Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Happy Blog-iversary!



One year ago today I created my blog and wrote my first blog entry. I can't believe it has been a year! So much has changed.

While I thought 2010 was a crazy year, 2011 was a bit of a doozy. It was a hard year but I was also so incredibly blessed. I was hired back as a teacher in my old school district (part-time but I'll take it!) and my husband and I took our long over-due honeymoon which turned into our anniversary trip to Costa Rica. We've had some bumps along the road but I know that we are stronger because of it.

Above all, 2011 brought some major accomplishments in my scrappy world! I continued teaching scrapbook classes at my local scrapbook store and was accepted onto my first design team. I've also met some wonderful scrappy friends, for which I am extremely grateful.

Thanks for following me on my journey. Here's to a scrappyrifficabulous 2012!

XOXO,

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Organization - What's That? Organizing my Small Scrapbook Space

Time for another Pages From the Heart Challenge! This month the topic is organization.

I will be completely honest here. When I saw that the upcoming challenge had to do with organization, I kind of panicked. My husband even laughed a little (he quickly covered it up) when I told him I had to give examples of how to organize the chaos that is my craft area. After a few weeks of, "What on Earth am I going to do?" I finally pulled it together. The most difficult part for me about organization is that I have a very small space to work with and SOOOOO much stuff to cram into it! Before I became too overwhelmed, I decided to tackle some of my biggest problem areas for this challenge: ribbon, punches, and small embellishments.

My work space and pretty table with pink legs!
The small embellishments and ribbons came together over a few evenings. A friend of mine was getting rid of some small fixtures and I asked if I could take a couple. I had purchased a package of small plastic bottles and the shelves were the perfect size for them. My best friend happened to be over as I was working on this and since she loves to organize, she got involved too. She brought me some baby food jars and I spray painted all of the lids silver. Then we got to sorting ALL of my small embellishments. I had no idea how much space all of that packaging was taking up! Then a different friend gave me some quart sized mason jars which were perfect for the ribbon!



Embellishment Jars


Next were the punches. I had an old, over the door shoe rack that I wasn't using so I hung it over the back of a door close to my desk and put all of my punches in the slots. I had also been saving spaghetti sauce jars (poor husband didn't realize why we had been eating so much spaghetti lately) which were perfect, after I spray painted the lids, for holding flowers.  I had originally wanted the jars for ribbon but the opening was too small.




Although it took a lot of work, I am so happy that my craft area is beginning to look somewhat organized. I'm hoping that if my stash is easily accessible and in sight that I will actually begin to use some of it. So thank you for making me get to work!

If you'd like to take part in this challenge or just check out more ideas from the other design team members, go to the Pages blog today. If you decide to enter the challenge, you have the chance to win a great prize pack.

Pages is also having a design team crop on Saturday!

And, if you want to meet the Design Team, please join us at the first ever Design Team Crop taking place January 21 from 1-9!  We'll have snacks, dinner and a great make-n-take for everyone that participates!  We can't wait to meet everyone!  Please call the store to make your reservation!
Hope to see you there and hope your 2012 is an organized one!

XOXO,

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Pages From the Heart: Easel Card

My second project of the month for Pages From the Heart was to make any card of my choice. I decided to make an easel card using the We R Memory Keepers Vintage-T collection that was in my kit.

Closed Easel Card

Open Easel Card

I found really simple directions for this card by Dawn's Stamping Thoughts. You can read more about this card and the supply list on the Pages From the Heart blog.

XOXO,

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood

A few weeks ago some girlfriends and I got together to celebrate a new little addition. We knew her mother would appreciate diapers (what new mother wouldn't!) but just giving her the package didn't seem very exciting. My two best friends and I were thinking of what we could do. My friend loves Winnie the Pooh and I have the Winnie the Pooh Cricut cartridge and one thing led to another...

And volia!



I think she and baby liked their Hundred Acre Wood themed diaper cake!

XOXO,

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Pages From the Heart: Calendar Layout

Happy New Year! I started my new year by spending time with friends, organizing/purging my craft area, and eating, eating, eating!

My first reveal for the month and year at Pages From the Heart is a layout depicting our first year as a married couple. The assignment was to create a layout with some kind of calendar element. How we used a calendar was entirely up to us. My kit this month was the Vintage T collection by We R Memory Keepers. I decided to go with a timeline starting when we got married (November 2010) to a year later. It was fun picking pictures and reminiscing. You can read all about it over on the Pages blog.


I hope 2012 is a great year for everyone! Thanks for reading!

XOXO,