Major and Minor

Minor- I forgot a card reader and will have to simply save my graduation photos on the card until I can get them home. I can't share them, I can't really even look at them. Drat.

Major- Wonderful Hubby and I are in agreement that I'm going to move my scrapping/papercrafting workspace into the basement. The room is huge and I'll have everything in one area. That will be great. I'll have enough space to set up my tables the way I originally wanted. There is wall space for my stamp storage. But, there isn't very good cell phone reception in the basement.

Making Things Neat

Now that I have the big bug, I needed to have a place for it. I have just spent a few minutes arranging things in my craft space, which I actually like to do. I can't work in a messy space and the longer I work in a space, the neater that space gets. Sometimes I make neat things and sometimes I make things neat. Today, I'm hoping for a little of both.

Yesterday, I spent a good bit of the day preparing to make Disney pages. I gathered my papers, I sorted through embellishments and put them all together in neat page planner pockets. Tonight, I'll head out to a crop and get to work on those pages.

Careful Shopping Success

I wanted a Cricut Expression. I shopped on-line and though I might find it at a cheaper price, I'd have to pay shipping and it would end up to be more. I had my pennies put aside and just waited for a local sale. Patience paid off today. There was a notice in my in-box about a local sale (check the link for Paris) and I have just gotten home with a big Bug, four cartridges, five inks, one cutting mat and an instruction manual on a CD. I feel like that should be set to the tune of a holiday carol...

It's out of the packing, set up on the able and I feel like a bit of a fool, because I don't know how to get it to open up. My little bug has a button I press and then it pops open so i can use it. I don't see a button on the big bug. I will simply stare at it a bit longer and something will present itself, I'm sure. When all else fails, I'll read the directions.

Big Project Progress

Scrapping Disney is my latest Big Project. I keep printing photos, much to the amazement of my Wonderful Husband. I'm putting them into the accordion folders I mentioned earlier and I'm sorting them by event and day. Sometimes, I'll put photos into an event category from a different day, just because the event was significant. I'm debating on continuing to do that, but in the long run, I don't think it will make that much difference and I can still find the photos when I want them. It's a molehill, not a mountain.

Another molehill is paper selection. What? Blasphemy! But it has to be a molehill. If I allow it to become a mountain, I'll spend all of my time selecting paper and I won't get anything done. I like to have a big pile of paper that all goes together, with some lights, some darks and an accent or two. Embellishments that go with the paper are required. Then all I have to do is select a layout plan and start cutting paper. For Disney, I can't glue much down before I test embellishments. That's my basic plan. We'll see how things work out in practice.

Today, I want to start creating actual layouts, instead of just printing photos and thinking about layouts. I also want to put the final layer of paper onto my shaker frame. I had a little problem with the glue earlier and I'll be using a different adhesive for my second try.

I Knew That

When gluing paper to bookboard, apply the glue to the bookboard, not the paper. Every so often I forget that and I regret forgetting each and every time that I do. Fortunately, I have more paper. And more bookboard.

Animal Kingdom Photos

Nikon. Need I say more?

The Key to Success

My mother always said that organization was the key to success. My organization is variable and so is my success. Getting Disney photos organized is ticking right along. I had a few of the expandable photo holders and they were not the right size for the boxes I had, but they were the right size for Disney. I'm printing out in order, sorting mostly by event and date and putting the prints into these Cropper Hopper expandable organizers. They were on sale, so I got a few. I'll probably need to get more. I have that many photos.

It feels good to get them printed out and organized. That's the just first step, but it's a big one. I've started looking through my idea books and making notes of the layouts that I'll use as base ideas. I've got plenty of patterned paper, I just need more plain paper that will match the patterned stuff. That might take careful shopping at a crop.

While I am working on getting my photos printed, I'm still working on Club Scrap kits. I used to be up to date, but I am now one month behind. On June 2, they will ship the new kit and I have not gotten a bit of the May kit done. I'm still working on April. Hmmm... There's usually a reason why something like that happens to me and I don't think it was the Disney trip that took up all my time. Club Scrap uses a system they call Assembly Line ScrapBooking, or ALSB. With their system, you get a set of instructions to create a set of layouts that uses up a kit with very little scrap paper. A scrap leftover from layout four will be used up in layout eight, for example.

Wonderful Husband doesn't like ALSB style that much. When I think about how much fun I have with the creative side of scrapping, I agree with him. That slowdown in working through the kits with the ALSB system is a clear signal that I want to return to the time intensive, more demanding, more creative layouts I used to do.