New Beginnings

Well best laid plans - I noticed that my last blog post was January 7th, 2010 and am so disappointed in myself. Well as cliche as the whole New Years Resolution game is -- I'm falling for it this year. I have made New Years Resolutions - eight of them to be exact - some very standard but difficult to follow through on or they wouldn't still be on the list - some are strange to be resolutions but will remain on the list. I will come up with a plan and start to move forward on all of them. Please join me on my journey - it will be about being a mom, wife, scrapbooker, friend and teacher.

Happy New Year!!!! I'm looking forward to an exciting 2012!

Time is Really Flying By...

I can not believe that everywhere I turn the scrapbook suppliers are talking about and giving us sneak peeks at their CHA Release - can you believe that the CHA Show is at the end of the month. I guess with all the small releases everyone is doing between the big shows we aren't as starved for new product as we used to be.

Okay - what am I most excited about: 12 New Colours from Tim Holtz - the only colour I have ever felt was missing from Tim's current collection is grey (there is a grey in the new release --yay!) but when I look at the colours I don't know how I will live without them - lol - sad really!

Check them out here - Tim's New Distress Ink Colours. Next on my list is Tim Holtz' Alterations Line with Sizzix - I have not owned a Sizzix product but am fairly confident that that is about to change. I think that I can use Sizzix dies in my Revolution but will need to make a couple of phone calls to make sure that is the case - if it isn't then I am about to purchase another tool - lol - do you think my husband reads what I blog about - I guess we are about to find out - see a sampling of these dies here. Hero Arts doesn't wait for CHA the did a large new release a couple of weeks ago with a really fun blog hop - some of their new stamps are really must haves!

Basic Grey finally launched their new website - they had some delays but it all appears to be working - so here is some really fun news - older papers that you can't find at your LSS anymore can now be purchased directly from BG. There are also some really fun digital designs available I am actually thinking about doing some digital work now - lol - maybe there would be less clean up after a digital project.

Quick resolution update - the only progress I have made is in the Blogging area and in the organization of the house and my scrapbook nook - the second last two baskets I need are on hold in for me in Whitby at Bouclair (thanks Kristen) - then I need to go to Solutions and get the very last two I need (or have room for) - I have made some progress on organizing the house nothing huge or earth-shattering but you know areas that used to be super cluttered are less so. Brian (my husband) isn't really noticing changes but I am pointing them out - lol.

ttyl,

Jackie

An Update, My Resolutions and More

Hi All,

Happy New Year - I hope everyone has a great Christmas and I wish everyone all the best for 2010. Sorry I know I sort of vanished -- I was so unorganized (still am!) going into Christmas I just had to push through and get it all done -- it didn't all happen but really I'm likely the only one that knows.

Over Christmas a good friend of mine lost her husband -- it was the call no one wants to receive "Can you meet me at the hospital ---" -- he is far too young to be gone he would have turned 41 last Tuesday instead his funeral was on Monday - a tragedy. Kristen has been a pillar of strength true this entire ordeal within two weeks of Masons passing she has gone through Christmas, his birthday, New Years and returned to work. Watching her through this has been tough I have felt like I couldn't do enough but knowing her I knew a lot of this she would need to do on her own all I could do was be there if she needed me and try to help. I hope I was able to make it easier for her.

My organization issues continue -- as you know I had picked my out my storage options and have been trying to purchase them but before I fell in love I should have checked how long the products had been available and if more new stock was coming -- I picked two sizes of glass jars -after much searching and trips to three different Home Outfitters I have the six I want, I found large black wooden containers that were great from Solutions - only three were available I ordered three more and now have learned I really need two more and will have to order them as well. It is the lovely lime green baskets from Bouclair - and these have become my downfall I love them and made a decision on what I wanted and travelled back to the store 4 times hoping more would be in the next delivery -- the store manager took pity on me and finally helped me locate what I wanted. I then travelled to the three stores I needed to and bought what turned out to be the wrong baskets - so reworked my plan and made them work but still needed more -- they aren't to be had - so I found a coordinating basket that I thought would work - bought two of them last week but bought the wrong size - decided they will work but now I need two more so the search continues -- please wish me luck -- with a little luck I may scrapbook in there before the end of the year.

Resolutions - do you make them? I do and like most everyone traditionally I fail and set the same goals again the following January. This year is going to be different I have a different mindset -- my resolutions are goals for the year and they don't have to be all met in the next week -- in the next week I need to take some sort of action towards each goal.

My resolutions are:

- get healthier includes weight loss and more exercise

- blog regularly - haven't determined what schedule I want but regularly is the goal

- get organized - includes scrapbook room, house and everything

- get my projects for my classes done earlier - sort of a stop procrastinating goal but specific

- finish some unfinished projects

- be a better friend

Okay there they are public and committed to! Now I need to move forward on them. I'd like to think that tomorrow I will take a small action towards each but its 4:25 am and I'm still up so I my goal for tomorrow is to function and get through it - probably should have made a resolution to combat insomnia but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that so if the insomnia continues either I will get lots done -- or nothing - lol - wish me luck!

Jackie

One Step at a Time

I can't believe how long it is taking me to get organized. I just seem to continue to spin my wheels. Let me walk you through my process -- any suggestions for improvement are welcome. Kristen came over on November 7th and we pulled out everything related to scrapbooking that I own - this included going under our bed, into the closet in our guest room, into the hutch in the dining room and the 'empty' file cabinet in the basement. We emptied every tote, shopping bag and box we could find. There it was every piece of paper, every ink, every tool, every Quickutz die, and piece of chipboard I own spread out on or under two 8 foot tables in my basement. It is quite an eye opening experience to see it all at once -- feels a bit like step one of a twelve step problem. But lets not dwell on it - cause truth be told I was in a scrapbooking store today and made some purchases.

Kristen and I proceeded to sort everything into categories - like with like - our theory was that this would allow me to decide how much storage I needed for each category and then go and make my purchases - or purchase options and bring them home and try them out. When a category got too large we would split it into a smaller sub category (chipboard became alphabets and shapes then alphabets became naked and coloured chipboard). We essentially ignored paper, cardstock, stamps and Quickutz - all determined to be unwieldy and needing their own specialized storage. The broad categories that remained were - flowers, buttons, flat embellishments, class supplies, adhesives, acrylic shapes and alphas, other embellishments, ribbon, paint, ink, stamping accessories tools and supplies I needed everytime I scrapbooked.

Our next goal was to determine the amount and type of storage needed for each category. This is where the day sort of fell apart - after a brief time with the two of us laying flat on the floor in exhaustion completely unable to fathom how all of this would ever fit in the Nook we rallied and decided the types of storage needed fell into a couple of categories - these included visible, open storage; visible closed storage, not visible open storage and not visible closed storage. I drew a sketch of where I wanted the stuff in the room on the shelves that currently existed. I knew I liked the look of glass jars, I have always been a fan of baskets but could not wrap my head around what I needed. Kristen having gone through this same experience not so long ago tried to assist but I was too tired to even listen to her advice -- so we just left and headed to the store.

I will fill you in on the continuing saga soon!

Jackie

Harder than I thought

I had my last class at the store last Wednesday - it was the Just Me Class - this year we have been using the Basic Grey Page of the Month Program. The class was much harder than I thought it would be - the store was already closed just the class was left. The Just Me Program had been running since April 2008. The five original members still coming - with 17 additional people some who have been with us since January and some who have joined more recently. I have learned so much about each of these members having helped them with their layouts and the subject content that made the most sense for them. They have become part of my life as well and not seeing them as often as I have is going to be more painful than I anticipated. I will miss our visits more than I thought I would - these are women who have left a permanent imprint on who I am and I am better for it - the combined strength of these women is something they should be proud of; the life experiences they have endured and thrived through is remarkable; if I only have a fraction of the strength of any one of these women I know I will be able to survive anything life has to throw at me. I was pleased that Ann was able to drop in I haven't see her in a while and I knew she already had her kit so I wasn't expecting her but was really please to see her. Not tearing up during this class was a challenge and I hope everyone realized that was the reason I may have appeared distant. The classes will continue in a different venue -- I hope they will be the same!

ttyl,

Jackie

Back to the Nook

First things first - I need to get my stuff out of totes, boxes and bags - it is now all out of the living room, dining room and thankfully the front hall - and it is all within 15 feet of my Nook. Now as I unload it all I am putting it on the shelves by category. My plan is to see have I have in each category (ie. flowers, chipboard, rub-ons, stamps) and then decide the best storage solution for it. I haven't scrapped at home at all lately so everything is packaged for transport and now it needs a permanent home in a room that inspires me, I have three boxes, eight bags, one shoulder tote and my rolling tote to unpack - my rolling tote I haven't even opened in likely 8 months so it will be like getting new stuff - which makes it fun. The upper shelves in the Nook are built it is the lower ones and the work surface that aren't finished - the shelves are jammed with the stuff I have already unloaded and I'm not sure where to sort the rest but will push forward over the next few days - I need to have my storage requirements almost sorted out because I have a shopping date next week to look at my options.

Wish me luck,

Jackie

The Nook

I am working on moving my scrapbooking stuff home and not having it take over the house - It is now home but currently it is everywhere but it is my goal to contain it but have it accessible. By accessible I don't mean packed in boxes I can dig through for what I need but visible and organized - for example if I want flowers for a layout I know where to go to look at all my available flowers and make my choice. Brian started to build me a scrapbook room - herein called the nook but other projects got in the way and time has passed without much progress so I will need to move this forward but start to move my stuff in at the same time. Currently there are 3 or 4 bags or boxes in our front hall full of stuff that needs a home and anything that is in here is just shoved on shelves and I don't know what is where because Brian carried most of it downstairs for me to get it out of the living room - Organizing the Nook is one of my biggest priorities over the next couple of months.

Talk soon,

Jackie