This is the archive for Scrapbook Obsession Blog.com with posts from 2013-2017.

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Diary of a Scrapbook Room Makeover: Part Two

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I’m slowly making progress on the big overhaul of my scrapbook room. If you’re not caught up, you can read the PROLOGUE and PART ONE, if you like :) But the Prologue is important reading; it’s where I tell you what happens if you make a smart ass comment about how much crap….erm, STUFF I have. Yes, I have a lot of paper. No, you can’t shop here. Yes, I have a life. Blah blah blah….

So, I’ve done lots of furniture moving. This is going to take awhile, so get comfy…

1. Unloaded everything from the desk – underneath, off the top, and in the drawers – and moved it about 2 feet closer to the sliding glass door. I didn’t repack the office supply and computer-related stuff I had in the desk cupboards; need to find a new home for all that. It’s in a pile here somewhere…

2. Unloaded all the DVDs, videos, and board games from the oak cabinet and moved them into a cabinet in the guest room/new play room. Moved a bunch of toys that were along the wall into the new play room. Moved the oak cabinet to the wall where the toys had been. Moved the Scrap Rack to the oak cabinet (temporarily, I think…). Moved office supplies, and office machines (fax machine, transcription machine, etc.) from guest room to bottom of oak cabinet (where movies and games had been). This cabinet is going to be Office Stuff Central…unless I change my mind.

3. Emptied out the legal filing cabinet, moved it from a back wall to align with one edge of the L-shaped desk, and refilled it with the same stuff I had in there before, which are greeting cards, school supplies, and more home office stuff. I gathered scrap magazines and idea books from various places around the house and piled ’em up.

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As you can see, it’s time to purge these again. I usually do this about once a year but, yeah, it’s been awhile. A friend that I scrap with recently finished her project of pulling pages and ideas from her magazines and organizing them into page protectors in a binder. I’m so jealous….it was great! So I’m deciding now if I have the time, patience, and devotion to do the same thing. Purge or make “the perfect idea binder,” THAT is the question.

As for all those idea books….I don’t think I’ve EVER gotten rid of an idea book. Something about throwing away a book that I paid $15 to $40 for is much harder than a $5 magazine. But I should look through all my idea books and maybe toss some older ones. I’ll bet I don’t even “scrap like that anymore” for some of them, huh?

4. Moved the table that I’d been using for scrappy stuff (okay, to dump things on…) over to the area by the storage cubes. This will be the famous Homework Table.

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5. Moved the couch and coffee table from in front of the desk to behind the desk by the back window. The original plan was to put it flush against the wall and lined up directly under the window (I’m all about symmetry, baby!). But once I got it there, the couch seemed kind of squished over into the corner and the coffee table was somewhat blocking the walkway to the back part of the room. So I tried the couch at an angle, and I liked it. Bonus: It creates a hidey space behind it for ugly stuff, lol. And I felt so “HGTV” about it, too.

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6. Unloaded just about everything from 10 Store in Style cubes (see couch pic above), moved the cubes to the opposite end of the room, and reloaded them pretty much the same way. The SIS cubes are now on the wall that the oak TV cabinet used to be on. This is the area I talked about where I have to keep a walkway to get to the slider, so the cubes are a good thing to put here. They fit nicely and I can stack more on top someday if need be (God forbid!).

I first thought about configuring them like this, with a kind of “turn the corner” at one end….

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…but decided not to. The positives were that it would be a little different-looking, and it would create a handy little empty space back there in the corner to store crop totes or something. But the negatives were that it made the walking path a bit too slim, and put the cubes right next to the cord for the blinds. And when I put embellishment jars on top of the one by the door, they would block the light switch. No super big deal, but I just decided to go with putting them all flush against the wall, like this…

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All this furniture moving happened way back on 9/10 (it’s now 9/27!), so when I say “making slow progress,” I’m not exaggerating. It took me awhile to remember and write all this down, the order I did things in. It was quite the feat of engineering to move things AROUND the room while still having everything IN the room. I apologize for any dark photos but most of my madness occurs late at night after everyone has gone to bed. Man, you should’ve seen the wide eyes of my husband and kids when they came out the morning after all this! They were like, “You moved ALL that by yourself!?!? The couch???” and I’m all, like, “Desperate organizers take desperate measures.” (Like, totally…I did all that “like” stuff just to annoy you). Then the daytime photos are overly bright because of the sun coming in all the windows, so I can’t win, lol.

Once the furniture was in place, I’ve just been slowly putting things away, whether within this room or the other parts of the house where they belong, and below is what the room looks like as of today.

Down there is the new back half of the room, with my cool slanty couch, and my corner of chaos. The couch was my dad’s before he passed away so it’s sentimental. Luckily, it’s also functional so I have an excuse to keep it always and forever. That big tub is all the paperwork from my two scrapbook businesses, MEMORY WORKS and Calla Memories. I can get rid of most of it. I just need to go through it and save some paperwork for tax records and such.

The white shelving unit has all my mini album stuff – supplies and some completed albums – but I want to get rid of that shelf and find another way to store my mini album kingdom. That’s actually a shoe shelf so I’m hoping to then move it into my closet and use for, oh, I don’t know…..SHOES???

The basket on top of the white shelves contains letter stickers, which were all nicely sorted by color at one time, and easy to thumb through when I scrapped. Then….I discovered THICKERS. Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn! I use Thickers lots and I buy Thickers lots. I have a Thicker addiction and I hope there ain’t no cure! But, yeah, I need to go through that basket and purge some old alphas I’ll never use. Like the first major set I bought oh so many years ago, of punch out alphas (I think they were by COLORBOK) in every color and pattern known to man (including plaid and leopard!), in a bubble font, a lollipop font, etc. Eek. Perfect for the kids to use on school projects but NOT for my scrapbooks).

The black boxes are POWER SORT BOXES from CREATIVE MEMORIES and that’s where most of my printed photos are. But photo and memorabilia organization is an ever-changing and never-ending project/battle for me. I’m not even gonna’ GO there right now. The white cubes they’re in are ITSO brand from TARGET. As you can see, I had more photo boxes than Itso cubes, so I bought another Itso from Target when they were on sale recently. (If I remember right, I paid $12 instead of $20). You can see it on my desk in the next photo.

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Below is my mess of a desk, and my flooded floor (flooded with scrap crap, that is). There’s the new Itso cube, and one of my new 3-drawer JET MAX cubes. Actually, “new” is relative since I’ve collected 3 of these units over time from MICHAELS using 50% off coupons. I’ve just never put them together, knowing I had this big re-org project coming up. Recently I assembled one and, man, are they a pain in the asset! Don’t get me started. If you’ve put these together, you know what I mean. (I feel sorry for THIS poor scrapper!) I’m dreading the assembly of the remaining 2 but I shall do it, I shall.

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I’ve done a little more work on the Wall of Cubes and this is how they look as of now…

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The cubes themselves were already pretty organized before I started this crazy project, as they contain the staples of my scrapbook world: Bazzill cardstock sorted by color, die cut/shaped papers, extra page protectors, scrapbook projects, etc. Most of the vertical files by CROPPER HOPPER are sorted by manufacturer and include patterned paper and all embellishments from that company. They could use some tidying but for the most part, the vertical files are good as they are. The gingerbread jars on top, however, are another story. When I first got them way back when on Craigslist (read about it HERE), I had them organized pretty well, but over time I lost control and just started throwing new things in with no rhyme or reason. I’m going to do a post soon about using 2 of the jars for my chipboard letters. There’s one full of flowers, and the rest I plan to use for random embellishments by color. I also put my ribbon jars back on my cubes…ribbons are sorted by color. I love my cubes and jars…they’re my favorite part of my scrapbook room. Can’t wait til I get this part totally done! My pretties, LOL…

So, that’s where I’m at for now. Thanks for sticking with me. I promise I’ll get done eventually, but real life has to come first, so it’ll continue to be slow progress. But progress is progress, right?

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Making Memories 12×12 D-Ring Albums

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Okay, so I’m doing a BOOK OF ME, thanks to my friends at AMR. I only have a few pages done but this is definitely a project I’m going to continue with throughout my life. I’ve been putting my completed pages in a 12×12 postbound album I had already, an older one by Chatterbox. But … and I’m peeved … the album cover is warped even though it’s been stored properly since I bought it. So I need something else to use.

ETA 9-27-09: Okay, I finally took some pictures….

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It’s hard to see in a photo but look at the top 1/3 of the album. It’s all wavy. Here’s a little better view.

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Let me just say it looks much WORSE in person.

I’ve been thinking about going D-ring for this album, even though I’m pretty firm on sticking to Snapload for my everyday family albums. I hate the D-ring “interruption” in the middle of 2-page layouts, which is what I mostly do in my family albums. But so far, these BOM layouts have been 1-pagers and most will probably continue to be. So why not get a D-ring, right?

Well, the other day I was placing a MEMORY WORKS order for a friend from the crop I went to last Saturday. Tangent: She is getting these, from the Fancy Pants “Christmas Magic” line……sooooo pretty:

Anyway, I thought what a shame to pay $8.45 for shipping for just 2 little things, and have all that empty space in the box, right? I mean, it’s a travesty of some sort, yeah? So I’ll just search around the sale items at Memory Works and see if I can find something to add. You know, something I NEED not just want. I opened the SHOP OUR PRODUCTS section and noticed there was a new section called “Limited Time Only,” which are products they now have a limited quantity of and won’t be able to get more from the manufacturer (I tell ya, girls, it is SUPER hard to stock a scrapbook store or reselling company these days, with the limited and unpredictable quantities being released by manufacturers…not their fault, “it’s the economy,” right?).

So what do I see but this! The perfect color. The perfect design. THE PERFECT D-RING ALBUM!

It’s the Making Memories 12×12 embossed leather D-Ring ALBUM for only $20!! Yep, 20 bucks and with my consultant discount it’s only $16. It’s hard to see in this pic, but it has a pretty embossed design on it. They have several colors….light blue, mocha brown, red, pink, black, and yellow {you can see them all HERE} and it was hard to choose. But I went with pink since it’s one of my favorite colors, and it’s girly and “all about me.” LOL I also got some extra pages ($6 for 10 minus my discount).

If I can order one (or several) for you, please let me know. Just click HERE for info, or up in the top right where it says “I’m a Memory Works Consultant.”

Anyway, I’m so very happy…only $16 (plus $4 to split the shipping with my friend’s order) for a leather, embossed, D-ring album…I’m still in shock, but happy. And pretty in pink! Have a great day…

ETA 9-27-09: My new album is here!! So pretty….. and not warped, LOL!

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Gypsy by Provocraft / Cricut

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Gypsy, Gypsy, Gypsy! I’ve been hearing this name for months, and I have purposely ignored it. Like a 2nd grader with my fingers plugging my ears while I sang, “La la la! I. can. not. hear. yooooooo!” All I knew was that it was some kind of handheld gadget that interacts with your CRICUT machine. I “only” have a first-generation BABY BUG…

So I figured this Gypsy thang didn’t even apply to me, that it was for the fancy dancy EXPRESSION.

And I figured if the Gypsy DID apply to the Baby Bug, I would still ignore it til it went away.

Do not. Need. More scrapbooking gadgets.

I tell ya’, it was hard to resist researching the Gypsy; I like to talk about new products here so we can all be edu-muh-cated together. I successfully avoided knowing what a Gypsy really was for a long time … until tonight.

As always, I recorded HSN SCRAPBOOKING and it happened to still be on when I turned on the TV tonight. JINGER ADAMS from ProvoCraft was presenting…

They had me at “hello.”

So let me tell you what I learned by watching the Gypsy demo on HSN tonight:

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It’s a little handheld thing that you can carry in your purse, and “design on the go” … sitting at the doctor’s office, whatever. You save your designs, then cut them when you get home.

Yeah, it’s expensive … freakin’ $300 even on HSN. The price during the “World Launch” is $299.95 and the regular HSN price will be $349.95. But you get a bundle that’s worth $483.96, with a sleeve, carrying case, stylus, AC adapter, car charger, cartridge connect card, 2 cartridges pre-loaded (Gypsy Font and Gypsy Wanderings), and a Don Juan cartridge. And they have free shipping tonight. And 5 flex pays of only $60. They couldn’t make it more tempting if they tried.

HSN hostess SUZANNNE RUNYON pointed out that “craft stores” (we know she means Michaels) will sell the Gypsy for $299, with no extras, and you CANNOT use the coupon. Just so ya know…

On the screen, you can view and layout a mat that is 6×12″, 12×12″ or 12×24″, just like the mats for the different Cricuts. Yep, I can use it with my Baby Bug, after all. Curses!

ALL available Cricut cartridges can be viewed on Gypsy, but you can only cut from the ones you actually own. It’s a great way to preview what’s on each of the cartridges to see if you like them and would use them.

You can update your Gypsy via your computer, so the cartridges and features will always be up-to-date.

The sizes you can cut things are not restricted by the 1/4 inch like on the Cricut…you can get them down the decimal. For instance, Jinger designed something that was 2.14 inches or something.

There is a Search function. Jinger did a search on “flowers” and it pulled up every flower from every Cricut cartridge ever made.

——– You can weld words. ———–

You can drag and drop your design all around the “mat” so it cuts where you want it to.
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Then I started searching around online and found some more 4-1-1, like this:

You can buy Gypsy accessories beyond what comes in the HSN bundle:

Silicon Skins in many designs
Screen protectors
Colored styluses
Colored lanyards

So, yeah, now of course, I want a Gypsy.

Crap.

My last concern, my last saving grace, was the fact that Cricut has not been overly Mac-friendly (i.e., Design Studio is PC-only), and I have a Mac so I’m safe, right? The Gypsy prolly doesn’t work for us Mac Girlz {fingers crossed, oh please please please please…). So I went to the Gypsy FAQ PAGE and here is what I found:
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How is the Gypsy™ updated/upgraded?
The Gypsy™ is updated by connecting it to a PC or a MAC with an Internet connection.

Does the Gypsy™ work with Macintosh computers?
Yes, the Gypsy will be compatible with MAC OS10.
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Well, there goes that!

Okay, one last ditch effort to NOT want a Gypsy, although I admit it’s weaker than Denny’s coffee: The Gypsy fonts probably suck so THAT will be the reason I can say no this gadget. I found the images for GYPSY FONT and GYPSY WANDERINGS. And I saw them on the display boards during the HSN demo, where they’re all cut out with colored cardstock and you can see them much better. Guess what? Yeah, LOVED them! And the DON JUAN font, too, which you can normally only get when you buy a Cricut CREATE. They’re all very versatile with cool images that I would definitely use.

I couldn’t copy a Don Juan sample here, so click THIS to see one, please.

HERE is the link to all the Gypsy information by Cricut. HERE are a bunch of demo videos. You gotta check out the ROGUE GYPSIES … too funny!

If you’d like to see the HSN presentation, check out the rest of the HSN Scrapbooking shows I see on their schedule.

5-6am
8-10am
1-2pm
6-7pm

These are PST; look HERE if you need to run another time zone.

If you want the Gypsy now but, like me, can’t afford it and really shouldn’t get it, check HERE and see if the Peas can talk you down off the ledge. They make some good points: Use an iPhone app to do the same thing. Use all that money for other scrappy stuff, SCAL, or Design Studio. For a bit more, buy an Expression. Use a coupon code, try to win one, or wait for the price to come down. You know, that kind of thing…

ETA 9/24/09: I very much WANT a Gypsy, but I’m not getting one anytime soon. Not in my budget :( And I can’t ask for it for Christmas, as my big-ticket Christmas gift has already been purchased by my DH and mom….I asked for a new set of crop bags. Will do a post on those soon…

So, what do you think about the Gypsy? Is it a “must have” or can you resist it’s magnetic pull?

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Diary of a Scrapbook Room Makeover: Part One

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Okay, time for Part One of hopefully many posts in my scraproom makeover diary. You can read the Prologue HERE about why I was skerred to write about this in the first place…

I suppose I should start by explaining my current scrap space situation, and why it was time for such a major “makeover.” For about 6 or 7 years now, my scrap space has been shared with my kids’ play room, which consists of the majority of their toys, games, and puzzles, a TV with VCR and DVD player for watching movies, and a couch. The couch is perpendicular to the wall and kind of splits the room in half. Behind the couch is where my scrap space is. I have a large, L-shaped office desk and matching file cabinet, a table, and 10.5 STORE IN STYLE cubes like this….

…mostly open cubes but a few with doors or drawers. Then I have 2 of the 4 sets of shelves along the wall (some of my books [yeah, the other thing I hoard] and the kids’ stuff is in the other 2), and various Iris carts, containers, and mish-mosh storage items. I also hide a lot under my mondo-desk (wink).

As you can imagine, this was already a lot of stuff and two busy purposes to fit into one room, even though it’s good-sized. I have always liked sharing my space with the play room because the kids and I hang out in there a lot together. Or at least we did, until it also became “the dumping ground room.” That was not supposed to be the plan, LOL! Look, I’m a busy mom. Due to this stupid economy, I’ve been working 50-60 hours a week. The kids do sports, I do Bible study, I sell Memory Works, clean, do constant laundry, take care of a puppy, blah, blah, blah. Not making excuses, just explaining how this all got out of hand. I simply haven’t had time to focus on an organized home, as I can barely function on the 4-5 hours a sleep I get per night as it is. So anytime something new enters the house and I don’t have time to make room for it in a closet, or get rid of something else to make room for it, it gets dumped in the scrap room/play room. Ugh. (Hint, I’m preparing you for the photos so you don’t go into a horrible shock).

Here’s my other problem…I’m an admitted pack rat. I’m trying to reform and I certainly don’t want an intervention by my family, so I’m always working on it and fighting it. I get occasional bursts of energy where I purge the pantry, clean out my bookshelves, fill garbage bags with old clothes, etc. But admittedly, things have gotten out of hand in the last year or so. Well, I’m plenty sick of it and it’s time to make it right. Other than the sheer clutter, one thing that really bugs me and has to change is that the kids play area has to be moved. You have to walk through their area to get to mine, and to get to the sliding glass door to the backyard. No matter how much I nag, a fact of life is that they WILL leave toys, books, puzzles, etc. on the playroom floor…right in the path to those two places. And it’s their play area, ya know? They should be ABLE to leave out projects they’re working on, Monopoly games in progress, or art work interrupted, right? I’m just tired of stubbing my toes on all of it. If I step on that little shoe from Monopoly in my bare feet one more time…why I oughta!…..

So I had the bright idea to not only purge and re-organize my scrap space, but to move their play space to the guest room. We’ll move their toys and games, and get rid of some along the way, too :) Their TV and movies can also be moved, which will at the same time provide a TV in the guest room for my mom to watch when she comes to stay with us. This is a semi-tangent…but the way it is now, their playroom TV is about 15 feet away from the living room TV, so when the grownups are trying to watch something, we’re often competing with the kids’ TV. It’s kind of funny, the battle of the dueling remotes…we can’t hear, so we turn up our volume. Then they can’t hear, so their TV goes louder, and before you know it, the house is very LOUD. Now their TV will be farther away and behind a door, so we can now watch R-movies with “the language” and not constantly have to push mute for fear they’ll overhear, and they can watch SpongeBob and his annoying, nasally laugh to their heart’s content, LOL. By the way, I {heart} Patrick….

So. Decided. Playroom stuff moving to guest room. which means that my scrap space has room to expand and breathe. However, as much as I want the kids to have their own place where they can shut the door and watch a movie, or be able to spread out with their games, I also want them to still “need” to be in my scrap area sometimes so we can spend time together. And wouldn’t it be nice to have somewhere else for them to do homework, etc. other than the nice, oak dining room table? Why, yes. Yes, it would! That’s why I’m going to repurpose my scrap table into a Homework Table for the kids, and keep it in my scrap room. They’ll still have a place and purpose in my area, which is really cool. Also, I’ll still have the couch in my scrap room (erm….the cleaned off, easy-to-lie-down-on couch…) so they can come and chill, read a book, tell me about their day, whatevs.

I think I’ll utilize what used to be the DVD/game cabinet (see pic below) to store office supplies, etc. and free up more room in the guest room, where all that stuff currently resides. I used to keep this kind of stuff in a cabinet in there, which will now house the TV and games. Make sense? Just a straight swapperoo!

Being the anal, plan-ahead, worrier type that I am, my wheels are turning about what furniture to move where and how to store what. I pull out some graph paper and draw a diagram for my “new” scrap room. See, I’ve always had to call it a “scrap space” before, but now I can say “scrap room.” Yeah! There are two things I need to work around initially. The sliding door to the backyard means I have to keep a decent walkway available in that area of the room. Also, there are four 5-shelf cheap-o bookcases lining one wall and they need to stay put. They’re mounted to the wall with brackets, as we’re in earthquake country, and I’m not in the mood to unmount and remount those stinkin’ shelves. Besides, this room has a vaulted ceiling and the shelves are on “the tall wall,” also a long, solid wall, so that’s the logical place for them anyway. The best part about the shelves is that by moving the toys and stuff off of them, I’m gaining almost a whole shelf unit for my scrappy stuff….niiiiice. I’m going to move some of my books out of the guest room, and make one whole set of shelves for my books, too.

After 2 tries, I come up with a good room diagram for how want to arrange things. Now, I can drift off to sleep, and dream about someday scrapping in a more open and organized space….Oh, wait, I can’t sleep yet. I have one more thing to do and I can’t procrastinate any longer…

I guess now it’s time for the thoroughly embarrassing photos. I needed DH to move the TV for me when he had a moment, so that’s the only thing missing from the original (highly cringe-worthy) status of this room. Gulp! Here you go…

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This is the wall to your hard left as you enter the play room area through the open doorway from the dining/living rooms. You can see the slider I’m talking about to the far right. The TV sat on top of that oak cabinet, and it’s filled with games and DVDs. All those pieces of stacked wood are to construct the hutch that goes with my desk, but I decided not to use it after all, so all those pieces are going in the attic. Those old toys are trash and we’ll see if we can use the plastic baskets for toy storage or something, or maybe to hold outdoor toys in the garage?

As you will see, this is the room to dump plastic containers that have rotated out of use. And I don’t know if you can see them, but behind the hutch pieces and then leaning toward the door frame, there are pool cues. Yes, pool cues. Growing up, my grandparents had a pool table in their rumpus room. Every time we’d visit them, all the kids would play pool. When my grandpa, then grandma, passed away, my mom asked what I wanted from them to keep I chose were the pool cues, among some other things. We had a pool table at the time (in this room, in fact) and I wanted to remember my wonderful grandparents and how much fun I had at their home whenever WE played pool. So, even though I have no practical use for pool cues now, I haven’t been able to get rid of them. I have such a hard time letting go of sentimental things like this. But I will. I’ve decided to take photos of them, and scrap this little story about them….and let them go. See? I’m learning…. Okay, time for another upsetting photo…

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This actually disgusts me to look at, how ugly and horrible this room is. Here’s the couch we can no longer sit on, because things just get dumped here: A box of wedding china, a globe, boxes of toys given to us, pictures that need to be hung, a box of sentimental baby items I want to keep, newspaper with an article to scrapbook, a DVD to put away, another empty plastic bin, an empty Memory Works box to break down and recycle, etc. Behind the couch is my L-shaped desk with an over-full ScrapRack (major purging will happen there!). Man, don’t be surprised if I delete these photos from the post when I panic…this is TOO embarrassing!

Okay, deep breaths, deep breaths! It’s going to get all better, with time, hard work, and patience. Someday soon, I’ll look back at these photos and laugh. Right?

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Bazzill Basics Cardstock Pack at Costco

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Hold onto your wallet, cuz I’m about to enable you! {You know that’s why you love me!} Word on the street is that Costco now has a BAZZILL pack. I haven’t seen it personally, but “katybee8” posted these details on the Pea board:

80 lb. textured cardstock, 100 count (4 of each of the 25 colors) 12 x 12 for 17.99 (18 cents/sheet is an amazing price!)

The UPC code is 40861 92574 (if you want to call ahead and see if your Costco has it yet…)

On the back it says Solid Color Core and it has a list of the textures:
Bling, Washboard, Orange Peel, Grass Cloth, Canvas, Criss Cross and Weave
{Click the BAZZILL link above to see all these textures on their website…)

It can be found in the office supply aisle.

The gal is at work but said she’d post a photo and colors when she gets home, as she hadn’t opened it yet. I will post it here when she does, or you can see the thread HERE.

Methinks I’ll be going to Costco soon….I don’t see it listed on their website, but if you find it, will you post a linkee in Comments pleazzzz….

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Friday Night Scrapbook Randoms #3

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It’s the Friday night before a Saturday of cropping, yahoo! Yeppers, I’m going to crop with some friends tomorrow, from about noon to 9pm. I’m working now, and I haven’t even packed yet so it’ll be the usual, me scrambling to pack my crop bags late the night before, hoping I’m remember everything and putting together some semblance of things I can use to make actual layouts with, lol! I am the WORST about packing ahead for crops. The magic package I talked about HERE did indeed arrive today, and I’m so excited to look through it all. Since I’m busy anyway, I’m saving it to look through with the girls tomorrow. If I can resist…

One of the new things I got was the “AMBER ROAD” theme set from PINK PAISLEE. I saw something today that made me love it even more…CHECK IT OUT! And THIS TOO. Isn’t she amazing and ever-so-talented? Love what she did with Amber Road…

Saw this over on 2peas and wanted to share it with you. I had bookmarked this link a long time ago but forgot all about it, so I’m glad it was posted again….Free printable graph paper, ledger paper, binder paper etc. for your scrapbooks ~ you can make some super cool journaling spots, for one! LOOKIE HERE

This useful computer tool was also posted by a Pea: SCRAP BY COLOR color matching tool It takes the colors from your photos and gives you color swatch matches to use in your scrapbooking. Love it. Thank you, ROSALYNN!

About THIS, all I can say is WTH?

I will leave you with THIS. Talk about a scrapbooker’s dream trip! Ali, Karen, and Jenni plus that amazing place. Wow. Wish I could go…

Before my crop tomorrow, I’m going to the beach ~ it’s a family tradition, Coastal Cleanup day ~ so it’s my two favorite things in one day. No, not litter and cigarette butts, silly! The ocean and scrapbooking. Hope you have a great weekend and get some time to scrapbook to your heart’s content.

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Memory Works: Come “Shopping” with a Consultant

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It’s pretty funny that this comes on the heels of my POST about how I have so much scrap stuff that I feel defensive of it, LOL!

But I truly was overdue in placing a Memory Works order; I haven’t done one since July 15, when I got that MEGA KIT from My Minds Eye for myself, and filled two customer orders. In the meantime, I’ve gotten several product credits for signing up new consultants (both hobbyists and “premium” consultants….thanks so much ladies!) that have been burning a hole in my virtual shopping cart. I’ve been restraining myself from using them as I watched all the new stuff from CHA Summer come in. But most of it is here now, and if I wait too long, the things I want will be gonzo. {The only thing I’m still waiting for are the new THICKERS}. Today, I received a customer order so the time had come to place an actual order instead of just dreaming about it, lol. Besides, I NEED STOCK!

I thought I’d share what one of my orders looks like. Back when I was going gangbusters with MEMORY WORKS (last year, before the economy tanked), I would make $100+ orders like this about once every month or two. If you figure that as an MW CONSULTANT, I get 20% of the retail amount of each order, you can see I was making some pretty nice bank. I mean, I was never no Lisa “QVC” Bearnson, but I was doing okay :)

However, those were the good ol’ days, and placing an order like this now literally makes my hands shake. I’ve got about half of the cost covered already with product credits and the customer order. But the rest is just cash I’m laying out there, hoping to sell these products to friends and at crops, and recoup my money with a little bit of profit. Or if I can sell 80% of it, then the 20% that I can’t sell – and thus, it enters my own stash for good – can be considered my “profit.” That’s why I only buy products that I love and would use myself….because if I can’t sell them, they become mine. Mines, all mines! Yeah, break my heart, why don’t you? Force me to take all these ugly scrap supplies that no one wants.

Okay, on to the order. This is gonna be pic heavy, so get ready to scroll, especially you Laptoppers like me….

1 BasicGrey: Take Note – Eerie $5.00

****** From here down to We R MK stamps and then the white Thickers, these are items on Fall Clearance so the prices are great; a good time to stock up! ******

1 American Crafts: Thickers – Lullaby Blush $3.20

1 Basic Grey: Chip Sticker ABCs – Lime Rickey $5.60

1 BoBunny: Gearhead Rub-on – Grease Monkey $2.80

1 Heidi Swapp: Tools – Edge Distresser $1.20

2 Jenni Bowlin: Label Strip Stickers – Brown $2.00

1 Making Memories: Tiny Alpha – Teal $2.40

1 MME: Theme Set – Cowabunga $5.40

1 MME: Theme Set – Wild Ride $5.40

1 Pink Paislee: Chipboard Letters – Fascinating $3.60

2 We R Memory Keepers: Clear Stamps – List $ .80

1 7 Gypsies: Theme Set – Victoria $5.00

1 American Crafts: Thickers – Sprinkles White $4.00

1 American Crafts: Thickers – Sprinkles Lavender $5.00

1 BoBunny: Combo Stickers – St Nick $3.00

1 Cosmo Cricket: Rub-ons – The Boyfriend $3.00

1 Creative Imaginations: Cardstock Stickers – South Seas $3.50

1 Creative Imaginations: Theme Set – Class Act $6.00

1 Creative Imaginations: Journaling Pad – Class Act $5.00

1 Creative Imaginations: Theme Set – Liberty $3.75

1 Creative Imaginations: Journaling Pad – Just Wonderful $5.50

1 Creative Imaginations: Holey Cardstock – Chocolate Swirl $2.00

1 Fancy Pants: Notebook – Christmas Magic $9.00

1 Jenni Bowlin: Memo Book – Black $4.50

1 MME: Theme Set – The Spider’s Web $7.75

1 MME: Theme Set – Merry Days of Christmas $7.75

1 Pink Paislee: Theme Set – Amber Road $5.50

1 Scrap Within Reach: Journaling Tags – Paper Boy $1.20

1 Three Bugs: Die-cut Tags – To the Rescue $2.00

Okay, first I have to comment on some of these items…

Basic Grey “Lime Rickey” blue chip stickers – Love! How did I never notice those before?

Jenni Bowlin brown label stickers – Did you notice I ordered two? Mama wants her own set. Not. For. Sale.

We R Memory Keepers clear stamps – Only 80 stinkin’ cents. I mean, that’s a no-brainer, right? I got one to sell, one to keep.

7 Gypsies “Victoria” Theme set – Remember that from HERE? Yeah, I caved and bought it. Those papers are sooooo pretty! But here’s the deal I made with the scrapbook goddesses: I’m going to set that paper free, and offer it for sale to customers. If it flies to someone else, it was never mine to begin with. If it returns to me, it was mine all along…

Pink Paislee “Amber Road” theme set – I drooled over it HERE. I finally ordered some. I’m going to set it free also. And hope that it comes back….

As you can probably tell from the things I ordered, I have customers with boys, public safety customers, and customers who have surfers in their family (we do live by the coast, after all). You can also see that I like to order products based on the seasons on either side of us at any given time, because that’s what people are scrapping now or preparing to scrap for. Right now, that would be 4th of July and 9/11, summer, back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Alphas and journaling items are always big sellers. It’s all a balancing act, placing an order, because I have to stay within my budget, fill customer orders, and choose other items based on what I think customers will like, taking into consideration the seasons, and what hobbies and interests my regular customers have. Also, I try to keep in mind the tastes of my friends. For instance, there were about 5 different Halloween sets I chose from and I went with one that has a more “distress-y” look because, in my experience, in my crowd, that sells over the real bold, bright look.

Now, don’t you wish you were a Memory Works consultant?!? LOL I don’t know if that was interesting at all, but I thought if nothing else, you’d enjoy looking at the pretty pictures. “I do NOT have scrapbooker’s A.D.D. …. Ooooh, look sparklies!!” Yeah, I got your number, sister. Holla!

I placed this order online late Tuesday night, and got an instant order receipt in my e-mail. Then Wednesday morning around 11, I got a UPS shipping notification that 2 boxes were on the way to me ALREADY! That’s one thing I *lurve* about Memory Works; they ship your order within one business day of receiving it. I also signed up a friend to start receiving the monthly kit, called MEMORY WORKS EXPRESS. The September kits had already gone out, so her first kit would normally have been the October. But she asked if she could still get September, so I e-mailed Miss Fabulosity aka Jodi at MW customer service. She said to just let her know when I had registered my friend, and she would manually go in and start her in September. Voila! It was done, just as she said. I got a UPS notice that my friend’s kit has shipped, also.

Now what’s super cool is that this friend, me, and a few others are meeting up to crop this Saturday…and our Memory Works shipments are due to arrive….wait for it….wait for it…..FRIDAY!!! Just in time :) So that will be wicked cool. Sorry I keep bragging on Memory Works…I just can’t say enough good things about ’em. It was really fun to “shop” for that order, even if most of it will be sold to others (hopefully). Hope you enjoyed our shopping trip, too!

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The New Pink “X” Xyron Machine

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I saw this when I was at Michaels the other day, but forgot to take a photo. I borrowed this one from another Pea named BENITA, an inspirational lady with a sister dealing with cancer, who she talks about HERE.

Benita says 50 cents of each purchase goes to breast cancer research. I already have the orange “X” Xyron. It was actually one of my first ever scrapbooking purchases, lo those many years ago. I use it all the time for getting adhesive on the back of those tricky Cricut letters. But even though I don’t “need” a pink one, I’ve decided to get one the next time I’m at Mike’s. It’s for a wonderful cause, right?

I’m hearing good reviews of them, too. I noticed the slot on top is smaller and I thought that would be a bad thing, but apparently not….just listen to what the Peas say HERE and HERE. One poster said that it’s exclusive to Mike’s for one month, then will be available wherever Xyron products are sold. Even though this pink “X” just showed up at my Michaels, it has been seen at other ones since early August (so start looking for it in other stores, too).

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Diary of a Scrapbook Room Makeover: A Prologue

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I’ve scrapbooked for 8 years, and had a scrapbook space in my home for about 6 or 7 years. In that time, I’ve bought more organizational items and reorganized my stuff more times than I can count. Although my amount of supplies, tools, and completed scrapbooks have increased a bunch during that time, my amount of scrap space has not, and I was feeling really cramped. So, the time has come for a major re-do, not only to my existing scrap space but it’s affecting two other areas of my house as well.

I have to say, I’m somewhat hesitant to start posting about this subject, for a kind of dumb reason. Like many long-time scrappers, I have LOTS of stuff. Lots of scrap stuff. Lots of photos and memorabilia. Lots of other stuff in my scrap area that doesn’t even belong there, but it takes on the identity of scrap stuff because it’s been dumped there and looks like it belongs, LOL. But this is what’s going to happen: People are going to read the entries about my room re-do, see the photos off all my “schtuff” (as NOEL JOY likes to call it), and person after person will say, “Wow, you have a lot of stuff!” or “It’s like a scrapbook store!” or “When can I come shop your stash??” or “Does one person really have that much stuff?!?!”

For some reason ~ and I know it’s irrational because who cares “what people say?” ~ but those comments really bother me. I think mostly because I take them to have an undercurrent (or heck, a blatant, outright message) of “Why in the HAY-ELL do you HAVE so much stuff?” and “It’s ridiculous to have as many supplies as a store would have!” Even if the comments aren’t intended that way, that’s how I tend to read them.

I’ve seen these types of comments on my own blog when I’ve re-orged before. I’ve seen them on the blogs of other ladies who’ve shared their lovingly organized scrap spaces. I’ve heard scrappers trashed on message boards: “She must be in massive debt,” or “She needs to get a life.” {I remember this one poor girl that was bombarded with things like, “How many bottles of Primas does one person need?!?! You are disgusting.” Crap, maybe she was on the DT for Prima and they were all free samples for her to create with, biz-natch!} Anyway, just hurtful, damaging things are sometimes said. There are also funny things and sarcastic things that probably meant very little to the person saying them, but to the person who’s being talked about . . . it can be a big “ouch,” kwim?

When people comment on my amount of scrap stuff, I always feel the need to defend myself, to explain, to justify. Yes, I have legitimate reasons for having such a good stash. But, no, I’m not rich, I don’t spend recklessly, I’m not spoiled, I’m not in huge scrap-debt, and I don’t need to get a life. I have a wonderful life, thankyouverymuch! But I also have feelings and misplaced guilt and sensitivities and, most importantly, JUSTIFICATIONS! :) {Ha ha, I had to throw that in there, didn’t I?}

Another thing that bothers me about those comments is that they are totally missing the point of the person ~ say, me, for instance ~ who has taken the time to not only re-do their space, but to take photos along the way and then write about the experience. The point isn’t to show off the massive amount of supplies we have, or to hear how much we remind the reader of their LSS. The point is to share organizational ideas. When I post about my process, I want people to ask organizational questions, inquire where I got a certain storage unit, or to compliment me on how cleverly I’ve arranged everything {‘cuz I’m needy like that}.

I don’t want to hear about my plethora of supplies. Yeah, I HAVE A LOT. That’s why I’m organizing them. Duh.

So that’s why I’m hesitant to start this whole process. NOT the process of reorganizing, ‘cuz that’s a done deal. That’s already happening, baby! And I’m thrilled about it. But I’m leery about sharing my “diary” here on the blog, because I’m afraid off those comments I’ll get that I know will hurt my feelings. Sure, I can delete the ones I don’t like….it is MY blog, after all! But I like to leave comments standing for the most part, and don’t censor my blog comments unless they’re spam or really super offensive. I’m a straight-up person with nothing to hide (well, isn’t that ironic?) so if readers do make those comments I so dread, I’ll most likely leave them there for all future readers to see. And I will want to yell at them, “But, but, but wait!” Yet I promise, I will bite my tongue and forge on. Even though I have an entire post practically written in my head called, “In Defense of All My Scrap Crap.” You know, where I get to ‘splain myself before you assume I belong on A&E’s “HOARDERS” or “CLEAN HOUSE,” hanging out with mah gurrrrrl, Niecy Nash, LOL!

But, ya know, I’ve explained myself before and no one wants to hear it, let’s be honest. They just want to tell me how much stuff I have. You know it’s true! Remember this post and, when you see those comments in the future, come back here and say, “Erika, your ESPN was working. You were right.”

The most common way by far that people come upon my blog is from searching for “scrapbook room” or “scrapbook organization.” It’s an immensely popular topic in Scrap World, as we scrappers acquire all these fun goodies and are curious how others have their pretties arranged and their scrap spaces decorated. I ADORE looking at photos of and hearing about others’ scrapbook rooms and storage ideas. So, yes, I will bite the bullet, take those comments as they come, and eat Double Stuff Oreos to dull the pain. Because I do want to share this project, this adventure, with anyone who wants to listen. I hope I can be of help to readers, whether it be to give storage ideas, provide inspiration to re-org your own space, or even just give you something to read while you drink your cuppa Joe in front of the computer in the morning.

Stay tuned, scrappy organizers….the journey is about to begin :)

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Scrapbook Shopping Quickie

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I’m in the midst of a MAJOR scrapbook room / home office / play room switcheroonie and reorganization and purge. I’m taking pics along the way and will post a series of blog entries coming up….

This may be old news for some of you, but my Michaels just started carrying DISTRESS STICKLES by Tim Holtz. Yeah, finally! I’ve been a huge fan of STICKLES forevah! {Although, as scrappers wanting to finish a project, “waiting for the Stickles to dry” has become our version of watching paint dry…}. Anyhow, have been wanting to try these. I got a 3-pack; I think they were around $6 but I had a 1/2 off coupon. Sweeeeeet….

ETA 9-11-09: Found the LINK to Distress Stickles at Mike’s, and here is the pack that I got. This is the only choice they had, but the website shows a total of 4 combo packs so hopefully my Mike’s will get the other 3 eventually…

Also, the Peas are talking HERE about some Tuesday Morning finds. Let’s just say Making Memories “Whimsey,” Pink Paislee “POP FASHION,” and lots of other stuff.

I finally found the new issue of Scrapbooks Etc…you know, the first issue with the CHANGES I talked about before. I’ve been thumbing through it the last couple nights and I’m taking note of the changes I like and don’t like for a future post. What do you think of the new format?

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A Milestone is Coming! Must Be Time for a Big Scrappy Prize…

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I was looking at my Blog Stats and noticed that I’m less than 25,000 hits from rolling over HALF A MILLION, baby! That is soooo cool. I’ll have to plan a good contest and prize for the big event, don’t you think?

I also noticed lots of hits on my “Troy the Locator” article below, but no one is leaving comments. Was it that bad? (You know I was kidding about the “being better than you” thing, right?) Was it too long to read through? I was thinking I should’ve broken it up into two entries. Let me know your thoughts so I can learn from my mistakes, please :) :) :)

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Troy Dunn, “The Locator”, Scrapbooking, and Photographs

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Without further adieu, here is my “Locator” post…

As I talked about HERE, I was contacted by WeTV to participate in a conference call with none other than Troy Dunn from their fabulous show, “The Locator.” I’d written about the show on my blog in the past HERE and HERE because I love it so very much. I thought it was so cool that not only did Troy come and leave a comment on my blog, but his mom (you see her on the show, too) did as well. One of the coolest things is that they sent me the link to a sneak preview of the new season of The Locator that only a special, select few IN THA WORLD get to see. Well, I don’t know that for a fact, but to make my ego supersized, let’s just assume that’s true. C’mon, play along with me….

They also sent me this picture to use in my article, which is from the new season and has NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE on the face of the earth. Exclusive to ME!! Bwahahaha. Okay, I’m totally lying again. I’m apparently at an insecure mood at this point in time and have a need to feel important and much, much better than you. I promise, I’ll get over it. But cool photo, right?

Photo_3

Did you know that one of Troy’s sons (Treston; LOVE that name!) keeps a family blog? Why don’t you go say “hi” right here to THE DUNN FAMILY.

Anyway, the date and time to speak with him finally arrived, which was September 3rd at 8am my time. That worked out well because, even though that’s a work day for me, I start at 8:30 (and I work from home as a medical transcriber so it’s a short commute). I told the gal who was coordinating everything – Katrina from WeTV – and she allowed me to ask my questions first in case I had to cut out early.

The two other bloggers who were also on the conference call with Troy (yeah, I get to call him that, ‘cuz we TALKED, you know?) were Gina from the THE CLAN McCLEOD blog, and Jill from the OKLA-HOME blog. Go check them out…both are really great blogs.

So, back to the call…Troy came on the line and everyone said good morning and where they’re from. I was able to go first and started off by reminding Troy that I was the one who had blogged that he’s a hottie. Again, like the comment he left on that post, Troy (or, as I sometimes call my new BFF, “T.”) was very modest and we joked about things like that scoring points with his wife.

My first question was: You talked in the comment you left (on my blog) about scrapbooking and the role it plays on your show. Can you please talk about that some more?

He said that scrapbooking is very much a part of The Locator. One thing is that many times, people who participate in the show immediately scrapbook their experience. He says that by what his show does, they allow people to have another 10 or 20 years of their lives to make the memories to fill up more scrapbooks. T. also said that his family has scrapbookers and they give and receive them for gifts. On his coffee table near him while we spoke, was a scrapbook that a fan sent him, all made up to honor the show, The Locator. The person had taken photos from the show, newspaper clippings, and letters from the website. {This reminded me of the album – or is it albumSSS – made by my Scrap Pal, Gay to honor her fascination with….er, lust for….I mean, um, admiration of the acting abilities of Gerard Butler. But that’s a whole ‘nother story I can’t get into right now}. Anyway, so then Troy said, “I have nothing but love and respect for scrapbooks and if I can help people fill the pages of them, fill their lives, then I’m totally jazzed about that.” See, not only handsome, but wicked smaht.

Then he said that he keeps waiting for a scrapbooking company to contact him, that he’d love to do a whole “Locator” scrapbooking line. I joked that maybe I should put some bugs in some ears in this industry about this great idea. As it happens, I’m having lunch later this week with STACY JULIAN, KELLY GOREE, CATHY Z, and LISA BEARNSON, so I’ll probably bring it up then. Nah, you know I don’t really know those ladies. Well, unless you count years upon years of drooling over their work in magazines and stalking….erm, I mean… leaving (perfectly harmless) comments on their blogs as being friends. Because I do. I consider them my friends.

My second question was about photographs, and how important those are in our lives; his thoughts on that, maybe reactions he’d seen from people he reunited when either they were shown photos of themselves they hadn’t known existed, or the opposite, when no photos exist and how that impacts them. (Crikes, didn’t realize what a long-winded question that was til I had to type it out and got a case of carpal tunnel while doing so… Sheesh, Erika, brief much?).

This was one of my favorite parts. Troy said that one of the greatest myths about photographs is that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” He said that a picture is worth a million words. He said photos are so extraordinary because of how close they come to “bringing a real person to somebody.” He said he often gets the same reaction from showing someone a photo of their long lost loved one, as he does from showing them the actual person. I find that amazing and, yet, totally relatable and I’ve seen it many times on the show, the profound reaction people have when seeing a photo of their loved one for the first time. The other amazing thing Troy had to say about photos is they he tries to never go into a reuniting situation without one because they make great transitional objects. We talked about how, for instance, a mom who hasn’t seen her missing son since he was four months old. In her heart and head, she may largely picture her son today as still being that four-month-old little baby. What a shock it could be if she first laid eyes on him again as an adult now. So by exposing her to current photos of him beforehand, she can start transitioning herself mentally into “This is what he looks like now.” He compared it to a situation in his own life, and a daughter (one of his SEVEN children with his wife) who battled cancer. Friends that hadn’t seen her in a while would’ve been quite shocked to then see her bald, so he used photos as a kind of transition so they could wrap their brains around how she looked currently, instead of revealing a shock or a sadness upon actually laying eyes on her. As I told Troy, I’d never thought of photos as that “transitional object,” but how very true and powerful that is, don’t you think?

So, those were my two main questions. Troy next answered questions from Gina and Jill, which were great to listen to. I know Jill has blogged about her experience speaking with Troy on her blog listed above, and I hope Dena will post about her take, also.

Then we got to ask a third question, since there was still time, and I asked him a question that had been posed by one of my kids when they found out I would be talking to Troy. {The Locator is a wonderful family show and I watch it often with my kids, so they’re Troy Fans also}. The question was about all the travel he does for the show, does he like it or not? Troy’s answer was what you’d expect from the true family man that he is….that while he’d gotten to go places he’d never have gone otherwise, that nothing was better than being home with his family. Shoot, with a wife and seven kids, imagine how many events you could miss in just a few days, LOL!. He talked about the toll that reality shows seem to be taking on the families who participate in them lately, and how family must remain the priority above all else. We also learned some “show secrets” such as the getaway car, and Troy’s favorite getaway meal. You know, things Troy only tells his “good friends,” of which I am clearly one. {Ahem}.

So that was my wonderful experience talking to Troy. He said if I contacted his staff, he would send a photo to my kids and I’m still working on arranging that. Sorry this is so long, but I had to capture all the details while they were fresh in my mind ‘cuz you know I’ll be making this blog entry into the journaling for my scrapbook layout, of course. Now, if only I could find some Locator-themed scrapbooking elements to jazz up my page, I’d be in business. Lisa??? Kelly???

PS: A reminder that the new season of THE LOCATOR starts soon! Put it on your calendar or set your DVR now...This Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 9pm PST (check listings for your own time zone).

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Troy Dunn, The Locator…Curses! Delayed Again…

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If anyone was waiting on the article I said I would post today about my phone conversation with Troy Dunn of The Locator TV show, I apologize it will NOT be posted today. Me and one of the kiddos ended up with the stomach flu so my weekend didn’t go as planned. My apologies, and I’ll get it posted as soon as possible. I still can’t believe I was blessed with speaking to him! To hold you over, I’ll post a photo. Trust me, it will help your day immensely… :)


Photo courtesy of WeTV.com

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Friday Night Scrapbook Randoms #2

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Except I forgot to write this up Friday night, so it’s actually “The Wee Hours of Sunday Morning Scrapbook Randoms,” LOL. {It’s 4am to be exact}. The benefit of me being so tardy is that I can share THIS with you. Pair it up with that 50-percenter I already gave you, and you’re good to go.

Word on the street is that you can get a BIG BITE at Walmart for $5. HERE is the orange one on Walmart.com, which normally retails for almost $40.

I’m sure it won’t be 5 bucks at MY Walmart, because they never have whatever it is all you scrappers are bragging about until a month or two later, if at all. But, hey, go check it out. Maybe you’ll get lucky and then come back here and rub my nose in it… (Kidding! You know I took Sarcasm 101 and got an A+, right? Like, SEVERAL times. In fact, I’m teaching the class next semester…).

There’s a new blog by a Pea I wanted to share with you. Her message board name always catches my eye, cuz it’s SCRAPPIN PSYCHO. See, I figure I may be Obsessed but SHE is psycho. And her scrap room is called The Asylum. I keep trying to tell you people that I’m not the only scrapbook crazy out there, but now I have proof!

Hey, did you know the monthly crop at AMR Is next weekend? Yep, I’m totally not kidding. Here are the details, as shared by crop queen diva, MARILYN aka Melonscraps:

Start getting ready for the September Crop!! It will be Friday, September 11-Sunday, September 13!
What to expect…
The theme will be FALL.
There will be a BINGO game, but not by Michelle.
I will be posting another fun game, at least one.
There are sure to be lots of challenges, if you plan on doing one, pm me!
There will also be another ATC swap!
There will be lots of chatting and someone please bring the Margaritas!!
Feel free to join in the fun with challenges, games, etc.
Come one, come all, and have fun!!

The crop post is HERE for any updates or more info. Hope to see you there!

I will close with THIS, “Warning Signs That You Might Be a Scrapbooker.” I can definitely identify with lots of those. And, no, NOT number 22. Sheesh, give me a little bit of credit….

Hope you’re having a great weekend. ~TTFN~

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Memory Works: New Basic Grey and Fancy Pants is HERE!

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You can see Basic Grey ~ Indian Summer, Eerie, Eskimo Kisses, and Nook and Pantry HERE. {As of this writing, the Nook & Pantry still shows out of stock, but I’m sure we’ll have it soon}. I’ll give a taste of each by showing you the Theme Sets of paper, but we have a bunch of stuff from each line.




And here is Fancy Pants ~ Rough and Tough, Dancing Girl, Little Sprout, Trick or Treat, and Christmas Magic HERE.

Instructions on how to order are HERE. Would love to hear from you :)

O. EM. GEE! Have you seen this batty lace doily by Basic Grey?!?!?! Must. Have.

Okay, now I can’t wait to shop. I’ve been holding on to some Product Credits for a while now, waiting for all the CHA stuff to roll in. We’re still waiting on the new Doodlebug, Sassafrass, and We R Memory Keepers, but I can’t wait any longer. Now that the BG and Fancy Pants are here, I’m going to order before it’s gone. I also want this “Take Note” from the BG Eerie line, among other things:

HERE is the September Newsletter from Basic Grey, if you’d like to see some great layout ideas with these new lines and some past ones. What new CHA Summer stuff are you excited about or going to order?

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Michaels Coupons for Labor Day Week

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This is the first week without coupons via newspaper ads (I talked about it HERE). So HERE is a link to the coupons I got via e-mail ~ they’re good ones! Hopefully they will work for you, and there’s not a limit on the number you can print. Let me know if it doesn’t work.

ETA 9-4-09: Thank you, Heidi, for leaving this comment:

Did you see the notice on the 2nd link: “We’re sorry. This coupon is no longer available because the viewing limit has been exceeded.
If you have been forwarded this coupon and would like to receive offers like this directly from Michaels, please register at Michaels.com. ” What ‘limit’???

That’s what I was afraid of. They’ve done this before, limited your ability to open and print the coupon to only once. Darn. Sorry guys. If I can find another version of the coupon to link to, I’ll post it. Or if you find one, let me know please!

ETA 9-4-09 again: Try THIS. It’s a different coupon but better! I got it from another site and it printed, no problem.

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A Troy Dunn Teaser….You Know, “The Locator”…

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I spoke with Troy Dunn from The Locator (WeTV) on a conference call this morning with some other bloggers! LOOOOONNNNNGGGG blog post coming up, probably tonight. We dished scrapbooking and photos, and he has a proposal for scrapbooking companies. Yes, I’m a tease! You’ll have to come back and read all about it….

ETA: Well, change of plans. I ended up at a last-minute 4-H meeting tonight which took 3 hours. And this is a busy weekend, so I’ll work on the article (it’ll be a long one) and post it Tuesday after Labor Day. Hopefully, you’ll be in the mood to grab a cuppa Joe and snuggle in for a good long read.

PS: My scrap buddy JULIE from the AMR board sent me some scrap goodies for winning her challenge at our last online crop. One of the items was a desktop weekly calendar that has this saying on it (although its a retro chick instead of a retro dude):

I adore this! Truer words were never spoken. I mean, decaffeinated coffee??? What’s the point?