Operation ORGANIZATION--craft room sneak peak

So I mentioned I would post my scrapbook page...instead I turned my room upside down. Oh boy oh boy...who in their right mind owns this stuff??? Oh right *grins*. I spent roughly 6 hours working on the room so far. The kids go to bed at 7PM so it's a good time to get down to business. I took a before shot, especially for my friend Carole Burrage (love that girl!) who thinks that I am Mrs neat neat. I just wanted to shock her a little. For me creativity means a messy craft room--and I am a little OCD about mess (like I don't like it!). You want to know the worst part? That craft room has now been messy for at least a month now. With a new year upon us, a fresh start is exactly the kind of medicine I need to get stamping again. KWIM? Do you have any New Year's craft resolutions? There is an interesting thread right now in the PTI forums about that.

So here is a peak at disaster:





Here is part of my solution--Operation Organization (it was a Christmas gift *grins*)



And here are a few peaks at organization:







Stay tuned for my final pics. I will share some of my storage solutions with you too including some of the ones I shared in the past.

Have a terrific day.

Alli

Questions for You!

Hello everyone!

Last year and again this past year I shared some very personal details about my son and the day to day challenges he faces. We are now just months away from testing him for autism. We believe he has high functioning Aspergers. This has been a long journey because he is such a bright little boy and looking at him and his capabilities he seems normal (from what people see on the outside) until you get him to school or in social settings with other children. Nothing is official yet (obviously since it has taken us this long to get him in to see the right specialists) but I want to know--for those of you who have gone through this before--what to expect. Also, how did you react to the news? I love my little boy unconditionally. I am there for him 100%. I advocate on his behalf as much as possible but I just wanted to hear from you. Knowing I am not alone in this journey is comforting. I would be especially grateful to hear any advice on what to take to those meetings, what information I need to share etc. One thing we are in the process of doing is going back through our family videos to "see" changes and make notes. Looking back on his 6 years is a huge undertaking.

On that note, I would also LOVE to hear from home school families. As you know I currently work with Christian homeschoolers and I am certain I will be homeschooling my son next year. So what I'd like to know is what is your favourite curriculum? What are your favourite homeschooling sites? Any advice?

Thanks for listening to my chatter today. My holiday guests have come and gone. My husband returned to work today and so now I have some time to catch up with the kiddos and my crafting again. We were out of town yesterday and I picked up some craft organization tools and am heading down to my room to ORGANIZE before the new year. I said it last time but I promise this time once I am done I will share some photos of my craft space. It will be undergoing a major overhaul since we are moving this year and I need to prepare my items once and for all for this move. Since DH's job requires us to move they come in and do the packing and well...I must say...the packers probably want to run away when they see craft rooms like mine (all the bits and pieces!).

I will be back tonight with a scrapbook page and will be working towards getting some photos of my space for you as well in the next few days. I hope to have some cards up shortly too. I know some of you are not scrapbookers and are anxious to see some cards *grins*.

Alli

Sweet. Cute. Fun.

Our guests are leaving in the next 24 hours. I will be sad to see them go and of course the quiet house will be a reminder that everyone is gone too... insert *SAD* face.

Here is another scrapbook page I created before my visitors arrived. I just LOVE this photo of my daughter. It was taken in front of the shed in our backyard. We have since cut her hair so I just love looking back at her sweet braids.



Gotta love rub ons on photos!



Recipe

Patterned Paper
-Sassafras Lass
-Mia Crate Paper

Accessories:
-Flower by Prima
-Bird Mirror by Heidi Swapp
-Flower Center by Making Memories
-Paint by Making Memories
-Laundry Collection Rub-Ons by MME

Have a super week!!!!

Alli

Before My Eyes

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. We have really enjoyed our company--of course that means lots of cooking and late nights too. The kids had quite a memorable WHITE Christmas. This is the first one in 4 years (we used to live in a snow belt before we moved here). We really enjoyed strolling the beach with snow covered logs and ice crystals hanging from the pines along the pathway. It was gorgeous.

Today is a scrapbook kinda day. I had a chance to create a few scrapbook pages just before everyone arrived but only "adhered" every on them tonight. Layouts are never permanent right away. I like to keep them pieced together to decide if I like them or not. I know sounds funny but it works for me :)





Recipe

Patterned Paper
-Sassafras Lass
-Crate Paper
-October Afternoon

Accessories:
-Brown and Vanilla Polka Dot Ribbon by May Arts
-Blue stitched Ribbon by SU!
-Crown by Melissa Frances
-Misc Buttons
-Corduroy Brad
-Before My Eyes Rub On by Daisy D's
-Ticket by Tim Holtz
-Letters are Carstock Stickers from Woodland Whimsy Collection by Sassafras Lass
-Rub On Stitches by Cosmo Cricket

Tools:
-Stapler

Have a super day!
Alli

Merry Christmas and a SCS Challenge

I mentioned I would be back today...taking a break from cooking, baking, cleaning, wrapping...to wish you a Merry Christmas :)

I have the absolute pleasure of hostessing my very first Splitcoaststampers challenge. Julia is taking a break from her day to day activities and asked me if I would host for her. Of course I said yes! Today's challenge (well actually Dec 25th's challenge posted early) is called Creative Letters. My challenge is to find way to create words using a mixture of letters and images. Make sure you check out the full details here.





Recipe
Stamp Set(s):
-Playful Alphabet (Kim Hughes Collection) by CHF
-Baby Love (Kim Hughes Collection) by CHF

Cardstock:
-Smooth White by Prism Paper

Patterned Paper
-October Afternoon

Ink:
-Pitch Black by Ranger

Accessories:
-Safety Pin
-Sparkles
-Pop dots

Tools:
-Copic Markers

Enjoy the holiday season!

Alli

Christmas Wishes

We've spent a few days buried under snow. First while we were visiting my mum and then when we arrived back home. We typically don't get snow in December so the fact that we have snow so close to Christmas is rather exciting. On Friday night and a few hours on Saturday we dug my mum out of the snow. She had just over 3 ft of snow. We decided to relieve the roof of approx 4000lbs of snow since we knew there was more snow in the forecast followed by rain--that spells disaster around our parts! Of course once all the snow was removed from the roof it had to be moved away from the house--fun time--more shoveling. Then on the way home we encountered MORE SNOW...until we got home. The snow around my house is rainy snow (slurpee snow). It's the back breaking heavy snow.

As the holiday season is upon us, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a joyous time--I hope you have a chance to reunite with some friends and family too.





Recipe
Stamp Set(s):
-Believe by PTI

Cardstock:
-Stampers Select White by PTI

Patterned Paper
-Wonderland Collection by Cosmo Cricket

Other
-Cream Linen

Ink:
-Noir Black by Pallette

Accessories:
-Together Stitched Felt Stickers by Chatterbox

Tools:
- Nestabilities by Spellbinders
-Copic Markers

Have a great day...hard to believe there's 3 days left until Christmas. We have family visiting now so I hope to post in between but if not I will be back later on the 24th--make sure you stop by to see what I am up to.

Alli

Snowy circular card

If you stopped by So Sketchy yesterday, you probably saw my card *smiles* I typically try and post my cards the same day they are posted on the So Sketchy site but I had prescheduled a few days of cards to get me through the end of my report cards. I am ALMOST finished.

Anyhow, Ally created yet another out of this world design. You should definitely head over there and see some of her designs. I am planning to tackle a few of her scrapbook layouts over the holidays. I have been itching to scrap! We just got a truck load of photos developed too so don't be surprised if you see some more pages from me some time in January.

Here is the AWESOME sketch I got to work with...


and this was my take on the sketch...





Recipe
Stamp Set(s):
-Snowfall Additions (PineFeatherPress) by PTI

Cardstock:
-Stampers Select White by PTI
-Cream by Co-ordinations

Patterned Paper
-Wassail Collection by Basic Grey

Ink:
-Mushroom by Ranger

Accessories:
-Ribbon
-Thickers by American Crafts
-Flower Brad by Bazzill
-Snowy Jo Collection Snowflowers by Imaginisce

Tools:
-Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders
-Tim Holtz Sander
-Sponge
-Stapler

Have a terrific day! I have a few more posts in store for you before I take a family holiday break from blogging--don't worry I'll pop in here and there. I can hardly believe we have family arriving THIS WEEKEND!!!!

Alli