When Will I Ever Learn?

"It is strongly suggested that you darn in your ends as you go along"

Sound advice that I regrettably did not heed.

I'm joining in the Winter Project Link Party at Thistlebear.   

My Tired Craft

Some nights I am just too tired to scrapbook and when I look at my crocheting my eyes blur over. But, I still want to make something...because a day without making is not good. Making things feeds my soul and at the end of a long day, I need that.

So I make covered hangers.

Looks like I am tired quite often because I have made quite a few.  

Back when I started this blog (nearly two years ago) I posted about these hangers and it has been my most popular post ever.  Surprised the heck out of me, because I really thought this was an obscure, old-fashioned craft that no one would pay attention to, much less be enthusiastic about. Not the case at all.

It is really fun and quick to cover these hangers and I can finish one in about 20 minutes so long as I am not too distracted by the TV.

And it is amazing to me, that no matter how much time passes between working on my hangers, that my fingers know exactly what to do....kind of like riding a bike.

So on those nights when fatigue washes over me, I cover a hanger and then head off to bed...

What crafts do you work on when you are tired but still feel the need to create?

Mixing it Up

I have been doing a little sprucing up around the house lately. Nothing major, just tidying the bookshelves, framing pictures that have been waiting to be framed for a long time, placing candles around to be lit on these dark winter evenings. I always get the urge to do this after Christmas; once all the decorations are put away, the house looks so bare and I feel the need to make it a bit fuller, a bit cozier. 

Shortly after Christmas my sweet husband was in the book store and picked up this magazine for me... 

.....and it the most beautiful magazine I have ever seen. So many beautifully styled pictures, so much creativity, great articles about designers. I have spent many hours pouring over the pages soaking up the inspiration.

I was particularly inspired by this picture, specifically the pillows on the couch. I love the mixing of traditional patterns – the rose pillows that look like something my Oma would have – with the graphic, modern pillows that look like they could have come from IKEA. And I was inspired to try something similar in my living room.

Using some IKEA fabric that I fell in love with and bought a few months back, I made this polka dot pillow and added it to the others on my sofa. 

The fern pillow came with our couch and looks a bit more traditional to me, similar to the rose pillows in the magazine, while my new polka dot pillow is definitely a little more modern; the same could be said about the tulip pillow that I made a few years ago. 

I am not a decor whiz by any means, and I often fret way too much about how things look, but I am slowly realizing and accepting that if I decorate with things that I love and that mean something to me, everything will come together. I love this polka dot pillow, I love the pillows that came with our sofa, and I think they look good together. I may add a brighter colored solid pillow to pull everything together a bit more – maybe a teal pillow. What do you think? I really like the mixing of traditional and modern – it gives things a collected and timeless look and I love that.

I did put my polka dot pillow on one of my kitchen chairs and I love how it looks there.

And while I was out scouring the clearance aisles this past weekend I found these beautiful dinner napkins for a mere $1.50 each – I am going to sew these into a pillow and see how that looks on the couch. Worth a shot for only $3.00.

So in addition to crocheting (projects to show you soon), scrapbooking, and all the stuff that makes up regular life, I have been working on mixing things up in the living room. And I have really enjoyed doing so - making my home, where I spend so much of my time, a little cozier. It has also been nice to get the sewing machine out again...it had been a while since we spent some quality time together. 

I Love this Guy

Today I am so excited to be featured as the Guest Designer over at The Memory Nest. Here is what I created using the Cut and Paste line by My Mind's Eye.  

What a great line of paper - the colors are very neutral and would coordinate with a variety of photos, and there are so many great patterns. For my layout I chose to use a photo of my husband and I that we took while we were on a weekend getaway to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. Notice how I am happily smiling in this photo, well that was not the case shortly after we snapped this shot – I had a rather spectacular fall while we were hiking down the mountain. Thankfully I walked away with just my pride and my tailbone a tad bruised.

The 'I love this guy' arrow was just perfect for my page and even though it is small, I decided to use it as my title. I am always trying to find new ways to add titles to my pages and thought that in this case a smaller title would keep the focus on the picture; who says a title has to take up lots of space on the page?

Adorable chipboard flowers – I love how they look on the same colored background paper. And did you notice the ombre effect on the background paper?

Of course I really layered the paper on this page, using as many of the different patterned papers from the collection as possible.  I love this layered look.

In addition to my layout I also made this card. Again, I layered the papers and used some of the coordinating stickers and chipboard.

I have really become a fan of buying an entire line of paper with the coordinating embellishments. It makes designing and completing a layout/card so much easier. Until recently, I rarely used to purchase an entire collection, preferring to buy the odd piece of patterned paper and then use something from my stash to embellish. And while I did get layouts finished using this approach, I spent a great deal of time rummaging through my supplies. Having everything coordinated from the get-go is such a time saver. I have not abandoned my stash completely – like that would ever happen – but when I do sift through it, I am most often looking for one odd thing rather than embellishments for the entire page.  The layout and card that I made here came together so easily and quickly because I had everything ready to go before I even started designing. Is buying an entire line of paper and embellishments something you do?

I want to thank Leslie for the opportunity to be the Guest Designer this month. I loved working with this paper line and appreciate the chance to showcase my work.....

A Lesson Learned....

I have learned a very valuable lesson....the hard way, but isn't that how it goes?

Last week I mentioned that I had gone to a scrapbooking garage sale - referring to it as 'the happiest place on earth' - and eluded to all the fantastic deals I had scored.

Sadly that was not the case when I looked, or in this case, smelled closer.

Over the weekend I went to unpack my sale purchases, looking forward to sorting through all the pretty paper and embellishments while smugly noting how cheap I had got this product for and how much money I had saved.

Unfortunately when I opened the first bag of paper I was overcome by the horrific smell of cigarette smoke. Yuck! If there is one smell that I can not stand it is cigarette smoke. I instantly got a headache. Frantically I ripped open the other bags of paper and bag after bag the smell was there. Some smoker, with fantastic taste in scrapbooking paper and supplies, had brought their wares to the sale and I must have bought it all. After smelling each piece of paper and embellishment package, I ended up with a big pile of pretty but smelly product that I needed to throw in the garbage.

I was in tears, what I had thought was such an incredible deal was a total waste - of time and money. I was not happy.

What was worse, was that I had bought a lot of Christmas product at the sale with the intention of making cards, and now I was back to square one with no Christmas papers to work with.

I hated throwing out all this product, but there was no way I could possibly use it in my own albums or for cards to sell in my shop. Crafty Cucumber cards are not smelly.

It was then and there that I declared that I would steer clear of scrapbooking garage sales in the future. It is not a deal if I have to throw more than half of what I bought in the garbage. And the risk of buying something smelly is not worth the cheap price either. Buyer beware I guess...and a valuable lesson learned by me.

But there is a happy ending to this story. While I was at work on the weekend, Steve and the girls went to one of the local scrapbook stores and bought me two whole lines of Christmas paper to replace what I had to toss. And at the same time I popped out to another local scrapbook store on my lunch hour and bought two other Christmas lines (luckily we both bought different stuff). Needless to say, I now have lots of Christmas paper - new, not smelly, and ready for some card making.

My new Christmas paper! I am so excited to start working with you.

With all this going on, plus regular life stuff, I did not get any cards made just yet. But my supplies are stocked and ready...so as I said last week, Let the Christmas Card Making Begin.... ...

The Calm of Crochet

Last week was busy - too busy. I felt as if I was running on a hamster wheel everyday, with not a second to spare, no time to stop for if I did something would not get done on time or at all. It was not fun. I do not like frantic busy like that....occupied yes, but run off my feet from morning to night is not my idea of a good time.

I woke up on Saturday with the same panicked feeling I had in my stomach all week, like there was something I needed to rush off and do. But instead of running to the next task, I simply sat for a few minutes with a coffee and my crocheting. I crocheted for 15 minutes while I sipped my coffee. And it did wonders. I could not believe how quickly and noticeably a sense of peace and calm came over me. Of course I have experienced this before, but not as pronounced as I did in this moment.

The rest of my day went so much better, tasks got finished and I felt so much more at peace.

I've read before that a good hobby is cheaper than therapy...and as I sat and worked away, feeling calmer with each stitch, I experienced that to be true. Thank you crochet for the calm you bring to my days.

On a somewhat related note, I was rummaging through my yarn stash this past weekend and was quite taken aback by how small it is becoming. All the blankets and toys I have been making lately has really made a significant dent. Maybe I should have gone to the local yarn sale this past summer....oh well, less justification will be needed for extravagant purchases next year.

Have a happy Wednesday.

Card of the Week: For the Love of Scraps

Some time ago I wrote about how I sort and store my paper scraps by color. (click here to read more about my scrap paper storage). I have had this system in place for the last several years and it is awesome! Case in point: this week when I was looking for paper to make cards I found all the patterned paper and coordinating cardstock that I needed quickly and easily because it was all neatly organized. Hooray for finding my supplies quickly and getting down to the business of creating.

With my scraps in hand I was able to make two cards. A grid card.

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: my scrap paper stash; Chipboard: Scenic Route; Flower: Prima; Brad: Making Memories; Sentiment Rub-On: Pebbles; Circle Punch: Fiskars; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives

And a small note card.

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: my scrap paper stash; Twine: We R Memory Keepers; Sentiment Rub-On: American Crafts; Adhesive: 3D Foam Squares; Scrapbook Adhesives

By creating these cards this paper, that I bought for a layout who knows how long ago, got a bit more mileage. Being able to find and match up my scraps quickly and easily allows me to complete more projects with them which helps to stretch my crafting budget.

I should mention that it was by complete accident that this post where I talk about my love of scrap papers and how useful and handy they are includes pictures of cards made with heart paper. Completely coincidental, honest; it's funny, yet fitting, how that worked out.

So now, I need to ask, what do you do with all your paper scraps? Save them? Toss them? Are they neatly sorted? Are they on a random pile? Please share your system and how it works for you.

My Choice of Scrapbook Album

For years, when it came time to put my layouts into an album, I would go pick out whichever album I fancied, grab the appropriate refill pages, and put the thing together.  Finished!

But this led to one problem - I had tons of refill pages, maybe three or four of each kind, that were leftover from various albums, and of course did not fit into another type of album.  And really, what can you do them?  I mean a few can be kept for protecting various projects in progress, but really I had too many and they were essentially useless.  Total waste of precious scrapbooking funds!

So, a few years back, I decided to only purchase one type of album, with the corresponding refill pages, from then on.

The albums I chose to use are by Recollections and are available at Michael's.

Each year (so far) Michael's has them on sale - 2 for $16 - which is incredible since they are regularly priced at $16 each.

They are good quality albums and they come in a variety of colorful cover patterns which I really like.

Each year I do a family album which usually fills two books.  I buy two albums with the same cover pattern for the year so that when the albums are on the shelf I can see clearly which books go together.

I just got around to putting my 2011 family layouts into two of these polka dot albums.

Because I used the same album type last year, I already had refill pages on hand.

And to finish things off and keep everything straight, I made labels for the inside covers using my handy-dandy label maker (love that thing!).

This system is working well for me and so long as I can get these albums I will continue to use them.

What type of scrapbook albums do you use?  The same ones every year or do you change it up?

Card of the Week: When You've Finished a Scrapbook Layout, Make a Card & Tags

A while ago I talked about how when I have finished a scrapbook layout, I like to make cards with the scraps right away. This is one of the things that I do to try and use up some of the scrapbooking supplies that I have on hand at home.

Well, this week I did this again, only I made more.

After I finished this scrapbook layout,

Cardstock: Bazzill, Co'ordinations; Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket; Flowers: Prima; Buttons: my craft stash; Border Punch, Circle Punch: Fiskars; Pearls: Recollections; Title: cut with Quickutz Squeeze; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots, Quickie Glue

I made this card,

Card Base: Recollections; Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket; Flower: Prima; Button: my craft stash; Border Punch: Fiskars; Sentiment: Cosmo Cricket; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots

and these four tags.

Tag Base: Recollections; Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket; Flower: Prima; Ribbon, Button: my craft stash; Border Punch, Circle Punch: Fiskars; Sentiment: Cosmo Cricket; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots, Quickie Glue

I had the patterned paper and coordinating stickers in my stash for quite some time, and with these few projects was able to use them all, meaning there are a few less supplies that I need to to organize and store.

I love trying to use up each and every small scrap that there is.  It gives me such a thrill to see how much I can make from one pile of papers and embellishments.  And as the paper pieces get smaller, and the embellishments fewer, I love the creative challenge of trying to make one more card or tag using what is left.  That, and I can not bear to throw a decent sized piece of paper in the garbage.

The Cut and Paste Theory

I have a theory about why I love scrapbooking and card making so much.

I refer to this as my 'Cut and Paste Theory' and while I have no supportive evidence other than my own experience, I believe that this theory does have some merit.

Let me explain.

I remember the 'cut and paste' center in my kindergarten classroom and how I loved spending time there.

As I got older I continued - cutting articles and pictures out of newspapers and magazines, and pasting them into spiral notebooks.

And I continue to this day - adding paper and embellishments to surround my pictures, cutting up pieces of paper to make a card.

After all, isn't scrapbooking and card making just a grown up version of 'cut and paste'?

I believe scrapbooking and card making were a natural progression for me - from my humble beginnings at the 'cut and paste' center, an avid scrapbooker and card maker I became.

Are you a scrapbooker and/or card maker?  Did you love 'cut and paste' growing up?  Let me know and help lend support to my theory.

Card of the Week: When You've Finished a Scrapbook Layout, Make a Card

One way that I use the paper pieces leftover from a scrapbook layout is to make a card with them right away.

Since I already have all the patterned paper and coordinating cardstock on my craft table, these cards come together rather quickly. 

I recently finished this layout:

Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup; Cardstock: Bazzill; Die Cuts: Jillibean Soup; Flowers: Prima; Border Punch: Fiskars; Buttons: my craft stash; Brads: Making Memories; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots

And made this card using the small pieces of coordinating papers that were leftover:

Card Base: Recollections; Patterned Paper: Jillibean Soup; Cardstock: Bazzill; Flower: Prima; Border & Circle Punches: Fiskars; Button: my craft stash; Sentiment Font: Emma Sophia; Doodle Pen: Inkssentials; Ink: Ranger Inks; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives, Glue Dots

One layout done. Another birthday card to add to my stash, and fewer scraps to organize and store.  

I encourage you to give this a try after you have completed your next scrapbook layout.  You'll easily make another card to have on hand, and have fewer scraps to sort and store away.  Win, win if you ask me.

How I Get My Crafts Done

Before I had my girls I had very few demands on my time and could work uninterrupted for hours on my crafts.  I am sure all mothers can remember that time before we had babies and young children to care for and had oh so much time to ourselves.   

Things have changed and as a result I have had to alter my approach to crafting.  Instead of long, uninterrupted afternoons, I now work in tidbits - half an hour here, ten minutes there – little time segments that add up to a whole bunch of creativity.  

It took me a while to get used to this new approach, but now I love it.  I always feel fresh when I am working, and it constantly surprises me how the little tidbits of time add up to me getting a lot of crafting done.   

These are some of the things I do to make it possible for me to work in tidbits throughout my day and get my crafts done: 

My craft table is in the corner of the playroom and I always have one or two projects on the go there.  I can work on these projects while my girls are playing and be right there if they need me.

I involve my girls in my crafts.  This is especially true of scrapbooking.  They both love to cut and paste paper together, add pictures and stickers and then write or scribble the corresponding story on the page.  And it just fills my heart with joy to see what they have gleaned from watching me.  Their pages are really good.

I sometimes work on a project on the kitchen counter.  Here I was pinning a sewing project while dinner was simmering on the stove.

I always have a crochet project in a little basket or bag, ready to be picked up during the spare moments of my day.  

Finally, I save all the complex craft projects that require my full attention and concentration for when the girls are sleeping.  I figure there is no sense in getting frustrated by trying to spray paint something and then be interrupted by someone needing a snack or bathroom break.  

Now all this being said, I would definitely sign up for a full day of uninterrupted crafting.  But until then, my tidbit approach allows me to get my crafts done.  And that makes me very happy!

What do you do to allow yourself time to craft while caring for your children? Please share any tips you have.  We could all use new tips and advice for getting things done, am I right?  

Am I Scrapbooking Enough?

I sometimes wonder if I am scrapbooking enough?  

I scrap the big events in the life of my family - birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the first day of school, vacations - because these events are full of incredible memories that I want to keep.      

I also try and scrap some of the everyday stuff - our routines, the girls huddled together reading a book, my garden, a renovation - so that I can look back and remember what my daily life was like at a particular point.

But even with all of that, I wonder if I am scrapping enough?  Am I doing enough to truly document the life of my family in my scrapbooks?

I take so many photos, as many of us do with digital cameras, and so many of these photos are simply filed on the computer. What about those memories? What about the funny thing that happened right before a certain picture was taken? Will I remember it if I don't scrap the photo?  I am not sure.

I know that it is impossible to scrap every photo.  And that even though some pictures will never be surrounded by pretty paper and journaling, they are still precious memories that were captured. Yet,  I still sometimes get the feeling that I am missing some important moment that should be documented in my scrapbook.    

Truth be told, I sometimes get a little frantic about this.

It is then, when I feel like I am coming up short, that I need to remember how much I have done.

  
I have a lovely album of our wedding; it is truly a treasure.  

Both my girls have albums of their first years.  

Our trips are documented in travel albums.

I make a family scrapbook every year, and it always takes up at least two albums.  

So I take a deep breath and relax. I try not to stress. I am doing plenty. My family's life is being documented. The memories are there, to be treasured forever, never forgotten. And those photos I did not scrap are organized on the computer.  

What about you?  Do you ever feel like you are leaving something out of your scrapbooks?  That some precious memory will be forgotten?  

Or do you look at what you have done, take a deep breath and know that you are doing enough to capture the memories?

What I Do When I Feel Overwhelmed by My 'Craft Projects To Do' List

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the craft projects that you want to complete?

I do.

Last week I had a moment when I felt completely and utterly overwhelmed by my 'Craft Projects To Do' list.  Was I ever going to get these projects done? When would there be time for these crafts?  How would I fit them in between cleaning, cooking, laundry, work....all those everyday tasks that need to get done but that I would sometimes rather leave for more crafty endeavors?

To battle this feeling I began by making a list of my projects.  

I then decided to not buy any more supplies or start any more projects until the ones on my list are complete; no sense adding to the pile.  This makes so much sense, but sometimes I am lured in by the excitement of starting a new project and I buy supplies when there is already so much to be done sitting in the cupboard at home.  

Finally, I cleaned up my craft area.  Over time I had managed to spread out all over my basement...one table for paper crafts, another for sewing, and a pile of stuff in the corner that needed to be put back in its place.  After a short while of sorting, putting things away, and tidying the towering piles of paper, fabric and random stuff, I felt better.  Looking at a tidy and organized space is much more calming than looking at a disaster zone.  And in cleaning up I found a previous list of 'Craft Projects to Complete' that I was able to stroke a majority of things off.  That felt better, for sure.

Paper Storage - everything back in its place

My craft table.  It is never completely cleared off, but at least the supplies I no longer need are back in the cupboard and I can see my work space.  I have already started working on my scrapbook catch-up....these pages are from January.

Once things were under control I was able to take a deep breath and prioritize.  The first thing I need to do is finish my youngest daughter's baby book (she turns three in a few weeks so it is high time) and then catch up on some scrapbooking which has fallen to the wayside while I have been working on my One Pad Challenge (click the box on the sidebar to read about this challenge).

Making a list, deciding not to add to that list, and just tidying things up really helped me relax.  I feel better now.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed by your 'Craft Projects To Do' list?

Three Reasons Why I "Multi-Craft"

I sew.  I make cards. I scrapbook. I crochet.  I do home decor projects.

I am a "mulit-crafter" and proud of it!

I do all these crafts for three reasons:

1. There are so many wonderful crafts out there to do....why not try and love them all?

2. Sometimes I am not in the right mindset for a particular craft and another is better suited to where I am creatively.  For example, sometimes designing a card or scrapbook layout is not going to happen - I am too tired, my mind is scattered...whatever the reason, designing something from scratch is not in the cards.  So I turn to crochet, where I can follow a pattern and still feel accomplished during my craft time.

3. I want to keep my skills sharp in all areas.  In particular, sewing.  I sew, but not as often as I pursue my other crafts.  So every so often, I pull out a sewing project so that I can keep my skills up to snuff.  Believe me, after not sewing in a zipper for several years, it was like I was doing it for the first time when I put one in my pillow.

What about you?  Do you multi-craft or are you dedicated to just one craft?

I'd love to hear what crafts you do, how many, and why.

How I Organize and Store My Paper Scraps

I save all my paper scraps.  That may seem crazy, but I have my reasons:

1. Scraps are perfect for making cards.  Almost every card I create is made from scraps in my stash.
2. I can not even count the number of times that rummaging through my scrap stash has revealed the perfect colour cardstock for an embellishment on either a layout or card.
3. It saves me money.  I don't need to buy an entire sheet of paper, I can just use what I have leftover from a previous project.

Of course, the downside of all of this is that I have a lot of scrap paper that I need to both organize and store.  

I used to keep my scraps in large expandable folders, but the folders soon got incredibly bulky and the small pieces of paper fell to the bottom where I could never see them.

So I changed to a drawer-unit storage system.

I bought 4 of these 2-drawer units at Walmart a few years ago for about $10 each.  Lucky for me, they fit perfectly onto the shelves in my craft cupboard.

I organize my paper scraps by colour in the eight drawers: blue; pink; green; red; orange/yellow; brown; purple; black.  

The green drawer

This system works perfectly for me.  

1. The drawers open completely so that I can see what I have.
2. I can easily look for a specific colour of cardstock to match a layout or card.
3. Selecting patterned paper and coordinating cardstock for a card is a breeze. 
4. It is neat and organized.

So, while keeping every scrap of paper may be crazy, at least I have them stored and organized effectively....

What do you do with all your paper scraps? 

My Snip Jar

I have a little snip jar,
It sits in my craft space,
And when I have a snip of yarn,
I put it in this place.

My snip jar is not fancy,
It only cost a dime,
But it pretties up my craft space;
I'm so glad that it's mine.

When I see the snips of color,
Lying in this pretty jar,
It helps me to remember,
Projects made so far.

I remember making monkeys,
For my little girls.
And a blanket for my nephew;
Welcome to the world

I have a little snip jar,
It sits in my craft space,
And when I look upon it,
A smile is on my face.