Too Much Time

I somehow injured myself Thursday afternoon, and am still on the mend as of Sunday.  There's not much to do during recovery but sit in the most comfy chair in the house; a chair that, by happenstance, resides in the craft room.  (Bed rest can become quite painful after long stretches.)

And so, stuck in the craft room all weekend long, I spent the time trying new techniques; which has paid off handsomely... and organizing project where possible.

I completed the rooster/shot reminder page.  There's a few areas most would call mistakes, but since it's not going anywhere but the inside the house, they remain as is.

Cute & functional medication reminder

At long last, I played with the chipboard available from my considerable cereal box collection.  Pre-cut chipboard costs unimaginable pennies at the craft stores.  I have Cricut, Cuttlebug and many Sizzix Bigz dies on hand.   Both Cricut and Cuttlebug claim the ability to cut light weight chipboard, but until now, I've never put either to the test.  The Cricut worked wonderfully.  It requires a very stick mat and three multi-cuts.  The selected image came out crisp and clear. The same goes for the Cuttlebug.  I shouldn't've doubt, but the tendency to protect the equipment overrules challenges.  I've also saved a fair amount of "white" chipboard from Sweet-N-Low packages that will finally be put to great use.

I also picked up my tatting materials, neglected for months now.  Surprisingly, it all came back quite easily!  The reason for review stems from the desire to use homemade lace on the mini-album planned.  How sweet a touch this offers.  Fortunately, I have the perfect pink, green, cream coordinating threads already on hand, but will need to search for baby blue and yellow; a far harder challenge than imagined.  I can knock out several inches of lace in under an hour, so now I have something to do when there remains not an iota of creativity in store.

Loosely related to tatting was beading again.  This, too, will add a personal touch to any layout in mind.  Gosh, the only skill not put to use was using a floor loom to weave a carpet or something.  :)

On to organization...

It only took a month, but every single scrap of paper bought at the 75% clearance sale last month is now put away and sorted.  This took much, much longer than should have.  But the exercise proves need for more storage solutions.

An essential tool for any scapper would be a clear pocketed, hanging jewelry bag hanging in a closet of or the back of a door.  Small rubber stamps, bottles of embossing powders, ink pads, small packages of bling, tatting shuttles, ribbon scraps, and any number of small crafting items fit nicely in these relatively inexpensive bags.  Target has a line of very sturdy organizers, and during a sale make them down-right cheap.  At present, I only have one, but will pick up several more over the next few months.

After reading the post, it's scarey what gets done when my body is up to task!