Confession time!

I LOVE both sides of the Prima paper from the January kit. So, for the first time ever, I scrapped on the back of a layout! Yep, that's right. First I scrapped "Cool" and then later, as I was pondering which base to use for "Dig It", I found the other side had the exact "rough/sandy" look I wanted. Since they were both recent layouts of my son, I knew I could put them in the album this way and there would be no problem. So, I guess I went a little green and saved one sheet of pp or cardstock! Maybe I'll find more ways to do this in 2009!

Tip of the Day.....

Getting and staying organized! That is the challenge isn't it?! I have to laugh a little I was thinking up these wonderful ideas and then I picked up my Creating Keepsakes January 2009 addition and it had some more organizational ideas (pg 58-59). I guess great minds do think a like! :) Or maybe it's just the new year! I don't claim to be an expert in organization, truth be told I struggle with keeping everything in it's spot, but here are some ideas that I hope will help you:

**If your area/room is out of control RIGHT NOW start small, you don't want to overwhelm yourself in the beginning because you might not want to finish! Pick an area that you have time and want to work on first and DO IT!

**I think the key is to have a place for everything. A couple of years ago I bought 3 Embellishment Organizer cases by Cropper Hopper. They are great for brads, eyelets or any other small embellishments. (I bought mine at Michaels with coupons!) I store my cardstock and pattern paper in Paper Holders also by Cropper Hopper. (these come in 6 x6, 8x8, 8 1/2 x 11 , and 12x12.) I use the 12x12 for both my 8 1/2 x11 paper and 12x12 paper. I store my buttons in old glass canning jars and a shelf (both came from garage sales). My jewels are stored in an old prima flower bottle.

**LABEL it! It does you no good if you put away and don't know which drawer you put it in! I bought a Dymo Labeler a few years back on the after school clearance for $5, (they have less expensive models that emboss also, they can be found in the office supply section--and you can use them for journaling in your scrapbooking!)

**When you bring it home, PUT IT AWAY!!

**store your most commonly used items within reach (if you have the space).

**When you are done with a project PUT IT AWAY!!

**scraps, what do you do with them? I bought Paper Pouches by cropper Hopper, I labeled them by color (I have two colors per pouch) and those are stored in a 12 x 12 paper holder. I only store scraps that I can cut again with my cricut the others GO! This method saves me from cutting up a bunch more papers later. I do know this doesn't work for everyone and that you might have to throw all of your scraps.

**Okay, the last tip that's seriously probably the hardest for me is purging. Sometimes you buy things and don't use them for the project you intended, or you thought they were so neat (stickers were my thing! And yes I have a cropper hopper storage binder for those!), or you just like to collect! Get rid of what you don't use! Donate it to a school teachers LOVE extra crafty supplies, I give my older things that I'm not interested in anymore to my 10 year old daughter, she LOVES it! By getting rid of the old you make room for the NEW! :)

I sure hope this gives you ideas and hope for your organization. I sure love the feeling when my desk is clean all ready for me to sit down and play! Good luck!

What to do with all those Christmas card photos!

Happy new year everyone! Sorry I have been missing and out of action lately. I've had houseguests for two weeks and then the stomach flu has visited each children in turn. But, I'm back now and even did some scrapping last night and I've missed it!

Every year, one of my favorite parts of Christmas is getting the mail with all the Christmas cards. I love reconnecting with family and friends and seeing their pictures and reading what they've been up to. But, then, after the holidays, what to do with all those wonderful pictures?

Last year, I came up with a great idea. I made our very own Christmas albums. They are VERY simple. I divided them into family and friends. Then, I have a few pages devoted to each family that we get cards from. So, on each layout, it will have the family name, my relation to them (are they a sibling, a college roommate, etc), and then I put in the picture along with the year).

This way, I can see how each family has grown over the years. It is so fun to look through each year as I add the newest photos! I kept my pages simple so it wasn't overwhelming. Here are a few shots for some examples.

New Years Eve Creating............................

Happy New Year everyone! This year I not only made it to midnight, but enjoyed crafting while waiting for the ball to drop.First up is a Mini Heart Purse. I finally had the nerve to cut my Graphic 45 Times Nouveau papers. I love the way this little purse turned out!

Second is a and Invitation Envelope. This was so fun to make. Again, I used something that had been sitting for quite some time-Making Memories Delaney.














































And last but definitely not least-a bookmark made with the fabulous January Scrapbook Circle Kit. This was SO easy to make. I'm going to create one for everyone in the house.























Thanks for stopping by! Happy Crafting:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I don't know a better way to kick off the new year than working with this awesome January kit!!! All the girls on the Design Team have been busy working on wonderful layouts and altered projects to show you the great versatility this kit has!!! The colors are so rich and it is loaded with FANTASTIC embellishments!
A couple of my favs...in the above layout the Jenni Bowlin Mini Calendars are SO CUTE and perfect on any layout! They can be used simply as a calendar to show the specific date of your picture or just as an added layer to spice up your project!

Another favorite is the Tim Holtz Grunge Boards...in the above layout I did of my friends little boy, I simply took my black sharpie and colored in the tiny circles to make it pop along with Pop Dots for added dimension.

Don't wait!!! Grab this kit to start off your NEW YEAR with lots of scrappin' fun!!

January Kit Layout...

Having some fun creating with the January Kit! For this one I used some of the fun paper from Collage Press (this double-sided paper is just gorgeous!) as well as one of the journaling tags by CP (which I cut in half using one portion for a journaling spot). I was a bit stumped on what to do with the Grungeboard at first, but found that clustering some of the pieces together and forming a mat for one of my tickets by Jenni Bowlin worked perfectly for what I wanted for this layout...a masculine page featuring both my dad and my husband.

A mini for the new year!

Just a couple more days of 2008 and I'm thinking of ways to tell our story in 2009. I made a mini tag album using the January's U Rock kit and Cathy Zielske's free downloadable "a year of tags" (click on her name for the link). I printed them on kraft cardstock, cut them out, embellished with the calendar cards, punches and stamps, hole punched, and inserted a book ring. Now I have a little place to record something about our life every week of 2009.

tip of the day.....

Need to take a munchies to a New Year's eve party? Try this recipe:

Meatballs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup drained sauerkraut
1 (15 oz.) whole cranberry sauce
1 jar chili sauce
1 jar water (chili sauce jar)
50-60 meatballs (I buy the bag in the freezer section of the grocery store)
Mix liquids and suagar together. Brown meatballs. Put all in a crockpot and slow cook for at least 3 hours.

***Remember for good indoor pictures: THIS TIP!***

Happy New Year!!