A new year means a new planner

Every year I go through this search for the perfect calendar for the upcoming year. I have written about on my blog a few times. And some years I find the perfect premade product on the market and some years I have to pull out the scrapbooking supplies and get to work on creating my own. And honestly when it's all done, for that year that calendar is absolutely perfect for me. So I have been searching online for the perfect calendar, and there is one that I like because of all the trendy colors but honestly I know that it would not serve its purpose for me. One of the biggest things a calendar has to do for me is allow me enough space  to write things down that I want to write, sometimes that means a thought about something that I want to do or scrapbook, or sometimes that means the spending I want to do for a house project.  I need the space to write. And the planner that I love because I saw thousands of videos on, doesn't allow me to write horizontally and that would drive me nuts. And I can't stand writing vertically. It doesn't make sense to me. So it wouldn't work for me. It also has the days separated by morning, afternoon and evening and that wouldn't work for me either because like I said I like to write and most times it has nothing to do with the time of day or a scheduled event. I write appts./ meetings on the monthly calendar section of my planners and so times are not important to me when I am writing weekly info. And the cost of the planner honestly didn't bother me too much because I have bought Franklin Covey planners in the past and to be honest it makes perfect sense to spend the money on something that I  like; especially if it serves an important purpose for my everyday. But it has to function for me. And the one online doesn't, Franklin Covey planners used to be ok, but to me they are now to boring. Sorry but they are. And I don't want to have to decorate it all up if I paid a lot of money on it but I honestly know that I would end up doing just that. But the most important part to me is having enough writing room and I don't want too many stickers and all that on my planner pages because to me it's all about the writing.

So I was thinking about this since mid-September when my current planner broke. And this is the reason why I'm not buying that planner type this coming year.  The planner was awesome. It had a perfect hard pocket on the front that I used to make a scrapbooking page of some of our favorite photos from years past. It was perfect. It laid flat so I could write in it while laying in the bed at night, it gave me more than enough space for writing but it wasn't durable. It first broke in May and then in September the front cover was completely off and I was using a huge pink binder clip to keep it together... Here is a photo of it next to my new planner for 2014.

But once again it was perfect it broke.

But I also couldn't get it to fit into my purse anymore either without damaging it more so I decided that I needed a smaller planner. Smaller meant that I would loose out on writing space and the calendar squares would be smaller; but I was ok with looking.

Well it is December and the perfect time to set-up my new planner is now while I'm on vacation. So I felt like I had to rush and make a decision cause the holidays and new year is fast approaching.

So today I want to Staples and picked up an Arc notebook and refills for it. I also got some Martha Stewart products that have the same disc system and I decided that I really wanted to dress up the planner. It is the smaller version. I decided on that one although I love the bigger one because once again I can't get that bigger one in and out of my purse so easily.

The upfront cost seems like a lot to me because you really aren't getting a planner that's premade but after a few shopping trips for other home things, I decided to check out the 99cents only store. And they had planners from 2013-2014 for you guessed it $1.00. I wasn't purchasing them to use for the actual planner, but the acrylic to make the plastic cover that I wanted on my new planner, and a long plastic tab thingy. I also went to Hobby Lobby to find some more accessories and I saw the BH 12x12 dated plastic tab things for Project Life. But that cost was way too much.

This new planner combines the best of two things for me, a planner and it allows me to be creativity too. I love cutting down the acrylic to make the things that I need to be organized. I purchased the punch because honestly if I don't like the planner in 30 days I can return the punch per Staples no questions asked. Here is the inside of the planner, the pouch and was purchased but the quote was actually on a two pocket folder sold at the 99cents only store that I cut down in order to use the scripture.

The original images weren't showing up...reloaded images. Planner on the left was 2013 planner and one on the right was the ARC planner for 2014. This is the cover before I decorated it.

Front cover after I decorated it.

So do you use planners? Do you make your own? Do you purchase pre-made ones and dress them up? Share what you do...I'm curious.

There once was a woman who had a blog...

and she believed that she would be able to post on her blog daily. And her posts would include beautiful pictures of the scrapbooking/cards that she made and sold. And she would update her blog with photos of all the updates and redecorating projects that she started and completed. And she would keep her family updated with all the things that were going on with the family. And then that woman got a fulltime job that sucked the creativity out her. That exhausted her mentally and honestly she did redecorating projects but she didn't do anything crafty really. Just little things here and there and very few if any of those things that she did that was crafty was actually scrapbooking or card related. And there sat her beautiful space unused, unappreciated by her. It was a space that almost taunted her because she felt guilty that she didn't want to be in there but to sit in the chairs and watch TV or get on the computer. That woman blamed her lose of creativity on her job, on her space being so neat that she didn't want to mess it up, and the biggest excuse was that she didn't have a laptop anymore to use with her die-cutting machine. But really none of these reasons where really the issue. She just didn't feel like crafting honestly. It was sad but it was ok to her, because she knew that one day, when it didn't make any sense at all, she would start crafting like a crazy person again. And it would be like she never even stopped.

That day still hasn't come but that woman would like to say that she loves reading craft blogs of others. And she has been doing that lately. And although she hasn't done much scrapbooking that woman made a Christmas card today in 30 minutes using products that had been sitting on her desk with dust on them. How could she have dust on her scrapbooking desk? It was the strangest thing for her to see and she cleaned it up but she really was motivated to at least come into her space once or twice a week and dust at least from now on...

So that story is over...lol
I wanted to show you the card that I made. It is cute and simple. A perfect start to a card since I haven't made one in forever. But honestly I'm still going to be sending it to a co-worker. I hope that she likes it.

 

I really need to make Christmas cards this year. And since I have several hours of PTO I must use before I loose it; I got some free time on my hands.

But I do want to also show you our mantel that I did this year. It needs something?? But for right now it is absolutely perfect. I hope to have much more to share in the coming weeks. I know that this time off will fly by fast so I have made a daily schedule that includes a little crafting every other day. I hope to be able to keep up with that schedule.

Have you ever completed a project and wondered why did you invest that much time and money into bit? Well I have started to wonder that about my scrapbooking space lately. It is all organized and absolutely perfect for my style of scrapbooking but I find myself working on everything else lately other than scrapbooking or card making. Working fulltime truly has made my free time much more important to me. I find myself wanting to do more with the family when I'm off instead of crafting....
Like going to the movies...


Or completing renovations...well hopefully the crafting itch will start up again soon before the holiday season since I'm now part of a monthly stamp club and I can use some of the new stamps I just got on holiday cards. Maybe?

Test run

I'm trying to get this ap to work again...more posts coming soon

Since I haven't posted on my blog in forever I decided to stop in and just chat a little. I have been busy with my new job and making sure the kids are in a routine that works for all of us since they are going to school a lot later in the morning than normal.

We have started some major home improvement jobs around the house. Nothing major like tearing out anything and replacing it (although that is what I plan on doing to this ugly carpet soon), but I have painted our master bedroom finally and immediately after completing one wall Vele says this room feels better and seems bigger and brighter. It is strange how beige/tan can almost make a room seem much smaller than it is to us. Our bedroom is 27x22 so it always felt big but for some reason it started to feel smaller than it is. I plan on getting us some very nice seating in there, maybe a small loveseat or something? I haven't really figured that out. But I did replace the old beige sectional that was in our family room this weekend. I love love love the new leather sectional. It is so the style that I'm looking for as the base piece of the living room. And that thing is huge. But I also need to paint the family room and then I'll upload photos of the space.

I'm still without my laptop. I have come to the conclusion that it really is going to be going to laptop heaven. And despite the fact that we went computer shopping a couple of weekends ago I didn't get a new one. Although somehow hubby talked me into getting a new family computer. And so I got an all-in-one. I love that there is no longer a computer box and the monitor is huge compared to what we had before. But I'm still trying to learn how to use windows 8. That has been an adjustment. But I'm going to get it eventually I hope. I'm also going this weekend to look at laptops again. It is so crazy that we new have 2 family computers, and a laptop but I still need my own personal one. Hopefully I get one this weekend instead of something else.

Well I'm off to bed and I hope that everyone has a great week.

Back to school lunches and supplies

Well I just had to stop in and say hi for those still sticking around checking out this blog ever so often. I have been busy working on new schedules for the kids since school just started. And honestly I really feel awesome when plans comes together so smoothly.

I can't believe that washing fruits and veggies and packing into snack baggies on Sunday night makes such a big difference in having lunches ready on time during the week. I really love making things run so much more smoothly for our family. And one of the things that I am starting to realize is that I'm really good at making those systems work well for us.

On another note, My daughter came home from first grade with a piece of scrapbook paper and a note saying that they were going to have a classroom scrapbook and that she needed to do a scrapbook page for the book. I loved the idea but immediately began to think that I didn't want to over help her with the project. And that was my original plan going in and I stuck to that but working on that page with her really made me want to get some school pages done for our albums. So for the next few weeks I will be printing photos from last year and getting them onto scrapbook pages.

So since we are talking about school... here is a photo of our family's school supply stash. And before you say we have a ton of stuff please remember that we have 4 children to have a stock for the entire year for as well as a husband who often takes college classes to check is computer training up to date.

Well I hope that everyone is getting really good deals on school supplies.

Random things...

Just stopping by to check in. I think that right now I'm all over the place on what I like to do so there has been very little scrapbooking. And the scrapbooking that I have done I can't upload it because my laptop to a crash. And it is literally in pieces. It took a lot for me not to break down and cry about it. Mostly because when it fell off my bed, it had my memory card in it and it also was damaged. So I am adjusting to being a 2 computer, no laptop home. And honestly that means that I actually am on the computer a lot less, first because the computers are in the office and although I'm in the office a lot, I'm usually sitting at my desk and not at the computer desk because hubby or one of the boys are usually on the computer. Besides all that I just mentioned doesn't even compare to the issue that the photos that I take now will not actually be able to be edited because my laptop had Adobe PS on it and although I have the key code, I can't add it to either of our main computers because I had already added it to 2 other computers.



So this adjustment is going to be hard for awhile. Well at least until around Christmas when I'll most like be able to get another laptop maybe? But I have also started to focus on other things besides scrapbooking. Like make-up and fingernails. I have had long nails for years but cut them off always when have a newborn or a toddler around. But since the youngest are girls, I have to comb their hair and longer nails can lead to an accidental scratch while braiding hair. So I have kept them short for the last two years. And I have decided that I can grow them back out. But also that I want to do nail art too. So for the 4th of July I painted my nails red, white and blue.
My nails aren't long but here is a photo of one of left hand that I painted for the holiday. The more I look at them now, it actually reminds me of Wonder woman instead of the 4th of July.

And my nails are actually longer than they were on the photo now.

I have also been more into hair and trying to finds the right balance of product for the girls so that they can wear their hair down. LeiLani (my oldest of the girls) has been asking about her hair being down and how much she wishes that she could wear it like mine. But we have 2 different hair types and really her hair is a lot thicker than mine and it seems to look dryer no matter what I do to it. But I am determined to find the perfect product for her. Cause the whole point to having hair that is natural and beautiful honestly is to be able to wear it down.

Here is a picture of her wearing it down for the 4th of July.  She wouldn't smile so that the oldest could take her photo.

And here is a photo of my baby (who isn't really a baby) wearing her hair down as well.

The other thing that is the issue for me is that their hair seems to be white for a long time. And I still haven't figure out how exactly to be able to eliminate that. Especially since I am looking for a year round hair product for them. It was so much easier to do their hair in MN because the water wasn't so salty and their hair never seemed as dry it is now in the desert. But this has been an ongoing learning process and I'm hoping that sooner than later the perfect product for each of them will come along.

Well I'm excited and sad at the same time because our summer break is coming to a close almost faster than it began. In fact the kids have less than 2 weeks left of the break and I am starting think about how much I will miss them while they are at school. Well until next time. Smiles, Tracy

June has been so much fun! It truly has. We have already been to several pool parties, splash pad play-dates and it has been so fun. And all that outside fun equals no inside fun. So honestly I have not one single crafty thing to share with you today. But I do have 2 things coming up that I'm going to be working on. The first is a birthday card for hubby and the second is 4th of July mantel decor. I really want it to be nice. And so I plan to start that soon. So unitl next time, try to stay cool. I surely have been trying to espeially with 110 plus degree weaher. Smiles, Tracy

Ferris Wheel Birthday

I enjoy making cards. I truly do. I think personally out of all the crafts that I do, card making is my "fun" thing. There isn't one obligation to making cards to me. And so that is why I tend to try new things or even go the extra on making them. 

Most of my cards are something that starts out as an idea of something that I want to try or do. But sometimes my ideas become too much and I really take way too long to make one card. Last night after working on an idea for the Lawn Fawn admit one stamp set; I decided that the original idea that I had to make the card should really wait until I figure out exactly how I can make the ferris wheel turn. Not wobble but actually turn. But until then, here is the finished card that I completed.

Oh I used the polaroid diecut by Quickutz again. Mostly because I have had it since it was released and I have only used it 3 times. This being the 3rd. So I'm looking for ways to use it other than the tradional way in order to want to use it. Although I do have a scrapbook page planned (no photos taken yet) where I use it as a polaroid.

The rest of the supplies:
Balloon diecuts- BossKut die
pinking circle-Spellbinders
Flag-handcut
Scolloped border-Martha Stewart
Bling-Unknown
Bakers Twine-Unknown
Happy Bday stamp-Studio G
Copic Markers-
Patterned papers- Echo Park, WRMK

Well I was looking through photos on my camera and realized that I had never shared the photos of  my Mom's day cards and mantel, and that the one photo I had of the mantel with the flowers on it that I got was way to blurry.

I am ok with it being on a scrapbooking page but I guess it wouldn't look right if I shared it on here. But here is one of the cards and framed Mother saying from my family.

 

 

And also since I was going over photos I decided that I should show off the cards that I made with twine. I like these cards but they didn't turn out how I imagined that they would so I am going to put this one in my stash and remake the card that I imagined. But this is a really simple but cute card. I do like it now that I look at it but I really do want to play around with the design and add a few embossed clouds and such. Hopefully when I start making the new card I won't get distracted by the girls and them wanting me to sew them a rainbow too. Well I'm off to plan our Dad's day mantel.



Dies for sale

Well I have been busy going through some of my dies and taking the ones out that I don't use to be sold. I was originally thinking that I should sell them at a garage sale but it has been too hot recently to be outside for a garage sale. Which I now understand why the few garage sales that are here are done by 8am. It was in the 90s at 9am this morning.

So I am going to sell  these on my blog and the for sale board on twopeasinabucket.com also.  I will take paypal only. So here are the dies..

Sizzix letter dies (sold seperately for $10 each)

Wingo Zingo $10
Slobbery Kiss $10



Quickutz Dies

Funky Chicken $3 (RS-0272) ,

Zoo Animals $20  this set comes with all the animal the entire animal set (all 4 animals) Retired set (lowest price found of $32) ,

 Frog die set $4 (KS-0067) out of stock at lifestylecrafts.com and priced at 6.99 on their site.

Label square dies-2 dies
 (KS-0946) $4 regular price 6.99

Penguine Die (KS-0602) $4 regular price 6.99

Bracket $2 (RS-0940)

Spicy Chicken Alphabet set $45 (this price includes shipping and handling only)This set will be sent in a flat rate box.


All my dies are well kept and most haven't been used but are not in original packaging because of how I store them. They will be shipped with insurance/tracking and I will need your zipcode in order to give you th cost of shipping.

More scrap space photos..

I was asked a question a couple of times on two peas so I decide that I should maybe post the answer on here as well. The question is what do I have in stored in my drawers and how do I store my items... Well the easy answer to the first question is easy lots of stuff. LOL no seriously my drawers are full of all things scrapbook/craft related. So I decided to show you the insides of some of the drawers. These drawers are all located on the left side of my desk chair/standing area. I put supplies that I really didn't have to worry about the girls being interested in on this side of my desk since it is the closes to their desk.  The first drawer is full of random office supplies that I use in scrapbooking and in my planner. I didn't take a photo of that because I really didn't think it was all that interesting. But the 2nd drawer is full of punches that I absolutely won't get rid of. I have had these forever and the ones that I didn't keep I just gave to the girls.

The 3rd drawer is my bakers twines, twine, jute and threads. I have them stored in an IKEA drawer organizer. And since they don't take up the whole 18inch drawer I added my push pin heart, and needles to the drawer too.

And finally the 4th  drawer is my ribbon storage. I had my ribbon stored like this before but I wanted a space that supported the whole 12 by 7 piece of chipboard so that it wouldn't warp and putting it in a drawer was the best decision. Plus I don't get stuck with the pin that hold the ribbon in place anymore because I can now grab them from the sides and I haven't been poked once since they have been stored in here.

I think that is enough of what is in my drawers for now. I have been scrapbooking the kids' albums and honestly I am excited to get my pages done of the photos that I printed. And once I have done that I will actually post a picture of the layouts that I completed for each one of my kid's albums. Well good night for now. Smiles, Tracy

An airplane birthday card

Well I started making a card for my son's 11th birthday. And originally I thought to use the papertrey airplane stamps that I had purchased a few yrs ago and so that is what I did.

And that card was absolutely adorable which totally was an issue.An eleven year old doesn't  like adorable. So I had to create another card that wasn't as adorable. But more pre-teen then he is.

But here is the card that I originally made. See isn't it cute!

But what I realized is that my card making skills are rusty and I really need to get to making more cards again for both my stash and maybe for my etsy shop too. So I plan on making a new card once a week this summer.

But the good part about the card is that I actually used patterened papers that I hadn't used in forever. I hadn't used any chatterbox papers in over a year. And it was really nice to pull out something from those lines that I just had to have.

And for the actual card that I made for him is below. I can't say that I love it. But he did.  I used my polaroid die from Quickutz. It is really old and I have had it well over 3 yrs (even longer) but I decided that I should use it since it would be the first time that I actually used that die. Sad but true.

Happy 4th Birthday

I completed a card for one of the May31 challenges. I needed to use the projects that I took from the challenge what worked for me since I was in a rush to get a card done for my daughter's birthday this week. I know that the challenge was to complete a project in minutes (I forgot how many) but it took me 45 minutes to make this card with supplies that I had on my desk that I was planning to use.

So here is the completed the card.

I used a lot of the ideas for the 4yr old birthday page that I did for my oldest daughter. I used pretty much the same punches and dies that I had sitting on my desk. I didn't use a stamped image because I picked up these stickers from the dollar store a few months back and I thought that they would be amazing for birthday cards. And as it turns out it was. I have 5 more stickers from the collection and I plan on making 3 more cards and then giving the rest to the girls for their scrapbooking stash. The stickers are of a couple of ice-cream cones, a cake and a donut. I altered the cupcake sticker that I put on the front of this card by cutting off the waffle cone looking thing that was sticking out the side of the sticker.

I haven't used stickers in forever, well image stickers because I got rid of most of them before we moved but now I can see that sometimes they are the perfect thing for a birthday card. The actual card measures 6inches wide by 5 inches high.   I need to make my son's birthday card because his birthday is tomorrow. Smiles, Tracy

PS the supplies are
Dollar Tree 6stickers
Spellbinders dies standard circle large, pinking circles large
Quickutz diesel alphabets, Aligator unicase alphabets and polka dots embossing folder
EK Sucess Star punch and triangle punch
American crafts ribbons
and Colorbox chalk ink pads

A Birthday Page

I completed a layout that has been sitting on my desk since last weekend. And although I had the idea in my mind, I couldn't figure out how to exactly make it work together. I kept trying to make a certain patterned paper work with the theme and the colors work, but I also wanted to do something that I hadn't done in awhile. I didn't know what that was but then I read one of the challenges for the May31 challenge and it was so to opposite of what you are used to doing. And although it was about handwriting verses computer typed journaling. The thing that came to mind for me was cardstock verses patterned paper. I always use patterned paper, and I haven't done an all cardstock layout in forever. So it was the perfect time to do that. And so I did. Which then made me thing of ways to make that cardstock stand out.

So I pulled out some cardstock that matched ribbon that I got earlier this month at Joanns. And then began to pull colors from it to match my daughter's 4th birthday page. I love the end result. Although it almost matches another birthday page that I made a couple of years back but I love how I updated the look of the layout. So here is the page...

I used a lot of supplies although it may not look like it.
All cardstocks are Coordinations Cardstock,

Embellishments
Ribbon -American Crafts
Expoxy Dots- MME


Die Cuts
Spellbinders- Large Pinking Circle, Large Standard Circle,
Notebook border punch
Ballon diecut, Aligator Unicase Alphabet dies- Quickutz
Triangle, star punches- EK Success
All banners are handcut
Embossing folders from QK, Paper Studio, and Cuttlebug

Stamps
Circle Journaling lines-unknown
Cake stamp- Imaginisce?
Banner stamp- WRMK (Easter stamp set)
Dot Alphabet Stamps-KI Memories
Tiny Alphabet stamps-Studio G stamps
Spiral line stamp bent on block to create a string for the hanging banner

Stamps pads/inks are all Colorbox  Chalk inks; Aquamarine, Dark Brown, Butterscotch, Berrylicious

These are all the supplies that I could remember...now I'm off to spend some time with the family and try to get some birthday cards done for my kids that have birthdays next week. Smiles, Tracy

Sunshine and Happiness

This layout was a little hard to create. I really wanted the page to be bright and there really wasn't any papers in my stash that I wanted to use on the layout that seemed as bright as I wanted.

But then I saw the Echo Park a perfect summer collection and knew that I had to have it in order to get the page that I wanted. So I headed to my local scrapbooking store which is a little under an hour away and picked up the few papers that I wanted for the page plus some clearance papers for 49 cents. And those papers that I got on clearance were from a line that I wanted over a year ago that I just couldn't purchase at that time from MME. I love MME if you haven't learned from seeing so many pages that I create using their papers.

So here is the layout that I created.

I absolutely love the finished page. It is another layout that I completely had sketched out what I wanted to do and although I printed the photos to fit the sketch exactly, I ended up changing the smaller pics from being vertical under the big photo to being horizontal. And I like this a lot better.

The journaling reads: For our family of 6; living in 1000 sq ft was truly hard. The apartment was always dark and we had very noise neighbors all time of the day or night. But the one thing we all found happiness in was the pool. We'd spend hours at the pool in the sunshine swimming, splashing and playing together. It was truly the only reason we ever went back to the apartment besides sleeping. And its the only thing we miss about living there.

The supplies used were:
papers- Pink Paislee-cozy sweater 2011, Echo Park-endless summer big dots and chevron lines, recollections-yellow honeycomb paper
diecuts- circles handcut after tracing using large acrylic shapes from an acrylic sheet (I believe Fancy Pants), banners cut by hand, & sign cut from Blossom grand alphas, happiness cut from lawn fawn stamps/diecut set
embellishments- label-Jillibean soup, Enamel dots- MME, flair button- American Crafts (set I got from big lots), shinny bling- Micheals store brand, Doodlebug black rub-ons
Stamps- Lawn Fawn Quincy alpha, Catslife Press place stamp, Imaginisce sunshine stamp (snag em line).

2 Big Girls @ the Park

So there is a new challenge on twopeasinabucket.com that I want to do. So today the first challenge was posted and I just had to scrapbook the photos of my girls playing at the park. The layout was inspired by the challenge to use banners and also to use flat stickers.

At first the flat sticker idea was challenging because all the cute playground stickers and kiddie playing stickers that I could have used are no longer in my stash. So I decided to look through the stash for quotes or wording that is saying what I want to be expressed on the page. Yeah the pictures are of the girls on the playground but really they are about both of my girls actually growning. Ani not being a big sister so much but instead a friend/playmate and Nya not needing help so much but instead gaining her own independence. It was really a hard park day at first it was a lot of no let me do it, and even more Ani it's ok for her to try. But after all that it turned out to be perfect. And that is what sparked the title to the page. 2 Big Girls @ the Park.

It is also the one layout that I did that reflects on the fact that although I was ok with having 4 children, that I no longer have a baby. And it almost inspires another page that I am thinking of doing in the future. I love the end results of the layout. It is so my style. When I sat down to do the page it came together really easy. Really and that isn't always the case for me and scrapbooking. Or it hadn't been that way for awhile. But I think that it was easy because there was a place for everything and my desk wasn't really cluttered and so my thoughts weren't cluttered. It was just so nice to get it done but the way that I wanted and it wasn't something that I just through together. It was perfect. I think that my best work has been with challenges involved. Even when I was the one hosting the challenge or teaching the class, the work just comes together better when there are deadlines, and some guidelines. I think it's because of how I think. I really do. Well I am off to finish thinking about today's challenge I hope that everyone is doing great. I have also decided that I am going to wait until the morning and take photos in the natural light because I just really like those photos better. It might mean that I miss the deadline for the challenge but I'm ok with that because I am scrapbooking and that's all that matters to me.

A Beautiul Foundation...Building our new home.

I love completed layouts. I am so excited because I have now completed 3 pages. I really feel like I have accomplished something when I look at my current scrapbook. I really can't believe how empty my 2009-2012 scrapbook album is. Well it's not empty, it does have the pictures, a sketch and journaling all inside sheet protectors but there aren't very many completed pages in there. Here is the last one that I have completed. I love that it really focuses on the pictures and I really do love my style.

So I am not current at all in my albums and really it doesn't matter because the journaling is already done and I just need to really have time to sit down and actually get something done. And I plan on working on getting more pages done this week. I have drawn out two new sketches that I really want to use soon so hopefully I will be able to finish up the remaining 2009 layouts that I need to get done. But knowing me I will most likely work on whatever I look at and it inspires me to do a layout. I do have to say that while looking through my album there were some pictures of the girls playing at the park that I completely forgot I had photographed but then I read the journaling that I had done that day and I really do feel like I should do those photos next. Well I gotta get myself in the bed. Good night and smiles, Tracy.☺

Today I wanted to stop in to check in because I have been so busy with trying to get things done that I keep forgetting to post things to my blog. I have made several drafts the last few weeks and I get all excited about getting the draft done so that I can just add photos and then I completely forget to post the photos. Well I decided that I am going to try not to do anymore drafts unless I have the photos edited and ready to be added to the layout at that same time. I hope that this plan is what I need to do to keep myself on task and posting to the blog on a more consistant basis.

Well I have been scrapbooking I haven't completed a page that I can share (because the other pages were to my kids scrapbooks of the school year and such. And it has lots of photos of other perople on there so I don't really want to share those pages.

But here is a photo of a layout that I have started this week. It is a two page layout and I really like how it is coming together although I haven't finished it at this point.

There is actually going to be another page to this layout. I am trying to decide if it is going to be before or after these layouts. But most of the journaling about building our new home will be on there. That experience is something that was amazing to us. We actually loved everything about it and wouldn't pass up the chance to build a new home again.

I also wanted to say that I love scrapbooking in my new space! I love it because I have done lots of things at my area but I love being able to walk away and see that it doesn't look an absolute mess. It is so nice to open a drawer pull out what I am using and then put it back. I didn't have huge piles of things sitting ontop of things and it just worked better. Now I do plan on working on cards soon and I do think that I might make a little more mess but I still think that it is still an awesome space, take a look...And yes I still don't have the top drawer handles on those drawers because I can't decide which style I like the best since I know I don't want them to match all the other handles.

The space is still coming along...

There are a few more things that have been scratched off my list since my original post showing my space. And I am so glad that the handles have been added to the bigger cabinet drawers and I have to find some drawer pulls that I really like to add to the other 5 drawers without handles at this time.

The other thing that has been completed is that my paper storage have been cut to fit into the expedite. And I love the look of them all lined up and organized. I went through all of them and pulled out patterned papers that I knew that I would not ever use. And of course gave most of it to the girls and add a little stack for my garage sale.

The space is honestly more comfortable. And I watch tv in it rather than scrapbook at this time and I am hoping that will change shortly.

Well here is a photo of the inside of one of the 11 drawers that are on my desk.

 This drawer is for my adhesives, cutting blades and stamping supplies. I just wanted to add when I say adhesives I mean all things stick ability. This includes washi tape, epoxy stickers, magic mesh , and hot glue all the way to runners and liquid glue.

I did put the bulk of my refills that were unopened  in the cabinet on the very top shelf. It was good to have all those things in one spot instead of 2 little drawers so now I know that I have well over 24 refills of ATG so I don't need anymore of that for awhile but I need hot glue gun refills so that I can work on some decor item repairs.

Well I gotta go to bed.

For those who have been wondering what I have been up to...

Well alot. I have been working major overtime at my new job and lets just say it has been extremely stressful to be at work for those long shifts. I have never had an employer require mandatory overtime that means we have to work 14 hr shifts.

But enough about that...I have some very exciting news. I am so happy to say that I'm sitting in my new scrapbooking space right now as we speak about to share with you all what I have accomplished in a 3.5 weeks. I love what this room has become for our family. Its so nice to have a space that we all can enjoy now together. So here is the photos of my new space...a little disclaimer, it is still in progress. It is not complete. There are handles still to add to drawers, a shelf to hang, new Stampin Up stamp storage cases to convert my cd cases to, and clutter to get off the top of my stamp storage and put away somewhere??

But here you go....

And I can honestly say that I love this space. It actually is not my style but it's both hubby and our style put together. And although I liked the idea of painting furniture, nothing could provide me with the storage that I needed except for IKEA kitchen cabinets. I designed my space before going there, how many drawers, what each drawer would hold and so on. And I was pleasantly surprised when my hubby put it all together. I was perfect, except there was an issue with my stamps. What to do with my stamps, well I already had wanted the SU dvd type cases because they were bigger, and could hold more which meant that I could easily increase my stamp storage by changing the container that held them. So step #1 get rid of black spinny thing and get the IKEA CD/DVD tower. Perfect! Step #2 order the SU cases and get at least 8 sets to complete my goal of condensing my storage. And then step #3 be patient, and wait until they get here...I'm working on the last step right now. LOL.

But once they are here and also my order of new stamp pads, I can get my stamp pads hopefully in the tower with my stamps. I am hoping because I don't want to purchase anything else for this room. I need to start on other rooms of the house but because Hubby made me pinky swear to stay focused on one room at a time, I gotta do it. But next is my entryway and the 1st bathroom. I know I just said one room at a time, techinally the hallway isn't a room.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I plan on having a day at the park tomorrow with the kids since we have been in the house so much this last week. Besides remodeling, I was also really sick.



Oh can you share any ideas that you have about how you got your Cropper Hopper paper holders to fit in the expedite. I would really love the info. Because mine don't fit at all.