Tuesday, September 28, 2010

sneaking in.

sneaking in with a quick post today to show you some sneaks of the october kit. i've made 2 layouts, one project, and gift wrap with the kit so far and am hoping to squeeze in at least one more! the kit is probably one of my favorites so far, so be sure to check for it in the shoppe on tuesday.
{main kit + memo pins from the august kit + charcoal mist}


also, if you haven't already, sign up for the fall super scrap day on saturday, october 23 from 9 am - 9 pm. it's going to be a great day with even better company! i'll see you there!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Fall Sketch #1

Due to the popular response to the sketches I posted this summer, I've decided to continue with sketches this fall.

Here's the first one, which I made myself:



And here's the layout I made with it:



And, to make the Fall Sketches a little more fun, once again, I'm offering a prize. I will post one sketch each Friday of the fall. If you complete a layout using one of the sketches, post it in the MSS gallery and link it to this thread in the forum. You'll get your name in the draw for every layout you complete (i.e. if you made five layouts, using five sketches, you'll get five draw tickets.) I'll draw a winner on the first day of winter (eeek, did so not want to think of that this morning!)

Can't wait to see what you create!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Summer Sketches Winner....

... is posted in the forum here.
Thanks to everyone who participated!

(And I've decided to continue posting weekly sketches here at MSS, so look for Fall Sketch #1 on Friday.)

to purge, or not to purge.

continuing with my post last week about organization, i thought today’s post would be all about purging. fitting, since i’m in the midst of doing this right now, and because i am by nature a purger. my father in law jokes that my mother in law would take the newspaper out of his hands while he’s reading it just to recycle it. i’m the same way!

if you haven’t seen it already, this is my scrap room. and yes, that is pretty much ALL of my supplies.
i don’t think i could function if i had too much stuff. i would never know what i had, and so, undoubtedly things would sit for years before i remembered. and by then it would be ‘out of style’ so i’d never use it anyway. so here are some tips i have to keep that stash to a minimum (and thus, clutter!).

1. only buy what you’ll actually use.
this is a biggie, and one that i’m still learning. sounds simple, but yet it’s so hard. that cute pp you see in the store? those adorable flowers? that ribbon?! it’s hard to say no! but before you put it into your basket, think about each item practically. will i actually use it? are you a stampaphobic, but find yourself coming home with stamps just because they’re so cute, and you MAY use them.....someday? i know i’m definitely guilty of that. do you find yourself with loads of pink when you have boys? or maybe you can’t resist buying all that cute themed paper, but your kids are all grown up. disregard how cute it is and think practically.

2. audit yourself.
a regular trip to mss starts off with a tour of the new items section, where i most likely load up my basket to the brim, then walk through the rest of the store. repeat at least three times. then before i go to the register, i go to the very back, put my basket on a crop table and reassess. because i’ve now been in the store for at least an hour, i’m bound to not remember half the things in that basket and have undoubtedly picked up a lot of similar items. do i need 3 different kinds of teal ribbon? 6 sheets of grid paper? 10 different alphas, 5 of which are brown? aside from easing by conscience, i find that it helps cut out about $30 worth of supplies and things you probably won’t use.

3. purge regularly.
i make a point to purge AT LEAST twice a year. once in the fall, and once in the spring – right before SSD. i find that knowing SSD is coming up is a good motivator. i know i’ll be buying a lot of new product, so it’s the perfect time to make space and get rid of the old. plus i know there will be a garage sale, which is extra motivation for me to make some money off my stash. (see below).

4. make that stash work for you.
like i said above, i purge before each SSD so i can put things out at the garage sale there. if you’re lucky enough to have an LSS near you that holds regular garage sale, it’s totally worth participating in. selling stuff you don’t use to buy new goodies?! heck yes! a lot of the time, i only spend as much as i make, so i leave with nary a dent in my bank account.

5. budget!
i know a number of women who set aside scrap budgets for themselves each month. while i don’t do this, i think it’s a great idea to keep your spending under control, and make yourself really think about whether or not you actually need something. if you know you can only spend $30 this month on supplies, you’re more likely to only buy what you LOVE.

6. no space? no deal.
i’ve also heard of women who use the rule – if you don’t have space for it, don’t buy it, or make space before you do. i think this makes perfect sense. why would you buy more paper if you don’t even have a place to put it? this forces you to get rid of the old stuff you’ve been hanging on to.

so tell me - do you purge regularly? do you keep everything? what kind of tips do you have?

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

New Cosmo Cricket is now online.
I loved the new Togetherness release.
There's also some new chipboard and tiny type stickers.

I should have the Crate images fixed this afternoon and hopefully have both the new Crate and Cosmo Cricket in the shop by tomorrow.

Monday, September 20, 2010

New Crate

New Crate is now online.

(I'm still working on images... for some reason they're not showing up).

Up next...
Cosmo Cricket and Basic Grey

Friday, September 17, 2010

Summer Sketch #12

For the final week of Summer Sketches, I chose Sketch 216 at Scrapbook Challenges:



And here's the layout I created using it:



I took some liberties with this sketch: flipping it on its side, using 5 photos instead of 3, moving where the title was, adding some circles, etc. But, again, I love the fact that sketches can be used as jumping off points for creativity and how you don't have to follow it exactly if you don't want to.

And if you've been following along with the sketches I've been posting this summer, you'll know that I'm offering a prize. If you complete a layout using one of the sketches I've posted this summer, post it in the MSS gallery and link it to this thread in the forum. The deadline for getting your layouts in will be the last day of summer, Tuesday, September 21st, at midnight (CST). I'll draw a name for the prize on the 22nd.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Another back to back layout

I wanted to share another set of layouts I made back to back.

It started when I wanted to punch a red butterfly from a sheet of Fancy Pants patterned paper for this layout.



Since I took it from near the top, I decided to cover the top part of my layout with another piece of patterned paper and create this layout:



Then, when I flipped over my completed layout, I felt that it would be a waste to let the pretty striped paper go unused. So, I made another layout on the back. The problem? The negative butterfly near the top (which was now a red floral from the patterned paper on the back). The solution, add a whole pile of butterflies soaring upwards.



I used up almost five full sheets of paper making three layouts, which I thought was pretty thrifty.

Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

organization.

hello blog! remember me? yikes. i can't believe it's already fall and that i didn't post a single thing over the summer! (sorry marcy). i have no idea where or what i was doing, but i'm back now!

today's post is all about organization. dh went back to school this fall, which meant i had to make space in the office/scraproom for all his books/notes/junk. if i didn't, it would have accumulated all over the house and drove me mad. or piled on the fireplace mantel, as he said he would do (and yes, he was completely serious).

reorganizing the 'office' side of the desk inevitably led to me reorganizing my scrap space. or at least browsing online for ideas, which i'm sharing with you.

this is such a fab idea for all my mists! apparently it's supposed to hold those individual coffee pack things.
image posted by kimberly neddo at studio calico

i wish my cupcake stand looked like this because then i'd use it! unfortunately mine doesn't have deep holders like this to support cute bowls.
image from all sorts blog

who doesn't love some blue jars?
image from meghann

and talk about organized ribbon! it looks so lovely and neat.
image from the scrappy jedi

been looking for one of these for awhile now. think it would be great for storing embellishments/punches/etc.
image from stephanie howell

i'm still searching for some good storage for my punches + crop a dile. any ideas? they're currently all in a wire basket but i'm not crazy about it.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Its back-to-school time!!!
that means its fall!! i love fall
my favourite season by far.
i love wearing sweaters, and tea
tastes better in fall. the leaves
have gorgeous colours on and off the
trees..this has me inspired...inspired
to do lots of stuff.. so i decided
to do a september creat-a-thon. every
day in sept. i plan to create something,
it can be a layout...or a craft..anything!
i've included some of the things i've done
so far.

it was time for a new 'do, so i chopped it
off..my hairdresser joked that she was gonna
charge me double i had so much hair..feels
great though!


a layout for the online crop..


a disc of all my favourite U2 songs. been wanting
to do this forever...


ookay. this may be pushing the envelope on being
creative, but i organized my ribbon drawer to be
able to see everything better. it felt good to get
it organized and it helps me to be creative. so i
think it counts.


i have all these pieces of felt, and i had in my brain to
make some leaves. so i got out the sewing machine and
went for it..i love these little guys..they are currently
hanging on my purse.


...and i made a birthday card just like this for my buddies
daughter. and i loved it so much i made something for myself.
seeing all the colours make me happy.



i also have created a few more layouts that are in
the gallery..i also have in mind to make a picture
for a little sewing station i plan to put together
soon, a project with buttons..maybe alter a tshirt
for the girls..take some fall photos...

let me kow what you are doing this september!!!


catcha later!!!
Jen

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Summer Sketch #11

I created my own sketch again this week:



And here's the layout I made with it:



And if you've been following along with the sketches I've been posting this summer, you'll know that I'm offering a prize. If you complete a layout using one of the sketches I've posted this summer, post it in the MSS gallery and link it to this thread in the forum. The deadline for getting your layouts in will be the last day of summer, September 21st, at midnight (CST). I'll draw a name for the prize on the 22nd.

AND, if you're looking for more challenges to inspire you, make sure you check out our September online crop in the MSS forum.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Summer Sketch #10

For this week's sketch, I created my own:



And here's the layout I made with it:




And a reminder that along with the Summer Sketches, I'm offering a prize. I will post one sketch each Friday of the summer. If you complete a layout using one of the sketches, post it in the MSS gallery and link it to this thread in the forum.

Can't wait to see what you create!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Back to back layouts

I wanted to share two layouts that I made with the My Scrap Shoppe September kit.

I actually made them on the same piece of Creative Imaginations die-cut patterned paper, this one on front:



And this one on the back:



A few things to note:

1. I'm not necessarily a chronological scrapper, but I am a chronological layout storer, meaning I store my layouts in chronological order in my albums, so I chose photos to scrap that were taken during the same week (the same month would have worked for me, too, as I'm not that strict about it.)

2. I normally love stitching on my layouts, but back to back layouts do prove to be a challenge for that. I could have gotten creative with the stitching to make it work, but I was feeling lazy, so I just didn't bother.

3. This way, when my layouts are stored in my album, these will be back to back and I won't have to worry about the back of a square 12x12 layout peeking out from behind.

4. When we first took the picture on the second layout, I though for sure that I'd have to scrap a black and white copy of that photo, wondering how I could make the mustard yellow of my friend's shirt coordinate with my purple shirt. Then I saw the Ki Memories Posh patterned paper and knew it would work perfectly. I love it when that happens!

To see the other layouts I made with the kit, as well as those of the rest of the DT, click here.