I love my Pazzles Mini

Seriously this is the best thing since sliced bread. It is so easy to use and so versatile. Here is a quick layout I made tonight using the cutter for the title and the brown cardstock accents. The picture was taken by my brother when he took his family to the pumpkin patch last fall.

2006 Scrapping Goals

Every year I write a list of my scrapping goals and then see how I did at the end of the year. Due to the craziness of the house move I am quite a bit behind schedule for 2006 goals. Now that things have calmed down a bit I thought I would take the time to write down and share my Personal goals that are scrap related.

While grading last years goals, I noticed that many of ones I did not meet were for the most part out of my control. So this year I am going to focus on what is in my control and just list the desired outcome if it is out of my control.

1. Enter the MMM Contest again (Desired outcome: Become a MMM or runner-up)
2. Submit at least 2 projects a month (starting in March) to Creating Keepsakes (Desired Outcome: Get published in CK)
3. Submit at least 2 projects to all the public BHG calls (starting in March) (Desired Outcome: Get Published in BHG scrapbooks ect.)
4. Inquire and/or apply for a manufacturing DT. Inquire on at least 10 teams - or until 1 works out. (Desired Outcome: Become a member of a manufacturing DT)
5. READ (or at least look at) each of the magazines subscribed to and reduce the total number of subscriptions.
6. Complete at least 10 pages or projects per month. (Since I am starting out a little late my 2006 goal is 100 pages, cards or projects).
7. Scrap a mini-album about maz and paz (grandparents)
8. Make all holiday and gift cards given to DH this year.
9. Keep online gallery fresh and updated, keep sb resume updated, and add all new layouts to ScrapGenie Gallery when applicable.
10. Meet all commitments and deadlines for The Scrapbook Magazine contributions and do the best work I am capable of.
11. Make something special for Mom.
12. Display artistic creations in the house - OUTSIDE of the scraproom.
13. Learn more about photography by either reading a book or taking a class. Practice photography techniques.
14. Make my first digital layout!!!
15. Make sure every minute of scrapping is FUN

I know the last one is quite hard to judge but for me it's probably the most important. Scrapping is my hobby not my job so it needs to be fun and relaxing!!

I also realize the desired outcome of the first 4 goals is quite lofty, but the part of those that are within my control is quite do-able. 2005 was a good scrapping year for me and I hope 2006 is even better.

A little sunshine on a rainy day

uuuugghh we are getting more rain, I am sick of it, and getting a little grumpy. On to of that, this morning I realized I left my umbrella at work yesterday (and haven't unpacked my spares yet) so when I got to work I had to run from my car into the building. Not a great start to my day.

But when I got in I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me. It's amazing how fast one little email can pick up my spirits....this one was from my Sister-in-Law and was titled "We Love the Easter Bunny". Just one look and my day is brighter.

A relaxing weekend.

After two months of non-stop craziness with the house move, Jim and I took a well needed break this weekend. The to-do list has not stopped growing but we needed a rest. No home depot, target, office max, or paint store runs...no furniture building, light fixture replacements, or garage organizing...we didn't even clean the house. Oh it felt so good just to be lazy again.

On Saturday I slept in until 8:30am, did a little work in the yard (just the fun stuff messing with the flowers), watched some college basketball (it's march Madness baby), enjoyed the nice weather with a picnic (in our backyard), and we topped off the afternoon with a nap. It was a great day and Sunday was even better. Again I slept in until after 8:00am, DH and I went out for a nice sit down brunch, and then cleaned up my scraproom and organized a few things that still needed to be done after moving in. I watched my new Cyndi Lauper DVD and listened to the CD (I still love her), and then scrapped for several hours. I made 4 layouts....a few of them are going to be used for an article I am writing for The Scrapbook Magazine...as soon as I decide which ones will be used I will post the others.

Now next weekend will be back to work again. Our replacement doors should be in so the contractor can get working again, we have the chimney sweep people coming, and I really need to finish unpacking my cloths. Not to mention all the shopping that we didn't do this weekend will need to be done. So while I enjoyed my break it's going to mean more work for next week.

Seriously, no new Grey's Anatomy

I basically had the perfect weekend going until I sat down to watch Grey's Anatomy last night only to find that it was a repeat. Seriously, what's up with that? Even in re-runs McDreamy is still HOT HOT HOT. I have seriously used the seriously terminology long before this show hit the airways....but now I'm trendy. If you don't watch this show you should seriously consider it. Now that West Wing is going off the air Grey's Anatomy is seriously my favorite show!

To publish or not to publish!

Edit: I sent one very brief not to the editor regarding this layout. I got no direct response for well over a week. However today I got an email asking me for the materials lists for both layouts that were missing from the Jan/Feb/March issue. So maybe it will be published after all.


Talk about a bummer. This is one of my favorite layouts from last years MMM entry. I was so excited when CorrespondenceART picked it up along with a few others for their Jan/Feb/March issue. Then just a few weeks ago Memory makers also asked for the layout. Since it was already given to CA I obviously told them it was not available.

A few days ago I got the designers copies of the current issue of CorrespondenceART (which is now PaperART) and was so bummed to see this layout was omitted....along with another layout and card they requested. No note or other indication why they were omitted. This is the 2nd time this happened with CA. So now this poor page that has been requested twice will not be in print at all.....darn, I was really looking forward to seeing this one on glossy.

PEEPs Rock!!!

In my quest for a white Sharpie last night I stopped by target. While they did not have the Sharpie, they did have a HUGE display of PEEPs. Best news yet, they had the ever so hard to find purple ones....and even red ones that I had never seen before. Although I have to admit as much as I love da PEEPs I don't find the thought of eating a red colored chick too appealing. So I skipped the red ones and picked up some classic yellow chicks and a pack of purple bunnies. My DH calls me PEEP head and doesn't understand why anyone over the age of 10 would even think of eating what amounts to raw sugar. Come on, ya gotta love da PEEPs!!! 32 calories of pure sin. yummy yummy yummy. Check out this site....it just makes me happy.

http://marshmallowpeeps.com/about/index.html

A Big Mistake!!!

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later - our first major mistake with the house upgrades. Last week the French doors that will connect the family room to the sunroom finally arrived and our contractor was able to start working again. When we got home from work on Friday I immediately realized our big mistake....we got exterior doors not interior doors. The exterior doors have a large metal footplate that spans the length of the opening. If just looks ridiculous on interior doors connecting two rooms. I was really mad at Home Depot but more so at myself than anything else. We did specifically tell the salesman at HD that we needed interior doors, but ultimately it was me who signed the special order form to have them built.

I called HD and was basically told that since these were special order and had already been installed they would not take them back. The did give me a 15% credit because the doors were drilled for a deadbolt they were not supposed to get, but would not take them back.

So after himming and hawing with DH we decided it was best to stop the work and do it right (eating the cost of the original doors and the install work). We talked to the contractor about and went to another store to order yet another set of doors. This time we spent extra time to make sure we got what we needed. Although I feel I am mostly to blame for the mistake, DH and I made the decision to try to avoid HD in the future.

One of the biggest bummers in all of this is my bathroom remodel might get pushed out. We only had a limited budget for upgrades until August and my bathroom may get pushed until then because of the extra expenses of the doors...boo hoo.

So that pretty much sums up my weekend. I did get about an hour or two of scrapping in last night but didn't get much done. Tonight should be better.

I'm a happy happy girl....

Because I'm scrapping again. My room is now a total mess - it felt so strange all clean and organized. It's much more like 'me' now.

After being away from scrapping so long my creative juices are really flowing. I just wish I had more hours in the day to scrap. I have so much energy (when it comes to scrapping) and ideas to try.

Here is my latest layout I finished tonight. The color scheme was based on a creative prompt posted by Christi Snow - Christi posts some really awesome creative prompts that inspire you to create. Check out her blog here: www.alteredambitions.blogspot.com

My first post move layout

Whew....it has been almost 2 months since I scrapped a layout and boy does it feel great to scrap again. I am still getting used to my new scrapper but it is so nice to finally have enough room to move around.

In addition to my new house and new scraproom, I also have been dying to play with my new pazzles mini cutter. I still have some learning to do, but I'm getting the hang of it.

So here it is....my first post move layout. This was made as part of the all about me challenge posted by Kristy....one of the most talented scrappers I have seen. It started out as a challenge and ended up being a contest. Check out her blog and her work it will make your heart stop. Kristy's blog: http://limegreenbogiegirl.blogspot.com

Tah-Dah!!!

Woo Hoo.....I am 95% complete with my scraproom. I still have to hang layouts/artwork, add two more small drawer units, and do a little more organization (but isn't that always the case), but other than that my room is just about complete.

Once again I worked all weekend on unpacking and organizing the room. I took these pictures at about 4:30pm just before I sat down to scrap for the first time in what feels like forever.

It feels so great to scrap again. I got in a few good hours last night. Most of them I spent trying to figure out my new pazzles creative cutter mini that I got just before we moved. Still can't get the thing to cut cardstock.

My first post-move layout was going to be about my new room or at least the new house, but I decided to take an all about me challenge that was posted by one of the UK ladies. So assuming I can get that darn cutter finished I might be posting my first post move layout tomorrow. I've got my fingers crossed.

Sill Unpacking!!!

uuuuggghh I have been working so hard on my room to get it unpacked. I am using literally every waking moment at home to get my scraproom unpacked and organized....and yet I still have more to do. Last weekend I made serious progress and thought for sure I would finish up during this week and have the upcoming weekend to scrap. Well at 10:30pm last night I knew there was no way it was going to happen. With a late work meeting tonight and dinner plans tomorrow it looks like my unpacking will be consuming another weekend. The good news is I now have all of my boxes unpacked and almost everything that I am keeping is now in my room. It's just taking longer than I thought to organize. I am also still waiting on my new table/work surface to be delivered. Please keep your fingers crossed for me to be finished on Saturday so I can at least get some creating done on Sunday.

I promised myself that I would get everything put away and organized before scrapping again but if I am not done soon I might need to rethink that strategy. Seriously, how can I concentrate on unpacking when these cuties are staring at me:

My first before and after pictures

Woo Hoo....I finally found the adapter that lets me transfer pictures from my memory stick to my laptop. So I can finally post a few pictures. I will be back to add more but wanted to share my scraproom pictures this morning.

Here is the before picture. I had already taken down the ugliest window treatment even imaginable.




Here is the after paint and carpet picture. Sorry about the poor picture with the light shining through the window. 2 walls are dark brown and 2 walls are an off white color....and the new carpet that was 10 days late.



I have now added in all my furniture and I'm still unpacking my supplies. I plan to share more pictures once I have my room finished, but thought I would share the first steps now.

I fell short of my goals this weekend

Darn unpacking is taking me way longer than I thought. Coming into the weekend my goal was to get my room totally unpacked and was stretching to actually get some real scrapping done. How naive I can be sometimes. It's like I have a never ending pile of boxes to get through...it seems for every one box I put away 2 more pop up in it's place. I literally worked non-stop all weekend on getting this room ready and I still have several hours of work ahead of me. uuugghh, I just want to scrap!!!

Since I don't have any new to show I thought I would post a few more pages I did for the UK stitches show. These are not my favorite layouts but it's the last thing I actually worked on...

The NEED to scrap!

For anyone who is currently having or has had scrapping mojo issue in the past, I have figured out a fool proof solution and I am going to share it. Take every piece of paper, embellishment, scissor, and accessory that you have, pack it up in a box (or about 80 if your anything like me), and don't open a single box for a month. I guarantee that at the end of the month you will be bursting to get into that box and go like mad.

It has now been a month since I finished my last scrapbook page and put all my stuff into boxes. We physically moved 3 weeks ago but since my scraproom was repainted and carpeted I haven't been able to unpack a thing. I am just so antsy to get into those boxes and start scrapping again. Over the last 3 weeks I have been walking around with a sketch book.....I now have over 40 sketches and 20+ inspiration ideas. So it is like torture not being able to run into my room and start working. Seeing my room almost finished is actually making it harder.

The good news for me is that it should only be a few more days now. My stretch goal is to actually get a little scrapping done this weekend, but I will be happy if I can just get the majority of things unpacked.

My room is really close to being finished. I still need to return a table I bought 2 weeks ago and get a smaller one. In addition I want to replace some of my ugly sterlite buckets with some actual wood drawer units. However the majority of my storage area is good to go. Last night I set up my printer, scanner, cutter, computer, and tv but I don't know where I packed the cables so nothing is actually working just yet. Tonight starts the real work. I get to start working on unpacking the paper and embellies. Woo Hoo....this is going to be the fun part.

I am also anxious to post some of my work again. Here are a few pages that I made for the UK trade show a few weeks ago that I didn't post: