Spending freeze and wedding countdown!

I totally got yelled at for how much money I've been spending on supplies lately.  I knew it was going to happen eventually.  It's probably a good idea to do that spending freeze that I was thinking about doing.

Starting in June, I will go on a spending freeze until the end of August.  I will allow myself to purchase essentials (like adhesive), my subscriptions (no add-ons though), and things that I will need for wedding DIY, but that's it. 

This includes not buying stuff to do my wedding album!  I have kit subscriptions for a reason so I can use those (and I have quite a few untouched kits right now).  I have placed my final order before the freeze starts for adhesive and my wedding albums, and I am done.  

Anybody else on a spending freeze?  How's it going?  Let me know!

The spending freeze shouldn't be too much of an issue for June since scrapbooking has kinda gone on the back burner the past few weeks.  Why's that, you ask?

I'm getting married in 16 days!!  AAAAHH!!

The past few weeks have been taken over by last minute DIY wedding decorations and finishing touches.  I'm really hoping to have everything done and packed up for the wedding by the end of this weekend.

It feels weird to tell myself "no" to scrapbooking, especially when I'm finally feeling inspired and motivated!  I have a partially finished mini album and a not quite started mini album staring at me every time I sit down at my desk and decide that I need to do something else instead of finish them. 

After my last dress fitting tonight perhaps I will be able to get a few projects finished.  So far I haven't been too stressed and I don't want that to change now.

Workspace Wednesday >> Washi Storage

I finally have enough washi tape to be annoying.  It kinda seems to happen quickly - the pile just kept getting bigger and more cumbersome.  So last night, I organized it.  

Using a spice organizer:

And here's what I've done with it:

It makes me feel much better that my washi isn't sitting in an unorganized pile anymore.  How do you organize your washi?

   

Smile!

Happy Saturday everybody!!  Today is the day of my BACHELORETTE PARTY!!!  YAY!  That's not what this post is about. though.  I'm just really excited.  28 days until the wedding!!!

Yesterday was the Carlisle area's Relay for Life.  Everybody gathers at the local high school to camp and walk to raise money for cancer research.  There were lots of people there, many survivors, and fantastic energy.  The walking part was a blast.  The camping part was kinda terrible.  It was cold and noisy out there.  I was quite miserable.  My fiance and I gave up and went home around 3:00am.  

Before I attempted to fall asleep (which didn't happen, by the way), I sat down for a little "in the dark" scrapping!  Yeah, seriously.  Kinda dark.  Light enough to see what I was doing but dark enough to not be able to see colors quite right.  So I challenged myself - make a layout without seeing the colors. 

Not only was this on the ground, it was my first layout made away from my desk.  Here's my set up:

Bags of things and a blanket.  And my cutterpillar.  It was bulky and obnoxious to move, but boy was I glad to have a 12 x 12 solid surface!!

I used the May Studio Calico Camelot kit for this layout.  I wasn't a big fan of the travel theme cause I don't really travel much right now, but travel themed stuff doesn't really go out of style so I'm sure I'll be glad to have it someday.

Here's what I came up with.  I actually really love this!

I have a thing for using full packages of things - like the diecut stars.  They seem to be on watercolor paper, but I really loved the "not quite white" color of them (that I didn't realize was their color until this morning anyway).  I also didn't have watercolors with me so it didn't really matter what color they were, they were staying white anyway.

I need to figure out how to use all of those gold script titles on one layout (obviously without the "smile" of course).  They are awesome.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Layout share >> Scraptastic The Story I Heard kit

I have 2 layouts so far from the Scraptastic The Story I Heard kit.  This kit is just jam packed with stuff.  SO MUCH STUFF!!!!  I'm consistently impressed with this company.  I would LOVE to be on the design team, I feel that strongly about this kit club.

Anyway.  On to the layouts! 

I had so much fun making this background.  I used the Daylight stamp set for the string of lights.  I had a hard time finding the right color for the light bulbs so I just stamped white over top of the yellow - and now it looks like they're shining!  I probably should have done this layout as a 12 x 12, though.  It looks kinda busy.

Yet again I love making this background.  I got to use 2 of my recent obsessions - machine stitching and vellum.  I might have gone a little overboard with the stitching...

I had a hard time not putting on every embellishment that worked for this layout.  It would have been so incredibly busy.  I also did a little hidden journalling on a tag that I have slipped into a pocket on the back of the layout.  I had a lot I wanted to say but no space to say it.  I am pleased with how it turned out and will probably do hidden journalling again some time.


So I have a question for you all.  I'm considering diving into the world of process videos.  I love watching them and I have a list of favorites that I subscribe to, but I wonder if it's the right move for me.  I'm a slow scrapper.  I'm also easily distracted.  So here's my question: do you make process videos?  And if you do, how did you get started?  I'd really love to hear from you!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pot Stickers

Good morning!

I will admit - keeping up with blog posts while working full time and planning a wedding (which is less than a month) is kind of a challenge.  Is it OK to admit that I wrote the last 5 blog posts on the same day and scheduled them to upload at different times??

I didn't think I would like this kit.  I actually really like the papers in this!!  It's not my favorite, but I can see why people love it.

I've always loved seeing people sew over letters - so why not give it a shot myself?

Thanks for looking!!!!

Spring

Hi!!

This layout is one I'm rather proud of.  Not only is it my first real 8 1/2 x 11 page, I also stamped the background.  I love how it turned out, so I hope you enjoy it, too!!

Here are a few close ups - I'll admit that I'm slightly obsessed with gold recently...

Thanks so much for looking!  I love it when people stop by :)

Layout share >> Studio Calico Sugar Rush

Good morning!

I'm in the process of cleaning up the pile of layouts on my desk and getting them blogged, so I have a few more layouts to share.  These were made the the February 2014 Studio Calico kit "Sugar Rush".  I did use sketches for both of these.

For the first one, I used the following sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch:

I used a sketch for my next layout, also:

And here is my take on the sketch: 

Thanks for looking!!

Pinspiration >> Masquerade Ball

Hi friends!  I enjoyed sharing my Pinspirations with you so I think I may make it a thing.  Take a look at my boards if you get a chance! 

I'm not really sure, but I think this is wall art?  Whatever it is, it inspired me to create a cut file.  Then I found this sketch.  It was a perfect match!!

So here is my take on the sketch!

Thanks for looking!  I'll work on getting the cut file uploaded so that I can share it with you, but I haven't entirely figured out how to yet.  Stay tuned!!

Two new cards to share!

Good morning!

I have 2 cards to share with you today.  I am so pleased with how these turned out, too!!

This first card was made for one of my best friends for his college graduation.  He's always been a big fan of those cute fluffy clouds, so I absolutely had to include them on a card for him!  

I also spent way too much time watercoloring the sky to actually look like the sky.  

I made this card for my mom for Mother's Day.  Again, I watercolored the background.  I do love ombre effects with watercolors!!

I also spray painted chipboard buttons gold and embossed on vellum.  I am REALLY happy with this card - it is by far my favorite!!  My mom loved it, too.

Thanks so much for looking!

Layout Shares >> Lost In My Mind - Scraptastic March 2014

Hi everybody!  I have a bunch of layouts to share with you today!  I kind of have a backlog of photos that need photographed, and it's becoming overwhelming.  So I just took a photo of the layout itself and I'm skipping the detail shots.  I just need to get these off of my desk and into my album and move on.

Today I will be sharing the rest of the layouts I did with the March 2014 Scraptastic "Lost In My Mind" kit.  This kit was heavy on Amy Tangerine's Plus One collection - which is just an amazing collection.  I had so much fun with this kit.

Workspace Wednesday >> Sketch Organization

Happy Wednesday everybody!  As strange (or familiar) as it sounds, I love organizing!  Especially organizing things so that they are at arms reach.  Because I love organizing so much, I actually look forward to my Wednesday blog reading because it's Workspace Wednesday!!  YAY!!!!  Since I've decided to try to stay on top of my blogging and try to evolve the way I blog, I think it's a good move to start my own Workspace Wedneseay posts. Today I'm going to show you how I organize my sketches.

After going through a couple months of serious scrapper's block, the thing that really pulled me out of it was creating from sketches.  I used to just look sketches up on my iPad or my PC and work from there, but it was becoming tedious.  When I finally reorganized my stamps, I realized how much I loved being able to flip through them!  So why shouldn't I store my sketches in the same place?

I adhered my sketches to the blank side of index cards (they're not color coded, I just ran out of purple cards), and on the lined side I write what layout I used the sketch for and the month I created it.  

I'm sure there's a more thorough way of cataloging the layouts I've completed using each sketch.  I did briefly think about adhering a thumbnail of the finished layout on the back of the card but I think that might be going a little too far.

Thank for visiting!