Spring Fever ALREADY!

Oh my I can't believe that I am tired of winter already! I honestly shouldn't be since I usually feel that "cabin fever" in January and February every year. Here in Michigan we have been hit almost daily with accumulations of ice and snow and the temperature has been pretty wicked. Always single digits during the day and below zero at night. The other day we actually had a temperature in the 20's and it seemed like a heat wave :-)

I make sure I'm outside in the back yard many times during the day playing with the dogs. That really helps to enjoy what nature has blessed us with. It's beautiful and sparkley and just down right pretty as long as you aren't shoveling or driving in it.

I am definately waiting patiently for Spring and Summer when my gardens show off all their colors. These are a few pics of flowers that I have been looking at to get me out of my slump. I thought a nice bright pic or two would be appreciated by you too!

ENJOY

Ahhh my Stargazer Lilies! (sniff) I can still smell their beautiful fragrance. I am definately looking forward to these beautifes growing again this year! I was given this plant when I retired from my job. This is quite the perennial gift that keeps on giving Awesome plant!

The Phlox grows in my moonlight garden area. I have only white plants there with a pretty white and copper bird feeder.

I also have large amounts of sunflowers germinate yearly..... NONE of which I plant! The birds always drop large quantities of the seeds from the feeders when flying over the back garden. We had a lovely display last summer and the summer before. I even did a scrapbook layout a couple years ago about them. It's funny to see how my style of scrapbooking has changed only in 2 years. I'm now so into the embellisments I can't figure out when to stop adding them LOL! This LO seems so basic and plain now.

TFL

Darlene

Christmas with Eli

I finally took an opportunity to go through some of the photos my husband and I were able to take on Christmas day this past year. I ran across these cute ones of our grandson Elijah.

I started to remember how much fun it was when I was a child to wait for Santa to come and bring presents for our family. I always tried to hear if Rudolph landed on my roof and if Santa was in the livingroom under the tree. The imagination is a wonderful thing.

As each year passed and I had a family of my own that same tradition was passed on. My children Todd and Heather both enjoyed the mystery of Santa, setting up the manger and all the animals that went along with the nativity set, decorating the tree and of course the sugar cookies! Then as they got older they tried to find where their presents were hidden!!!! Those sneaky little devils! I remember Todd telling me one morning (when he was quite young) that he had actually heard Santa on the roof on Christmas Eve. We still talk about it now even though he has his own children to experience Christmas with. Heather had told me that they actually found some of their presents one year, opened them and retaped them. It ruined the mystery so much that they stopped looking for gifts after that. Of course I always added that large orange in the toe of their stockings just to hear them complain LOL! For some reason they really disliked how much room it took up and replaced a spot for another gift hmmmm......they miss those oranges now. I know they do :-)

We had a nice visit with our grandson Eli this past Christmas. He now lives in Missouri so we don't see him as often as we would like. This is his 2nd Christmas. He was a newborn last year so we really didn't celebrate the opening of presents like we did this Christmas.


I just love the innocence and wonder in childrens' eyes when they experience this holiday. I'm so glad Eli has been part of this great tradition of Santa, presents and the fun of Christmas morning.

Eli and dad playing with his first set of Big Boy blocks.

Try to stay young at heart everyone. Time flies!

Darlene

A Full Weekend

My husband and I decided to make a one day trip to our house in the upper part of lower Michigan. We feed the deer up there and it was about time to make another trip with goodies to eat. This past fall we had delivered a few loads of sugar beets so now it is time for some yummy 3rd cut alfalfa hay.


We woke up early this past Saturday morning, packed some water for the dogs, and headed to the feed store to load up on hay. My husband and the man at the store managed to jam 19 bales of hay in the bed of our truck. Unbelievable how much that bed holds!



There was a snowfall predicted for our area which is the opposite of what we are used to when we travel upnorth. We usually leave our home here and hit a bit storm on the way up there but not this time.



There is alot of snow upnorth. They started getting hit with storms on Nov. 15th and it really hasn't melted in between much. We had at least 2 feet in our driveway so we knew we weren't even trying to pull in there .... 4 wheel drive or not. We didn't want to take the time to plow it out first since we weren't staying the weekend.





My husband Tom decided he would make ump-teen trips in 2 feet of soft snow and carry hay bales. I felt so bad for him because I couldn't help. They are just too heavy for me. I had suggested bringing a tarp so we could drag a few at a time but he insisted on carrying them himself and have me rest. What a nice guy he is :-) Once Tom made a few trips with some hay he had packed the snow down so it felt like 1 foot he said instead of two!




Sadie had decided to take it easy on this trip and relax LOL! She is usually running around like a crazy girl but I guess she was tired this time.


It didn't take long before she got nice and warm in her blanket and took a snooze.
I think these eyelids are getting a bit heavy....







Gretchen, on the other hand, was having a blast in the snow and a big help to Tom....NOT!



She loved climbing up the mountain of snow to watch Tom and wait for his return.


Tom got all the hay set up at the back of our fenced yard and we were ready to go when my cousing Mel stopped by to say HI. He invited us down the road to his house for a drink or two. We decided to take a break before heading back home. We sat and talked, had a few drinks and talked some more. Three hours later (and dark now) we started our trek back home. We knew there was a winter storm hitting our area at home but we honestly weren't sure how much was accumulating. We definately found out as we got closer south. The expressway finally became totally snowcovered and slippery. You couldn't see any lanes and there were vehicles and emergency vehicles off the road and all over the sides of the road. It was a long trip home but we made it! Tired and hungry we unpacked and crashed for the night.


On Sunday we chilled most of the day. Tom said he actually was feeling his age after carrying all that weight and I was achy from doggie day care responsibilities on the trip. I did alot of walking with the dogs and playing and then of course they think they are lap sized dogs (even though they aren't )so my hips were feeling the extra weight. Of course we had to shovel our driveway and decks here Sunday morning. Whew....lots of work this weekend.



All is normal today but more snow is predicted soon and some really bone-chilling temps coming up in a couple of days.

Keep warm everyone!
Darlene

A Few More Organizational Goodies

I added a few more labels to my roller organizer yesterday. I have a couple extra drawers. It is nice to have a backup in case I still need to seperate some items later. I'm sure once this room is totally completed I will make a few small adjustments with where I have things placed but mostly everything will be perfect the way it is for how I work when I scrap and craft.





I've been working on my wall unit sketch for the East wall of the scrapbook room. It will be made out of hardwood and stained walnut to compliment the dark damask wallpaper accent wall I will have. I want the melon wall color to show through so I am not putting a back on the shelving units. They will be secured to the black countertop however. We sure don't need to worry about too much weight toppling any shelves down!

I have a nice window located approximately in the center of the wall so I will totally fill the wall with shelves and a nice work space for everything I think I need.

This is my rough ( really rough LOL) sketch of the wall unit. It will run completely to the ceiling so that I get the maximum storage.



A few accent items like plants placed here and there should give it a nice comfy touch. Of course my tiffany lamps and some copper containers will be placed throughout too.

TFL....off to strip more border :-). I took yesterday off!

Darlene

Scrapbook Room Re-Do - The Closet... continued

I've been working most of this past weekend setting up all the supplies into the closet. It feels very good to actually know where everything is now. This was a big accomplishment for me to achive. It's been haunting me for years.

This is where I store the Sizzix and die cuts.



My glitter and embossing powder area. This area will grow because you can never have enough glitter! haha





My camera, tripod and scrapbook albums are stored on this side shelf.



My little shipping supply area for Etsy sales.

I store all my stamp pads, rub ons, bling, stickers, etc. in individually labeled containers here.

I'm just beginning a ribbon collection so I am storing those in clear glass jars for the time being.

I'll post a few more pics of the closet when it is totally completed. As stated before I still have some paper organizers and magazine organizers to purchase and it will be pretty well done.

I've now moved onto the wallpaper border. Hmmm...........funny how my strippable border paper turned out to be NOT strippable. I'm preparing to get out the elbow grease and start stripping wallpaper now! Geezzzz.......this was supposed to be an easy room to redecorate!

I'll be back soon with a reason for a manicure I'm sure!

TFL......Darlene

Scrapbook Room Re-Do

Part 1 - The Closet

I headed off to Lowes with my wonderful husband a few days ago to get all the supplies for the closet. I had done a sketch of how I wanted to place each shelf and mounting rail/bracket. I then made a list of all the supplies necessary (including hardward) and off we went.

No matter what store we go into we always seem to have a large quantity of customers end up in the same aisle as we are in shopping for the same items. As funny as it is this happened again at Lowe's. The closet organizer aisle was totally empty when we arrived and within 5 minutes there were 5-6 shoppers coming down the aisle with their lists! More came a few minutes later and we had a total of 12 people waiting for the employee to cut their wire shelving. Luckily we were first to ask so we had our large shelving cut and we were able to then move onto all the little parts like, screws and brackets.

We were also very lucky get all all the supplies for 10% off! We didn't know there was a sale and it was close to the last day too. We had compared both Rubbermaid and Closet Maid and decided on the Rubbermaid brand just because we like the installation better and then, to our surprise, the sale too....woo hoo! Our supplies totaled $160.00 and off we were to unload the goodies into the house.

We began ...well I should say Tom began, the installation of the top mounting rail and uprights. We got lucky hitting a few 2x4's but mostly installed anchors throughout. We all know how heavy scrapbook supplies can get :-)







These are three views of the finished closet. It's mighty small (65" wide, 23" deep and 8 feet high). As mentioned in an earlier post I will be making wooden stained shelves for each side of my window above my work desk. These areas are where I will put my pretty baskets, copper containers and holiday wooden stamps. It will be a more decor based storage than the closet. I will get alot of storage out of this little closet area. I have spent 2 fullndays going through my whole stash. I will post those pics sometime next week. I'm very happy how much room I now have.


Top and right hand side view



Top and left hand side view


Partial front view

I have everything placed in and on the shelves now but I am still looking for some 12x12 paper/cardstock organizers and also 1 magazine file to finish the total project. I really feel like I have accomplished alot this holiday time and I found some scrapbook goodies I even forgot I had! I think we all know what "out of sight, out of mind" means.

Well I'm off to rest for a bit and then begin the rest of the room. Please check back for updates and ideas. I hope some of my experiences will help you with ideas to design your scrapbook room and organizer it too.

Darlene