back in love again

In December as part of my annual JUG ("Just Us Girls") event, we made "junk journals" (aka DIY "smash" books). It was one of the funnest projects I've worked on for awhile and one of the things that I loved about it was that I used so many of my stamps. In fact, it made me fall back in love with stamping.

So much so that even though we haven't yet gotten to the organize-your-stamps section of the "Resolve to Get Organized" seminar, I had to do a little something to make my most useful stamps easier to get to. In one of the previous "Get Organized" sessions someone suggested using acrylic shadow box frames as stacking trays for stamps. Genius!

I had been haunting the organization aisles of Target, Walmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond looking for some sort of stacking tray that was just the right dimensions to fit in my IKEA Expedit drawers. Everything I found measured wrong in some direction or another. But the acrylic frames are PERFECT! Plus I can layer them three deep, so that lots and lots of stamps fit yet are easy to go through quickly. So happy with these!

happy mail

This week I had not one, but two very happy packages hit my doorstep. One was some washi tape I ordered from Etsy store "Chickydoddle". It was SOoooooo hard to choose tapes to buy because they have lots and lots to choose from. Last month, during my annual "JUG" event ("Just Us Girls") we made junk journals (aka DIY "smash" books) and the washi tape will be the perfect thing to use in my new journal.

I also finally picked up a Serious supply of baker's twine from The Twinery. They have so many yummy colors that it is great to be able to try out several in the variety mix.

Now all that's left is finding the time to play...

Twine and tape - can you see the possibilities?

super productive day

Some of the buttons from today's discovery

I got so much done today ... now, why can't every day be so fruitful?

First I did my 30 minute walk. I've been trying for daily on this but haven't managed more than three successive days. Gonna keep at it though. It's gotten easier, that's for sure. I'm walking faster and working my legs more so there's a plus. Next my morning bible reading, which I'm doing better at consistency-wise. I think I've missed two days this month (but made up the reading so that I stay on schedule). So, yay me.

From there it was on to garage/patio cleanup & organization. Just made a wee dent in all that there is to do, but any start is a good one. I was able to find a clothes rack in the garage that I'd promised to loan to my mom and in the process get some of the storage boxes labelled and tidied. The patio had created its own little project for me - a box had tipped over (the cat may have had a paw in this!) The contents had spilled out blocking the path to my scrapbook storage area, so it had to be dealt with.

On the plus side here, I found a treasure trove of buttons to put into my stash. They were those extra buttons that come with new clothes and I'd saved them for 30 years or so. I used to keep them in my old dresser but I guess when I got the new one, they got packed up and forgotten. Still not sure how they ended up in the particular box they were found in, but oh well.

With access to my storage restored, I went about putting away supplies from the Just Us Girls event last month. They've been hanging around my living room for a few weeks too many since I've been super busy with creating for the upcoming issue of Ready, Set, Create magazine. The new issue will hit the streets in less than two weeks (yahoo!)

I also had some new goodies to put into inventory as a result of some recent shopping binges (insert red-faced, eyes downcast smiley here). Actually, truth told I'm not really embarrassed or regretful of my purchases because I was able to snag some awesome deals on unique items that will make great additions to future classes. Yay!

In the late afternoon, I tackled some unruly plants that needed to be tamed. I trimmed an old lantana that has been left unattended for far too long and has gotten very leggy and woody. I didn't have the energy to prune it into complete submission, but it does look better than when it started. I also took the Mexican sage down with a good, serious sheer leaving only a handful of very tender new growth. I also have a perennial salvia that was looking very tired, so took that down to the ground and noticed that it is already sending up some new growth. These are all beautiful plants and I can't wait for them to come back around.

Now, I'm all about preparing my PaperCraft Princess retail sales tax return so I can focus on getting ready for CHA!  It will all come together... it always does.

a little change is always good

So, the last time I tried to update the design of this blog I totally jacked it up and had to revert back to my hum drum layout. But tonight, I am happy to say, there are no scary unexpected results from my little tweaks. Yay! (sigh of relief).

Maybe this little refurbishing will be just what is needed to get me back on the old blog wagon. I've certainly been an absentee owner these past 3 months (eek!) Truth told, tho, it isn't just the blog that I've neglected but I have kind of turned my back on the computer completely. You see, it has a way of sucking time out of my day so I've found that when I have a lot to do (and the "to do" list doesn't include computer work), it's better to just leave it turned off.

So, should I or shouldn't I do a re-cap for the lost months of September to now? I think maybe I will since this blog has turned out to be a good archive of what happened when for me (this is especially handy when it comes to journaling scrapbook pages for events long past).

So, in a nutshell...

August
August was vacation month last year as it has been for the past few years. With my son in summer school, this really is the first and only chance we have to all get away together. So for 2010, our summer vacation was a week of camping at Carpinteria State Beach, followed by a week home, followed by a week in Vegas. (I'll add a few pics later). ETA: to say that the pics are slow in coming because of the Great Computer Crash of '10 --I have to find where I saved pics to while my desktop computer was out of service.

September
When we got back a couple of not so great things happened. First I got pretty sick (ugh) and second (actually simultaneously) my desktop computer crashed in a major way and had to be partially rebuilt. I had managed to back up most (but not all) of my data. Before the rebuild, my techie staff (DH & DS) tried re-formatting the hard drive. So before it got better it got bad again. Meaning, I had started re-installing software and re-loading data when the darn thing crashed (again). In the end, it took several weeks to get back in business and I still haven't finished reloading all my data. Sigh.

October
Being sick was miserable, but had an "up" side because I needed to work on our taxes for 2009 (we had filed an extension). So that was what I spent most of September into October working on. Such a relief to have it done at last (though not a relief to find out how much was owed to Uncle Sam -ouch!)

November
November was a much more crafty month. I started the month out with finishing my projects for Ready, Set Create December/January issue. After those were done, I was all about getting ready for my week-long crafting event, "Just Us Girls". This is a week of back-to-back classes that I host in my home the first week of winter break and there is lots to do to get ready for that. In the midst of putting that together, the fam and I  ducked out for a quick trip to NoCal to see family and while there I got hooked on Rock Band and the xbox Kinect's 'Dance Central'. We came home with a plan to get our hands on our first game console.

December
December was all about finalizing my event plans, kitting the classes and making sure I was ready (pictures soon!) And we squeezed in some Dance Central where we could (it's so fun - we're hooked!) Winter break was here before I could believe it and even though that first week was a very soggy one, I had a great turnout for my event. This is the third year doing "Just Us Girls" and I have to say it feels like it was the best year yet. The week really flew by and once it was over we moved on to doing more fun family things like having my sisters and their kids over for ... you guessed it "Dance Central" and "Rock Band". We also had some of the kids' friends over for movies and xbox.

And here we are at January and a new year. Where does the time go?