Crafting with an eye to responsibility- part 2

In my first post about crafting responsibly,  I talked about mostly about saving and reusing things once they're in my house. What about the few things I can't reuse?
Paper scraps usually make up the largest category of things I can't reuse. I save as many of those as I can to piece embellishments, cards, and pages together later. Sometimes there are pieces that are not going to be any good- usually scraps that I've tested techniques on, irregularly sized pieces, torn pieces, and mistake pieces. I also end up with a ton of scratch papers that I've planned and doodled on. All of these go in a separate bag to go to the recycling center.
After paper scraps, there really isn't much waste at all! There's the odd piece of packaging, a dried out marker, empty rolls of adhesive, or a few dull blades here and there. Most of those things do end up in the trash, unfortunately. All of those will take months to fill my small trash can, so I think that's still pretty good!
Once in a while I end up with supplies that I can't use anymore or just plain don't like anymore. Then my circle of crafty friends comes in handy! We trade and donate our unwanted supplies to each other- great all around!
Next up? Choosing and purchasing responsible products.

All About May!

Where has June gone?! Sorry this page has been so late in coming this month! I've actually had it done for several days. With Brandon being gone most of last week and then we went camping and today we've been trying to catch up on yard work, I just hadn't gotten to taking pictures of all the pages I've finished lately. So here are my May pages. Better late than not at all, right?

We start really getting lots of flowers in May- mainly tulips since it's still pretty chilly around here. All the color is a really nice change from the white of winter and the brown of early spring. I wish the photo could do the pages justice- pictures just don't show the shine and glitter on pages like I want them to!

The title is glittered and the flowers printed on the page are coated to make them shine. Can't tell, can you? :( Can you find the flower I added to the background though?

Operation Write Home Card

Here's the next featured card that went into the Operation Write Home box!

Scrap Studio Makeover

If you get my newsletter, you know I've been planning a scrap studio makeover for quite a while. I *think* I've finally nailed down my new furniture and storage plans. Boy, was that a lot of thinking! I spent hours & hours researching how other people creatively store their supplies. I saved ideas, mulled them over, and tossed out most of them! I had my own ideas and twisted them around every which way to see if they would work- only a few survived. I always like coming back to important things after giving them a rest to see if I still think they work later on and to double check that I haven't forgotten anything. I do this with my grocery list, too! So after all that, I let the ideas percolate for a month or so.

Lists and lists... Ideas, items that needed storage, things I needed, things I don't like about the current storage, etc.

 Then I came back and started the real planning. I threw out a few more ideas and found new ones that worked better. I measured, graphed, and plotted out my space. I listed every single item in my room that would need a space- what's the point of redoing the entire thing if there's still not a specific place for everything? I left room to grow everywhere. Wahoo! No running out of space in 6 months or a year! And.... left all the carefully planned pages for another few weeks. I'm sure this planning phase has taken much longer than it has needed to. But I'd rather take months & months to plan and then have everything absolutely perfect.

Graphs! I graphed out the entire room and then each piece of furniture we're building. My organization loving side has been in heaven with this whole project!

 Now? Now I've picked my colors!!! I'm so excited, the vision has completely solidified in my head. If only fabric designers could pluck the ideas out- we went all around town and are having a hard time finding the right colors/moods/patterns for what I have in mind. But that'll be ok- I think the curtains and such that I need the fabric for will be the last thing to go up.
The colors: My walls are going to be aqua. My room never gets much natural light, so a light color is important. All the furniture (desk, shelves, storage units) will be a very dark chocolate/espresso. And for some fun pops of color? Orange! I can't wait!

The colors came out pretty true to life. The aqua I'm using is the top one- never be afraid of color! (And hey, what can possibly be WORSE than that paneling???)

 Of course, we're still a way from bringing wood and paint home! I'm going to let my ideas churn for a few more weeks and look around for fabrics. Brandon and I need to research more on how to create this thing, too! This is the first project either of us have ever done like this. It's going to be an adventure... I foresee some bruised fingers, a good dose of frustration, and a couple of beers in the future! I'm also making lists of other things that we might need to get or do- I want new faceplates for the electrical outlets and switches, a new light fixture (withOUT a fan to blow my pages!), and some vertical blinds and a curtain rod. We're also discussing moving the light switch which is in a really awkward place right now. Some more electrical outlets wouldn't be complained about, either! We still have a lot of planning to do. Now that the basics are done, though, we can focus more on things like lighting and decor. Then, in August, here we go!!! I'm over the moon about getting this done!
Have any of you ever built desks and shelves? What advice do you have for us?

Photo Challenge: Reflection

I know it's been a while since the last photo challenge! So here it is! Simply take a picture integrating a reflection. Then share it on my Facebook page. I can't wait to see what you come up with!
Need some ideas for reflective surfaces? Try these!

• Mirrors
• Windows
• Puddles
• Other glass items- jars, bowls, cups, Christmas ornaments
• TVs and computer monitors
• Sheets of tin foil 

Come up with more, too! Here's an example to get your creative juices flowing!

Featuring: Dry embossing

Here are a few projects I've made using dry embossing. I love the versatility this technique gives. With an embossing machine, it's very simple to create dimension and texture on all sorts of things. Add in some paint, ink, sandpaper, and other materials? Now you've really got something special!

Embossing + a special paper that sands down to a different color.

Here I created the quilt piece on the front and embossed it to give it a fabric like texture.

Operation Write Home Card

I'm going to be putting up a few of the cards that are going in the box for Operation Write Home. Here's the first!

The 365 Project- What I've learned

Square cookies? Who knew?

Last summer, I heard about a really neat album idea (because I don't have enough ideas floating around in my head normally! HA!). The basic premise is this: To take one photo each day for an entire year and document the little things that truly make up a life. The idea isn't necessarily to take a fabulous, perfect shot every day- or at least it isn't for me! There are some projects I've seen that ARE like that. Each photo is a work of art. Me? I really just don't have the time, know how, or interest to put that much into it (maybe next year?). I've just been taking shots of whatever strikes me at the moment.

Awww. Idaho plates. :(

It's been interesting, for sure! It's been hard to keep up on at times (like now) and sometimes I'll go a good portion of a week without pulling my camera out. I've decided not to be too strict with myself about that- a flower in my yard REALLY doesn't look THAT much different from the 22nd to the 26th. Sometimes I've taken a picture after an event happened of something from the event. For example, I took a picture of a catalog from a party I went to. Sometimes, even I think it's best to leave the camera put away. (Bet you never thought you'd hear THAT, did you?)

One of my templates- each 2 page spread will have a week's worth of photos on one side, and the journaling for each date on the other.

 So here are a few things I've learned from the first 6 months of doing the 365 project....

I LOVE the crossed paws!

1. Umm... A LOT of my pictures are of our kitties. I knew I was obsessed, but really? Wow. 
2. Even for a picture freak like me who's used to funny looks for ALWAYS pulling out a camera, it's hard to take a shot every day! Even when I'm not being picky about getting good ones! It's harder when I'm working outside the house full time, working on my own projects, doing projects for clients, and attempting to see my friends, family, and man enough! 
3. After the cats, scenery/flowers/snow/whatever takes second for the number of shots. That's something I plan on working on for the rest of the year. Or at least make those shots more memorable- a shot of the garden we're working on or my favorite flowers will mean more than yet another shot of the changing of the seasons. And that's another project entirely anyway!
4. My man & I need to have people take more pictures of the two of us. We've taken a good amount of them with one of us. But not too many with both of us. I guess that's a hazard of not having anyone else in the house and a family who doesn't have a photo obsession.
5. My cats are well aware of their high status... As I'm typing, one is on my lap insisting I pet her. Typing one handed takes sooo long.
6. I'm beginning to run out of picture ideas. The first few months were pretty fun & I just walked around with my camera attached to my hand 24/7. Now I need some new motivation to get through the second half of the year.
7. I've learned a lot about working with Photoshop, which has been pretty fun/frustrating. To make the actual album part of this easier, I'm popping each week's photos into a premade template and those will be printed on an 8x10. It took me HOURS to do that first one. Now? I can do one in 15 or 20 minutes. 
8. I never really understood how someone could fill up a memory card. I thought I just always dumped mine more often than a lot of people. But between this project and taking multiple shots of every card/page/anything I do, I've gotten the dreaded "memory full" error several times.
9. My camera has some serious issues taking pictures of green things. It's not as noticeable on things like plants or grass. But take a picture of a green paper or anything else? Then I'm in Photoshop for a long, long time trying to get it to look right. 
10. There are many, many stray cats in our neighborhood. I started taking a picture every time I saw a new one. I want to say there are 6 or 8 on our block that we see regularly (as in: at least once a week. Usually several times.). But dogs? I *think* there are 3 on our entire street. And there may be one lonely little squirrel. I don't remember actually having seen one, but I'm assuming there must be one somewhere. 
11. I'm going to have a ridiculous number of "before" shots of the house. We're not going to go nuts with remodeling, but we are going to paint, change fixtures/plates, get new window coverings & furniture, new wall decor, etc. It's been slow going till now- I'm still having trouble deciding on colors and we've been here 8 months! The floor plan is pretty open and I'm struggling with differentiating between rooms without jarring color changes. 

Our other kitty.

Overall? So far it's been fun, eye opening, and frustrating. Will I do it again? Ask me in January after I've finished the album. I don't know! Though I think I want to spend time with some other projects next year.

Stray cat

Wonderful friends & beautiful jewelry

A few weeks ago, I was admiring a necklace my friend Tiffany made over at My life, in snippets. She does beautiful work in all kinds of mediums- paper crafts, jewelry, sewing, and more! (Scroll down to see the denim quilt she made for her baby and the Green Hills necklace and bracelet set- gorgeous!) I love all her stuff, but I completely fell for the butterfly necklace she posted last month.
I'd mostly forgotten about it when Brandon brought the mail in today- guess what was in it?! Tiffany remembered and sent it to me. Sooo sweet! Can't wait to wear it! Go check her out- she does amazing custom work!

Crafting with an eye to responsibility- part 1

So much packaging!

 Protecting our planet is so important, especially in a paper and material intensive industry! I've had a few people ask about what options even exist to lessen the impact from paper crafting. Here are a few things I do and buy in both my personal and professional projects! This is part one of three and is about saving materials for reuse in new projects.

Embellishments I've created with scraps

Can I possibly reuse it? Save it!
    First, I save just about everything that comes through my craft room door. For example, there is a lot of packaging that is unfortunately involved in stamp and embellishment packages. Both stickers and stamps have a backing they're placed on. Stickers often have another thick piece of printed backing behind that. Stamps will have another piece of acetate (similar to those transparency sheets you used to use) on top of the stamp. THEN they'll be placed in a plastic bag. Crazy, isn't it? I work hard to use every piece! I save the bags to package other things later on, use the printed backings to make tags or other embellishments, and use the acetate pieces for various projects.

This entire page is created out of leftover pieces of paper- it took some doing, but it was great to use all of it up!

Another page made of leftovers

Frame made from leftover backing

     I also save every bit of scrap paper larger than a pencil (and sometimes even smaller pieces!) for use later. I've used the scraps to make cards, create my own embellishments, and even design complete pages! I test out ink colors, techniques, and all sorts of ideas on these scraps. Some I'll cut to a similar size, staple together, and use as scratch paper- this is perfect because I use a LOT of scrap paper when planning my projects. Once I read a statistic that claimed that each package of alphabet stickers was used on an average of only two pages. I was shocked! By the time I stop using a sheet of alphas, I've usually used it on 5-6 layouts. Then I cut and alter letters to make letters I'm missing. Once I'm out of most of the letters on a sheet, I'll mix it up with other fonts or colors and keep using them until they're completely gone. I save the backings to pads of paper, too. The backs are often thick enough to use to create frames on the fronts of albums or other types of embellishments. The front cover on a paper pad is usually printed with samples of the papers inside and is perfect to create a card from!

See the little ampersand? That's actually left from stamp backing!

Stamp storage- Ahh, so organized!

Button storage

  I don't stop at just saving crafty items. I snatch all sorts of containers and other things to use as storage. Right now, my buttons and ribbon scraps are stored in glass food jars. My inks are stacked on a tiered rack meant for storing cans in your pantry. My adhesives (all um... 13ish different types of them) are on an old white metal shelf I found out in the garage when we moved in. I've also got beads, paints, and other liquid items on it. I reuse binders to keep track of stamp, ink, and other inventories- it saves me lots of searching time, too! My stamps are stored in a $2 thrift store find- purple cd racks. The stamps are in cd cases which unfortunately I did have to buy brand new but I'm on the lookout now for more used racks and any used cases. Many of my eyelets and brads are in little screw top containers that held paints at one point. Film canisters work great, too- I haven't used film since probably 2003ish, so that shows you how long I've held on to them! I try to grab every used dryer sheet I see around our house, as well as tabs from soda cans. They both work great for different technique. Shoe boxes are wonderful for storing prints (I only do this with my own, as I'm not sure how safe they actually are!). I shortened some curtains last year, and the fabric I cut off has made fabulous towels for my bathtub cards.

Curtain towels!

     Lastly on the saving end of things, if I love something's structure but hate the color/decoration on it, I try to alter it into something beautiful. Some things on my list of altered projects right now are: a bunch of corkboard squares from an office spring cleaning, several notebooks that have been laying around forever, and the metal rack I mentioned that stores adhesives (it's functional, just needs some rust sanded off & repainted once I decide for sure on my remodel colors). I'm pondering coloring my button storage jars in the same color as the buttons inside. In the past, I've changed a mail sorter to hold smaller photos and recovered boxes and photo frames.

My modified mail sorter- small photos and other things just kept slipping through the bottom!

    How much does reusing help? I don't have any hard facts to point to. I do, however, have the evidence of my garbage can. As of this writing, I last took it out two weeks ago and it's barely 1/4 full. (I have a small can, too- the size you'd use in the bathroom or bedroom.) It would be practically empty if I took out the non-scrappy waste. I'm pretty proud of that! I buy fewer things like buttons and stickers since I use ones I find or create my own substitutes. I'm not sure scrapbooking and paper crafting will ever be a completely ecofriendly activity. Reusing so much does make it many times less wasteful and that is something I feel great about!

    Next up? What happens to the things that even a creative eye can't reuse?

Event journaling

In my first journaling post, I talked a lot about turning everyday moments into lasting memories. With my own photos, those are the pages that fill most of my albums. So much more happens in a year than just holidays, birthdays, and vacations! I don't want the events in our lives to be forgotten, though. I just look at these yearly occurrences differently than I do a picnic at the park on a random Sunday afternoon.
Small moments such as picnics, day trips, and new haircuts are the things that make up our day to day life. They tell a story about how we live and what is most important when we wake up in the morning. A look at year after year of birthday photos tells the viewer something entirely different. The story read in 10 years of birthday photos is of change, growth, and exploration. It's more of a big picture view. These views are just as important to have as the close ups. How else will you remember each stage of a child's life or the way your marriage has progressed through the years?

The question becomes how to record these larger happenings without losing the detail of each specific event. You want to remember what Emma was obsessed with the year she was 13 as well as all the party details. To record both the facts of the event and the changes that have taken place, try this at your next event:
First, always record the Ws- the who, what, when, where, and a why if that's needed. Once you have that down, stop and think about the previous year. Write down anything notable that comes to mind- good or bad. A really easy way to keep track of changes in someone's life is to make favorites lists. Anyone's top ten songs, books, or movies may change drastically in one year and they speak volumes about where a person is at that moment.

Add in any big changes that have happened in the past year- a move, a new hairstyle, new school, new job, new pet, etc. Toss in a few hopes for the coming year.
Think about what was going on a year ago (or 10, 20, since birth, etc)- what has changed? What is the same? A montage of photos through the years can help jog your memory on this one.
What words describe the person or event? Things like "shy," "logical," "creative," and "energetic" will help flesh out the journaling and may remind you of specific examples.
After your next event, pick a few of these prompts and just start writing down what comes to mind. You'll be surprised at how much these prompts help you remember and what they say about a person!