ScrapHappy

Stashbusting 101

From the look of things on the Web, I missed a very important scrapper’s task in January. Apparently, the thing to do is this: Wake up one morning with your head resting on a box of Sizzix alphabet dies (where your pillow used to be), and suddenly realize that maybe it’s not quite, well, normal to live like this. In fact, most people don’t use their ice maker for housing color-coded embellishments, or store their patterned paper (sorted by manufacturer, of course) in their dishwasher.

Most people buy Altoids for the mints – not because the little metal containers make such cute storage receptacles.

Most people see used Popsicle sticks as trash, not as potentially alterable embellies for their scrapbook pages.

Most people have a life outside scrapbook supplies – dull and humdrum as that life may be.

When you come to the realization that maybe, just maybe your stash has gotten out of hand, you then decide that for the next 12 months you will break your heiny using it all up (and yes, "heiny” is a technical term). Or, in common parlance, you’ll spend the next year “stashbusting.”

I'm all in favor of that! After all, the more I use, the more space I have, and the more space I have, the better excuse I have to go shopping for additional "stash enhancement," as we knitters call it. As I gather from other scrapping websites and blogs, you’re supposed to come up with some guidelines or rules to follow for your stashbusting efforts, just so things are perfectly clear before you start. For instance, you might decide that you can buy additional cardstock, but no patterned paper. Or you can purchase items you need to complete an assigned project. And so on. So here are my rules for my stashbusting year. For the next twelve months (or really, the next ten months and seven days, but who’s counting??), I commit to not buying another single scrapbooking item, with the following exceptions:

1. Items I must purchase in order to complete a project that I started before my stashbusting pledge are exempt. These items include but are not limited to my 2007 annual album, my wedding album, my children’s “School of Life” albums, and my “Library of Memories” albums.

2. Items I must purchase in order to complete an assignment for pay are exempt. These items includes but are not limited to class samples, layouts for magazines, layouts I am thinking about submitting to magazines, and layouts I am not now considering submitting to magazines, but may do so at some time in the future.

3. Items I must purchase as supplies for classes or workshops are exempt. These items include but are not limited to classes or workshops I am taking or thinking about taking, and classes or workshops I am teaching or thinking about teaching.

4. Items purchased at stores that are going out of business are exempt. These items include but are not limited to fixtures, equipment, carpeting, etc.

5. Items purchased to make a gift for friends and/or family are exempt. These items are include but are not limited to cards, calendars, notebooks, albums, mini-cards, mini-notebooks, mini-calendars, and mini-albums.

6. Items purchased at a discount of at least 30 percent are exempt (tax excluded).

7. Items purchased while on vacation are exempt.

8. Items purchased while under duress (e.g., “You MUST have that QuicKutz font. Buy it. Buy it NOW”) are exempt.

9. Items that are or may potentially be discontinued are exempt.

10. Items that are pink or polka-dotted are exempt.

11. Items that include the words “As seen at winter CHA” are exempt.

12. Items that are or may become collectors’ items are exempt.

13. Items purchased with another use in mind but somehow ended up in my scrap space are exempt. These items include but are not limited to scissors, lunchboxes, paint cans, thread, etc.

14. Items purchased with a giftcard are exempt.

15. Purchases of giftcards are exempt.

16. Items purchased with PayPal funds are exempt.

17. Items purchased or received in swaps are exempt.

18. Items I do not remember purchasing are exempt.

19. Items purchased to replace a used-up, lost, or otherwise missing original are exempt.

20. Items I bought on impulse and then ended up not using are exempt.

21. Items recommended by a “scrapcelebrity” are exempt. These items include but are not limited to those sold on QVC and the Aveeno lotion that Cathy Zielske swears by.

There. I think that’s sufficiently restrictive. I feel better already.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, who wants to go shopping?

Rules of the (Contest) Road

Maybe it gives us something to put in our sig lines. Maybe it gives us credibility with our family and friends. Maybe we need justification for why we spend so many hours (and dollars!) on what the uninitiated call a "hobby." For whatever reason, scrapbookers are into the whole contest thing. Scrapbooker of the Year. CK Hall of Fame. Memory Makers Masters. Design Teams. Making Memories Idol. The list goes on and on...

If you succumb to the whole contest mania (and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!), there are a few things you should keep in mind when creating and sending your contest entry. Take these with a grain of salt (and a shot of tequila, if that's the way your inclinations go):

1. Last minute works. What's the point of starting an entry five months in advance of the deadline? Do I really WANT to spend days and days on a single layout, making it all perfect and unflawed? My thought is thus: I normally spend about an hour per layout. If I spend MORE than that, I'm likely to come up with something that is totally unlike me (i.e., something that looks like it was planned out in advance instead of thrown together between throwing in a load of sweat socks and changing the Barney DVD). Not only will my style be changed, I'll also be setting up unrealistic expectations in the judges. (What if I really won, and then I was expected to generate this level of work on an ongoing basis?)

2. Keep it interesting. Just think of those poor judges who have to look through all the entries. Just how many layouts about "Junior's First Trip to the Zoo" and "Peggy Anne's Ballet Lesson" can they look through before their eyes glaze over and they begin to drool? (There's a reason page protectors are made from waterproof plastic!). Give them a break -- and give yourself a leg up -- by mixing it up a little bit. What about a layout focusing on your nephew's career as a con man? Or journaling focusing on what exact steps you took when you discovered your long-term boyfriend was steppin' out on you? (Extra credit will be provided for photos of his beloved Phil Collins albums set afire, his snowboard being split apart with a chain saw, etc.).

3. Forget the JonBenet Ramsey-esque photos. I'm not going to get into the ethics and morals of kiddie beauty pageants. Let's just say it's controversial at best, so why tempt fate by scrapping pictures of your three-year-old wearing enough makeup to make Paris Hilton look like the girl next door? A good rule of thumb: If you used more than half a bottle of Aqua-Net to get your child ready for the photo, don't use it.

4. Pizza boxes shouldn't smell like pizza boxes. I've heard the suggestion that you can mail your entry safely by encasing it in a small pizza box. That's great -- but please, make it an unused box. Shreds of pepperoni, grease stains and the aroma of oregano will do nothing to enhance your layout's appeal.

5. Forget the gimmicks. Memorable is great, but there's a fine line between "cute" and "psycho." Having a singing gorilla deliver your contest entry directly to the magazine office, or incluing a pop-up, full-sized photo of your face is not going to win you any points. Just focus on your entry and let its quality speak for itself.

6. Don't play modest. If you entered the contest, you want to win. You think you have a chance of winning. Otherwise you wouldn't have entered. Don't try to convince us otherwise! Just cross your fingers, say your prayers, and join the rest of us.

Wacky Scrapbooking Quirks

Happy Wednesday~!!! (Actually, I'm typing this on Tuesday but I am assuming most of you will not read it until Wednesday or later -- if ever!).

I've declared that Wednesday will be National Scrapbooking Quirks Day. Maybe every Wednesday. Maybe just this Wednesday. I truthfully haven't thought that far ahead.

In celebration of the day, let's all share our strangest scrapbooking habits and foibles. Feel free to tattle on your friends! It's all in the name of good, clean fun, after all.

So, here're mine:

*I cannot scrap at crops. Even if I bring loads of bags and boxes and bins and buckets and every single Doodlebug embellishment I own, I cannot work on a page at a public place like that. For some reason, my creativity flees and it takes me hours to figure out what color cardstock to use, let alone what theme a page should have. And journaling??? Fuhgeddaboutit. (Speaking of journaling, have you seen my No Excuses Journaling class at Big Picture Scrapbooking? Had to take the opp there. Sorry). I can work on non-creative projecst like sorting photos, and I can even create cards, but I can't do a page with pictures. Nope.

*I don't own any yellow ribbon. I am not sure why this is; it just happened that way. I have virtually every other color (including grey, paisley, beige, etc.) but no yellow. I do have some fuzzy yellow yarn-type fiber with wire in it, but I'm not sure that counts.

*(okay, this is a weird one but I am all about barefaced truth here...) I often have to "use the facilities" when I enter a scrapbook store. My son has the same problem with bookstores, and my daughter has this at Hollywood Video. Excitement? Overwhelm? Sensory overload? I do not know.

Okay, top that.

Cheezy but True

‘Twas the night after CHA
And all through the house
Boxes were stacked
On bed, floor and on couch.

The Prima was nestled
All snug in its jar
While a suitcase or two
Awaited me in the car.

I’d hefted those bags
From Anaheim home
And my body was tired
Right down to the bone.

But before I could sleep,
I had to unpack
And see what had caused me
To throw out my back.

There were Gel-a-tins and Crate Paper
American Crafts, too.
And a wad of Strano ribbon
Shoved in the toe of my shoe.

I found a t-shirt from Chatterbox;
A sparkly iron-on from MAMBI.
And a copy of Creating Keepsakes
Autographed by Lisa B.

But amidst all the plunder
The best part I’d bet
Were memories of friendships
And people I’d met

Thena and Stephanie
Ramona, Elisa and crew…
Traveling with Maria
Was a big treat times two!

The 2Peas and AL ladies
and Paula from BPS
The Simple Crew, of course
All get a big “Yes!”

The blisters will fade
And the paper’ll get torn.
The pens will run out
And get old and worn.

So, though I love my new goodies
My paper and pens
Most of all I’ll remember
All my new friends.

Class is up!

My class, "No Excuses Journaling," is now live at Big Picture Scrapbooking! Please stop by and check it out. For a measly $10 you can get an audio file of me, project directions, and a whole lot of fun!!!!! I'm getting great feedback from folks already, so you don't have to just take my word for it. ;)

And the winner of the last CHA contest is Cindy MacDannold, who correctly figured out that:
Beth has either a larger-than-normal jaw spread or a smaller-than-average hand
Cathy wow'ed the crowds with her flying camels and sit spins
Limber Angie can do the splits
and Kim is tooting away!

She will receive a copy of Visual Chronicles, an awesome book on starting art journals.