A little of this, Little of That and an Empty House

This week I will be working on quite the random collection of projects...lol. I recently joined Swap-bot and need to create two 8x8 layouts to swap on hopefully that will get done today so I don't run out of time. My husband is going to be out of town for three days so in my boredom I imagine I might have some time to film a few videos...now if only I could figure out how to edit and upload! I figured out one way to get more photos in my posts...the plan is to take pictures of everything I have ever (ever?!) made and then day by day I can blog about a project until I get more recent projects finished. This will be fun to see the old and new mixed together because my scrapping style has definitely changed over the years :) A few other things in the work that won't happen for a while but I'm brainstorming ideas that can work as a series of posts based on a theme...hmmm still in the works. I would like to also post more tutorials on how to make some of the projects I've made and here's the fun part...gathering some family for some classes! Oh the benefits of being a newbie to the scrapping world...all your family gets roped in! Here's the thing, I LOVE what I do but at some point the radio's not good enough and I've watched all of our DVD's you can't believe how many times. I really enjoy sharing my creativity with others, not only that but it's amazing the conversations that can happen when you're working alongside someone else. My mother-in-law scrap about once a week or so and I look forward to our sessions so much I'm trying to set up the next one before we've even started. Okay okay enough jibber-jabbering for now...I'm off to get some work done! Happy Scrappin' SB

Hey Everybody! As a special treat I thought I would give you an inside look at my scraproom! Sometime in April, my mother-in-law asked me if I would like her to help me turn our spare bedroom into a REAL scraproom and I was NOT about to say no! We got most of the work done that weekend and I've been decorating and organizing since then. Just a side note, I did clean up my room before taking these pics and even my husband commented on how clean it was when in reality I was thinking it still looked a little messy...lol!
So here we go!

This is what you see when you first walk into my room. On the far right wall I have a little sign in the middle that says 'I may be in my own little world but they know me here'...thought it was very fitting! I got it at Hobby Lobby for around $5. In between the two walls is my storage cabinet for my paper. My husband build it for me out of pine wood and square grates. He drilled holes and used zip ties to attach the grate. I love it :) On the wall to the left, is where I keep all of my printed photos, stickers, and other embellishments. There are plastic drawers that I also use for storage under the shelves.

When you walk into the door and turn left this is what you will see. I have a cabinet where I store my magazines, idea books, and empty albums. On the shelf I have my albums that I'm working on. I don't like to call them finished because in my mind they never will be...lol. I also store my mini sewing machine and my digital images/CDs on that shelf.












This is just the inside of the cabinet.












This is the table in my room. My mother-in-law gave me an ear piercing table which makes up the right side of the table. I love the drawer in it because it has about twenty really small sections in the drawer. Because of that, I decided to make that end of the table my Cricut central. It's also on the same end as my paper storage so all of my paper is in reach. The far left side of the table is an entertainment table. A large piece of pine is connecting the two tables which I painted and placed plastic over the tables for easy clean up.


This is just another look at my storage wall and paper storage unit. I love having these shelves behind my desk because when I sit at my desk everything is in reach.









This is a very small element in my room but for me it sets a mood. I like the candles sitting on the windowsill because they are very calming.










Anybody who knows me at all knows why this sign is in my room! I can't tell you how many times a day this phrase comes out of my mouth!



I hope you enjoyed the tour of my scraproom. I really do love it. Until we meet again,
Happy Scrappin' SB

The latest

Well, here's the latest that's been happening in the Sanctuary! Still working on a bunch of mini albums, I completed one for m pastor's family as a thank you and one for myself :) I was a little out of commission all last week with a sinus infection but now I'm ready to get back to work. While I was sick my husband did not want me getting out of bed/off the couch so we compromised(him more than me...lol) and I sketched a bunch of layouts for various pages from the couch, so now that I'm feeling better I am able to start working on those.

One project that I have been a little bummed out about is my Operation DB. Every time I take it out to work on it I just end up starting at it...for some reason when it comes to this project, while I have the main idea I just can't seem to get it out of my brain and on paper. I guess time will only tell what happens but hopefully something will spark and I can get this project done (by November!).

On tomorrow's agenda is taking lots of pictures of the minis and layouts I have been creating and if I'm feeling REALLY ambitious I'll clean up my scrap room and take pics of how the remodeling turned out. Not everything is done like I would have hoped but it has been fully functional for the last few months and I have to keep telling myself that's the important part. The rest of the decorating will still be in works for a little while but what can ya do?!

Another aspect of my blogging that I am still developing is recording videos. Most of the ideas that I get I find on You Tube and various other websites so I when I do get around to recording more I most likely post videos talking about the project that I have made rather than tutorials. One of my role models is Laura from Following The Paper Trail here on blogspot. She is so creative and posts so many videos OF HER OWN CREATIONS consistently and I recently found out that she has only been blogging and doing her videos for about a year. Now I highly recommend that if you are into scrapbooking especially minis you check her out...she is AMAZING! I thought she'd been doing this a lot longer. So my goal is to post more frequently with pictures and videos....wish me luck!

As a side note, I realize that at about this point most of my followers(all 3 of them :) are my family members, however, please feel free to link my blog or pass on a link to others in the scrapping/crafting world and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave comments about really anything from suggestions of what you would like to see me do, likes and dislikes, is my blog easy to use or anything I should add or delete...all of this is very helpful to me as I seek to grow and develop in my blogging journey. Okay enough of that until I post again...Happy Scrappin' SB

Operation Write Home

Hey Scrappers! I have a very special challenge for you! On September 19th I will be hosting a card making party at my house. We will be making blank greeting cards to send to on organization called Operation Write Home. They send the cards to soldiers in Afghanistan so they can send them home to their families (can you imagine trying to find a happy birthday card in the middle of nowhere?). For those not able to make it to the party I still have the same challenge for you...

Operation Write Home is an organization that sends blank handmade greeting cards for all occasions to deployed service members to write home on. They’ve mailed approximately 500,000 cards so far—and are still going strong! Our challenge to you is to make cards to send to them for our nation’s heroes.

Please read the basic guidelines here; it’s important especially to remember that glitter is NOT allowed (it’s a safety hazard to our heroes), handmade cards only, and OWH needs A2 sized cards. “Operation Write Home” needs to be on the backs of your cards—it can be stamped, handwritten, or printed on labels. Please include a packing slip inside your box or envelope, and mail them to any of their shippers listed on the Mailroom page. In your package, you can also include notes written to a deployed service member.

As far as sending in your cards here are a few options:

-Send the cards to me and I will send them in to OWH, I need them sent to me NO LATER THAN Monday September 20th.

-Send the cards to OWH yourself. If you plan on sending the cards in yourself, go to http://operationwritehome.org/mailroom.html to find the details. They need to get to the shipper by September 30th. Keep in mind the closest shipper to the Dakotas is in Kansas.

Whether you're sending the cards in yourself or to me please take pictures of your cards and add them to the gallery. Oh a few other things I forgot to say...the cards should be half Christmas/Winter and the other half should be Birthday/Thinking of You. My challenge is for you to make 20 cards. That is a piece of cake! 10 Christmas and 10 Birthday and feel free to make the SAME 10/10 or 20 different cards the option is yours! Well I think I remembered everything but watch the blog for updates! Happy...Cardmakin'! SB

Hunting Album

Hey Everybody! Hope you are all having a great summer! I know we've been super busy, which is why my blog has been getting a little neglected but I promise I am still scrapping so once we slow down I will have plenty to write about. Here is a hunting album I made for my dad for Father's Day. He was very happy with it! Enjoy :)


The is the intro page that I made by cutting up the photo indexes to get the mini pics.

Last year our dogs bred for the first time and had a litter of puppies about a week after I got married. They are hunting dogs so I did a few pages on their hunting training.

When we go hunting there is at least a group of four or five. Very rarely does someone in my family go out hunting alone, not only for safety reasons but it's a great time and place to really bond with friends and family (bond? the girly side of me showing..lol).

I don't know why but every time we go out there has to be a picture taken with the kill hanging off the back of the tailgate.

The next two pages I did as a tribute to some of our past hunting dogs and the legacy the still continues.

This was one of my more challenging albums to make because there really isn't any books or layouts for really manly subjects. Yes I did find some hunting stickers and camo paper but I have to say I truly struggled so I am pleased at how the album came together.

There are plenty more pages I made that are not shown so if you are planning on doing a hunting themed album and are struggling, like I did, feel free to contact me and I can share those layouts as well as the processes I used to make this album. Until then, Happy Scrappin! SB