The Scrap Room Renovation Layout

I have been working in my newly renovated scrapbooking room for a couple of weeks now. I'm adjusting to the various changes, but can say that I really love having everything organized again. The wood floors make me so happy every time I walk into the room and I'm very conscious about caring for them. A great way to remember all the hard work that went into renovating this room (and keeping it nice) was to create a layout about the transformation!

I held nothing back in creating this layout. I made it a true reflection of what this space means to me and feels like. The colors and embellishments in the layout represent my new room. I used lots of bits and pieces that I rediscovered through the clean up process.

 When looking at the layout as a whole, your eye moves from left to right, starting with a before picture and moving through to the after photo. It also flows in a rainbow color scheme with pops of black & white, as do several areas of my scrapbook room. {ribbon, storage bins, Heidi Swapp color shine bottles, markers & inks}

{left page}

{right page}

I used one of the Heidi Swapp color shine templates, not as a template to spray mist, but literally the template! I added a color shine heart misted with sweet cherry and attached some ancient Basic Grey ribbons. A little FABulous stamped in black at the top from CTMH Happiness Lives Here, Design Decor Framed Art stamp set.

New and old patterned paper banners with some fun Washi tape.

More Washi tape used as labels and embellishments galore.

A cluster of stamps from an Operation Smile stamp set and Documenting Moments. More bright colors with a pop of black!

Here I used a Jillibean Soup "hello" photo frame, Heidi Swapp color shine "love" heart and a mix of papers and embellishments.

And finally, a Heidi Swapp color shine label card misted in teal and mint green with the date stamped in black. A zip strip with a great message and a few more buttons and twine finish this page.

Now I will always remember the love and hard work that went into creating the space, 

where I CREATE!

Thinking of, Wonderful, Fabulous You!

I was having fun with some glitter, shimmer and shine when creating this card for Freshly Made Sketches! I discovered some little banner pieces from Me & My Big Ideas hiding in a drawer that I recently reorganized. {and redecorated, pictures below} I thought they would be fun colors to use on this card with some CTMH glitter papers and some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Teal. I originally wanted to do a stripe or zig zag pattern on the side papers, but since the banner already had a stripe I went with some Snowhaven Polka Dot paper instead. In person this card has much more shimmer, you'll just have to imagine it!!

In my recent scrap room renovation I decided to dress up a simple plastic organizer I had sitting in the room. With the drawers being see-through, well, you could see right through to the mess inside!! To make it blend in to the room decor I decided to make panels for the front to dress it up and block the view to the craziness contained inside.

{before}

{after}

What I did was cut some Heidi Swapp color shine scrapbook papers to fit just inside the drawer front. Then I sprayed the papers in a rainbow effect from top to bottom. Now it coordinates with other elements in the room and simply looks neater! Here is where it sits in the room at the end of my Ikea Expedit units.

Thank you for stopping by! Be sure to take a look at the other artwork on FMS using this sketch!

New and Improved Scrapbook Room

I have been wanting needing to replace the carpet in my scrapbook room for some time now. I kept putting it off for different reasons, but then I made the decision to just go for it while we are out on summer vacation!

It was exactly 2 weeks ago today that I pulled all my furnishings out of the room and dispersed them into the hallways and living area of my house. Once I started the task of ripping out the old stained carpet I knew immediately that this was a great decision. {Yuck!} I'll just say that after ten years of crafting, kids and a couple of pets, this carpet was definitely due to be removed! Here is what the room looked like before and a picture my daughter captured of me cleaning up from the carpet removal.

You'll notice that I still had all sorts of shelves and art up on the walls. I only had intentions of renewing the floors. Sadly, once the carpet was out I couldn't help but notice how awful the walls all looked. Mine as well throw on some fresh paint now while the room is down to just concrete!

My teenage daughter was very helpful through the painting phase. Her methods were a little unorthodox, but we got the job done. We touched up the white with a Polar Bear white and I decided on an accent wall in Lap Pool Blue. Both paints were Behr at Home Depot. All the painting was done before Friday night.

My husband and I purchased the wood laminate floors together on Saturday. We naively thought that we could start laying them in the room on Sunday, having the entire day to do the work. We learned through the purchase of the floors that they need to acclimate to the room where they would be installed. Well, that news through our plans off a little, but it was worth the wait to do the job correctly! We chose a hickory wood floor from Allen+Roth at Lowe's. Here they are acclimating, chilling, relaxing, making themselves at home!

We got to start laying the floors Tuesday night, then did a little more on Wednesday morning. Then we did some more on Wednesday night.

This is the part where I need to say that I could never do this alone and was so appreciative of my husbands help. The reason for the breaks in our work schedule is because my husband works a labor intensive job 10 to 12 hours a day. So when he was home, he was helping me between meals and getting his sleep. By Thursday morning we had the flooring almost complete.

Not to fully rely on my husband, he gave me some brief training and I quickly learned how to use a miter saw and table saw. We worked together to install the baseboards and I did all the caulking and paint on them Friday afternoon. I was working late into the night moving all the furniture back into the room in preparation for my card class on Saturday morning. I did some reorganizing and finished all the small details this week before I took these pictures.

Are you ready for the reveal?!!

MY NEW SCRAPBOOK ROOM!!

The greatest change is of course the floors and color, but another big difference was that I moved my desk to the opposite wall. This allows ample storage and gives me more counter top surface to work on.{Storage cubes and shelves from Ikea}

This mirror and shelf is just to the left inside the door. It is opposite of the window which helps reflect more light into the room. I can keep a couple little favorite pieces of art on it too!

Stamp storage is all located under the window with a bold graphic rug. Why cover the beautiful floors? For the sake of keeping them beautiful as I roll around on my heavy, metal, vintage 1980's office chair. {Actually, I don't know how old the chair is. It has been in my family for a long time and undergone its own remodel a few times.}

MY DESK AREA~

Being a Close To My Heart consultant, you can definitely see my love for our products. What you will notice in the next photo's is that I am also a fan of many Heidi Swapp products and style also. I love combining bright colors with bold black & white. 

My handy husband made this ribbon box for me years ago. I just cleaned it up and placed it back into the room exactly where it was.

I also kept my Making Memories magnet and cork board panels up on the wall where they were. {I didn't want to make any new holes in the freshly painted walls!} I also tried to keep my workspace more open and clear than it was previously. I moved one of the rotating organizers off onto my paper storage and created a fun display tray for the other items I reach for regularly.

Lots of colorful Washi tape, Shin Han markers and stamping blocks are great items to keep nearby!

Here is one last look at my room before and after~

Once I get to actually craft in the room I will see how well it functions or what I might need to change. I can't tell you how inspiring it is to enter my clean and organized room. All that hard work and constant exhaustion was well worth it. Now my husband and I are excited about updating the flooring throughout the house!

Please leave a comment of what you think about my new space. My beagle girl has made herself right at home on the new coordinating doggy bed!! I'd say she likes it....no wait....she's just tired and wants to be wherever I am! {tee~hee}

Sew it ~ Stamp it!

I wanted to share a little gift I purchased and made for my sister. She plays with fabrics, while I play with paper. I dream of us combining our talents and running a business of our own one day! She has made me and my kids phenomenal quilts and duvet covers. When she completes her hand made works of art she always puts her signature, the date, and a sentiment on the back corner.

One of my daily emails from Pick Your Plum featured some cool block stamps that could be personalized. I loved the little sewing machine and knew it would be perfect for her. She can use the stamp directly on the fabrics or can even stamp it on card stock if she wanted to attach a tag to her craft sale items.
 

I could never just give her the stamp in the plastic bag it came in! I broke it in by inking it up and stamping it on one of Close To My Heart's linen drawstring bags. I used olive ink which is one of her favorite colors. Now she has a great little bag to keep her stamp in and can easily be found in her craft room when she is ready to use it! {BTW~her sewing room is always waaaay cleaner than my scrapbooking room}

The finishing touch was a chevron pattern stamped on the bottom of the bag and some ribbon just to make it fancy! The ribbon was created by spritzing some Heidi Swapp Color Shine on some color-ready ribbon. I loved the combination of gold and chartreuse, I think it would have been too plain if I only did green. Plus its a little bit sparkly now!!

I gave my sister her little gift last weekend and she was really surprised! I can't wait to see what she uses it on!

Woohoo!

I've been using more of the Free To Be Me papers. It was such a wonderful collection and can be mixed with all sorts of other products and stamps. You will see it reappear again in the future I'm certain!

This is a fun Birthday card using a great graphic sentiment, some Heidi Swapp color shine pieces and stars punched from chalkboard labels.

A Girl & ...

One of my favorite subjects to scrapbook are those little day~to~day moments. I also love to capture my daughter in these moments, because it allows me to use girly papers and embellishments!

This was a layout that I was able to Instagram for National Scrapbooking Day. I used some gorgeous Ariana papers & embellishments. I also colored some ribbon with some Color Shine {Heidi Swapp} and created a lovely border. As much as I enjoyed to play with all the flowers and ribbon, it's the story of the layout that I love the most! My daughter was spending a sunny afternoon with her best friend in the backyard. They were rocking in the hammock and chit~chatting. She held her grandma's poodle in her lap and sipped on a frothy frappuccino. What more could a teenage girl want?!

I am also entering my layout in Heart 2 Heart's Take 5 challenge. My 5 items are simply the photo's I chose to be the centerpiece of my layout!

You Make Me Smile

I was able to accomplish so much this past weekend in celebration of National Scrapbooking Day! The celebration is not over though, it continues all month long! Remember that you have the opportunity to purchase the special Free to Be Me paper collection at a special price. This gorgeous collection will get you in a creative mood.

You can also download a free printable of Picture My Life style cards with some darling sayings. It's a part of the Rediscover CTMH promotion each and every month. Simply click here to download the printable and start creating!

Here is one of the final pages I submitted to Instagram for National Scrapbooking Day. It incorporates some of those free printable cards. I also used several pieces from Heidi Swapp's Color Shine collection and some Lollydoodle paper. You'll also find black glitter paper, pink polka dot Washi tape, aqua dots and various stamps throughout.

Sneeky~sneeky! Use those little vellum bags to tuck behind cards or photo's to keep little messages or memento's!

 

I love that shine on the Heidi Swapp specialty papers and embellishments!

 

  

I will be posting more detailed photo's of all the scrapbooking pages I completed and Instagrammed for National Scrapbooking Day. If you would like more information on this month's promotion or free download feel free to contact me.

Happy Scrapping!!

Happy Birthday & Many More!

Today I am playing along with the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I am using some left over paper and kraft cards from a recent BIG project I completed, my son's Graduation announcements! Pictures of those to come soon! I also got to play with some new Heidi Swapp products I purchased while on Spring vacation.

I used some older Later Sk8r papers, Heidi Swapp arrow and some negative cut chevrons from a background template cut on the Cricut.

 

 

Inside {I used the negative cut from the Cricut}

 

Because I'm Happy!

What a fun song playing on the radio stations! It inspired the title of this Birthday themed layout.

 

The left page of my layout was inspired by the Spring Idea Book, page 126. I love the new fundamental papers with their trendy, glossy resist patterns. I was also captivated by the bright cardstock papers and Washi tape against the black chevron.

Instead of stitching, I opted for a Heidi Swapp color shine pennant. This addition allowed the left page to flow into the right page where I used Heidi Swapp color shine specialty cardstock. This time I flipped the balance of colors with the black, but kept the chevron pattern!

Crazy and colorful! Beautiful faces with great big smiles!! This layout makes me so happy!!!