Besides the normal paper scrapbooking, I really love to try new things. An online friend recently said I was adventurous and that's the exact word I was looking for! Pinterest doesn't help my curiosity either, it makes my to-do list longer.

My kitchen is slate blue, cream cabinets and I incorporate red into it. I couldn't find anything for the floor with those colors that's wasn't patriotic, which I didn't want. So whats a girl to do?

This was made with a canvas drop cloth (that's right a shaggy drop cloth) from Lowe's. I hemmed the edges with no-sew iron on tape and painted away. It came out okay for my first try, I plan to make another for the front porch to match our Halloween decor.

It needs to be ironed but I couldnt wait to put it down and make sure I got the sizing right!

We all have tough subjects to scrapbook, wouldn't you agree? For me, mine is scrapbooking my parents. They died when I was 19 and it's taken me awhile to learn to live with it. My "new normal" as I call it. I finished my mini album of my mom, took me 11 years but I was "happy" while working on it and didn't shed one tear. It truly was a big stepping stone for me.

I ordered an entire color scheme of vinyl. When it got here I was a bit timid about using it. However once I dove in, it was amazing!

The designs are all cut with my silhouette cameo (have I mentioned I love that machine?!) and were given as gifts to friends or family. Everyone has loved them so far.

If you have made something with vinyl what did you think?

Today is the last day of the organize this challenge. For now :) I may be taking more photo's once my camera reader comes in. These mobile pictures are a bit too hazy for me, so I promise to replace them once my camera is back to working order :)

Sizzix. Another item that is old school. I only keep the dies that I truly love, and I use them just for cutting chipboard or foam. I love chipboard and this has saved me alot of $ on buying simple chipboard shapes. I use the white jetmax cubes from michaels to make a small die-cutting rea. These 4 drawer cubes fit the dies (all colors!) perfectly. Even my stampin up ones!

Do you still have your old sizzix dies?

My biggest supply is stickers. I have them all over the place, well I did. Seems I never have the right one. I am trying to not buy themes as much. I prefer the stickers that match the papers, but for now this is what I have.

The drawers are those multi colored ones in the cart. I labeled each drawer for a theme (the one shown is fall/halloween). It's nice to have, I just grab an entire drawer when I'm working on halloween cards or pages and I know exactly what I have to use. No more forgotten stickers!

This post might show my age a little, or at least how long I've scrapbooked. Yes, I still keep brads. I know they are very old school but sometimes they work! I love them for flower centers or to hold together paper. But storing them in anything hidden made me forget they were there.

These cork boards are the kind you put under a plant! I just stuck the brads in there and hung them in my room. I have 3 of them, a friend of mine gave me this idea and its perfect. I see them and use them more.

There is something about tools. I seem to collect them, each one does something different. We need them all don't we? I needed something that could be easily grabbed from where I sat.

These white metal buckets are from targets dollar spot. I used blue vinyl and my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the titles I wanted. Now it's all organized and I can just grab for what I want. When I go to a crop I just bring the buckets in a tote and I'm ready for cropping on the go!

Well my next huge thing is journaling cards. I don't do project life (but I'd sure like to!) however I love journal cards so I have quite a few. They used to just sit, in a pile, and not get used. I made chipboard dividers and seperated them by theme, now I grab for them all the time!

Do you organize yours?

Just wanted to quickly share how we've been keeping cool. Hope you are too, this weather is quite warm!

Misquamicut Beach in RI is 1 1/2 hours away, or we'd go more often. They have the nicest waves, well at least on this coast. We'd love to visit CA one day but for now this is where we go.

Any other wave surfers?

Since I seem to get more supplies all the time (really, don't we all?) I thought I'd show the way I have things organized currently. However I re-organize All.The.Time. It's never ending, I always think their is a better way.

First we'll start with scraps, we all have tons of those right? I found I wasn't using mine. Now I cut them into 6X6 sheets and organize them this way by color. The leftover 12" borders go into a giant ziploc so that I can use them for punching borders. I've used up alot of scraps this way! I think I found the way I'm going to keep them.

How do you organize yours?

I realize it's only July. However as I've been doing my shopping each week I can't help but notice the back to school stuff is pouring into stores. Have you seen target?? Aisles of stuff.

Since it has "started", I figured I would start too. Plus some of the things I like for making bento lunches sell out quickly so I grabbed them while I could find them. As I've posted, my goal this school year is to make bento style lunches for my boys. It will basically be fun shapes since they don't like sushi, and my little one is Mr. Picky Pants!

Excuse the terrible mobile picture. Last night I managed to drop my card reader and step on it all at the same time! Of course I broke it! I used my Silhouette Cameo and Oracle Vinyl to personalize these. Hopefully this means that the containers will come home every day :)

This was so much fun to make! You can do any design really :) It's a travel diaper wipes case, but personalized!

My first attempt at this for my cousins 1st baby. I used 2 jumbo size bags of size 1 diapers :)

I love my silhouette for so many reasons. Today I made tumblers for me and my boys with my cameo and vinyl. Very easy!

Busy time! Our family is so busy with swimming lessons and baseball and end of school stuff. But i've managed to work on a few cards and layouts :)

As most moms know the most famous question (that's asked daily) is "What's for dinner?". My kids ask this the minute they get off the school bus. So I made us a menu board, each sunday I will put the cards on this so they know what's for dinner. It also helps with my shopping!

Items:
Magnets - $1.49
Cookie Sheet - $1
Paper I had on hand - $0
Wood Box - .25

Not bad for a project under $3!

This album is something I've wanted to make for awhile, but couldn't. We had a cousin who was a police officer in Times Square, the events were very close to home.

Now I am ready. I got my pictures and made the album. This was made by hand, with chipboard and cardstock. The cover is fabric. I'll be posting a "how to" soon for those who want to make their own albums from scratch.

I've started a new love of painting.. it started because I've seen alot of paintings online that I liked. But didn't like them enough to pay $100's of dollars on them. This one I just mixed colors and started streaking it til I liked it. They are hanging in my (sage green) living room.

I've been seeing paintings everywhere that I love but many times I don't like the price! This was my first attempt ever at painting so it's not perfect but my kids love it for the bathroom.

Step 1. My blank canvases. I bought 3 6X8 canvases at Michaels.

Step 2: I cut the images I wanted out of my silhouette Cameo (have I mentioned I LOVE this machine?). I cut them in Vinyl so they would stick to the canvas. I wanted to use the negative space for painting.
Step 3:Align up the vinyl for the picture you want. I wanted a 3 canvas picture, but you could easily do just 1 or 2, or make 1 huge one. This is what it looks like before paint.
Step 4: Then paint. I choose the three shades of blue since our bathroom is blue .. and well my most favorite color is blue too! I needed 3 coats, making sure to let them dry in between and remembering to paint the canvas sides.

Step 5: Once Dry, carefully (I used an xacto knife) lift the corner of the vinyl and peel completly off. If any spots leaked thru you can touch it up with white paint. For the most part mine came out as I hoped.
The original painting I saw (after many repins on pinterest!) is from here
Whale Painting

So many times people do something nice for us.. so thank you cards are always nice and useful. I've worked on these tonight :) We had a bit of snow, hope everyone stayed safe

Sometimes we need thank you cards and dont have an hour to make cards. Well I usually do take that long but this card was easy. It's for a swap I'm in but I love how it came out and will be making more!

This card was made for a swap I'm in on one of the scrappin boards that I love. I used my punches and scraps which I love doing :)

I made this for my cousin, who is due in August. We are all hoping its a girl but will be happy with a healthy baby for her. It's her first and the excitement is incredible while we wait to find out!

Someone I knew many years ago just had her first child - a girl! I love this card, its so sweet and I enjoyed making all of its layers.