Displaying the Wares... or more the lack thereof!!!

A few weeks (of more like months now) ago I went down to road to visit my friend Faith. She lives about an hours drive from me though if I really wanted to get technical she is literally around the corner and down the road... if I followed the road around the corner and just kept driving... but I digress.
Faith has not long moved into her newly finished office and scrap book studio, so I was stoked to be able to spend some time checking out her new digs. She's split her space into two areas using a couple of sets of cubby shelf units which she uses to display some of her creations and crafty gifts. Her display looked so amazing that when I started to plan my rearrangements I knew I had to do this as well... well something similar at least.
I already had a 12 hole cubby unit in the studio though when I looked at it honestly, I was seriously under utilising it. It had become quite literally a junk storage area where things went to live, never to see the light of day again.
So I emptied it, move it forward a couple of metres (thanks to darling hubbie's assistance), cleaned and polished it and then started to fill it up. I sorted out some of the crafts I have made and the things I have been given from some of my fellow scrappers and crafters and started to place them in the cubbies.
I've come to the conclusion I give away too many things and don't keep enough for myself... cos it looks pretty bare even after I've put in everything I wanted on display (and some I would not usually put on display). In addition I have room for boxes of all my swap items - tags, stick pins, flowers, cards etc; some items I have bought that are waiting for altering and some bottles of wine and port... many of which were 40th birthday presents.
So here is how it looks now...

Display as it now looks. 

 Top Shelf

Left - altered mask from Shar; 2012 Circle Journal "Inspiration"

Centre - Back Recycled Christmas Decorations (from Christmas Craft Challenge 2012); Altered Box from Faith; 2011 Circle Journal "Love Starts"

Right - Mini Album "Destination Earthquake Central"; Altered "P" from Faith and a selection of altered matchboxes

 Second Shelf

Left - Mini Album - 6" x 6" Recipe Swap Album; Mini Album for Class "Being Jordan"; Mini Album "Jordan's Big Adventure" (This is the story of my nephew's accident involving a cup of hot water and his recovery from being air-lifted by Westpac Rescue Helicopter to leaving hospital

Centre - Altered polystyrene balls; Christmas Decorations from SO Swap 2012; CJ "Scrap Effects"; Mini Pillow Gift Bag from Faith

Right - Selection of gifts bags; Altered Diaries and my 2013 Calendar from the SO Calendar Swap - yes it's on April as I do actually use it!!!

Third Shelf

Left - Altered Box "Christmas" from Tracey; Aussie Junk Journal from Gail; Halloween Charm in box from Fiona

Right - Altered Box; Mini Album (Sorry I can't remember who from); Toilet Roll Album - Shar

The other cubby in this row is filled with the boxes of all my swaps until I sort out how to display them - cards; tags; stick pins; charms and flowers

Bottom Shelf

Left and Right some of the items I have bought or been given which I want to alter eventually. 

The other cubby is filled with my wine and port from my birthday.

Organising Embossing Folders

I saw a brilliant idea for storing Embossing Folders, I think on Pinterest. (My apologies to the person with the brilliant idea, I wish I could remember where I saw this, but it escapes me. If I find you again, I will give you the credit you are due.)
It was so functional that I've just set up my Embossing Folders in a similar storage system which I'm sure you will love as much as I do.
Previously I stored my embossing folders in their original packaging, so I could see what they looked like, mixed in with my dies in several shoe boxes. I didn't know what I had and at times had more than a little difficulty finding what I was looking for. In order to find a particular embossing folder I usually needed to pull everything out of the shoe boxes and search through them all one at a time. My storage system just wasn't working for me.
Then I found this idea which not only stored the folders considerably better, it also provided a means for me to quickly check the folders I had to find what I was looking for... like I said... BRILLIANT!!
First thing... get rid of the packaging, well put it into a box for re-purposing at a later date.
Second thing... Sort out all the different sixes of embossing folders and the collate them some how. I ended up with four groups - small (2" x 2.75"); medium (A2 size); large (5" x 7" and anything bigger) and finally borders (any for the edge of a page or a card). 
In collating them, I put themes together (mainly Christmas) and then sorted everything else by type - e.g. words, collages, nature, everything else.
I then cut up some A4 lightweight cardstock into quarters. The sample I copied from had used luggage tags, but I couldn't see any benefit of trimming the quarters down further, that just meant more work for me. Sure they looked pretty, but I'm of the less is more, stop organising, get doing school of thought.
I thought ahead a bit here, and labelled each quarter of cardstock before I embossed it, with the name of the embossing folder (and collection if appropriate) so that I could reference back as to what I had actually used for a project. Doing this before hand mean I didn't have to worry about where I then embossed and trying to leave space for the name.
The next step was to run every Embossing Folder through my Cuttlebug machine with one of the quarters of cardstock to give me a sample of what each folder looked like. I was able to fit 1 medium or large, 4 small or 5 border embossing folders per quarter.

I then labelled both the embossing folder and the embossed sample with a matching number. This means I can flick through my samples, find the look I want, check its number and go straight to that embossing folder as they are all stored in numerical order by size in ONLY ONE shoe box.

Like I said... a BRILLIANT idea!!

New Year's Resolutions and Bathrooms

Don't you hate it when you realise that you couldn't see the wood for the trees, and instead of being happy that you finally saw the trees, you are instead annoyed at yourself that it took so long for you to change your perspective so your could see the trees. And the smaller the change in perspective from before until now, the more annoyed you are with yourself.
It just hit me this afternoon how to summarise my New Year's Resolutions into something meaningful to me. I've been thinking about it few a couple of weeks and I knew I was close... I was in the forest, but I just couldn't distinguish one tree from the other. What was important and what wasn't, what did I want to commit to and what wasn't important enough to do it right now. I should have known that all I needed was a light-bulb moment in my usual light-bulb producing location... the bathroom!
Yes I know it is a bit weird, but the bathroom has always been my go-to location when I am struggling. I can remember being only 9 or 10 and coming to this realisation and since then it has always been true. If I am stuck on a problem, struggling for inspiration, questioning the best path or the optimal solution I don't "Go to the mattresses" a la The Godfather... I go to the bathroom. Some how I can't see this being the inspiration for a movie, nor one of the more memorable lines that people will quote, but it works for me.


Moving right along...


This year my word is "Organisation". It is a common theme for a lot of people because it seems that wherever I look, everyone is talking about getting organised. Some people favour an intense go for broke, hell for leather, all in one month approach. Others, like myself, have a made a 12 month commitment to get organised. Personally I think the later is a more realistic. I know I can't devote such an intense amount of time to get organised... I have a life (believe it or not). The other reason I prefer my version is that realistically I don't expect myself, let alone my family to make such wholesale and dramatic changes to the habits we currently have and then stick to them if I make a whole lot of changes all at once. At least if I make smaller, more subtle changes, then I have a chance of some of them sticking and being followed by the family. I am a realist.
I wanted my New Year's Resolutions to reflect my commitment to getting organised this year as well as all the different aspects of my life that I am focusing on - Household, my business, my scrapping area and my studio. I also wanted to ensure there were some challenges built in in terms of my scrapping and crafting to make sure that this did not go by the way-side in deference to everything else I am trying to do.
There was one final thing I needed to do... make sure that whatever I came with was not so overwhelming that I would give up after a week and wouldn't stick out the whole year.
So here is the double page layout I've created to record my Resolutions for 2012. Once again I have gone for a simple colour scheme - black with one colour with a simple page style as well.

Each week I will:

• create at least one meaningful scrapbooking layout
• do one thing that inspires the organisation of our household
• learn one new scrapbooking or crafting technique
• do at least one thing that strengthens my business
• create at least one card
• do one thing that contributes to my personal development
• do at least one thing that improves the organisation of my scrapping space and studio
• make progress towards the completion of my monthly Off-The-Page project

Oh and can I just say... for a change I really love my handwriting on these pages LOL!!!!

New Year's Resolutions and other stuff

Despite the fact I already feel so much more organised this year and I have some great new tools to help me, I still feel a little like I haven't achieved much craft-wise.
I know part of this is because I was so crafted-out after the Christmas Craft Challenge that I didn't want to even thinking about crafting for a wee bit... 24 blogs about 24 different craft items... I was due a break. Unfortunately it's also that my craft studio is such a mess that I dare not start anything until it is returned to some semblance of order.
The reasons for this are many...

• My craft studio was destroyed for Christmas Day. As we had Christmas Day at our place, with all the family, we needed extra tables and chairs so some of those in the craft studio were borrowed but not put back exactly where they had previously been.
• I also had great plans to do a complete overhaul, clean out, rearrange, revamp over the Christmas holidays but that didn't happen for a couple of reasons... 1) because the weather has been so miserable that there was no way I could open the studio door and take everything outside to then rearrange and clean and stuff and 2) because in the last week or two before Christmas I tore the ligaments off my bicep so I am on a strict NO HEAVY LIFTING policy for at least six weeks. My physiotherapist has been very strict about this. Even if the weather had been good, I still couldn't lift everything to move it around and as much as my family love me... I couldn't see them doing all of it for me. (At least not without considerable grovelling, begging and significant money payments being made.)

I am in the process of planning a Studio Clean-Up which anyone can join in with. It will be running along the same lines as the 52 week household cleaning challenge I am participating in and will be based on a wonderful scrap clean-up and organisation challenge I found online, though with a few differences. I need to consider things not only from a personal scrapping point of view, but also from a business point of view in that my scrapping space is not only used by me, but also by my customers who come here to buy products, and attend crops and classes.

Despite my misgivings about it, I will be taking some photos before I start to clean up, so I can share the "Studious Horribleness" with some before and after shots.

But has this got to do with my New Year's Resolutions. The past couple of years I have scrapped double page layouts of my New Year's Resolutions. I didn't blog 2010 but here is the 2011 layout. So far this year I still haven't been able to suss out what my resolutions are. I've started but they are still not in a workable format... if that makes sense.

I'm an accountant by trade, which means I think in dollars and cents, numbers and stats... boring I know. It also means that I have to have things in terms that are measurable... far too many performance management seminars in my past for me to ignore the concept.

Some things are easy to measure. This year I want to complete the following scrapping/crafting targets...

52 layouts in 52 weeks

52 cards in 52 weeks

12 off-the-page projects in 12 months

These are easy to measure. I've even made a special chart to record my performance which now has pride of place in my Annual Planning Folder.

It's just everything else I'm having trouble with. I'm sure I will suss it all out before the end of the year!!

Has anyone else set them self a target for layouts, card or OTP's for the year?

Does anyone else scrap their New Year's Resolutions or "Manifesto"?

And is anyone interested in joining in the Scrap Organisation Challenge? 

I will post some more information about this in the next day or two. You are welcome to join in for the whole thing or just bits and pieces of it.

Annual Planner

In my 2011 diary, I added some pages to help me with planning my blog as well as remembering what birthday and anniversary cards I needed to create. I loved that it was always at hand so I could see at the drop of a hat what I needed to get done for when. Unfortunately by the end of the year my diary ended up double its original size and just about in need of its own zip code.
When I covered this year's diary, I didn't add the extra pages but instead put them into a separate folder - my Annual Planning Folder.
I started with a plain green A4 folder (the cheapest I could find at Warehouse Stationery). I personalised it with some black vinyl word and flourish rub-ons and wallah... a sexy new folder to inspire me to be creative and organised.

 The folder opened out to see see both the front and back cover.

 Front

Back
Another step towards my annual challenge to get organised.

Getting Organised

If you read my last post for 2011 you would have seen my bold announcement that my word for 2012 is ORGANISE. So to show that I am walking the talk I want to share with you my first tool to help me organise.
But before I show my first creation for the New Year I have to ask a question and share my thoughts. For obvious reasons I have been pondering the term "Altered" and how it relates to off-the-page projects. To me "Altering" an item means that not only do you alter the way it looks, but you also alter its purpose or the way in which it functions. For instance if you turn an old book into a shadow box by cutting out the centre of the book, then it can no longer function as a book so it's purpose has changed, so it is an "Altered Item". If you decorate an item but it still retains its originally purpose and functionality then I considered that not to be altered as such but personalised.


What does everyone else think? Agree, don't agree? Or am I just talking semantics and it doesn't matter and no one really cares?


My first OTP project year is personalising my diary. This is the third year I have done this, though I only blogged last year and not the year before - sorry. Last year I added some extra pages - cardstock monthly dividers which I loved and found them to be a really useful planning tool, but to be honest by the time I got to the end of the year, I swear my diary ended up double the size it started!!!
This year I've re-covered the diary covers but created a separate Planning Folder for all those extra bits and pieces. OK it means I don't quite have the portability with everything in one location but I don't have the bulk (which was definitely an issue last year - and it weighed a ton!!!) and I think the new planner will be able to have more functionality once it is fully set up and operating smoothly. And it fits the bill of getting more organised!! (BONUS)
I know most people know how to (re)cover a book or journal but here is a step by step with pictures anyway. It's always useful to see how other people do things.


Personalising a Book/Journal/Diary:

Diary - fresh from the shop

• Remove the front and back covers leaving the pages intact and still bound. If you intend to add other bits and pieces you will need to remove pages as appropriate.

• Cut patterned paper for front and back covers. My diary is 8 1/2" x 6" so I cut the main patterned paper 10 1/2" x 8" (1" wider on all four sides). 
• Cut the coordinated secondary patterned paper (for the insides of the covers) I cut 8 3/8" x 6".

• Adhere main patterned paper to the outside of the front and back covers. Take care with this step if you are using a patterned paper with a right way up. I used Helmar Acid Free Glue whenever I am covering hard board like this because it dries reasonably quickly and holds on well and truly. It also dries clear which is a bonus in case you get some glue somewhere you shouldn't. I drip a trail around the cover (not the paper) then spread it evenly over the cover using an old credit card. Leave to dry, though this may not take too long if you have a nice even and not too thick coating of glue. You can roll with a brayer to make sure there are no air bubbles though I usually just run my hand across the page to make sure it has stuck properly.

• If you are re-using the existing cover which has punched binding holes you need to re-use, manually cut one hole out of the patterned paper to give yourself an alignment hole. If you plan to use your Bind-It-All or similar you only need to cut one hole. If you are cutting your holes manually, then you need to cut all holes. If you skip this step, it will be MUCH HARDER to align up where your holes are to match the binding wire if you are re-using it.

• Cut the mitre corner across the corner of the patterned paper but be sure to use either an off-cut of the hardboard used or an approximation (e.g. multiple layers of cardstock to same thickness as cover) to measure the distance out from the corner to cut.

• Pre-fold the overhang around the side and onto the back of the cover and finger press into place. Try to make this as tight and crisp as possible.
• Glue down either the top and bottom overhangs or the two sides. Using your thumb nail or a bone folder, press the mitre corner hard against the edge of the cover to give a nice tight and tidy corner fold.
• Glue down the other two sides and then repeat for the other cover.

• Sand the edges of the backing paper slightly if desired.
• Glue the backing paper so as to cover the overhangs on the inside of each cover. Glue using the same methodology as mentioned in step 4 though put the glue on to the paper instead of the cover. Check your paper direction if appropriate. Leave to dry before attempting the next step to avoid clogging up your binding machine. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step... doh!!!
• Line up the paper stop guide on your Bind-It-All with the hole that you cut manually under step 5. Use this as your guide to align the new holes in the covers. Punch holes along the binding side following your Binding machines specific instructions. Repeat for both covers.

• Re-attach your covers back in place.
• Embellish as desired. I have attached die-cut numbers using my Xyron. After I had run the numbers through the Xyron, I coated them with Glossy Accents to give them a bit of added dimension.

 The top "1" is plain paper (scraps from the patterned paper used on the inside of the covers). The 2012 is the end result after coating with Glossy Accents. For a tutorial in more detail (inking foam letters) check out this earlier blog.

• Add any additional embellishments such as a ribbon page marker if desired.

The diary with the pages open to see both the front and back.
I received a present bought from Kikki Stationery and gift wrapped in store complete with their personalised ribbon. I loved it so much so kept it to use eventually. The colours worked perfectly with the papers I had used to personalise the diary covers. I'm stoked I finally got to use the ribbon and I get to enjoy it every day.


Step 1 towards my 52 weeks to get organised.

My Word for 2012

Over the past few years I have watched as many of my scrapping and crafting friends have deftly announced their word of the year for the coming year. The word that will be their inspiration, their guide, their goal, their focus for the coming 12 months. I've never been so inspired or motivated to have my own "Word", until now.
This is kind of a new thing for me. I've no idea what to expect, what to plan, what form it will take, how I will record what this word means to me... nothing, just the word itself. I have faith that this is the right focus for me. I have faith that this is the right time for me to follow this creative journey. I have faith that things will all fall into place.


My word for 2012 is "Organisation".


Some who know me might question my choice... I know I have, several times. I'm an accountant, my day to day working life is all about organisation, I love systems, love methodologies, love organisation so surely this seems a bit defunct, a bit pointless, surely??
If I be honest with myself, and you... and in the past I have been (sometimes too honest)... despite my love of organisation at work, in my family life, my business, my scrapping, my home... it's all more like complete and utter chaos.
I'm not sure if it's a delayed reaction to what has been going on in the world around me the past 12 - 15 months or the impending threats of world annihilation (depending upon whether or not you agree), but being organised and prepared for whatever life is going to throw at me, seems really appropriate for the coming year. 
Along with all my crafting bits and pieces, new products, tutorials and everything I throw at you, I will be sharing some of my organisational tips, tricks, trials and tribulations. That and whatever and however I end up recording all of it.
I've taken my first step already... 
I've signed up to the 52 weeks to an organised home - weekly challenge through Home Storage Solutions 101. The schedule is up on their website for all to see, so you know what to expect when - I like this already. It also means that you can plan and alter as appropriate to suit your needs... for instance if you don't have kids or your kids are too old for you to clean their room, then you can always substitute these weeks for something else.
There is a link to the right (way down the bottom) of my blog so if you want to know more then by all means please go take a look.
There are going to be lots of other organisation and storage ideas over the next twelve months so be sure to check back for some inspiration.

Handmade - Templates

Today I've been busy trying new techniques, cleaning, scrapping, organising, planning and downloading.
Tonight as my handmade items I've been hand-cutting some templates of some new shapes and designs. That sounds fairly straight forward and it is, though most of my templates I cut out of plastic so that I can re-use them hundreds if not thousands of times without the slightest sign of any damage.
I would post some pictures but they are all clear plastic so they don't photograph well. I will however point out some of my templates as I use them.


How do I create my templates?


First you need a design that you like and think you will use time and time again. It may be a die cut piece of paper that you really like the shape of or an image you have downloaded that you think would make a great background.
If I download an image I like, I print it out onto ordinary printer paper then cut it out with scissors. If its a die-cut piece of paper then I just use that.
I use re-positional adhesive dots to hold the paper template on to my plastic so I can then trace around it with a soft pencil - like a 3B - 6B.
I know you are asking what plastic do I use for my templates...
Go to your local $2 shop and look for packs of 2 clear plastic place mats. You can use coloured ones if you like, though I like the clear as then I can see the patterned paper beneath, just in case I am trying to line up a particular part of the pattern.
Having drawn or traced your pattern on the plastic, cut out the design using sharp but smallish scissors.
I then cut a small hole in one of the corners so that I can feed them onto the binder rings I have all my other templates on.
I have 4 or 5 rings now each with different sized templates on them.
The plastic can be quite firm to cut, so I wouldn't cut out too many at once, not unless you really like blisters across your fingers - just take my word for it on that.
And then when you have cut out your templates use them to cut patterned paper & cardstock for your scrapbook pages, cards and OTP projects.

Bob the Builder & Tim the Toolman Taylor meet Paula the Perfectionist

I haven't exactly been creating pages as such over the past couple of days though technically I have been creative. And I did take pictures of the process so that I can scrap them!!!


My scrapbook studio is the double garage underneath the top story of our home. (We have a second garage which is why I have the luxury of having the whole garage to myself... well I have to share with the laundry but that doesn't take up much room.)

The problem with the garage is a distinctinve lack of space particularly given the amount of scrapbooking and now jewellery making stuff I have.

So the Warehouse has some storage cupboards on sale so I went and bought two more to go with the two that I already have. I have spent the past two days, building and decorating the cupboards and then rearranging the garage so they could fit. (Ok that bit is still a work in progress)

Here they are, well at least the top halves, so you can read the sayings on them.

I have to say (well the perfectionist in me does), that unfortunately the quality of the paint job / coating on the new cupboards was a little disappointing. When I pulled the backing paper off having rubbed on the rub-ons, in a couple of places some of the coating tore off. Bummer, I need to find a solution, but they don't look too bad.

All I need to do now is resort the entire studio... any volunteers??

More Creative Cleaning

It's finally Friday - at last!!! Have spent much of this week sorting and cleaning. Here are pics of the last couple of tasks completed. 

Have re-done all my ribbons. Now multiple ribbons per bag so less bags used, but still looks the same in terms of volume. Over 450 different ribbons... I have a problem lol.

 And my beads are now all sorted by colour in various boxes.

Creative of Sorts

In the broad sense of creativity, including the pre-planning and organisation that goes into being creative, I have been very creative over the past couple of days. That is to say I have been very busy sorting and organising all my flowers so that my future creative processes and endeavours should in theory flow a little easier.

My existing flower storage facility was over flowing to the point where I had quite a pile of flowers looking for a home. I had three 5-drawer mini storage sets that housed all my flowers by colour but it was full to the brim. 

I recently bought 2 sets of 6 glass mini storage jars - like mini versions of those cookie jars that have a extra flat surface so they can sit on an angle which makes it easier to get the cookies out. I picked up each set of 6 jars for $6.oo from one of the Asian variety stores here in Papakura. I would have bought more, but that was all they had (Sorry to everyone hoping they might get a set as the storage option of our Christmas Challenge).

So the past two days have been spent sporting and re-arranging all my flowers. I now have my flowers sorted still by colour, but split between large flowers - now exclusively in the drawers; and small flowers - now in the storage jars.

I think they look premo and very decorative and I may have to find somewhere to store them outside of their current location in the cupboard. Maybe those mini shelves by the studio front door which once housed nails and screws and other manly things that usually reside in a garage.

Anyway here they are... no I'm not going to count how many flowers I have, suffice it to say... LOTS!!!

Large Flowers - L to R & Top to Bottom
Blue, blue, teal, green, purple
Pink, pink, orange, yellow/orange, yellow
White, cream, brown, black, red

Small Flowers - L to R by row

Orange, red, pink, pink, purple, blue, teal/grey
Yellow, white, green, brown

Cream, black

It's About Time

I can hear a chorus of voices all calling out the same thing... its about time you got your act together and finally actually posted something on your blog... Well here it is, at last!

I am a scrapbooker, wannabe photographer (need a new camera, but need to be able to afford it first), step-mum, nana and currently unemployed bum aka accountant. Given that I'm currently not working and yet seem to have no time in my day to do everything that I want to do, I'm at a loss as to how I even managed to fit in working a full-time job as well as everything else I do.

Aside from the unemployment bit, my life, in general, is fairly interesting to put it politely... no doubt more on that as we get to know one another. Anyway today is my eldest step-daughter's 20th birthday... well technically yesterday as it's now after midnight, but you know what I mean. It is also now over four months since I had a job, and aside from the whole not having any money thing, it's really not too bad.  


I spent most of last week away at Scrap Camp, where I taught two classes on mini albums and despite starting the first class a little hesitant about my abilities, ended up thoroughly enjoying myself and wondering why I wasn't doing more of this in real life. I will add some photos of the two albums in the next day or two as I haven't actually taken any photos of the completed projects.



Note to self: take photos, hurry up and clean scrapbook studio, get website sorted out and get classes started! And to those who know me well, yes I know I have been saying this for some time. I'm a procrastinator... it's a hard habit to break.


Anyway I am making progress re cleaning studio, have at least almost completely unpacking after Scrap Camp, and can find nearly everything, though I am in desperate need of more storage, despite the recent addition of the two new cupboards, so if anyone has one lying around doing nothing, please send it my way. I'm sure I can find a home for it here, and it will feel comfortable, wanted and most importantly loved by me.


Here a photo of the beloved cupboards that I built and decorated myself that are currently bursting at the seams... need to start somewhere and here is as good a place as any.

Chat to you soon