Coffee Good, Morning Bad

storage or 'it might as well be a four letter word'

Scrapbook storage. Scrapbook rooms. Having a place for everything and everything in its place. I'm failing miserably. I have a lot of scrap spaces bookmarked, and I'm always insanely jealous of the fab solutions our American cousins have available (and are slowly making their way over here).

I have some scraprooms and solutions saved in my 2peas book of scraps and these have given me some good ideas. I really like the idea of organising by colour that I found at Scrapjazz , a site I'm going to have to give some more of my attention I think, and having ribbons in pretty glass jars, paints out on a shelf, brads in little bottles. But then I love Cropper hopper's embellishment box too, which might be easier for picking up and going to crops. But then I don't go to *that* many crops and if I was organised and actually managed page kits I could just go with a page kit pack. But, who am I kidding, for Scrapcamp I took everything bar the kitchen sink 'just in case'.

I think I spend more time debating how to organise my supplies than scrapping. Perhaps its time to go back to The Happy Scrapper e-book I have and think about this.

A layout a day ...

... keeps the supplies at bay.

i've been reading Erin Lincoln's 'Supply Savvy Scrapbooking'. She basically made 100 pages with the supplies she had to hand (presumably allowing herself to stock up on glue etc, when necessary). I think it is about time I went on a stash diet and applied some of the principles of the book. I have a large stock of rub ons, stamps, inks, patterned paper et al so I hope it won't be too hard.

So the rules ...

1) I can buy adhesive/new blades/replace scissors etc where necessary.
2) I'll keep my kit subscriptions (2) because they will keep my supply fresh and it is nice to get something new. Plus its a subscription, so there is a sort of binding element there ;) Not that I need much persuasion!
3) Bazzill. Gotta have bazzill because otherwise everything will go a bit Pete Tong. For those not au fait with the terminology, that's basically the plain cardstock that is almost always the backbone of a layout.
4) Storage stuff is okay. Its going to have to be, I've got to do some serious reorganisation before bubs arrives!
5) I'll still get 'Creating Keepsakes'
6) Occasional purchases of brads/eyelets etc are okay, because I tend to use them a lot but I don't *have* a lot.

But for how long should this go on?

I like the idea of 100 layouts - but with baby coming this might go on forever!!! However, if I set a timelimit I might not do anything to cut into the stash?

It is my birthday in July and I could always have a bit of a restock then, which would top me up - until Scrapcamp at the beginning of November. Perhaps then 100 layouts or Scrapcamp whichever comes first?

With the help of timeanddate.com

From and including: Sunday, April 30, 2006
To and including: Friday, November 3, 2006

It is 188 days from the start date to the end date, end date included

Or 6 months, 5 days including the end date

Alternative time units

188 days can be converted to one of these units:

• 16,243,200 seconds
• 270,720  minutes
• 4512  hours
• 26  weeks  (rounded down)

So a layout almost every other day ... this could be a challenge in itself?!!

RIP: fujifilm 40i

My camera, my digital camera of fabulousness that I got just before I was 21, is dead. For years, it was miles better than anything else anyone else had. Only in about 2005 did I start to get camera envy and eye up other people's digital cameras. About a year ago my camera started with strange read errors and deleting photos, buttons started sticking, the batteries werent as efficient as they were, today it finally refused to play ball. Its an intermittent, if increasingly persitant error, sure, but as every scrapbooker knows a good camera is a vital piece of the kit.

The problem is I just don't have the money for a new one right now. So, I'll just have to mourn the loss of a good friend who has been with me through my early twenties, look on the photos its taken with a nostaligic eye and, erm, hope someone posts a Canon 350D through my door by mistake ...?

Cupcakes and Classes

I had a fantastic time at scrapcamp. I did some great classes - with Maxine and Clare from Scrapbook World, Patricia from Scrapbook Mate, Michelle of Ranger and Scrapbook Magazine as well as glittery Katie's fabulous melting pot class (oh, so need me one of those) and last but by no means least Giselle Homer's fab minibook from SEI's Winnie's walls collection.

I got to stay up late scrapping, chatting and even won a couple of prizes for my badge and a layout I did using some fabric scraps. I enjoyed doing the challenge layouts, I've got a couple of layouts to finish off, and as soon as its all done I'll put them in my (rather empty and sorry looking) gallery to the right. I even won a little raffle in one of the classes and got two full packs of SEI paper, a 6x6 album and embellishments!

The melting pot in particular was a revelation to me. Never thought I'd be that bothered but I just loved it. I loved being able to try the ranger inks and tools that I wouldn't normally be able to. Still didnt get to hop on the craft robo or sewing machine but maybe November's retreat will be my time!

The best bit about this sort of stuff is the fun you can have with other people though. I thought Clare and Maxine were a riot - and encouraging Clare to do some handwritten journaling and cupcake drawing was just fab. Clare is 6 months pregnant and, like me, has totally lost her scrap mojo for most of this pregnancy. We all played a few games on the Saturday night - and I got to see clean and simple scrapper Giselle produce a very unclean and distressed layout. To be fair, this was because she had to do it blindfolded!!!

So big love to Mandy and the scrapcampers. See you all again in 6 months time!

Scrap Camp

I'm back from scrapcamp, where I did some fabulous classes and made some rather lovely layouts. I'm officially shattered, so I'm gonna grab me some dinner, unpack my goodies and then post the lowdown.

New in town

Well, howdy and indeedy doody.
I've been blogging for a while but never quite got round to talking about what it is I do on a day-to-day basis, when I'm not being wife and mummy. I scrapbook. This is a relatively new idea in the UK (okay, if you ignore the gazillions of Victorians who were at it morning, noon and night) but I've been scrapping regularly for about a year and I dabbled a bit before that. Its a much bigger thing in the US but we are catching on fast.

I wanted a new blog to talk about scrapping but also to capture some of the photos and stuff I do day to day for journalling, so I'm going to have categories - 'scrap' related and 'inside my head' related - for those who wish to ignore what ain't their bag, baby.

I've added a list of scrappers I like who have blogs, and I'm always open to suggestions on new blogs to read, and also some of my non-scrapping friends who are just cosy to have about the place :D

There will also be a small gallery of some of my pages, which can also be found on my flickr profile for those of you flickr-way-inclined.

And typically enough, its all going to go quiet round here now as I'm off for a 5 day adventure to Bristol and Scrapcamp . Now just to finish cramming my robox full of stamps and patterned paper ...