window "mistreatments"...by mistake

I know a lot of you know The Nester. If you don't, you really need to check her out. She does such cool things with decorating. She's the Martha Stewart for the rest of us. You know, those of us who don't know how to sew, who don't want to (or can't) spend a ton of money on decorating, who don't like (or want) things "perfect". Cause you know, like she says "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." AMEN!! That's my same philosophy for scrapbooking.

I've been browsing through her blog for a while now. And I loved her as she calls it window mistreatments. This is one of the posts that I was looking at. And I immediately thought ooh, I wanna do that. Or better yet...I can do that!

photo from Nesting Place

My scrap room has needed something on the window. And I've left it empty since I repainted and reorganized 7 months ago. Holy crap, it's been that long?? By the way, I'm in the process of changing my room around. I'll share pics of that soon. Anyway... I'd been thinking I wanted black & white toile fabric. It goes great with my wall color and better yet if I change the wall color it'll match just about anything. I found some fabric at Hobby Lobby (30% off thankyouverymuch) and some cute black trim with tassels (40% off thankyouverymuch again) and set off to recreate The Nester's curtains. Only I wanted a valance for my room, not full length curtains (but I am gonna try the full length ones in my dining room...that's for later). I figured the idea would still work.

I realize the pics aren't the best. This room is one of the hardest rooms in my house to photograph. Either it's too bright or not enough light. I wasn't going to fool with the lighting.

When I was putting the material up I started with The Nester's poof method and then when I was putting the second piece of material up I clipped it up "wrong" and noticed that I really liked how it turned out.

Ok, how cute is this little pom pom fringe?? It just made me giggle putting it up. Don't you love when window treatments do that to you?? I seriously need to get a life.

It's hard to tell, but the "poof" part is actually tucked behind and makes the valance kind of scallop. Sorry, I don't know any "technical" terms. I already admitted I don't really know how to sew. One of these days.

And yes, I used a hot glue gun for that trim. No sewing. Love it. You can check out what someone else did with this same concept. The Writer Chic made some cute window mistreatments for her bedroom.

And to The Nester ~ thanks for the inspiration!!!

Now if I could just figure out how to do something like this in my house:

photo from Nesting Place

how i scrap

This is usually what's going on in my room while I'm scrappin'

My furry 80 lb friend laying in the middle of the floor, keeping me company. He's very old (14 & counting). He doesn't talk to me. He doesn't even come up to me to get some pets, except for maybe when he first walks in. Cause lets face it, when you're old it's hard to get up! Even at the promise of a belly rub. But he's always in here. Always. My faithful companion. My buddy for the last 11+ yrs. And usually his sidekick is in here, too. But it's nighttime, and she's on her comfy bed out in the living room. But during the day you can find her sprawled out on the floor just like the old man.

Of course, on any given day you'll also find a pair of flip flops somewhere in this room, at least 54 dog toys (because they all have to be in her at once) and various papers on the floor that I need to put away. That photo case, yep, that's out for a layout or 2 I just worked on. There's a few bags pushed to the side. It's not super messy but not super tidy either. Kinda like me! hehe

Anyway, just thought I'd share that with y'all. It's late. I'm gonna stay up til the wee hours working on my Kraft Girl Kits stuff. Got August's kit yesterday and I'm itching to scrap with it cause it has some of my very favorite goodies in it!!! So, I'll leave you with another layout I did with the JBS July kit...cause I find it hard to post without something scrappy, too!!

Oh how I miss this house, our house in TN. Doesn't it look like a dollhouse?? It wasn't huge, didn't have all the fancy bells & whistles. But I loved it. And the neighborhood. But things are all different there, now. Most of my neighbors have moved. My house has been sold twice (in the last 3 1/2 yrs). It makes me sad...I get attached. Ok {sniff, sniff} moving on!

I used Tim Holtz vintage photo distress ink on the Heidi Swapp letters (I have to say that I'm really loving these HS letters!)

scrappy stuff for sale

I'm in a purging mood. I need to simplify things and that goes for my scrap room, too. So, in an effort to do that I'm going through and deciding what I really don't need (yes, I said need, not want) and I'm either selling it, pitching it, or giving it away.

So here goes for the stuff for sale (not all of it, but what I've gotten through so far!) I've listed this stuff on etsy and ebay so if you're interested head over there (if not, just ignore this post or scroll through the pretty pics of scrappy stuff!)

BIG Cosmo Cricket kit

Basic Grey paper


MME Festive paper ~ I love it but I have too much Christmas paper. BTW, these papers make great Christmas cards.

MME Kaleidescope ~ these papers remind me of summer, so bright and fun

MME Wild Asparagus

7Gypsies

Can you tell I went through a My Mind's Eye phase? I still love them but honestly, one person can't possibly use this much paper. And even after I took all that stuff out I still have 5 paper holders full of paper. You know, the ones that hold like 200 sheets. Can you believe I have so much stuff??? My friends who know me can believe it. hehe Whew, but it'll feel good to get some of this outta here and simplify. I've really made a conscious effort to only buy scrap stuff that I know I will use. I no longer buy just because it looks pretty. If I'm not going to use it then it does me no good sitting in a paper holder. So now I need to get rid of all the stuff that I bought before I made that decision!

I also have some Sizzix dies and stamps up for sale on ebay and goodie boxes on etsy.

That's it for now. I'm also putting some kits together for etsy, so I'll share that when they're done. Until then...

Scrap room organization ~ part 2

I'm back with more pics!! I've been meaning to share more but, you know, life happened! Anyway, you might remember this picture of my bookshelf

I snatched this bookshelf from my son's room since it wasn't being used effectively in there and basically was just taking up space. I found it at Sam's Club a few years ago for $199. The main function of it is for paper and stamp storage. The bottom shelves hold idea books, projects in progress, etc. I use one of those nuts & bolts holders from Lowes to hold most of my chipboard/alphabets. Originally I used to keep all of my alphabets together in their original packaging. That takes up a lot of room so I finally I organized them by letter and I love it this way.

I decorated the fronts of the drawers with more Basic Grey Mellow paper. Makes that holder a bit more pretty :)

All of my paper is organized by manufacturer. I used to organize by theme but I've found that this way works much better for me. Paper organizers are all Stampin' Up!

All of my Stampin' Up! cardstock is organized by color.

I keep all of the scraps in these plastic holders. Not the prettiest but it works for me. If I keep the scraps in the paper holders with the rest of the paper I find that I don't use them up...and they grow and grow and grow!

When I was reorganizing everything I came across and index file and discovered that my Cuttlebug embossing folders fit perfectly in it

I keep all of my buttons in a plastic container that I found (I think) at Hobby Lobby for around $5. I don't organize them by color since I'm usually using several colors at a time. So I just dig around for what I need!

Just into my room I have this little wall that I keep all of my flowers and an old table (covered with some fabric) that holds my Sizzix stuff

My husband made me this shelf for my flowers with some scrap wood

My flowers are organized by color. Some are in Making Memories jars and others are in leftover Prima cans. I've also used some of those leftover cans for stamps

And finally, next to my table I have one of those Cropper Hopper carts that I got for a super deal years ago
On top I have one of those organizer totes from Hobby Lobby that holds adhesive, scissors, punches, etc. I keep it there so that when I go to a crop or something I can just grab the bag and go. Of course, I don't really go to crops anymore (except out of town) but I still like keeping it there.

Below I have 2-12x12 paper organizers, one holds cardstock scraps ~ organized by color (SO much more useful) and the other one holds patterned paper scraps.

I think that's about it. I could share more but then this post would have about 100 photos!!

welcome to my space!

It's done. I'm organized. And it feels REALLY good! I don't have a fancy room, you won't find any expensive or custom cabinets & furniture in here. Most of my stuff is pieces from other rooms of the house or things I found on clearance or at a really good price. Oh sure, I know how I would like to have my dream room. But that's all it is right now ~ a dream. But that's perfectly fine with me. I still love my room and like I've said before I'm thankful I have a room of my own. So here goes with all the reorganizing that happened in here last week!

It all started with paint. This room was in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint. Originally it was a light taupe color like most of the rest of the house. It lacked any and all inspiration and it just didn't feel "good" in here. Ya know what I mean? So I (um, my husband) painted the walls Gold 4 by Laura Ashley. I love, love, love her paint colors. Our living room is Gold 3, my son's room is Taupe 3 or 4 (can't remember) and the kids' bathroom is Navy 1. They're such nice colors. I won't bother showing you a before picture, cause well, that's just boring! Here's what my room looks like now:

One of my favorite parts of the room is the display of layouts on the main wall. I've seen several scrappers do this but most recently on Layle Koncar's blog. So I knew once I redid my room I wanted to do that, too. And it's really inexpensive. The curtain rod was less than $10 at Target and the layouts are hung in page protectors held by clip rings. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

I made the "dream*create*inspire" with Provo Craft vinyl that I cut on my Silhouette. Man I love that thing!! I bought the vinyl at Hobby Lobby for $6 (after using my 40% off coupon) and it was enough to do the letters (along with a goof up or 2). It goes on pretty easy. They also have transfer tape to help you line things up but I was too cheap to buy that so needless to say I had to move the letters about 3 times. It's not perfect but I don't care! Oh, and the letters were cut in the CK Chemistry font.

I also cut out a few birds with the leftovers :) I wanted them bigger but I ran out of vinyl. This picture gives a better idea of what the wall color really looks like, too.

On the one wall I have this

which holds a hodge podge of stuff ~ ribbon spools, wooden stamps (that aren't Stampin' Up!), string, the white plastic basket holds journaling tags, paint, my small Xyron, and the metal basket on top holds more ribbon (the kind you buy on a piece of cardboard, like Making Memories, etc).

I bought this organizer at ACMoore on clearance but I originally wanted it to hold all of my Making Memories jars that I use for flowers. I didn't realize that there were 2 different types of these organizers ~ the one I bought and one from Making Memories sells. Keep that in mind if you're looking for one cause my MM jars won't fit on this one :( It's ok, I still put it to good use! I want to figure out a way to hang some of the kids' artwork below but for now they're just taped on the wall.

Along this wall I have two 4 foot folding tables that I bought at Lowes. I also have my Stampin' Up! stamp caddy, a basket with journaling books and tags that can't fit in that little white basket, my sewing machine (cover I bought on etsy here), and a basket of mini albums

And my computer, printers & stuff are to the left but you don't need to see that. Underneath the 2 tables I have plastic storage drawers

The one on the left holds my bigger Xyron, heat tool, Bind-it-all stuff, bigger stuff like that. The one on the right holds all my thickers, extra ribbon, etc. That little clear container with the blue lid I got from my Secret Santa at Wrappers Delight (thanks again!) and I use that for all those little ribbon spools (that are SO cute that I can't stop from buying them!) and extra fibers, ribbons, etc.
It really works out well. Under the other table I have more storage drawers
I decorated all the drawer fronts with patterned paper (Basic Grey Mellow). The basket to the left holds some of the really big punches that I use a lot. Some of the smaller punches that I use frequently are in one of the drawers. All of the others are in my closet (that I'm not going to show now because it's not quite as organized at the moment!) The file folder thing to the right holds all the monthly kits that I get. I keep them together til I use most of the kit and then I put the remaining things with everything else.

On the wall to the left of my tables I have this big bookcase that I snatched from my son's room. It wasn't being utilized very well in there and I knew I could put it to better use!

This things holds all my patterned papers, cardstock, Stampin' Up! stamps, chipboard letters, idea books, etc. I will save the paper & letter storage for a separate post as this one is getting pretty long! The white storage drawers hold more of the "office" type stuff ~ ink refills, cds, printer stuff, etc. On top is one of my other favorite things ~ a Clip-it-up.

I've had this thing for a couple years now and I *love* it. It's not the prettiest to look at but sometimes you have to opt for functionality. When I organized mine I found that I had many duplicates of things. Now when I need something I can see exactly what I have and don't have. Well, as you can see I have *lot* on this thing!

Well, I think this is a long enough post! I'll share more with you tomorrow. Need to get some sleep or I'll be falling asleep in church tomorrow!

work in progress

Still working on my scrap room. The room has been painted and most of my stuff is moved back in and getting organized. Just a few things here and there to finish up. Didn't get a whole lot done today since it was the last day of Christmas vacation. So I took the kids out for the afternoon. Then after they went to bed I was planted in front of the tv for the new season of The Bachelor. Yes, I admit it, I watch. But come on, who can't watch this season? Jason's such a cutie. Then again, I'm a sucker for a good looking guy with dark hair...if you've seen my husband then you already know that :) Should be an interesting season. There's always a few characters on that show!

Back to my room, I'm almost done. I'm hoping to finish up some stuff over the next day or 2 and share pics with you. I'm very excited! It's so nice to have a freshly painted room, don't ya think?? Makes me want to stay in here all day (not that I need a reason to stay in here all day!! lol) I'm getting everything organized and in it's place ~ FOR GOOD this time! It's so hard for me to stay organized in here. Not because I'm not an organized person, but because I don't have enough places to put my things. I mean, I'm organizing my room on a budget of, umm, $0. Not to mention my room is small. So I have to use what I have including snatching a bookshelf from my son's room or using an old table my husband made years ago. Hey, it works. We can't all have a dream room. But it's mine and I love it!

I'll share one thing with you. This is what I'm working on right now....

I'll share more pics/details of my room when it's all finished :)

As usual, I've stayed up way too late. And with the kids going back to school tomorrow 6:30am is going to come way too fast!