Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

Bag a bargain $1

These stamps are hereby offered for sale.  It hurts some to let them go, but I don't need them any more and if I am being honest I don't even *want* them any more.  Don't keep anything in your home that you don't know to be useful or think to be beautiful.  They is neither useful (to me) nor beautiful...they may be to you.

These ones are $1 - free pick up if you're local (Western Sydney), plus actual postage costs if you're not.  Payment by direct bank transfer preferred.  Let me know what you'd like in the comments or email me at mizbear@gmail.com

 

1.  Winnie The Pooh Stamped with Love - USED in fair condition All Night Media

2.  Fleur de Lis - USED in good condition, some staining on wood mount  Lucy's Stamps

3.  Numeral 4 - USED in good condition, some staining on wood mount  Lucy's Stamps

4.  Beach Ball - USED in fair condition, some staining on stamp and wood mount Crafty Kids

5.  Handstamped by with flower - USED in very good condition, some staining on face as you can see in the picture, but none on stamp or mount Crafty Kids

6.  Inkums Pocket Stamp Set Tropical Fish - brand new in packet, never used never wanted, unclaimed order that I had to pay for anyway...please will somebody take it off my hands!!

More coming soon...watch out for 50c bargain bin, stamps and punches for $2, $3 and $5.

Scrap Storage

Completely by accident I have found a good way to store my scrap boxes. All my scraps are stored in pizza boxes (thanks PT) labelled according to colour and they were stacked on top of one another under the craft desk which a) looks untidy and b) meant that if I wanted to get out a box I'd have to scrabble around the floor and unstack them and restack them which actually means that they get left all over the place in the craft room and I can never find what I'm looking for anyway and BTW if anyone knows where the pizza box with my scrap patterned paper in it is, I'd be grateful to know cos it's been AWOL for a few weeks now.
Anyway...
the cardboard boxes that the Westcliff 6x2L juices from Aldi come in are a perfect size to fit 4 pizza boxes end on. All you have to do is (carefully) remove the top flap with a craft knife and there is your storage unit. Of course the box can be gussied up with some paint or patterned paper or whatever.  They store vertically, take up less floor space and are easily lifted in and out.  The very bestest bit though is that the boxes are FREE!

Arghhhh

Little Miss FiddleFingers has been at my craft stuff again and has managed to lose one of my 1" O rings!

I am cranky.

Progress on another front

The Clean Up The Craft Room Project is well underway and if all goes well, I should be able to get into some scrapbooking in a week or so.  As the room as been slowly emptied and cleared of clutter a few things have become apparent.  I have a huge craft room - I think it's about 10 feet by 12 feet.  No joke.  I have masses of workspace - well at least I will by the time the desks are cleared properly.  Space is seriously NOT a problem.  But storage is.  My Bazzill collection is under control.  Dad made me this groovy little box about 18 months ago and it works like a charm.  Stamps are sorted and I have a place for stickers/punches/adhesives/tools and all the doodads like an embossing gun that don't really fit anyplace else.  Beyond that: nada.  Everything is sort of stacked.  Or boxed in shoe boxes where I can't see it.  If I can't see it, I don't use it and then I buy more stuff, which I have no place to put so it gets shoved in a box.  Then I can't see it so I don't use it and I buy more stuff and...

The other thing is that while I might have been blessed with many things - a wonderful husband and two delightful-when-they-are-not-bickering children, I don't have a decorative bone in my body.  The craft room doesn't and never has looked interesting.  Or beguiling.  Or even just pretty.  Rather a lot like my scrapbook pages really.  Of all the things I could have had in life, a hint of the interior designer is the bit I really covet.

BTW if anyone has a good idea about how to store, arrange and organise photo albums...real ones, not digital ones, I'd be really glad to hear them.

Frustrated

I have, right this very minute, in my layouts pending folder

• 3 single layouts
• 3 double page layouts
• 3  mini-album
• 1 sentiment album
• 1 tea tag book, and
• about 2 sets of layout stuff with no actual photos to go with them yet

and NO scrapbooking groove.

None. Nada.  Not a sausage.

I am frustrated out of my head.

Handy Dandy Craft Tips

When embossing on a scrapbook page, ensure that you are not directing the heat gun at nylon carpet.

No mojo

I promised myself some scrapping time today.  I finished the Mogo Zoo layout with the kids and Ian being animals at the zoo.  I got out the next project in the album "Saying Goodbye" about the day that we had to say farewell to our beloved Heidi-dog.  The LO just won't happen.  I don't know what it is, but the layout just won't work no matter which way I put the photos.

Typical.

Time to scrap and no mojo.

The layout that I did get done.

Mogo Zoo Project

I've been working on this album for weeks and have managed just three pages so far.  It's a long, complicated process and I just don't seem to get the time to work on it very much.  For what it's worth, here they are:

Current Project

I am gathering materials and ideas for a mini album in 8x8 format, featuring the animals from Mogo Zoo.  I've got seven (very lovely) photos of individual or pairs of animals that I took at the zoo.  Chose the cardstock ages ago - Bazzill of course - cheddar, copper, java, walnut and pinecone to be precise.  I am going to use the sketches from Little Book of Sketches as inspiration.  I like mini-albums with a theme because they're finished reasonably quickly and they are easier to do in bits and pieces than complete 12x12 albums.  Tonight I scoured wikipedia for information on the animals and it just so happens that Spoonful of Sprinkles offered an alphabet free this week which is perfect for the album.

All I need now is some actual time to begin.

Yeah, right.

Time Out

I am going to take some time out tonight and work on some scrapbooking.  The realisation that the dream is over and that I have to go back to work has hit hard.  About a dozen times a day I think "Oh, I'll do that next year" and then realise that "next year" will be spent in the classroom, writing the date on the board, reminding about whole body listening, "thank you for sharing your news with us", "thank you for telling me", "thank you for walking in the classroom", cleaning up after painting, trying to think of something original (and honest) to write on *that* kid's report, reminding about capital letters and full stops, enduring playground duty, trying to remember to take my lunch to school, trying to remember that a cup of coffee and a fundraising Freddo Frog does not an adequate lunch make, not losing the roll, remembering to write up all the partial absences, remembering to file all the absentee notes, remembering to send home all the reminders for absentee notes that I haven't got yet, placating parents whose child has lost thier jumper and of course I know where it is???  Spare me.

Next year was going to be a gym membership, attending Ladybaby's assemblies when she gets supervisor's awards, being at Chickabid's assemblies when he gets supervisor's awards, being there for open day and grandparents day and sports day and all the other days.  Next year was going to be Bible College (external) and Flylady and calm and peace and routine.  Next year is going to be none of those things.

OK, when Mister Bear goes back to work there will be no shortage of money.  We'll be able to pay socking amounts off the mortgage and move to somewhere that looks like this, but that won't make up for all the stuff that the kids will miss.  And that I'll miss. That the family will miss.

I need a little time out this weekend to help process all the chnages that have happened.  This was so not in the plan, but I guess your only choice is to play the cards you're dealt and those are the cards in my lot.