ScrappnBee the Scrapbooker

Organize your Stuff Week 16 (round 5): OLW Blog Hop

2012-03-01T07:24:00.001-08:00

Happy March everyone! It is definitely roaring in like a Lion over here, so let’s cross our fingers that it goes out like a lamb!

Today, being the first of the month, is our chance to share our One Little Word homework for the past month. What is One Little Word (OLW)? It is a word that many of us have taken on to represent our year, or discover within ourselves as the year unfolds… (PA Me, stop snickering in the corner, it is rude). Ali Edwards at BPC runs the class (enrollment is always open) and the Intrepid Margie hosts our homework hop! (Thanks Margie!!!), and you most likely came from the blog of Devon!

This Month (February) we were tasked with finding pictures that represent our word… literally or figuratively…in our life. Our word for 2012: Journey, and what a journey it has been!

For those who are not regulars to our blog, Fabulous Spouse has been deployed since December 26th, 2011 to Afghanistan. That in and of itself has been a Journey! We have had power outages and snow storms, crazy kids’ schedules with conflicting sports, scouts and church functions. The POW had gotten us more deeply involved with the church…so that our spirit can journey… now if only the house could follow suit and journey to cleanliness…*sigh* We cannot have it all... We lost our clone (to do the extra driving), and the laundry fairy is on strike. At least the cat is getting fed...usually...

Above is Creative Me’s initial nine patch for this prompt. We have the good fortune to Journey down to CKC Portland next weekend, where we are taking a bunch of Photoshop classes. Therefore, we are quite certain that between OCD Me and Creative Me, there will be a little bit of a redo before the next hop on April 1st…well, we are 75% sure. It all depends on how busy life gets!

Thanks so much for stopping by and seeing what we are up to! (hop live at 8AM PST)

Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/ <---you are here!!!
Brooklyn http://www.everysnapshot.com/ <---next
Kristina http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.com/
Jen R http://jenritchie.com/
Kara http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com/
Eydie http://www.whatwecreate.net/
Ruth http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com/
Missus W http://www.mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/
Marilee http://rose-brier.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/
Kaylea http://www.myscrappylife.com/
Dawn G http://www.sunshineandcreativity.com/
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Becky http://www.becky-handforth.blogspot.com/
Orange Gearle http://orangegearle.blogspot.com/
Katrina http://www.katrinasimeck.com/
Jo http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com/
Nicky http://www.seejanebake.blogspot.com/
Beth http://www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com/
Kelly http://mindingmynest.com/
Tere http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/
Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/ (START/ Lost & Found)
Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com/
Sharyn http://lavieenchic.com/
Kimberlee http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com/
Jill http://jillconyers.com/
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com/
Jenn http://www.studiojenn.blogspot.com/
Monica http://scrapinspired.com/
Catherine http://myview-catherine.blogspot.com/
Naomi http://poeticaperture.com/
Jamie http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/
Coley http://www.coleybelle.blogspot.com/
Melissa C http://www.smudgetime.com/
Donna http://holimess.blogspot.com/
Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Veronica http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com/
Heidi D http://mommy.heidimdavis.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/category/one-little-word/
Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com/

Organize your Stuff Week 16 (round 5): Paint, Mists & WOYWW 143

2012-02-29T00:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Leap Day!
Thirty Days has September, April, June, and November.
All the rest have thirty-one…except February.
It has twenty-eight.
However, once every year in four, February has one more!

What a special What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday! Well, to celebrate this quadrennial holiday of sorts, come leap, hop, jump, or click with us over at the always Fabulous Julia’s Stamping Ground, where there are over a hundred crafty folk sharing their spaces and their work! Here is mine today…

And here are my paints… They travel a lot, having most recently traveled to Cub Scouts so that the boys could paint their carvings for their Den Totem poles, so the POW keeps them in a reusable grocery bag for ease of use and transport…even if it frustrates OCD Me that they are constantly getting messy. (Find a happy place, find a happy place...LOL!)

Our mists also are grab and go-able! This makes it easier for Creative Me to play. The big thing to remember with mists is a misting area. Inner Hoarder, of course, always has a spare shoe box…and thanks to Oldest Child’s ginormous feet, they are plenty big enough for most projects!

Here is our other project…

…our design team entry for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch 108: 5 colors. And let me tell you, there is nothing more mojo blocking then a color count for Creative Me. However, we made it through. It is simple, but it is done.

*Warning: skip to the end to avoid the family stuff*

As for our picture from the front this week, Fabulous Spouse has not done much of anything picture worthy, as it has been a little stressful in country. However, here is a picture of the Office Dodge Ball Team from last week. On the plus side, we did get a huge boquet of yellow flowers this week! There is a reason he is Fabulous Spouse!

As a result of increased stress in the area, we had to get our St. Patrick’s Day box out early. Let us tell you, Creative Me was totally excited with her first use of gel food coloring in the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. They came out perfectly green and yummy.

Our big activity this week was going to see the Harlem Globetrotters, an awesome trick shot basketball team. Since Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday are playing basketball for the first time, they were in total awe of what these great athletes could do!

Oldest Child spent the week assembling his first new bed since 2004. OCD Me really wanted to do it herself, but one week later, he had an Ikea bed that he had assembled more than half by himself.

Illusive Middle Child had pocket knife duty at Cub Scouts. Here is his carving for the Den totem pole…it is supposed to be a grey wolf (just squint and nod…its ok). Of course, the boy was the only war casualty, needing a band-aide for his thumb after somehow getting a small cut.

Girl Friday had the privilege of attending Girl Scout Songfest, celebrating Girl Scout’s 100th Anniversary. The vest was on loan from the POW, as Girl Friday wanted to wear something “vintage” to the celebration. *Sigh* We are vintage now…The POW guesses that means we are worth more than hand me downs! LOL! Girl Friday also got interviewed for the Girl Scout time capsule.

Anyways, have a great day! Leap around! Enjoy! Thanks for visiting!

Organize your Stuff Week 15 (round 5): Inks & WOYWW 142

2012-02-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

WOYWW Valentine Blog Candy winner: Sarpreet said...its not unloved, its well loved, Great workspace, Happy WOYWW 141, thank you for sharing,# 52 February 15, 2012 1:19 PM
Congrats!!!

Welcome Wednesday! It is time to WOYWW or What’s On Your Work desk Wednesday, where we share our crafty spaces… the good, the bad, and the post-apocalyptic wasteland! (well, hopefully none are that bad, but we know that ours has come close from time to time!) To peek and oooh and ahhh at the other crafty spaces or post your own, pop on over to the Fabulous Julia’s Stamping Ground.

Here is our workspace after a week of half days for the little guys, and then a busy four day weekend!

As it is week 15 (half way there!) in our organization challenge, it is Ink Week, and so here is a peek at how we store ours. It is always a constant battle between OCD Me who wants them put away, and Creative Me and PA Me who tend to leave them on the desk (seen above) in easy grabbing space.

Inner Hoarder loves inks. It is only the POW who keeps this addiction in check. The biggest thing that Creative Me has learned over the years is that not all inks are created equal. Momento is what we use for Copic Coloring. Close to My Heart (CTMH) is our favorite for clear acrylic stamps,

...closely followed by Tim Holtz’s Distress Inks (OCD Me has labeled these and stores them upside down). We use Stampin’ Up for our rubber stamps, and VersaMark for embossing. We have a bunch of reinkers (behind the tower). These are definately cheaper in the long run for avid stampers then constantly replacing the pad. We have StazOn (the permanent marker of ink), but to be honest they are not used much.

Here is our card for this week. It is the one that Creative Me made for Fabulous Spouse, and was mailed off over a week ago. Unfortunately, with all the crazy this weekend, we did not get our design team card done for this week. *sigh* We could not find a Mardi Gras stamp in our massive repertoire of stamps, so Creative Me had to freehand this image.

Warning: Skip to the bottom now if you do not want the family stuff!

We all got into the Mardi Gras spirit though this week. Yesterday was Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday or Fauschnaut Day for many depending on where you are from. Having grown up in the land of the Pennsylvania Dutch, for us it was the tiny donuts known as Fauschnauts that meant more than Mardi Gras beads as part of our fun holiday traditions. Now that we have moved far away, we substitute donut holes, and even shipped some to Fabulous Spouse, who had a Mardi Gras party of his own over there.

Also, for his “official” picture of the week from Afghanistan, Fabulous Spouse got to attend the festivities and displays of the Mongolian forces at the base as they celebrated Mongolian Armed Forces Day. Oldest Child surprised us by looking at the picture and going, “Is that a gur?” (??!!??... It is from Civilization, Mom…). Why yes, it is.

Also, this week, we had Oldest Child’s first wrestling match of the season. He was Varsity 250 pound class, and almost won!

Girl Friday met the illustrator of the Fancy Nancy books at the Fancy Nancy Ballet.

…and Illusive Middle Child hid from the camera as much as possible. However, we did snag this one of him helping with cookies for Fabulous Spouse's weekly care package.

Happy hopping!

Organize your Stuff: Week 14 (round 5): WOYWW 141

2012-02-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

Welcome Wonderful What’s On Your Work-desk Wednesday(WOYWW)! We hope that you had a Valentine’s Day that was as wonderful as ours, yesterday! We are a little late getting this post up as it is usually prep-ed Tuesday night, but the little guys were busy texting Fabulous Spouse on Facebook until 9:30 PM last night…hogging the laptop!

Here is our desk as it sits unloved, and uncleaned by OCD Me.

To view other desks/ creative spaces, and the cool projects in the making from crafters around the world, visit the always Fabulous Julia at the Stamping Ground! (PS- We are sure that there are probably a few Valentine peeks in there).

Yesterday, our kids woke super early (like 5AM early) to see what stash of Valentines goodies had been left at their breakfast seats. Amongst the goodies were little candy boxes with stuffed animals. Leave it to Illusive Middle Child to maim his in the extraction process. So, it was time to break out our sewing kit (the same one that we used on today’s card) and patch the little mouse up.

Paper:Simple Stories, Echo Park, MME, CTMH
Notions: Bo Bunny, MME, DMC floss, unknown flower

Today’s card was made for our Design Team entry for Sketch #106: Anything Goes. This card is 100% scraps and leftovers. The flower was a crop win from prior to our 2008 move! ...and of course the DMC floss that fixed the mouse. Speaking of crops, week 14 is crops. OCD Me is the queen of crops. It is not something that we really need to organize. Here is round 3's post with pictures of the must have items that we pack. You can skip to the bottom now, It you do not want the family news!

But what about the candy? You can’t have Valentine’s Day without Candy! The tribe had plenty of that!

We also received a surprise box of Sheri’s Berries chocolate covered strawberries from Fabulous Spouse (as the family is highly allergic to roses and we got flowers as our surprise gift last week). He is the BEST! The POW shared… because, well, it would be rude not to…even if the Inner Hoarder wanted them all for herself.

While we wish that we could reach out and hug him, the last couple of days, the internet has been stable enough to Skype, and the sound of his voice is really the only present that we need. (However, Inner Hoarder and the rest of our personalities are totally fine with the surprise gifts that we have been receiving! We LOVE our presents.)

Our picture of the week from the Front is this: a snowball fight. If only all wars were fought this way! LOL! Over 6 new inches of snow fell in Afghanistan (or Fabulous Spouse’s corner of it anyway) this week.

The POW loves this time of year! There are so many little, fun, no pressure holidays that the kids enjoy, and Valentine’s Day is a great kick off. (in case you are wondering, on the horizon we have Fauschnaut Day/Shrove Tuesday-Feb 21, Dr. Seuss’s birthday- March 2, Toy Soldier Day- March 4 (to march forth...lol!), Pi (3.14)Day-March 14, St. Patrick’s Day- March 17), but it is Valentine’s Day that gets us crafting! Girl Friday hand makes (or Cricut made, LOL!) all of her cards. It makes Creative Me SO proud!

We also created heart shaped banana chocolate chip pancakes (and bacon) for supper. We rarely do breakfast for dinner, so it has a fabulous aura and mystique (and when PA Me feels lazy and whips it up, we get Super Cool Mom points!). Hope that you have had a great week and as wonderful a Valentine’s Day as we have!

In Honor of Valentine’s Candy, post a comment and be entered for WOYWW blog candy…no need to follow (We will ship international!...it just takes a long time to recieve.) We will post the winner next WOYWW. If we get more than 40 comments, we will give away 2 Candies.

Organize your Stuff: Week 13 (round 5): WOYWW 140

2012-02-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

Is it Wednesday already? It is one of those double edged swords these days. We find that the days are flying bye, even though each individual one takes forever! So, as we blink, we find that it is What’s On your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) time again. The Fabulous Julia at the Stamping Ground hosts this adventure of spying and peeking at wonderful artists around the world and the spaces where they entertain their muses.

If you look, you can see *gasp* a layout at which Creative Me is still working. The POW, motivated by Super Bowl Weekend (*Go Giants!*) wanted to scrap our plethora of football pictures. However, three months of three kids at play is over 1000 pictures to upload. Then, there is the issue of Costco actually printing them… So, the POW not wanting to lose momentum grabbed our Holiday Party pictures for Creative Me to use.

Creative Me was already warmed up and in the zone after completing this card for our Design Team entry for Tuesday Trio Sketch#105: Using Kraft to Craft! Creative me broke out our Tim Holtz and CTMH stamps and some Momento ink to bring plain Kraft paper from drab to Fab! as Week 13 is stamp week.

If you can’t tell by all the stamps on the desk, the Inner Hoarder has a little bit of a stamp problem. (just a little, teeny, tiny one).

As for the family, OCD Me has begun to get the house back from the brink of Chaos after the power outage and four days of living like cave people. Why does it take such little time for the kids to undo that which takes OCD Me and the POW forever to accomplish?

Fabulous Spouse is fitting in fine at his new home in Afghanistan. He has even gotten his first care packages…even though they are taking about 8 days to travel the world. Also, he has had snow! Here he is next to the snowman that the Germans made this week.

As a family, we celebrated the Super Bowl. Illusive Middle Child was pulling for the Patriots… because his Dad is a Patriot…but the rest of us were rooting for the Giants (Girl Friday because of Madagascar and “All Hail the New York Giants”).

The family was undecided on the commercial winner. It was a toss-up for us between the Naked M&Ms and Dog with the Doritos as hush money.

Other than that it has just been the same ol’ routine. The POW has yet to find the clone who is supposed to help with the driving. PA Me must have lost her in the power outage. Also, the leftovers are breeding in the refrigerator again. We may have won the battle, with a total fridge cleanout, but we are loosing the Food War!

Now have a great WOYWW day! Happy Hopping!

Organize your Stuff: Week 12 (round 5): WOYWW 139 & OLW 2012

2012-02-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Just like a blue moon, today is a rare intersection of my two favorite acronyms WOYWW (What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday) the weekly look at our crafty spaces around the world and what we are making there; and OLW (One Little Word) the word that is our New Year’s Resolution for life, and the homework that we share on the First of Every month about said word.

So, to start, here is our desk at 2 AM (yes, 2 AM…nothing like a little procrastination and a deadline to get Creative Me’s mojo flowing).

This desk is not unlike the many others around the world on display today at Julia’s Stamping Ground, stop on by if you would like a peek!

On the desk is this 9 patch for Ali Edwards’ One Little Word over at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

At the beginning of January, hundreds of us picked a word (or like us, the word picked us) and this is the homework that we had for this month.

Here is a peek at last year’s homework (same propmpt) for Embrace (link here). The POW is impressed at how different these words look on paper, despite being the same homework.

Last year, it took a while to pick a word to represent our upcoming year, but this year, there were no five way peace talk negotiations needed to get all the members of our mind onboard (although PA Me was a little late to the meeting). This year, we chose Journey. It seemed like a natural fit, as Fabulous Spouse left to go on a Journey to Afghanistan for a year, starting the day after Christmas, and we were going to be going on a single parent Journey trying to juggle the household of three VERY active children in his absence… and trust us, it has been one HECK of a journey so far!!! Also *spoiler alert to first time OLW’ers*, come summertime, we have to come up with a playlist for our word, and we love Journey songs!

So, easy as it was to pick a word, it was a little harder to come up with our quote. We were back and forth with Fabulous Spouse over Facebook (as his base does not have phone or skype-ability). This is what we settled on, as we liked several, but did not LOVE one the same way we loved our EMBRACE quote. See you March 1st with our photo homework!

(**Skip to end if you do not want to hear about our family…this is not the personal section you are looking for***)

This week’s summary of family happenings has Fabulous Spouse safely at his end point in Afghanistan. It was not quite the duty station that we expected, as he still has not found a wi fi spot or a working outside phone. Can you hear me now? Um… no?! Anyways, here he is at his 48 hour layover in Kandahar... This is their version of a 4 star hotel..

In the great wide world of sports, Oldest Child started wrestling, and the little guys are still playing basketball and loving it!... They have even asked for a hoop to be installed in the backyard to practice.

Illusive Middle Child had his cub scout Pinewood derby, and came in fourth in his Den with his “submarine” car that he made and painted all by himself.

Here is the blog list for OLW. Thanks for stopping and visiting!

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/
Sharyn http://www.lavieenchic.com/
Jill http://jillconyers.com/
Lynn http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/
Jenn http://www.studiojenn.blogspot.com/
Carmen http://www.carmenpaulsorthner.com/
Marilee http://rose-brier.blogspot.com/
Kristina http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.com/
Cindy C http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com/
Kelly http://mindingmynest.com/
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/
Brooke http://www.everysnapshot.com/
Naomi http://www.poeticaperture.com/
Melissa http://www.smudgetime.com/
Karen http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com/
Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com/
Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com/
Donna http://holimess.blogspot.com/
Dawn http://sunshineandcreativity.com/
Katrina http://www.katrinasimeck.com/
Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/
Monica http://scrapinspired.com/
Kimberlee http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com/
Missus W http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/
Kaylea http://www.myscrappylife.com/
Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Erin http://erinsparkes.typepad.com/optimstic-fascination/
Jo http://www.curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com/
Coley http://coleybelle.blogspot.com/2012/01/focus-word-for-2012.html
Beth http://www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com/
Veronica http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com/
Jamie http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/
Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/
Veronica http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com/
Cate http://www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com/
Stephanie http://www.scrapworthylives.com/
Orange Gearle http://orangegearle.blogspot.com/
Tere http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/
Junelle http://yesandamenblog.blogspot.com/
Ruth http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com/
Becky http://www.becky-handforth.blogspot.com/

Happy Hopping for OLW and WOYWW!

Organize your Stuff: Week 12 (round 5): WOYWW 138

2012-01-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness it is Wednesday, and We have POWER! *YEAH!!!!*

That means that we are able to share our crafty space as a part of that wonderful WOYWW (What’s on your Workdesk Wednesday), hosted by that always awesome Julia at the Stamping Ground. Come and see what everyone else is crafting and where they do it!

This is what our desk looks like today…

We have honestly not been that crafty this week. We lost power on Thursday, and then we did not get it back until Sunday night. So, for those WOYWW-ers, the POW apologizes for not visiting, we really really wanted to! Instead, OCD Me had us emptying and cataloging all the food from our refrigerator/ freezer, throwing it away, then cleaning the insides from top to bottom.

However, Creative Me did complete the above card right before this post. It is our Design Team entry for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #103: Warm colors. Creative Me was definitely not in a warm color mood, sometimes it is not up to us. Girl Friday made a card too.

Well, what has been up? Not much. We have definitely been bonding. We had five “snow” days. The first few were for snow, but then it turned to ice and rain and power outages.

We had ice cream soup on power outage day #2 since the freezer started failing.
Then we retreated to a friend's house an hour north, as using a car as the world's most expensive cell phone charger and camping out at the Cutters Pointe coffee had lost its luster. Super S thanks for opening your home!

Where in the world is Fabulous Spouse? He has been in transit to Afghanistan since Friday, in a different country every day. Here is a picture of him at a layover in Bangor, Maine.

Fabulous Spouse then had a 24 hour layover in Germany and a two day stop in Kuwait. He finds it amusing, that there is a Starbucks even out there at a base in the desert (new since 2007)! Now we are waiting for him to find the internet and let us know that he has made it safely to his endpoint.

So, happily heated and electrified, We are off to hop around the WOYWW world. Come join us!

Organize your Stuff: Week 11/12 (round 5): Stickers & WOYWW 137

2012-01-18T00:15:00.000-08:00

What!?! Is it Wednesday again? I guess that it What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) time again! To see other desks, spaces, and cool crafty goodness, pop over to Julia’s Stamping Ground and peek around the world!

Time has slipped away from us, as the Pacific Northwest has seen it’s first snow this weekend… all weekend. OK, since Sunday! LOL! Are you sure it is Wednesday, because we still have not seen a plow or a school bus. Hence, the lack of a Monday post. We were on the boot and glove brigade duty! LOL! (The POW is pretty sure that we are almost out of our hot chocolate reserves. Armageddon better not come tomorrow, or we will be woefully short on the non-perishables).

So, how did Creative Me leave the desk today (Ok, on Sunday…before the one inch of Snow-mageddon)? Not too bad actually.

Since some of you have asked, yes, those are all folders of clear stamps in their double decker baby milk crates. Creative Me is a total stamp addict, and it makes it easier to grab them when they are so close!

Also, since PA Me got us distracted by the shiny fluffiness outside, we owe you a peek at our sticker storage. We have two 3-ring binders with clear page protectors stuffed with stickers. Post it notes serve as moveable tabs for the sections. (That was OCD Me’s idea).

But what did we create?

Our design team entry for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #102: Winter could not have come at a more apropos time. Snowman anyone?

As for the family, Fabulous Spouse is wrapping up his training with the “big guns”. The boys are green with jealousy. It will not be long now, and he will actually be overseas, and a little harder to get pictures from. Fabulous man that he is though, we are sure that he will come through for us! (*hint, hint, Baby!*)

Saturday was our first basketball day. Illusive Middle Child was the team ball thrower inner (what position is that? We never played and must not have been paying that close of attention during practice). We think that it was because he was the tallest on his team by almost a head.

Girl Friday hopped and bopped and totally abandoned her assigned person to chase the ball every which way. She LOVED it. Ironically, she was the smallest on her team! Afterwards, Illusive Middle Child was convinced that his team lost (because they were not aggressive enough) and Girl Friday was convinced that hers won (because they scored lots of baskets). Neither kept score. So, we guess that it just is a matter of perspective.

Oh, and this is how we spend our weekend evenings, relaxing on Skype with Fabulous Spouse and trying to conquer the world (or at least getting out our frustrations on a few unsuspecting cultures) in a friendly game of Civilization V with him. Gotta love a man who lets you conquer his world! (Well, unless he manages to conquer mine! LOL!)

Off to hop and visit the World! Won’t you join us?

Organize your Stuff: Week 11(round 5): Operation Write Home

2012-01-14T08:12:00.000-08:00

For starter, some housekeeping. For our most recent WOYWW post, click here!
For our Jan 1st One Little Word post, click here!

The POW apologizes for the infomercial. The writers have been sacked. (They forgot the moose though).
Today, we are sharing the card that you may have peeked on our desk.

Patterned Paper: Graphics 45, CTMH; Solid Paper: CTMH; Ink: Momento; Markers: Copic; Accents: Stickles, Liquid glass, DMC floss, Misc brads.

It is our entry today for Operation Write Home’s three patterned paper challenge. For every 50 cards with three patterned papers linked back to OWH, they get a box of cards shipped for free to our troops from their challenge sponsor, Our Daily Bread Designs. Creative Me and the POW highly encourage you to join in this challenge (especially, since once Fabulous Spouse gets to Afghanistan, we might just get a card from OWH!).

What is Operation Write Home (OWH)? It is a non-profit organization that accepts homemade cards and ships them to our forward deployed service members so that those service members can write home. (Darn it, no Hallmark in Kabul or the Horn of Africa!) For some, this is the only correspondence and communication that they have with their families, especially when the internet is down!

Note: No glitter goes on the cards that are sent to OWH, as it is able to flake off and stick to their uniforms. Glitter on uniforms makes service members visible to night vision goggles. Any glitter must be sealed with gesso or liquid glass (Creative Me started with stickles and coated with liquid glass).

As for the family, we sent Oldest Child off to the Klondike Derby (a Boy Scout snow Olympics of sorts) this morning…EARLY (6AM). He forgot his coat ?!? so we had to run home and get it. His penalty was a shot for the blog. Did we mention that it was 35 and raining? How do you forget your coat?

Also, here is a picture of the gang "poison testing" cookies for Fabulous Spouse's latest Care Package. Today Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday have basketball, so we will have pictures for Monday.

Have a great weekend!!!

Organize your Stuff: Week 11(round 5): WOYWW 136

2012-01-11T00:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome Wednesday! It is time again for What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW), that wacky world wondering of women (and men) to see the whimsy and wonder that is our crafts and our creating space. Some are clean, and some are messy. All are loved! To see the rest of the desks please pop on over to the Fabulous Julia and the Stamping Ground!

Here are two shots of our desk this week.
First, completed project. (Pre clean up)

This moment…mid project.

Creative Me really had fun with this week’s Design Team entry for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #101: Fussy Cuts.

This CTMH stamp set was one of Inner Hoarder’s recent purchases (because we totally do not have enough stamps stored on our desk!). The critters were so dang cute that Creative Me just could not resist coloring them and cutting them out for this card. We only wish that we actually had some snow. Then our kids could be cute and bundled up too!

Fabulous Spouse has been doing better this week. Chipped tooth fixed. Care package received (and shared with the guys…so we need to make more cookies). Got to shoot lots of stuff. What more can you ask for?

Illusive Middle Child started basketball on Tuesday. He actually has promise. Scary, I know. He is always happiest when he is playing a sport!

Oldest Child had Boy Scouts, and is getting ready to Klondike Derby.

Girl Friday is just kicking back, as she has nothing on the schedule until basketball on Thursday… nothing except making more cookies for Fabulous Spouse!

Off to hop now and see the world! Please join me!

Organize your Stuff: Week 10(round 5): Alphas

2012-01-07T23:18:00.000-08:00

How do you store your alphas?

We just keep ours piled on a shelf. OCD Me finds this totally unacceptable. PA Me says “look, they are on a shelf! What more do you want?!” The Inner Hoarder keeps buying more Thickers. Oooh, Thickers. And Creative Me keeps using them.

Therefore, while the POW secretly sides with OCD Me, she has also seen out scraproom as a whole. There is just not space for it at this time. So we will keep that in the back of our mind (and possibly whisper to the Inner Hoarder that she really wants one).

While all this was going on, Creative Me looked at our alphas and of course saw a crafting opportunity. This is the layout that she created from the trip that we took to Las Vegas. It may have been quick, it may have been business, but we still had fun!

Papers: CTMH solids, slide, stamps; Graphics 45 paper; Cricut Destinations die cut; Thickers, Fiskars boarder punch.

It is amazing that we were able to get any crafting done at all, with a crazy weekend of wrestling, Boy Scouts, basketball (yes, basketball season has started), and of course, making Oatmeal Butterscotch cookies to send off in a care package for Fabulous Spouse (who chipped a tooth today in the Humvee Convoy rollover simulator).

He really needs a cookie!

Organize your Stuff: Week 10(round 5): WOYWW 135

2012-01-04T00:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first WOYWW for 2012! What is WOYWW (What’s on you Work desk Wednesday)? It is a chance, every Wednesday, to hop around the world and see what crafty goodness people have been up to… as well as the places (from messy to neat) where they create their masterpieces and works of whimsy! As always, the Fabulous Julia of the Stamping Ground hostesses this global endeavor. Thank you, Julia!

Enough stalling. Here is our scrapping workspace…

…and here is our other workspace…

Since Fabulous Spouse left for Afghanistan (the morning after Christmas), we have been de-pink-ify-ing Girl Friday’s former room. In a great shuffle, Girl Friday moved into the empty room left by Awesome Auntie, and the boys separated for the first time since 2003. The POW felt that it would add insult to injury to give a teen his own room, only to have it be Pepto-Bismol Pink.

So, with the full support of Creative Me and the financial backing of the Inner Hoarder…we transformed it to this… Yes, we too are trying not to trip over munchkins, or the droppings of a horse of a different color…but no, Dorothy, we are not in Kansas any more… we are in a BOYs room! (which still has a pink ceiling fan).

In paper crafting land, we created the below card for our design team entry to Tuesday Trio’s Sketch# 100: Scraps.

Can you believe that we are on 100 already?! Anyways, the scraps are mostly MME’s American Made papers, and some CTMH solids and ribbons. The stamps are Mr. Tim Holtz’s (as if you didn’t know). Creative Me did not need to twist Inner Hoarder’s arm too much, as Journey is our word for Ali Edward’s One Little Word at Big Picture Classes. (link here to our post where we used Mr. Tim’s stamps on our title page).

As for the rest of the family goings on, here is a picture of Fabulous Spouse in his Army issue (the POW is still getting used to him out of his Navy uniform). Goodness, is their anything sexier than a man in uniform? (Tree huggers, pacifists, and other non violence seekers need not respond).

Also, Illusive Middle Child took his first 2nd place at the Rising Stars Wrestling tournament. Is it a bad thing when you are SO excited that he pinned his first girl?

Girl Friday, is recovering a bruised ego from putting the New Year’s cider in the Freezer rather than the refrigerator as asked, but is otherwise doing well, especially as she is finally back in her Daisy Scout routine (getting ready for cookie sales on January 13th!).

As for the Oldest Child...Well, we love him dearly, but we think that the Xbox controller will need to be surgically removed in order for him to go to school tomorrow!

Well off to wander the world! Thanks for visiting our creative space!

Organize your Stuff: Week 10(round 5): One Little Word

2012-01-01T01:09:00.000-08:00

Wow. Can you believe that it is 2012 already?! Where has the time gone? Today is a blog hop with the participants in the One Little Word (OLW) class at Big Picture Classes. Thank you Ali for a fabulous journey!!! The 2012 class is gearing up right now, so you can hop along next month and share your January homework on the first of next month!

It seems like yesterday, that the year was just beginning, and we were quote hunting with Fabulous Spouse in a cyber-version of dueling banjos trying to find the perfect quote for our perfect word: EMBRACE.

This month, Ali asked us to reflect back on our word, to bring closure to our year. Here is ours.

EMBRACE has been a way of life this year. But part of EMBRACE-ing and loving is being able to let go. That has been the hardest part of this year. We are now half the size that we have been almost all year now. Awsome Auntie and her family have left after their nine month stay, and now Fabulous Spouse is gone too for a year in Afghanistan.

Yet we EMBRACE them in our heart, and hug the children left behind, hoping that they can embrace their new reality.

What is this?

It is the bottle of sparkling cider that Girl Friday was asked to put in the refrigerator. Where is it? Exploded all over the garage freezer. It is a war zone in there. Ironically, our word for 2012 is… JOURNEY.

We guess that we just christened our voyage!
The next blogger on the list is Sam. The rest of our bloggers who go live at 8AM PST are as follows:

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Veronica http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com/
Kara http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com/
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Sharyn http://www.lavieenchic.com/
Jill http://jillconyers.com/
Lynn http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/
Monica http://scrapinspired.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog
Cynthia H http://paperpapereverywhere.blogspot.com/
Lee http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife/
Abbey http://athomewiththerichardsfamily.blogspot.com/
Monica B http://www.questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Tere http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/
Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com/
Nicky http://seejanebake.blogspot.com/
Stephanie http://www.scrapworthylives.com/
Jenn L http://www.studiojenn.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/ <---you are here!
Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/ <---next!
Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/
Jamie http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/
Karen http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com/

Organize your Stuff: Week 9(round 5): Embellishments

2011-12-31T18:20:00.000-08:00

The POW apologizes for being a day late with this post. We woke this morning on Samoa and found that we missed Friday all together! LOL! Actually, she finally found a few spare minutes in her hectic sans Fabulous Spouse life to get this up, and Blogger was down. Sad Face. :(

The POW also has a warning that this is another picture intensive post. …so, consider yourself warned.

Now that we are in Round 5, most of our embellishments have been corralled. Zen Master Wookiemouse did a fabulous job on her blog (here) of listing all the different ways and means of storing embellishments.

She stores hers by color, but Creatve Me still thinks in terms of brads, buttons or flowers. So, that is how we have organized. OCD is proud that once organized, we have kept the system up. However, it must be noted, that this did not all happen in one week… or even one round. PA Me has made sure of it. However, that may also be why we have been able to stick with it (unlike our annual New Year’s resolutions!)

Here is our eyelets and beads (organized in round 2).

Our brads (round 3)

Our buttons (round 4)

So, what is left? you ask. Flowers. Yes, they grow like faux dandelions in the garden of your embellishments. And yet, Inner Hoarder has such a hard time walking by and not picking them up! Even now that we have a flower making Cricut cartridge, they seem to just bloom upon our shelf! We are still contemplating how to store them in the end game. Any ideas?

As promised on Wednesday, here we are with our many military layouts (promise that these will be the last ones for a while) from Christmas Break. Fabulous Spouse has sucessfully finished his training in California, and landed a short while ago in South Carolina to finish his stateside training. We wish him luck!

Welcome to MNFI

The Palace where Fabulous Spouse worked

Embassy rooftop pictures

Charlie's Angels photo op

5K Fun Run... in the desert

Hope you have a Happy New Years Eve!

Organize your Stuff: Week 9(round 5): WOYWW 134

2011-12-28T00:38:00.000-08:00

Whirlwind Wednesday is upon us! Time to whip up a picture of your desk/ crafting space and post it for What’s On Your Work desk Wednesday (WOYWW) hosted by the always Awesome Julia over at the Stamping Ground!

Here is our desk this week.

With the return from Las Vegas, Christmas preparations, and the impending departure of Fabulous Spouse for all parts sandy, it has definitely slumped in the organization department.

Lucky for us, Fabulous Crisann is giving those of us at the Two Peas in a Bucket Organize your Stuff Challenge until January 1st to complete week 9 embellishments. *Phew*.

Also, here is our Week 8: Projects and Kits…still a work in progress, but as organized as it is going to get this year! It took us until today to figure out how to turn off the cloaking device that PA Me had employed… after all, We are an elf/ baker/ crafter/ taxi/ Mommy God…not an Engineer! (Ok, maybe that last one was going just a bit too far. LOL… maybe).

As for layouts, here are a few that Creative Me pumped out in an effort to complete Fabulous Spouse’s Iraq album. Not Chritmas-y, but done... We will put them up on Friday with the Week 9 pictures.

Speaking of whirlwinds… here are some pictures from this past week. (please skip to the end if you do not want the family pics and info).

Fabulous Spouse took us out to the Purple Cafe & Wine Bar for our last date. We got a great table by the window, ate some fabulous faire and had two great flights of red. If you ever go, the salted caramels are to DIE for! (We even brought some home to share with the kids.

We finished the Christmas Cookies. Here is Girl Friday making Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies with Fabulous Spouse. (There is nothing sexier than a man in the kitchen making yummy desserts).

Then the kids had the annual Christmas Pagent for the Children's Mass. Oldest Child was an Alter Server, and the other two were in the Choir of Angels.

Then we went home to decorate the tree for Santa, hang the stockings, eat some pizza, and track Santa online at NORAD (and nothing says Santa is real like the US Military tracing him with its spy satellites).

Then of course, there was Christmas Day. It may have only taken 13 minutes to undo hundreds of elf hours of labor. Fortunately, they all seemed happy at what self elves found. Oldest Child even got some obsucre game that has not been made for several years (acording to him, Santa has an e-bay elf who tracks down that sort of stuff). They claim that they were super extra good, as they got more than their three gifts that they requested from Santa.

Then, the next day, we had to take Fabulous Spouse to the airport to send him off to Afghanistan on Virgin Airlines (insert terribly inapropriate joke about flying a virgin to prevent the terrorists from meeting their fourty in heaven).

Tuesday, we sat on the couch and did nothing. :)

Today, we blog hop! Happy WOYWW!

Organize your Stuff: Week 8/9(round 5): WOYWW 133

2011-12-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

Welcome all to another wonderful Wednesday! Woe was the day when we only had our own desks to stare at us! We now have the WOYWW (What’s on your work desk Wednesday) world where we wander wistfully amongst the desks of our cyber craft pals, thanks in no small part to the Absolutely Awesome Julia, masterful mistress of the Stamping Ground.

Also, Happy Hanakkah to all those Jewish readers around the globe! Keep those driedels spinning and the gelt flowing! (my kids love Hanakkah gelt!)

Well here is a bird’s eye view of our desk today. WARNING: long post. Just skip to the end if you just want to see the desk!

Creative Me worked on the card below on our Las Vegas vacation (finished up about $170 for the week at the craps table…not bad for my $40 a day budget), but had problems uploading. BTW- Super thanks to the fine Pit crew at the Las Vegas Hilton (soon to be Las Vegas Hotel) for letting me take a couple pictures at the table! You guys rock!

Therefore, when we got back, Creative Me was able to break out the buttons to make it more like the inspiration photo for her Design Team entry for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #98: Inspiration Photo. Such a cool room with all the bubbles and circles.

The POW is interrupting at this point for an infomercial for Snickerdoodle Cookies (as promised) from two weeks ago.

Snickerdoodles: a Crinkle Cookie (Betty Crocker Recipe)
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup stick butter, softened
½ cup shortening
2 large eggs
2 ¾ cups (or 1 lb by weight) flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar & 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204.45 C).
2. Cream together sugar, butter, shortening and eggs in a large bowl.
3. In small bowl, mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add dry ingredients from small bowl to creamed ingredients in large.
5. Shape dough into 1 ¼ inch balls (approximately).
6. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar mix, and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet (they WILL spread)
7. Bake 8-10 minutes or until set (they will not brown).
8. Cool at least 1 minute on cookie sheet, then move to wire rack.
9. Eat. :)

Commercial Over. Now, on to the family segment!

We have been super busy, and probably will be until Fabulous Spouse leaves for Afghanistan after Christmas! We started with Las Vegas for Fabulous Spouse’s conference. Thanks FS’s company for an awesome last week of work trip!

While we were gone, Grammy was in charge. She had lots of places to go and children to ferry about. Our thanks to her is beyond words! Here we are at the American Girl Store with Girl Friday the day before she left.

Grammy’s last day was a wrestling tournament for the Illusive Middle Child. He lost three, but won the fourth match by a pin in the second period, snatching 3rd place in his paring group. (We love these tournaments, because it is SO cute to see Illusive Middle Child wear his medal to school all week afterwards).

Then we took Grammy to the airport after quickly changing into holiday attire for the Company Christmas Party (ironically…Las Vegas themed!). After spending two hours in park on the highway due to an accident, we finally made it home.

However, next day, we finally needed to track down a tree. Got a beauty at a cut your own (according to the kids this one is a 15 year old…from checking the rings). Gotta love the adjustable tree mount! It only took seconds to set up at home, just swivel and lower the latch when the tree is standing the way you like it. (For any single folk out there, definitely worth the $20-$40 investment, as it has saved our sanity may a time… especially the year that we did Christmas with a 2 month old, 2 year old, and 6 year old and no Fabulous Spouse…as he was out to sea).

The kids were especially happy to find out that there were two baby calves on premises that needed fed. The Christmas tree farm owner gave them carrots and let them get some quality cow time! LOL!

Tired yet?! Next day was split between Oldest Child’s solo at the Middle School Christmas Concert….

… and Illusive Middle Child crafting his pinewood derby car for the races in January.

Is it time for Christmas yet? Have fun running about for your holidays! Hope that you have time to sit back and enjoy it! Happy WOYWW!

Organize your Stuff: Week 8:(round 5): WOYWW 132 Vegas Edition

2011-12-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today is Wednesday, and that means WOYWW (What’s On Your Work desk Wednesday). Today we come to you from the fabulous Las Vegas! Fabulous Spouse is on travel, and we are here with him…thank you Grammy!... and thus our work desk for this week was supplied by the Las Vegas Hilton!

We turned the whole room into a giant workshop, and went a little crazy. Good news is, December daily is half done (which is good news as so is the month!). Sorry, this is a heap of pictures. For other desks (with hopefully less pictures) visit Julia at the Stamping Ground!

Also, this week, we had to use a technique that we had not used in a long time for Technique Tuesday’s Sketch #97. This was a tough one for Creative Me, as we use most of our techniques rather regularly. However, if truth be told, we could not remember the last time we broke out our embossing powders (because they are just so darned messy! LOL!). and Voila! Technique found!

On the home front, we are preparing for the Holidays in earnest. We have seen Santa… (Fabulous Spouse’s Christmas party) and made gingerbread houses (more went into the tummies than onto the houses. Of that, we can assure you.

This week is kits. We will try to tackle them when we get back. Remember, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! *Wink!*

PS-next week we will have the recipe for snickerdoodles as so many have asked about them!

Organize your Stuff: Week 7(round 5): Ideas part 2

2011-12-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Here is one of our Christmas Cards. Creative Me was using paper from Theresa Collins when it needed just a little something more. What a great Idea! She ended up using the cuff from our Starbucks Peppermint Mocha.

Ok. This is our fourth time visiting Idea Week. The first time (round 2), the Inner Hoarder used her Jedi mind tricks and convinced us that these were not the magazines we were looking for. Move along…

However, with repeated visits, we have made progress. The second time (round 3) we momentarily subdued the Inner Hoarder, and started thinning the stash by cutting out the ideas that we liked, and discarding the rest of the magazine. A few magazines in, OCD Me was horrified at the mess, started contemplating filing systems… and then PA Me got us distracted.

Last round, we had a small breakthrough with the POW’s realization that most of what we used for ideas and inspiration were inside us or on the internet. However, since PA Me and the Inner Hoarder had been passing notes when nobody was looking, nothing got done…again.

This time, OCD Me was having none of it. We were going to make a dent in this pile of paper and finally allow some trees to complete their circle of life and be recycled. Now, you must realize, that we have magazines going back to 2000 or so… So, there is A LOT of paper to purge.

It may or may not have taken a little liquid courage to bypass the Inner Hoarder… and a lot of duct tape! But we did it! By the way, Our Girl Friday is 4 feet tall!

As for the family, we have been doing things other than being human measuring tape. We have been in full Santa preparation mode. Santa visited Girl Friday at Girl Scouts, where they were collecting toys for terminally ill children.

Santa also came to the Carols and Cocoa at the Elementary school where Illusive Middle Child was singing. Living up to his name, Illusive Middle Child stood in the back row, and was rather hard to photograph in his reindeer antlers.

Next Santa sighting…the Company kids Christmas Party this weekend. Boy, the big guy gets around!

Organize your Stuff: Week 7(round 5): WOYWW 131 & Ideas

2011-12-07T00:06:00.000-08:00

Time make your list and check it twice!

It is Wednesday, which means we’ve got to check and see desks both naughty and nice! Ok, We have Winter Brain Freeze, but it IS WOYWW (What’s On your Work Desk Wednesday).

Here is our neglected…and therefore naughty desk…

To see the rest of the list please check out the always nice Julia and the Stamping Ground!

This week, Creative Me was challenged to make a monochromatic color card for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #96. We toyed with purple for Hanukkah, and red or green for Christmas… then settled on blue because the kids were complaining that we had not gotten any snow yet this year… and they NEEDED a snow day.

Part of the slowness in our creativity has been caused by family overload, and PA Me and the Inner Hoarder putting up one last stand for the decade old magazines that really really needs to be purged for this week’s part of the Organize your Stuff challenge. We are on round 5, and it still has not been tackled. The POW says we need some liquid courage and to duct tape the Inner Hoarder and PA Me in a chair.

Maybe.

Also, this weekend, we had double duty birthdays. First, Illusive Middle Child turned 9.

Then, Oldest Child hit the big one and turned 13. We are not old enough to have a teenager. Fabulous Spouse went on his drill weekend. Oh, and the plague struck. The boys were nice and mature enough to at least get sick in the bathroom. Girl Friday caused us to discover horrible new smells in the car. We hate stomach bugs.

Kids are recovering finally. Lots of extra laundry done. Better birthdays than Christmas! Oh and we have been baking! White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Oatmeal Candy Cane Pecan, Dark Chocolate Orange, Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip cookies down…only like a dozen kinds to go!

Time to start hopping!

Organize your Stuff: Week 6 (round 5):One Little Word

2011-12-01T02:18:00.001-08:00

Can you believe that it is December 1st already? How time does fly! It seems like yesterday that we were choosing the word to represent our year. Now the year is waning, and we are sure that it was an apt choice.

It is that time again for those who are participating in Ali Edwards’ One Little Word to sahare your word and your homework. Our word for this year is: EMBRACE… and that we have! Ali’s prompts have indeed been a point of reflection, as we share our November homework, and latest 9 Patch…

We think that the greatest lesson that we have learned over the last 10 months is this… that EMBRACING is more than a hug, It takes two to EMBRACE. We hope that your word has been meaningful to you… and look forward to the last prompt of the year!

If you were blog hopping for this OLW, you came from Debra and are headed to Sam. It goes live at 8AM PST. For the whole list, visit…

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/
Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/
Jill http://jillconyers.typepad.com/
Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Debra http://blakleyhomeplace.blogspot.com/
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/ <---you are here
Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/
Lynn http://crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/
Cynthia http://paperpapereverywhere.blogspot.com/
Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/
Jenn http://studiojenn.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog

Organize your Stuff: Week 6 (round 5): WOYWW #130

2011-11-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a whirl wind week! We are here again at WOYWW (What’s On Your Work desk Wednesday), where we wander willfully throughout that world and oohh and aahhh at others desks. To see others, visit Julia and the rest at the Stamping Ground!

This is our work desk at the moment. Here is OCD Me’s tight shot.

…and the slightly more realistic wide angle by the POW.

Since this is the Pacific Northwest, and it is after November 1st, we are officially in the rainy season. No, seriously!! Last week we had traffic diverted because salmon were LITERALLY crossing the road …to get to the other side! …when the rivers began to overflow.

So, when Creative Me went to create her design team card for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch#95: Anything Goes, she could not resist this digital image of Flopsy in the Rain by Crafty Sentiments Designs.

Since last Wednesday, we have celebrated Thanksgiving (a major turkey dinner and tryptophan coma inducing feast here in the United States), demonstrated our black belt in Black Friday no holds barred freestyle shopping (Inner Hoarder scored well in the electronics, clothing, AND major furniture catagories), gave blood, and spent the day supporting Illusive Middle Child at wrestling. …and that just takes us to Saturday afternoon (and last post *here*).

If that were not enough, we had TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra) that night! If you ever get a chance, this is a MUST GO. The POW (and all of our children) say, “Put it on your bucket list!” We have gone every year since 2008, and every year the kids cannot wait to go back as this is our one present to the family…an experience rather than a gift. We dress up in full Christmas best. This year Girl Friday chose red sequins. Illusive Middle Child requested a “real” tie. Oldest Child requested a clip on tie that “will not choke me”.

Sunday, we started moving Girl Friday into the room left vacant by Awesome Auntie. Monday, we watched the Original Grinch who stole Christmas on TV. Tuesday, we put up the outside Christmas lights. The POW is overwhelmed, and it has not even hit December 1st yet!

However, we always have time for you! Wednesday is WOYWW on the couch, and a cup of coffee! Thank you Julia!

Organize your Stuff: Week 6 (round 5): Photos

2011-11-28T11:07:00.001-08:00

As far as an organizational week, this one is kind of a boring one. The POW got us onboard with digital photos back in 2004. During round 2 (here) OCD Me got what few film pictures we had (about 4 grocery bags worth) and sorted them into photo boxes.

Some people struggle with how to find their digital photos. After all, if you are looking for Baby’s 1st Birthday… is that IMG23456 or IMG32457? Do you have to go through them all? And then how do you find the stragglers from your cell phone or that were e-mailed to you and are out of sequence?

OCD set up our digital photo system (backed up on a terabyte external hard drive). It is a series of folders. The master folders are by year. Then, as the POW offloads pictures from memory chips, she automatically creates a folder by date (automatically saved with the photo if you set it up on the camera). Example: 01-01-2012 New Year’s breakfast. Adding the zero for months 1-9 is important. Otherwise, October (10) pictures will immediately follow January (1).

This seems to work for us, anyway. Here is a layout from this summer…PA Me has been dragging her feet, but we are mostly done with our Big Picture Classes Big Idea Festival layouts from August. Yes, we are behind. However… We just had to go to the 2011 folder, scroll down to the end of June, and find 06-23-2011 GF lost 1st tooth. *Ta Da* Girl Friday’s lost tooth!

As for this weekend, we are still recovering from Black Friday shopping. The executives who decided that shopping from midnight to 6 AM is safe, must own stock in Starbucks and Red Bull. If the Inner Hoarder did not have an eighth degree black belt in Black Friday shopping, we would have just skipped all together. Riiiiigghhhht.

We came, we saw, we shopped and shopped. We came home, crashed, and then went back out with Fabulous Spouse to Ikea (15% back on gift card! Score!) Now that Awesome Auntie has returned to her house, we were re-furnishing the play room… couch hunting! (Cell phone picture).

Furiture assembled, and replacement Xbox with Kinect (Black Friday purchase) in place. (Digital camera picture). Fun family time playing Fruit Ninja...Priceless.

Still jet lagged and riding the rest of our shopping high, we had a 6AM start the next day, so that we could give blood at our church before heading off to wrestling for the day. Illusive Middle Child gave it his all, and finally scored his first win and first pin in the last round of the day! Woo Hoo! (Another cell phone picture).

Organize your Stuff: Week 6 (round 5): WOYWW 129

2011-11-23T00:08:00.000-08:00

Jeepers, Creepers! It is that time of the Week again! WOYWW …and T-minus one day until Turkey Time! It is time to wander the world and see what’s on the work desk…while avoiding the sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie! (Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving Holiday in the US, and the day after is Black Friday).

Here is our work desk today… Creative Me is actually busy working on another layout (from this summer, not Iraq). To see other desks around the world, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground!

As for our card this week, Creative Me really outdid herself when she took bread tags and Copic’d (is that a word?) them to make a Thanksgiving Turkey tail for our design team entry for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #94: recycle. That is why Creative Me just LOVES her Copics!

This weekend, we finished up our cheerleading season by watching Girl Friday dance and cheer and stunt against nine other teams for the indoor Championship. Of course, PA Me left the camera chip in the laptop, so we had camera... no film. Fortunately, someone invented the camera phone!

Two of the teams were three times the size as ours, but luckily size does not matter in cheer.We had many tiny girls with big hearts! They stunted and twirled... even the boys got into it in the stands (shhhhh...do not tell anyone). Being parents, we saw every flaw, so we were hoping for top 4. (Note: Girl Friday is in silver sleves in front in this photo).

We Won! Here is Girl Friday with the trophy. An awesome end to an awesome season!

Organize your Stuff: Week 5 (round 5): scraps

2011-11-21T08:29:00.001-08:00

In preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday at our house we have actually been cleaning! Do not get too excited, we have not cleaned that much. PA Me would never allow that!

Well, here is our scrap table! OCD Me just could not take it anymore.

We squared up the rough and wonky edges and put them in piles. The POW has warned OCD Me that this is temporary. Creative Me is already itching to play in them, and Girl Friday has been eying them too!

We have another 2007 Iraq layout under our belt too.

The patterned paper is from October Afternoon that Fabulous Spouse helped pick out at CKC, and the title and school table were cut from scraps on the Cricut. The picture mat was a scrap too! Maybe there is something to be said for this organizing thing that OCD keeps trying to make us do!

We have been busy this weekend too. Here is Illusive Middle Child at his first ever wrestling meet. He lost all three matches (it is matches right?). But he got experience, and that is what counts! Especially since football took so long with the playoffs, that he only had 2 practices (or 3 hours) worth of wrestling training ever before we got there. Hopefully he will get better as the weeks progress… or at least continues to have fun!

Happy Early Thanksgiving!!! …or happy Monday to those outside the U.S.!

Organize your Stuff: Week 5 (round 5): WOYWW #128

2011-11-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well, it is that wonderful time of the week where we wander the world and whip up some WOYWW (What’s on your work desk Wednesday) love for our fellow crafters!

This is our work desk today…

Our scraps are still not organized (*Sad face*). However, they are getting better… (I'm not dead yet...) The POW even made OCD Me put the dreaded scrap pile on the left into the picture.

For other savvy WOYWW'ers, hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground!

This week we have been working on finishing up Fabulous Spouse’s Iraq album as we only have about six weeks until he leaves for Afghanistan. Six weeks! Aaagggghhhhh!

We also put together our Design Team card for Tuesday Trio Sketch# 93: Autumn. Creative Me was in a truly zen place when she got to work on this sketch. This card is made from our scrap pile with a white scrap inked up for our moon.

The copper leaves arrived just that morning (along with the words and the acorn) from our monthly Heartstring Designs kit. They were inked up with Copic markers (which have alcohol inks inside)!

PA Me totally blames Creative Me for our not cleaning. Inner Hoarder did not help either. We think she opposite of helped by locking OCD Me and the POW in the closet and then batting her eyelashes lovingly at Fabulous Spouse to take her to the CKC Scrapbooking vendor faire.

With a hypnotized Fabulous Spouse in tow, we increased rather than decreased our stash of scrappy goodness. Most of our buys were Afghanistan related. However, there are no photographs…so in true Mission Impossible fashion, that he can disavow this at a later date.

Also, Illusive Middle Child got his second place trophy from the football season that would never end (we have been playing since August 1st!). This Sunday will wrap up cheerleading as well with the league indoor cheer championships! Woo Hoo! Wish us luck!!!

Organize your Stuff: Week 5 (round 5): Scraps

2011-11-14T07:54:00.001-08:00

Hope that all of you had a great Veterans’ Day weekend!

This week we are tackling scraps. How are yours organized? Do you even keep scraps? Is there a minimum size?

Here is another Iraq training layout where Creative Me raided our scrap stash for the accents.

To be honest, OCD Me has tried to corral our scraps, but between Girl Friday and Creative Me they are always escaping, being fruitful, and multiplying. It does not help that Inner Hoarder refuses to throw them away.

Here is where our scraps are today. They are definitely in need of some OCD Me love.

This is the accordian folder where our scraps are supposed to live. When Girl Friday wants to create something the POW just directs her to the folder and tells her how many scraps she can use. This is probably the only thing that keeps the scraps from rising up and taking over the house.

This is the little side table that has runneth over with hedonistic scraps that multiply when we turn our backs on them.

Finally, here are the scraps that get shoved to the side (and that never seems to make it into our WOYWW frames). OCD Me is totally embarassed now.

As for our family, Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday went to the Championships in football. It was cold, it was rainy, and alas, there was no joy to be had… as we lost. However, as we told our boy, there is no shame in losing to an undefeated team… especially if you tried your hardest.

Organize your Stuff: Week 4 (round 5): Veteran’s Day

2011-11-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran’s Day! (or Armistice Day to the non-Americans)… and happy 11-11-11 as well!

Thank you so much for those Service Members who have put their lives on the line for us… and the families that have supported them and stood by them!

Here is a layout that Creative Me whipped up in our attempt to finish Fabulous Spouse’s 2007 Iraq album before he deploys to Afghanistan. It uses the super awesome Simple Stories Destinations line. The POW is pretty sure that is why we have not started prepping for Christmas…because 2 days later he deploys. Anyways….

Yesterday was a flurry of patriotic activities, as today is a holiday for all (except our trash men who will probably come around 5:30 AM and squash our attempts to sleep late). Fabulous Spouse took the day off to be shown off in his “monkey suit”.

Here he is at Girl Friday’s First Grade. They are learning about continents, and he is showing them where Iraq and Afghanistan are, as well as the places that his submarines have travelled over the years.

Illusive Middle Child was at recess when we stopped by, so Fabulous Spouse drew an even larger crowd… especially when Fabulous Spouse pulled out his mounted medals (brought to school at Illusive Middle Child’s request).

Then, there was the assembly. Illusive Middle Child’s 3rd Grade was the musical entertainment. Fabulous Spouse was presented a carnation by both Girl Friday and Illusive Middle Child. Then he was featured in the Veteran’s slide show.

Finally, there was the Veteran’s Day Mass at our church. Oldest Child’s Boy Scout Troop was the honor guard, and Oldest Child was also the alter server. (However, he was moving too fast for Fabulous Spouse to get a good photo...we were at the last practice for the Football Championships with Illusive Middle Child). Fabulous Spouse was asked to bring up the communion gifts… as he was still in uniform. Goodness! What a long day!

God Bless Our Veterans!!!!

Organize your Stuff: Week 4 (round 5): WOYWW#127 and Paper

2011-11-09T00:07:00.000-08:00

It seems like just yesterday that we were on the internet perusing crafty goodness… How did Wednesday sneak up on us so fast? Well, it is Wednesday, and that means that it is WOYWW (What’s on your work desk Wednesday) across the planet… where we get to see crafty goodness in every form thanks to the Wonderful Julia at the Stamping Ground and her charming Mr. Linky!

Here is our desk…not too terribly bad today. OCD Me was busy tackling our front room and entryway all morning, so mild chaos was left behind on the desk.

We were working on our Design Team entry for this Week’s Tuesday Trio Sketch #92: color challenge (banana yellow, pink, brown and blue). When the POW hears these colors, her mind automatically thinks… baby. However, that is not what Creative Me wanted. Out here, we are at peak Fall Foliage! One good sneeze, and the trees will be naked until June.

So we broke out our Tattered Angels Mists and made our banana yellow the kind of yellow a banana is …right before it is made into banana bread or banana muffins. Mmmmmmmm….

This week also starts getting us into the weeds for the Organize Your Stuff Challenge. It is time to take a closer look at your paper. (Nooooooooooo!) If you have an Inner Hoarder in your life, then this could potentially be a problem. If PA Me lives in your house and is close friends with your Inner Hoarder, then we are soul sisters (and misters) and we KNOW that there is a problem. There IS a reason we keep doing this challenge over and over again.

Hello. Our name is Scrappnbee. It has been six days since our last paper purchase (but come on! It is Simple Scrapbooks Yearology… and Creative Me NEEDS more Christmas paper because we are only three years behind on Christmas albums, and they need cute new paper!).

Yes, we will return our no shopping token when we can find it. We think that we left it under some paper. Here. Somewhere.

In the interest of almost honesty (because we are not sharing under the desk again, and OCD Me has forbidden us from showing the supper scary clutter stage left of the crafty semi-cleanliness), we still have not sorted and put away all of our papers and projects that we got from the CKC Portland Scrapbooking Convention back at the end of March. OCD Me is mortified. PA Me just keeps moving her hand around and whispering, “this is not the paper you are looking for.” *Sigh*

In personal news, we have retired our sash and are no longer the acting Lady of the Shoe, as Awsome Auntie and her family returned to their duty station. It has been a great nine months, and the house is eerily quiet now. We miss them!

Illusive Middle Child's football team did the impossible and won their playoff game in arctic like temperatures (30 degrees Fareinheit anyways). (no pictures at this time as blogger is giving me an error message. Will try again later). Therefore, we are double and tripple booked for kids activities everywhere! This weekend we are in the Championships! (Woo hoo!). Then, come heck or high water, the season will finally be over! ...then wrestling starts up... (actually, they already started without us)!

We probably should make an effort to put at least some of this away before next week… and not replace it with even more new stuff! …well, after we visit all of you and your desks, of course… *wink*!

Organize your Stuff: Week 3 (round 5): WOYWW #126

2011-11-02T00:38:00.000-07:00

Wow! It is Wednesday again! That means that it is time to click your way across the world and peek at desks of the crafty and creative! It is What’s On Your Work desk Wednesday again!

Here is our desk… post Halloween costume central…and currently being abused by Oldest Child for a last minute English class project. (Also, *gasp* you can see under my desk, and it is scary!)

The POW is a little nervous at the destruction that may occur. For while Oldest Child may not be quite up to “bull in the china shop” levels of destruction anymore… we hope… it still makes us wary. For other desks (which have not been sublet to 12 year olds) please visit Julia at the Stamping Ground!

Creative Me has been in bliss this week. While it may be a little stressful for the POW to produce, we have had three blog posts in three days now! Phew!

Today, we are sharing our design team card for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch#91: raised elements. This card uses the new Cricut Projects: Flower Shoppe. Totally cool and having Creative Me doing mini back flips at the Prima-esque flowers that she can make by herself in the future.

These flowers are super simple to assemble, just roll up the spiral. And, since they are Cricut, come in every size!

This week we will begin the clean slate process in the Organize Your Stuff Challenge. Time to actually buckle down, clean up, and distract the Inner Hoarder with the promise of Christmas papers or shiny objects. Happy WOYWW!

PS- If you missed the kids Halloween picture from yesterday... they have come down from their sugar high. Here they are in their Soldier, Final Fantasy Future Warrior, and Rapunzel glory!

Organize your Stuff: Week 2 (round 5): OLW

2011-11-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

It is that time again! Time to share our monthly homework results from Ali Edward’s One Little Word (OLW) class at Big Pictures Classes. BTW- Ali has already confirmed that there will be another round of OLW for next year… just in case you were interested!

Here is our hop list (goes live at 8AM PST). You just came from Lynn, and will be continuing on to Jill if you are going in order!

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/
Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog
Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/
Jenn http://studiojenn.blogspot.com/
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/
Debra http://blakleyhomeplace.blogspot.com/
Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Monica http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Lynn http://crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/ <---you are here!!!
Jill http://jillconyers.typepad.com/

Our homework for this month was photos of our word in our life. Our Word is Embrace. Here are the photos we chose.

1. Oldest Child embracing nature and hiking more.
2. Embracing football (pep ralley pic).
3. Boxes. Embracing Awesome Auntie's family.
4. Back to School (Embracing learning).
5. Embracing Fabulous Spouse with more alone time.
6.Embracing growing up with Girl Friday's 1st American Girl Doll.
7. Embracing grief. Illusive Middle Child's coach dies.
8. Embracing change. Nov 1st starts the rainy season.
9. Embracing Fun and family time. Happy Halloween!

As for the family… yesterday was Halloween, and so of course, there is the obligatory montage of Halloween pictures that the POW must share.

Here is the tribe carving their pumpkins. The finished pumpkins are in the last picture.

Here is the kids in there Halloween school attire (Halloween parties of our youth are no longer allowed as they might offend Wiccans (no, seriously, the school district banned it to not offend those of that religion) and people who do not play dress up).

And finally…ta da! The kids in their Halloween attire.
Oldest Child: Soldier
Illusive Middle Child: Final Fantasy Future Warrior
Girl Friday: Rapunzel
Shark Bait: Peter Pan
The WMD: Tinkerbell

Organize your Stuff: Week 2 (round 5): Brainstorming

2011-10-31T00:57:00.000-07:00

After three rounds of organizing our stuff, you would think that it was perfect. Ha! If the POW were only so lucky! Unfortunately we have too many warring personalities (and too many kids!) …so organizing is still an ongoing challenge.

Week one asked us to scrap a layout. Here is the one that Creative Me whipped up.

It is another simple layout for Fabulous Spouse’s 2007 Iraq album. (Note to self: Must complete Iraq 2007 before Fabulous Spouse leaves for Afghanistan). We did our inventory, and the POW has narrowed down the list of discrepancies originally submitted by OCD Me.

Here are our top three areas for round 5:

1. Rubber stamp images. We are by no means on the Alzheimer’s in patient list, but Creative Me can no longer keep track of the plethora of images that we have amassed. (We know. No sympathy from the crowd).

2. Homeless Cricut. The Cricut needs a home. We actually use it too much for it to be put away and taken out every time that we need it. It is so bad, that it does not even bother the sleeping 12 yr old cat (ok, that may be a function of being a 12 year old cat) …but where do we put it?!? (the kid's stool is not the answer)

3. Memorobelia. PA Me and the Inner Hoarder are Jedi Masters, and have been long before being a Sith was cool. “This is not the Memorobelia you are looking for” is a mantra that has been spoken so often, we are lucky that the rest of our minds have not been reduced to rice pudding!

As for brainstorming… Zen Master Wookiemouse says to envision our perfect space. We have long stood by our Martha Stewart-esque pewter label and fluted columned space (with the occasional stray chicken laying multi- colored eggs and celebrities popping by). Last round we even asked for a Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons. Personally, the POW has decided that being the designated drop point for EVERYTHING is not helpful. Especially when the Inner Harder and PA Me are two of your most dominant personalities. It just screams sign me up for Hoarders- buried alive! …today!!!

Wish us luck! Also, Happy Halloween! (pics of the kids to come after trick or treating, but here is a sneak peak of Illusive Middle Child’s costume under assembly at the scrap room table…)

Organize your Stuff: Week 1 (round 5): WOYWW #125 & space audit

2011-10-26T00:44:00.000-07:00

Well, once again it is Wednesday, and therefore, it is time to break out the camera for a WOYWW (What’s on your work desk Wednesday) view. For a change, OCD Me has made some headway, and we have a clean work space! (*gasp*)

We tackled all the detritus in the general scrapping/ card making area, and even weeded through our scraps. For more WOYWW spaces (any of which are more interesting than mine!) please click over to the always gracious and fabulous Julia at the Stamping Ground.

Our card this week was our design team entry for the Tuesday Trio Sketch #90: lots of layers! And boy were there ever! Creative Me was boggled at first on how to get so many onto such a small space. However, like always, she came through in a pinch and made the POW and the rest proud in the end!

For those who follow us regularly, we have finally finished round 4 of the Organization Challenge (originally posted here in May 2009 by Wookiemouse at 2 Peas in a Bucket). Since then, it has taken on a life of its own over at 2 Peas, thanks in no small part to the Fabulous Crisann, the moderator since then!

We admit, that we have been a bit slack in round 4, especially when it came to scrapbook layouts. So, the POW promises, PROMISES, to be better in round 5! (and OCD Me will make her stick too it, too!).

For week 1, anyone following along, you need to scrap a layout, make a card, do what you do, and figure out what works, and what you need to change. It could be as simple as moving your adhesive closer (or those dreaded button that Fabulous Spouse hates), or loving the way that the ink is filed. Your inner OCD Me and Creative Me will have a blast. The rest, not so much. Hmmmmmm….

This week has been super busy and tiring, as Fabulous Spouse was officially diagnosed with pneumonia, and removed from much of the outdoor activity parental duty roster.

However, that does not mean that things slowed down! This week, our boys were the big men on the field.

Oldest Child was the Offensive Line Captain (in red between purple #7 and #23) for the 8th Grade Football game at the High School Stadium.

Illusive Middle Child (in black to the left of blue # 20) was also picked to be the Defensive Line Captain (and have his first game as a starter) the same week.

...and not to be left out, Girl Friday cheered as usual!

Let’s just say that We were very proud parents!

Off to travel the world, one desk at a time! Happy WOYWW!

Organize your Stuff: Week 29 (round 4): WOYWW #124

2011-10-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

It is that time of the week again… and better late than never. It is What’s On your Workdesk Wednesday, and here is where ours stands today…

Yes, we know. It is not that much different than last week, but we have not been terribly productive this week either. For other fabulous desks, visit Julia at her always fabulous Stamping Ground. Theoretically, we are preparing for our finale in the Organize your Stuff Challenge for this round, buuuutttt…

…we have been busy. That is PA Me’s story and she is sticking to it. The Inner Hoarder is breathing heavily into one of the kids’ brown paper lunch sack, as the POW and OCD Me have almost (but not quite) gotten the energy to overthrow her and regain control and restore cleanliness to her chaos.

We did however, get a design team card done for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #89: butterflies. We chose time flies…because well, it does! …especially when you are NOT cleaning.

In our defense, we are currently sleep deprived, and Fabulous Spouse is SIQ (Sick in quarters) with a nasty cough. Football has been in overdrive, as we had three games since the last WOYWW.

So... off to hop the desks. The POW promises some forward progress on the room (after we are done browsing the other desks of course *wink*)! Have a great Wednesday!

Organize your Stuff: Week 28 (round 4): WOYWW #123 & card supplies

2011-10-12T00:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome back for another whirl wind views of the world… one desk at a time. What is on your work desk? … here is ours…

For other fabulous fun finds, feel free to visit Julia at the Stamping Ground!

We were super busy this week. However, we did manage to make some cards for card supply week. OCD Me wants you to know that we make all of our cards from scratch (although in the past we have not been above buying them precut and scored from a box store to embellish). However, we do still buy our A4 envelopes in bulk (4.25 x 5.5…or half of an 8.5 x 11).

Also we had our weekly entry for Tuesday Trio's Sketch #88. We had to channel our inner bridesmaid and come up with something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue… here is Creative Me’s result…

In our personal lives, here is Girl Friday at the American Girl store picking out her first American Girl Doll. These are dolls that come from different eras in American History and teach that history through a series of books and videos (and of course accessories) from a girl’s point of view.

Girl Friday loves hers… and she and the doll have been inseparable ever since! See her asleep after all the excitement during the car ride home!

The following day was football (we lost), and Girl Fiday's Birthday dinner out... at the RAM. Fun was had by all of the shoe inhabitants. (yeahhhh!!!!). Have a fabulous WOYWW! See you soon!

Organize your Stuff: Week 28 (round 4): WOYWW #122

2011-10-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

For starters, let us bid a rainy hello to all the wonderful What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday. If you are looking for sunnier climates, it is only a click away at Julia’s Stamping Ground! In two clicks, different continent, hopefully more sunshine!

Today the POW had Creative Me frantically working on our Sketch #87 for Tuesday Trio, but did not quite get it in on time as it was a redo (translation to English error the first time… black and white card was original request, but colorful card with a black and white element was the real request). Just goes to show that we are all human. Here it is anyway, even if it did not make it to the site posting.

It has been franticly busy here for many reasons. The saddest of which was the unexpected death of one of Illusive Middle Child’s football coaches on the weekend of their rivalry game (we won 13-12) in a car accident. The coaches made the rough decision to tell the boys after the game. As Coach O was one of my son’s favorites, the POW has been listening to PA Me and letting a lot slide to help him deal.

Also, on a happier note, this week was Girl Friday’s birthday! It is hard to believe that she is growing up! Many presents and many, many cupcakes were made and consumed today! Our house still smells of artificial strawberry from the 50 cupcakes that we made for the cheer squad! The hardest to find present… Black Beauty- the original movie (by request). The coolest present… an IOU for a trip to the American Girl store in Seattle this weekend to buy Girl Friday her first American Girl doll. (Whip Me, Beat Me and take away my charge card!...Space Camp).

We will be visiting desks and leaving a post on Card making supplies at the end of the week!

Organize your Stuff: Week 27 (round 4): Operation Write Home Blog Hop

2011-10-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is a quick post today at the request of OWH due to the 125+ blogs we need to visit! (This blog hop goes live at 3 AM Eastern time).

The POW loves Operation Write Home. This organization has touched our family, as it has allowed Fabulous Spouse’s brother to write home… and made our Awesome Auntie smile when she needed it.

Also, our dear Fabulous Spouse is due to deploy to Afghanistan after Christmas this year, and we hope to recieve some mail of our own.

It also justifies some of the Inner Hoarder’s scrappy purchases!

Today is National Card Making Day! In a work up to the holidays, we have been asked to share a holiday card for the troops…

…hope you like it!

Supplies: Cardstock, patterned paper, stamps: Close to My Heart; Markers: Copic; star brad: BoBunny ink: Momento

Thank you to all our soldiers, sailors, and marines for making our sandboxes safe!

Click below to return to the hop!

Organize your Stuff: Week 27 (round 4): WOYWW #121

2011-09-28T00:06:00.000-07:00

It is Wednesday, and can you say JETLAG! We know that we can! It is also the What’s on Your Work desk Wednesday where you can visit around the world without subjecting body to the fabulousness that is air travel and time zone changes! To travel by clicks… visit Julia’s fabulous transport machine at the Stamping Station.

Here was my desk for the weekend…

...here is our desk preparing for flight (sitting between Illusive Middle Child and Oldest Child, all set with a bag of snacks and everything)...

… from it, we created the following card for Tuesday Trio’s sketch #86 using digis again. Creative Me has decided that digis are cool! Like using the Cricut, suddenly resizing is an option! Girl Friday likes digis too, because the POW will print sheets and sheets of them for her to color.

We took a quick trip to the East Coast for the wedding of my brother-in-law to his fabulous bride, so a regular desk was out of the picture. See the previous post for more, but here are just a few for those who are hopping and do not want to click back....

Here is Grandmother, Shark Bait, and Girl Friday at the rehearsal dinner...well past all of our bedtimes...

The wedding...

Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday at the gazebo at the Voice of America park (so named because the radio towers that transmitted the VOA signal during WWII were here)

Organize your Stuff: Week 27 (round 4): Fonts

2011-09-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, it is Monday, and not Friday. Somehow, the POW was sure that we would be able to pull off a post, even though we were up at 4:30AM and did not reach our destination… the tail end of a wedding rehearsal dinner until 8:50 PM (via 3 airplane transfers). We were sure we could do it.

No such luck. Oh well. Here is our layout that we promised.

The font is stickers. We really do not do much in the way of computer font work. Almost always, it is stickers or stamps… or *gasp* handwriting.

Yesterday was wedding day… and a pilgrimage to Buffalo Wild Wings (there are no Buffalo Wild Wings in the state of Washington). It has been almost two years since we got to enjoy their spicy wing-y goodness. Ironically we got to visit it again and again as we did lunch, then watched Ohio State and University of Washington play football during the two hours post wedding/ pre-reception. Then we finished up the night post-reception with Fabulous Spouse’s brothers and other guests.

We enjoyed a fabulous wedding where Fabulous Spouse’s next to youngest brother got married. The tribe even behaved for both the service and the reception that followed.

Here is Girl Friday dancing with the Groom while the Illusive Middle Child dances with the Bride. Congrats to both to J & K and thanks for a fabulous party!

Organize your Stuff: Week 26 (round 4): WOYWW #120

2011-09-21T00:50:00.000-07:00

First off, We love you dearest laptop! Every one of our personalities is doing the happy dance as our laptop has finally emerged from the Best Buy electronic Intensive Care Unit (ICU). PA Me is longing to get lost in your games, and everyone else is going through extreme internet withdrawal. Girl Friday is still sorry for tripping over the cord and dislocating the charging pin from the motherboard. But as we have quoted before “we are not dead yet!...I feel better!...” and now, we can keep up with you all! Yeah!!!!

A double thanks to those who have bared with us and left fabulous comments, when we could not necessarily comment back (darned stupid smart phone oxymoron). We LOVE you!!! As you may have guessed from the title and the calendar, it is What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday again… time to snoop around the world at the fabulous goings on and mayhem that constitutes all of our crafty places! For additional desks, please visit Julia at the Stamping Ground as always, and she will show you the way!

Today’s desk had our design team card for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #85. It also had the less photogenic, but more user friendly A4 version that is going off to Operation Write Home (an awesome site that does a fab job of sending blank cards to deployed troops so that they can write home).

As for the home front, nothing much new to report here. We live, sleep, eat, play and watch American football. Illusive Middle Child had his first away game (with Girl Friday cheerleading of course). Dad and Oldest Child tagged along, and we won handily (this means that Illusive Middle child got nachos from the concession stand). This afternoon, it will be turn about as Oldest Child has his first “varsity” game as an 8th grader, and Illusive Middle Child is the ball boy and Girl Friday tags along.

Even the scrapping has taken a football twist. Layout to be posted Friday!

Happy WOYWW! Glad to be back!

Organize your Stuff: Week 25 (round 4): WOYWW #119 & Negatives

2011-09-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

It is that time again! Time to look at the state of the desks around the globe and the cool and inspiring projects that they have! This week, as always, has been brought to you by Julia and her lovely blog at the Stamping Ground. Pop over to see other desks, and to ooooh and aaawwww!
Here is this week’s desk. It is messy as usual.

For those who visited last week, sorry that we did not make the rounds. The laptop’s charging pin has separated from the motherboard, and is in the Best Buy ICU (Intensive Care Unit). The hope is, that in true Monty Python and the Holy Grail fashion, that it is “not dead yet” and will feel better soon (in about 14 business days). This justifies (to the POW) the reason to always get the warranty that covers act of God/ act of Child. It also confirms to Fabulous Spouse that before our family left Ireland for the United States all those generations ago, that someone must have stepped on a leprechaun by accident and that we are most probably related to the Murphys. Darned you Murphy’s Law!!!

Here is our Design Team entry for this week’s sketch #84 at Tuesday Trio…a baby card. Creative Me had fun, as she was able to break out the embossing gun for the white (as white ink just never shows real well).

...and we made cookies (oatmeal butterscotch)...

As for memorabilia week, the POW is pretty sure that PA Me and the Inner Hoarder arranged the whole broken laptop thing to distract us long enough to pull out the old Jedi mind trick “this is not the memorabilia that you are looking for”, and so we did not go there. *sigh*

As for this week, it is negatives. The POW is still pretty negative over the laptop thing, but we think that Zen Master Wookiemouse meant photo negatives. Luckily, we are digital, and this is the third time around! We store our photos on a terabyte external hard drive, and offsite uploaded to Costco (where we get most of our printing done).

Also, Illusive Middle Child and Girl Friday had their first real football game (American Football). We won 13-0 (thank goodness!!!), and we think that Illusive Middle Child ,#77 and the 2nd string center (ball holder for the offense for my non American football friends) has drank the cool-aide and become a believer and convert for life (Girl Friday had fun too. She is the top of the pyramid in front).

Happy WOYWW!

Organize your Stuff: Week 24 (round 4): WOYWW #118 and memorabilia (intro)

2011-09-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

For starters, let’s have a great woo hoo for back to school!

*yeaaaaahhhhh*

Second, it is that time of the week again for fabulous work desks around the world at Julia’s Stamping Ground as a part of the WOYWW (What’s On Your Work-desk Wednesday). We are here transmitting from the lovely Pacific Northwest, with a defunct laptop that will not hold a charge (*booooo*).

So, it is off today to the computer repair wizard. Promise, Promise that we will get back to any and all commenters, as we know that there are few truths in life…one is never to fight a land war in Asia, and another is never to cross a Sicilian when death is on the line (from Vincini in the Princess Bride). However, even lesser known still, is not to kill the laptop, when WOYWW is on the line!

As this is the second attempt at this post, let me just share Creative Me’s card (minus publisher’s cropping and editing).

This is our sketch for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #83 (Pink/White/Brown). Creative Me broke out the acrylic paints for this one (as well as our favorite butterfly punch!!)!

As for memorabilia, it has been the bane of our existence since day one! It is the reason that we quit round 2, and limped along round 3. It is the one thing that if any scrapbooker has an Inner Hoarder, takes them too far…

As the POW is currently struggling with laptop issues, we promise to post more about this later…

HAPPY HOPPING!

Organize your Stuff: Week 23 (round 4): OLW Blog Hop

2011-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today is September 1st, which means that it is time for all of us participating in the One Little Word class with Ali Edwards to share our homework from last month (goes live at 8AM PST). It is also the first day of school (Yeah!)

The POW was happy to have a relatively easy assignment, as the end of August was rather hectic (and to be honest, no matter how hard OCD Me tries to get us to do our homework early, somehow PA Me seems to push harder, and we always seem to do it in the last week! It is no different now than when we were in school ourselves *sigh*)

Anyway...Here is our work.

Creative Me was a little underwhelmed, but after the stress of July’s playlist, no one else was complaining. Ali challenged us to use one photo and pick from a canned list to describe ourselves at this point.

We picked this photo, rather than one of an “embrace” (our word for 2011), as this is the role that we are “embracing” right now. Football mom and paparazzi. Two hours a day since August 1st, football has become a family affair…and it will continue until November! Now that is a change to embrace!
To see the rest of the fabulous ladies and their homework, visit these blogs:

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog
Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/
Jill http://jillconyers.typepad.com/
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Melissa http://blog.mshanhun.com/
Kathryn http://www.katlodesigns.com/
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/
Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/
Chrissy http://getcraftywithchrissy.blogspot.com/
Lynn http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog
Jen http://byjen.com/
Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Cassie http://craftycassiescorner.blogspot.com/
Jamie http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/

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

2011-08-31T00:35:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-24T00:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-22T00:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-17T00:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-03T00:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

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!

Organize your Stuff: Week 18 (round 4): Tools part 2

2011-07-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

This is a short post today. Fabulous Spouse is taking us to Idaho, and we are en route sans kids. Thank you Awesome Auntie for watching them! However, the POW did promise a 2nd post, and we have a hot spot (woo hoo!)

For starters, here is a card that Creative Me was totally inspired by one of our talented WOYWW gals (Franka Benjaminsen) to make the following “one-layer” card:

The color inspiration came from the Play Date Café Challenge PDCC #92

As for tools, here is our must have for this round:

Martha Stewart Scoring Pad

Other Must Haves from previous rounds:

Round 3: Tim Holt Tonic piercer (or as Girl Friday calls it “the pokey tool”)

Round 2: Perfect layers Matting Tool

Well, enjoy your weekend! We will be back Monday with our One Little Word Homework for July!

Organize your Stuff: Week 18 (round 4): WOYWW & Tools

2011-07-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday! Sorry that last week was a one post-er, but kept waiting for that shot of Girl Friday and the missing tooth! Finally, here it is:

Her tooth fairy brought 5 “gold quarters” (5 one dollar gold coins, which according to the Illusive Middle Child, tooth fairies make…like Santa’s elves make toys) and a little Hello Kitty tin. After this though, she is on the reduced $1 per tooth rate. Not only did Girl Friday finally lose hers, but Illusive Middle Child lost yet another just tonight! (must remember to finish blog and go to bed before the tooth fairy comes!)

Here is our desk:

It is full of crafty things that Creative Me has been making. To skip ahead to other crafty desks, head on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground.

First on Creative Me’s list of craftiness for this week, was our design team card for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #77- Acrylic paint. We just LOVE these vintage Alice in Wonderland stamps from Clear Art Stamps and are always looking for an excuse to use them! Here, we painted our roses…er..brads red!

Next is a layout from Girl Friday’s 6th birthday. OCD Me really wants to get 2010 moved out of the D-ring temporary binder and into a permanent post bound. This was one of the missing layouts keeping us from calling it done (this and all of July and August). This is TRUE scrap booking, as all these paper blocks car scraps from previous layouts! Girl Friday even helped... it was her birthday after all, and helping is what Girl Fridays do best!

Finally, as you can see on our desk, we have been busy creating for our favorite charity, Operation Write Home using CTMH stamps. Girl Friday helped me put together these cards destined for our overseas troops so that they can write home... did I mention that our TV died this weekend, and the repair man does not come until tomorrow? No? Total family time in the cool rain that is our summer. Oldest Child, who has been away from home for two weeks at camp almost had a coronary.

As for tools…OCD Me keeps our favorites in a scrapping tote for both ease of transport to crops and such, and ease of finding as Creative Me has a nasty habit of losing tools in plain sight on our desk mid project!

What are your favorite tools? My list will be up by Saturday…Pinky Swear! (We do not need to wait on pesky teeth this time!)

Organize your Stuff: Week 17 (round 4): WOYWW & Punches

2011-07-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

To start off this Wednesday, here is a look at our desk. As it is punches week, you might note the row of Fiskars border punches on top of our stamp wall/ mini milk crates. It is actually a little tidier than usual at the desk today, but that is because Creative Me and Girl Friday have been working on a small, yet very important project… a tooth fairy pillow!

Girl Friday has discovered her first wiggly tooth, and as is tradition in our home, now has to make the little cloth sack (with Mommy supervision from Creative Me of course) to put under her pillow to keep her teeth…and treasure… safe. Girl Friday picked out the fabric at the store herself. It is no small wonder as she has thousands of stuffed elephants strewn about the house.

To see other desks and what they have left behind, go to Julia’s Stamping Ground for the complete list of WOYWW-ers this week.

As for this week’s card, we had to incorporate printed text in our Design Team entry for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #76. Our text came from a 1930’s German dictionary that the Inner Hoarder found at St. Vincent’s (like Goodwill, but for Catholic Charities). It is slowly being defaced and added to Creative Me’s crafts… a total score for $1.99!

The colors were inspired by an Australian site that we found while hopping around the net (probably from one of you WOYWW-ers!) called Just Add Ink. They post on Fridays, and this week (JAI 76) it was an inpirational photo for your mojo (and as Austin Powers can attest, we are nothing without our mojo!). We just LOVED the colors!

We used punches in a couple places on this card. Creative Me used the Fiskars notebook border punch on the background piece of text (totally covered in glimmer mist!!- sorry, still a favorite new technique). We also punched out the sentiment, and put liquid adhesive on a circle punch to mount the rosette when we were making it.

It is another quiet, and cool, week here in the Pacific Northwest. The weatherman has said that we have had 78 minutes of weather above 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) this year, and 18 hours and 45 minutes above 75 degrees (also Fahrenheit). Oldest Child has returned from his mission outreach trip, and is now at Boy Scout sleep away camp. Fabulous Spouse is two time zones away in Connecticut (where they still have real Chinese food) *sigh* and warm summer weather. Therefore, the POW is entertaining the troops, and making sure that Girl Friday and the Illusive Middle Child do not drive Awesome Auntie crazy.

Hopefully, we will have a layout…and a lost tooth… for the weekend!

Organize your Stuff: Week 16 (round 4): Chalks, Paint, Glitter, and Stickles

2011-07-15T00:03:00.000-07:00

Well the quiet week has come and gone way too fast! Creative Me finished this layout from our desk picture on Wednesday.

Originally, the plan was to use stickles on all of the red dots, but at the last minute the POW decided to reign in Creative Me and leave it as is. OCD Me was a little conflicted, since we always try to tie in to the week that we are organizing. However, OCD Me is also the one who constantly criticizes Creative Me for swinging too far to the Dark Side and venturing perilously close to the infamous Product Vomit.

The POW, self-proclaimed arbiter of my mind, decided that when OCD Me is worried about our craftiness, then something must be done quick… lest we tear a hole in the space time continuum or something. So, a few clicks later, and we were off to create a card.

This card uses the color scheme from The Play Date Café Challenge #90. Creative Me just loves the pictures that these folks put together each week to represent their colors!

Also, this card uses the “I Miss You” sentiment from Operation Write Home’s Wednesday challenge. The POW thinks that these people rock, as Awesome Auntie gets a card from her deployed spouse every other day or so, and those cards are free from OWH to him so that he can write home.

As for storage, not much has changed since last round.

This little bag has my stickles (name brand for dimentional glitter glue) mists and chalk inks. A reusable grocery bag has two stacked mini-milk cartons of acrylic paints and one set of watercolors in it.

Hope that you all have a great and crafty weekend!

Organize your Stuff: Week 15 (round 4): WOYWW & Ink, Ink Pads & Embossing part 2

2011-07-13T00:09:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a little belated, but the parents are on the road again…or in the air as the case may be…so our shoe has shrunk from 10 back to our pre-June 28th house of 8. …and actually it seems like less. Oldest Child has left for a week of sleep away youth group work with the migrant workers several counties away, Illusive Middle Child has Cub Scout day camp from 8-4:30 all this week, and Fabulous Spouse is working. That just leaves Girl Friday, Awesome Auntie, the WMD, Shark Bait and us at home. It is positively vacant.

That means that we can get back to being creative without feeling too guilty! While going through the D-Ring album that currently houses our 2010, Fabulous Spouse and the POW made a list of missing layouts to work on, and what’s on our work desk today?...The Nutcracker. Santa gave us tickets to see the ballet for the first time (and each child received their own Nutcracker…Girl Friday got a a ballet Barbie too…).

The chair has been cleared of paper mache stars, and Creative Me is hard at work! To see other desks, please go on over to Julia’s Stamping Ground to find more. To those we missed last week, sorry…we have been a whirling dervish of grand-parental activity!

Next, here is Creative Me’s Design Team entry for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #75 using lace.

This gave Creative Me a chance to break out some of our new stamp sets… Yes, We are Scrappnbee, We have a problem, and it is stamps. The great thing about stamps, though, is that once you have enough inks (the right kind, because we have found that acrylics and rubber accept ink a little differently...then there is Copics..), the sky is the limit. This card started plain blue, but stamps and some CTMH New England Ivy and Chocolate inks transformed it!

There is no secret, the Inner Hoarder is a stamp addict. And with an addiction to stamps, there is the need to have inks to use them effectively. The Inner Hoarder and Creative Me have amassed an incredible arsenal of inks for any occasion. We have a near complete collection of Stamp It Up craft inks from back in our rubber stamp days (because craft takes longer to dry and accepts embossing powder well). StazOn ink lives on top:

Close to My Heart ink, the best that OCD Me has found for use with clear acrylic stamps and photopolymer stamps live in their own Tower (no not the kind that Rapunzel gets to live in... cue the Disney theme music and chick with the too big eyes... rather these are the kind that spins):

Momento Inks for stamping images that Creative Me wants to color with Copics, and Tim Holts inks (there are not many-yet. ...Just wait until the Inner Hoarder has a coupon and some disposable income!)…just because…However, OCD Me did get these labeled with the label maker and stores them all upside down to keep the ink at the surface and they currently live in the mini-milk crates with the stamps:

These are our inks. OCD Me does her best to keep them in order. However, if you look at the desk up top, you will see that Creative Me and PA Me do not always put things away, and therefore there are always several inks stacked om our desk.

Next Post: Paints, glitter, and stickles!

Organize your Stuff: Week 15 (round 4): WOYWW & Ink, Ink Pads & Embossing

2011-07-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hope all of our Canadian readers had a happy Canada Day (and are enjoying Prince William and Lady Kate), and our American Readers had a wonderful Independence Day! We know that we did!

Here is what’s on our desk this week. It looks like a stray mortar from the fireworks display exploded in here, but we had our hands full with holiday fun. Inconcieveable! We know. But besides never fighting a land war in Asia or threatening a Sicilian when death is on the line, a little known fact is that there is no such thing as quiet time when entertaining company and celebating national holidays are on the agenda!

Items of note are paper mache stars for kids project on our chair, fabric which had 2 inch strips cut off to be used as bike decorations in our 4th of July nieborhood bike parade, and leftover paint from our OLW project (last post). We need to let OCD Me out a little more... or at least let the POW order a maid!

Also, for those who asked, yes, that is a small wall of CTMH clear acrylic stamps (blame the Inner Hoarder who has never found a stamp that she did not love), and they are stored in CD sized milk crate containers. We got some at Wal Mart and the last few Fred Meyers (used to be $1 now like $1.50...darned inflation and recession!). Hope that helps.

There are many more desks…most if not all neater, and not assailed by the rocket’s red glare… at Julia’s Stamping Ground. Please take a peak and be inspired.

Here is our Design Team card for Tuesday Trio’s Sketch #74- doodling. Creative Me got to break out some of her favorite Close to My Heart stamps (D1257 Make it count), and Tim Holtz spinners for the clock hands. The doodling was the flowers and flourishes that framed the clock. This took FOREVER as the ink marker kept drying up on me! Tip: keep reinkers of your favorite colors on hand...always.

While this may not have been quite red, white and blue...ok, the POW admits it screams autumn, it just worked for the sketch and theme.

This is more Inependance Day...

using the American Made paper line from My Mind's Eye...but no stamps and no doodling. Just some bling!

Here is the gratuitus family shot...actually the only scene with all three in one place (we even got Shark Bait in the photo)...just because the POW wanted to share...and they look so darned cute!

Organize your Stuff: Week 14 (round 4): OLW Blog Hop & Crops

2011-07-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to those who are on the One Little Word Blog Hop to see what we all did with our OLW homework. This is the finished product of what Creative Me came up with:

Here is a few before pics.The hardest part for us was the color choice. OCD Me wanted to keep with the blue of the first nine patch because embracing brings peace and calm. Creative Me was thinking more seasonal change, and summer colors. PA Me said that we can do summer colors when we get summer temperatures. Therefore, we compromised, and the POW told us to use a little bit of blue, some green for spring, and a touch of yellow for the hope of summer!

The only other issue that we had was that the embossed clock and numbers were originally clear embossed with paint overtop, but Creative Me was overruled, and we redid it in bronze. Also, the blue first and last card seemed too blue, so we painted it.

We have been doing a lot of embracing these days, especially embracing the end of the school year. However, Girl Friday has not embraced the fact that 62 degrees Fahrenheit is too cold to play in the sprinkler! Nor have any of them really embraced the idea of sleeping in yet…although we wish that they would.

As for crops, the last one that we attended was at CKC Portland. The big thing about crops is to plan ahead. This is realistically a social event, where the pages come second in many instances. However, we have learned that OCD Me tends to over pack, and so when the POW preps our stuff ahead of time, there is not quite as much stuff to cart around.

Here is a link to round 3 with pics of some of my regular crop supplies: rolling cart, tiered shelf, mini table, tool bag...all esentials!

JULY 1 BLOG HOP PARTICIPANTS
Margie   http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Kelly        http://kellyxenos.typepad.com/
Julie Ann  http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com
Jill       http://jillconyers.typepad.com/
Jamie  http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/
Cherie   http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com/
Nikki  http://www.inkyart.com.au/

Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com/ <-- you are here

Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com/

Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/

Lisa A http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog/

Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com/

Karen http://womenontractors.blogspot.com

Lynn http://www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com/

Jenn http://www.studiojenn.blogspot.com/

Kathryn http://www.katlodesigns.com/

Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com/

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

2011-06-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-22T00:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

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/