is MINE.

I am putting the finishing touches on a Disney layout with the tree. It is for Snow White's Scary Adventures. I cut out the trees in black and put them on a turquoise background and the photo mats and title are also in black. The journaling is on velum with a blue-inked stamp and black writing. I just need to cut out some small apples and maybe an owl.

Oh, those owls!!!!!!! I have so many uses for those owls. They are perfect!!! The 2x2 owl is probably going to need to have a back-up at some point because I am afraid that I am going to wear him out. It is the perfect size and like the tree, extremely versatile. Family photos and birthday cards are just the beginning........

A New Camera and New Projects Mojo!!!

Well, we found a new camera! It's a Canon PowerShot A6501s. It shoots 12 megapixels, but only 4x zoom. Our old camera was 6 mgp and 12x zoom. Hopefully the increased details will overcome the lack of zoom. Today I tried it and it seems to take close-ups of flowers pretty well. I need to practice so that I am totally comfortable with it when we go to Disney in 62 days.

We will be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, where there are animals on site, so we are going to have TONS of photo opportunities. I know we will not be able to see the animals from our room (couldn't see paying for the view), but there are lots of viewing areas. BTW, the reason we are staying at AKL is due to the Buy 4 Nights, Get 3 Free Promotion. For $15 more than Port Orleans, we got a major upgrade. All of us are really psyched!

Of course, I still have not scrapped the photos from our 2005 or 2006 visits, so maybe, just maybe I should get working on those. Something tells me that soon I will have ambition for that. :) DH is hoping that MAJOR mojo overtakes me. :)

In fact, I just got a major brain storm! Unfortunately, the needed paint smells so bad that DH asked me to leave the project outside to dry. I hope that it turns out as well as I can see it in my mind. Next time I am going to use Tim Holtz, but I was in a hurry and couldn't get to SRW. With any luck, I get to go next week: there is a release in the air and a holly border die waiting for me!

Our Camera Died!!! (*&%$@)

I just do not get it, is someone trying to tell me to scrap the pictures I have before taking more? Our Canon Powershot is dead, Jim. We got a "Lens Error" and it is as bad as I thought: about $150 to repair. DH is all for replacing it and with Christmas two months away, I guess I could ask for a new one as my gift. I am just pouting because we have only had that camera two years and one month. And I know I never dropped it, so it must have been a bump that did it in. GRRRR!!!

I am especially upset because Halloween is coming and I want lots of photos of the kids and DH. Not much I can do except borrow DD's camera and use the photo function on our camcorder. That worked today at the Pumpkins on the Prairie at Grace Avenue Church this afternoon, but I have not actually downloaded them yet. I might just change my mind.....

At least the new QK dies I was assigned can distract me a bit! (And no, I am not telling!)

How a Layout Helped My Sanity!

I finished a layout that was Halloween-inspired that sounds pretty out there. I found photos of DD when she was 5 wearing her ballet outfit and playing with our talking skeleton, and I knew that I just had to scrap it.

I really thought long and hard about how to showcase these adorable photos. I then hit upon the idea of using the QK skeleton and the QK Ballerina. I used two different fonts and a few other dies, plus the Martha Stewart Owl punch. I was really proud of my finished 2-page layout. I posted it to the Remember When Message Board where I received the sweetest comments. I think it was PattiO who told me it was my best work yet and Frank told me that he had not known this side of me.

Secretly, I was afraid it was too much, that people would call it 'morbid' or question my parenting. Afterall, how many parents let their kids play with skeletons at night, in the dark, take pictures of that and then scrap them and publish the resulting layout?

Somehow, though, I managed to impress people, people whose opinions I respect, whose work I admire. My self-esteem got a HUGE boost, something I really appreciate - and to tell the truth- needed. Between DH's illness, his company's downsizing (he survived), my friend's medication-induced illness and my grandfather's death, I have been been on the edge. I still see myself as a beginning, not very talented scrapbooker, so the compliments really helped. And man, I really need something that uplifts me. Too many crises are soul-draining.

So, thanks to all who helped me feel better about my skills.

And before I forget, a very Happy 40th Birthday to DH, the love of my life!

QK Exclusives

I do not know what has come over me, but I keep vacillating on the QK exclusives. At first, I bought most of them because they were unusual such as the Gypsy Heart. Some, however, just did not call to me. Then, the weirdness set in. QK started coming out with regular release dies after the exclusives had been released. And now, QK has released scarecrow heads at the same time it has an exclusive release Scarecrow, as well as having Archiver's release a very similar Rev spider web to the general release one from last year.

Makes my head spin! Should I pay extra for a die, sometimes up to $40 when I may just find a very similar die for much cheaper weeks or months later? Some are no brainers: the RW church is probably the best die ever and I found the exclusive scarecrow much cuter -especially since it came with a hay bale and corn stalk.

The most important thing, of course, is that I use the dies. My Halloween dies got a great workout for my design team submission, so of course I had to get more. Yesterday my mom mangaged to get me the A's spider web border and zebra. Guess I really need to make more Halloween layouts to justify the former. As for the latter, well I do love Eeyore.....

Scrapping on Hold

DH is very sick with diverticulitis and in the hospital. I got so much scrapping done lately, but right now he is my main focus. We have been together since college, almost half of our lives and he is my rock. It was so scary being in the ER, not knowing if he was going to have surgery, what exactly was happening.

Thankfully he appears to be on the mend. I am so relieved. I am so thankful and happy.

I will be taking some journaling squares for DS's Zoo book that I really need to finish.


Hopefully my next post will be back on track. I also need to list the dies I have been using.