Carol left this comment on my last organization post, written 9 days ago:
Did your room swallow you up–we have not heard from you in a couple of days. I am working on my room along side of you. I am close, but we were crazy to think we could get this complete in 3 days!!!
First, I have to agree with Carol ~ WTF was I thinking that I could do this in 3 days?!?! Fool.
So I wanted to let Carol know – and ya’ll! I didn’t forget ya’ll, sheez – that I’m still plugging away on my scrap/home office space whenever I have time. I was out of town for a few days and also got tied up with work, but I’ll be getting some time in this weekend. It’s almost midnight Friday night and I’ve been in here for a few hours tonight.
I’m too embarrassed to admit how much of that time has been spent organizing my … erm … MASSIVE Basic Grey collection. It takes a long time to alphabetize papers from, like, 50 collections, MM KAY?? Now before you choke on your gummy bear (yeah, I watch you late at night at your scrap desk … I know about the bears, the Diet Coke, and let’s just say the empty brown tissue cups in the trash that smell like chocolate and peanut butter don’t lie) … I have figured out a way to justify papers from 50 Basic Grey collections. And it goes a little something like this:
I’ve been scrapping since 2001. It’s now 2011. That’s 10 years. So if you divide 50 collections by 10 years, that’s only 5 collections per year. Which I personally think shows a great deal of RESTRAINT, don’t you? I don’t think I should be criticized for having too much Basic Grey. I think I should be heralded for having ONLY 50 collections.
I also think I should be applauded for helping to keep BASIC GREY in business for all these years. Somebody has to do it, right? It may as well be me. I will make the sacrifice for you. I will buy the Basic Grey each year, at least 5 collections, so you won’t feel like you have to.
So the bottom line here is that I don’t have too much Basic Grey. Those who would care to criticize me: Maybe you need to ask yourself why you don’t have enough? You need to buy more because until you have papers from 50 collections in 10 years, I don’t even want to be seen with you. Not on the message boards. Not at CKU. Not at the scrapbook expo. If I see you at Michaels, I look past you like I don’t know you.
In a nutshell, you’ve let me down. So get busy on the Basic Grey Collection Buying and get back to me when you’ve caught up. I’ll decide then if we can be friends again.
Now that THAT is settled, back to scrapbook room organization. Tonight I’ve also been trying to include some decorative touches in my room. As much as we all believe that shelves of Stickles and jars of ribbon are decoration in themselves, it hit me that I could add some other pretty things that I like to look at. Things to soften the edges and to add other parts of my personality to the space.
I know you’re gonna’ ask for photos and I have been taking them along the way but I’m not posting any tonight because I’m too lazy. At this point, I may just save all the “before” and “in progress” photos for the Big Reveal, which isn’t too far off. Promise :)
Can’t write much because … I’m going like gangbusters on my scraproom! I have it about 1/2 emptied out. I’m grouping, purging, and organizing as I take stuff out so it’s taking longer than I thought. I’m hoping that means it will be quicker to put back together.
Yes, I’m taking photos along the way so you can witness the devastation later ;)
I thought I was going to keep things arranged pretty much the way they have been because I like my system (it was just out of control). But I just made a decision to make a major switch and I think it’s going to be great.
I’m not going to tiptoe around this, okay? I got pretty much nothing done on my room today.
NOW.
If you’re going to throw things at me, here are your choices:
– Chocolate
– Xanax
– Martini fixings
– Scrapbook supplies
– either things I want like BASIC GREY embellies or SMASH BOOK accessories
– or things that won’t hurt very much when they make contact, e.g., eyelets, glitter, ribbon, and the like (shop carefully, please)
Once you’re done being mad at me … what, you’re still mad??? Jeesh. I can give you some sad eyes. Oh! Better yet! I’ll have my dog give you some sad eyes. He gets stuff past me all the time with those freakin’ sad eyes. “Now, Mom, I know I barked all night when you had to get up for work at 5am but …” and – bladow – SAD EYES. Shoot. He got me again. Can’t be mad.
So … I had to work today. A lot. My plan this morning was to work for 30 minutes, organize for 30 minutes. However, that didn’t happen … too much work. It’s 10pm and I just wrapped it up. If I’d stopped to organize every 30 minutes, I’d have been working until 6am tomorrow, LOL. Which is probably what YOU would’ve preferred but, srsly, have some pity on me, willya?
But now I’m panicking. I have ONE DAY left to get my room done!
BLURG.
I mean, it’s not like the room self-destructs after Day 3 or anything. It’s just that after tomorrow, I’m tied up for several days and I want this room dunzo. I’m SO tired of putting it off and not getting it done. How many times have I gotten this portion or that portion of my room organized, but never the whole entire thing? Lots. Very lots.
I want my scrap space organized so I can find things and be creative. I want my home office organized so I can work efficiently.
I really thought this was going to be my time :( There’s nothing I can do about work – in fact, I’m inordinately grateful that I have so much work right now, because the life of an independent contractor can get scary at times – when the work doesn’t come.
But but but …
You know what I mean, right?
So now I’m going to decide between these two plans:
1. Start drinking coffee now at 10:30 pm, pray for a second wind, and get a bunch accomplished late into the night. Work while there are fewer distractions. Sleep in a bit in the morning, and finish up tomorrow afternoon.
2. Chill the rest of this evening, watch the “SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE” next-to-last episode I taped earlier tonight, then turn in early (well, early for me). Get up early tomorrow and power through everything in one day.
I’ll let you know tomorrow which option I went with :) And for those of you who asked, I’m going back to add photos to my past entries that show a bit of what I’m dealing with. But the best photos will be posted tomorrow of PROGRESS and hopefully SUCCESS.
Well, it’s now 5:00 pm on Day 1 of the Great Scrapbook Room/Home Office Reorg … and not much has changed in here from the 10:00 am update, I’m sorry to say :(
From 10:00 am to noon, I worked in the garage and the spare bedroom, aka The Junk Room (where all the home office stuff is going for now). I pulled an oak file cabinet out from the corner and put it in the hallway, vacuumed and cleaned up that whole corner, and started making piles in that room.
I had to get the file cabinet out of the corner because it’s eventually going in my home office near my computer desk. One of the reasons I have so many work/school/misc. paper piles on my desk (other than I was apparently genetically predisposed to pile-making) is that there’s no real office storage near my work desk.
I have some accordion files on a shelf under the desk but they’re for specific things I need close at hand. And I’m not going to tell you what papers those are because all you technology smart, super-organized people are going to tell me that I shouldn’t even SAVE those papers because I can do paperless bill paying, paperless banking, and paperless paychecks. Well, I’m an old-fashioned girl and I prefer to have some things on paper. So quit trying to talk me out of it already. Jeez O Pete. You’re so pushy!
Back to the Junk Room … Now, I know you’re going to say, “I thought you were trying to get away from piles?!?!?” Well, yes, long-term but you have to admit, some pile-making must occur during the organizational process, right? So there’s the office stuff pile, the toys/games pile, the wrapping paper/gift bag pile, etc.
I promise to get the Junk Room organized next. In the meantime, it’s one of the staging areas. Mmm, kay? Anyway, I got all those piles sorted, threw some stuff away, etc. The room had already been purged of toys, games, books, and puzzles for our garage sale last weekend. The big job I have to do in there is going through school papers/art and files. I used to feel the need to save everything but I’ve finally come to the conclusion that, srsly, there is so much of it I don’t need.
I mean, I just sold all my cookbooks at the garage sale. I know, GASP! But honestly, whenever I wanna look up a recipe, I look online. I kept a few but the rest were sold. See? I’m ready to quit being such a packrat. Baby steps, baby steps …
Another thing that got moved back there was a childhood set of encyclopedias we just got from my mom-in-law. There are mounted bookshelves in there that DH wants them on; we just need to clean the shelf and get them placed in away that evenly distributes the weight. Them muthas’ are HEAVY. I know ‘cuz I carried all the boxes back there :)
I had the kids clean up their homework table (it’s in my scraproom/home office). It was a mess of projects, papers, and pencils. In my last post I said I was planning to keep my photos/memorabilia in the garage so all that crap … erm … stuff was not clogging up the dining room while I did the shorter-term scrappy organizing. Well, as someone pointed out, that is a baaaaad idea. Doy. Leaving photos out in the heat of a California summer is dum-dum-dum. So I’ll have to hatch another plan.
Then the fun had to take a break. I had to run some errands. One involved my new printer … ya know, the one I mentioned before that I might return? Well, yeah, now I’m sure I will. I just got it 2 days ago to replace my antiquated Canon because I wanted to get a multi-use machine that would fax in addition to copy/scan/print, and also that had a document feeder. Then I could also get rid of my little cheapie Brother fax machine. (Yes, I know you can fax online but I have a client who prefers to use a machine so I need to have one). The organizational point is: I’m trying to consolidate and have fewer things on my desk, especially since I just had to add the second laptop.
Long story short, the EPSON 325 WORKFORCE printer that I got at Target the other day ($99 marked down to $69) isn’t going to work out. I wasn’t able to sell my old printer or fax at the garage sale so I didn’t want to spend the $150-200 I had originally planned for an printer. But the document feeder keeps jamming and it takes forever and a day to print a 1-page letter. I’m sure I just got a bad one but meanwhile … I went to OfficeMax today for something else and found the Artisan 835 that I really wanted. Not only is it on sale ($299 marked down to $169) but I can also get $50 off for turning in my old printer. Suh-weet! Don’t have to try and sell that bitch on Craigslist :P
So, the moral of that story is … sometimes it’s good to save the box!
I was gone doing errands until 5:00 and once I finish this blog post, I need to work for a few hours. The good news is … while I was out, I bought a triple-shot latte so I’ll be good to go for organizing into the night. When I’m on a roll, I’ve been known to stay up until 2 or 3am so don’t give up on Day 1 progress just yet.
See you on the flip side :)
PS: I know there are typos but I have to get to work. I’ll either fix them later or you can just ignore them. Whatevs.
This came out recently but I haven’t been able to find it on my local newstands :( Have you seen it anywhere? I only have Walmart, Target, and Michaels. I ended up ordering it from THE CK WEBSITE. I had a free shipping code but it’s since expired … maybe search and see if you can find another one?
The Peas are talking about “Creative Spaces” HERE (including a Pea whose room is IN the magazine!).
I happen to really disagree with the negative opinions of it posted HERE. I’m finding it to be very inspirational and, as MARTHA STEWART would say, “aspirational.” I’m different from some of the posters in that thread because I *don’t* want to see scrapbook spaces of “everyday” scrappers that are a hodge podge of furniture and organizational bins. I can look in my own non-designer space if I want to see that, LOL!
When I plunk down $15 for a glossy magazine, I want to see all the fancy schmancy scrap digs I’ll never be able to afford. Kinda the same theory of Architectural Digest showing amazing homes you’ll nevah, evah be able to afford, or Vogue with its clothes you can’t afford worn by women (um, teenagers?) who weigh as much as your pinky finger. It’s all about the eye candy, baby! And, yeah, maybe you’ll pick up tips here and there that you can incorporate into your own life.
As it happens, I am finding MANY scrapbook organization ideas in this magazine that I can incorporate into my space. Whenever I get a few minutes of quiet time, I sit down with this amazing issue and take my time with the articles and photos. I think it’s very well organized with great pictures and ideas.
Have you seen this issue? If so, what did you think of it? As always, diverse opinions are welcomed :)
So I’ve been watching Peter Walsh’s new show “ENOUGH ALREADY!” on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). He’s the organizing guy who’s been on The Oprah Show many times, and you also may remember him from the old TLC show, “CLEAN SWEEP“. He has also written several BOOKS on organization.
This one wins the award for Best Book Title:
I’m on the waiting list at my library for his latest book and judging by how long it’s taking to get the ding-dang thang, it must be REALLY popular :P
Peter uses a 5-step process to declutter rooms; HERE it is.
STEP ONE: EMPTY THE ROOM
Watching them do this on the show is always cringe-worthy. The look on people’s faces is kind of sad when they realize how much stuff they’ve crammed into their space. Now I’m no hoarder but I’m not BECKY HIGGINS, either. So I’m the last to cast stones … my rooms may not be as bad as theirs, but I have one or two that could use some serious help, one being my scrapbook room. No matter how many times I begin to organize it, I never completely finish it. Then the clutter cycle starts again and we’re off like a day at the races.
I’ve often wondered, while watching Enough Already, if I could ever clear out my scrapbook room entirely and start from scratch. Would it be worth it? Where would I put everything? Could I block off two or three days to get it moved out, then replaced, so my Scrap Crap wasn’t bogging up the rest of my house?
Anyway, my conclusion has always been that it’s a crazy idea. Just totally cray-cray.
Then I saw THIS THREAD at 2peas, LOL. Yes, ladies, it HAS been done. Repeatedly. And from the sounds of it, successfully. So my wheels are really turning now. I’m scanning ahead, wondering when I have a free weekend to try this, a holiday at work, anything? ‘Cuz now I’m kind of hooked on the idea.
When I’ve attempted to organize in the past, I do often feel like I’m moving this pile so I can get to that pile, then I put it on that shelf, which is now taken up, and I have nowhere to put this stuff … kwim? It would be so nice to pull everything out, kind of packing like things together as I go, then purge items as I put it all back in an organized fashion. I’ll bet I’d get rid of a lot of things this way, don’t you think?
It’s like on the show: Peter asks, “What is your vision for this room?” Then anything that doesn’t fulfill your vision is tossed, given away, or put elsewhere in your home.
I guess the final and most important question is …. how much do you think I’d have to pay Peter Walsh to come and help me?
Yeah, I know, you’re right … there ain’t enough money in the world, baby! HA Not once he saw my scrapbook room anyway.
Have you done this before … cleared out an entire room and started from scratch, except for maybe furniture? How long did it take? Was it worth it? Did you maintain the organized room?
If you haven’t done this, would you consider it? Do you think it’s a good way to go about it? If you did it, what would be your method … like someone on the thread mentioned using banker’s boxes which I thought was brilliant. How would you do it all?
I spent most of the weekend working on my scrapbook room. Ugh! I know . . . AGAIN! I’m NOT considering this part of the whole MAKEOVER thing, just the clean-up to get back to where I left off. If you look back at those last “makeover” photos from 10-15-09, I haven’t really made much overall progress since then anyway.
What I did do, however, was perform a major backslide over the holidays. My scrap space became the activity center, the holiday gift-hiding and wrapping hub, and the dumping ground afterward for gifts to be put away, Christmas cards to sort and scrap, school and personal papers, etc. Everything had gotten WAY-HAY-HAY out of hand to the point that I couldn’t do ANYTHING on my desk or in my scrap space, much less scrapbook!
While the ONLINE CROP happened this weekend, I spent some time sorting, purging, putting away, and cleaning my space, taking breaks to chat with the Scrap Sisters and keep my enthusiasm going.
It’s now back to a decent level so I can scrapbook again (I have until Wednesday at midnight PST to complete some of those crop challenges!). Thought I’d share a few Before and After photos. The Before pix were taken Friday night so they’re dark, sorry. The Afters were taken Sunday afternoon.
LEFT SIDE OF DESK – BEFORE
LEFT SIDE OF DESK – AFTER
There’s my new Daisy tool caddy by Creative Memories. I moved all my acrylic stamps and inks from 2 Crop in Style flat packs into the tool caddy. What I realized is that … I need another one, LOL. I have my current stash in there, just barely, but my Secret Santa sent me a bunch more stamps for Christmas (they’re stacked under that pile of embellies, 5 full sets!). See all those punches and tools behind the tool caddy? I want to get one for those, too. I don’t like how they get dusty sitting out on my desk, even when they’re in heavy use … which admittedly, they haven’t been lately. The Cropper Hopper vertical file is for my newest acquisitions that I hope to scrap with soon. My Inspiration File, if you will. The rest is Secret Santa stuff that I left out on purpose. No, really! One of the crop challenges is to create a layout using products you received from Secret Santas. See, I wasn’t lying.
Yes! I can see my Basic Grey magnetic mats again! The envelope has some CTMH “My Acrylix” (empty) envelopes that I offered to RAK on the Scrap Sisters Studio message board; as it happens, my Scrap Pal was the first to speak up so they’re being mailed to her … along with a little gift that I forgot to include in her Christmas gift mailing.
RIGHT SIDE OF DESK – BEFORE
Oh lookie! Some books that are now neatly filed on my bookshelf, which I also reorganized this weekend. My Green Tangerines bag and stuff I bought there, Christmas card leftovers and stamps, etc.
RIGHT SIDE OF DESK – AFTER
All my most-used tools, stereo, RAK bag, and carousel I use to store Cricut stuff.
Cricut, Epson Picturemate printer, and I moved my little lamp over here. The paper, embellies, and envelopes are hand-me-downs from my mom (she’s the one who always gives me free scrap stuff she doesn’t want … I know, I’d be jealous if I were you, too). Anyway, I found the box they were in at the end of the day and that’s as far as they got :( Out of the box and onto my desk … for now.
COUCH/COFFEE TABLE – BEFORE
Yep, there’s really a couch and table under all that disgusting mess, I swear! CM photo storage boxes (like my fancy labels made out of sticky notes? i made new ones finally), an old printer I need to get rid of, and my basket of alphas. Also, 2 bins of past MEMORY WORKS kits that I need to either use or separate out and put away.
COUCH/COFFEE TABLE – AFTER
The kits are still there, and I stashed some things under the table, but at least I can see part of the couch and all of the table again, right? And there’s my new CROP BAGS. They make me happy :)
So, there’s what I did this weekend. How about you? Anything scrappy or organize-y? Or did you just watch football? Whatever you did, hope it was a great one.
Yep, time is money, people, and there’s a lot to cover!
Scrapbook Mail:
I love, love, LOVE getting scrapbook mail, don’t you? There is no better mail than that. Well, maybe if someone wanted to send me a bunch of money, that would be my favorite mail, but somehow, I don’t see that happening.
Over at the SCRAPBOOK SISTERS STUDIO message board, I joined a Secret Santa Swap. Well actually two. For one, you were to send an envelope of handmade or inexpensive scrapbook goodies to 5 other Sisters, and in return you would receive 5 different envelopes back. Here are the first two packages I received ~ aren’t they great? ~ and the only ones I’ve taken photos of so far. I’ve received others too and it’s always to fun to get the mail these days!
For the other one, you were to send $20 worth of scrapbook goodies to a Sister you were secretly matched up with. We each posted Wish Lists including scrapbook stuff and non-SBR stuff, too. I sent off my package on Monday and received the one from my Secret Santa yesterday. I was so lucky to have SCRAPPY GIRL for my SS. LOOKIE LOOKIE at all the bad-ass shizzle she sent me!
Love all the Inque stuff, the LYB stuff, just LURVE IT ALL! She even got me my favorite Dr. Pepper lip smackers lip gloss :) Thank you, Scrappy Girl! You rock big time, Sista!
Scrapbook Shopping:
I’m hella’ overdue posting these shopping pics. I can see by the date on the photos that they are 2+ weeks old. Time has flown…seems like a few days ago, LOL. Anyway, here are some things I found at TUESDAY MORNING:
Remember the HEIDI SWAPP TOTE? Well, here is a new version of that. For 20 bucks, you get the Tote-ally Cool Tote filled with HEIDI SWAPPgoodies.
Here is a close-up of the list so you can see exactly what the items are…
Some cute kits…
This was a kit that reminded me of the KI MEMORIES TINS that were at Target a while back. (Just to clarify, these ones are NOT KI Memories brand). Looks like a decent deal.
These “Thank You” stamps by EK SUCCESS have been around for quite awhile. I used to see them at an LSS that closed many moons ago. For only $5, they were hard to resist.
This was a huge pack of chipboard alphas for $8 by Memories Direct, that brand that’s often on HSN and they also have their own infomercials…at least they used to. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen one in a while. Maybe Cricut bought up all the allowable scrapbook infomercial time, LOL! Have you seen the CONSTANT Cricut informercials? Yikes.
And lastly, teeny tiny little totes by All My Memories, which I believe is now defunct. They’re sitting on a 12×12 paper pack so you can see how small they are.
Assuming these ADIRONDACK ink pads aren’t all dried out, I would call this the Find of the Day. Yum, look at all that ink!
Here are the items I purchased from Tuesday Morning that fine day:
Cheapie dot glue runners for stocking stuffers…
3 Vintage Pop Top Ink Pads ($1.49 each) and 1 Adirondack ink pad ($1.99). So 4 ink pads, a mere $6.50 (a $16-20 value). Yes, they really do smell as advertised …
Next was Michaels:
It looked like there were a few new scrapbook idea books …
Then Barnes and Noble with the Starbucks inside, where I got another one of those PEPPERMINT CRUNCH BARS I’ve been craving since the last time I was there a month prior. This is the ONLY Starbucks I’ve been to that has them … what up? Hollah! Oh my, they are melt-in-your-mouth heaven…
And lastly a couple of scrapbooking magazines. I’ve been reading through these for the past couple of weeks, and can honestly say I prefer the British “Scrapbook Inspirations” to CK. I think our American magazines (what, all 2 of them?) could take some tips from the Brits. Oh Frick on a Stick! I just went to Scrapbook Inspirations’ website so I could link to it, and found THIS. Crap, crap, crap. That was their last monthly issue. They will be doing something in new format quarterly starting February 2010. Sigh…..
Scrapbook Space:
My Scrap Sister ANGIE just added an amazing scrapbook space to her bedroom. She has such great style … I think you’ll really enjoy looking at it. Here is a sneak peek:
She’s having a scrapbook RAK and there are ways to get your name in the hat up to 5 times, so go play!
My Scrap Sister ANGIE posted THIS link on the message board today…it’s a detailed look at the recent scrapbook/craft room makeover done by famous scrapper, DONNA DOWNEY.
Donna has been the subject of CONTROVERSY recently, but I’m not even gonna go there…that’s a post for another day. A day filled with lots of chocolate cake washed down with dirty martinis. I just don’t have the strength right now…Go ahead, read that 2peas thread, and then the link within the thread and you’ll see what I mean. I just can’t go there without being quite fortified with chocolate and vodka.
Okay, well!
Let’s just talk about her room makeover, shall we? If you’re not a DD fan ~ or say you’re even an official Hater ~ just pretend I’m talking about, ummmmm, my “friend” Dee Dee’s room, okay? Will that make it possible for you to be objective, to enjoy the room for what it is? Hope so. If not, go have some cake and a ‘tini, come back, and try again. See, doesn’t cake and a ‘tini make everything better? Yeah, Mama knows….
So.
Here is what DD’s scrap room used to look like:
And here is what it looks like now:
Quite a change, yes?
HERE is a whole series of photos of her old room, the makeover process, and the final product. What I would do if I were you (and I know you’re very glad that I’m NOT) is I would page back through all those photos and look at them in order. They will make a lot more sense that way, I promise.
As you can see, DD already had an amazing creative space, one we would all consider ourselves lucky to have. I have written many times of my love of and coveting of the Ikea EXPEDIT, especially those big honkin’ ones she had. I get slap happy just thinking about how organized I could be with all those cubes, wonderful cubes!
So I was already supremely jealous of the girl. I loved the French doors, the green shade on the walls, the large table space in the middle of the room, and all the wonderful organization. Then she goes and becomes a RUNNER, which is so amazing and inspirational to me. I see people like DD make a commitment like this, and it makes me believe I could actually do it, too. THEN she goes and re-does her room into a pretty close replica of my dream scrapbook room.
I am envious of her to say the least. Especially envious of anyone who can spend $4,500 (plus a new computer) on re-doing a perfectly good craft studio right now, at the same time I’m eating Top Ramen for lunch and working three jobs. Jealous, jealous, jealous…I’m not even gonna lie.
Back to her new room…I encourage you to watch the great video she posted to get the scoop straight from Donna….emmmm…I mean “DD.”
Things I love best about the room:
– Cute red Ikea bookshelf…the color, the way it makes great use of the corner, the different style of it
– The eclectic glass knobs on the drawers, keeping all that white furniture from being too industrial
– The color of the walls….that pretty blue is my dream scrapbook room color, so light and fun and inspiring
– All that counter space and closed storage space, under the counters and inside the island
– The accent colors, i.e. the whole color scheme of the room; that’s what I would’ve picked my own self
– All the fun art and deco things that make it her own and a special place she wants to create in every day
I just adore this room and ~ controversies aside ~ wanted to share it with you and see what you think. Are you loving it as much as I am? If not, what would your “dream scrapbook room” look like? Feel free to post links to photos, or just describe it to us :)
I’m just here with my chocolate cake and dirty martinis, and all the time in the world…
And now it’s time for Part Three! Yeah, like, FINALLY! Most of these photos were taken on October 5, which is 10 days ago. This is pretty much what my room still looks like today (10/15/09), other than a few little changes. As always, I apologize for the quality of my photos. My nice digi camera is out of commission because the charger doesn’t work and until the Money Fairy makes a drop at our house, I can’t afford to buy a new one, or a new camera. Thus…I have for you iPhone pictures!
So this is as you look into the room from the dining room doorway. Kids’ homework/crafting table in front, my scrap desk behind that, coffee table and couch back by the window, and the junk corner in the very back left.
Here is my “cube wall,” which are Store in Style cubes with mostly Cropper Hopper vertical storage of paper/embellishments, and jars with ribbons, chipboard letters, etc. In other words, if there is a fire, this is the stuff I’m grabbing. Yep, one by one, cube by cube. Not. Kidding. What’s that? Oh, of COURSE I’d grab my kids and hubby first! Sheesh.
On the left, the white bin has office supplies I need to find a new home for; they came out of a cupboard in the L-shaped desk. The bag and cardboard box are things I brought home from my office when I was allowed to start working from home. That was in April 2009. Nope. Not unpacked yet. This is one example of things that were dumped in my scrap area and I was too busy to do anything with them at the time, so they just cluttered the place up. Don’t judge. It won’t take long to put the stuff away, I would just rather sort and put away scrappy supplies than work manuals, paperclips, baby wipes, and boxes of tea, wouldn’t you? Procrastinators Unite!….Tomorrow.
Here’s the oak cabinet that used to hold a TV, VCR, old school Atari games, and kids’ DVDs/games; now it’s a resting place for my grossly overpacked SCRAPRACK. I have always had a big crush on my Scrap Rack, and it’s insane ability to sort my scrapbook supplies by theme. But I have abused Scrap Rack. I have overfilled Scrap Rack. Now I hardly ever touch Scrap Rack and we miss each other. I flipped through it a bit tonight and it was embarisken. I have some reeeeeeaaaally old things in there that need to be purged in a big way. Like Creative Memories stickers circa 2001, some Mrs. Grossman’s border stickers, and various shape die cuts from Paper Pizzazz.
Note to scrappers who began after 2007: You are lucky. By the time you started scrapping, most of the products being put out there have been pretty designer-ish and awesome. But prior to that, especially late 1990s/early 2000s? There was some pretty rough stuff out there. You would cringe. So if you don’t know what “Mrs. Grossman’s” or “Paper Pizzazz” means, no worries. You didn’t miss a thing. Trust me.
Here is the new and improved bookshelf #4! It used to be toys from top to bottom. Now the toys have been moved into the new playroom, freeing up space for kids’ crafts. There is coloring, drawing, painting, scratch art, activity books, puzzle books, foam stamps, crayons, acrylic paints, markers, and brushes. Wait, what? That all sounds fun! Do I REALLY have to share with my kids? Hee.
It was fun but sad to purge the coloring and activity books, seeing things my kids had drawn and colored when they were much younger (yeah, it had been awhile since this stuff had been gone through). But I gave the old color books to a friend who’s going to use them in her Sunday school classes so that made me happy and they were easier to let go. I have tons of art and schoolwork from my kids, so in the scheme of things, they had to go. In return, clear and organized shelves – yahoo!
Here is the homework/craft table. See the clear mat in the middle? I got 2 of those at a craft store years ago and they were a smart purchase; the other one is on my scrap desk under my BG mats. They’re great for protecting your table from permanent damage, portable for moving to other tables or counters, and easy to clean. The clear mat was about 1.5 inches too long when I laid it horizontally across the table like this, so I cut the excess off. Guess what I used? My Basic Grey Magnetic Mat. How many times have I said I love that thing?!?! I lined the clear mat up on the BG mat grid, put the metal ruler over it, and sliced down the clear mat with a craft knife. It didn’t go all the way through so I flipped it over and cut in the same place and Voila! Then I used my Creative Memories Corner Rounder to make the 2 new corners match with the existing rounded ones. I was pretty darn proud of myself because that’s about as handyman as I get, LOL! Ideally, I would like this same kind of mat but large enough to cover the entire table. Then again, it’s an old banged up table so I’m not gonna stress on it.
Here’s a top view of the newly cleaned up, cleaned out, organized, and labeled craft carousel. As you scrappers know, this is actually a Making MemoriesDESKTOP CAROUSEL, intended for scrapbook supplies. I tried to use it as such when I first got it, but it never worked for me. The main problem is that I need to keep my most-used tools in something portable for taking to crops. Even if I used it for least-used tools, the footprint is so big, that it takes up a lot of desk room once you leave it a wide berth to spin around. It really needs to be in the middle of a table or desk, and while my scrap area doesn’t allow for that, it does work perfectly on the homework/craft table, doesn’t it?
The carousel had been on our dining room table for about the last year or so which has been Homework Central. It had crayon marks, broken erasers, pencil shavings, you name it. It was looking pretty beat up and fugly, and was not organized whatsoever. So I took everything out of it, turned it upside down over the trash to get the gookies out, and Windexed it within an inch of its life. Then I lovingly organized and labeled each section. Oh, and I spent about 30 minutes one night hand sharpening all of those regular and colored pencils. Now that was good fun.
See, lookie! Look at my labels! They totally rock, huh? Pencil sharpeners, little tapes, mini gel pens….
Staplers and big tape, scissors, and all that other fun stuff…
The husband and children have been instructed in the proper care of my baby. My baby has been labeled so there are no excuses. If they eff it up, there will be hell to pay. And I mean it! Don’t mess with me, I’m the mommy! And you know our family motto: (Say it with me now!) “If Mommy ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy….” See? Simple.
Okay, here are the 3 measly shelves I have restricted my books to. I know, it’s riDONKulous but something had to give. Scrap supplies or books? Scrap supplies or books? Hmmmm….SCRAP SUPPLIES! But clearly, my bookies need to be organized, alphabetized, and color coded. By Dewey Decimal System. Yet another project in the wings.
Here in the Corner of Shame #1 are 3 boxes that need to go in the attic (“oh, dear??? honeybuns??? love of my life??? would you please do me an itsy bitsy little favor wavor?? thanks, hun!”). Cuz I don’t do attics. Did you know there are, like, SPIDERS up there?!? And it’s hot. Very hot. In other words, not happening. {Please revert to the family motto listed above…}.
The wire cube and panels sitting on top used to be under my desk; I used them to hide…erm, I mean….STORE a multitude of things. Like Christmas and birthday gifts, a family quilt, my sugar-free cookie stash…you know, that kind of thing. I don’t know if I’ll use them in my scrap room again. If not, they would make great toy storage for the new play room. If you want some of these cubes, you can get them at Target or Costco. Not the most sturdy storage, but they do work and the price warms the cockles of my ever-lovin’, bargain-huntin’ heart.
Here is the front side of my big L-shaped desk. I had 3 of these 12×12 Sterlite containers before; they were on my bookshelves. When I moved the couch away from the front of my desk, I realized *gasp* people would be able to see all the crap I keep under there and also my fat heifer thighs. I decided, “No, this just will not do.” When I realized how perfectly these Sterlite drawers fit, I bought 3 more sets and killed 2 birds with 1 stone: lots more storage room and Fat Heifer Thigh View Blockage. A good purchase, don’t you think? {And I got them on sale for $9 instead of $12 each, hehe}.
That big blue navy thing is my Crop In Style XXL aka Old Faithful. That thing has been jammed full of supplies, crammed into my Honda trunk, and rolled over bumpy hotel entranceways to more crops than I can count. She will be retired this Christmas when I get a new set of crop bags from DH and mi madre.
This clear container is under the homework/craft table. It’s all organized and has scrappy hand-me-downs for the kids to scrapbook with. We make handmade cards a lot, too. My entire extended family and friends could totally be lying to me, but they all say they love our personally designed cards with custom artwork and handwritten messages. And if they ARE lying? Screw ’em.
Here’s the couch, so exciting. Ugly, old throw pillow. Oh, remind me to talk about pillows later. And now you can see the reason my scrap room looks a might bit better than it did last time you were here (see PART TWO, link at top of post). It’s because I stuck a bunch of ugly junk behind the couch. I’m calling it the “I’ll Deal With You Later” pile. It’s mostly old family memorabilia and photos that need to be sorted. It’s such a huge project, I can’t even fathom it right now. So I’m (partially) hiding it. It’s out of the way so I can continue making progress with my room….but it’s like the great white shark under the water while you blissfully swim in the ocean. You might be having fun up top, but you now it’s down there stalking you. Damn shark.
It’s actually been really nice having that coffee table there. Just in the last month or so since I put it there, it’s been used for: Jetmax cube assembly, homework, hubby doing paperwork, a foot stool for kids reading on the couch, a game of table hockey, and a nice big area for me to sort and organize scrap supplies. Unfortunately, it’s also been used to lie on, stand on, and hide under. Hey, nothing’s perfect.
Here is Corner of Shame #2 aka Big Daddy Shame. I think I’ve told you already what most of it is. The two blue bins are monthly kits I used to get from MEMORY WORKS EXPRESS. I’ve always kept them together as a kit but I think I’m going to separate them out. I’m not sure…what do you do with kits? Keep them together or mix the items in with the rest of your stash?
There’s also a wide format Epson printer that I spent boo coo bucks on a few years ago, and never used. I’m a horrible person. I won’t bore you with all the details. I have my reasons. But, yeah, now I need to get rid of it. Sell it? E-waste it? Goodwilll? I dunno. Of course, I would prefer to sell it, even for just $100 or something (I paid over $300 and used it maybe 20 times). But to prove to a buyer that it works, I’d need to spend about $100 on printer cartridges and I just don’t know if it’s worth it. Would it even sell? Bah.
Above the Corner of Shame #2 is my MM Embellishment Shelf. It’s pretty well organized but I now have THIS to install somewhere once it’s painted and cleaned up, so I’m still figuring out what goes where and whether to move this shelf.
This photo is probably hard to figure out, because I was focusing on the scene outside the window. It’s the view into my backyard, the view I see when I sit at my scrap desk. Our backyard has a pretty pool and a gorgeous view, but this dog pen thingee is ruining everything! Must go. Will go soon. We borrowed it from our neighbors when we got LANDRY, who didn’t care to stay in the big dog pen on the side of the house. This kennel is a pain in the arse to return to our neighbors, as all four adults need to take a corner and walk it through a gate and across an acre of their property. But I need to make that happen, don’t I? And those atrociously dirty windows! Disgraceful. When is that window cleaner girl going to do her friggin’ job?!! Oh, wait. That would be ME, wouldn’t it? There is only a little overhang over all three of my scrapbook room windows/slider (no patio cover) and also no grass out there, just dirt, concrete, and gravel. So especially when it rains like it just did, the windows get very dirty, the screens very dusty, and it’s hard to keep up on them. But I must. What a waste of a wonderful view.
Here is the Epicenter of Erika’s Craftivity. Chair, Basic Grey mats, Cutterpede trimmer, flat pack with most-used tools, Ott lite, little tote with scissors and pens, and the main requirement for scrapping, Diet Coke. There’s a single Cropper Hopper vertical file that I was thinking of keeping on my desk as a place to keep projects in progress and/or new purchases until I put them away. Now I have another idea for where to put recent purchases, but I like the projects in progress holder idea. I tend to be a “stacker,” with various piles on my desk. 12×12 piles take up a lot of desk space; at least getting them vertical would save some room.
Also, I put my little bookshelf stereo here. I didn’t think I would, but I really miss having the television in here, just for the white noise if nothing else. So I was compelled to hook up my stereo and play some K-Life and the college radio station also has awesome music. I don’t do well with total silence. It makes me spun up. Eeeeeee!!!!
Here’s the left side of my desk. Blue flat packs full of acrylic stamps and inks, shopping bag with some RAK stuff in it, Ziploc with a scrappy project, white holder for Prima flower jars and skittles, black tote for punches and Xyron “X”, and Amy Butler tote for cards and RAKs to and from scrappy friends. I’ve been slowly cleaning that out, putting stamps and other gifts away. I need a good storage system for or project to make with all those handmade cards that I cherish…maybe bind them into a mini book or something.
Here is the view if I’m standing in front of the couch. Standing ON the coffee table??? Who, ME??? Nah, I would never do that. As you can see, I haven’t sorted through those idea books and magazines yet. In fact, I think the pile has grown larger as I come across more of them. Yes, it’s a sickness. And I don’t care.
Just don’t look under the desk. Move along. There’s nothing to see here….
So that’s a tour of my scrapbook room and how the makeover has been coming along. I’m so happy you’re on this journey with me. Yes, it’s embarrassing to share my major clutter issues and extreme scrapbook supply hoarding. But, oh well, you still seem to like me.
I’m learning so much as I go along; basic scrappy storage things and even things about myself that are deeper and more telling than one would expect from a mere room makeover. Like I’ve learned that I’m happy with how much I cherish my memories and all the “things” that go with it. Yet I don’t have to keep it all. And just because I spent money on something doesn’t mean I have to be guilted into keeping it forever. Selling it or giving it away can bring happiness to someone else, like Sunday school kids, so that’s a good thing.
Please keep checking in with me and cheer on my progress so I follow through and don’t give up. And don’t forget about my 500,000 hits blog candy because we’re coming up on the end….at 499,413 as I post this entry. Good luck!
I usually love my iPhone dearly. It has changed my life for the better. It’s pretty. It fits perfectly in the palm of my hand. It has all the tools I need to get through the day.
But right now, I wanna’ kick it to the curb. (Hollah!)
My iPhone won’t sync to my computer. Hasn’t for 3 days now. Why is that a problem and why should you care?? Because, my scrappy friends, Mr. iPhone holds photos of:
– The progress I made last weekend on my scrapbook makeover PROJECT.
– New scrappy stuff at Target.
– New scrappy stuff at Michaels.
THAT. Is why you should care. You feeling me now? Good. We can suffer together.
I have tried all the fixes. The last time this happened, it was right after a software upgrade. I did all the fixes and nothing worked. After a day or two, it worked again. Apparently, iPhones are like women…don’t tell them when to do something. They’ll decide their DAMN selves, thankyouverymuch!
But it’s been threeeeeee daaaaayyyyssss…..How much longer must I wait? How much more can I take??? (Sing it with me! “No, you can’t hurry love…).
Yes, I DO love my iPhone. But right now? Not so much….
ETA 10-08-09: Okay, I tried again late lastnight and it worked! I have all my photos downloaded now. I have a zillion other things to do but will get those entries up as soon as I can :)
Until I can get back to working on my own scrapbook room makeover and posting about it, I thought I’d share this with you: A wonderful scrap room redone by LAURA VEGAS. I’m so envious of her Expedit shelves, trestle table, and that scrapping island! Wow, lucky girl. If money were no object, I would use all the same components she did (except white instead of black), and arrange my goodies in the same way. A scrapper after my own {heart}. Here’s a tease…Enjoy!
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.
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.
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.
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….
…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…
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.
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-drawerJET 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.
I’ve done a little more work on the Wall of Cubes and this is how they look as of now…
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?
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…
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…
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?
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?
Great article on RUBBER vs. ACRYLIC. Oh, get your mind out of the gutter! I’m talking about stamps. Sheesh. You people.
Cool SONG by The Frames, another lovely discovery made while watching So You Think You Can Dance, my favorite show at the moment. HERE is a video of Karla and Jonathan’s performance. OMG. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Touching. The premise is two strangers who meet, have instant attraction, but cannot be together. Check it. You WILL be touched…
ETA 6/20/09: Thanks to Meaghan who left a comment letting me know there’s another version of this song and HERE it is. I’m now officially a HUGE fan of Glen Hansard and The Frames, his Irish band. I’m spending way too much time watching various of their videos on YouTube. Anyway, I gather that Glen, the lead singer of The Frames, wrote “Falling Slowly” with Marketa Irglova and it’s also part of the movie they starred in called “Once.” Hope I have that straight….Enjoy :)
I have a sweet internet friend who always points out cool online things to me, and I usually snag her ideas and blog about them. We were messaging back and forth the other night about THIS post on typos (or typo’s, as you prefer) in scrapbooking magazines. She asked if I had seen a layout over at Pink Paislee with a typo or mistake in the title, and I hadn’t so I went looking for it.
And lookee lookee what I found on the PINK PAISLEE BLOG while I was lost….a stupendous Wall of Alphas!!!
HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.
Once you get past the total Eye Candy aspect.
And then you quit hating the lucky bee-yotch that owns this yummy wall of scrap goodness.
Then – and only then – do you step back and say to yourself, “Wowee, that is one cool way to store alphas.”
Just thought I’d share.
I personally couldn’t get away with an Alphabet Wall. I’m more from the school of thought that says, “Hide and compact the stash as much as possible so husband has no clear idea how much money I have spent on said stash.” But that’s just me, LOL.
THIS awesome room belongs to famous stamper/scrapbooker Jennifer McGuire (designer for Hero Arts, featured monthly in Creating Keepsakes magazine, etc). She is so talented. I was lucky enough to take a Hero Arts class from her at CKU many moons ago and still use a lot of the techniques she taught. But anyways, enjoy her awesome room. She is so very organized and I love the red/white/beige colors, which are warm enough to make you feel creative but it’s all clean enough to not be distracting. I think she’s very generous to take all those photos and video of her room to share, and taking the time to detail everything she has in there. What a resource ~ thanks Jennifer!
Yes, I’m at it uh-GEN! I’m doing a major reorganization of my scrap area. And I’m serious this time. I even moved furniture and stuff. On the one hand, it’s driving me crazy because I vowed I would not engage in any way, shape, or form of scrapbooking (or papercrafting or card making or whatever you try to call it other than scrapbooking…) until my room was 100% organized. Well, make that 90% organized because I think I’ll be dead and buried before my photos are in labeled, chronological boxes. So I haven’t been able to scrap a dang thing in, like, weeks. On the other hand, it feels really good to make the progress I’ve been making and envisioning how nice it will be when it’s all done.
Thought I would post some sneak peek photos so you don’t think I’m fulll of sCRAP…{Sorry, the photos are dark…it’s 10:30 p.m. here…hope you can see them okay}
MY CRICUT IS FINALLY OUT ON MY DESK WHERE I’LL USE IT MORE, AND THE SPINNING STORAGE THINGEE FROM TARGET IS PERFECT TO HOLD MY CARTRIDGES AND STUFF…
FINALLY HAVE THOSE GINGERBREAD JARS ALL FILLED UP WITH GOODIES…HERE’S MY JOURNALING CARDS (CAN YOU TELL I HAVE A FETISH?)…
JUST A PEEK AT MY CRANKIN’ STEREO, STORE IN STYLE 1/2 DRAWER, AND PRIZED POSSESSION…MY BAZZILL COLLECTION….
PRETTY IDEA BOOKS ALL IN A ROW…
UGH…ANOTHER PILE TO FILE….
FLAT RATE BOXES FULL OF PAST ISSUES OF CK, MM, SS, AND SB ETC. ABOUT TO BE SENT TO AMR FRIENDS….
OH YEAH, THAT’S WHAT MY WORK SPACE LOOKS LIKE! I HAD FORGOTTEN…
MY POOR CLIP IT UP, ALL DISMANTLED BECAUSE I’M SELLING IT (details are HERE)…
THIS IS ONE OF THOSE CUTE STACKABLE ORGANIZERS FROM COSTCO. WHEN I WAS SELLING SCRAPBOOK SUPPLIES AT MY CROPS, ALL 3 LEVELS WERE PACKED WITH EMBELLIES, RIBBONS, TOOLS, ETC. OH DARN, WHATEVER I DIDN’T SELL AT MY LAST CROP, I HAD TO KEEP. YIPPEE, IT’S ALL EMPTIED OUT AND NOW A PART OF MY EVER LOVIN’ PERSONAL STASH…
So I’m making progress, slowly but surely. Oh, I should’ve posted a pic of the boxful of trash I’ve purged! (Lots :) See, I really am organizing…am I doing good so far?
** YAHOO!! I sold it on Craigslist this past Friday!! Thanks everyone :) **
Here are pix of my Clip It Up by Simply Rene, along with instructions and accessories (scrapbook supplies not included, of course):
The black tabs and white sticker labels are so you can divide your categories up. I never had time to put them together, but it would be cool to sort by category (rub ons, letters, stamps, etc) or subject (outdoor, Christmas, kids, etc).
I paid retail for it at a local craft store:
Base Unit $60
Cover $24
TOTAL $84
Will sell both items for $70 including shipping (US only; will ship elsewhere if you pay the difference).
Here’s the story: I used to sell scrapbook products at crops, but I’m no longer doing that. The Clip It Up was used to display items at 2 crops; the rest of the time, it sat untouched and covered on my scrap table. I love it, actually, but I have such good storage systems already going for my scrap stuff that I really don’t need it any longer. But I highly recommend the CIU as a way to store any kind of embellie. I’ve heard of people using it to store anything from stickers to rub-ons to their entire acrylic stamp collection. It’s wonderful for putting your things out where you really see and will use them, instead of hiding away in some kind of storage container.
The black cover is great and keeps the dust off your stuff. I have just the Base Unit, so I tuck the excess cover length under the base and it REALLY keeps the dust and light out. But if you want to add the Upper Tier later, the cover will ‘cover’ the entire thing.
First right of refusal goes to a friend at AMR who was looking for a good price on a Clip It Up, which is what finally prompted me to list mine for sale. If she doesn’t want it, it’s up for grabs! You can leave a comment here or e-mail me (addie is in my About Me page).
