Pocket Page Scrapbooking

I have jumped in with both feet and decided to give scrapbooking with pocket pages a try.  I know - late to the party again. Well, I went to a sale recently and there were tons of the pocket page style page protectors.  I snatched them up at a really good price.  There was a nice mix of 12x12 page layout styles so I mixed them up and ended up with about 100 pages.  Here is the kicker...I only paid $5.00 for all.  Not to shabby! I love a bargain and I have been seeing all these posts about pocket pages that are too much fun - I just could not pass it up.  I have purchased several packets of the Project Life journal cards and lots of Snap kits that were on clearance at Michael's and Hobby Lobby.  I am ready to go.  I have several projects that I would like to use this style of scrapping on...Skyler's school scrapbook, Brock & Shauna's wedding,  vacations and daily life.  I have traditional scrapbooks for the kids and my husband & I but I am thinking special scrapbooks would be fast and easy with this method.  I am going to do my first pages this evening.  I will post pictures later this week.  I would love to hear about your experiences with pocket page style scrapbooking and see your projects.  Inspiration is always welcome!

Trying To Catch Up

Well, I noticed that it has been a bit since my last post.  Scrapbook room is still in a mess and I can't seem to make time to get it all sorted out.  I really need to get some projects finished and others started if I am going to finish in time for Christmas.  UGH!  I always seem to find time to do other things...cooking, cleaning and procrastinating mostly.  I am going to try to get Skyler to sit down and do some crafts this weekend for Christmas gifts.  We will see how that goes -lol.  
I did manage to finally get my front room redecorated.  I made a burlap and roses throw pillow for the sofa, refinished a wall shelf and made a mason jar candle for a candle holder.  I was crafty! 
I have a whole list of gift ideas that I need to sort out, pick which ones I can realistically complete by Christmas and get needed materials to complete.  I also need to transfer a whole mess of pictures to get printed so that I can complete some layouts and other projects.  BUSY BUSY BUSY!! 
Wish me luck :)

Scrapbook Room Redo

I am in the process of purging some of my stash of scrapbooking supplies to make room for new (of course). I am also going to rearrange my existing layout in the room to make room for a new shelving unit that my husband gave me for my birthday (Yay me!).  I have rearranged this room several times now but I still have not hit on the best layout for me.  I always find myself bumping into something or having to search for something that I know I have.  I usually give up and go buy another one - reason #1 for the purge.  I have searched the scrapbooking sites and Pinterest for storage tips and room layouts but nothing has really jumped out at me yet.  I am optimistically hopeful that this new arrangement will prove to be the one.  It's always a work in progress as new things come in.   Anyway,  this is my plan for the weekend - room makeover!  Maybe then I can get back to scrapbooking.  I am so far behind-lol.

Our Summer Mini Vacation

My husband and I took Skyler to Holiday World & Splashin' Safari this week.  It's about a 3.5 hour drive from our house to Santa Claus, Indiana.  We packed up the car with games, movies and books and headed out on Tuesday.  We arrived in the early afternoon and did the amusement park rides the first day.  Skyler's first roller coaster was The Voyage.  I rode in the car with him and Brent was behind us.  When we did that first drop I looked over at Skyler and thought he was going to pass out.  Climbing to the second drop, he looked at me and said "We are going again?" I told him to hang on thinking that he was scared.  Nope - he replied "This is AWESOME!"  After the initial drop on The Voyage, all bets were off.  He wanted to ride everything and was not afraid of anything.  Brent rode The Legend roller coaster with Skyler.  The first one beat me to death (still have the bruises to show for it).  When they came off the second coaster, Skyler came running over to me and said "Popaw screamed like a girl!"  It was too funny.  He tells everyone about that too.  I don't think my husband will live it down.
We spent the night in Jasper, Indiana which is about 30 minutes from the park. Skyler wanted Mexican food for dinner and we lucked out with a really nice restaurant right behind the hotel.  After dinner, we went back to the hotel and Skyler took advantage of the pool for a while.
On Wednesday we were headed to the water park area - Splashin' Safari. We stopped at a local store for some sunglasses for Skyler and right next door was a scrapbook store!  I couldn't believe it.  My husband (being the awesome husband) told me to go on in and he would take Skyler to get the sunglasses.  Yay me! Just walking in the door to a LSS is amazing.  There is no other smell like a scrapbook store with all of the paper.  Love it!  I ended up with a few things and a t-shirt (of course).  I checked out and went back out to the car but Brent sent me back in to get my friend a t-shirt too since we scrap together or shop together-lol. Then we were off to the water park.  I can't swim and I am not comfortable in the water so I carried the bag of dry clothes, towels and other items while following Brent and Skyler from ride to ride. My main job this day was taking pictures and relaxing in the sun.    The water park area has water roller coasters and lots of them.  They are a lot bigger than the typical water slide and you are usually in a raft type deal with 5 other people.  They rode just about everything in the water park area. They also did both wave pools and the lazy river.  By the time we were finished Skyler was exhausted.  He was asleep in the car after about 15 minutes of driving.  All in all - it was a really great mini vacation.  We could not have asked for better weather, the park was awesome, lines were short and we were together having a good time.  I am blessed.

Summer Time

I can't believe that we are already into July.  There are so many things that I want to get done over the summer months and time is flying by.  I want to get our master bedroom painted.  We have lived in this house for seven years and our bedroom is the only one that we haven't touched.  I threw a wreath up on the wall along with a picture but that is is for decor. I really need my carpets cleaned and would like to do something with our kitchen cabinets (they are a hot mess from the 70's).  We are also planning a mini vacation with our grandson to an amusement/water park for a couple of days while school is out.  Then of course there are all of the crafty projects that I want to do. My Pinterest board is full of craft ideas that I want to try.  I also wanted to get at least one scrapbook finished that I am working on. Our sun porch has been rendered useless by all of the boxes of stuff that I keep putting in there for a yard sale that I also want to do over the summer. My friend Brenda is going to join me on this venture so she will push me to set the date and do this task.  I always need a push!  We will have a ton of stuff going out for this sale so hopefully I will make some cash for new scrapbook storage and flooring for my scraproom.  That would be awesome! Fingers crossed that we have a great sale and nothing is left back.  My list of to do's just keeps growing!  
  I have a  three day weekend for the holiday.  My husband has to work all weekend so I am going to take advantage of some alone time and try to check some of these things off of my list.  Notice that I said try...I am such the procrastinator!  I will get side tracked a half dozen times or more over the course of the weekend - I am sure!  Oh look squirrel! Yep, I am that person-lol.  

Dreaming of a Winning Ticket

I have been trying to get caught up on some much needed scrapbooking.  I did manage to complete two layouts last weekend and another one mapped out.  I have come to the conclusion that I really need to win the lottery so that I can retire and devote all my free time to crafting.  Wouldn't that be nice?    It seems like while I am at work all these layouts come to mind.  When I am home I am either too tired or busy with housework and never get the time to scrap.  If I am scrapping in the evening,  it seems like it's a struggle to get a layout to look the way I want it to.  I definitely scrap better during the morning or early afternoon.  That seems to be my most creative time of day.  Too bad it is also the same time that I am at work.  So, I guess I will continue to buy that lottery ticket each week and dream of retirement.  I always tell my husband that you can't win if you don't play and we are good people so our time is coming.

What's On Your Wish List?

I have a long list of things that I would love to have in my scraproom.  Of course, I am always adding to that list because some new paper line or tools that are always being introduced.  The first item on my list that has probably been on there the longest is the IKEA Expedite shelving system.  Dream storage solution.  The closest IKEA to me is in Ohio.  Yes, they will ship but wow that is costly!  I need to pull up the 70's red shag carpeting and put in flooring before I get wall shelving units.


http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/09064/

I also would love to have a Big Shot cutter and embosser.  The only cutting machine that I presently own is the SLICE.  While it is a great little product - I am limited.  I have seen so many projects that the Big Shot was used and always amazed at the results.  I would also like a Cricut or a Silhouette.  I am leaning more towards the Silhouette but I hear that the new Cricut will also allow you to create your own images for cutting so we will see.
I know there are lots of items that are probably on your list. If you could get anything for your craft or scraproom, what would you choose?

http://cdn.scrapbook.com/products/cache/SBC_sz-658300_0.jpg