All organised (for the moment)

All organised for the moment. Yep that is my scrapbooking room.


Due to the rooms size, power points, doors etc the actual layout of the room can not be changed. But I did have to think long and hard before I decided exactly on the final layout as some of my scrapbooking furniture had to be cut to make the most of the space – giving me the optimum storage and work surface possible. Thankfully all of my white furniture is cheap desks etc that you can get from Ikea and has had a few years wear and tear before it all got modified.

The following Ript pages show how my scrapbooking room is laid out.

Inspiration all around me

Undertaking the “Inspiration” course I did on BPS coincided with me also sorting out my new scrapbooking room. How I wanted it to look. How I wanted things to be stored.


Using Ript I created these pages which showed how I finally decided I should create my scrapbooking room to inspire me.

Transformation

Mum and dad bought these chest of drawers many many years ago. Dad had them in his garage for a while until they started being passed around the family as each of us bought out own houses and had little furniture.

I have probably had them the longest, sometimes I have needed the chest of drawers in my house, other times they have remained empty in the garage.

But while I have been renovating the house and its been really dusty and my furniture has either been in storage or piled up in the spare bedroom this chest of drawers have been a real blessing.

Looking at the furniture I had for my scrapbooking room and what I needed to store in there I decided they would be a perfect storage solution but they needed a serious face lift from the tired white paint.

Christopher and I had been reminiscing about our childhood and the comics we read, and we both decided Beno was the best. It was after this conversation I came up with the idea of decorating the chest of drawers in pages from Beno comics. But the question I had to ask was where an earth was I going to be able to find cheap Beno comics?

On a trip to a charity shop I was really surprised to find a big stack of old Beno comics which I purchased for a bar gin price. With my comics in one hand, sandpaper and PVA glue I set about transforming this tired chest of drawers. It was great fun to do and I am really pleased with the end result, adding storage and colour to my scrapbooking room.

Its also the perfect size to fit in the gap between by computer and craft desk, and the perfect size to fit both my printers on.

I still have a pile of Beno comic pages left and am itching to find something else to decorate them with!

Time

During the Christmas holidays I set about transforming some old wooden photo frames with a lick of acrylic paint. The idea begin they display inspirational photos around my scrapbooking room. Five of the six photo frame transformations were successful. But the photo frame I tried to paint orange went horribly wrong.

It was around about this time when, leading on from my word for the year (Opportunity) I realised that how we actually used out time assisted us in utilising the opportunities that there are available to us.

So never wanting to waste anything if possible I decided using the messed up photo frame, paper, rub-on sayings and some flat embellishments relating to this theme I would do a picture to remind me how important utilising out time is.

As the photo frame was already messed up from my initial paint job there was nothing for it but to go for a distressed look. Well all I can say is it took me hours and hours to do. And the whole distressed look distressed me to the extreme. I am sure that in the processes of getting to the final product you see I looked more distressed!

I am really happy with the results. And this photo frame stands along my picture of my word of the year, on top of my scrapbooking storage unit where I can see it in my scrapbooking room and when I am walking in the hallway.

Have to say though I am in no hurry to attempt the distressed look again!

My Word of 2010

For several years I have followed Ali Edwards blog where she has chosen a word for her year. Each time I have seen it I have thought I must do that – but like so many things we say we must do I have never got around to it. This year I decided I would definitely do a word for the year. So my word for the year is OPPORTUNITY.

Why opportunity? Well last year I did not think I made full use of the time I had available to accomplish things and by doing this I missed opportunities which were available to me.

So this year I want to take the opportunity to complete things, gain knowledge, make positive choices, Laugh and smile, progress, compromise, read and explore my beliefs and environment.

I want to take the opportunity to be positive no matter what life throws at me, to be strong no matter what, creative, caring and loving.

I want to take the opportunity for scrapbooking more, new experiences and adventures, challenges, improving and taking more photos.

To help me remember my word of the year, to trigger the reasons for its choice and to do my best to encompass this word in my 2010 life I created this “picture”. It sits on top of my storage unit in my scrapbooking room. Angled so that I can see it both in my scrapbooking room and when I pass the door in the hallway.

(I got the black from Marks and Spencers and used my 2.4” square punch to cut old Basic Grey pieces to make a patchwork effect for the background(Had to ask myself when I was doing this exactly how much of the same series and pattern did I actually buy when I first started scrapbooking!) The black letters where cut using my Cricut – sorry can’t remember the cartridge I used.

Following on from Tublr

Following on from being introduced to Tublr I am pleased to find out I was not alone with my problems using it. Liza on the Inspiration class message board shared a great tool for "clipping" online pictures and storing them and its a free too!

You can download from: http://www.ript.com/

Unfortunately I believe its not available for MAC users yet.

Its really easy to use, if you see a picture online or have a selection of photos you want to compile you just drop the picture into your "ript" pile and later go to your "table" and place your pictures on a page. You can then add text if you want.

I know it sounds really complicated and I was scared to start with but I gave it a go and honestly its really simple. I played around with some photos I took when I visited Westonbirt Arboretum and you can see below what I created.

Tumblr

Elizabeth pointed us to a tool on the internet which allows you to link to photos and blogs and all sorts. Its called “Tumblr” and is meant to be a “free online bulletin board” If you want to give it a go this is the link tumblr

Unfortunately I did not get on with it at all! Totally overwhelmed me and I decided, after several hours of TRYING to understand what I needed to do that I would spend way to much time trying to figure it out. Instead I was better of using my blog or printing photos out or writing down quotes or poems in the various notebooks I have around the place. (I must not buy any more notebooks!)