Organize your Stuff: Week 14 (round 4): WOYWW & Crops part 1

We  apologize for the lateness of this post.  Blogger crashed yesterday, and we lost this whole post!  Darned you blogger!!!

This has been a hectic week to say the least! So, here is our desk, messy as usual....

Check out the restof the desks around the world at the Stamping Ground!

There is no card, as Creative Me jumped the gun and did next week's sketch for Tuesday Trio, rather than the one for this week.  OOoopps!  However, on July 1st we will have a cool little 9 patch for One Little Word to show off for our June Homework.  The POW is confident that it will be fabulous, but OCD Me is... as usual... not so sure.  PA Me and the end of school year schedule has kept us on the ropes, and away from the desk more than usual.  Creative Me is sure you will be WOW-ed, so come on by and check it out (along with some crop stuff!).

For starters this week, we went MIA into the wilderness relocation and electronic deprograming program.  For two days we had forced family fun at Illusive Middle Child's Cub Scout Pack Family Campout with no gameboys or X box or Wii.

It monsooned the first day, but was sunny with just the right ammount of mud for optimal childhood pleasure and dirty laundry maximization for the rest of the weekend.

Monday, Fabulous Spouse took off  to save the world, one power plant at a time, leaving us home to manage on our own. 

But that is OK, because last night, our parents arrived from the East Coast ready for summertime fun with the grandkids (even if we are still experiencing early spring 60s and 70s weather).  We are hoping for some berry picking, sprinkler running and maybe a few fireworks!  Lets keep our fingers crossed!

Organize your Stuff: Week 13 (round 4): Stamps Part 2

Today is a quick post, as it is Fabulous Spouse’s birthday, a volunteer day for us, and Pack Family Campout for Illusive Middle Child and by extension the rest of us…and yes, PA Me was in charge, which means that we have not begun to pack. Inconceivable! …I do not think that that word means what you think it means…

But here is our birthday card for Fabulous Spouse…stamped!

We added some liquid glass and stickles to our My Mind’s Eye American Made Paper and CTMH stamped images. Creative Me loves the epoxy look, even if it takes overnight to dry.

Creative Me got her inspiration from the Play Date Café PDCC87. This is a really cool site that uses color and photos to inspire you!

Have a great Weekend! We are off to play with the bears and raccoons!

Organize your Stuff: Week 13 (round 4): Stamps Part 1 and WOYWW

Happy Summer Solstice...ok it was yesterday!  Here in the Pacific NW, That meant that sunset was at like 9:15 PM and sunrise this moring was before 5!  If only the temperatures would raise themselves above the 60s-70s we might actually have a summer!

For those travelling on the WOYWW, here is our workdesk. Creative Me is working on a Mini Album for our local scrapbook store, The Mad Scrapper. It is our second mini to get picked up for kitting (our first was a My Mind’s Eye American Made that sold out in 4 days! Woo Hoo!) and trust me, the personalities are working hard to put it together so as not to disappoint!

To see the rest of the WOYWW desks, refer back to the Stamping Station. They have the whole list of fabulous Desks!

For those in the Organization Challenge, here is where we keep our stamps.

The wood mounted (old SU stamps are on the left in an old VHS tower) on one side and acrylic in the middle (mostly Technique Tuesday and a few others) and on the other side (CTMH in CD case "egg crates").

The POW has spent this week dealing with the misery that is …no laptop. It has been truely paralyzing! Our poor little red laptop of two years was dropped one time too many, and has passed on to its electronic maker in the sky! OCD Me was beside herself as she could not check her sites or mail, PA Me could not put off things by trolling the internet. Creative Me was reduced to using a smart phone to look for ideas and get inspiration from blogs. It was sad.

We bought a new laptop this weekend, but the transfer of data process took forever…ok, until tonight. Now we are back!

Today was also the last day of school for our three children- Oldest Child (now *gasp* an 8th Grader), Illusive Middle Child (now in 3rd Grade), and Girl Friday (now in 1st Grade). This means that we will have much more time/ none at all to work on Scrapbooking and Card Making, as it is now summer! Hopefully we will not be too busy, as it will be September 1st and Back to School before you know it!

Happy Father's Day!!! ...or Fabulous Spouse's 1st Layout

Happy Father’s Day!

Hope all of you are having fun celebrating somebody today!

Sorry this post is so late…but it is not PA Me’s fault. Our laptop has finally died. It fell one too many times, and now is no more! :(  So Sad!

However, we did promise you the layout that Fabulous Spouse made us for Father’s Day.

We totally love it! (and it's Wizard of OZ theme!) This is his attempt at Product Vomit (a term that the POW picked up from one of the sites that we visited…so much quicker to say than “a scrap book store threw up on it”). Actually, as far as layouts go, it is only a mild upset stomache…in the product vomit arena, but he is trying.  Fabulous Spouse even encorporated my One Little Word: Embrace in the journalling! How Sweet!

Good news is that he was able to find what he needed after a year and a half of organizing. (Yeah!). Bad news is that Creative Me is pretty sure that he used all of our yellow buttons! LOL!

Also, Fabulous Spouse was a little shocked how long that it took to finish the layout. Ha! PA Me is not always the reason that it takes all week to get a layout done… or the fact that The POW is chef, chauffeur, cheerleader, scout parent…and reigning Lady of the Shoe!

Off to have a Pacific Northwest Father’s Day dinner of grilled Salmon and corn on the cob!

Organize your Stuff: Week 12 (round 4): Ribbons & Fibers Part 2

Ok. Last post the POW threw down the gauntlet to sew on a layout, so do not let it be said that Creative Me could not rise to a challenge! Here is our ribbon and fibers layout with sewing!

…yes, it is hand stitched and not sewn by the sewing machine, but OCD Me refused to let the sewing machine out of solitary confinement… even if she had been double dog dared by the POW. Party Pooper. In retrospect, the POW does concede that there would probably be heavy drinking involved and/ or broken machinery if the sewing machine was let loose, but then again, we all love a good train wreck!

The more we scrapbook, the more we are surprised by the Creativity that emerges in our household. On Sunday, we will have a layout that Fabulous Spouse put together in an attempt to prove that he too can make a layout that looks like product vomit…or at least a little bit of an upset tummy!

Have a fabulous Father’s Day weekend!!!

Organize your Stuff: Week 12 (round 4): WOYWW …Ribbons & Fibers Intermission

Hello fellow WOYWW –ers! PA Me loves this point in the week, because she knows it is not that bad, and she likes to watch OCD Me pace around wondering if someone is judging her for the mess we have made of our workspace! (FYI- it is a good thing that this is not what’s on your kitchen counter…then we would have reality cameras and people in hazmat suits here!).

For more fabulous desks (not kitchens… well unless one crafts in their kitchen…), please click over to the Stamping Ground!

Creative Me is in summer mode, which swings between extra crafty and taking a siesta with PA Me and looking for the Cabana boy to refill her Margarita glass. This week is a crafty one! We have a layout in progress, and we have wacked out some cool starburst cards inspired by Operation Write Home (OWH) who are looking for cards for the troops to send home to their loved ones. Summer is slow for them this time of year, but the troops still want to write their families! Send OWH a card or two if you have the chance!

Papers for this card were ancient Cosmo Cricket.
The eyelet is from Michaels or Jo Anns from around 2004, so manufacturer unkown.
White Ric Rac from the wall at the scrapbook store, manufacturer unknown.

If you like the flower/ rosette, the POW wanted you to know that there is a tutorial in the last post.

OCD Me is girding her loins for the summer invasion, as there are only 5 days left of school, then Girl Friday and her brothers will be about the house all day every day! The POW vows to keep them in check, but PA Me will believe it when she sees it. Inner Hoarder is crying. Guarantee: minimum one inch of paper, and countless other things will go missing this summer. Girl Friday is very creative.

Final thought in this ribbon and fiber intermission. Question of the week: do you sew your layouts/ cards?

It is well documented that our sewing machine is in solitary confinement right now for tension issues and a purely sociopathic hate of Creative Me. The POW would like to give it another try, but Creative Me is not on board yet. We will see.

Organize your Stuff: Week 12 (round 4): Ribbons & Fibers Part 1

This week is Ribbons! My ribbons were tamed during round 2 (here). The POW is happy with this organization (Artbins from Michaels).  OCD Me thinks that it makes sense, Creative Me sees through the Jedi Mind tricks, and has no problem finding what she needs, and PA Me finds it hard not to put stuff away as the system is so easy!  It is ROY G BIV with neutrals in one, red through green in the second (Inner Hoarder sees that one splitting in the future) and blues and purples and felt boarders (mostly from Queen & Co) in the third. 
Here is this week’s Tuesday Trio Design Team Sketch (#71). The design theme for this one was Birthday. Inner Hoarder had bought these cute little bear brads from the Eyelet Outlet at CKC Portland back in March and has been dying to use them. Creative Me fell in love! This is the result of that love…

Creative Me also made flowers using 5/8 and 7/8 inch circle punches. It is a great way to custom make a flower for a card or layout and use up some of those scraps.

Here is how...
Punch some scraps...

 mash them up, then ink...(ink sticks to the ridges)

add mist (oohhh Creative Me LOVES mists!)...

When it is dry, pile it together and add an eyelet (we all have a bunch of those hanging around!) or brad to make the center!

Hope that you make many of your own and have happy crafting this week!

Organize your Stuff: Week 11 (round 4): Stickers Part 2

Okay! Stickers in a layout. We can do this! The problem is, that out of sight, out of mind. What OCD Me sees as an awesome organization system a la third grade sticker book (see previous post for picture)… PA Me sees as a Jedi mind trick which just screams “These are not the embellishments that you are looking for”… and we forget that they are here.

So Creative Me decided that we would take the Creative bull by the horns and get it done. The Honor Courage and Commitment and the service definition are stickers. Hope that you enjoy!

Organize your Stuff: Week 11 (round 4): Stickers Part 1 & WOYWW

Here is our WOYWW work desk. Getting ready for another Iraq layout.

PA Me has reminded us that we also need to cue up some family pictures at Costco so that Creative Me does not fall to far behind with all of this end of year overscheduling…er… fun for our three kids!

Speaking of...here is last night's Middle School Band Concert photo op with the ever present Pacific North West Rainbow (That is the real reason that Seattle is called the Emerald City...not so much for the super green trees, but the plethora of rainbows...almost daily this time of year...which OCD Me reminds us means that you must have rain.  Thank you, Mr. Wizard.).

Anythow...to see the rest of the desks, click on over to the Stamping Ground!

Also, here is my Design Team Card for Tuesday Trio (Sketch #70) Summertime. We had our first real Summer day here in the Pacific Northwest this weekend. We had honest to goodness sunshine, and it almost hit 80! Both Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday had BBQs and the Oldest Child had a fabulous, rain free… and therefore sunburn-ful Boy Scout Camporee weekend.

Question of the week: Do you still use stickers (other than alphabets)? Or rub-ons? Or have they been replaced by stamps (week 13)?

Our Sticker Albums

We have found that over time, the Inner Hoarder has amassed a large well…horde… of stickers. However, Creative Me does not use them very often. Unless we have just printed photos and gone to the Scrap Store specifically to pick out stuff, our stickers just hang around until Girl Friday eventually is gifted them. While this is a boon for Girl Friday, it is not economical. The POW is proud to report that since last round we have not purchased any non-alpha stickers that did not go immediately onto a layout or project! (That IS progress!) Now if only the same could be said of buttons… LOL!

Organize your Stuff: Week 10 (round 4):Alphabets part 1 & Blog Candy results

OK, for those of you who are just here for the freebies, we will not make you wait!

Shark Bait and Prize #1 (Friday, May 27th): #3 Sandi

Illusive Middle Child and Prize #2 (Saturday, May 28th): #41 SueB

Girl Friday and Prize #3 (Wedsday, June 1st): #12 Twiglet

Please contact me at scrappnbee@yahoo.com for your goodies!

This week is alphabets.

Where do your alphabets live? Are they mostly on the Cricut? In your computer? Stamps? Or are they stickers? (or our personal favorite and minor addiction…Thickers?)

Here is a layout to wrap up Memorial Weekend/ Week (using both Thickers and the Cricut).

PA Me has allowed Inner Hoarder to pile on most of our Thickers (as we work for our local Scrapbook Store and Thickers are like Scrapbooker crack… well I guess that is better than Scrapbooker heroine. Silver lining? No? Well, we take what we can get!) since last round unsorted. Well, this gives OCD Me something to do this week as we are pretty sure that this lapse in organization is due to our current Status as Lady of the Shoe …or at least that is our story and we are sticking to it!

Hopefully this week will turn out fine, as Fabulous Spouse is MIA with a Reservist Drill Weekend, Oldest Child is away at Boy Scout Camporee, Awesome Auntie has a scrapbooking class… leaving us with both Shark Bait and the WMD, and Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday both have birthday parties…and that is just the weekend’s event at the Shoe!

Organize your Stuff: Week9 (round 4): OLW Blog hop & Embellishments part 2

Goodness! Who would have thought that a long weekend could go so fast! Thanks to all of the Operation Write Home Blog hoppers for visiting! (OWH Blog Hop card here, and Iraq layouts here).

In honor of Memorial Weekend, my Tuesday Trio Card for Sketch #69 (an anything goes sketch) is a Happy Memorial Day card! Yes, there are more buttons! Yes, Fabulous Spouse has already noticed that we are in violation of button probation, but Creative Me does not care… because it is embellishment week!

Today is WOYWW!, (See the rest of the desks at the Stamping Ground-here) so this is what my work desk looks like now that Creative Me has finished our One Little Word (OLW) Homework. PA Me has been distracting Creative Me a lot lately, so we got this done just under the wire!

Speaking of OLW, Here is what our homework looks like right now. OCD Me is not one hundred percent happy with it, but the POW keeps reminding OCD Me that if she wants perfect, then she should keep better tabs on PA Me… and besides Creative Me almost never does perfect. Each layout is always a work in progress…until the next project comes along!

This Month, Ali Edwards gave us a PDF to write down the task/ mission/ goal/ objective/ thoughts/ or stuff to tackle …and our progress (not negative) with our word and these tasks. The POW will be the first to admit that this was a busy month, and that we seemed to be putting out fires and embracing Survival Mode rather than Embracing Life! (speaking of survival mode, The POW and the scanner are not talking right now, so here is the 8.5 x11 without the text.  Will try and update after volunteering this morning).

However, we are happy to report that we are all embracing our new family well, and that the WMD is actually sleeping in her own bed! Even Shark Bait (“Shark Bait! Ooh Ha Ha”- from finding Nemo. Sorry couldn’t resist!), has been behaving less like an almost terrible two year old (especially at dinner) who needs to be fed to the sharks, and more like your average almost loveable toddler who you want to eat up because he is TOO cute. The POW is almost ready to let the poor priest that we keep in the attic for emergency exorcisms go, almost…

The real breakthrough, though, is that OCD Me finally convinced the POW and Fabulous Spouse to get a smart phone! Woo Hoo! Our last new phone was in 2003 when the Illusive Middle Child helped us out and put our phone in the washing machine because it “looked dirty”. The Upside, We are embracing technology. The downside, technology has left us in the dust and is not looking back. OCD Me is a manual reader, but there is only like 20 pages to the manual, and none of those pages answer any of my questions… like how do we attach a photo to our contact? Because every time we take a picture and then try to attach it, it just attaches to the “find out your data usage” phone #. Seriously?! However, we did figure out how to download angry birds, so the rest is gravy, right?

As for embellishments, here is the link to round 2 where we took everything out, but OCD Me focused on beads and eyelets. This is the link to round 3 ( part 1 & part 2) where we got our brads under control.

buttons-before

This time we are working on buttons (go figure). Creative Me wanted something pretty/ inspiring (like little bottles) and OCD Me wanted things that transported easily to crops. The POW just wanted to make sure that we all understood that we were on a budget and that nobody went to Ikea without permission! The goal is to get a bunch of these magnetic tins and put up a dollar store cookie tray at my work desk with the tins attached. Wish us luck!

Illusive Middle Child & buttons-after

Finally, today’s blog is the last chance to score some blog candy! Winners will be drawn for Friday’s Post! We will be sending three lucky viewers some simple stories pieces and some other goodies for leaving us comments (and hopefully becoming a follower- but not required). You can still leave a comment on the Friday post (prize #1), the Saturday post (prize #2), or today (prize #3)!

OLW Blog Hop List
Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog
Jamie http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/
Cherie http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Jill http://jillconyers.typepad.com/
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/  <---You are HERE!
Lynn W http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com/
Lisa A http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog/
Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/
Jenn http://www.studiojenn.blogspot.com/
Junelle http://yesandamenblog.blogspot.com/
Jen S http://www.byjen.com/
Monica B2 http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/
Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Karen D http://womenontractors.blogspot.com/