Think Tank Tuesday

You get what you pay for. Man, this is sooooo true when it comes to moving boxes! They are all not created equal.

Granted, I stuffed the moving boes for my studio like there's no tomorrow, but come on! They are moving boxes and are supposed to hold heavy things.

When I started packing my studio in South Carolina, I ran to Lowe's to get boxes. Closest and cheapest place to get them. It was less than five minutes from my house. Bonus! Home Depot was about 15 minutes away, but I quickly learned that the extra 10 minutes was seriously needed.

Both Lowe's and Home Depot boxes cost the exact same amount for the exact same size box. Lowe's does offer you a 5% discount if you pay with your Lowe's credit card so they could cost less than Home Depot which was the case for us. They also have the same numbers for crush tests. Let's face it, paper is heavy. And by heavy I mean wicked freaking heavy!

I hate to say this, but every single box from Lowe's was pretty damaged and/or crushed during our move. Many of the boxes were crushed just from being stacked in our house!

All of my paper and cardstock was packed in Lowe's boxes unfortunately. They all made it safe and sound though. Nothing was damaged or bent which was surprising. All of my albums were packed in Home Depot boxes and I was super excited about that since they weighed about a million pounds each and there were five boxes of them. They were in perfect condition. Very few Home Depot boxes were damaged/crushed/bent/torn. Most of that damage was from some piece of furniture hit them.

When we moved to South Carolina, we didn't buy any boxes. We got almost all of them for free from AC Moore. One of my friends was a manager there so she hoarded good boxes for me.

Those boxes that were made for shipping items from China were pretty thick and held up extremely well. Most of them were actually outer boxes. Sounds strange I know. I thought it was crazy how many boxes are in boxes for international shipping.

Oh I would skip banana boxes and grocery store boxes. Nothing like spoiled food to ruin your things! And then there's the hitchhikers.....spiders....bugs....yuck! No thanks!

Until next time *

Forget the packing peanuts. Go with construction paper from the hardware store. It comes in long rolls. It's great for filling up boxes and it crushes easily. Best of all, it's cheap! You can also use it to cover your floors to protect them and as firestarters in your next bonfire and celebrate the move!

Are We There YET, Papa Smurf?

Normally, Papa Smurf says no about 150 times before arriving to the Smurfs' destination. Folks, we have arrived at our destination! Do you hear the excitement in my voice? You should. And you should hear it loud and clear.

It is official! My studio is COMPLETE! That's right. No more remodeling. No more painting. No more sanding. No more freaking cleaning. No more unpacking. No more figuring out where to put things. No more trying to figure out if I really want to keep some things. It's all done! I'm soooooooo freaking excited. I've been waiting for this day for months. We moved in six months ago today.

While at Crop on the Cape two weeks ago, I felt totally lost. I couldn't figure out how to lay out my scrapping goodies and where to begin! I used to have this down pat and had a serious system. It was so strange to me to be so lost while scrapbooking. I've never experienced this.

Was I losing my love for paper? Yeah, right! Not exactly. Someone asked me if I had scrapbooked since I moved. Nope. Then she asked me when the last time I scrapbooked was. I had to think about it for a minute. Good grief! It was last June in North Carolina. That's nine months ago. I've never gone that long without playing with my paper collection. No wonder I was so lost.

Good news is that I found my way. I got quite a bit accomplished. Not nearly as much as I expected to given my track record. But I was quite pleased since the first night I didn't get much done and I was so lost. It was rather quite sad.

This sadness motivated me. I have been working on unpacking my studio for about two months now. I thought it would take two weeks. Boy, was I dreaming! I really do have a lot of stuff. No arguments here. My quilting and office are also in my studio so that took me some extra time. Previously, they were together in their own room. Here I get to have everything together!

Over 70 boxes later, they are all empty! Most are already at the landfill being recycled into something useful again. Tomorrow the rest will be recycled. I'm so happy to see them gone. Gone. Gone!

With the Great Unpack 2013 comes some challenges and new things. I have gone through every piece of paper crafting material I own. I roughly went through everything before I moved and had 2 boxes of things I planned on selling. Well, now that everything has been unpacked and sorted out, I can say wowee! There are a ton of pieces I will be parting with. I have dozens of brand new stamps and ink pads I'll be selling. I will be listing with photos and details everything on here first. Then it will move to my new Etsy store after a week or so. This is my project for next week. Wish me luck! Pretty sure I'm going to need it.

I will be starting posts on my new studio Wednesday! Exciting I know! There will be tons and tons and tons of photos and links on where to get the items I used for storage. Yeah, I'm cool that way. And nothing is expensive. Remember, every dollar spent on storage takes away from my precious paper budget!

Think Tank Tuesday will also be back next week. I completely forgot to set it up while I was away at Crop on the Cape. I'm a bad girl. I know. Sorry! Oh and Crop on the Cape 2014 will be March 13-16. Please visit the Colorful Creations website for details. Registration opens in November so the details may not be announced until then, but you can see the crop from 2013 and it will be very similar.

Until next time *

Look through an album you haven't looked at in years! You might be surprised to see how your style has changed and how different the faces are now.

Think Tank Tuesday

Today's Think Tank Tuesday is all about journaling. I'm personally not a huge fan of journaling, but  I am finding that it is a necessity. I won't live forever and I won't remember every place I have visited in my lifetime. There are already many that I have forgotten and without my photos would have no idea I was ever there! It's a good thing I take photos of signs when traveling as well. I'd really be up a creek without many of them.

So why journal? You can jot down dates and places and faces. We have hundreds of photos in our mountain of genealogy and we have no idea who most of those people are. We're guessing their family, but we have no idea if they're Great Aunt Tildy or Great Great Great Uncle Fred. Why? Because no one took the two seconds to write down who they were! Everyone probably just assumed that everyone would remember. Heck, there are people in my wedding photos who I have no idea who they are and that was only 16 years ago. I will need name tags for everyone in another 20 years! Probably one for myself as well.

People come and go from our lives. With journaling, you can write down so much more than a time, place, and face. You can write the story. Isn't the story why we scrapbook? If we weren't interested in the story, we could simply have photo albums stuffed to the gills on our bookshelves. Scrapbooks don't just hold photos; they tell our story. How we lived our life. Whether we were world travelers, annual Disney vacationers, gardeners, military families who move every few months, come from large or small families, have a house full of pets, built our own house and our homes, made your own clothes or quilts, went to prom and attended graduation (yay for making it!), were born, and most importantly that we LIVED.

Here's my CHALLENGE to you: Journal. Yes, really it's that simple. But do NOT use your computer and a pretty font to type it all up. Write it out with a pen or marker in YOUR hand writing! Hand writing is going way of the typewriter.

So many kids today don't learn cursive and it's an art that has been dying since I was a child. My great-grandmother taught handwriting way, way back when. My grandfather had the most beautiful handwriting. When I was a little girl, I would sit on his lap and ask him to write for me. His name was Earl Ezra and his E's were simply gorgeous. They had about a hundred loops and looked like calligraphy. I always wanted to learn how to write like him. I loved sitting in his lap and watching him wind up to write those loops.

Sounds like a silly memory, but it still fascinates me 30-something years later and I remember it like it was yesterday. He's gone now, but I have that amazing memory and I think of him every time I see handwriting. Little did I know that as a little girl that would have such an impact on me.

This is why handwriting your journaling my CHALLENGE to you. I CHALLENGE you to create a memory for someone in your life. It could be with one of your children or a sibling. Talk about your writing. My mother has nice handwriting. It's not as fancy as my grandfather's, but her handwriting looks like a script font as well. Somewhere along the way our society lost that. That saddens me because it's another lost art form. People took great pride in their handwriting abilities and nowadays we just type everything on a computer and print it out in one the tens of thousands of fonts we have accessible to us at a moment's notice.

You and I won't be here forever. But our memory can live on in something as simple as our handwriting. While we may not particularly care for our handwriting, it is ours and ours alone. It's unique to each of us!

Until next time *

Write. With a pen. Not with mechanical means.

Think Tank Tuesday

Something new I'm starting! Every other Tuesday will be reserved for my Think Tank Tuesday posts. I may post other projects as well, but I will focus on Think Tank Tuesday for the mort part.

What is Think Tank Tuesday? It's all about paper crafting tips! Now that doesn't mean it will actually involve paper. Have something you're interested in? Message me! And I'll be sure to cover that topic.

This week's Think Tank Tuesday is all about photography. Photos truly are the backbone of scrapbooking. Where would we be without our photos? With the digital age, we have hundreds if not thousands of images at our disposal.

What about photography? Take a photography class! There's so much more to photography than point and shoot. You can take your very own photos that look like a pro took them!

I recently took a photography class from Sarah Kristiansen the owner of Sweet Jane Photography who is based out of Providence, Rhode Island. Confession time! I know Sarah from Crop on the Cape. I met her last year while taking one of her classes at the Crop. I was soooo impressed that I started following her business on Facebook and was overjoyed to see her offer workshops.

Shhh. This is Sarah looking glowy as  I
like to say. We were learning about
back lighting and being glowy.

She's actually working on more workshops! I'm so excited about this. I learned so much in just one day. I can't wait to see what else she can teach me and I can learn.

I finally understand aperture! I have taken classes before, but never quite got a full grasp on it. Now, I feel like I get it. I also understand shutterspeed and ISO. Granted, much of this has to do with DSLR cameras, but so many people have them now and don't know how use them to the best of their ability. Sarah really is all about getting you off of the auto built-in functions and into controlling your camera. You're the boss applesauce!

I shied away from having multiple lens once I got my Canon T3I, but after Sarah's class I see what one can do with a different lens. For example, I only have a zoom lens which is great for the landscapes I frequently shoot in my travels. However, it doesn't work well in low lighting unless on a tripod and I can leave the shutter open for days or what feels like days. My photos were all blurry and now I know why and most importantly, I understand why they are blurry! So lens shopping here I come! I also need to get a flash and yes, my camera came with a built-in flash, but it's pretty useless for a lot of shots. I learned a bit about using flash in my class as well.

Ribbons blowing in the wind. Notice
the fan looks like it's barely moving?

So while I may have driven over six - yes, really - hours to take Sarah's workshop, it was so worth it! If you are in the New England area or are looking for a fantastic photography class, I highly recommend Sarah's workshops. She is also teaching a couple of short classes at Crop on the Cape and you can now sign up for the classes without attending the Crop.

It's really amazing what you can shoot once you have the knowledge. Photography isn't all about the equipment. You need to be armed with knowledge as well.

One great place to check for photo checklists and ideas for photos is Pinterest. Yes, Pinterest. I find many monthly photo checklists and challenges. Arm yourself with your camera and get out there!

Until next time *

A photo a day will keep the doctor away....okay maybe not, but you'll get to see the world around you!

Coming Along...

Oh the joys of moving! Unpacking and discovering how you labeled boxes isn't quite right or what you swore you'd remember. Why do I say I'll remember? Sure. No problem. There's only about 200 boxes! And over 70 of those are for my studio. So ummm yeah sure no problem I'll remember.

Oh and FYI...labeling boxes with the word Studio means absolutely nothing! Turns out that box was filled with office mumbo jumbo. My office is in my studio, but I'm thinking paper crafting when something says studio.

No matter because I have zero plans on ever moving from this house. I looooooooove this house. Yes, we do have some plans for remodeling and an addition. The remodeling is because the house was built in 1942 and that's when the bath and kitchen we last visited except for some dreadful 1990 country floral wallpapers. Hideous. That's the only word to describe them! Blind people would run screaming from them. The addition is a first floor master suite for when we're old and can't use the stairs so well. Yup, planning ahead!

So the unpacking is going. Taking much longer than I was hoping. Doesn't everything when it comes to moving? I have several new pieces of furniture so that's throwing me off a bit. I also picked up a second Ikea Expedit last weekend. That was desperately needed for my paper and cardstock mountain.

I have moved some things several times. Still not sure I like where my ink pads are. Pretty sure I don't actually. I think they're too far away from me.

The alcove maybe not happening permanently in my studio. So we stopped putting in the hardwood flooring in it. We may add the alcove to the bathroom behind my studio because it's sooooo narrow. It's claustrophobic in there! So the flooring in on hold for now until we make up our minds. We are also moving all of our clothes out of the walk-in closet in the studio and I'm getting to use it as extra storage! Yay! That's where I'll be storing all of my items for sale and big, messy things like my pieces waiting to be altered.

I've been taking some photos along the way, but the room is soooo messy that I can't bare showing them until I am done and ready to be creative. I don't want people to think I'm a slob and have that on the internet forever. Besides you want to see the before, during, and after all at once.

Until next time *

Take a photo every day....you never know what you may be missing out on every day!

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

Have you been wondering where I disappeared to? Some of you know may know. My hubs was offered a new job - he wasn't looking for one at all - and we relocated. Where to? Oh um back to New York. Surprise! This time we're in the Finger Lakes. It's amazing here! Winter has been pretty mild so far. It's far from over though. Some serious cold is coming. Cold from the Arctic. Really, don't they know they don't need to share?

the new digs

So what am I up to? Well, we bought a new old house. Our new house is a Cape Cod built in 1942! It has charm all over. Original hardwood floors, built-ins, wood work - like actual wood not the plasticy stuff they sell today. Our house is on over an acre of land! We have great neighbors who we met while we were unloading the moving trucks. We even received a house warming gift! A bottle of wine from a vineyard on Keuka Lake.

former master bedroom with scary
carpeting and rose wallpaper 

So what happened with my studio? Glad you asked! This house has a major remodel/addition in 1990. The previous owners added shed dormers and a master bedroom upstairs. The room is far too large for us. We weird that we don't like huge bedrooms. We only sleep in there! A 14 x 20 room is a total waste on us. We are using the walk-in closet as our closet for now though. The second closet has been added to the room as sort of an alcove for storage. So um yeah the previous master bedroom is being remodeled into my new studio! And by studio I mean for paper arts, quilting, and my office. Yeah, it's all finally going to be in one room which will be awesome.

the new cinnamon maple wood floors, the pumpkin wall
is amber fields and the yellow wall is fall gold

Now this room was covered in scary rose wallpaper. It took me five days to remove it all. Several days to repair the sheetrock. Painting...oh boy. One coat of primer and four coats of paint later I have what I want - autumn in my studio. My paints are Amber Fields (an old Biltmore Estate paint from Lowe's) and Fall Gold (a paint color from Lowe's).

We are installing new flooring. FYI carpeting that is 22 years old is NASTY! We are slowly installing new wood floors. They are Cinnamon Maple wood flooring. It's actual wood flooring and not engineered or laminate.

new beadboard ceiling and
track lighting fixture

With the shed dormers, there were like 80 bazillion cracks in the ceiling and they've been repaired numerous times previously. I sure didn't want to be doing it every year. So wide planked beadboard went up on the ceiling!

We hung up a track lighting system. No, not those scary things from the 80's! This one has six small cans that have halogen light bulbs. It kicks out a lot of light which will be awesome. New light switches and outlets, too.

new pretty non-leaky french door
complete with blinds

There's an amazing 20 x 20 deck off this room. It's on the second floor so the views are fabulous. We were wondering if we'd get a teeny tiny glimpse of the lake, but nope we don't. Darn! During Hurricane Sandy, we discovered something fun about the French doors that lead to the deck. They leaked. And by leaked I don't mean a drop here and there. I mean water pouring down the door! YIKES! So a new French door was installed by us. Getting the door to the second story was ummm an adventure to say the least. Good news. No more leak!

There's still a lot to do....finish installing the wood floors (should be done this weekend), install all the trim (most of it is already painted), moving all of my studio furniture in, a trip to Ikea (which is five hours away), and putting all of my studio items in the room. Currently, there are boxes in five rooms for my studio! Yes, seriously five rooms!

Nope, I haven't been playing with my paper or my inks in a looooong time. It's been months. Since early summer. My studio was one of the first things packed once we found out we were moving. I can't wait to play again. I will be attending Crop on the Cape in Cape Cod, Massachusetts in March though!

Until next time *

Make sure you photograph and scrap your life around you. Not just the people and memories.

Cha-cha-changes

Whoa. I guess I should blog more often. Google has totally changed Blogger. Let's see how long it takes me to figure out where everything ended up. Good grief nothing is where it used to be. I hope I can find all the bits and pieces.

Well, onto what I originally came on here to post about. So I have a weekend crop this weekend and I have been doing some major organization and serious cleaning of the old studio. Not exactly a great thing to be doing days before a three day crop....or is it?

This cleaning spree has me seriously thinking about what I'm bringing to scrapbook for those three days. I haven't been happy with the amount I've accomplished lately. I figured out why. I haven't been prepping at home!

Prepping at home? Yup, prepping at home. I decided today that I am going to do more work at home. This should help me purchase less at the store also. I won't confess to how much I usually spend at a weekend crop. Yes, triple digits far too often especially since I have to pay for my hotel, about $100 in gas, my meals, a meal to share, and the crop fee. Yes, it is an expensive weekend, but it is lots of fun and I see friends who I live four hours away from.

So normally I just grab a ton of bags of paper. Each bag is a zipper bag filled with one paper kit/pack/stack. They are all sorted and cataloged by theme. I normally grab whatever is in the bin that matches the theme. I can fill a large rolling tote with just these bags of paper. I have been bringing a second rolling tote filled with cardstock. Then I have a bag that holds my completed layouts, a bag that holds my paper trimmer and seat cushion, and a bag which has my photo box, adhesive, scrap-ma-bob (drink holder that screws onto the table), adhesive, and a few other do-dads. Oh and my purse and my 31 soft sided color bag.

This is far too much to drag to my SUV, drag into the crop space, drag back to my SUV, load into my SUV, and drag back into my house. It usually takes me three trips to my vehicle to unload at a crop. This is taking me too much time and my body isn't a fan of picking up what feels like 40 tons of cardstock. So I decided my madness and slacking off at home needs to stop.

Since I have been in cleaning and organizing mode, I decided to start packing today even though I am not traveling until Friday morning. So what am I packing? And how? Well, I have these zipper pouches that fit into a bag and I'm picking out coordinating cardstock for my paper. I'm not packing the whole paper pack. I'm only taking the sheets of paper from the pack that I want to use. This should seriously cut down on my luggage and the weight. I won't need a body builder with me this weekend to hurl my bags about.

I'm also hoping to crop my photos here at home. Lately, I've been doing that at crops as well. I can crop the photos at home while watching tv. With tropical Storm Beryl out there raining on us for the next day, I should have plenty of time. Don't worry. I'm safe from Beryl. I'm very far inland and it's rained on and off today from her. Nothing major is coming to my neck of the woods from her. The dogs certainly aren't thrilled with her visit. They're not fans of water apparently.

Until next time *

Have you organized your work space lately?