Fun and Mental Changes

This is the one that's getting away.  I made this book for my mother-in-law for mother's day using my ALL TIME FAVORITE stuff.  Suddenly I DON'T want to give it to her.  This turned out WAY better than I envisioned and I want to keep it..... is that bad??? I have to keep telling myself that this is MORE than a just a pretty bound book, this is a problem solver.... a problem solver for my mother-in-law!!!!  My mother-in-law forgets things as we all do.  So to combat this, she writes everything down in notebooks, many notebooks, notebooks that get lost with her thoughts.  So for this mother's day I decided to make her a "master memory" book.  The problem is I used all my favorite things.... I should probably just keep it shouldn't I????   I haven't made a bound book in a LONG time.  WHY didn't I expect to love this so much? Here's a side view.... check out all that dimension!!!  I used some of my favorite ribbons fro...

***CLICK HERE TO ENTER MY FAVORITE THINGS BIRTHDAY GIVE AWAY!!!***   Ok.... so here is part two.  I actually did a quick car tour video for you guys so you can see how INCREDIBLY organized my car is now.  As I said yesterday... the "before" is just too gross, but the after is SO GREAT (click HERE to check out yesterday's post and my super organized glove box)!!!!  I actually feel like I can breathe in my car.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! After I watched that viral Florida road rage video yesterday, I had to wonder how messy that dude's truck was.  Is the timing of this incident MERELY a coincidence.... I mean, a messy car leads to stress and stress leads to road rage.  I'm just sayin, maybe there is more than meets the eye to this inexplicable spring clean of my car.  For those of you who haven't seen the video (because you are living under a rock.... but I'm not judging), here ya go.  It's titled Instant ...

***CLICK HERE TO ENTER MY FAVORITE THINGS BIRTHDAY GIVE AWAY!!!***   I have no idea WHAT has gotten into me as of late, but I have had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to get stuff in order.  My house... well, that is still a work in progress.  My car.... THAT is finished I'm proud to say.  It took me a couple of days, but I'm all done.  And I'll "show you around" my car over the next post.  The reason I'm splitting this into parts is because I don't want to make this too long and tackling a big project like this is always made easier by breaking it up into smaller bits.  That is how I took on this project, and that is how I'll present it to you.  I'll start from the front and work my way to the back. Spring cleaning is not really describing this project accurately.  While I did give my car a good scrub inside and out, the most important piece to this project really was the organization.  The inside being a mess of "stuf...

  Check out what THIS girl got for Valentine's Day!!!  The hubs wanted a coffee maker but I wanted work space!!!  It's no secret, ESPECIALLY HERE that I'm workin to get my craft space in the new house put together.  It is also no secret that the "secret" to my style of organization is to utilize vertical space, so when my friend Cindy showed me a picture of these AWESOME Stamp n' Storage ink pad organizers I was preparing myself to beg and beg HARD.  You see I already had storage for my Stampin Up ink pads.... Don't get me wrong.... this rotating color caddy from Stampin Up is a VERY good option, but my craft room reduced by half when we moved into the new house and I just don't have the work space I once did.  Anything and everything that can be put on the wall saves me precious work space.     And I didn't want my Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads in a different spot than the rest of my ink pads (that too is an orga...

One of my last posts of 2013 was on tips and tricks for speed cleaning your home because I HATE cleaning, BUT THEN..... the day before New Year's Eve I read a blog post all about cleaning, not speedily, but efficiently!  How you ask?  Well it is so simple, I am kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner.  CLEAN EVERY DAY!!!!  Not all day every day... that would be impossible.  But just clean SOMETHING for 20 minutes every day.  Eventually it all gets clean and then stays clean.  DOESN'T THAT SOUND LIKE NIRVANA?!? So it couldn't be any more direct, this blog post is called:  How to Clean Your House In 20 Minutes a Day For 30 Days .  The author lives in an apartment and advises to clean the dishes you use after every meal so on top of the 20 minutes cleaning project outlined in the article I personally added 10 minutes to cover the dishes.  I am also splitting my cleaning into TWO half hour sessions every ...

I have been SOOOOO behind (as I've already complained about in previous posts) putting the new house together, painting, unpacking boxes and whatnot... add to that my husband's slow recovery from surgery and a sprinkling of family drama and you've got yourself a girl who is completely behind in EVERYTHING.  WHY am I so fatigued and WHY is it so difficult to catch up?  Maybe I just needed a little R&R, a little "me" time to veg in front of the TV.  So off I went, remote control in hand ready to sit and veg except...... OH YEAH, that's right!  I'm behind on housework as well and the dang handprint someone left in the dust on the TV is suddenly a distraction that cannot be ignored.  In fact, its the only thing I can see when I look at the screen.  Time to clean, and clean I did!!!  In fact, I've never cleaned faster and I want to share my 5 tips to speed cleaning (plus a bonus).  And once I got started, a l...

Well... I am putting things together in the new house.  We've moved and I'm starting to find stuff in the mountain of boxes... unfortunately, my camera cord is not one of them!!!  So sorry in advance for the pics that are coming in the next few postings while I look for it.  But with Kevin's surgery over with and getting out of cramped quarters in the apartment, I'm finally getting my life back and into the swing of ORGANIZING the new home!!!  Needless to say, after such a long time of not posting, I have a few things to show you.  But I'm going to start with the pantry. When we first purchased the house I had grand designs to turn this DEEP pantry into a step in-pantry by removing the shelving that is currently in there and replacing it with thinner shelving (going from about 20" shelves to 12" shelves).  There is nothing worse than a pantry that hides stuff because things get buried in deep shelving.  But after paying movers and buying window cov...

You got it... ANOTHER house post.  The countdown is on for us to close on our new home.  I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!  Of course I lay up at night designing and decorating my new home over and over plotting and planning every detail.  Of all the details, storage and "hiding spots" is always at the top of my list to keep my Chi flowing and my mind sane (well... as sane as it CAN be).  There is nothing that gives me greater joy in fulfilling all of that than an armoire.  This work horse does it all and wraps it in a beautiful package!!! HELLO WORK HORSE!!!  Check out ALL that storage!!!  This gorgeous armoire comes with interior drawers and one exterior drawer accented with metal knobs.  This SOOOOO appeals to the decorator in me... that is SO my style!!!  This armoire also came equipped with an electrical outlet strip attached to the inside as well as a place to install a clothing rod: And if you click on the second pic to enl...

Yep... I've FINALLY discovered the MAGIC that is the Google Calendar!!!  I had NO IDEA that it actually synced to my phone!!!!  FREEDOM!  SWEET FREEDOM! Now for those of you who are NOT schedulers, let me tell you why schedules are so important and why this discovery, in particular, is so empowering to me. Schedules free your mind - when you get your thoughts out of your head and placed into some kind of order (or plan) on paper, your brain is not taxed with the job of remembering. Plans allow you to reach your goals quickly and efficiently - a plan maps out the best course to get you from point A to point B.  For example:  you know that you have to meet Judy on the west side of town for lunch, then be on the east side to pick up paperwork at the office, west side again to pick up flowers at the florist and finally north to pick up dry cleaning.  Well, planning your day allows your brain to go on auto-pilot.  All it has to do is f...

So today is the day!!!  Today is an open house celebrating a friend's new digs.  More importantly.... her new crafting digs!!!  There is nothing more exciting than upgrading scrap space, I definitely know!!!  So for her housewarming (craft-room-warming as I'm calling it), I got her some organizational items for the new space.  You all know me.... it's all about the Chi!!!  So among some of the organizational items I got for her (and the thing I'm most excited about) was THIS little slice of awesomeness: This is the Dignitet curtain wire from IKEA.  It doesn't look like much in it's packaging, but let me share with you just how cool this unassuming wire really is!!! Use this wire with clips and hooks to store ribbon!!!  Get that ribbon OFF your work surfaces and on the wall!  It's visible, accessible and organized!!!  LOVE this idea (click on pics to go directly to the blog posts that featured each of these pics)!!! Hanging cu...

The other day I posted my rubber/clear stamp storage (click HERE for post) where I place all my stamps on cling foam (if applicable) and stored them in numbered cd cases that are then cataloged in a binder with the stamped images along side the number of the cd case they can be found and the name/maker of the stamp set..... WHEW!!!  Seems like a lot, but honestly, when your stamps are organized this way soooooooooo much time is saved and you never have to worry about not being able to find a stamp!!!  Well..... how about a similar solution for your punches.  Some crafters I know have A TON of punches, and I prefer the IKEA punch storage (click HERE to see), but if you don't have a lot of wall space, the back of a door will do in a snap!!!  Those nifty over the door shoe organizers are super affordable and will do the trick in a jiffy!!! From plastic to canvas to mesh.... there are plenty of styles to choose from!!!  Then, punch all your punches using scr...

Yep, here is my entire rubber and clear stamp collection... about 300 stamp sets in all.  None of my stamps are on wood.  If I purchase a stamp that is attached to a wood block with foam, I am quick to remove the rubber from the foam, adhere the rubber to a piece of EZ Mount cling foam,trim and place in a cd case.  Luckily many of my favorite stamps are already mounted on cling foam so there is no wood/foam removal.  The stamps shown in the cd case below were all ready to place in a cd case!!!  Shown is Graphic 45/Hampton Art's Magic of Oz II set with Stampendous' Count Jack and Mumpkin.  How do I know what's there so quickly you ask? Well, once my stamps are in a case, I assign a number to the case (if you click on the top pic, it will enlarge and you should be able to make out the numbers that are labelled on each case).  I then stamp the images on a page in my stamp catalog which, along with the stamped images, includes the name of the stamp s...

Ok... so it has been A LONG time since I first posted my amazing and wonderful Scrap Closet Conversion .  A lot has changed as well.  Since I first converted a tiny closet into a craft space, my family has moved and I NOW have an entire room devoted to this wonderful hobby.  Furniture has been added and I've been able to expand quite a bit (check out my new craft table... thanx Cindy).  Sometimes that serves me, sometimes it doesn't.  I find that I need to be WAY MORE DILIGENT to keep my spaces clean and organized, more than I ever did in my beloved craft closet.  Unfortunately, when you spread out, so does the mess!!!  But I'm doing well with it and still employ a lot of the storage solutions I discovered way back when. Recently, my new friend from Idaho, Donna ,  asked me about MY storage solution ideas, so I thought I would share my favorites!!!  I'll start with the one that I'm personally challenged the most with... let...

Ok... WOW! That was harder than I expected! Not doing the "No Embellishment" creation for The Town Scrapper's weekly challenge (pictured above)... this one sort of made itself cuz the image rocks... no, I'm talking about posting my final, farewell blog post for The Town Scrapper . HUH! I teared a little while writing that post. Those incredible ladies have given me SO MUCH in the six months that I've designed with them and been their blog manager! So I hope you all head over there and show them some love. Oh, and while you're there, enter the "No Embellishment" challenge. The winner will receive the image that I featured in this project. It's a Victoria Case Design called Big Dreams Evan.... one of my favorite Victoria Case stamps!!! So, on to new and exciting adventures. I'M IN HOT PURSUIT! I have recently been doing Copic marker instruction and am about to embark on teaching Cricut and Gypsy classes! AND......I am also going after a really ...

OOOOO... feelin the Feng Shui? I know I am while trying to REorganize all my stuff in the new place! You'd think expanding a craft space from a closet to an entire room would be easy... HAHAHAHAHAHA! But then again, I've always been a little horizontally challenged, so of course I went vertical.... AGAIN!!! A while back I posted an amazing storage solution for my Copic markers in a carrying case that allowed them to be visible AND mobile. Since that post I've talked to a couple of fellow Copic lovers like myself who were also looking for storage that allowed them to see the tips of their markers at a glance, but would still be mobile, organized and not take up precious work space. I'VE GOT IT!!! I found THE CUTEST little metal silverware/drink caddy (even monogrammed with my initial and just so happened to match my Cricut green... HELLLLOOOO!) with nifty carrying handles on the side. I used some large "S" hooks that I got from IKEA and hung it on my magnetic p...

I haven't even had these a week and I've already outgrown the cup I was holding these in... HAHAHAHAHA! So I hopped online to see everyone else's storage solutions; you know I'm all about the Feng Shui!!! :) I saw Copic storage ranging from buckets to acrylic pamphlet holders to simple acrylic boxes that are stacked (there were many more storage ideas I saw and EVERY ONE OF THEM WERE BRILLIANT), but I still came back to the same issues: 1. Convertibility - If I'm anything in my craft closet, it's convertible. Everything in there has to serve multi functions... organized while I'm crafting at home and the ability to be whisked away for a crop at a moment's notice... it MUST be mobile. 2. Visibility - Keeping all of my pens in a box is not practical when one is not patient. I am not patient. If I have to dig around to find colors, you can probably bet that I just won't. I really need to be able to see what I want at a glance. 3. Organization - I wan...