Organize your Stuff: Week 4 (round 3): Paper Part 1

Fabulous Crisann’s Question of the Week: Do you store Paper horizontal or vertical? By color, theme, or manufacturer? OCD Me is in charge of the paper organization. Period. She has decided that she likes the vertical storage. We need to buy stock in cropper hoppers. Solids are by color, my favorites are by company (like My Mind’s Eye and Basic Grey). The rest are patterned, stripes, dots, etc. I probably need to separate holidays, but I haven’t gotten it there.

Alright! The POW is beginning to get her grove on… and is so very proud! Our apple card for Tuesday Trio DT tryouts won Sketch #33, and our smile card placed in the top 3 for Sketch #34. Now we have our fingers crossed for Sketch #35  (below). One of my personalities has a warped sense of humor (probably the Inner Hoarder). So, for a “happy” card we did a Happy Halloween card with spiders in lieu of flowers (they look much cooler in person…when not smushed on the scanner). Girl Friday was happy too. OCD Me is taking bets and managing the pool. It is her belief that sparkly pom poms will be underfoot until at least Thanksgiving/ the end of November.

As for paper week, the POW and OCD Me are in construction mode. Paper was a group therapy week last round, but we were able to find a home for most of it. However, we are yet again at an impasse. While OCD Me is tickled by the jetmax cubes and cropper hoppers holding the papers, it is now FULL with both papers and projects. The Inner Hoarder cannot find anything worth culling to Girl Friday…who, by the way, is always circling like a starved lioness, waiting for the slowest, just barely ignored piece of patterned paper…then it is down for the kill.

This is my Round 2 after…

Note the Inner Hoarder (and part time shopaholic) has overrun OCD Me’s beautifully organized universe. PA Me has waylaid OCD Me with other projects… I am now the proud owner of a marginally unstable core door table that we put together with Girl Friday’s supervision (so only 2 stripped screws). Like many of my round 2 brethren, I have come to the realization that yes, we have made real progress. However, some of that progress may have been smoke and mirrors (You never did see that 2+ inches that I admitted to not filing). So, my goal by end of week is to ignore PA Me (and force her into therapy sessions) and moderate a Peace Accord between OCD Me and the Inner Hoarder. I see much consumption of Chocolate in my future! Wish me luck for the end of the week, when I will hopefully (*cross your fingers!*) have my paper settled, and a layout for Week 2 of Glee Club- Alternative (Seriously!?). Note: the POW is in the corner right now, breathing into a little brown lunch sack, and PA Me is holding her hand. This does not bode well.
Round 3 before...

(do you notice that there are a few more cubes of paper than in the previous picture?)

Organize your Stuff (round 3): Week 3-Clean Sweep or Start Small

OK.  I am trying to learn...Instead of just taking a picture, I scanned my layout for the first time.  There is no stitch function for my scanner, so I had to import it into MS Publisher, so don't look too close at the lines (OCD Me is very embarassed and did not want it posted, but the POW thinks that it looks better, and she is ultimately in charge).  Here is the layout that I failed to bring you yesterday. It is my entry for Dixie Pieces Glee Club Challenge Week 1: Classic Rock-The Beatles. I thought OCD Me was going to coronary over the lack of photos-due to Costco. However, Fabulous Spouse came to the rescue, and went to a different Costco after work to pick up photos for me. We love you!!!

As a side challenge from Dixie Pieces…and we all know the POW loves a challenge… We could also use a word from the title in a card for bonus points. Girl Friday has been doing the wheels on the bus at school all week and helped me with this one (she is the little blond button in the back).

As for the Round 3 of the Organize your stuff Challenge, this time I am “going small”. Realizing that “going small” in my universe is kind of an oxymoron (you know…jumbo shrimp, military intelligence, mandatory fun), but I did try hard last round. Therefore, I am convinced that this time around that it will be more of a tweaking process… or at least that is what I keep telling myself. So, Next week is paper… let’s see how it goes!

Organize you Stuff Week 22 & 23 (round 2): Dies and templates

Wow it has been a busy week out here in the non scrapbooking part of my Universe! I braved a weekend at the 8th largest Fair in the World-the Puyallup Fair…or so they say (I don’t think that you would make it up for 8th place…for third place maybe) with the three kids and just myself and managed to return with all three kids and nobody grounded, cub scouts, boy scouts, missed girl scouts-oops, the first football game for Oldest Child ever in which he played (to be scrapbooked soon), Fabulous Spouse returned from his trip to Japan, and we have Middle School Open house.

To make it less stressful, I joined a six week layout “Glee Club" at Dixie Pieces. You too can join-tell them Scrappnbee sent you and I get 2 points *smile*! It is a lot of fun. This week is The Beatles. There are several Beatles song titles from which to choose. I chose “Ticket to Ride”. You will have to imagine that my layout is here, as Costco lost my file last night, and the photo machine is down this morning and a tech won’t be at the store to fix it until tomorrow. It is that darned Murphy’s Law thing again. Darned you Murphy!!!

Use the force, and imagine that this is Fair Pictures with a whimsical yellow submarine 1970s-ish flare (that’s how it looks in my mind anyways). I promise to post it before midnight Friday, as that is when this week’s challenge closes.

Oh, also good news to share! My apple tree greeting card won the Layout #33 Challenge at Tuesday Trio (Yeahhh!) The POW is so excited she is virtually doing cartwheels and I think that OCD Me is ready to hit her.

As for the dies and templates… My cricut is the only thing that I have. Fortunately…or un-, I never got into the diecut machines prior to the cricut release. I think that was mostly due to some greater realization by the POW that, at the time, I had a laundry basket and a Rubbermaid bin for all of my scrapbooking storage, and dies and templates would just eat up too much space. Besides, most of my local scrapbook stores had dies if I truly needed it, and I am more a stamper than a die cutter. (Sorry die cut fans). Here is my Cricut Expressions at home in the scrapbook room. The cartridges are tucked away nearby for ease of access as I have not made the leap to a Gypsy yet…someday maybe.

Organize your Stuff: Week 1 &2 (round 3): Brainstorming and Space audit

First order of business: Here is my next of four entries in the Tuesday Trio design team tryouts ( Sketch #34 )with the needed element of buttons.  The yellow smily is a yellow 2-hole button on which I painted a mouth and cheeks.

Also, I was informed by Illusive Middle Child, that I did not really show the coolest part of the boys’ bedroom well in my last post…the skull fortress on his pirate island. Oldest child had no comment. So, humoring mom that I am, here it is…

Anyway, I went back to http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/ to finish my participation in round two of the Organize your Stuff challenge. Much to my surprise (and I guess if I had been visiting the board instead of hiding, I would have), the Fabulous Crisann has resurrected the Zen Master Wookiemouse’s Challenge for a third round. I guess that some would call it luck, karma, kismet…whatever. The Inner Hoarder thinks that it a chance to postpone dealing with memorabilia week for another four months.

The POW, however, is in overdrive. She is tired of being a neophyte and wants to get her yellow belt in Scrapbooking Organization at the very least (between you and me, she is just a trifle bit of an overachiever and type-A personality). Before PA Me and the Inner Hoarder get totally out of control, she wants to attempt to finish round two (Really, it is just that we all don’t want an I told you that you would never finish from our Fabulous Spouse, or the rest of us would tie her down again until the caffeine wears off). So, I am going to try and juggle both and when possible post twice a week to work on finishing Round 2, while moving through Round 3. PA Me was sent to the corner to think about the consequences of making a mess and not picking up after herself, and the Inner Hoarder has been sent to Target to look for storage bins or garbage bags, her choice…I think that I need to buy stock in Rubbermaid!

Why Round 3 at all? Well, during the summer, it seems that clutter has reproduced faster than gremlins when wet! Round 2 has seen the near successful takeover of my dining room. Round 3 will make it more user friendly. So, get ready for some more mental chaos, some hopefully fabulous layouts (and cards). Together, we will get through this…or you can just laugh as you succeed, and I am stuck when PA Me finally finishes her time out.

Now back to business—Brainstorming and Space Audit.

What works in my current space…or what do I like best?

Ok, the one thing above all else, my jetmax/ paper storage, and the use of the label maker. My one piece of advice to those doing the Organize your Stuff challenge for the first time- get a label maker (mine is a brother p-touch). Just putting labels on things makes your space look cleaner, and makes it easier to find things.

What doesn’t work?

I need more storage. Less stuff is just not going to happen. I can purge, but between the Inner Hoarder and three kids constantly bringing more stuff into the house…and myself bringing new stuff into the house (yes, I know that it is a problem). That is not going to happen. Also, Girl Friday needs a bigger crafting space. She is too much her mother, and likes to spread out.

So here is my new before picture, warts and all. Yes, some of that is the Easter chipboard album that I have yet to get past page three on, but the edges of the boards are painted! I know, I know. I really need to get PA me back into therapy and finish something. Hopefully, in a few days, I’ll have a layout to go with the card from above!

Organize your Stuff intermission: Back from Summer break...

I am back from the summer…

Has it really been three months since I last stepped into my scrapbook room!

The POW and myself are sorry to have left you behind. OCD Me really wanted to keep you in the loop on what I was…or was not accomplishing over the summer, but the Inner Hoarder kept telling the POW that if I let you know that we were travelling out of state, that we would come home to an empty, ransacked house. I know… I know… the probability that my fellow declutterers would be spurred to a life of crime was non existant… but it was that whole “stranger danger” thing… and well, sometimes cowardice is the better part of valor. I don’t think that she really trusts the whole share your life with the world thing completely.

So, the POW and OCD Me, who were really more distracted about packing the kids up for a summer at the beach (because the illusive middle child was convinced he was going to live in a swimsuit and did not need to pack underwear, and Girl Friday wanted to pack everything) gave in to the Inner Hoarder and PA Me, who was skipping therapy for the summer. After vacation, came cleaning, then painting, then…back to school.

So, now it is fall, and the POW is shocked at how far behind my scrapbook room has slid. Aparently, while she and OCD me were coordinating summer schedules and turning the boys’ bedroom into a pirate ship, the Inner Hoarder had collected A LOT… and deposited it into my new scrapbook room (convieniently located between the front door and the rest of the house). Therefore, I am ging myself this week to get back to where I was, and then I am going to get back to this project. The POW is not going to let PA Me not finish another project.

So, I am back! And to help get the creative juices flowing, I found a Design Team challege on which to work. Here is my card from Tuesday Trio, a neat blog from Israel (http://tuesdaytrio.blogspot.com/2010/09/33-sketch-no-dt-call.html )

I am really comfortable with scrapbook pages, but I wanted to do something a little smaller.  This celebrates the Jewish New Year, and the apples and honey that are traditional foods to represent the sweet new year-thus the apple tree!  It is all hand stamped.