Rebuilding me in 2012

01-01-2012

Oh my!  I love the look of that date written out on the page.
Today is  is the first day of many changes for me.  To help me on this journey, I have chosen once again to embrace the concept of One Little Word to guide my year.

Last year I chose Focus to aid me in my continuing journey to cope with post concussion syndrome. I did some one-on-one work with a specialist and learned some good coping mechanisms.  I am proud to say that I achieved my goal of reading a book from cover to cover. For the first time in 3 year, I started a book and finished it, connected the characters and remembered the plot etc.  I learned some valuable skills to get me to this point.  I am hopeful that with the addition of an Ereader, I will be reading more books in the future.  The ability to triple space, increase the font size etc is key to my success.

This year I have chosen REBUILD as my word.

2012 will herald many changes for me. My first back surgery will be in early spring. A second one will follow, once I regain my back stability.  Once my back is sorted, I will be able to proceed with shoulder
surgery and then finally get my knees replaced.
Rebuilding me will be my focus this year. I want to rebuild myself in many ways...

Rebuild my eating habits so I will be in better shape to get through all that lies ahead.
Rebuild my emotional health so that I keep positive on a daily basis throughout this journey.
Rebuild my attitides towards exercise and sports to encourage me to build my endurance.
Rebuild my daily life to eliminate energy vampires and negativity.
Rebuild my positivity to help me become a better person, inside and out.

It should be an interesting year.  I am looking forward to the journey.

Wooden Stamp Storage

I'm on an organizational roll...

Thought I would share my wooden stamp storage in the hopes that some might respond with their own acrylic stamp storage ideas...A product that I have not fully organized yet!

I keep my wooden stamps sorted by theme in these 6 drawer rolling iris carts from Costco.

My themes are Inks; Alpha; baby; birthday; Florals, nature, Odds and Ends; Shapes; Wedding/Love; Words/Phrases; and Xmas.

Some of you may remember that I have memory problems since we hit a deer a couple of years ago. I can't remember what supplies I have (or where they are) anymore!!! I  took the Wookie Mouse Organizational Challenge at Two Peas and she showed this great idea to create a binder of stamped off images.
As you can see, the iris cart drawers have a couple of layers of stamps in each one. Stamps can become forgotten when they are hidden on the bottom layer. I guess there is truth to that old adage, out of sight, out of mind!

To keep all my stamps visible, I stamp them off  (by theme) onto cardstock. These are then stored in a binder that I can peruse when trying to decide on the "perfect" stamp to use on a project.

Now I am trying to find a solution for my acrylic stamps. Currently I store the little Studio G stamps and simlar size in baseball card sleeves in the same binder mentioned above.  I haven't found a solution for all the other zillion different sized acrylic stamps I own.  I don't really have room for a Clip it up although I think they look great.
Any ideas or pics would be greatly appreciated.

My Scrap Room

I have a room that is my very own:)
It is in the basement and doesn't have a window:(
My husband calls it the dungeon.
I call it paradise!

I have been on a bit of a scrapbooking hiatus due to some health issues. I still shopped, re-organized my stash, played with creating tags, flowers, journalling spots, cards etc...but wasn't actually getting any pictures laid to paper. I soon realized that whether I was "playing" with bits and bobs or actually creating layouts, I still enjoyed my room.

Thought I would share a few random shots...

I found these Ikea cupboards on Craigslist for $100     What luck!!!             

Here are some random shots of the inside of the cupboards.

The chest of drawers that is holding up my countertop was DH's when he was a child. He was delighted to see them reused...They hold my card  and envelope supplies as well as finished cards. Here is the inside view of a drawer...as you can see my trusty labeller was once again put to good use.

These little woven fabric drawers came from Jysk and I just happened to find the matching baskets at Dollarama.  I was lucky enough to find a couple of different sizes of the baskets.

These little stickles shelves were being cleared out at my LSS. I picked them up for around a buck each...what a score! I bought a bunch and haven't filled them all up yet...

I think that means it is OK to go do some more shopping!!!

Hope you enjoyed my picture tour...feel free to leave any questions or comments...