Including the Art

As a mom I am really bad about keeping all of the little "treasures" that my daughters make me. I do have a box that the girls know to put all of their school stuff in that fills their backpacks and twice a school year I go through it and pick out a selection of artwork and schoolwork that is a good representation of what and how they are doing in school. I then put that stuff into a file folder labeled with the grade in my filing cabinet. At the end of the year I go back through the folder and see if I can take anything out. I would love to start incorporating more of that stuff into the girls' albums but baby steps!

I have recently kept a small box in my scraproom that is for all of the little notes and cards and drawings that the girls make me, and I finally had a chance to sit down and scrap some of the ones from Madison.
I used the SEI Corrine line and I really love the cheeriness of it. I used a slightly older random picture of Madison that I had in my box that just didn't have a place so it was perfect for this. And I think that the crocheted hat adds to the artist flair!
Madison will write me an "I'm sorry" note when she gets in trouble. I love this sweet side of her that is crushed when she knows that she has disappointed us. I have saved this one in particular and that little square drawing is so cute. At her old school, her teacher asked the class to draw a picture representing their favorite day of the week. Madison drew a picture of herself playing football because Sundays are football days (at least for the good part of the year!) We are big Cowboys fans here so football days are very important!
I used this super cute trim at the bottom of the page to give it some color and texture. The top of the journaling I made with an EK Success border punch that looks like notebook paper ripped out.
Here is the inside of the anniversary card that she made us last year. It is so cute and detailed!
This is the cool part about the We R Memory Keepers 3 ring albums. I was able to take a regular 8 1/2 x 11 page protector and place some of Madison's larger artwork right into her album next to the page that I did. I don't need a second album and I didn't have to find a way to incorporate these larger pieces into a 12x12 page! Here is the other side...
This is the flag that Madison created for the kids' "camp-out" in the living room. The scrapbook page is right there behind it.
For right now this is Madison's album, you can find this one here although I have this one coming to me tomorrow in Strawberry to be her next album. I either order from Amazon and use my swagbucks or I order from Ritz Camera.com these are the two best places to get these albums at great prices.

I am hoping to create several more layouts to fit into this album and maybe even be able to fit up to this next birthday but I'm not quite sure yet so I already have the back up album for her in the brighter color. They didn't have that Strawberry a couple of years ago when I bought this pink.
Each album comes with 10 regular 12x12 page protectors in it and one of these divided 4x6 ones. I am planning to put any extra photos of her that didn't get scrapped into these pockets so that they are all together. At the bottom right there you can see that they also have a variety of configurations of divided protectors. I bought the assortment pack but haven't really played with them yet, I will be this summer though!

Thanks for looking at my daughter's album and hopefully it has inspired you to keep and use some of your kids' artwork in your albums!

My Room is Done!

I have posted pictures of my room before but never any wide shots or pictures of the center of my counter because up until Friday I had a Princess flat sheet push pinned over the window! Well here it is and I am so in love with it!...
I kept going back and forth on what I wanted for the window. At first it was a roman shade, and then something else, and I finally decided on these honeycomb type cordless blinds and a pretty valance over the top. I went and bought this fabric for $5.99 a yard and bought two yards and my grandmother (the sewing magician) made two valances out of it. The matching one is in my kitchen and I'm loving it there too. She used some unbleached muslin to make the pocket for the curtain rod so that the patterned fabric could all be used for the curtain itself. It looks so good against the blue wall and with the green lamp that almost matches it.
On the right here is all of my papers from this post here and above it are the three clipboards for favorite new pages, I like to see them for a while before I put them away!
The post about my island is here although I just recently moved a few things around and have now put my cricut and silhouette stuff in there along with the Xyron and label maker.
I had my wonderful husband put up my inspiration board to the left of where I usually sit. It is just a white 12x12 frame that I took the glass out of and replaced with a corkboard sheet. On it are just little things that are memorable to me and make me happy. And my Slice storage post is here
This is where I usually sit because I love this tractor chair. I want to get another one for the second work station, maybe in Pink! This tool caddy was an outdoor silverware piece that I got on clearance at Target. I love it!
The mirror was given to me by my friend Kristina, she painted it this pretty color and then didn't have room for it so she gave it to me! I love it here in my room. The shelf has my Cloud 9 mini album and a Partylite tealight holder on it.
The post about my Expedit shelves is here I love this unit so much and highly recommend it to everyone! And back there on the wall is the square clock that I made from a picture I took at Disney World. It says "Remember the Magic in Every Moment" it's a great reminder of why I do what I do.
My wonderful husband also installed these adjustable shelves for me this weekend and it feels great to have more things up on the wall instead of cluttering up my counter. On the bottom are stamps, wooden ones on this tiered shelf unit and my favorite acrylic stamps are in this little crate that I painted purple, plus my ihome which I have to have nearby. On the middle shelf are these jars that my grandmother just gave me and were perfect for all of my ribbon. I love to make organization pretty, it adds more color to the room. The top is just some stuff that makes me happy!
The post about this area is here plus a few extra things around my room. I definitely have more plans for prettying up my room and will share as I create them. I want to continue to make it a statement of who I am.

Extras of My Room

To end my organization week here on my blog I will show you a few other things around my room. My hubby just put in the rest of my counter today so next I will get my curtain done and then I will be able to show full pictures of my dream space!
This is where I store all of my chipboard letters. It is from I think Home Depot and is for screws and stuff. My mom bought two of these for her room but took the drawers out and then painted the rack a purple to match her room, really cute!
My Clip it up, which is one of my favorite things in my room. There is so much product that I store on this thing and most of the top rack is American Crafts products.
On the wall just above my Clip it Up is my Making Memories Embellishment Shelf. I took the ribbon racks out of it because I didn't like having my ribbon there. When a spool in the middle is gone I have to take off every spool just to get to it! Not fun. So now I store my ribbon in other ways and this is where my American Crafts Zing Embossing Powder is and my Stickles, plus Martha Stewart glitters. The jars are from Partylite jar candles that I used up and then cleaned out the jars. (I used to sell Partylite so I had a lot of these!) They now hold my flowers by color and fit perfectly in those spaces.
This is where I display my recent pages so that I can enjoy them a little before I put them into my books. I had the color matched to those polka dot bins and painted this rectangle on the wall. I think that I might put a white trim border around it. The clipboards are from Close to my Heart, I got them for I think $5 a piece.
Here is my chalk drawer. As you can tell... I LOVE SEI's chalk inks! They are soft and easy to use and I seem to always have the perfect shade to ink the edges of anything. I also have some Pebbles chalks and My Mind's Eye chalk inks.
This is the area to the left of where I sit. On the far left from the top down on those shelves is my Creative Memories Cutting Mat, small Fiskars trimmer and Creative Memories decorative trimmer, Martha Stewart Scoring board, and then a couple of little CM things that I still have and use once in a while, like my Titletopia. On that lower shelf is my regular office supplies (stapler, paper clips, etc. ) and in the drawer is my Making Memories Distress Kit.
The drawers on the right from the top are: Adhesives, Pens & markers, CM Custom Cutting System, punches and corner punches, border punches and border scissors, and CM punches.
That's it for now about my room until I finish the rest or come up with something clever. Next week I will be back to sharing creative stuff!

My Island

This kitchen island first belonged to my parents and then it lived in our kitchen for about 5 years. When we moved and bought a different island for our kitchen I had big plans for this baby. My husband and his friends who refused to move this thing up the stairs warned me that it wouldn't fit and that I would hate it being in there. So what did I do? I asked my dad to help! So when he came over and helped my hubby get it up the stairs (which wasn't easy but doable) they put it in my room and I knew that it had found it's perfect home! It has a counter that folds down so that a couple of friends can come over and scrap there. Plus 3 big drawers, shelves, a cabinet, a pull out trash can holder, towel bars, hooks and a secret compartment. I am in heaven having this here! Here is a look at the three drawers...
The drawer on the left just has some odds and ends like my extra glue gun and a washcloth for paint. The middle drawer has my glimmer mists (which I definitely need more of!) and the drawer on the right has all of my favorite trims, not ribbon, trims. Especially my favorite new thing... this rose ribbon from American Crafts, and Webster's Pages.

On one end are these hooks and I decided to hang a few of my mini albums there. It's nice to have a place for them.
Here is inside the island. Thereis my trash can, the shelves in the middle with just some random stuff for the moment, and on the right is my new label maker and my Xyron and supplies for it.
On top of the island is where my Making Memories Carousel sits with extra tools and pens and normally my trimmer sits on top too.
This is that secret cabinet! There is no handle, it is magnetic and you have to push it in for it to open. This little cabinet I have dreamed of using for my paints for years! I know, I'm wierd! But I love how they are all lined up and ready to get used.
Yes, this island does take up quite a bit of room but it's functional for creating and for storage so I love it!

My Expedit Bookcase

Here is a look at my Expedit Shelves from Ikea. I absolutely love these things and if I could have fit the bigger one, I would have! This one was only about $129. And you can barely see it here but I painted behind the shelves the same green that is in those polka dot cube bins. I had it matched at Home Depot along with the berry color that you will see later on the opposite wall.
Here is where I keep ALL of my American Crafts Thickers... yes, I am a little obsessed! I think by now I have over 50 sets. I made that orange thing in the front so that the front set of Thickers would no longe bend over the front, it was driving me crazy! So I took a piece of chipboard and cut it to the right size, painted it orange and then added some fun embellishments including Thickers!
Here is where I keep my other letter stickers. These bins I got at Target in the dollar section. I love that section!
In these two spaces I keep my Sizzix Big Shot (which my son Gabriel is always sneaking in just to turn the handle), and next to it is a bin that holds all of my cutting pads and dies for the sizzix.
I picked up these jars at Ikea for super cheap and I love them! I store everything from special stamps to some of my American Crafts chipboard and Bits tags to the two sizes of shipping tags that I picked up at OfficeMax. And in the back is a jar just for the scalloped circle dictionary papers that I cut out to make dictionary flowers.
All of these polka dot bins are from Target and I fell in love with the colors. This is a half bin that I store all of my stamps in. I love being able to see them and easily access them too.

I also have the deeper bins for things like gift albums that I keep on hand to put together and my daughters' scrapbook supplies. That way when they want to scrapbook, they just have to grab the bin and everything they need is there. All of my magazines are stored in two of the squares along with other idea books. And that is pretty much everything!

Organizing Paper

Paper is of course the staple for scrapbookers and it is often the thing that we hoard yet get so much of that we can't find a sheet to save our life. There are many different ways to organize paper based on how you use it and how much of it you have. This is how I have found storing paper works for me. In my previous room it was all together but I needed the extra cubes to support my extra countertop so they had to be moved. Here is where the majority of my paper is...
These cubes are the big ones that I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. They are sturdy and a really good quality. I am considering getting the dividers so that I can store my cardstock over here again, but I'm debating. Organization is something that needs to evolve with you and your space and because I have only been in this room for a few months I am still figuring it out. The top cube is for my cricut and silhouette supplies including my vinyl. That cube isn't very pretty and now that I look at it, I should move all of that! The one under my printer is all of my printer papers, this works very nicely to have them so close. And that bottom one is my in-process albums. All We R Memory Keepers 3-ring binder faux leather albums that I now get on Amazon.
Here is a close up of that middle cube. I use these Cropper Hopper 12x12 vertical paper holders and I need to get one more. This is where all of my everyday patterned papers go and they are organized by manufacturer because that is how I see papers, by who made them. American Crafts and Echo Park are also divided by collection because I have so much of their products.
Right below my everyday paper is the pull out file drawer that holds all of my scraps. I love my scraps all being here separated in hanging files by color. In the back is one for all patterned paper and then one just for American Crafts papers because I go to those a lot especially for cards.
In the middle of my countertop right in between my two work stations is the two cubes that hold all of my cardstock. I do like having it right next to me and yet I kind of miss it being with the other papers. I told you, I'm still debating.
Lastly, in my closet on the bottom left there is this sterilite unit from Target. I really need to get another one but haven't gotten around to that yet. These boxes actually come out and have lids so they are not just drawers. This is where all of my theme based products are. The top two have several subjects in them and that is why I need another set of these. Everything from New Years, Valentines, St. Patricks, Birthday, Baby, School, Fall, Halloween, and Christmas are all in here. That way when I need to scrap that subject I just pull out the box and take it over to my work station. I love it!
Well, there is a peek into how I organize all of my paper in my room. If I think of something better, I will be sure to share!

Storing My MM Slice

It seems like somewhere on people's calendars it is written that this is Organizing Week. It is no where to be found on my calendar but it is everywhere I look right now. So I decided to go with the flow and make it Organizing Week here on my blog too! It only seems to fit, right? I often get asked how I organize all of my scrap supplies and some have said that I should charge admission for tours of my room! haha... maybe I will when it is finished but for right now you are not going to be seeing full pictures of my room until I get a couple more things done because the Disney Princess sheet that is currently tacked over my window is embarrassing! I have a plan for a curtain I just have to buy the stuff and jump in, and get the last 3 feet of my countertop installed then I will be showing off my room to anyone that walks in the door.

Today I will share with you where I store my Making Memories Slice Elite. One, because I LOVE this thing and use it all the time. And two, because I just got the unit that I am storing it in and I am so excited about it.
I found this piece at an awesome little antique store in Hesperia that my friend and I found and have fallen in love with. I would tell you where it is but then you would probably go there and take all of the good stuff! I saw this piece and immediately fell in love with it and knew that it was destined to house my sweet little slice machine and then I saw the price tag... $19.95! That was it, it was a done deal.
Here it is open and I can't tell you how perfectly everything fits. The tools case was a little snug but those dividers slide out really easily. My spray adhesive even sits right next to the machine and you saw in the earlier picture that I keep my slice inspirations recipe box and the cute little squeezie slice I bought on ebay sitting there on top along with my box of current pictures. What I love most about this desk organizer is that the door slides down and I can keep the dust and stuff off of it.
Here is the drawer opened. This is a very nice, big drawer that holds my embossing tips, drawing tips, wrench, blades extra glue and brush and the button that I received last year. Needless to say I LOVE IT!
So there is one little piece of my room and the newest addition. Tomorrow I will show you some more fun stuff and how I organize it!

Organizing Photos

Wow, two days in a row! I'm really on a roll now! hehe! I recently had six months worth of pictures printed at Costco, which by the way is the best way to have pictures printed. Not only do they look great but they are only $0.13 a print for 4x6 and their larger prints are very reasonable too. I often have 8x8 and 12x12 photos printed for special projects. And they are usually done in about an hour plus Costco is only about 9 minutes from my house now so it's pretty convenient! But my last order took a day and a half because I had 197 prints done! Now keep in mind that this is July-November... I haven't even touched December yet! So I thought that I would share with you how I organize all my photos that are waiting to be scrapped since I often get asked about this and how I get so much done! So here it is, this is my latest Costco photo order just taken out of the envelope that could barely stay closed...

Stacked all pretty and waiting to be sorted. Now I should tell you that in order to save even more money and to give me some variety for scrapbooking I photoshop all of my pictures that are good enough to print. First I open all of the photos for a given event or topic, then I decide which ones are good enough to be printed at full 4x6. I correct any color that needs tweaked and crop to exact 4x6 so that what I see on my computer is exactly what I get when printed. The rest of the photos get sized and grouped onto a 4x6 canvas so that I either have two 3x4 pictures like this...
or four 2x3 pictures like this... Not only does this save some money in the printing department but then I can fit more pictures onto a layout without having to crop anything important out. With my Maui scrapbook I preplanned all of my layouts with sketches and then cropped the photos to fit the sketches (maybe I will share more on that project someday) but usually I just crop based on the number of photos that I have and the quality of them and then I design my page based on the quantity and size of photos for that subject.
Next I lay out my photos by subject. I should also tell you that when you have pictures printed at Costco from the website at least, if you adjust color at all in photoshop then turn off the auto color correction because it will mess up what you worked so hard to acheive! So here are my piles all spread out...
Then I use one of my favorite things in my organizational arsenal... my Creative Memories Power Sort box and dividers. When I sold the stuff years ago I stocked up on these amazing little boxes and the dividers that go with them. I have one that is dedicated to my in process photos, two big ones for all of the photos left over and the bigger projects that I will get to someday (this is also where I pull photos for my daughters to scrapbook), and I have two more of the small ones for old negatives and photo CD's. You can write on the dividers with a regular pencil and then when you are done with the photos just erase it and reuse it! I always keep the blank ones in the back ready for their next assignment...

So here are my dividers all lined up ready to be paired with their coordinating photos...
Lastly, I place the divider and photos into my Power Sort box. The front section is mostly events like holidays, the middle section is by person which always has dividers for each of us there with general photos of that person so that when I want to scrapbook about a story, say maybe a funny thing the boys did, then I have photos of them to go with it that don't have anything to do with a special event. The back section is for other events or places that we go like Disneyland.
So there we have it, this is how I organize my photos. When I get some time to scrapbook I just go to this box and decide which subject sounds like fun to work with that day. Some days I feel like tackling the bigger projects like Halloween and some days I just want to do something small with only one or two pictures and more journaling. After I have pretty much cleared it out then I go through and really clean it out and put leftover photos into the bigger boxes but since I started using photoshop and combining pictures I have found that I have fewer leftover pictures which means less to store too!