Calvinball Bonus Rule #2 - Using a GIS Sketch or template

One of the first rules that was added to Calvinball this year was to use sketches from Get It Scrapped.  I love using sketches as a starting point for my scrapbook layouts.  If left to my own devices, all of my layouts start to look the same.  The use of sketches helps me break out of my box in this way.  I tend to modify and alter sketches to better suit my photos and the story I am documenting.  I may rotate the sketch or change the sizes of the photos.

Always and Forever Sisters

I created this first page, Always and Forever Sisters, of my daughter and her oldest (step)sister, using a sketch (#101) from Get It Scrapped.  I really liked the mix of photos and embellishments that it shows in the sketch.  It also provides a good deal of white space potential.  I used one of my page kits that I created for my Calvinball Prep. 

Amazing, Beautiful You!

I also created Amazing, Beautiful You! using a Get It Scrapped Sketch (#97).  This layout is a letter to my daughter about all the ways that she amazes me every single day.  In the journaling I noted how loved she makes me feel and her recent tendency to pass out hugs and kisses, which has been a nice change from a few months before when she was rather stingy with giving out love.  I also created this page with the same page kit as the first one above.

Let Your Style Shine

You can see that my style still shines through these pages despite having used sketches for both of them.  My favorite things to add to scrapbooking layouts are gems or sequins and other small little bits within my clustered areas.  I also included my handwriting for my journaling, which I try to do for every layout.  And of course, I love including patterned paper - its my favorite product to buy!  You can find even more sketches for inspiration on my Pinterest Board.  Get It Scrapped as a ton of sketches on their blog as well.

Increase Your Productivity and Speed with Sketches

Usually sketches increase the speed and productivity for my scrapping, which is one of the reasons I enjoy using them.  Especially in a competitive speed scrapbooking challenge like Calvinball!  When I start with a sketch I spend about 30 minutes per layout.  Normally layouts like these two would have taken me at least an hour to complete.  The reason sketches greatly increase my productivity and speed is because the design choices have been made for you already.  Even better, by combining sketches with prepped page kits you can be even more productive and open yourself up to increased creativity as design and product choices have already been decided!

Do you use sketches in your scrapbooking?  Do they seem to help or hinder you in your process?  I'd love to hear about any other sketch resources you have, just leave me a comment down below!

I haven't scrapbooked anything (minus December Daily) since October 2015.  Sometimes we all need a kick in the pants to get us motivated once we have taken a long break from something.  Challenges can be a really fun place to start when you are feeling unmotivated and intimadated by your photos, your products, and your blank page.  It just so happens that this month at Get It Scrapped, they are having a fun challenged called Calvinball.  If you are a fan of the Calvin and Hobbes comics by Bill Watterson you may be familiar with Calvin’s competitive game of Calvinball. It’s a random sport-type game with no rules, points for self-designated goals and the flexibility to change the game as you play.  Calvinball at Get It Scrapped is a month long scrapbooking competition with constantly changing rules to keep things fun and your momentum going.

#1 - Rock Your Scrapbooking Stash by Joining a Challenge

The fun has already started over at Get It Scrapped, and it is going to be a really awesome month!  You should totally check it out if you are looking for a boost in your creative mojo.  However, there a ton of challenge sites and prompts out there that can help inspire you to get started.  Simply Google or check out Pinterest for scrapbooking prompts and challenges.  I have always enjoyed using challenges and prompts to get me moving again.

#2 - Clear The Decks

Another thing that really helps me to feel inspired is to completed clean off my desk/workspace and put all the bits and pieces away.  This often includes finished projects, unfinished projects, and various products like sprays and inks.  Looking at a clean workspace can be oddly inspirational and it can help you break through your creative block.  I also use this time to put away my stack of completed layouts.  Far too often, my layouts pile up to several inches before they find their way into an album.  Plus, I find forgotten goodies that have been buried under other stuff on my table!

#3 - Create Page Kits

I love working with kits.  They simplify my decision making process so much.  I also come up with some interesting and unusual ways to use certain products when they are paired with other things, and I would never have come up with this inspiration without having a kit put together.  Since Calvinball is a month long challenge, I wanted to do a little prep over the weekend.  I decided to pull out all of the paper in one of my storage bins and create kits using every single paper that I possibly could.  Obviously, you don't need to go to this extreme - you could pull out one or two paper pads or even just several sheets of paper, depending on your available time.  The process of matching papers with similar colors and themes took me about an hour and then I stopped for the night.


When I came back for the next round, I started with my embellishment bin.  Inside this bin is everything from 6x6 paper pads, sticker sheets, diecuts, paper flowers, enamel dots, tags, DIY embellishments, cut-apart sheets, chipboard, flair, doilies, and other random bits.  I grabbed 10 of the paper kits and started matching up themes and colors once more.  I worked with one paper kit at a time and I went through ALL the embellishments.  I did this same process for each kit.  I just spread everything out on the floor in front of me and got to work.  I didn't include letter stickers, because I like to mix and match different font styles and colors.  I also haven't picked photos yet or titles for that matter so I just removed them from the equation for the moment.  For individual stickers, I used baby powder to remove the stickiness, and I applied it with a soft paintbrush.  Then, I added them to the kits so I could use the same sticker sheet for multiple kits.  By breaking down the paper kits into 10 or so layouts at a time, it made the whole process less overwhelming.  Over the weekend, I ended up with X number of prepped kits that I can now use for Calvinball.


The sky is the limit here.  Don't overwhelm yourself, but cater to how you scrapbook, adding those things that will help your process.  Do you need cut files as part of your process?  Then make sure you have them linked up with your kits or already cut.  Additional ideas could be incorporating stamps, stencils, ink pads, and spray mists.  You could also add any sketches, photos, title, and journaling to each kit, as well.  The whole idea is that when you have 10 - 15 minutes you can easily knock out a layout, because all of the decisions that you get stuck on have already been made.  This opens the process to more creative freedom without perfectionism getting in your way.  There is also a bit of magic in simply going through your stash of goodies that can be very inspiring.

I'm so excited to start playing with my new kits this month.  Stay tuned for more Calvinball updates and tips this month.  And don't forget to stop on by and play along with us - it's going to be a fun month!

Hello, lovelies!  Today I have a scrapbooking layout for you about my daughter's first day at daycare back in February.  I have been working my way through a kit that I made from my own stash of scrapbooking supplies, inspired by the Hip Kit Club's May 2015 kits. 

I always clean off my brushes and plastic when I do the packaging technique onto a piece of paper whether it is in my art journal or my scrapbooking layouts.  In this case, the background began as one of these pieces of white cardstock with excess paint on it (Distress Stain in Peacock Feathers and acrylic paint).  I also used some October Afternoon papers for my layers.


This was a super simple layout for me.  I really wanted to focus on the photo for this one.  I used some Creative Imagination stickers, along with a stamped Polaroid frame from Dear Lizzy and a Jillbean Soup hexie sticker for the date.  My title is made using Basic Grey letter stickers from the Paper Cottage collection and some new Amy Tangerine transparent tile letter stickers (which I've fallen in love with).  I also included some of the string that I used to create the background on my January Divider.  The string started as a really pretty, shimmery white embroidery floss and after the string technique it had a variegated effect with green and yellow and blue.  Very cool.

I love to use dividers in my yearly albums, whether it is a scrapbooking album or a pocket scrapbooking album or a mix of both styles.  I find it very interesting to see the month at a glance and the activities that took place during that month.  It also gives me a great place for extra photos that aren't quite good enough to fit onto a layout for whatever reason.

So for this month, I decided to use a file folder as my divider.  I simply cut the divider in half along the fold lines so that I could hole punch my file folder to fit into my album.  I also made a copy of a month-on-one page layout from my planner that I hand drew in a composition notebook at the end of 2014.  Hence the messed up year!  I was able to fill out my planner page to with the corresponding events that occurred in January, which gives you a great month in review section!


All the supplies that I used for this divider were from my Stash Kit that I've been working on killing for the last several months.  Some of the supplies I used for this scrapbooking layout were Heidi Swapp gold chipboard embellishments, Simple Stories Snap Family Stickers, and the Amy Tangerine stitching templates for my own handmade embellishments (I made this specific card during the Index-Card-a-Day challenge). 


One fun thing that I did on this divider was to create a mixed media background using some taped down string and sprays.  I found this idea while watching Christy (Gulfsprite) to create the background for my folder, as well as a batch of other backgrounds that I used for several of my other layouts.  I also sprayed some hole reinforcers with Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Primrose for some added interest.


On the back side of this file folder, I included a bunch of extra photos, as well as a Simple Stories Snap photo sleeve to include an extra photo.  I matted the back of the file folder with a dark blue cardstock and added some of my sprayed hole reinforcers.  I reused some of the washi tape that I had used for taping down the strings for my DIY background papers.


These photos are from several different days through the month of January.  I have a photo from our Mommy and Me day, plus several car trip photos that show my daughter's love of her Violet stuffed dog, and two from my Stepfather's birthday.  For this side of my divider I used stickers from Jillbean Soup, Basic Grey (Paper Cottage - Clothesline) patterned paper, and a pocket page cards from Simple Stories Homespun pack, and Authentique Celebrate stickers.


The journaling on this page just gives a brief recap of the month.  The bigger stories are told on the following pages in the album.  I like using these monthly dividers for just that - recapping the month and getting in small stories that haven't been told yet.

Today I'm back with another installment about my stash kit that I created using the Hip Kit Club's May 2015 kit as inspiration to draw from.   I'm sharing a scrapbook layout that I created using a photo of my daughter and me from back in January.  I really wanted to dig into my pattern papers for this layout and play with some fun embellishments.  I love the addition of the cork on this layout.  It is such an interesting texture to include on scrapbooking pages.

I am really struggling with creating 8.5 x 11 pages.  This year I decided that was the size I would use to document our story for 2015, because it would be an easier size for my daughter to handle when she wants to look through the albums.  But I don't like that I cannot get as many pictures on a page as I have gotten used to. 

I used a 4x6 photo on this page.  The story is all about our visit to a friend's house, where we got to cuddle with their cute dog, J.J.  He always loved getting tummy rubs and cuddles from us, because he is always cold.  He could sit for hours on our laps if we'd let him!  Plus, J.J. is the perfect size of Atty to really love on!


I also used these DIY embellishments that I made to go along with the kit.  For this banner piece, I simply stamped using black Archival ink, drew some triangles, watercolored the sections, and then fussy cut them out.  I used some pop dots to add a little bit of dimension to the banner, as well as a Studio Calico word sticker on the middle one.


I hope this layout inspires you to create something wonderful from your own stash!  For more information on the products used on this layout, check out the original stash kit post.  I also made a scrapbooking process video so you can see how this layout came together.

Welcome back to another installment about my stash kit that I created using the Hip Kit Club's May 2015 kit as inspiration to draw from.  Another way to stretch your stash and freshen things up is create new DIY embellishments that have been inspired by the new lines and collections that are often included in kit clubs.  These can be used to create clusters or accents for your scrapbooking pages.

For this kit, I was inspired by the labels in the Hip Kit Club's Project Life kit.  These labels were made by October Afternoon from the Treasure Map line.  I also like the cut-apart sheet from the main scrapbooking kit by Chickaniddy from the Yippee line (Here's the Story paper).  I decided to make my own version of labels, which I've been experimenting with lately, because I really like labels and you definitely cannot have too many, right?  For this batch, I took a 4x6 piece of cardstock and used Distress Stain in Peacock Feathers, Pumice Stone, and Aged Magohany to create a striped background.  Then, I cut some strips off the inked piece and used a corner punch on just the ends.  This gave my labels a decorative edge that I love.  I also created a tag and two flag/pendants with what was left of the inked piece of paper.


Another handmade embellishment that I created for this scrapbooking stash kit was some stamped and punched circles.  Circles were a large theme in the original Hip Kit and I loved the Pink Paislee paper Citrus Bliss - Sour Paper.


In order to achieve a similar look, I glued down some book pages to a piece of white cardstock.  I decided to layer some gesso over the book pages to bring them together and tone them down a bit.  I also found a previously unused stamp that was a circle with some kind of asian symbol in the middle.  I decided that would be perfect for this project, minus the symbol, so I just didn't ink that part when I stamped!


For the stamped circles, I simply fussy cut them out, because they were larger than my circle punch.  After the images were cut, I went back through the left over paper and used my circle punch so that I had two different sizes of circles to play around with in my kit.  Check out how they turned out!  I love them!




You can see some of these pieces in action in this scrapbooking process video that I made for my stepfather's 70th birthday celebration.  My mom made him a German chocolate cake and put a little lego Sheldon from Big Bang Theory on his cake!


In addition to these DIY embellishments, I also made up quite a few index cards (or 4x6 cards on white cardstock) for Index-Card-a-Day.  These cards were inspired by the Hip Kit Club's May 2015 offerings as well, so for more ideas for using your stash and creating some DIY embellishments check out ICAD 2015.  For a full listing of what is in my current stash kit take a look at Counterfeit Kit of the May Hip Kit Club 2015.

My version of the Pink Paislee floral paper

Welcome back to another installment about my stash kit that I created using the Hip Kit Club's May 2015 kit as inspiration to draw from.  One thing I really love to do when I'm creating scrapbooking kits from my stash is to create new DIY papers that have been inspired by the new lines and collections that are often included in kit clubs.

This is a great kit for creating your own backgrounds.  I tried to stick with my version of the Hip Kit Club's color add-on in the creation of my DIY papers for this stash kit. The original color add-on included:

• 1 pkg. - Amy Tangerine - Rise & Shine - Brooklyn Stencils (set of 6) 
• 1 Ranger - Paint Dabber - Lemon Twist 
• 1 Ranger - Paint Dabber - Electric Lime 
•  1 Tim Holtz - Lagoon Mermaid - Distress Ink Pad (3"x3") 

For my version of the color add-on, I used Heidi Swapp Color Magic 3x4 Stencil Minis: Patterns, acrylic paint in bright yellow and neon green, Distress Stain in Peacock Feathers, Pumice Stone, and Aged Mahogany.


One of the papers that I really loved from the original Hip Kit was the floral paper with lemons on the other side by Pink Paislee in the Citrus Bliss collection.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any white ink - which would have looked a lot cooler, I think.  Ah the perils of moving, I tell ya! 


So instead I took my Distress Stain in Pumice Stone and attempted to stamp with it using some clear stamps from Lawn Fawn (Blissful Botanicals).  However, Distress inks of any kind hate me, so of course that didn't work the way I wanted it to.  I switched off to some black Archival ink and created a floral cluster on some packaging (because my acrylic block was too small).  Once the white cardstock was pretty much covered in the floral design, I went back through and cleaned up the stamping using a Sharpie pen to fix areas that hadn't stamped as cleanly as I liked.  Finally, I used the packaging technique and the Pumice Stone stain to get some of that grey back into the design, since it had inspired me originally.  It is definitely not an exact replica, but I also think I may like mine even better!



I also decided to try my hand at the Pink Paislee paper called Brunch that is included in the original Hip Kit.  This was just a simple grey background with white polka dots and then a ledger style pattern on the backside.  I ended up making both patterns.  For the first side (polka dots), I just applied Pumice Stone Distress Stain and used a stencil to apply some gesso for my polka dots.  The ledger pattern that I created was done by applying regular notebook paper to a piece of white cardstock using gel medium.  After that was dry, I went back through and applied white gesso to tone down the lines.  I do apologize that I don't have photos for all the papers I created, but I was so excited to use them that I forgot to take a picture of the finished paper first!  Blast it!  


Another paper I've DIY'ed for this kit was a paper (Very Vanilla) from Dear Lizzy's Serendipity collection.  Very Vanilla is an ombre paper with pink dots found in the original Hip Kit. 


This was a really simple paper to DIY.  I took pink Memento ink in Rosebud and applied dots using a qtip to a piece of white cardstock.  I tried to vary the concentration of the dots as I moved down the page, as well as the value by slowly moving to light/less ink towards the bottom of the page.  Once the ink was dry, I realized it still needed something to give it the soft look the original Dear Lizzy paper had to it.  I decided to apply a thin layer of gesso working my way up from the bottom of the page.


Here is the layout that I made with my inspired Dear Lizzy paper.  Somehow I forgot to take a photo of the finished paper!  I also made a process video for this layout and somehow deleted it before uploading.  Obviously, I'm not doing very well at showing my process, and I do greatly apologize!  This layout uses Heidi Swapp papers, Authentique stickers, Carta Bella alphas, and some stamped flowers that I made to coordinate with my stash kit.  My daughter and I had such a blast on this day, when we got snowed in - argh January weather!  We colored, and played with puzzles, and watched cartoons and cuddled.  It was fantastic!

I hope I've inspired you to try your hand at playing around with products you probably already have in your stash to make some fresh new papers to get your scrapbooking your memories!  For more information on my version of the Hip Kit Club's May 2015 kit, check out my Counterfeit Kit post.  I will be back tomorrow with another #blogtember prompt.  And some process videos are up and coming, I promise I won't delete any more videos until I triple check I've uploaded the darn things!

The first challenge create a layout - easy!

The Stash Bash Challenge

Two weeks ago (Sept. 17 - 21) I participated in the Stash Bash challenge hosted by Simple Scrapper (Jennifer Wilson).  Stash Bash is all about organizing, purging, and then using your scrapbooking products.  This class could not have come at a better time for me, because I am in a fullblown organizing mode.  I want to get my computers in order and the photos on them backed up to CDs and printed!  I'm also trying to get our space a bit more 1 year old friendly (which means the stuff that we've just moved up as she's grown needs to be put somewhere more secure where Momma can still use it!).  So with all of this in mind, I decided Stash Bash was for me!

My Scrapbooking Spaces

My bedroom space before Stash Bash

I have three spaces that I consider my "scrapbooking area".  There is my desk in our bedroom, which I am trying to decide if it will be my computer area (and GTD/planning area) or a video recording area (to replace the current one that I struggle to use).  There is a workstation in the living room that I use to stand and create the vast majority of my scrapbooking layouts.  This area quickly piles up, because I'm often working on stuff here while my daughter is awake (so I have to chase her around frequently).  There is also a storage cabinet in this area that I use to store my paper, stickers, and new purchases.  Finally, I have a recording area shoved into a little corner of a storage closet.  The lighting is not the greatest and I have very little room to maneuver.  In an attempt to win a free spot in Stash Bash, I put together a pre-Stash Bash video tour of my current creative spaces. And they were a hot, hot, hot mess!  I haven't been able to scrapbook or do videos or anything really creative in months!!

Digital Photo Organization

This is a look at my folder structure before Stash Bash

I really wanted to focus on my computer and digital photos for this challenge.  My folder structures were a hot mess, as I just tend to dump everything into my downloads folders.  The only thing that I try to keep organized is my photos, especially since I started Project Life.  So I have year and week folders for all of my photos for the last two years.  There are four years worth of photos on the computer that I decided to work on, so 2011 and 2012 are not organized by weeks.  I don't have very many photos from these years, because I wasn't very good about getting the photos off my phone back then!  Through Stash Bash, I was able to delete a ton off the computer that I no longer needed, as well as cleaning up my folder structure.  I also separated out blog stuff and, using an idea of GTD, created folders for my current resumes and current projects with an ! in the front.  The special character (!) keeps it at the top for me, which makes it easier to keep track of these things.

This is one from one of the challenges where I deleted 1.26 GB from just my Downloads folder!

I also started to work on tagging my photos in iPhoto to make them easier to find when I am looking for specific stories or photos.  This would have been awesome to have done before I started the process of printing photos for Atty's baby book.  I also think it will be nice for Christmas gifts to have a better way to find photos quickly.  Now I just need to continue tagging my (3000+!!) photos with the new tagging structure that I decided on.

A glimpse at my current tagging structure.  Separated into categories (year/season/people/holidays/location/other photos)

Creating Layouts

Another challenge that I enjoyed working on was the "Bake Sale", where you make pagekits for 5 layouts in a certain amount of time.  I decided to work on some of the Easter photos that I have been procrastinating on and I love how these layouts turned out.  What I love even more is that these layouts are finally done.  I have been stuck on Easter photos and trying to decide what to do with them for almost 5 months!  5 Months and I haven't been able to move past these darn photos!
*Details under each photo - collage of kit then layout final

1st Easter

 For 1st Easter, I used some dylusion pink and Heidi Swapp pink sprays to give it a soft, shimmery effect on the doilie.  Plus I used a really old paper pieced flower basket from my stash and that cute little stick girl stickers from ages ago!

Dyeing Easter Eggs (left)

This page uses products that I specifically bought to scrap these Easter photos.  I thought this watercolor wash paper worked perfectly for the process of dyeing eggs, and I also used a diagonal of clear sparkley buttons to draw your to the photos.  I also fussy cut some Easter eggs from a piece of patterned paper that I used for some accents on these two pages.

Dyeing Easter Eggs (right)

I did most of my journaling on this side of the spread to tell about Atty's first experience with dyeing Easter eggs.  I also used a really, really old shaker egg that I received in a swap years and years ago.

Left side of "Decorating Lil Monsters"

For this set of layouts I had some very large photos that I wanted to really focus on, so I kept the embellishments very simple.  I used another one of those stick figures from ages past, as well as some really old egg stickers.

Right side of "Decorating Lil Monsters"

For this layout I really just played with layering pattern paper and border stickers.  I finished using up that sheet of old egg stickers and lots of fun little rhinestone gems.

Also during Stash Bash I was able to finally put away my stack of completed layouts - 73 of them!!  Most of these layouts were from Layout a Day in May.  Some of them needed journaling and such done on them, but for right now, I just decided to put them in the album.  With LOAD starting Oct 1st (!!!), I can't have this huge stack of layouts just hanging out!

Tickets, Tickets, I want Tickets!

I loved this experience.  Stash Bash was awesome, the community was awesome, and the challenges and format of the challenge worked wonderfully.  I wish I would have been more motivated to tackle some of the details of my spaces, but I decided to put most of my effort into the computer, photos, and digital realm.  I would highly recommend Stash Bash to anyone.  And, I think I might make a ticket bucket to continue with the incentive of the tickets for prizes.  I earned 30 tickets through this process, and barely dented my stash or organizing projects that I would like to continue.  Maybe 50 tickets and I get to go buy some new scrapbooking supplies or a class or something....I'm still debating on what kind of incentive would work for me!  I'd love to heard any thoughts you may have on my progress, I'm still pretty amazed at how much I was able to accomplish in 5 days.

My main Destash goal for August was to complete my daughter's baby album before her first birthday on the 28th, along with several other mini albums for gifts.  However, due to Jamie being in the hospital most of the month, I just barely squeaked by on getting Atty's album done.  And to be honest it's not finished - but the pictures are in the album and everyone in the family could flip through it and see how much she has changed in this first year (which was my real reason behind the deadline).

The Kit

I have been collecting baby girl supplies for a very long time.  I have always wanted to do my own baby album and I probably started this journey with enough product to create four or five baby albums, and I still continued to buy new baby supplies throughout this past year.  I had intended to do a video for you all to see the full expanse of supplies, but with everything that has been going on lately, I just didn't get around to it.  But trust me, there are a lot of different products that I will continue to make use of.

Instead of giving you a huge run down of the various supplies in this Destash kit, I just snapped two pictures to show you want I have been working with.  The first (seen above) is all of the embellishments and letter stickers that I have pulled for these Destash projects.  The second image is all of the papers that I have pulled.  I also used some of the We R Memory Keepers 3x4 cards that they first came out with (I don't know the name but they were jewel tones), Becky Higgins Baby Girl Mini Project Life cards, and Simple Stories Hello Baby 3x4 cards.


I will be back later this month to show you my progress on Atty's baby album, as well as my Destash September projects so stay tuned!

This month for my Destash project, I am refocusing on the projects initial goals.  Last month was kind of a fail due to Jamie being in the hospital for a week.  While I did make some significant progress on Atty's baby book (video coming soon!), I didn't finish it or any of my other mini albums.  If you follow along this month you will see quite a variety of different medias and things going on, because this month I really want to get back to the organizational side of my challenge. To begin with - I want to really narrow in on organization and using up stuff (along with simply trashing whatever I don't need anymore due to my packrat tendencies).  I want to move my desk into the house!  We have lived here a almost a year now and the majority of my stuff is still in mystery boxes due to the way we moved (without prior planning and prior destashing).  Now according to the rules of the game, I'm not allowing myself to move anything into the house until things have been organized, purged, and played with. 

The Goal

• To create a tickler file (as part of my cherry picking of the GTD system that I'm currently playing around with).  This requires the desk drawer that holds my files.
• BINGO! - to make this whole process a bit funner!
• Organizing my Pinterest boards better (they've become a bit of a mess).
• Backing up the computer and better organizing those files

To help with these goals, I really want to take part in Stash Bash this month!   Stash Bash is an organizing party hosted by Simple Scrapper.  She offers 5 daily videos and 5 daily challenges to help control your stash, organize it, and have less than when you started the event.  I'm so excited about this event, and I really, really want to take part!

The Desk

This is one of my three possible workstations.  The problem with it is the location is in our bedroom.  Jamie worked on a different shift that me, so it was always difficult to get in and use this workstation due to him sleeping.  However, I think it would be the perfect location to do my planning, bills, and that kind of thing.  This photo is from the original post in January, and let me tell you - it doesn't look like that anymore.  However, this photo does give you an idea of the possibilities that come with using this desk as my planning station.  It has 7 drawers - two of which can be used for filing, plus the various cubbies that can store planning materials (post-its, highlighters, etc), plus four sections that can house my "in-box, action, waiting on, and some day/maybe" categories that go along with the GTD system. 

The main issue is that all of the desk parts are full of art materials (not to mention all the parts still live in the garage!).  So before I can jump feet first into this new planning area I need to purge and use these items.


This is a look at one of my file drawers.  I was using it to storage all of my collage making materials.  However, I haven't touched it in at least a year (and probably longer than that!)

BINGO!

In my attempt to destash this area, I have created a BINGO card for my inspiration.  I took a quick inventory of one of my file drawers, along with my "pen/mark-making" drawer and created a BINGO card to help me work my way through these materails.  And I would simply love it if you joined my challenge.  Any projects would for this challenge.  Feel free to make whatever inspires you to use these products or mediums from ATCs, inchies, project life cards, scrapbooking layouts, art journal spreads, whatever moves you to play with these items go for it!


This is the lovely Bingo card that I created after having a good flip through my drawers.  You can use any of these items to create your projects, but extra bonus kudos if you create something that gets you a BINGO (5 in a row) all on one project.  My goal this month is to complete the whole card.  Now, some of these items may be a bit confusing so I just want to have a quick run down of what I mean.  Feel free to ask any questions if you need clarification, but really just have fun and use it as a piece of inspiration to get you playing!

1. White cardstock - any size, type of white cardstock (feel free to use watercolor paper even)
2. Scraps - anything that is not a full sheet (so if you cut an inch off of a 12x12 sheet that sheet is now a scrap!)
3. Diagram or map - I have some of my mom's old architecture/mechanical drawings (as well as my own) in this drawer so I'm challenging myself to use those, however, it's not a common material so go ahead and use maps or whatever you feel makes a good substitute.
4. At least 2 punches - This is simply a minimum, go ahead and use however many you would like
5. 4 Alphas - Again this is simply a minimum and can be computer fonts, stickers, hand-drawn lettering, typewriter, whatever as long as you use 4 different alphas
6. Seed Packets - I have a whole lot of old seed packets (I liked the flowers).  You can use this as collage material, envelopes, or inspiration for drawing/doodles/painting.
7. Doodles/Sketches - Just play around with doodles or even simple sketches and add them to your project
8. Animals - anything goes here!  Be inspired by an animal, create an animal patterned stamp and add it to your project, add animal collage images, sketch or doodle an animal, whatever works for you!
9. Dreams/Goals - Incorporate your dreams or goals into your project in some way.  I found one of my dream files in the drawer, plus a couple letters that I have written to myself.
10. Gift bag/Gift wrap - This is something I collect, but rarely use.  Feel free to collage with it, cut it apart to create a project life card, or anything else that sounds interesting!
11. Colored Pencils - color something!
12. Found text - I love collecting found text to do found poetry or journaling with.  If you don't have, grab a newspaper or magazine, pick an article, and cut out the words that call to you.  Then arrange your words in a way that makes sense to you and add them to your project.
13. Charcoal/Chalk - I found several sticks of charcoal, which I don't use very often.  I added chalk to make it a better fit for most of you.  You can use these materials to shade, draw, color in, whatever you desire.
14. Old Challenge - I use to print off my favorite scrapbooking challenges, however, the ones I found in my drawer are probably from 2000.  So my goal is to use these to create some new projects and decide whether I need to keep the printouts.  You can also check out your favorite challenge sites and just go back to September of last year (2013), and use those.  This can be applied to old art journaling workshops, scrapbooking, sketching, whatever.  I will be posting my "old challenges" later in the month if you want to see what I'm working with.
15. Tissue paper - Add tissue paper to your project through collage or use it to apply wet media (like watercolor, acrylic paper, stamping ink, sprays, etc).  White tissue paper is really fun to stamp on, because once you apply gel medium over it, the white tissue paper seems to disappear into the background.  Also feel free to add napkins to your possibilities.
16. Bubble wrap - use bubble wrap to apply texture to your piece by applying wet media same as above.
17. Magazine bits - use a magazine for collage images, or simply be inspired by a magazine ad to create a layout design
18. Architecture - use a magazine to find architecture images, use stamps to apply architecture to your pages, or whatever you desire to incorporate some architecture!
19. Sketching pencils - draw something!
20. Paper clips - paper clips are awesome.  Have fun with them!
21. Decorative scissors - yes, I still have two pairs of decorative scissors.  And this month we are going to use them!
22. Embroidery floss - sew something, wrap something, glue it down in a bundle.
23. Pattern paper - well, you knew I had to include my heap of pattern paper...right?
24. Labels - add labels to your project, use them for journaling, titles, decorative elements.

Whew!  I do hope you have some awesome ideas floating around.  And I would love it if you joined me this month!  For more information on my destash project check out Destashing.

Back in January, one of my goals was to really focus on destashing and using up some of the stuff that I own and not buying more!  So this month for my Destash Project, I am going to be focusing on Theme and Mini Album supplies.  I currently have three baby books in various stages of completion, as well as one baby book I haven't even started yet.  Plus, I want to create a small travel book for our vacation at the end of the month!  I hope you will join me in this adventure of Destashing your Themed and Mini Album supplies!

Just a quick video from me today since unfortunately, I haven't quite made up my kits yet (I'm working on them - Promise!).  Between work and writing up several cover letters for jobs that I'm looking at applying for, I've been crazy busy and super tired.  So I thought today, I would show you a quick video flip that I made of the albums in their current states.  I hope you enjoy it and I would love to know what you think of my progress so far!



The count down is on!  I have 10 days to complete Atty's baby book by my deadline (her 1st birthday party) and 15 days to complete the two gift albums that involve Atty's 1st year.  Wish me luck!  For more information on this month's destash project check out the original post - August Destash Project - Theme and Mini Album Supplies.  Feel free to join in, I could definitely use some motivating pushes!

Birth - 1 week :

I have birth pictures (3 or 4) that I will include in my album, but for the sake of this post I decided not to showcase them. I do hope you understand :)

Atty's first day

Daddy watching his brand new baby girl sleep.

This is one from the Professional Photographer on the day that we left the hospital (Day 2).

This is another photograph from the Professional Photographer on the day we left the hospital (Day 2).

Atty on Day 5 on a trip to get her blood tested due to jaundice.