Organize your Stuff: Week 23 (round 4): WOYWW #117

It is hard to believe that it is Wednesday already! Tomorrow is our first day of school, but today is another What’s On Your Work desk Wednesday sponsored as always by the fabulous Julia at the Stamping Ground. In honor of “back to school”...here is our piles of back to school supplies, ready to be labeled.

Note: there are no pencils. Here is the stack of pencils that are due… sharpened… tomorrow. And, next to them is the electric pencil sharpener that the POW finally allowed the Inner Hoarder to purchase. 36 pencils for Girl Friday, 48 for Illusive Middle Child, and 24 for our Oldest Child (*sigh* our baby is now an 8th grader!).

Now, on to our desk. It still has a scrap from Monday’s enjoy layout on it, as well as our card for Tuesday Trio.

Our Tuesday Trio design team card was actually an interesting challenge. This week, we have our first sponsor: Crafty Sentiments Designs from the UK! Therefore, Creative Me got to use her first ever digi stamps (which were super cool BTW!) in this punch challenge.

Where are the punches?

The easiest for Creative Me to point out is the 1 1/8 circle punch on the sentiment, the stitching holes punch (behind the sentiment) and the corner rounder.  However, the sun is also made using our waves border punch from fiskars.  Here is how Creative Me made it.

1. Punch out  some waves.

2. Cut up and apply to 1 1/8 circle base.

3. Place sentiment on top!

Sometimes you just need to think outside the box to get those punches to work for you!
 
Tomorrow We have our One Little Word (OLW) Blog hop! So hop the WOYWW today, and come back tomorrow for some more!

Organize your Stuff: Week 23 (round 4): Templates part 1

Happy Monday! We are surprisingly well rested as our end of summer camp out on Mt. Rainer was cancelled due to lack of campsites (a water main broke on the primary reservation site, and those patrons (200+) were re-routed to sites like ours that are usually first come first serve). Bummer. Fabulous Spouse still took the kids hiking. Which means that Creative Me had a whole day to craft…and which PA Me really, really wanted to spend in front of the TV… but the POW would not let her.

Fabulous Spouse even returned with a virtual bouquet, as picking wildflowers is illegal (or at least severely frowned upon).

This week we are tackling templates. They may be digital, or they may be the old fashioned plastic kind. To be honest, by the time that Creative Me started scrapping, there were plenty of Jedi friends saying “this is not the template you are looking for”, and so we never really boarded that bandwagon.

However, there are times when you might need a template. Here are two layouts that Creative Me completed this weekend (while the intrepid hikers battled mosquitoes, snow and sun) for the Big Pictures Classes Big Idea Festival.

The words nest and enjoy are png files that were downloadable as templates from the site. While the POW was not savvy enough to figure out how to change the ink color without saving it to the computer, we did do a couple of neat tricks with it. In the first layout we did, we used repositionable adhesive and put the printout on Bazzill cardstock and then cut the word wonder out. On the enjoy, above, OCD Me used an exacto blade and a strait edge to trim around the j and y.

Later this week, we will use Ali Edward’s templates to share our One Little Word (OLW) on September 1st, like the rest of the class. The POW really wants to know…do many of you still have plastic templates, or are many of them digital now?

Organize your Stuff: Week 22(round 4): WOYWW #116

Happy Wednesday World Watchers of Wacky, Wonderful, (and sometimes woefully messy) World! Today is What’s on Your Work desk Wednesday (WOYWW)!

Today’s desk find’s us with Creative Me’s latest 8x8 layout (from Monday's post here) still on the table. We have been doing the 12 words in 12 days from Big Picture Classes free Big Idea Festival.

To see other desks full of fun and fancy the POW wants you to head on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground!

OCD Me has been seriously getting stressed over these words. We so want to show you our ability to spin any word and show off Creative Me’s stuff. But we have been handed words like less, and nest. Finally, though we have had a breakthrough with the challenging word: NEST. Seriously?! Creative Me finally had the breakthrough while working with OCD Me on digital photo transfers to the computer and external hard drive. We escaped for the weekend with Fabulous Spouse when the Grandparents were in town. There we go. Nest: to escape the nest (or to flee the nest). Hope to show you the results on Friday.

Our other project this week, was our Design Team card for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #81- Distressed. Creative Me Loved this card! It made OCD Me cringe at its messiness, but it is messiness that works! We especially liked the effect of the Tattered Angel’s Glimmer Glam that the Inner Hoarder scored for us a bit back. The flecks of iridescence are so cool in person. We are bummed that the camera just does not do it justice!

On the home front, Illusive Middle Child took a facemask to the knee, but is doing fine (he is officially a Grid Iron Warrior now!), and Girl Friday got to wear her Cheer outfit for the first time, and she is positively adorable!!!

Anyway, have a great day, and happy hopping!

Organize your Stuff: Week 22(round 4): Dies & BPC

Ok. Here is the deal. As per legal agreements reached long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away…. PA Me has first chair status and extra veto power during the summer (with of course the clause that relinquishes said power to OCD Me for purposes of vacation planning and packing and all forms of “mandatory fun”). As it is summer… for another week and a half until school starts on Sept 1st… we have somehow combined week 20 die cuts with week 22 dies.

However, realistically, we are not really sure why they are two different weeks as you need dies to make die cuts. As we have already shown you all our die cuts/ dies…for the Cuttlebug and Cricut, we figured that we would just share our latest Big Ideas layout for Big Picture Classes. Not only are the words kicking our bottoms, but the smaller sized layouts, as well.

This is out 8x8 layout for the Day 1 word: Share.

Here Grammy took us to pick strawberries to share with the family. These are literally almost all the photos as our camera died upon parking, and Grammy’s card was full (so we swapped)... then hers died too!

Words still unscrapped: less ?!?, give, enjoy, nest ?!?, and cherish. PA Me (and some of the other voices) thinks that some of these teachers were on crack when they chose their word of the day. Seriously... less and nest?!? *breathe* However, that is not PA Me’s problem. She is on sprinkler duty, as we have passed 85 degrees for the first time this summer… and baby duty as Awesome Auntie has an MRI for her foot today, and it is an all-day evolution requiring Our Lady of the Shoe hand waving, smiling, and possibly ribbon cutting. This is something with which Creative Me and the POW will just have to deal.

See you Wednesday!

Organize your Stuff: Week 21(round 4): Intermission BPC

Just for fun, we have signed up for the Big Picture Classes free summer class called the Big Idea Festival!

From what have seen, it is a One-Little-Word-a-thon. That is cool. Creative Me’s mind is spinning. PA Me wants to know why the POW won’t let us play Plants vs. Zombies any more (especially as we almost have enough money to buy a night time zen garden), OCD Me is freaking out at the mess we have made coupled with our other creative commitments, and the Inner Hoarder is extremely sad that the POW has decided that we are using our massive stash (excluding photos) exclusively for this project.

Anyways, here is my 8 x8 layout for the day 2 word?:wonder. We are still wracking all corners of our brain for the other words thus far : share, less?!?, and give. No Worries. Creative Me lives for this stuff.

Wonder for us always seems to manifest itself around the 4th of July. We are not sure if it is the ooohhhs and aaahhhs from the fireworks or the innate patriotism that the 4th inspires! (There is a reason that Will Smith did a film called Independence Day after all…) Also, this is the first time that Creative Me has really done honeycombs.  Hopefully, you like it.  One day/ word down... a whole bunch to go!

Organize your Stuff: Week 21(round 4): WOYWW 115 & Pens & Pencils

Well, it is that time again! Time for WOYWW where we show off our work spaces…warts and all!

Here is our space today…

To get more spaces with their crafting, sewing, and more, please visit Julia...looking out of her house no less... at the Stamping Ground for the list!

We have been busy in our scrap room today. Creative Me is in card mode right now, and totally in love with the new Graphic 45: The Magic of OZ. This card was made for the Tuesday Trio design team’s Sketch 80: Women. And who better than Dorothy to represent! She did not sit in her house and wait to be rescued. Rather, she…and her little dog too…went off to find answers. She rescued herself, and a lot of others along the way.

The bonus Dorothy’s on the desk are destined for Operation Write Home (so that the troops can write their loved ones). Creative Me also made a tutorial today to show how to get text to scraps- without a stamp. For some of you, this is a no brainer (scarecrow pun intended). For those who have never tried, maybe this bit of wisdom (tin man) will give you the courage (lion) to do so!

First: Print your text in the desired font/ font size.

Step 2: Using repositionable adhesive, place your scrap of paper over the text.

Step 3: Re-run the page through your printer. Voila!




As for pens and pencils, the POW apologizes for prematurely showing our Copic Storage (as we were SO excited to have them delivered by the mail man). However, we did let OCD Me play on the internet, and are now the proud owners of the Copic Color Wheel (Fabulous spouse did remark on the number of blank spaces and how we are destined to be poor for years to come…he knows the shopping habits of the Inner Hoarder way too well!) and blank color chart.

Filling out the chart…yes, *sigh* that is all the Copics that we own… gives Creative me a good idea of what the color will actually look like rather than guessing from the cap.

Finally, our baby is growing up! Oldest Child helped to MC last night's Court of Honor for his Boy Scout Troop, where he earned 6 Merit Badges and was recognized for achieving two rank advancements (First Class and Star Scout).

Happy Wednesday!

Organize your Stuff: Week 20(round 4): Die Cuts part 2

Well, the POW promised you a look at our Cuttlebug, and here it is with our dies, still stored in its original box. We used to be a military family, and with 8 moves in 12 years, original boxes became important. We really do not have that many dies as we have the Cricut, but we are beginning to get more (the Inner Hoarder likes the low prices and portability that the Cricut does not always have)… and embossing folders too!

This layout was made for a DT to which we are applying (it had to have an orange theme)…and the die cuts (fish) are made from mat board! Too cool! (Creative me and OCD Me battled over the googly eyes, but Creative Me won...and they are on the fish). Infomercial Alert: The matboard pieces come as a part of the monthly kits from Heartstring Designs, which we discovered at a CKC convention.

This is our trip to the Trout Farm with Grammy and Grampy. We think fishing is neat, and with small children...if possible fast, as they have the attention span of gnats.  It also shows the importance of knowing where your food comes from. All was well until the fish gutting. For a minute and a half, we thought that Girl Friday would go vegetarian…or non-fishatarian… when the check out gal pulled out the still beating hearts for the boys. But, luckily she got over it, and decided that fresh fish is awesome! PS- a week later, Illusive Middle Child fought a massive rock, paper, scissors battle for the privilage of eating trout eyeballs at Cub Scout day camp, and deemed them yummy. Eeewwww! (Sushi anyone?)

As for the home front, same old, same old. Fabulous Spouse drilled this weekend, and we had Cub Scout splash and jam. Now it is back to football practice and cheerleading. Fabulous Spouse does say that the Oldest Child is beginning to get a decent spiral on his long snap. Woo hoo.

Tomorrow brings us to pens and pencils in our organization prompts…Copics too I assume !-)

Have a great Tuesday!

Organize your Stuff: Week 20(round 4): WOYWW & Die Cuts

Welcome WOYWW-ers! This week has been crazy with Girl Friday needing to be out the door by 6:45 A.M. for Girl Scout Day Camp (she is a Daisy/ soon to be 1st grader), boys underfoot, Girl Friday returning at 4, Dinner at 5, and Football and Cheer practice resuming from 6-8.  (Girl Friday is in the black sweat shirt on top of the girl in orange at Cheer practice).

However, we did get a shipment from ScrapbookPal with more adhesive and some additional Copics (before the price went up), and that is on our desk. The Copics fit just perfectly in these Crystal Light containers (OCD Me likes that they are sorted by color family…the POW was just happy to find a use for the rubber bands that the Inner Hoarder has in the junk drawer!).

To see other happy desks, hop on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground for the list!

Also, today, Creative Me has a card that she has created for her Design team submission using Sketch # 79 at Tuesday Trio. Pop on over if you want to create too… It is a bright color theme! (…and an excuse to use buttons. Shhh, do not tell Fabulous Spouse…).

Finally, it is Die cut week. For those who die cut, it is almost a scrapbooking generational/ storage space thing. The POW never let us get Sizzix dies when we crafted out of a closet. Too much space for not enough return, but a Cricut… Gotta love a multi-tasker (a la Alton Brown). So today We share our Cricut stash. OCD Me has labeled them with the Brother P-touch labeler, and then hidden them away.

And, in case you were wondering, that is a cartridge stash that spans back to 2007… many many a $29.99 at Michaels and JoAnns (We think that the POW let the Inner Hoarder pay full retail for like one cartridge…maybe).

We do own some nesties now, and some cuttlebug files, but that is for next post! BTW the dotted swiss in the card was from a cuttlebug embossing folder (woo hoo!).

Organize your Stuff: Week 19 (round 4): Chipboard Part 2

Hope that you all have had a good weekend! OCD Me had great intentions about cleaning the scrap room… however we never made it past our Design Team homework and our layout.

PA Me has assured us that once school starts back, she will actually pitch in and help undo the mess that Creative Me invariably makes!

In exciting (although belated) news, we have finally been published! The POW had to pinky swear not to share the image until after release, and then with summer being summer and PA Me being in charge (it is kind of the reverse of Persephone being sent to Hades…and messier), we then forgot to post it! *gasp*

Here is our layout: Deployment Sisters. It is featured in the Homefront Heroes section of Scrapstreet. com Magazine Summer issue which went live on August 1st.

Also, Creative Me broke out her rarely used chipboard letters so that she could scrapbook our trip down to Idaho.  The POW does not understand Creative Me's hang up with chipboard.  This looks pretty cool! We had such a good time visiting our friend down in Idaho…even if it was short, that we were just SO excited to get it down on paper! (It is green in honor of their dairy's name: The Green Goat Dairy).

Thanks for visiting as always! We will be crafting alone this week, as Girl Friday has Girl Scout Day camp. Next post…die cuts. See you for WOYWW!

Organize your Stuff: Week 19 (round 4): WOYWW & Chipboard

Well, time flies when you have been on the road! It is Wednesday again, and that means that it is WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday) time…

Here is our desk up close (mildly messy)…

Then here is our desk from a wider angle. No, global thermal nuclear war has not rained down on us (cue the young Matthew Broderick and the CPU: Would you like to play a game?).

While we would like to say that it has been a lazy summer, having the kids around has put us in who’s on first and what’s on second mode big time! Especially now that Illusive Middle Child has football (American style, not soccer) and Girl Friday has Cheer practice. To see other clean, messy, and creative spaces, please hop over to Julia and the Stamping Ground.

However, we did make time for our design team card for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #78: Summer Vacation Theme. As we usually go to the beach during the summer, this is what Creative Me came up with!

Also, PA Me gets to do the happy dance, as our chipboard got settled down last round (post here). OCD Me has had no problem keeping them corralled (mostly because Creative Me doesn’t use the much and the Inner Hoarder is more likely to pick up a cute piece of patterned or a cute pack of brads)!

Now all we have to do, is get a layout done for the weekend! Off to visit some desks! SO, as we go, a parting picture from our fabulously quick holiday to Idaho to visit our friend (a goat cheese maker...mmmm...yummy cheese!).

Organize your Stuff: Week 19 (round 4): OLW Blog Hop

Today is the first of August, and therefore it is time for the monthly One Little Word Blog Hop (goes live 8AM PST)!

You should have just come from Lisa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog

Our One Little Word (OLW) for 2011 is Embrace! This month, Ali Edwards at Big Picture Classes gave us the homework to chronicle the top nine on our playlist.

OK.

Question: First (sounding totally like our Grandma) what is a playlist?

Answer: it is on your ipod.

Question: What ipod?

Answer: Than use what you listen to on the radio.

Question: What if your AM talk radio doesn’t play songs?

OCD Me is totally freaked out about failing the assignment at this point. We do not even know what music we like, as our CDs have been put away since we had kids (Inner Hoarder last actually saw them in early 2007 when we got Fabulous Spouse an ipod and transferred them all to it before he went to Iraq), and AM Radio is what we prefer to dial up in the car.

Since it is summer, PA Me tends to manipulate the votes, especially as the POW has been busy with Lady of the Shoe duties… ribbon cuttings, mall openings, and such. Finally, with one day to go before travelling down to Idaho for a visit (20 hours of driving for a 36 hour visit…totally worth it!), Fabulous Spouse helped us out by pulling out the afore mentioned ipod, and going through the zillion songs he had on his playlist.

The Rough Draft

The Final

Why we picked this 9 songs:

1. The Lazy Song-Bruno Mars: It is summer. This is PA Me’s anthem. If she could sleep until noon with no consequences, she would.

2. Fireflies-Owl City: This is Girl Friday’s FAVORITE song. If the POW gives in and turns off the “talk-y people”, this song is almost surely going to be playing soon. When it does, Girl Friday asks to have the volume turned up and she sings along.

3. Hey there Delilah-Plain White Tees: This was our Iraq deployment song, and it still moves us. This is probably because Fabulous Spouse travels a lot, but is always there for us, even if it is only over the phone.

4. It’s the end of the World as we know it-R.E.M.: This is just one of our all-time favorite songs. When it comes on you want to bounce and shake and sing along. However, we always sing the “time alone” part of the refrain. We do not know why.

5. I need a Hero-Bonnie Tyler: This was on our Kids Incorporated cassette growing up, on my kids’ Shrek movie as an adult, ...and being outside of Seattle, we have an anti-rain thing.

6. Somewhere over the rainbow-Judy Garland: Memories of waiting for that Wizard of Oz special on TV. Seattle is the Emerald City…and gosh darn it, after such a cold we year, can we please have some blue skies and warm summer temps (318 minutes over 80 degrees F this year).

7. Tubthumping-Chumbawumba: It is fun, upbeat. It was our favorite song as we finished college and got married. We make our own beer. We just like it.

8. If I die young-The Perry Band: For starters, we are SO allergic to roses, that we would have to be dead to enjoy them, and it is just another fun listen if you don't pay too close attention to the lyrics.

9. AM Radio: As we said before, this is the POW’s #1 radio choice. It is over 80% of our radio listening. And because you actually have to pay attention, it prevents highway narcolepsy.

Hope that you enjoyed our July Homework!

To go to the start of the list, go visit Margie (http://xnomads.typepad.com)

Next hop: Cassie (http://craftycassiescorner.blogspot.com)

Hope you are having fun with your word!