Inspiration Time!! (updated pics)

This past Tuesday I went down to San Diego to hang out with my Scrapbook Royalty friends. After lunch we went to these cool little shops in Solano Beach (near Del mar). There were these giant stores with all of these little booths in them, like mini boutiques. They had all different kinds of goodies but the booths I liked best were in a shop called SoLo. Melanie took some great pics of the fun we had (and of the inspiration too!):

Cool Vintage Stuff--sorry for the sideways pic! LOL

The colors in this booth were awesome and bright! Loved these felt bird shaped pic frames:


This sock puppet was too stinkin' cute--I should have bought it since it was only $6--guess I gotta go back to SD!

Elena bought this cutie:


A CUTE sock piglet!!
I liked the way these birds were pieced together--just some paper lacquered onto wood..looks like a home decor project might be an in order...


Katie really wanted this sock monkey--I like that they weren't the traditional colors of sock monkeys though this girlie one seems to have a 5 o'clock shadow...still cute tho! LOL


Some "Ugly" monsters:


This is like an 18" tall felt owl pillow--too fun!!!


Some more gorgeous embroidered felt pillows:

Aren't these birdies to die for??!


Soooo shabby chic and over the top!


An easter card:


Isn't this like the cutest little duck ever!?!?


A cool necklace and pin (that's me in the background there)


Katie wearing some fun shades:


Mel and E:



Hope you feel inspired!! It's time to create!

Quest for the Final Solution...

to my organizing problem! LOL I am cleaning and organizing and purging. Yesterday I went to San Diego with Xaver to drop him off at a training for work. While we waited for him all day, I scrapped and hung out with Elena, Melanie, and Gloria of Scrapbook Royalty. We cropped at Gloria's house. She showed me her scrap space---and the very little paper she has on hand. But she always has the latest and greatest stuff so I could not understand--she actually USES her paper and embellies right away!! What a concept! That is why her paper only stood about 2" high in a stack--she did not have a crazy stockpile!

Then I went to Elena's house and she is suffering the same symptoms as me--we are suffocating under the mountain of stuff we have in our rooms--something has got to give! I was reading the latest copy of Real Simple magazine this morning and there was an article about organizing. Apparently it is in our DNA to hoard things since food and other things were scarce back in our caveman days. Add that need to collect things to the feel-good medicine of "retail therapy" and here we are, with bags of brand new good yummy scrap stuff shoved into Rubbermaid tubs because we can't put it all away, full-on ROOMS of our homes dedicated to holding all of our scrap, and this guilt for spending spending spending and not using all this wonderful scrap goodness we have stashed away.

There are challenges going on all over the forums and groups--no spending, no shopping, use your stash, use your scraps, make a shopping list for the LSS and stick to it...it's not just the economy. I think it is that we all have the same goals in mind. We want to have the latest and greatest, we want to use what we are buying and not just be wasting money, and we want an organized space. We want to have our cake and eat it too!!

Honestly, what works for some people doesn't work for others. So I am looking for ways to make my space work for me. We will likely be moving soon and I will have a slightly larger room and alot more wall space to set up shelving. But I'd much rather use that space for tables--I'd love to have my sewing machines out and have space to scrap at the same time. I would also really love to have space to set up a little corner for Katie to do her crafting and school projects.

I need to find a solution. Here's what I am trying to do:

1. If it's older than 2 years and I have NEVER used it, get rid of it. Scrapping Lounge is having a yard sale so I'm packaging all this good loot together and selling it off cheap!!
2. If I still LOVE it but it is over 2 years old, make a page kit with it right away. That way I'll use it up.
3. Organize my drawers (they are already sorted by color) so things are even easier to find. I have lots of things in baggies, like all my flowers.--the I binder clipped all those baggies together so if want orange flowers I just pull that big clipped thing out of the orange drawer and there are all the flowers that are orange in one spot.

What is standing in my way:

1. First, "Mogar the Destroyer" lives here--Matthew is the enemy of clean. He can destroy a kleenex box in 2.5 seconds flat. I get little done when he is awake.
2. Classes--I have 4 days until my next class ( I have 3 classes next week alone!!). Goal is to get this done before then...
3. Girl Scout Cookies-- trying to wrap this up and I have to go to the bank about every other day to stand in line..uggh!!
4. Classes again--I buy stuff in bulk because I might "do a class" with it--so I have to make alot of decisions as to whether or not I will actually use it in a class and so on. That takes alot of time.
   

I already have the light green drawer completely organized!! I'm off to see what Mogar is screaming about--hopefully I get through a few more drawers before the evening. I'll post pics when I get it all done!!