Mini album

While doing my scrapping reorganisation/clean up, I came across a few unfinished, or in some cases, unstarted, projects. These are kits that I have from workshops I attended years back. So with it being rainy here in Edinburgh today, I decided I should should get to wotk putting these kits together. So here is the kit I made today.

It is a kit designed by Karen Burniston who designs engineered, interactive projects that are a lot of fun. The papers are Rusty Pickle. They are quite grungy papers-I love them!!

As yet, I don't know what I am going to use this mini album for, so there are no photos or embellishments to see, but you can see the interactive elements of the album. 

The cover:

 Page with two pull out tags:

 Page with pull down flap....

 ...which reveals a file folder for extra photos or journalling:

 Two more pull out tags:

 This tag pulls up to reveal to space underneath, which can hold hidden journalling, or photo:

A triangular pocket containing a library pocket:

And inside the back cover is this envelope, which, when opened....

a hexagonal 3D pop up emerges:

This is such a cute album.

I don't know why I didn't make it up earlier!!!

I've been trying to continue my organisation of my scrap space today, and actually to give the whole house a general clean up. Having left two young adults at home in the last week while we were in Skye has left the house a bit the worse for wear.... and piles of washing to get through. They  kids tell me they did use the washing machine while we were away, but looking at the laundry basket, it's hard to believe that's the case!!

But somehow, I keep getting distracted, one thing leading to another, and nothing much getting done.

A bit like this:

And of course, the internet doesn't help!

I am going to get the vacuum cleaner out now...if something doesn't catch my eye along the way!!

I'm very lucky...

.. for two reasons-well more than two reasons, but two at the front of my mind just now.

Firstly, we've just returned from a week on the Isle of Skye, where we were surrounded by the most stunning scenery, had the best weather, and NO midgies! To have good weather, and no midgies in Skye is very lucky indeed-the stunning scenery is always there, except sometime it can't be seen through the mist and rain.

We stayed in a fantastic cottage, with a stunning view from our front door:

It was just perfect, and I'm feeling relaxed and fitter than I've felt in a long time as a result of long and tiring walks!

And the second reason I'm lucky is because I'm now part of the SCRAPAGOGO Design Team, which I'm so happy about, as the Scrapagogo kits are just fantastic!! And they have their own really friendly forum and gallery too, as well as challenges, tutorials etc. The first kit I'll be working with is just the best, and I can't wait for that box to arrive on my doorstep!

And I will be working alongside these great girls:

Lisa Griffin

Sam Ball

Nicola Kerridge

Eileen Webdale

Sheena Rowlands

Sarah Youde

Rebekah Montague

Kirsty Smith

Nic Booth

Emilie Chamel

The Tidy up Part 2

I thought I would show you a few of my drawers, and you can see how a few changes can make a big difference.

First up is my paint drawer. Before, the paints were all mixed up. By getting rid of the two big baskets, and using two smaller ones instead I've made the paints much more accessible. All the bottles of paint are standing with the paint colour dabbed on top of the lid for easy selection. It will also be easy to shuffle through the tubes of paint to find the colour I need.

(CLICK IMAGE FOR A CLOSER LOOK.)

 Second up is my paint applicators. I use anything from old plastic credit type cards, all different size brushes, or sponges to apply paint. This drawer had become a real mess as you can see from the before picture. I had too many brushes, so I've thinned my collection down, so everything is now much easier to find.

And finally, for today, my favourite bit of reoganisation-the ink/spray/stickles etc drawer! This drawer previously held telephone directories and other household bits, which have now been relocated to a kitchen drawer (following my reorganisation of those!)

My sprays, inks etc were previously all housed in a variety of containers in a variety of locations. But now, here they are, all together, easy to see at a glance, and easy to identify the desired colour too. I found some sticky felt circles in my clean up. I think they are for putting on chair legs etc to stop them scratching the floor. Anyway, I've put them to good use on the tops of my mist sprays, giving each one a squirt of colour. So now I can easily find the colour I need. Also in this drawer are stickles (upside down for ease of use and colour selection), Alcohol inks (under the box of H2Os), mica powders, and other types of mediums like crackle glaze etc. I love this drawer-I know it is going to save me so much time finding things!

So, what do you think?

The tidy up Part 1

My scrapping area has been driving me nuts!

Things have piled up, stuff is in front of other stuff and stuff is where it shouldn't be. I struggle to find the  things I need to do anything creative.  And so I've not been scrapping. I know it doesn't look that bad in these photos. Although it's relatively tidy,  it isn't organised, and that's why I can't find things, and that's why I haven't been scrapping.

Well, this corner by the desk is a midden-that's a good old Scottish word for a tip!
I've just been dumping stuff that doesn't have a place in this corner, and pretending it's not there.

But, enough is enough!

So this week I've been on a mission to get it organised so I can concentrate on making things, instead of feeling depressed by it all.

The problem is I've run out of drawer and shelf space. Two drawers in this area contain stuff that's not to do with scrapping-batteries, telephone directories etc, so I figured that stuff could be relocated to the other end of this room-the kitchen end.
Only problem was, there was no space in the kitchen end. So, before I could start my craft reorganisation, I had to reorganise my entire kitchen! That took two days of emptying all the cupboards, purging stuff, scrubbing the cupboards inside and  out, relocating and rearranging stuff. But I did end up with two empty drawers.
All that had a knock on effect to my laundry cupboard though, so that had to be done too!

Finally though, I was able to begin on the craft end of the room.
I started on the corner midden, and now it's looking a lot more respectable:

Mind you, out of sight of the camera is a big laundry basket containing stuff the doesn't have a home yet!

Today I'm going to start on the shelf units...although the sun seems to be shining, and in Scotland, when the sun shines, it's very wise to go outside and take advantage of it- who knows when we'll see it next?

Maybe I'll tackle the weeds in the garden instead..

Pinterest

Have you discovered Pinterest yet?
Do you have your own Pinterest boards?
If not, I strongly recommend taking a look.
I used to bookmark interesting blogs, and bits and bobs that I found when hopping around the internet. All too soon I had a long list of favourites, and could never remember exactly where I saw someting that was lurking in the deep recesses of my mind. So I would start going through my favorites, and invariably would not find said item. But pinterest solves this problem. It is a virtual pinboard, where you can pin items that you are interested in. The best thing about it is that the item is always linked back to where you found it. Bookmarking has never been easier!
It is all explained more clearly here

And if you want to see what I have pinned you can click that little red button at the top right of my blog.
You can look at boards without registering, but if you want to start your own boards you need an invitation. You can ask for an invitation on the site, or ask a member to invite you to join.

I'm happy to invite you-just leave me a message in your comment.