Tuesday, January 19, 2016

School Memory Boxes


Hello!!

If you have followed my blog for any length of time you'll know that I'm not a scrap booker.  I find the task absolutely daunting and for that reason alone have steered clear off the scrap book path. With that being said however, I still want to preserve our memories so the boys can reflect back in the years to come.  I've spent countless hours, on and off through the last couple years, searching the internet for other solutions and I think I finally found one alternative that works for me!

I decided that 2016 is the year I'm finally going to divorce the excess clutter in my house, beginning in my craft/office space. In the last couple of weeks I've emptied out the ENTIRE space, purged, organized, and slowly began the process of putting only the things that belong and I truly need back. Wow, what a chore - but its so close to being done!

One of the biggest areas that needed to be organized was the boys past schoolwork and projects.  I have a hard time throwing things away but it was beginning to take up too much space.  I had a little stashed here, and a little more over there, and oh, don't forget that drawer over there too!  I hated never knowing where I put things and I was starting to worry that things were going to be misplaced or mishandled and we'd lose those memories they worked so hard to create.  I wanted a system where I could put their entire schooling from Pre-K to Grade 12 in and it be safe and protected for years to come.  Enter in Jen from I Heart Organizing.  I've followed her blog for a couple of years now and while looking through her archives for something else entirely I stumbled upon her School Paperwork Organizing post.  It was literally a light bulb moment - it was exactly what I was looking for!  The post comes with free printables, tutorial, and tips; it truly couldn't get much easier!


I first began by purchasing my bins.  I went a little (ok a lot) bigger than Jen's file boxes but I wanted to make sure I had tons of room for growth.  These particular bins are Sterilite brand and are 4.5L.  I had a couple of hanging folder frames that I used inside them to hang my hanging folders onto. Using my Silhouette Cameo I cut both boys names and "School Days" from vinyl and added them to the side of each bin so there's never any confusion about who's is who's.

I printed out the Grade labels for each boy and affixed them to my file folders then printed out the Grade info sheets from Pre-K to Grade 12.  I added some solid colored paper, and a piece of the Schoolhouse DSP underneath their school photo from each year and added it to each corresponding year file folder.  I made sure to complete all the years so that everything co-ordinates and is ready for each school year.  Then all that was left was to fill them up!


As you can tell I have lots and lots of space left but I'm okay with that!  If the next couple years are anything like the last couple of years in school, it will be filled up in no time!

So, now that I have the boys school work in order I've given myself the next hill to climb...family photos.  I haven't done a thing with our photos since prior to 2006.  There are literally hundreds of them.  I've managed to sort them into years but that's it.  As I mentioned in the beginning of this post I am by no means a scrap booker but I think I'm going to attempt to take the plunge and use the Project Life products; they are simplified and easy to use for "newbies" like me LOL.  I'll keep you updated as I go but I would love to hear your advice and any words of wisdom you might have on how I should tackle this one!

Until next time...
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Hello 2016!


Hello 2016!

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season!  I became so swamped in December with home life that I made the biggest faux pas a card maker could ever make - I didn't get Christmas cards out!  It was definitely a "shame on my moment" so I decided instead to send out Happy New Year cards so I could *slightly* redeem myself.  I really like how they turned out and I was able to complete them when I didn't feel stressed or rushed to get them done; a win win in my books!

The concept had to be super simple and quick.  I didn't have time to have pictures professionally printed so I used my home printer.  I stamped the "HELLO" image from the retired Cheer All Year set in Versamark then heat embossed with Silver embossing powder.  Below the embossing I added "2016" cut from a Silver Foil Sheet using the Little Number Thinlits.  The mat behind the photo is a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" piece of Night of Navy card stock with a vertical row of silver embossed leaves from the also retired set From the Garden.  On the backside of the card I added a piece of Very Vanilla card stock so I could write a quick message to the receiver. 

Today is pretty exciting in the Stampin' Up! world - the new 2016 Occasions and Sale-A-Bration catty's go live today!  If you'd like to take a peek at all the new goodies, click the links in the left side bar - you WON'T be disappointed!

Here's a quick birthday card I made using the SAB set Sky is the Limit:


I used a technique called Faux Stamped Leather, which I featured a while back on the blog and did a tutorial over at Splitcoast Stampers for.  I added a few paper piercing additions and some white gel pen for a little interest.  A perfect masculine card!

Ok, I'm off.  My goal today is to get all the decorations down, sorted, and boxed up.  It was the boys first day back to school and I must say I was really beginning to crave routine again!  I've been putting off way too many things simply because we were still in the midst of "holidays".  Today, no more excuses!! ;) 

Until next time...
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