what's a girl to do?

What's a girl to do with all the purged treasures culled from her stash?!? Find them new homes at the Scrappin' Good Times Scrapbook Garage Sale! Yup, that's right --SGT is having it's very first EVAH garage sale this weekend. I am *so* excited -the timing couldn't be better.

I'll have a table and honestly I could probably fill two tables if I had the time to go through more stuff (or was better at making quick decisions -lol!) My goal was to get rid of 1/3 to 1/2 of my patterned paper, but that is so much easier to say than do. Sigh.

I think I've managed to put aside 1/6 so far. We'll see how the next couple of days go.

If you're in the SoCal area, I hope you'll come "treasure hunting" on Saturday! Click here for details.

making progress

My scrap area a couple of years back during a re-do. It's time for another major overhaul!

I've gone quiet again but it's all in the name of progress and reorganization. Not quite sure where to start. They it's best to begin at the beginning...

During April I tore apart my scrap area with the best intentions of purging and re-vamping. I haven't done a major reorganization of my work area for about two years and things had gotten quite out of order in that time. It was taking longer to find things and generally less fun to create in my out-of-sorts arrangement. I guess I was a little naive about how much I could reasonably do in one month especially since I had classes at the end of the month and in early May. I did manage to purge a lot during April, but unfortunately the project had to be abandoned mid-way. So, all I really managed was the "tearing apart" portion of the project but didn't quite finish the "putting it right" part.

Two months is too long to leave a project like this in limbo! I was finally able to roll my sleeves back up over Memorial Day weekend. I was so glad that it wasn't too hot that weekend because I found myself re-finishing an old sideboard/buffet. I had picked this little beauty up at a thrift store about 2 or 3 years ago for this exact purpose --storage in my scrap area. I can't believe it's taking this long for me get this thing finished.

Here are some pics. First a "before" shot. This is a cherry buffet that was sold with a big hutch, that I didn't really care for so it never left the store --I re-donated it when I bought the unit. One thing that I really loved on this piece was the hardware.

Even tho this thing is super old, it has a classic, timeless feel to me.

Sadly after two years in our covered (but not enclosed) patio this piece of furniture took a bit of a beating from the elements. My hubby and son undertook the un-fun task of sanding the whole piece down and then they added a couple of coats of white primer. We used a white primer which might seem like an odd choice, but there is a method to my madness. This baby was gonna get a distressed finish just like the one on the desk I re-finished a few years back. Since the desk was originally white, that is what shows through in the distressed areas and I wanted this sideboard to match.

Here's a look at the desk:

This desk with hutch sits in the corner.

Here's the sideboard with the primer and beginnings of the black finish

Voila! The finished piece in place in my scrap area

Some of what's hiding inside the drawers and cabinets
(click on the pic for a close-up)

If you've got super keen eyesight you might have noticed that the hardware I loved is not on this piece any longer. I guess it was so old and so unhappy with being stored outside that it just gave up. The (metal) handles were crumbling when we tried to re-attach them. Fortunately I was able to find some I liked at Target without too much trouble (whew!)

Even though I feel like I've made some great progess, I still have a lot to do (mostly purging) , but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel at last.

end of an era

When my son moved on from elementary school to middle school I made him a little paper bag album titled "End of an Era". It definitely was an end for us and a new beginning as well as he moved on to the challenges of junior high.

Now he is in high school and my daughter has just finished elementary school. And now it *truly* feels like the end of an era as we say goodbye completely to good old Workman El. I can't believe we will not be there any more. I think I was more sentimental about the departure than Libby was. We said goodbye to most of the teachers that both kids have had. They were good to us. We can't think of them merely as former teachers but instead we think of them as good friends that we will miss very much. Sniff.

An uncooperative moment with my model daughter, one of her friends and her teacher

beach baby

June Class Kickoff

Well, I must be ready for summer because both my upcoming Intro classes are Beach themed. The first of the two is the "Beyond Basics" class being offered later this month. The "Beyond" class is for anyone who has already taking the Intro to Scrapbooking class and wants to add some new techniques to their scrapbooking skills (or reinforce techniques you may already have some exposure to). This class is full, but there are still spots in the "kit only" list and if you really want to sit in on the class let me know and we'll see what we can do.

In July, I'll offer another "Intro to Scrapbooking" (the foundation class). This one is coming up every 3 or 4 months so if you've been wanting to take it, join in now as it won't roll around again until the fall.

Both classes are being taught (as usual) at Scrappin' Good Times.

Hope you all have an excellent summer!

time for class kickoff again

I can't believe it's already been two months, but here we are at another Friday kickoff at Scrappin' Good Times. Mostly I'm ready, but I do have some odds and ends to take care of before tonight. Before I could even peel my eyelids open this morning, I had started a mental "to do" list. My table is going to be different than originally planned since I had to postpone one of my classes (Tinkerbell class is in September now instead of August). So the sparkly stuff is out and instead I'm going to embrace a beach theme seeing as both the June and July class layouts feature surfboards. (Have you noticed that surfboards are a recurring theme in several of the summer scrapbook paper lines?)

If you're local, maybe I'll see you tonight. Otherwise, look for some pictures of kickoff here later this weekend!