I've got big crafting plans.....

I have big plans. Lots of big plans.

Our guest room has this really cool cabinet in it, that served many purposes last year... such as:

1. Shoving all of the random things that previous dwellers left behind that I didn't know what else to do with into

2. Putting all of the "this smells musty & i don't want to deal with it" stuff into

3. My make shift crafting cabinet. 

I brought a TON of fun crafting things back from America with me that includes (but isn't limited to)..... a cutting mat, rotary slicer, jewelry making stuff, sculpy, felt, wreath form, embroidery hoops, scrapbooking supplies (and my wedding scrapbook to finish almost 5 years later), and needlepoint/embroidery supplies just to name a few. 

So with all of this fun stuff, I had to make room. I decided that this cabinet was now going to be clean, organized, and used solely for the purpose of all things creative. 

So to begin, i put all of the stuff that I brought with me on the guest bed. Then I started pulling everything out of the cabinet. Pretty soon the bed was full. 

I got my house helper to help me in this endeavor and she just kept saying,"ZEN ME DUO LE!" "IT'S SO MUCH STUFF!" and I kept trying to tell her that I didn't buy it all and that the girls who lived here before me left it {including 3 sets of at least 5 meters of really nice fabric....} As hard as I tried to justify the madness, I could just hear her thinking, "Excessive Foreigner." true.  

But seriously, out of control. How did that little cabinet contain SO much stuff?  

seemingly insurmountable. 

Once we got all the stuff out, we went to town cleaning it....

and then lined it with some lovely stripe and polka dot contact paper. 

The possibilities. 

I took a break that day and shut the door, pretending that it wasn't there.... OR that I would open the door and it would all magically be all organized/sorted through/discarded.... 

and what do you know.... TADA....

No actually, I spent like 5 hours the next day organizing/sorting/getting rid of stuff. 

I sorted through all of my fabric and folded it. 

used some milk boxes {yes boxes} to organize & store gift wrap stuff and paper. If I had American resources, I would chose some kind of fantastic organizing device found at the Container Store. But you gotta do what you gotta do. Milk boxes it is. 

So here's the newly organized bottom cabinet....

and then I used some of these wonderful Ikea zipper organizers to sort the little stuff.... frames, scrapbooking stuff, etc. On the bottom shelf we have my sewing machine, cutting mat, scrapbook, and some other tall things.

One drawer has sewing stuff....

....and other small stuff in the other. 

and here it is all assembled, cleaned, lined, organized and ready to supply my every crafting need. 

I've already made a super cute apron & table runner that I can't wait to share! 

Soon. Seriously..... 

And you'd think I wasn't back in EA with my lack of posting anything about it.... but I promise I'll get back to fun little snipits from life here asap. 

Joyfully ORGANIZED,

Linking Up Over At:
{Organizing Made Fun}

First One-Yard Wonder Project- Before

I forgot that before we left I ran to Joann's to use a coupon before it expired and got fabric for my first, very simple "One-Yard Wonder" project-

Lining my bookshelf.

Here is my bookshelf as it is now.....

It's a little messy and crammed full with stuff. I plan on reorganizing it this weekend- what would be the point of lining it with fun fabric if you can't see the back of it?

And this is the fun fabric I got to line it with....

I plan on spending the better part of Saturday on a few projects. I'm excited to see how this turns out!

I also got this fun little birdie fabric that I've been wanting to buy for a while, but had no reason to. I will use it for my next "One-Yard Wonder" endeavor..... that will actually involve sewing :)

Joyfully,

Scrappy Inspiration

I love, love, love organization and looking at magazines - but I hate the thought of reading them and doing nothing with the fun things I find. SO, I have a few notebooks of things that I save from from magazines. I take out the articles/ideas/recipes/exercises that I like and put them in a notebook (cut out nicely and mounted on card stock in page protectors of coarse). I have a notebook for recipes, one for all "health" things, and one for scrapbooking "inspiration".

My "Inspiration" Book

I use it to get general ideas for pages that I'm working on.

For instance.....

I saw this page......

and ended up with this......

for the bouquet toss at our wedding.

I liked the way they used the circles on this page...

so I used the idea myself to make this page.....

as a part of this 2-page spread in my Summer Project Album.

I liked the simplicity of this layout & the way she rounded the edges

& used card stock to extend the photos ....

So I did the same thing on this page & added circles ...

I really love the way she used ribbons to border the pictures on the page....

So I used the same general idea to start this page

that I clearly haven't finished yet....

for the introduction of the wedding party at our reception.

(As you can tell, I take FOREVVVVEERRR to finish a book.

I'm not a third of the way done with our wedding album and we're going on 3 years now)

Scrapbooks, etc. has lots of "etc." ideas that I love for different crafts that use paper, as well as ideas for mini-albums and greeting cards that I keep in my idea book too.

These are some of my favorites... Christmas tags, an earring holder frame, card kits, orbs...

.... and I LOVE the little canvas with the bird and flowers and the alphabet canvas.

Scrapbooks, etc. comes with templates for a lot of their layouts that are helpful as well.

So that's my scrapbooking inspiration book.

I hope you can take some joy in my world of organization.

Sometime I'll show you my office / scrapbooking closet and "health" magazine notebook. It has lots of dividers :)

I would love to order my entire world this way...

but I think I'd drive everyone around me crazy and end up going nuts myself.

A side note.... this is what I'm enjoying tonight....

My sweet puppy LOVES the fire.

Joyfully inspired & scrapping,

Michaels!

I had to run out to get a printer cartridge today at Staples.... which happens to be across the street from Michaels..... and I just happened to have a coupon for 20% off my entire purchase at Michaels from this month's Scrapbooks Etc. magazine .... AND there are a few little projects I've been wanting to do AND I needed some new paper for my wedding scrapbook.... SO I couldn't help but make a little pit stop..... that turned into a large shopping trip. I think I looked at and found something I "needed" in every section of the store. I had the coupon SO it only made sense that I stock up on some things.... right? Right!

Here are the goods:

Some highlights-

Chipboard albums (bottom left) for $1!!!! (Jamie, I know you appreciate this!)

Some of the scrapbooking paper was $0.25 a sheet.... which I really do need more paper for my wedding scrapbook.

Chipboard Letter STICKERS!

A new seam ripper (for my "not so perfect" sewing endeavors that I intend to take on)

AND quite possibly the highlight of my day.......

if you look closely at the bottom, right of the picture..... that is most definitely a "Samantha" sticker..... American Girl has a whole scrapbooking section at Michaels. AMAZING! I wanted to buy it all.... but exerted self-control. I actually have one of Samantha's dresses for myself. My mom had professional pictures made of me in 4th grade with my Samantha doll in our matching dresses :) I'll try to dig one of those pictures up someday to share with you.

I intend to try to do one of these projects this weekend before we leave the country next week and I'll definitely share it with you when I do!

Joyfully Crafting,

One-Yard Wonders

Jamie gave me this book for Christmas this year. Actually, she gave me this book, her boyfriend's mom also gave her this book, she gave her boyfriend's mom a book on cupcakes, that I also gave her. Great minds think alike and we all scored fun, creative books :)

I love sewing; well I love the IDEA of sewing. My Granny gave me a new sewing machine for Christmas when I was 10 or 11. Back then, I thought I had the ability to sew just about anything, so just that I did. We made jumpers, shorts, doll dresses, bags, all sorts of fun things. Well 15 years later, I'm such a perfectionist, that I am scared to try to do anything for fear of screwing it up. I made drawstring bags all the time in high school, but that was about it. Throughout college, I just used it to embellish my scrapbook pages by sewing on them. Clearly, I'm a little rusty when it comes to sewing. When one of my Vandy girls stayed with me this summer (who happens to be a phenomenal seamstress- look for a post soon about her soon) I took advantage of having her with me, and re-kindled my desire to sew more than draw-string backpacks. We made a skirt and a "nursing hood", which turned out really well and I am very proud of by the way! I am still very reluctant to try anything new on my own- SO this book is a perfect place to start! Lots of simple things that don't seem so daunting AND if I screw up, I've only wasted a yard of fabric.

Here are some of the things I really want to try.....

This doesn't require any sewing, but I think it's super cute

and want to do it to our book case in our office.

I think this laptop case is so cute.

I think I'll try it first not quilted or appliqued,

then take a stab at it.

This hot & cold pack looks fun and easy

If you've ever been in my car, you know that I could really use this guy....

Whenever I do try to use a trash bag, I never know where to put it. It always gets in the way sitting on the floor so I figure you might as well just go ahead and throw the trash in the floor.

I like this idea... maybe it will help me change my ways!

This is really funny concept to me-

They are called "spats". If you've ever been to East Asia, you've definitely seen the things that the women wear over their arms to...... I'm not really sure why actually. I guess to keep their sleeves clean. This reminds me of those things. Maybe I'll move over there and rack up some extra cash selling some stylish ones that aren't hello kitty and mickey mouse print.

I really love these purses....

This is the "Folklore Bag"

This is the "Flouncy Bag"

I've been hanging onto some fabric with the intention of making a purse like one of these.

This is really fun and so cute! You could really do a lot of things with the pattern besides just a doll house. It would be a great thing to make and sell on Etsy.

These are just a few of my favorite things from the book. There are so many more fun, easy things to try. Hopefully I'll get over my fear of trying new things and make something. Maybe posting this will give me some accountability to try something new. If I haven't posted anything in the near-ish future, you have permission to call me out.

Joyfully,

Your paralyzed by perfection friend