Project Purge and Extreme Makeover "Scrapbook" Edition Begins!

Back in 2007 we finished our basement to include a fourth bedroom that I use for my scrapbooking room and office. Once we finished the structure of the room (walls, windows, flooring, etc.), I never really finished furnishing the room. I had put in some cube storage and a few Making Memories Embellishment Centers, but just had a mix-n-match collection of other furniture and folding tables for my work surface.

Well over time it's becomme increasingly more scrapbooking room than office and my stash of supplies has grown exponentially! Now that I've been in my current professional job for four years, I think I'm finally ready to admit that I just don't have the time that I used to for scrapbooking and it's time to trim the stash back to a manageable size. Coincidentally my sister had the opportunity to visit me and we've begun the great scrapbooking room make over and purge! All to culminate with a massive scrapbooking garage sale next weekend.

Jenny arrived Wednesday night with a Vibe full of IKEA furniture...oh my!

Which of course meant we had a whole lot of assembly to do!

(Looks good Jenny, just 4 more to go! Note the use of the "persuasion tool")

Then we had to unload the room...

(who let it get this messy anyway?)

Ah, finally... a clean slate!

Let's get some work tables and storage in this room!

Ta -da!

This concludes today's progress. :)

(p.s. Don't you think I have the bestest sister EVER!? I do!)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blogpost with this very important message...

The "Guess what I am working on now?" series has been distrupted by "Project Purge." In my former life (before my current full-time marketing position), I previously worked for my local scrapbook store (LSS) as a retail associate and also a class instructor. From that point forward my supply collection drastically increased. Well, 3 (almost 4) years into the full-time marketing world, I think I am finally ready to admit that I just don't have quite as much time as I previously did to create as many things as my mind could conjur up. It is with that realization that I am taking on "Project Purge" a 5-day attempt to pare down my scrapbooking supplies to a quantity that will reasonably fit into my scraproom, while also cleaning out the other nooks and crannies around my home.

If you happen to live in the central Iowa area, looking in your local paper for a scrapbooking (and misc items, but mostly scrapbooking) garage sale on June 4-5, 2010. Trust me, after this purge, you might wish my garage was your next LSS! :)

Thank you for reading this very important announcement. Your regularly scheduled blog posts (Guess what I'm working on now?) will return after "Project Purge" is complete.

Guess what I'm working on? Sneek peek #4

I finally got a chance to start playing with my project. I set out thinking that I would decoupage the pages with the art from the dress pattern envelopes and the dress patterns themselves. But sadly, discovered that I just can't bring myself to cut up old vintage patterns. Suddenly I had a dilemna. I still wanted to use my super cool vintage finds, but I didn't want to ruin them forever. What's a girl to do?

Enter, technology to the rescue! I scanned in sections of the patterns and through the magic of Photoshop I managed to create line art from the various pattern elements. From the various elements, I created an iron-on transfer to use on the canvas cover and interior canvas pockets. With a little help from some Tim Holtz Distress Inks, a new canvas album suddenly took on a very worn vintage-y feel.

There's still much to be done to complete the cover, but here's where it's at right now. Pretty cool, right?

Guess what I am working on? Seek Peek #3

What could possibly be even better than cool vintage finds and a Maya Road canvas album? October Afternoon's new "Thrift Shop" line. It's vintage, it's sewing-related, it must be perfect for my project, and BONUS! my LSS just got it in. So I quickly snatched up some OA goodness and brought it home. Because well, secretly (or not so secretly anymore) I'm totally jonesing to be an OA or Maya Roads designer :)

Here's my pile of creative potential just waiting to become a super cool mini book.

Find our more about the OA Thrift Shop line here.

Guess what I'm working on? Sneek Peek #2

Which reminded me that I had been hoarding this great canvas album from Maya Road. And it occurs to me that dress patterns are fabric related, and canvas albums are fabric...perhaps the two should be joined to become one super-fabulous project. What do you think? I think, YES!

Maya Road Square Canvas Album

I am in need of a clear stamp storage system.

I have lots of those little $1.00/$1.99 stamps that need a better home. Currently everything is stored in its original packaging (because I have issues removing things from its packaging, at least until it's been used) and divided by tabs in a drawer. This is nice, however several of the stamps aren't limited to only that theme within the overall package, but I'm thinking if like items were grouped (say all Birthday stamps together) I think I would get much more use from my stamps. Please discuss....

Guess what I'm working on? Sneak peek #1

I often post completed projects that "voila" just appear as though they've been effortlessly created out of thin air. So this time around, I thought I'd post "sneak peeks" of found objects and decisions made as I work on my latest creative adventure.

Here's the first "peek"...

It all started with a trip to a (now favorite) junk store, JB Knacker,

where I found these fun vintage patterns and buttons.

Salvage Crafting

Last January my parents purchased a few display model kitchens from a some home improvement stores. One of the things they purchased was a sales center that included 48 cabinet door samples in a variety of colors and styles. The store has finally uninstalled the displaye so Lance and I spent yesterday and today helping my parents collect and load their assorted cabinetry pieces.

I have become the lucky recipient of the door samples. Much to Lance's dismay I am the proud new owner of 96 assorted cabinet doors. Some of them are really quite cool, and while I've got some ideas for them already swirling around in my head, I'm interested to hear yours. So leave a post and let me know what fun ideas you have to save these from a dumpster and turn them into art!

Ut-oh, the card supply is low...

In my house my husband is the one who remembers birthdays and anniversaries. He's also wonderfully dilligent about sending cards for said occassions. If you've been to a Hallmark store lately, you've probably been just as shocked as I at the price of cards, $3-$4-$5 each! Whoa! When did it get so expensive to share a greeting or best wishes? So, after a few too many raised eyebrows from me about his card "budget" I found myself on the hook to keep a supply of cards at the ready. (I did try to get him to make his own cards, but after last year's birthday card embarrassment, I won't be making that mistake again!)

Well, today we had a little problem... the card well was running a little dry and we had a wedding to go to. We were running a little behind (as usual) and Lance came upstairs with a series of card headlines to choose from, none of which were wedding appropriate (sorry Tim & Tarica!). So today, instead of doing layouts, it looks like I'll be restocking the card supply. In case you are finding yourself in a similar bind, here's a card to get your creative juices flowing:

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Hello fellow scrappers! Are you celebrating NSD with some creative fun today? Post a link back and share your scrappy goodness!