Thicker Storage (and all those other alphas, too)

So, I have this bad habit of collecting scrapbook supplies. I'm fairly certain that I'm not the only one. My scrap supplies are taking up residence in my guest room. My guest room is also full of laundry! All my clean laundry is sorted and stacked nice and neatly (well, mostly neatly) on the guest bed. This is just out of control. I can't find my supplies. I can't find my favorite jeans. Cole can't find his favorite pj's. IT'S JUST TOO MUCH.

I think the best way to tackle this problem is first - to get rid of the laundry. Put everything away after it's folded - not just leave it there forever. And then second - I need to find a way to organize my favorite things - the things I use the most and go to over and over. I've decided these things are:

my kits
my paper
my letters
my go to embellishments
my tools

Now, I need to weed out everything else. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that - but I'm going to really really make some drastic changes in my guest room this week!!

In my attempt to organize my favorite things, I thought I would cook up some storage for my letters. This is what I came up with:



I found this fabulous cereal of Target. It's so good, I could seriously eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week. It's just that good. But what makes it better - the container is so cute. It's harder cardboard than a regular cereal box and it has a plastic top - instead of just the typical cardboard fold up top.

I used the February BlackBird kit and covered my box and added some embellishments to the front and a label with THICKERS, as well.



Now I need to make a few more with my faves. I'm not sure if I'm going to do this by brands, though - I mean I have enough Thickers to fill up more than one container but the rest of my sticker letters are cardstock stickers and much thinner so I think I'll just group them all together. I can't wait to make a few more and have my letters a little more organized.

Now, if only I could find super easy ways to organize the rest...................

Lisa

My favorite tool for inking

I really like the whole "distressed/vintage" look (shocker, I know), however, I'm not a big, fancy tool kind of gal. I like to just make do with what I have most of the time... plus I'm a cheapskate and don't like to spend my paper spending money on tools. Ha!

However, about a year ago, I was in Hobby Lobby and was buying some new Tim Holtz Distress Ink (I like the Walnut Stain color a lot!) and I found these little sponge daubers. For some reason I was compelled to buy them, and I'm so glad I did.

You can tell I've used the one on the far right a lot. This is actually a new package I bought recently. I'll be digging out those fresh ones soon.

I like them because they give you more control on how much ink you can put on a page. I know there are other tools out there that can help with inking, but the selling point for these are that they fit on my finger like a thimble. I can get into all the nooks and crevices easily, and add "blurry edges" on things.(Cards made with the Blackbird kit)So next time you see some of these, grab 'em! I bet you'll like them.

(I was not endorsed by Tim Hotlz or Tsukineko to post this! I just like the stuff!) :)

I'm a little sketchy

Okay - that's totally not as cute of a title as I thought it would be. Bummer!

I still haven't gotten around to doing Virginia's sketch but it's on my list. Speaking of Virginia, she posted some info here on the Scrap Etc site about Memory Dock Planners and refills. There was a site she linked to that had great deals on Memory Dock stuff. Well, I've always wanted one but just never could spend the money on it when there was so much scrapbook paper out there waiting for me to buy it.

So, after her link, I ordered one and tons of refills super cheap! So now, I'm beginning to use it - making lists, notes about journaling and title ideas, and I'm using the little sketch template like crazy. I've never been much of a sketch scrapper - at least, I couldn't really come up with my own sketches - I just used other peoples sketches. Now, I love making my own sketches. I love that I can easily draw them out and with the template they actually look like what's in my head!!

Here's a peek at one page:



So, here's my sketch I picked for a Valentine layout of Cole . I have the layout ready, using the January Scripts Kit - just need to go pick up my pictures - so I'll post the layout in a bit!



In the meantime, I did this with the February kit using one of the other sketches I did above:



I changed my title placement and added journaling around the photo and paper on the bottom part of the layout. There's a Martha Steward punch I've been eying for quite some time:


But, I don't have it - YET - so I used my Fiskars border punch and added an extra hole punched with my Crop-a-dile - you can see it down the side of my layout. I colored all the little holes in with a black sharpie and left the big circles. I didn't exactly punch a straight line of holes, but it'll do until I get that yummy punch!!

So, wanna play along?? If you do any of these sketches, leave me a comment and let us see your layout!

Lisa

No worries, please!

This little bird house could not have come at a more opportune time!

I have really been going through a lot, and God has been working on me, through it all and one of the verses that I have claimed is this one:

"If God will take care of the birds in the air...how much MORE will He take care of Me!!" Matthew 6:26

So, I made this cute little birdhouse, as a little tiny reminder! It's in my studio, and it greets me when I walk up there (which is usually when I need a little getaway!)

Happy Birthday Dare!

Today is my sweet Friend Dare's 29th Birthday!!!! Ok, so she is not 29, but she looks 23 : )

I used the Blackbird Scripts Kit and my two favorite flower punches to make her this little birthday card.

I made another card for a wedding party last weekend with this month's kit also. Our friends Richard and Kati are getting married in April. The bird house was perfect for a card about "setting up house".
Have a wonderful day!!!