Inspired by Stacy Julian blog of 12 pics in 12 minutes. I like the idea of 9 in 9 minutes for 2009. Here are mine! Welcome to 2010!

Taking a moment to reflect on the last few months here and the prep work that I always put into the holiday season. Maybe this will help others too. I hope so! This year has been one of challenge for lots of people out there with the economy dumping setbacks on so many. Our own family has been fortunate to still have our employment and our health and both kids well etc. Even so, I decided we were going to scale back on spending as a preventative measure. I don't believe in scaling back on gift giving though. I still give gifts and give them to many. I just decided I wasn't going to strain myself or my budget shopping for them the three months before the holidays. Forewarning, this is going to be one of those stories of how God helps us keep it simple, yet great... :) I decided early in the Fall this year to make my 2009 Christmas gifts with things I had on hand. It just seemed like there must be a simple abundance in my life that I could somehow share better if I looked at

Here are a few of my recent layouts. Get inspired to scrap a page! Enjoy!

a classic layout from Scrapgirls But really the classics never went out of style! Just like the little black dress for fashion, some techniques are timeless. Scrapbooking classics are always in style--especially when you want to do pages on a budget. I have been scrapping about 17 years now and have seen a LOT of trends--and can pick out the classics too: tearing inking brads and ribbons journaling and titling by hand handcut shapes and paper piecing by hand color blocking paper folding with your scraps computer journaling computer border printing and titling I heard someone comment yesterday they were never going to scrapbook because it costs too much! ??? Of course you CAN spend oodles on a page layout--but you don't HAVE to! How do you save pennies on your scrapbooking these days? Rockester

It is the second week of April! Is your kitchen out of control? It's time to try to decrease our extras in the kitchen area! Clutter freaks--come out of that pantry!!! Yes you! I can see the Tupperware and plastics exploding out of the cabinet. I can see the old stale cereal behind the maple syrup bottle! Let's get busy this week in the kitchen zone. Foods : If it is old and stale --toss it. If you really don't like it (think salad dressings, marmalades, sauces, mustards, food gifts from December that you haven't even opened, etc) but it is still good, then donate to a food shelf TODAY! It's not getting any more tasty or fresh sitting in your cupboards. Kitchenware: you know we all accumulate a LOT of it over time. Seems like every fast food and gas station chain has a promo and a plastic cup collection. LOL Recycle the cups and plastics or donate them. HALF is the goal. Decrease the food storage plastics in your kitchen by HALF this week. Keep the sizes that WOR

In a Funk? Let's chat... All right. It's just you and me here. Me typing on my end and you reading on your end. Let's ignore the other 9900 people on the SC list that read this at other times during the day and chat a minute. You and me being real. As the moderator you hear my little speeches and emails almost daily. I try to encourage everyone as a group every day to MOVE toward those goals that we have in common. Now, I am just talking to you. You may not know me in person. But I can tell you are waiting for something. You are waiting for some sort of a 'go' signal from the cosmos, from me, from the groups you belong to, or from yourself before you really kick start yourself and make a change. You might say you are waiting for the loved ones in your life to do x, y, or Z before you tidy up your life. You might be waiting for a raise before you can 'afford' to organize. You might be waiting for the kids to move out so you can have more space. There are lo

Make sure you keep a sense of balance in the room. Don't weigh it down with furnishings or with wall clutter or with too heavy a drape. Rugs pull a big room together but are not as vital in a small dining room. The color of the wood doesn't matter as much as getting rid of the 'extras' in the room. Let a few pieces shine instead of filling the room up. Be picky. Put out only your best. I like the balance in these rooms. They have very different decor styles and budgets--but still look nice. Do you see how even the red Victorian room looks cohesive-- but not cluttered?

The first week of April we will tackle the Dining Room (using the Flylady schedule and tips here: ) http://flylady.com/pages/FlyingLessons_Declutter.asp Remember that decreasing everything in this room overall by 50% is the goal. If you have more than ten to 20 things on the walls in here, take down HALF the items. Keep only the best. In each room we go through this month let's start at the top. What's on the walls? Wall art Keepers: What's hanging in your Dining Room? In the dining room keep it washable! Black and brown anything is classic. original art or sculpture by known artists -as long as you can clean it truly good paintings by family members IN FRAMES behind glass! one floating shelf of perhaps 1, 3 or 5 BEST items- wipe-able of course Move to other rooms anything that can get dirty but you want to keep vintage needle art/heirloom needle art Family heirloom photos in GOOD frames. --Not those old metal clunky things that are rusting. Wall art -Rethink it: clashing

From our discussions this am --and from other talks with friends lately-- I think we need a Halfsies (50%) Household Challenge. What is that? Is is an aggressive Spring Cleaning challenge for those of us who have waaaaayy too much stuff. A room or a whole household...it doesn't matter. If you can't walk through your home and say that it is pared down and perfect, join us! Do as much as you can. If you feel overwhelmed by your belongings and your household disarray, join us. If you feel like no one can come over because things are a wreck, join us. If you just want some focus and encouragement in each room, join us. If you can truly say with an objective eye that HALF the stuff you own (50%) has to go for you to get back to happy, let's do it! April will be HALFSIES month. We will go around the home room by room and cut in HALF our inventory inventory in all the places we can. You may not even realize yet that you have as much in each category as you will find.... Half the

First Francine wrote in to our big group the following. What a heartfelt note and how brave of her to ask for advice. In ScrappersChallenge@ yahoogroups. com, "joeyenergy" wrote: I have been in my house 14 yrs now, and CANNOT get the basement area organized. I made the front room my scrapbook/studio and yes, I admit, I use the floor A LOT and everything is making its way to the back room. I have been very depressed and overwhelmed because I don't know where to begin, PLEEEEESE, can you give me some suggestions as to where I should start??????? ?? Thanks so much. --------------------- Here is my reply--because I have been through this too! :) > From: rockestertm > Subject: [ScrappersChallenge] Re: Organizing- joeyenergy > To: ScrappersChallenge@yahoogroups.com > Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 10:16 AM Good for you for tackling this! Take it on--but take it on in a better way this time. :) Sometimes organizing is not enough. By that I mean it is not enough to p

Hey Hey Hey! What's new today? I want to share with you one of my recent projects/goals. One of my resolutions in 2009 was to focus on TRYING to stretch myself and really go for more of my creative and work-related goals. So when I saw the design team call out on Graphic 45's website, I knew this was something I had to try. I love their product line "Communique" a LOT. And I do use it in my year-long genealogy class scrapbooking/research series at our local store. When my dd sent me pics of her beau and their Valentine event, I knew what I was going to do! So the motivation combined with the supplies and the creativity and well, let's just say this little book exploded out of the mix. :) Two other projects for the DT call were my triple clipboard and a two page layout--also shown here. The G45 DT call is closed now --and my entry is in for consideration. So now, I just have to wait and see! Here are the extensive pics for your viewing and inspiration! Don

I am uploading a couple of layouts I did for our ScrapperChallenge Jan. challenges. I hope you enjoy them. January's theme for scrapbook supply use on ScrappersChallenge was clocks and time elements or papers. Here is my layout on the right and my online inspiration on left. Our other challenge is the sketch challenge and we are to use one photo in January since it is the FIRST month of the year. Here is my layout for that January sketch challenge --which is posted monthly on SC by Fran. (Thanks Fran!) And while I am uploading pics, how about this CUTE pic of my son and his newlywed bride (July 08) at our home over Christmas break! And one of my DD and her sweetie.... Just because I miss them all off at college. :) Good luck on exams kids!! Rock

Finding time to scrapbook--or any other personal hobby time, really--is tough. It is about balance, I think. As a 25 year stay-at-home mom and parent of two children, I know how kids can keep you super-busy, especially in the early years! So can housework, families, homework, outside-the-home work schedules keep you hopping too. How do we as women MAKE time--not find time--to do the things we really want done?? We all put things on our "to do" lists daily. Mentally, or on paper, we CHOOSE parts of our day that we can control. Also we choose how we respond to the rest of the normal pressures of life. The best laid plans always get thrown off kilter. But how do we regroup and re-prioritize our time? From getting your nails done, gassing up the car, helping with homework, grocery shopping, appointments, to taking the kids to the park, we alot our time and our priority to various things in our day. For some women shopping is a 'me time' outlet, for others it is getting m

The winner of the Messy to Clean room contest for the biggest transformation of your work area is....... drumroll please.... Can you guess from the photos in the previous blog entries? Dianna in Virginia!!!!! You are the winner of all the cool supplies in the prize box this month! WHOOOOHOOO! Contact me privately at Rockester@magnaspeed.net with your mailing info so I can ship your prize! And congrats for doing all that hard work during the prescribed contest time period. Honestly all of you are truly winners because look at how you improved your spaces! Good luck scrapping and HAVE FUN in your new creative zones. GREAT JOB everyone! Rockester

Messy views Clean views

Messy Clean

Messy Clean Messy and Clean PICS from MSchell posted here on Scrapper Challenge http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScrappersChallenge/photos/album/1713658370/pic/list

Hurray I am finished writing an 80 page hardbound book for my two children! That project has been in the slow cooker/process for almost a year. DONE! Writing and editing that puppy took a loooooong time! I finished it Dec 31st just in time for the New Year! Busy day at home and work today...but a good one. Cleaned out my purse. Yeh! Found a freebie movie ticket. Made a layout with the January sketch as my Inspiration. Will post that pic on here tomorrow. Packed 13 page kits for class. Called 20 students. Made a master list for a year long project and decorated the spiral notebook it resides in. :) Went to the bank. Returned a DVD movie. Turned in some paperwork. Went to the movies with my family to see Benj. Button. :) I got my desk cleared off 2/3 of the way last night. I want to place both my Cricut and my Silhouette closer to my workdesk. But first I have to move a book stacker and about 15 photo frames! :) It's all a juggling act for space on my desktop. LOL I am keeping one pi

Win this and MORE! Are you a MESSY right now? No longer! Get going in 2009 ... The Messy to Clean room Challenge is just for YOU! I am personally going to lead this one January 1-15th! Take your workspace from a messy room to a clean room! Challenge runs anytime during the first two weeks of January 1st thru 15th. 1. Take 1 to 3 pics (no more) right now of your MESSY scrapbooking workspace 2. Clean it up! **Don't forget to share or DONATE things you no longer need! 3.Take 3 photos (not more) of your space all CLEAN! 4. Send the photos to me privately at Rockester@magnaspeed.net on or before midnight January 15th. 5. Enjoy your space and see who wins! One participant will be chosen as winner by me as making the most progress! Winner chosen on Sunday January18th! The prize is a combination of member donation and my own stash! You will win a value over $75 of scrapbooking, papercraft, and stamping items! The first part is a fantastic Close to My Heart prize pack of ABC acrylic stam