Last two UFOs to share

OK, full disclosure, there are a few more things that are unfinished in the bin, but they are SO unfinished as to be more an IDEA then a project. So I will end with these couple Holiday-themed items.

First, the one I will 100% finish. Not this week, maybe not even this year, dare I say not this decade (!) but I WILL finish it. My son asks about recipes from holiday meals sometimes, and I always planned to do for him what my MIL did for me. She gave me a wooden recipe box, full of handwritten recipes that were The Hubster’s favourites. I’ve made a lot of them over the years and a couple are so well worn I need to recopy them for myself!

BUT, in 2010 I began a mini-book made to house cards with holiday favourites:

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The recipe cards slip inside mini brown paper bags and there is plenty of room for someone to add their own, as I have to my MILs gift. I think for this one I will wait for a wedding before gifting it to my son. I’ve never been 100% happy with the placement and how the title reads – should be Thanksgiving To Do List for the Domestic Goddess but I’ve never felt that was as clear as it could be. Maybe I can fix that now!

Now a Christmas project. I am also inclined to finish this one cause I do really like it and I can think of just the right place to put it up when we do our holiday decorating. I blogged about the Rosette Words printables a few times but this wreath is here. The printables work if you hand-score the lines OR if tyou carefully position the Tim Holtz rosette die. I think it makes a cute wreath (indoor only, of course)

It is SO CLOSE to being finished, although the glue that stuck the rosettes has come unstuck in some places, so I just need to re-stick them and the wreath will be DONE. Problem is that I am never keen on holiday projects when it isn’t actually Christmas-time, and when it IS Christmas I have far too much to do to take time out for this kind of thing. So maybe, if I can remember, in the autumn I will drag this out and get it done.

Yeah. right. Who am I kidding?

A couple more unfinished minis

This one I actually describe how to make on an old blog post here. It’s from 2013 so not as old as the ones from yesterday. I still really like to construction and it is a great structure for many small photos or to display a poem pr something like that. Might make a more substantial Wedding card, perhaps. Anyway, here is is, still bare as the day I made it…

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I obviously planned to finish it, so kept it in a bag with all the other bits I had selected. I kinda think this might have been about when my beloved HiTi dye-sub printer died and printing photos at home became impossible. I loved the way it looks from the top, a bit like an arrow!

Pretty papers, too. The next one was SUCH a good idea and would make a lovely book for future generations to look over. I want to say this was destined for a Scrapbook Inspirations article but can’t be sure. Makes sense, tho’ cause I can’t find a place I shared it on my blog. I called it The Story Behind The Bad Photos and I wish I had captured those stories before time ate away my memory. I do remember some of them, but not all. I need to see if that missing S is in the bag someplace!

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You can see the journaling spots that sit in the pocket behind the photo pages. I also have a handful of small photos that I planned to add to future pages.

Yep. That’s my daughter, always mugging for the camera.

A couple more things tomorrow.

OK so I lied about taking the weekend off, sort of

I am still taking the weekend to TRY to have some family time – which, sadly, might involve upgrading to WiFi 6 and installing and testing a bunch of WiFi extenders, rather than a lovely walk outside, but who knows? Anyway, as I was dragging out all of the boxes and bins of paper and card, to try to begin getting them worted out, I came across a bin that was not just paper. It was what I like to call my “Project Graveyard.” These are things that I began and then, for whatever reason, stopped before finishing. I might have lost my mojo, it might have been a class that I did not complete during the class, I might have encountered a problem of some sort…. I thought I would share them. I probably should share them after finishing them, but to be honest if they have sat for 5+ years unfinished, they might very well sit for five more.

Surely on of the oldest is a class from the 2005 Scrap Wars Star Wars themed Cybercrop. Called Death Star, it is a lovely star book. and yes, if you click the link there you can download the class and make one yourself!

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My plan had been to add a bottom to some of the layers so I could slip in more photos. Maybe you can kinda see that where I punched out the divots. It would have been a cute gift, but as the kids are quite grown now, it all seems a bit pointless. Maybe I will re-purpose it somehow.

The next is ALSO a class, from Scrap Fever 2009, a Willow Tree Crafts crop. I ALSO found the class by Venessa but that one I had left as the basic elements and has since been scattered. This is a class by Donna Downey. It was going well, but time was a factor.

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Honestly, both projects are good ones, it’s just I already have about 100 mini-albums of my kids from this period in time when I was a mad scrapper. I don’t need another. Might be best at this point to save them for some potential Grandkid far in the future. We’ll see.

More tomorrow!

100 Days FINISHED!

Well I’ve done it. I did 100 days of daily journaling with collaged pageg. It ended up being split into two books, because I was so heavy-handed in the first 25 or so days.

As I mentioned yesterday, I went a little heavier on the last week or so because I could see I was doing well, keeping the wedge at bay. Here are the finished albums:

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And here is day 99:

Kinda you picking things that could be used up. Eh, it’s fine.

And now, the final page:

So, a few things – yes, two words. As I was cutting the pink paper I realized that I could cut out the word and use up all but a tiny sliver of it. So I did. Sue me. Actually I think I used two words on one other page (more than) when I used an old scrapbook embellishment that was a definition. I also used LOVE twice. Not bothered by that – the world needs more love, am I right?

So note the 100 is, like the cover 100, snipped. Funny story there. I had torn out the tickets and stamped them for the last 5 days, in preparation for the final push to the end. When it came time to do day 98 and 99, could I find the tickets? No, I could not. Luckily I had the duplicate strip so I just stamped them again. I did find the 100 and was very happy, as I had used all of the 100s in the book. Like I said, the 100 on the cover of book 2 was a 1000 cut down. As I was finishing up the page, I reached out for the little girl sticker. When I picked it up, the 100 ticket fluttered up into the air. In slow motion I saw it drift downward, over the bin or scraps under my desk (from yesterday’s post) and disappear as I, also comically in slow-motion, cried Noooooooooo! And like Keyser Soze, like that, it was gone. Ah well. It’s turn up one day. Maybe….

I will be enjoying the Bank Holiday, as I contemplate my next crafty thing. The Card a Day thing is just meant to be a bit of fun, something to keep me crafting every day, and to help me replenish my dwindling supply of handmade cards. But I have a few other projects in mind, as well as a return to art journaling on a more regular basis, now the daily journaling of the 100 Days project is done. So see you Tuesday. Hope for a sunny weekend!

A Card a Day, to keep me crafting

I have just a few days to add for my 100 Days project. I’ll begin with the next one, Day 98:

As I am so close to the end and the book is not bulging I am being a little more free with the amount of stuff I am adding. There is no way I will even come close to using up even what I set aside for this project so it was a fail from that point of view. But it was fun, and the structure of it was helpful, but, yeah, by the end I am totally ready to be finished. I’ve added 26th May (yesterday) today and will add today’s page and tomorrow’s page tomorrow and be done with it. Phew.

I made a sort of warm-up card the other day, so I could give it to my knitting mate and assess if making cards was something I wanted to do. It IS a good way to use up scraps and OMG do I have scraps:

This is only one small part of what I have. I am in the process of sorting thru them, throwing out the stuff that is horribly mangled and unusable, then getting all the useful bits squared off and into large bags. I know from past experience that co-locating my scraps with the colour of cardstock in the full-sheet organizers is the best way for me to actually use it up. So that is my plan. I also sorted thru my Club Scrap stash – honestly, whatever possessed me to keep my subscription to that going for as long as I did? I will add those to the plain cardstock as well, with the idea that I will use the plain backs and not the often truly horrific designs that are stamped, embossed or foiled on the other side.

The card for my friend is nice, I like it, and it used up some stuff from a long ago USA binge-shop. I collected up some stuff:

and in minutes it all came together just perfectly! Those gem strips have always been tricky to use, but here they worked a treat:

I think that s a scrap of Basic Grey card, and then a little card from a GoGo scrapbooking kit finished it off:

So yeah, I am thinking I will plan on making cars thru the week and sharing them on the weekends, so I can still take those days off to do family things. Now getting out and about is really possible I need to make sure those days are free.

I should say I am very optimistic that I will finish the Grand Tidy by next week. Although it is half-term for my darling daughter and she always has loads of things for us to do together, so there is the slight possibility it may slip into the following week when she is back in school. Time will tell…..

WOYWW 625 – ATCs and more

Happy WOYWW day! Well, things have progressed for me in my Grand Tidy and I am very happy with the progress. I have a huge pile of stuff to donate to the local craft club, a large box of goodies earmarked for a WOYWW mate who I just hope will make use of them, and a full recycling bin plus a large trash bag of true rubbish. Letting go of things like the old Decorator Chalks (remember them?) and rubbish oil pastels bought in error (NOT water soluble) and lots of sun-faded or creased cardstock was…liberating. Sure, my room is still stuffed to the brim with goodies, but now they are all things that I can only hope to live long enough to use up LOL! My desks are mostly clean:

Even my “messy” desk is tidy:

I really am doing my “card a day” plan and I made a warm-up card to share soon. This is NOT a 100 Days project, just something to do every day to help use stuff up. I got no mail yesterday for some reason, so just the ATCs received last week to show.

Neet, Angela Radford, Zsuzsa on the top, Cindy, Helen (H), LLJ and Caro on the bottom

All so gorgeous. I love Neet’s little house shaped envelope, and Zsuzsa’s envelope went right into my collage fodder bin because it was stunning. I am housing them in my ATC folder for now, till I can make another hanger for them.

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At this point, while I am NOT giving up on the tidy, I am planning to attack the paper a little bit each day. This is not all of it, but it’s the bulk. I have a few bins of scraps and of grouped papers (like Basic Grey, Rouge de Garance, and Bizous Zoo, three of my most favourite lines) and way too much Club Scrap cardstock, which I will incorporate into the general cardstock units

To be honest, I have SO MANY empty drawer units and containers, I need to find someplace else to either use them or store them. No point taking up space with them. So, that’s me finished – except the 100 days project re-cap:

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And the one from today – pretty much sums up how I am feeling about the 100 days!

If you recall, I am running a few days ahead. I will add 98 tomorrow then add 99 and 100 on the last day – Friday seems a good day to end on. Frankly, I cannot wait to be done!!

Happy desk-hopping!!

Unusual items unearthed in my tidy

I fear this is getting sure boring, so I am going to add a few things I found that might amuse or interest.

When I worked for Scrapbook Inspirations, we would rotate a feature where we made a collection of similarly coloured embellishments. I’d have to go get the magazines to recall what it was titled. Anyway, in an envelope, in a drawer, I found these:

I quite like them. I have seen a few YT videos on junk journals and had the idea I might make a few – my daughter’s disability group is always looking for fundraising ideas so it might help me use up some of my re-discovered stash and do some good. Based on what I have seen, I think these would be perfect for that sort of journal.

I cannot remember how long ago BEADLINGS were a thing, but when they were, I made this little lady. I still think she is super cute. No plan to use he, but I might add her to the next badge I have to make, maybe for the Craft Club if it begins again. It’s been so long I’ve probably forgotten everyone’s name by now so we may need them LOL!

A group of friends took an extended European holiday just after they graduated from Uni. One of the stops was to see The Wall in Berlin, after the wall came down. They brought me back a bag of rubble. I still have it.

And the progress is making me happy. Look at all the empty bins!

And I’m not done yet. But truly, it is just the paper now. And maybe one more pass thru my wood mounted stamps. I just hope I can remember where everything now lives…

Day 96! Weird colour choice, maybe, but the embellishment word led the way.

Oh and the ATCs are flooding in so I will share them on WOYWW day. My goodness the desk hoppers are a talented bunch!

Progress of the Grand Tidy

OMG. I have a pile of stuff in the guest room to donate and it could male a market stall of papercraft goodies, if not a shop. Shocking. I realized that a lot of what I have came from a scrapbooking kit I subscribed to that I carried on with even after Scrapbook Inspirations ceased publication – and my scrapbooking output took a nosedive. The amount of rub-on sheets and embellishments I have is frankly shameful, and I have not even LOOKED at them for years.

I had five of these file boxes and at least four of the brown boxes crammed full. After a very long day of sorting, looking critically at every piece in all of them, I whittled what I love and want to keep and can see using down to just this:

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BUT, as I was sorting an idea was forming. Last week as I sorted thru my cardmaking stuff I realized that I am actually pretty low on handmade cards for a few occasions. And I hate needing one and having to either make the time to make on or worse, resorting to using one of the commercial ones or my “emergency” card fronts repurposed. So as I was sorting, I had another bin that (in my head) was a “this could make a card” bin.

These were embellishments that I felt could be a centrepiece if a card, or at least at the time sparked an inspiration for a card. So, I know that the 100 Days project was fun, but that it really dragged on too long. Today I share day 95 and I am so over it. 50 days is far more do-able, but also, why name it and put a limit on it? My current plan is to do A Card A Day and work my way thru that bin without concern for how many days it takes to empty it. I also feel like it will help me use of the massive pile of scraps of card and patterned paper that I have unearthed. Really, that is all that is left, and it is left because I am stymied as to how to organize it. I have some ideas, but more on that as it develops/

My ATCs for the WOYWW trade are in the mail, save two that were awaiting addresses. Both will, I hope, be in the mail soon. Funny thing – the person I mailed to is in Iowa, USA and the person who mails to me is in North Carolina! Honestly, what are the chances of three Americans being in the same trio? I’ll share my received ATCs on WOYWW but I’m pretty sure I won’t have them all. One of my swaps went to Australia!

Not DONE as in done with the 100 days, but DONE with my IVIG for another 3-4 months. This was a hard round for some reason. Happy it’s over and looking forward to a couple of months of greater strength.

Day 94

I cannot believe I am so close to being done!

I am allowing myself to load up a bit more stuff on each of the last few days, given that the book will not even come close to the wedge-shape of the first one and I still have loads to use up. But I have a plan – more on that tomorrow….

Day 93

Down to the last week of days. I have enjoyed it, but two important things to note. First, I did not use up as much stuff as maybe I had hoped. Some, sure, but once I realized that fat, full pages that DID use up more stuff made the book bulge, I had to scale back a lot. Second, 100 days is maybe too long. By the last week of days I would have to say I am well and truly ready for it to be done.

Maybe that shows here? Some rather random bits of paper, a bit of a journaling spot cut off another piece, and that is it. Not inspired, not super well composed, but I used up both the bits of purple papers.

Maybe a third thing to note is my handwriting is no better now than it was when I began. Not really a surprise, but still, I had hope…