Dewey's gone

Sweet Dewey departed this life yesterday afternoon. I have so many pictures of him, but it will be a while before I can scrapbook them. It feels like it'll be a while before I can scrapbook any kind of pages. This photo shows him in one of his favorite positions: laying on the floor with his head on the bottom of the coffee table. He was taking a little nap, but usually he watched TV in this position.

In a Funk

I know that people scrapbook while their lives are in chaos, but I just can't seem to do it. Between Dewey's getting worse and my mom's situation, I just can't bring myself to be creative. I am, instead, painting the rooms of the house one by one. Tonight I finished the powder room. Last week, we did the kitchen, family room, and master bedroom. I am running out of rooms! And thankfully, I did NOT paint anything this color!!!

Border Swap!

I got these in the mail yesterday--how exciting!! I joined a swap on ScrapShare.com and it was fabulous! Our job was to make a border and one other element using CM materials. The theme was generic (that it could be used on any page). So I made five sets of my border and element and got one of mine back (the green and yellow one second from the right), along with one of everyone else's in the swap.

The borders are all awesome--totally things I would've never thought to make, but I love them all. The colors are great, the shapes are innovative, the quality is amazing.

Swapping is a little bit of pressure. First, I worry that I won't have enough paper to make five sets of something. Then, I worry about the quality of my work--people on ScrapShare are awfully picky when it comes to ragged edges or a bit of tape-runner showing (things I don't usually tolerate in my own work and wouldn't dream of sending along to someone else). But still--I used a nail file to smooth out my edges just in case they were a little too ragged for someone's taste. Oh, my.

Finally, I worry about getting an idea of what to make--what colors do I use? what shapes? when it it enough and not over the top? In looking at the sets I got back, I probably could've used another pattern or color in conjunction with my border, but oh well, I like to keep things simple.

I haven't been doing any scrapping lately. Things are still out of sorts with Dewey and my mom, and I just haven't been in the mood to scrap.

Yard Sale!!

I fed my paper addiction by going to the local scrapbook store's annual Yard Sale. In their back room, they set out used stuff that customers have brought in to sell. I got a ziplock bag full of old CM and Mrs. Grossman's stickers, a set of letters (not one was missing--a rarity), and a HUGE ziplock bag full of 12 x 12 paper. Oh, and I even got a CM file folder for only $5. I realized, post-manic phase, that this folder does not hold 12 x 12 paper, which is sort of a bummer. It is well-used, too, so I'm pretty sure I can't sell it on eBay. Oh well, I will find some use for it.

I'm heading to Pennsylvania for a few days, so there will be no scrappin' going on. And when I get back, I'll be busy making baby shower invitations for an old friend of mine. We registered today at Target and Burlington, and BOY did we have fun! My vast experience as Aunt Jann, auntie extraordinaire to 6 children, helped us immensely--ha!

A New Toy!

So I got the fabulously fun Meadow Micro-Maker today. What a great surprise--one of the itinerant teachers brought it from someone at her other school who was at the crop a couple of weeks ago.

She wanted to see it, too, so I pulled it out right then and started punching out little frogs (my favorite), flowers, fishies, and butterflies. Then one of my students had to try it out--he loved it, too!

I haven't figured out how I'll use it, really, but it was just too cute to pass up.

Crop Club

I went to my friend Sandra's Crop Club today. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and the time went fast. I wasn't much in the mood to be jovial with the sad news of Dewey and my mom weighing on my mind, but it was good to get out and be around people. There were 7 of us there including Marcia (CM Consultant). I had bought the new Everyday Power Pallette, and I have to say that I LOVE IT!!! The colors are great, and I made a borders set to swap.

Here's a picture of the borders set. The rules for the swap were that it was to be generic and CM only materials:
I used Navy from the PF pack for the border background, and then everything else was from the Everyday PP. There's green and a colorful stripe on that, and then a journal box and two little elements. If the swappers have the Everyday PP, there will be lots they can do to coordinate these borders to their projects.

the craft room

Here is where all the magic happens...
Kidding. This is the messy space where I work. It's so nice to have a room where I can just leave everything out and close the door.
It's a wreck right now because I have been lazy about cleaning up. I like to create, but I don't like to clean. Every few weeks, I spend a couple of hours organizing everything again and then I can work in peace. But until the time when I am overwhelmed by my unorganization, I don't think too much about cleaning up. There are little stacks of paper scraps, alphabets, pens everywhere--what a mess!