My Muffin Tins

Here are a few pics of my tins used for organization. The first two are from this year's December Daily project. Holds bits and pieces and possible numbers for each day.

And here are my latest pics. Used Martha Stewart chalkboard paint on a thrift store muffin tin. Actually I think it the one seen above. Chalkboard paint + muffin tins = awesome!

I have more but they are a complete mess right now. That will have to be in a future post!

***Please Note: I painted mine with a white gesso prior to the chalkboard paint, and it took several layers of the chalkboard paint.

Organization: Flair in a Muffin Tin

And the organization continues. Remember this pile? Well, the next steps from Ella Publishing's Spring Training were to take the pile and sort it according to how we would use it. I am tempted to leave it all in a bowl or jar because then I can see it on my shelf. It just makes me happy.

But just because of the projects I am using these for, I think by manufacturer is how I will go.

Now to decide on a container: my favorite things are a mix of vintage and modern, and repurposing items that one might use in say, the kitchen (if I cooked). Here I have a vintage mason jar (closed and visible), a vintage ceramic bowl (open and visible), an Ikea spice tin (closed and partially visible) and a thrift store muffin tin that I painted with chalkboard paint. hmmm....

I can't help it. I just want to use the muffin tin! It will help keep it organized by manufacturer and I just slide these on top of my category drawer photo boxes on my bookshelf to keep little hands from running away with all my stash! 

And the fun part is I can change it up whenever I need to, yet still be able to remember where a certain little badge is from. 

When I am planning or working on a project I can just pull it down on my table. Easy peasy. One other little thing I love are these antique butter pats. I learned about these from Jenni Bowlin and I just adore them. Pretty and functional. It keeps a few of the items I am working on very close and visible. Which is a good thing for me.

So that's my plan for now. I have used muffin tins in the past for projects that are in progress and that can overwhelm a space, like December Daily. I keep an eye out for them at the thrift store.

And it's National or International Scrapbooking Day! Lots of deals online and in the stores. I'll admit I celebrating a bit! And now, to go scrap a little too. Happy scrappy day to you!

Organization: For the Love of Flair

Is anyone else taking Spring Training with Ella Publishing? I have taken all of their events and I really love them. I like the short videos (I can fit them in my schedule) and the short "exercises." Seriously, even I can dump my supplies on my table! That part was really fun. But back to my topic...the first section is about organization and the first challenge is to pick one area of our supplies and do an initial sort. Whether to keep, put in short term storage, toss or file away. I think those were the categories. 

So one of my favorite products is flair. I love flair buttons or badges as they are sometimes called. And I have a growing stash as of late, so I thought I could try to organize it a little better, so that as Wendy put it, "Our fun level can increase" or something like that.

The first step was to dump the supplies on our workspace and then do the initial sort. Well, that is pretty easy with this group because I love it all! And I have been using flair and plan to continue using it. So it gets to stay! Happy day indeed! 

Stay tuned for more episodes of flair organization, photography, embellishing and techniques inspired by Ella Publishing Spring Training!

**Flair from various sources. Ormolu, Hello Forever, a Flair for Buttons, Studio Calico, and October Afternoon. I am also wishing for some from Evalicious and A Life Handmade.

Week in the Life 2012: So now what?

Week in the Life: the week after.

I'll be honest. I have really good intentions. That maybe last a day. Such is the case with the daily journaling for Week in the Life. I did Monday...on Monday night. And it was awesome! Last year I didn't keep up so well with the journaling and note-taking, but I was still able to put together an album that I love. So yes, it would be easier in the end if I would keep up daily, but that's not always what works for me. I wanted to share a bit of where I am in the process. Because this is a huge project. Especially if you have >1600 photos like me! Here's a look at my Monday journaling:

Monday's Journaling

A closer look. This is classic: "Where are my keys?" Typical Monday morning.

I'll admit it. I felt pretty good about myself! The behind the scenes: I got off a little early that day which made it much easier to do! So as real life rolled on, my dedication wavered. And that's okay. I tend to do a bit of pre-journaling by writing in various notebooks, etc before I decide what I want to say on the daily sheet. And that's where these come in: 

My arsenal of note-taking tools.

A few things that work for me:

• Planner. Useful for jotting down the main events of the day as well as details. I will go through my photos and see what I've captured to help jog my memory. Can't remember an exact time? That's what photo "details/information" or metadata is for. I found that when I was putting together my album for 2011 that I enjoyed having a few exact times in there. It made it look like I was oh so good at keeping up! Ha ha! Really just looked up the info in iPhoto!
• Grid lined notebook: Love this thing. Sam found it for me at the bookstore and I love it. I can sketch ideas, jot down notes, whatever. I start all my projects in here.
• Cute little notebook: Little notebooks are great especially if the sizes of the pages can be used directly in the project. Bonus if they are cute! This one is from Martha.

Hello cute little notebook!

• Daily sheets from Ali Edwards. I printed these out smaller to fit my project too. I am planning on slipping them in between the photo layouts for additional journaling. I like the small format of my book but one thing I observed is that I wanted a little more details about the week, and these planning sheets are great for that.
• A good pen. I bounce between pens. For the actual daily sheet I am using a Zig Millennium pen in I think the 01 size. Other than that I just keep a variety of pens handy because which pen I use depends on the mood I'm in! Random but true.
• Momento: an app on my iPhone that grabs all my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feeds. I can also jot down notes each day. So easy. I love it! Day One is also good for journaling.

So that is kind of where I am at right now. I did upload photos from my iPhone and Canon every night. I have also created smart albums for each day in iPhoto. And I have my album and pretty papers and things just waiting for when I have time to work on it. 

Which leads me to reflect about an epiphany I had during the December Daily rush of 2011. I had made my cover and planned my papers but putting it all together and posting all the time just wasn't working for me. I realized that it was ok!

I create because I love to do it. The photos, the moments and the memories are what I want to remember. Thankfully I found Instagram because it allows me to share in a "microblog" format with the photos and make connections with other scrapbookers that I enjoy.

Hopefully this has helped in some way to those who may be a little slower on the production side of things like me. My motto: enjoy the journey and savor the process. It's such a blessing to be able to capture so much of our everyday. It's truly amazing and I am truly grateful for it all.

So how is your Week in the Life coming along? Would love to hear other tips too!