The Simple Life

yay for getting this place cleaned up. early when i had taken the photo, this was the only corner that was walkable. always a mess in here, most of the times it's creative. last week our old water heater took a dump, so levi came home from work early to try and fix it. didn't work. so he replaced it with a new one, thank goodness he's a handy man ;) the water heater closet/access is actually behind that old door so all my crap had to be moved out of the way. not that i already had a mess in here any way! worked my way through and got it cleaned up and reorganized in a few hours. now to get rid of my piles and clear off my table. then i'm good again for the next creative storm. always a process! meanwhile... our water lines are backed up. either legos that went down the drain...or who knows?? i called levi again from work, so he's been home for 3 hours trying to figure it out. they say that things come in threes. i do want a new washer and dryer, ha ha! crap. better start saving.

on my desk...

prepping and kitting valentine banners today ♥

sneak peek into my creative space...

oh how i wish my room was spotless right now! i can't believe this was taken back in march. right now between summertime and orders and LIFE, i haven't dedicated much time to getting my room back where i can create happily! it is going to take a good 3+ hours of uninterupted time to get it back to normal again. since my last few sales i didn't quite bring it back to life, we just unloaded everything, and my mess is not so much a creative mess but more like a hoarder/disaster work zone. check back with me friday...that is my personal deadline to have this place cleaned and organized again! ...and wow...looks like i need to get my blog caught up too.

help or suggestions...

although now i just mapped it out, i might have already made up my mind, lol! but...i still need more eyes...any suggestions?

this is my problem. this room has big picture windows...and no wall space.

        i have my furniture stuff/decor and my wall decor.

 and most every thing needs to be up against a wall! ahhh! and i like how my last room was set up.

so i've crossed out my stuff that i can do with out, or figure out later...one being the bakers rack with my ribbon on it. i could put it up where my tables will be, i just didn't want them to be in direct sunlight because of fading. or i could get rid of it, and get those ikea expedit shelf cubes and they would fit there.

 my main thing is i just want my old aqua door and my red shelf/heidi swapp poster together, but prob. won't happen. i put the aqua door on wall space to the right of the laundry room door because that is where the water heater access is. so i figured we could mount it and make it swing when we needed to get in. or just prop it up, whatever would work.

my big black hutch has to cover a window...just a matter of which one. if i go with option #1 the legs of the hutch will  have to be cut down a couple inches, because it's too tall. otherwise it will fit fine against the other window in option #2. the ceiling is off. annoying.

FURNITURE:

-big black hutch

-old aqua door

-old window hutch thingie

-ribbon rack

-red ladder shelf

-black table

-little sewing table

 

WALL DECOR:

-photo frame collage

-red shelf with photo frames/SHE poster

-white pottery barn organizer

-magnet board

here's what it looks like right now, just waiting to be gutted out and new wiring and sheetrock.

 

 

 

 

with option #2 i could have this same set up in the corner... and even the pottery barn organizer to the left would probably fit in that 2ft wall space to the left of the hutch. and then the little window (the only one that opens would be to the left of that. i like this...except that then i wouldn't have any wall space for my red shelf/and my SHE heidi swapp poster. and i really like both. so that is why i am most likely going to go with option #1.

see my dilema here!? these stinkin' windows! but i am excited to have them too, lots of light! and the wall with the 2 windows where i'm putting my tables by...i may built a huge long table if i can't find one...for extra workspace. it is a big room, i'm excited and can't wait! still might be a while, but i need to start having a plan!

work in progress...

starting today? ugh...everytime i open this door, i shut it!

this is my future scrapbooking room...aka the "sun room." before it was used to house however many dogs...and they used it as their bathroom too. levi ripped out the carpet, or "furrpet" as i like to call it, swept it and then colton unloaded all my stuff in here. actually no that's not how it went. he was suppose to unload it here, instead he put the trailer load of stuff that didn't need to go in here. and all my stuff went in the chicken coop. ya i remember now. i was mad. so i had to switch everything, and dig for my scrapbooking stuff it was completely piled high in the other storage place. aka chicken coop.

anyway...this is where it is now. since i've been trying to scrapbook i've had to go through every box to find what i needed. first up was photo printer paper...then my tools, then my stamps...etc...so everything is everywhere now.

my job is to clear it out so levi can start to work on it. finally! new wiring and sheetrock, this will be the only room that has "real" walls...sheetrock, everything else is cheap woodpanelling fake walls. levi wanted me to move it all to the chicken coop, but there is no way it is all going to fit over there, it's completely full! so either i stack it all in my bedroom...OR...i move my hutch into the house right next to the kitchen table...yep, that's what i'm doing. actually it is what i was going to do when we started moving furniture in and he said no way! hmmm....

the only problem is that my big black hutch is 7 ft 3/8 inch tall and this room is 6 ft 11 inches tall...can you believe it!? so i'm sure hoping that when he rips off the hideous ceiling...we will have some room to work with? please i hope so, or i guess were cutting an inch off my hutch. there is a lot of windows...i have to decide which one(s) to cover up. i need some wall space for my decor. but i will love all the light to work in!

remodeling...as you can afford it...ugh, such a pain. i envy people that have money and can remodel in a matter of weeks, instead of months... without waiting! oh well...at least we are out of debt. almost...paying off our car loan this fall! enough complaining...i know i know.

ok...off to tackle this mess.

my {scrapbook} room...

this was my scrapbook room in our last house that we rented. other than the white walls, {not being able to paint and the hideous carpet} i loved this room! it was fairly small, i just needed more room to have a bigger table for when i make a mess. but it still worked. at first i complained of the tiny closet, then i soon found out that it didn't matter. it was best NOT to just stuff a bunch of stuff in there to be hidden. i put everything out that i actually use. it's much easier that way than running back to the closet to pull out one more thing. i didn't have room to put the little table i had at my store. in my new room i will, then i can have my sewing machine out!

 full of my favorite colors combos, favorite things, eye candy every where!

i've had lots of fun finding the perfect bowls, buckets, jars...etc...

to store all my fun things in.

can't wait til i can unpack my stuff again!

 

my dad made this hutch. holds everything perfectly!

my favorite corner of my room!

here's where i'd sit on the floor looking through scrapbook idea books when it was too hot to sit outside!

my favorite pictures...i still need one of isabella and anthony up there.

my idea books on an old step ladder shelf.

i love to store embellishments in cute bowls and cups! especially if they have polka.dots.

bottom shelf holds:  patterned paper in accordian organizers. more heidi swapp stuff, idea books, cardstock that wouldn't fit on the top shelf. and my printer. anthony sure loved it at his level! makes me sad to see this picture though. in that corner is where my computer tower and external hard drive. that's the time it was trying to be worked on. i lost all my photos and files from 3 years. still makes me sick. please back up your files!

here's when i painted this frame...

more old wooden boxes to hold my punches, chipboard, bind it all.

red + aqua! can't get enough!

 

this little aqua mug...from the di, see my kids get in my stuff! E6000 has been very useful!

my mini red polka.dot bowl is perfect for holding my memory cards and pink shuffle.

button jar was from an old candle.

green tin containers hold my wooden alphabet stamps and all my adhesives.

aqua lid: i bought it at the di...i loved it so much, levi told me not to buy it because i would never find something to fit it! i left it in the durango, so that everytime i was out on the hunt i could see if it would fit something, anything, a jar, bowl, glass hurricane. it took me a year, but i found it! see? NEVER say never. yes. i love justin bieber's music!

my very FAVORITE picture of levi...

all my favorite patterned paper is kept on these black 12x12 letter trays...

my 8.5x11 cardstock is organized in black magazine holders from wal.mart.

heidi swapp product...labeled and stored in wooden boxes with my very favorite scalloped gingham ribbon!

my fabric stash kept in a basket.

i got lucky and bought this brand new pottery barn organizer at a yard sale, ten dollars! there is one more piece, i didn't have room for. works perfect for my stamps and smaller patterned paper.

tiny alphabet stamps, tiny attacher, loose chipboard alphabet letters, vellum tags stored in glass jars. some were from my wedding reception. and some i had to buy back after we dropped them off to the di. seems like they always have them!

red and pink buckets from walmart, during valentines. i got lucky at di with the same red one for twenty.five cents, years later! they hold my pens, scissors, misc tools, foam brushes, decorative scissors and hole punches.

i painted my ribbon jar lids to match my hutch as one of my summer projects. they look so much better! can't wait to paint my bakers rack this summer. it'll be black.

these were my curtains i made for my store, scrapalicious. i love them! i wish i didn't lose my pictures of my store. i wanted to make an album with them to remember it.

my cupcake jar...holds my hidden chocolate!

only levi wasn't so sneaky one day so now the girls know.

closet stuff:

photos stored in cropper hopper cases. all my embellishments, stickers, etc...sorted by theme or holiday and are in these drawers. scrapfolios: all my stickers, rubon sheets organized in dividers. pink accordian organizer is all basic grey paper organized by lines. other scrapfolio has all chatterbox paper. oldies...but goodies!

i used to have all my carded ribbon and embellishments hanging on my black shelf in my old room, but now i use that in my living room, so it worked perfect to hang them on the rod in the closet. and i finally got smart and put all my flower jars up HIGH. my girls loved to empty them out and sort them daily. fun for them...not me! + my hallogen...always need a hallogen light for some serious scrappin'...

my framed quotes i made. the red one was from an emergency preparedness event i did for my church calling. it's a good reminder!

i took apart my SHE book and made this. i'll get a new book, my cover faded from being in the window.

this was my mother's day present from levi! ahhh i love it so much! still need to add a few things to it.

this is where i would edit pictures, blog, pinterest...

on my not very comfortable stool.

 the only thing i'm missing that i really want is a vintage typewriter! and one that works so i can use it for journaling. i'll take one in pink, red or aqua!

 

where memories are created {on paper}...

i miss my scrapbook room.

it's been a LONG while, since i've been away from it.

for now i miss my old room. just being in it was enough for me!

i know i will have a new one, but it may be a couple more months before levi has time to start working on it. it needs completely gutted out. i'm excited that it will have "real walls." i get new sheetrock, new carpet. it has lots of windows, so i'll have to make a plan on how i will arrange my decor. i have to have my stuff on the walls...it's my inspiration and makes me happy! i sometimes feel like my time is being stolen, because i could be scrapbooking right now! at the same time, i still have a lot of house projects to be working on, so i try and make use of that and get them done. i'm almost done going through my photos of my old scrapbook room...i have too many, it may be a long post...i love all my photos!

for now i will leave you with this one...

ahhh...i love polka.dots.

♥

New ribbon jar lids...

I'm crossing off my list of projects...especially all my painting ones! I finally finished staining the little table today, that I painted the end of June! July was sooo busy! ...now I can put a coat of polyurethane on that and the two chairs tomorrow. I'm excited to paint my chalkboard too...but I have to get the table + chairs, plus a few other projects done first!

 
 
I spray painted all my lids on my ribbon jars...oil rubbed bronze...don't they look so much better than just the plain metal! Here's what they used to look like... Now they match the metal on my hutch! I want to paint that too...still deciding if I should paint it aqua or black...what do you think?

Progress...

I am almost done cleaning and reorganizing my scrapbook room. The last couple things on my list are to finish putting the rest of my cd's onto i.tunes {I have one box left}, and clear off my table...

 
Well, I got my table cleared off...bad news is that it's all on the floor!

 
Making progress...almost done, and then I will share my scrapbook room!

Today...

 
Today I'm going to try to get my project 365 blog caught up...at one point I was only 2 months behind, now going on almost 3, geee...that's grrreat. It sure is easy to get behind, fast, but I have the pictures, so might as well finish what I started.

It's going to be another hot day today...going to paint the girls' little chairs today, and work on some sewing projects too!

keepin' it real...

this was taken just five minutes ago...

 

This is the only room in the house that hasn't been top priority...I've been neglecting it, and I clean the house every day, why can't I just focus on my scrapbook room! I come in here to check my email and  blogs and such...and then walk right back out.

How did it even get like this? lol! Yeahhh...about that, it's my cREaTiVe mEsS!

Hmmm...

I spy:

• my december daily album
• the 'girl' baby quilt I made
• my favorite scrapbook idea book
• awesome green material that I got at Walmart
• candy from Gulianna's birthday party
• pink glue gun
• jumbo brown ric rac

Maybe, just maybe in the near future, I can share some of my projects that I made from this mess!

 

my frame...

just finished putting this frame together, and I love it!

 
I finally put this frame to use, it was scratched up in the corners from moving...so I added some aquamarine paint...and this print  from House of 3. I uploaded the print to Persnickety Prints last night and Levi picked it up for me this morning! This was my first time trying them, I love the finish on the photo! The only thing is that I had to trim it to fit the frame, so the top and bottom is a little cut off. That is going to bug me, so I will resize it and print it again...but maybe later lol!

 

 
I'm going for another round of the 21 day Challenge by Rhonna... starts tomorrow, are you in?

Old Scrapbook Layouts...

Some days I would feel sorry for myself because instead of working and running a store, I just wanted to be home scrapbooking for myself...

but then I put together all my finished pages from the last year {and some from the year before}...and I actually did scrapbook something!

that's a lot of layouts! and I didn't even count them...dang it!

 
And now most all of them are put in sheet protectors and into my albums! It's about time! I did run out of sheet protectors and I need to buy some more 12x12 albums one for 2008 & 2009, and I guess this year too :)

I made a challenge for myself that I am not going to buy anymore scrapbook stuff and use what I have, with the exception of the basics like adhesives, albums & sheet protectors!

Oh...and House of 3 digital stuff doesn't count :)

But then I remembered that CHA was just a couple weeks ago, and I thought of all the new product coming out! Ahhhh! Does it ever end? It's an addiction I tell ya! I will allow myself to buy some of the new Parisian Anthology collection!

Any way... I repaired a couple of pages that Gulianna got into while they were displayed at my store...she has ripped off so many flowers off my pages!

 
 
here are some of the layouts that I put into albums...

 
 
 
 

this one is one of my favorites! love this hs paper! {scrap lifted from Keisha C.}

  fun butterflies!

 
and I love this one too! I had forgotten that we used to call Isa 'Happy' because she was always such a happy baby! This is why I scrapbook!

 
{scrap lifted from Heidi}  

 
these 2 pages wouldn't stand up together...

 
 
and I love this line from Making Memories...5th Avenue! one of my very favorites!

So I've been trying to get even more organized...I thought I already was :)

But now all my pictures that are on my external hard drive are organized by date. I already had them in folders by year 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010...but now when you click on each folder there is a separate folder for each month and then when you click on the month each folder is organized by the exact date that the pictures were taken! And I have a lot of pictures! This will help when I am scrapbooking...because I remember events by dates, and I always stamp the date on my scrapbook pages too.

Yesterday I spent most of my day going through my scrapbook paper, and got rid of about 2 inches worth :)

Remember this post? yeah...what a waste! 

Just trying to get rid of what I know I won't use... and yet, there are lots of papers that I don't want to use, because they are just for looking at! Any body with me here? :) I went through my Christmas paper and got rid of a ton...and then I went through my Halloween paper, and I love it so much and can't part with it! I love Halloween! There was paper that I could have gotten rid of...but I bought it for specific pictures...so I need to just hurry and use it!

Okay...back to organizing!

today...

 
Hiding from my family...they are all sick, and I'm not! Levi has been in bed all day {watching movies & sleeping}...Isa has taken a couple naps...and Gulianna has been watching tv and playing with her babies. So tired of wiping noses, I hate when they are sick!

Now I am trying to clean up another mess in my scrapbook room! I've been putting a stack of layouts in page protectors...and into albums! I now need a few more 12x12 albums!

I took some pictures of some layouts before they went into my albums...I'll share tomorrow!

Proof I've been scrapbooking...

I have made a couple layouts here and there...

These are my most recent ones that I made last weekend, and I even used some older Making Memories paper!

 
 
 
I loved using these page protectors from We R Memory Keepers...I've been wanting to use them forever!  

I glue dotted the flowers on top of the page protector... 

 
 
 
and I even made a couple cards with my scraps...

 
some other layouts I made a while ago...

 
part of my journaling reads:

"Sometimes I feel that I have spent more time organizing my scrapbook stash than actually scrapbooking...But it makes me happy knowing that everything has a place!"

And that pattern paper strip says... "Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted." Ah yes...fits perfectly! Because I really do enjoy organizing my stuff...by color, by manufacturer, etc...it's just so exciting!

 
I love this color combo together!

 

And I've even added some pictures to my Summer Mini book too!

Now I'm trying to get my scrapbook room back in order...between fabric and paper...my little table is piled high!   

almost there...

 

i can now say that i am almost done!

while i still have some boxes to go through down in the basement, i have the majority of my stuff organized and put away in my {scrapbook} room!

one last pile of misc. stuff...

 
 can someone please just come over and throw this stuff away while i close my eyes???

 okay maybe take out my cute mini book first :)

i came across this picture today as i was organizing my scrapbook room...

{not the best, i had to scan it}

Daniel, Kevin, Levi

Claudia & {me}

yup...that's Kevin for ya! {Levi's dad}

can't wait to finish up this album from our trip to Virginia & Nevada City...from 2005?

i almost can't remember now...

and i almost had it finished here... and yes i still gave it to Levi for Christmas that year :)

back to cleaning & organizing my scrapbook room! i am almost done!

happy scrapbooking day...

i don't know if you all knew that yesterday was National Scrapbook Day! yup...pretty much a dedicated holiday for us! Which means I usually go and buy more stuff that I don't need...but stuff that I had to have :) Claudia and I celebrated by going to the MM Warehouse sale! It has been too long since I was there last!

And I have been putting my scrapbooking room together all weekend...and it's actually coming together--quickly! I have been without my stuff for too long! Some of it I had seen...when we moved from our home to the 'brick house' in Rigby, I tried to have it all in my store, but some of it still managed to get in the storage unit. And then we moved to Utah, and I didn't unpack it all because I knew that we would be moving again.

At last...we get reunited again :) I have to say that it has been fun going through all my scrapbook stash, but at the same time overwhelming because it's quite ridiculous what I have. But I almost have everything in it's place...and most things are gone through and sorted out of what I don't want anymore. I can't tell you how many times I have organized and reorganized my stuff! But it's so exciting!

I was frustrated because I didn't have a desk and a big enough closet to store most of my things. Last week, I set up a big table in the corner...and started unpacking, and thought, where am I going to put all my cardstock & paper?!  Then I put a smaller hutch on the top of the table, and that solved some of it! I was able to put my cardstock and paper and boxes of embellishments on the shelves. Then the next morning I went in, and my table was literally sagging because it was too heavy, plus the hutch top was about to topple over on me and kill me! It was then that I realized that I needed to put the big hutch in my room (both the top & the bottom) which I didn't want to do. Levi told me to move it in there in the first place, but I refused. 'I told you so'...so he was right. But it works p e r f e c t  l y ! I am still missing some stuff that belong in my room, just have more boxes to go through. I don't have my computer set up yet...but maybe tonight!

(the rest of the house is still a disaster...I hope to hang some of my home decor tonight though! moving is such a pain!)

And last...I can't wait to buy some of this fabric! I have been waiting and waiting!

This is Cosmo Cricket's newest fabric line... Early Bird!  Oh what to make when I get my hands on some :)

happy Sunday!

Project starter...

I have been working on yet another project. You can call me project starter girl...I always have an idea, so I start it, so that I don't forget about it, but then I don't finish it. I have a problem with that...actually I think I get it from my dad, to tell you the truth...lol.

Anyway, I have had this green window frame lookin' mirror for 2 years now. When Max was getting ready to move over to Ace...he was having a sale on a lot of misc. stuff, I bet this thing was sitting in the back room for years, because it's just ugly! I was originally going to just paint it black and use it in the bathroom or something, when Scrapalicious was in Driggs. But I never got around to it.

Until...I found paper that matched my curtains that I still haven't made...

So with that the creative process started again, and I couldn't sleep last night, because I was thinking and dreaming about it all night! So this morning I started to put something together...

I am going to paint the frame black, use the mirror that goes behind it, on another project that I don't know about yet...and put scrapbook pages behind it, and hang it on the wall, remember this...

that is where it will be hanging...

so hopefully this weekend, I will have:

• my curtains sewn, completely finished and hung
• my new artwork finished and hung on the wall
• my table, desk, and window sill cleared off

Wish me luck, I want to FINISH projects and to be able to enjoy them while I can!

My Scrapbook Room...

okay so I have finally had some time to clean my scrapbooking room...I pretty much have everything where I want it to be {again} and for once it is clean. I am going to try really hard to keep it clean and organized, yeah right! It is so hard but its usually a creative mess.

And on with the pictures! This was before I had painted and moved everything in...

and here are the close ups...

Sometimes I like to do things backwards...

So on Saturday I bought some really cute fabric to make some curtains, well I'm not making them, cuz I don't know how, {mom you get to make them!} Now I am actually motivated to paint my scrapbook room, now that we just listed our home! Anyway here's a picture of the fabric, it is so awesome, I absolutely lOvE these colors! Well after work, I went home so that I could paint the drawers on the built-in desk. The drawers are a lime green, and I wanted to paint them coral. While I really like the green, I wanted to change it up a bit, and paint them coral. So I started painting them, and I had 2 drawers left, and I thought to myself...I should bring up the fabric to see how it looks with the paint! I ran downstairs to get the fabric, and then went back up to my scrapbooking room, put the fabric against one of the green drawers, and what do you know-it actually looked really good together, almost better than the coral! Why I didn't check before, who knows, but now I had to make up my mind. I ran into the garage to get Levi, so he could help me decide on which color to go with but he was too busy, so it was up to me to decide! Here is my thought process: I like the green but it's too bright, that's why I painted the coral. But the green looks better with the fabric. If I like the green then I need to hurry and wipe off the coral paint, because I don't have any of the green paint, and I don't know what the name of the color is. If I decide the coral does look better I can always just paint them again. Maybe I should just use both colors, alternating the drawers with the two colors. Why can't I make up my mind? I feel like Cherry right now! {No offense Cherry!} I need to hurry and figure it out because the paint is starting to dry... So I ended up, wiping the coral paint off, although I forgot to wipe off the inside of the desk, so now that is dry. I started painting the tan on the walls, and now I have to say that the green doesn't look as well as the coral would against the tan walls!!! Oh well, I will wait and figure it out when the walls are completely finished!

My inspiration for my new scrapbooking room...

this all started out with the paint chip that I picked up at Ace Hardware back in May. Later that day I had gone to the Mini Bazaar and I found the picture with the same coral color in it. I then went to Robert's Crafts to buy some flowers to match! This is what I have to work with... I will show you what I come up with!

my Scrapbooking Room...in Driggs

here's my ribbon...I know it's an addiction.my closet with all the s{crap}...everything organized into themed catagories... my magnet board that I made... my cardstock table... tags, Heidi Swapp roller stamps and mini pink iron...never used it but it sure looks cute just sitting there... my s{crap} bucket...my computer desk... that house used to NOT be there in the window...my thread bucket... my Eiffel Tower frame from Paris... adhesives and stamps... AND NEVER AGAIN WILL MY ROOM BE THIS CLEAN!!!

Git r dun....

okay I did 2 9x9 layouts today, the ones with the ghost clocks I did last week? I think...anyway, ya okay I know they are scraplifted isn't that what Git R Done means!! haha. man why does my room have to look like this..... and when there's no room left on my table....I scrap on the floor! and when I have to feed Gulianna I scrap on the sofa! So what....I'm messy, but that's how I get crackin'