New unit

Okay this assembled so much easier than I expected. The hardest part was waiting for my daughter to get up for work (she works nights at the hospital) so I could have help standing it up. I assembled it in the family room on that carpet cause I have lots of space in there. Then slid moving men sliders under it to get it back to the spare bedroom I use as a craft/office room. I'm really happy how much the folding boxes match the room. I'm going to take my time filling it up replacing all the old photo albums that are falling apart into new books…. When my daughter moves I will move the old photo albums into a small bedroom on a shelf and get more basket cubes for this I think.

The before…

My son bought this ikea unit on sale to fit in a really narrow odd closet space in his studio apartment in Brooklyn NY. When he moved home for 2 years in sat in my garage until I broke my bookshelf when I was painting this room. The drawers are not functional. They are bowing from the bottom because they can't hold weight. There is wasted space on the bottom. It just needs to GO! The hardest part is where to put all the stuff while I assemble the new unit. Ughhh… Some of my old photo albums are starting to  fall apart so the blank ones on the top have just been sitting there waiting for me to redo them. So this will take me a while to do it right. Today it's all about unloading……

project life page

I had a change of plans today. I was supposed to go to an outdoor street festival in a near by town but my friend wasn't up to it… So what do you do with a whole afternoon of unplanned time? Catch up the entire month of July's pictures and start August. This page is my beginning of August. I used several of my new Heidi Swapp PL products.

Now that pictures are caught up I NEED to unload my shelves and get the new ones assembled before school starts. I'm a hard worker.. it's the starting of a project that I have difficulty with. It seems overwhelming so I stall the whole process unnecessarily. Silly really.

I made the difficult decision today to cancel my studio calico monthly PL kit. I think having it arrive today right after I emptied the last few months into my color coordination system I realized that I rarely use the stamps in it, probably half of the embellishments, and rarely the alphabet letters so really it was hard to justify the price for just the cards. I was also a bit disappointed today in some obvious change in packaging and is the quality changing?? Not sure. It doesn't actually say project life anymore so I am wondering if their affiliation with Becky Higgins has ended.  I will miss looking forward to it every month. I am thankful that I got it because it pushed me to try embellishments I wouldn't have without it.  But with shipping it's a little over 25 a month and if I am not using 75% of it then my craft money is better spent elsewhere.

Heidi Swapp Project Life

Okay my Michaels didn't have it on Thursday night but the truck came in on Friday morning. Right in the middle of my cleaning, no make-up, hair pulled back out I went to get my goodies… And Score!

my project life process

I originally started out as a digital scrapbooker back in 2003. I was determined not to get into all that paper "stuff". My very dear friend Linda who was killed a few years ago by a drunk driver started a summer scrapbooking group at church in I think 2006. I said I'll come but I'll crochet. Famous last words. I was hooked. From there card making evolved to be a part of my life also. After  several years I began to feel that all my scrapbooks had the same events over and over. I read about project life but there was no way I could commit to every week. After Linda passed the next January I started a happy book as I called it using a smash book. Recording all the happy day to day things in life because when Linda was gone it truly made me realize how precious each and every day is… I did that for two years but I hated that I still had a scrapbook of the big events and a separate happy book. Last September I merged the 2 into a project life album that is monthly.. I cannot be bothered with weekly. Just not me. And I add full page layouts for special events.

This is my process:

I created a template of the pocket design I use and laminated it. I actually have 4 for when I am working on multiple pages at a time and moving things around. (I am thinking of branching out into adding vertical pockets sometimes.) I then layout the pictures. Begin to add journaling. Then embellishments… I rarely complete an entire 2 page spread in a night. I like to walk away, then come back later and add embellishments. Because they are on the laminated pages I can stack them on top of each other move to a corner of my table and work on something else till inspiration comes back to finish. The page you see here needs more embellishing but I'm not feeling it tonight so I will move it aside and work on something else. All the cards and embellishments are from studio calico monthly kits but don't ask me which one. I always mix them up…

Super excited about the new Heidi Swapp project life items. Went to Michaels tonight. The end cap is set up and they are scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I have a birthday gift card burning a hole in my pocket!!! I was the gold set, and a few other things. The truck is due in at 9. So I will call them. No sense going till the are putting the stuff out.

cricut fun

I have not played with my cricut in forever…. I saw this design on pinterest and used my gypsy to recreate it. I used old paper pads with coordinating colors and made multiples easily using the gypsy. The cart was sweet treats.

My bronchoscopy is done. I am just very tired today and coughing a lot!

The photo was taken with my iphone and I am just too tired to edit it tonight.

long time no blog

I haven't blogged since I went to Denver from June 28 to July 7th. Loved my trip but I ended up putting my back out lifting my suitcase when I got home. Since then I kinda only made cards on demand and have not taken photos of them. My project life is a month behind. I do however have a clean basement after doing little bits the last few weeks. I have also finished a PowerPoint presentation for a dyslexia conference I am presenting at, at the end of August. I recently purchased new shelving for my craft space at IKEA and that is now my next project to start Thursday. First I have to empty the unit I have and move it into the garage. (My daughter is taking it for the new townhouse she is buying. Settlement is August 28th. I'm so proud of her for doing this. She is single and just turned 25.) Then assemble the new unit and get it organized. Then I am done, done, done with my summer projects. I have been devouring books this summer as always. I did win a new kindle fire at my conference in Denver so "Woot!" on that. My original nook is getting temperamental and I don't care to read on my iPad. I like to hold "book" size when I am reading since I'm a lay down kinda reader. In addition to everything else this summer I am pursuing a few ongoing health concerns. I got my skin ck'd and had a few spots "frozen" off my face from my young years as a sun worshiper. I also went to a pulmonary specialist to try to deal with all the chronic asthmatic/bronchitis issues I have had for the last 3 years. I am having a procedure tomorrow to help with the diagnosis to get it controlled once and for all. All in all it has been a good summer that is flying by…

The above thank you cards were not my original design but when things don't happen exactly as you plan you can say it's only paper and toss it or make it into something else. This was a make it into some thing else kinda thing… The sentiment was cut on my cameo. I needed a bunch of quick cards to send out for the birthday gifts I received.

Sunday I played with my cricut.. Oh how I have missed it… Will post a picture tomorrow.

A new technique I have played with this summer is heat embossing images with clear embossing powder then using a blending tool to add colors for backgrounds. It's very cool. I have also seen it with watercolors but I am trying to be good and use what I have.  Hope to not be MIA in the future.