Hurry up and wait

That's the story of my life. Too bad I'm an impatient person.

I started my chalkboard project tonight. You see I had this ugly dollar store dry erase calendar I used, let's see, NEVER. My plan is to repurpose it as a chalkboard.

When I got home I cleaned it up. There's about 5 years of dust build up on there. Yeah, I know, gross.

I took it outside, took a before picture with my handsome model's help, then proceeded to spray.

1. The spray smells. Bad.
2. It still smells 3 hours later.
3. If I would have waited another day I would have found acrylic chalkboard paint for cheaper (and probably less smelly) but again I needed instant gratification yesterday.

So now I have to wait until Thursday to give you any results. The instructions say to let completely dry for 24 hours. Too bad I have preschool orientation tomorrow night.

I guess I should mention that I used Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint in black.

Pinspired

I don't know about you but I heart pinterest. Maybe too much.

Anyway, this weekend I walked past a dry erase calendar that's on the side of our fridge. Problem is we never use it. NEVER. It still has July 2007 as the date.

Um, yeah.

Then I got a bright idea that involves this:

My plan is inspired by many things I've seen on pinterest. I don't have high expectations as the board is old and from the dollar store. The plan is to use it as a board that we can write stuff we need to pick up from the store. The system we have now just isn't working. Mostly because if I don't write down that I'm out of Comet (true story) I'll forgot that I need to pick some up. And still haven't done so 3 weeks later. Because I forget things. I forget things so much that it really annoys the hubster.

My fear is that once I "chalkboard" one thing I'll want to do more, and more, and MORE!!!!

Rainy Sunday

It's been a rainy Sunday and I think this is how we're all feeling today. The hubs is watching football/baseball, the boy is playing with his dinosaurs in his room, and the pets are both sleeping (typical).

I don't mind the rain. In fact we need it...a lot. My garden is pretty much done for the season but the farmers need it badly. The only thing I'm waiting on in my garden is the red potatoes. They won't be ready for a few more weeks still.

I think it's time for a nap now. I see a big fluffy pillow in my future.

Back to Basics

Dear readers: You should all know by now that I love doing all things crafty. When I was young I was all about cross stitch. In fact I made the man of the house an awesome dragon and framed it for his Christmas gift. It even survived a fire. But that's a story for another day.

I started scrapbooking sometime around the time we got married. That would be 10 years, give or take. I did the wedding album, reception album, and a few things in between. Then it fell by the wayside. Then life happened. My dad died, my mom had a bad go with cancer, we moved, we had a kid, I started college…again. Life. And I still wasn't scrapping or even documenting what was happening. I didn't even take that many pictures of my son's first year of life. Mostly because I had a not-so-spectacular camera. I regret that to this day.

I realized all of life's important events that I was missing. So I dusted off the supplies, got a decent camera, accumulated a ridiculous amount of supplies, and started scrapping again. And then I hit a wall. I love my son and all but sometimes I need to work on something else. And that's where the cards come in. I love making cards. I love the smaller canvas. I love that I can whip something up in just a few minutes. Sometimes a few minutes is all I have. Sometimes those few minutes is enough for me to stop, create, and save my sanity.

So I became a card maker and not so much of a scrapper. Then I opened my etsy store. Then I started blogging. I still love making things, selling things, and blogging. Except now my scrapbooks have fallen by the wayside. I still haven't scrapped my son's baby pictures for goodness sake!

I guess what I'm saying is that I need to get my scrapping mojo back. I've been watching youtube videos of an awesome scrapbooker. She gets it. And I think she's inspired me to create more for me and not for others. This doesn't mean I still won't make cards. But it means I'll put myself first a little more. And it means you may get more stories about the why and how and things that inspire me and not just "here's a picture of what I made". 

I'd like to journal more. Not only in my layouts but just to journal the every day. Be more observant of what's going on. I might even start a Project Life book next year. Baby steps.

I'd like to take pictures of things other than the kid. I love the kid to death but I'd like to experiment more with taking more than "people" pictures. On the flip side, I'd love to take a picture every week (if not every day) of the kid just to see how much he's growing. It still amazes me the things he says, things he does, stories he tells, etc. I want to document those things for various reasons. He will be starting school next year and I realize he's not going to be my baby much longer.

Like I said, it will all be baby steps. And I hope you stick around to go on this adventure with me.

Click here to see the video that inspired me. Inspired this post. Inspired me to change some things.

Mini Albums

I found a bunch of unfinished chipboard mini albums when I cleaned out my scrap crap a few weeks ago.

I made a Christmas album out of this tree. It would have also made a cute camping mini album.

These albums are very easy to make. Each page was traced on paper and the images cut out. I used a glue stick as the adhesive to attach the papers to the chipboard. I find that the glue sticks work really well and have even coverage. Once the glue is dry the excess is trimmed off with a craft knife. The edges were inked with a corresponding cover. I think it adds a nice effect without overpowering everything.

I didn't add many embellishments to this book other than the wreath and letters on the cover. The letters were plain chipboard letters painted white. I wanted gold but had no gold paint :(. I sprayed the painted letters with gold glimmer mist. Once dry I coated them in crackle accents. I think it gives the letters a nice aged look. Ribbons were added to the binder ring.

I was on a roll so I also started a Halloween mini album. This album is larger measuring roughly 6x6.

The process was the same as the Christmas album. I added lots of embellishments. I was going to sell it in my etsy store but I like it so much I'm keeping it. Thought I could add a pictures of each of the kid's Halloween costumes. I guess that's the downfall of making awesome crafts. :)

Missed Opportunity?

Yesterday I had a message on my etsy page from a local woman. Basically she was organizing a craft fair for a local church and wanted to know if I wanted to be a vendor.

As much as it killed me to do so I had to decline. First off was the vendor fee. I know it was for a good cause but I don't make a huge profit of most of my items. Maybe I should raise the price points but that may be my insecurity talking. Even if I did make a profit I wasn't confident that it would cover the vendor fee. I also don't have much as far as inventory goes and since school started this week I won't have a ton of free time to work on specific projects....for now. I'll have much more time in the late fall/winter because we are homebodies and don't leave the house much during the cold months.

I guess the other part of me declined was simply fear of the unknown. I'm afraid people won't like my stuff. I'm afraid people won't BUY my stuff. Right now I just sell on etsy, some of my family, and a few of my co-workers. It seems sort of anonymous.

I also declined because as of now I have plans on having a table at the Shop for SIDS event in November. Maybe once I dip my toes in the water my fear will go away.

I feel like a hoarder

My confession: I have reorganized my scrap space twice in two weeks. I found not one, not two, but three unopened packs of glue sticks. I feel like a hoarder. Maybe we should play "Where's Waldo" but with glue sticks and not Waldo.

And so I now present to you my secret shame with all of the dirty details:

top box has random embellishments; cart has rub-ons; white/clear embossing powder and heat gun; mists and masks; chipboard pieces and random items

reference material; magazines; idea books; finished layouts (in giant ziplock bags); pictures; paper

texture boutique; lots of glitter; random stuff; stickers; stamps; and more stamps

the whole enchilada - lots of paper; green box has finished cards; cart with more stuff; black container is filled with 8x10 paper



lots of chipboard letters; paint pens; oh look glue sticks



lots and lots of punches



buttons separated by color; eyelets; brads



lots and lots of ribbon. there may be 2 or 3 layers underneath what you see



oh look - more chipboard letters

desk



card stuff; trimmer; 6x6 paper pads; scoring board; scrap paper box; organizer with ink, stamps, and washi tape

So there you have it. All of it. Well, maybe not all of it. I know there is still stuff lurking upstairs. One day at a time. :)

How long can I keep it cleared of paper???

My scrapping area is finally clean! I'll post a few pictures every day with an explanation of what everything is.

This is my desk. On the top shelf sits my pencil cup filled with my most often used small tools. Pencils, gel pens, stylus, bone folder, tweezers, craft knife, paper piercer, and scissors.

The pink tin thingy (Upcycled planter) holds all of my different adhesives. I have a few tape runners, various sizes of glue dots, liquid glue, matte medium, etc.

Next up is my baby, my pride and joy, my most awesome piece of machinery, otherwise known as my Silhouette Cameo. It's a die cut machine and so much more. I can use computer software to manipulate files as well as edit and design my own stuff. If my house were on fire I would go back and save it. On the other side is a small jelly jar filled with various jewels. My swatches finish out the top shelf.

The basket on the bottom holds my versamark ink and mounting blocks for my clear stamps. I use these a lot and I hate digging around for them. I also have my dimensional adhesive, otherwise known as pop dots. Precut cards and a few other items fill the basket.

Next is my handy dandy bottle caddy filled with glittery stickles and liquid pearl goodness.

The small drawers are filled with washi tape, small ink pads, gaffer tape, markers, misc tools, and various refill blades.

The container next to it has various pieces of stuff. I don't know how else to explain it. I'll take a few more detailed pictures tomorrow. The lighting is bad so I apologize in advance.

To top it off is my self healing craft mat. It has all sorts of measurements on it which makes it easy to line things up.

So there you have it for now. This is where the magic or epic failures happen!

Another weekend in the kitchen

Today I made 10 pints of salsa and I still have ripe tomatoes to deal with!

I'm tired of being in the kitchen so tonight I vow to clean up my scrap space. It's embarrassing to admit to all of the stuff I have that I have good intentions of using and never do.

So, dear readers, I will let you in on my dirty little secret. I promise to reveal my after photos but be warned that it may take a few days!