Organizing FUNdaments class from Big Picture Classes (BPC) is great!

  I am in the midst of the sort/organize session of this class, as we are in week 3.  Wendy Smedley and Aly Dosdall have offered this great class to help us to practice methods, make realizations & insights into how WE think and craft, & therefore make OUR spaces more useful & pleasant for US.
  Although I have been purging my studio at least twice a year for the past 3 years or so, there is ALWAYS something to be discovered which we no longer love, have absolutely no use for as we move on to other stages in our children's/grandchildren's lives (ie I no longer really need all that cutesy newborn boy product since Wesley is now 9 years old),  does not fit our current 'style' of scrapbooking, cardmaking or papercrafting (I'm very into shabby chic and layering now), or is simply taking up TOO MUCH SPACE and cluttering our lives, minds & hearts.
  Because this class is offered through BPC, it is a "FOREVER" CLASS.....all the material listings, handouts, VIDEO tutorials, etc are ARCHIVED on their website...you can access it at ANY TIME, DAY OR NIGHT, even on CHRISTMAS EVE as a gift to yourself if you see fit!
  Come on over to www.bigpictureclasses.com to check it out, as well as see all the other wonderful offerings, including FREE CLASSES!

New wall color.... & much clearer work spaces!

     I was not happy with the first color of paint, as it did not seem rich enough. The second color which I purchased was darker than the chip/sample, so.....after living with each color for a few days, I made myself two color mixtures to try out on my wall for a bit. The mixture of 2:1 dark to light color won out over the 1:1 mixture, so......here it is. I still have to put up the wainscoting & stenciling, but I'm on my way to a happier wall.

     I have been brutally honest with myself as I sort through my "stash", adding PILES of product to my already over-flowing "scrap sale" items.  It is very freeing to have more space in my studio & clearer countertops!

  Now I have to find a spot to store my "scrap sale" products!  I always give my niece Sarah first choice of my yardsale stash, which helps fuel her scrapbooking while helping to clear out my own space.  She has a lot of shopping to do!

My Studio wall is closer to being complete...& Wesley is a 3 Birds & Teresa Collins scrapbooking product user & fan!

     A few more pics of the ongoing upgrade to my studio.....      




  




 
     Now, for Wesley's Valentine's Day gift projects.  Wesley has ALWAYS loved to craft & scrapbook, & getting 3 Birds shipments is always a GREAT day!
      Wesley made his teacher's card with...of course...3 Birds supplies, which HE SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR!  He has GREAT taste!  Since I couldn't find a heart-shape in the new Honey of a Card kit, I tried altering the shape of one of them...it worked pretty well, so WE USED TWO! 

      I received my Signature Series Teresa Collins book in the mail yesterday & I later discovered that Wesley finished his teacher's gift using ....wait for it....TERESA COLLINS scrapbooking supplies! I told him who made them & that we HAD to take a picture of it with her book! I always take pics of his gift projects, but this one needed extra photos!

Our son is VERY creative & has GREAT TASTE in scrapbooking & paper crafting supplies!

3 BIRDS, DONNA STORK & HSN...GREAT DAY!!!! Plus, my new STUDIO WALL is up!!!

    A few days ago, I told you that 3 Birds' Donna Stork would be presenting their new ESTATE COLLECTION DOILY CARD KIT...I just HAD to reschedule my day to fit around the HSN SCRAPBOOKING PRESENTATION schedule haha!!!
    Also, I had mentioned that we were going to be drywalling my STUDIO WALL from nearly 2 years ago...."THERE BE WHALES".... NO, DRYWALL "HERE, CAPTAIN!"  That was an edited quote from my favorite movie EVER....Star Trek V, where they go back in time to retrieve/rescue 2 HUMPBACK WHALES to SAVE THE EARTH (my favorite mammal ever, which I had originally planned to study as they migrate between Hawaii & Australia, or California & Alaska each year)...sorry I'm rambling....back to MY SCRAPBOOKING STUDIO!
   After only a couple of hours, the wall was up, and in only a few minutes the following night, the very small corner wall was up!!!!!  This should NOT have taken us nearly 2 years to complete!  Anyway, after getting home from work tonight without my drywall compound, etc.....I asked Michael to make me a list of supplies needed, or him to pick them up tomorrow after work....he'll be bringing them home for me tomorrow (HOPEFULLY)....gee can you guess what I'LL BE DOING THIS WEEKEND!!!!

    Anyway, I have included a couple of pics....

The construction chaos begins again...

     After removing the SW wall from my studio to push it back two years ago this coming April, we are preparing to put up the drywall.  We framed it back in right away, but that's as far as we got in the construction.  I have had 3 of my lovely dusty lavender curtains hanging there as my 'false wall'.   I look forward to painting & wainscoting this wall.  I am planning to paint the wall dusty lavender, adding a stenciled flourish in a slightly lightly color.  The wainscoting will be white, of course, like the majority of my studio.
      The external walls were already finished in a nasty texture, almost like "popcorn" ceilings, which totally tears up your fingers, knuckles, etc any time you reach for an item near the wall!  Ouch!
  I'll try to keep up on postings of the progress.  I also can't wait to install my second mini-chandelier, possibly more!!!  A girl can only hope!

My (belated) Bday Crop & (almost) clean studio...

    My birthday crop wasn't held until January 29th this year & between getting permission to post some pics & digging out around here, I'm just getting around to posting some of my pictures.

    Two of my local scrapping friends, including my 1st & BEST scramping friend Dawn (that's scrapbooking AND stamping for those of you not familiar to our crafts), came to spend some time with me. 

  Dawn brought me this AWESOME adhesive gun!!!!!! plus refills, stamps & rub-ons!

Dawn even brought gifts for Wesley...bath paints!  I've been thinking about getting some of these for him....she read my mind.

    Michael & Wesley were just leaving for GR (Grand Rapids) to go sledding with his family as my girlfriends arrived.  Because my GOOD camera (my digi Rebel) is in need of work & Michael took the CoolPix with them, I was without my camera...."feeling naked" as I usually say upon these rare occasions!

     I apologize for the remaining clutter & in-progress demolitioned state of my studio.  The area beside my former "cutting station" cabinetry used to be part of our utility room's storage space.  When we moved here, Michael built shelving units to house all of our boxes of "stuff" until we finished unpacking the household items, and then stored our ever-growing collection of Christmas decor.  The floor and walls of the utility room were not finished when we moved in, so the new square footage of my studio needs the floors to be brought to level with the existing floors, and one exterior wall needs to be brought flush with the wall behind my former cutting station. 

    We have the new walls framed in, but currently they are curtained off until we spend the money on drywall & paint.  I am planning to complete the sw wall with white wainscoting below & a shade of dusty lavender above, similar to the color of my curtains that hang there now (I robbed them from another portion of my studio & our bedroom).

    Hopefully this summer we will scrape down the textured walls so I can do the remaining wainscoting & painting, as well as add insulating flooring.  I can't wait to rip out the orange carpeting that is on the stairway & office/mini-store area of my studio!

   

 My former cutting station, now my Cricut station, plus storage for all my additional cutting & embossing supplies.  

 Tables for guest scrampers, the first of which Wesley now claims as his own!

 

 

     Anyway, this is the cleanest my studio has been since we ripped out the walls, and even though it is still decorated for my belated birthday crop, this gives you an idea of what I'm working on.  I'll also include some pics of the layouts I've been working on, as well as other layouts I've done with my 3 Birds products. 

Last Christmas

Last Bday's layout pg 1-2

Last Bday's layout pg 2-3

3 Birds paper

Last winter

Stamp Rack

Okay, I'm REALLY frustrated with this program not letting me put things in the correct order!  One last time & I'm gonna post it....

My 3 Birds main display