TGIF

It's Friday and we are having some beautiful weather. Sunday is my birthday. I'm not going to tell you how old I am because then there will be proof when I go to lie about my age some day. It's not groundhog's day, everyone thinks that. I'm just looking forward to eating a butter recipe yellow cake with chocolate icing all week. So, bring on the birthday I say!

A couple more Cosmo Lil Man projects here:

B is for Boy

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Patterned paper Handsome Henry; Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Ready, set Chipboard; plus white cardstock.

Instructions: Print journaling on white cardstock first, then attach patterned paper, photo and stickers. Pretty simple that one.

My Hero

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Patterned paper: Silly Sam, Dapper Dan, and Mischievous Max; Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Ready, set, Chipboard; plus cream bazzil cardstock.

Instructions: Print journaling on photo. Cut patterned paper in 2 squares-one in top left corner and one in the bottom right corner. Add smaller other 2 patterned paper to create rectangle. Add chipboard stickers last.

Baseball Photo Box

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Patterned paper: Jumping Jack and Borders; Cosmo Cricket Ready, set, Chipboard; Cosmo Cricket photo box.

Instructions: Cut patterned paper so there is a 1/2 inch gap on all sides so that a little of the black box shows. Add the patterned paper strip to both front and back. Add chipboard stickers last.

I picked up my son yesterday and did something frightening to my back. I've never had back pain before and wow, it's very unpleasant. Motherhood, taking me to new levels of pain and sleep deprivation. A Million Little Things has the layouts up now, I'm still very excited about that. Hope you have a great weekend!

Sunshine!

Today is a good day. I feel better, my son was excellently behaved in the food store. My sister wants to go home (even though that is very far from happening, it's a good thing I think). I'm posting the first Lil' Man layout today and will post more tomorrow. 

Imagine 

Supplies: Cosmo cricket Lil Man Patterned paper; Cosmo Cricket Lil Man Ready, set, chipboard; plus black bazzil cardstock.

It's the manufacturer's job to give us themes for the paper, but as a scrapbooker I do not let myself be defined by them. I love lil' man's papers because they are great colors, they set a mood, and they are gorgeous in real life. Just as I won't hesitate to use the green and blue papers in girl Friday for my son, I wouldn't hesitate to use the reds, blues, oranges and neutrals to scrap a little girl. I draw the line at scrapping my son with pink, I just can't sell that to dh. And even if I scrap photos of myself, I rarely use pink.  So, unless they are your own limitations, don't be limited. K? 

And I think I can finally say, I was asked to be the guest designer this month for A Million Little Things, please check their blog for 7 layouts to be posted in the next day or two. I love, love that store and I feel the customer service is the top of the industry. Jill sets a standard in getting you the latest and greatest and getting it to you fast. Love that website, I refer to it as "my happy place." So very excited for the opportunity this month. I couldn't pass it up even with all the craziness of CHA. Happy Thursday everyone!

Let it snow

It's been an incredibly difficult two days. Waiting for word from Duke.  Trying to get to feeling better. Fighting with a company that has such terrible business practices I can't believe they exist in a big city like this. After dealing with that horrible business and all their problems from before we moved a year ago, my husband finally took matters into his own hands, went face to face with the guilty party, and the situation is almost completely behind us. I still need to write a scathing letter to this service company, but other than that it's behind us.

My sister was supposed to have surgery yesterday at noon. However, it was delayed until 5 pm last night. It was supposed to take 6 hours. It only ended up taking about 2 hours. She has had a prior surgery from 1997 when her intestine perforated. The Crohn's disease always comes right back to the spot that they cut it out at. Hers did, she had a bad fistula that the Remicade had tried to heal. It did heal the spot, however it strictured the bowel down so tightly that even a pill/capsule could not pass through. That's where they found the capsule camera, at what was essentially a small bowel obstruction. The surgeon resected the bad area, taking about 2 cm of bowel out, and sewed it back together. Thankfully, she did not have to take a lot of bad area out, otherwise my sister would have ended up with short bowel syndrome. It's where there is not enough surface area to absorb nutrients from food and the patient suffers from malnutrition. Not that with the Crohn's disease that she doesn't have those problems anyway, but still.  So, very good news. As good as can be expected right now. She will be in the hospital all this week and provided there are no complications (infection, etc) she will most likely be home by the weekend. I talked to her husband last night, I hope to talk to her today. 

We got a foot of snow yesterday, and I finally got my snow pictures. I needed them for a calender I'm working on for my mom. Today it is really icy. Which makes looking at this Cosmo Snorkel summer album all the more sweet:

Summertime Mini Album

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Patterned paper kit; Cosmo Cricket Jack's Blackboard Album; Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Rub-ons; and Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Ready, set, Chipboard; plus white bazzil cardstock.

Instructions: Print photos out on 4 x 6 photo paper and trim to fit album. Cut patterned paper and cardstock to fit album as seen above. Put photos on the right or bottomside of the album; put patterned paper on the top or left side of the album. Adhere rub-ons as shown. Adhere Chipboard title to the front of the album. Note: I love the ready set Cosmo chipboard. It pops out with the backing still on it and you can move it all around until you get it where you want it. And if you adhere it and change your mind in the a couple of minutes, you can move it easily. However, I wouldn't change my mind hours or days later, it is fairly sticky. Love, love that stuff.

Have a wonderful day to all who stop by. I really appreciate all the wishes and the prayers for my sister, thanks so much for them. Stay warm! Tomorrow I'll have some Lil' man projects. Can you believe I still have at least 4 more projects to post? I'm up to 23 layouts/projects for the month already. I'm really looking forward to working with Scribble Scrabble and more with the Studio Calico kit. 

Ironic

Seems odd on such a wintery day to post sunny projects with Cosmo Cricket Snorkel. I've had a tough morning. A pen exploded in the dryer, the roads were icy and snowy on our way to J's play class, I needed to get some food before the impending winter weather. It's like it's not bad enough that I'm not in California and that my sister is having surgery tomorrow, but now mother nature is going to give me the proverbial icy cold finger. I'm a little sarcastic when I'm sick and don't feel well. This wonderful cold just lingers on with the coughing. So here's to sunnier, better times:

Smile Layout

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Carbonation Patterned paper; Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Ready, set, chipboard; Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Rub-ons; plus black cardstock.

Snorkel Flip Flop Box

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Boardwalk and School's Out Patterned paper; Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Rub-ons; Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste Ribbon and Snorkel Ribbon; Claudine Hellmuth Red and white paint.

My sister is scheduled for surgery at Duke tomorrow at 1 pm. More tomorrow on that and I have a Snorkel album to post as well. It sure is a Monday. Hope you are having a good day!

One more

I haven't been feeling very well this weekend, cold has me down. I did do some organizing while my nose ran. I think I made a bigger mess with tissues then I cleaned up. Here is one more layout with Everafter:

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Everafter Patterned paper; Cosmo Cricket Everafter Ready, set, Chipboard stickers.

Instructions: Cut two squares out of patterned paper, then add the blue patterned paper above and below the squares, leaving space for journaling/title. Add journaling/title via computer. Then embellish with chipboard stickers.

Not sure the colors turned out so well here, the light was pretty bad these past two days. I did clear out 3 shelves to make room for the new Studio calico kits, not long now. I think I got rid of the last of the stuff I bought a few years ago, like fibers and stuff. Remember those? I finally gave up and I admit they won't be making a come back anytime soon. What are you hanging on to, hoping against hope it makes a return to the scrapping world? Hope your weekend is going well!

Friday

I guess I should have posted the girl Friday on Friday, oh well.  Here is some of my projects for Everafter. They were kind of hard to part with, but it's OK.

Bathtime Layout

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Everafter Patterned Paper Something Borrowed; Cosmo Cricket Ready, set, Chipboard Sticker; plus Black and white Bazzil cardstock.

Baby Mine Album

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Everafter Patterned paper Crafting kit; Cosmo Cricket Everafter Rub-ons, Cosmo Cricket Everafter Ready set Chipboard stickers, and Cosmo Cricket Everafter Ribbon; Cosmo Cricket Ethan blackboard album.

I'm not feeling well, coughing, etc. My sister's surgery has been postponed until next Tuesday, she has a cold too. I'm feeling the need to clean out my scrap space, I hate when things get cluttered. Might be a good project to keep busy this weekend. Have a great weekend all who stop by!

Girl Friday

A promise is a promise. I feel compelled to explain that when you make a project or layout for a trade show that you don't normally get the project/layout back. So, it's not the best thing to pour your heart and soul out into the journaling unless it really has a place there. I feel myself scrapping here in the past few days with tons of journaling to compensate for that I think. 

Here are my Cosmo Girl Friday projects:

Resolutions Layout

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Patterned paper Sunday; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Ready, Set Chipboard Alpha Stickers and Punctuation. 

Happy Layout

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Patterned paper Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Ready, Set, Chipboard "happy"; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Rub-ons.

Instructions: Cut all paper and photo into 2 inch squares. Adhere, and apply run-ons and stickers.

2009 Planner

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Patterned paper Thursday; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Ready, Set, Chipboard stickers, Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Rub-ons, Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Elements Paper/Journaling cards, plus Basic Grey chocolate numbers.

Instructions: Adhere patterned paper to outside of planner. Adhere Element Journaling card. Embellish with stickers, alphas and rub-ons. Place back in plastic case that it came in.

Paper Clip Project

Supplies: Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Patterned paper Sunday, Saturday and Tuesday; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Ready, set, Chipboard; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Rub-ons; Claudine Hellmuth White paint; unfinished box and large clip from Michael's.

Instructions: Paint top and bottom of the box with white paint. Adhere patterned paper to each of the 4 sides. Embellish with rub-ons and stickers. I added a rub-on to the top as well, rub-ons work on wood too.

Well, let me know when you are ready for more and I'll post more projects. Have a great Wednesday!

Duke update, etc.

I've fallen down on the blog! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted, I feel bad really. It's just been a really crazy long weekend. And we haven't gotten many long weekends with my dh, in fact last year other than Thanksgiving and Christmas, we got none at all. 

Over the weekend Dh told me about a place that offers age appropriate classes for toddlers, teaching them social skills, and physical activity. This weekend it was wicked cold and we were threatened with snow all weekend, but it didn't happen. After spending the weekend inside, we were ready to go check out this idea. 

So Monday morning we went to the take a free class with J. The other 4 children were all sitting quietly during music time around a circle. J? He was running around the room like a manic playing with everything. At first I tried to stop him. Then I tried to take him to a corner of the room to calm down. Then thankfully circle time ended and he could run around without being a sore thumb. By now I'm embarrassed, and wanting to go home. But the other parents were so supportive! They told me that it took a whole session (10 weeks) for their children to get the hang of it. Gosh it made me feel better. And because of that, I signed him up. So Monday mornings we are going to his class. I think that he needs to learn social skills, like sitting in a circle while someone teaches something. He needs to learn how to play hard at the appropriate times, and then turn it off at the quiet times. Even though I am a shy person and it's hard to make myself go interact with new people, I think it's worth it and a good thing.

I know it appears that I have done nothing all month by the looks of this blog! So not true. At least count:

I have completed 15 projects for Cosmo Cricket for CHA, more exactly 2 mini albums, 4 altered projects, and 9 layouts. I should be able to begin sharing them with you tomorrow.

I have completed 4 additional layouts. :)

I did do one Studio Calico layout.

That's 20 projects in 20 days, and I'm not done yet. Just got some Scribble Scrabble in the mail! But projects, here, tomorrow, promise. Blogging to continue. I can't go anywhere, the police have grid-locked the whole town with their check points!

Oh, and Duke update. My sister will indeed have surgery Thursday morning at Duke. She will be hospitalized for the next 5-7 days afterwards. I'm grateful I made the decision not to attend CHA. I would have been forcing my mom to leave my sister's bedside to come watch J. I'm just so glad that I didn't put her in that position. Everything happens for a reason. If you are inclined, if you could say a prayer on Thursday for her. It would mean a lot to me. And I can't talk anymore about that, it makes me cry. 

So tomorrow then?

In my mind I've gone to Carolina

I'm thinking about my sister and my mom at Duke today, hopefully getting a second evaluation to see if the camera is still in her intestine. I'm guessing it's in a blind loop or fistula in her intestine, and that's why she hasn't had a bowel obstruction yet. The clock is still ticking on getting this thing out of her before the casing erodes and the battery acid leaks out. 

I keep praying that maybe somehow this can all work out without the surgery.  But that's not very realistic and I know it. It's hard to be so far away, there's absolutely nothing I can do but provide moral support over the telephone. It's very frustrating, and at times overwhelming.  But I know that it would not be good for J to be in that environment, with sick people and germs. 

I'm still here, still scrapbooking. Getting things ready for the end of the month. I know it's been slim pick'ns here on the blog, but I ask for your patience for just a little while longer. I really appreciate everyone who stops by and leaves encouragement or just makes me laugh. 

I'm trying to think of all the things next week that need to get done this weekend, before the onslaught of people invade this town for the inauguration.  They are expecting at least 2 million, this is an improvement over the 50 million they thought were coming. But in a town know for already having too many people and too much traffic, it's overwhelming to think about. We have no plans other than to stay home and avoid the crowds. J is obsessed with Ratatouille, a movie my mom got him for Christmas. And I never would have guessed it from a little man that doesn't say too much, he told me he loves me for the first time this week.  He said it while I was getting him out of the highchair, just threw his arms around me and said "Wuv you mum." What a sweetheart, and he really has been so good these past few days. I really do love this age.  Happy Friday everyone!

Resurrection

A page ripped from the chronicles of Techno Barbie. 

I guess the PC has 9 lives. I was wrong, it wasn't a hardware problem. It was all software. What possessed me to try to fix it I'll never know. Maybe just to see if I could. And I did! I lost all data (no worries, nothing important on that computer anyway.) And I had to delete a partition (scary), but the clean installation actually worked. I haven't reinstalled the router software yet, so it's not connected to the net. And the router is kind of touchy so that's always a little tricky. But I could scan and print something if I needed to, which is a vast improvement from the clunky paperweight the PC had become. 

Where I went to college, there are always a lot of engineering students. And they have to take and pass chemistry if they wish to continue with that major. I was really good at chemistry and I taught it to freshman when I was in my junior/senior year to make money to go visit my dh at West point. So, I taught them chemistry and they in turn taught me about computers. PCs, to be exact, no one I knew had a Mac back then. Of course I got to take the old family dinosaur of a PC to college, something that freaked out at the thought of the "Internet." So I got a lot of practice in computer crashes, and software incompatibility. So I was always fixing something, the whole 4 years. 

When I got married and installed the wireless Internet in our first house my dh dubbed me techno barbie. (Cutest little nerd he ever saw.) Doesn't matter that I curse like a sailor when things don't go my way and I hit a button 20+ with no result. I guess love really is blind and deaf apparently. And now with the Macs in the house, I'm totally out of my element. This might be techno barbie's last great adventure, but gosh what a ride.

Happy Thursday, it's literally freezing here. Should be a good time! What do you do when your computer gives you a fit or dies?

Blessed and Lucky

If you haven't seen the previews in their entirety, please visit the Cosmo Cricket blog to see Girl Friday, Everafter, Lil Man, and Snorkle:



And the very last line of the new Scribble Scrabble is released! It's called Carmen, and as before, you can win it by heading to the Scribble Scrabble Blog: (in order they are-Evelyn, Ruth, and Carmen)

I am indeed a very lucky girl. If you see any more amazing CHA releases, I'd love to hear about them. We've got to share and spread the joy. Happy Tuesday!

One year ago today

Ugh, have you ever changed a diaper that was so bad you just gave up and decided to give your kid a bath? It sure is a Monday morning, and probably too early for guacamole. What was I saying about my very glamorous life? One year ago today (Steph's & Joy's challenge on the SC blog):

One year ago today we were looking for a place to live. My grandfather had died over the Christmas holiday after spending the holiday week at the beach with us. The afternoon before he was to fly back to Florida with my Grandmother he had a heart attack. At my parents house. My parents were nervous wrecks, my Grandmother was stuck at my mom's, and the body was in transport to Pennsylvania. My whole family was going to the funeral. 

However, I had gotten an email from our then-landlord. It informed us that the even though we had signed a lease for 3 years, the owner who had been in China for less than 6 months was coming home and wanted his house back asap. We looked all over town for a place to live, finally deciding to move into the house next door. I remember feeling so overwhelmed, having a 1 year old, moving for the 3rd time in less than a year. I felt like this house that we moved into, esp the kitchen needed so much work to make it clean.

But move we did. On the only day last year that it snowed. Dh and I moved everything ourselves except 8 pieces of furniture, which we had some guys come help dh. Dh was stressed, starting a new job, having to move, the prospect of being away from us for most of the next year under very stressful circumstances with the military. It was a very tough time. I had become convinced there would always be some crisis to keep me from getting back into scrapbooking.

Now: My one year old survived to be a two year old.  He's a walking, talking, playing wonder. All the moves etc didn't seem to have any negative effects on him whatsoever. And he loves his new room in this house. The house is good, finally clean to my impossible standards. I've had to give away alot of stuff, the closets are much smaller than we were used to. But that has been good. We finally cleaned out the garage and dh can lift weights down there again. Now that he is home for a little while. He made it through last year and graduated from his school.  For the first time in a while, we have no plans to move. Clearly I did find the time to not only start scrapping again, but I've almost maintained a blog for a year. (That's craziness.)  

Well, I hope you are checking the Cosmo Cricket blog for peeks of the new lines Girl Friday and Everafter! The Scribble Scrabble Blog has peeks and a chance to win Ruth's Collection. Have a good Monday!

All over the place

I'm updating late today because I had to take J for his semi-annual dentist appt. Despite the fact that he was totally freaked out that a stranger was touching him, he got a glowing report. No plaque, no cavities, nothing exciting. Thank goodness, if she wanted to do more than that to him I'm pretty sure we would have to knock him out. He was so upset by just the thorough check-up, about the same as the barber. 

I like the dentist, don't get me wrong. She is super nice, and good with kids normally. I tried to explain away the behavior as just stranger anxiety with a little I'm-two-I-do-my-own-thing attitude mixed in. The response I got was, "He's not in daycare? He really should be." Uh? 

Now, before everyone suits up in their battle armor, let me just say that I'm Switzerland. Really, to each his own. It's your kid, you have to live with them all this life so it is totally your choice. SAHM, WAHM, Working Mom, does not matter to me. I choose to stay at home with my son because I think it is a very short couple of years away from my career. I want to invest my time and attention in raising him while he is still little. These are the memories I want when I'm 80 years old rocking in the rocking chair. I don't think it's wrong to put your kid in daycare, you do what you have to do, what you want to do. But I'm shocked that I would be told that "I should." As in I'm wrong not to. I agree, my son could benefit from socialization. With no siblings, he is a bit clingy to me. But I'm looking into some classes for him for the spring. I don't think daycare is the answer for me. And I'm offended to be told such. 

I live in a very big major city, and that attitudes about things here are so not what I was raised to believe. Money is not my King, it's not what I worship, it's not what I serve. I don't need things to be happy. And yet the underlying premise to every conversation that I have with anyone I meet here has to do with money, working, (to-buy) things.  I miss the country, I miss my little map-dot small town I grew up in. The people there have nothing, but they are happy. It's funny, as a teenager/young adult, I spent all my time dreaming and planning a way out of that little backward town. As an adult, I spent a good portion of my daydreaming trying to figure out how to get back there. I could only be so lucky to be practice medicine in a small town like that.

Clearly my thoughts are just all over the place today. I miss seeing pages on my blog. And even though I have no time, I could not resist the beautiful Studio Calico Jan kit:

Happy Friday! 

ETA: Scribble Scrabble is updated with peaks and a giveaway; see the sidebar for links!

On my way. . .

To go outside with J, as the weather is significantly nicer and I think we could both use some fresh air.  These resolutions are kicking my butt.  A picture summing up the week:



I don't know about this formal exercise. It's fun, but hard to schedule. I like to just squeeze in what I can, when I want to. I don't even think you can see how hard I'm working in the photo, and you definitely can't see that I'm struggling to catch my breath. Maybe that's a good thing? Happy Thursday everyone! PS. There are sneaks of the new Scribble Scrabble CHA releases on the Scribble Scrabble blog. I promise I'll update if Cosmo previews too.

Do I have to clean this one too?

It's a dreary day here, I was hoping for snow but our temperature is staying at 33 degrees. So, just the coldest rain possible without being snow. J and I are playing with his kitchen that he got for christmas. It's not the largest or the nicest one out there, I got it from Walmart for $75 on sale before Christmas. But it is so neat. I would have given anything to have a kitchen like this as a kid. When you put a pot or a skillet on it makes noise like it's boiling or frying something. My mom got all the food. But now I realize I have one more kitchen to clean up. I really should talk to dh about a raise, this seems above and beyond. ;)

I've seen peaks of the new Cosmo and you know what a reserved person I am. Well, jumping up and down excited here! I can't wait for you to see. Some of my very favorite stuff so far. I think everyone is going to love it. Keep stalking the Cosmo blog. I'm working on getting my ideas out of my head and printing photos. There's something else I'm working on as well. Busy, busy. I know you all are too.  I just wish it was a little warmer, a little more sun would also be nice. My fingers are like ice.  

I think my word of 2009 will be focus. Focus on the big picture, not the details. Focus on everything that is going right and not the 1 or 2 things that I can't get together. Focus on family, above everything else. Focus on faith, not doubt. Focus on what is actually a priority. Focus on what is in front of me that I can do instead of worrying about all the things I can't control. Just focus. It could work, right? Happy Wednesday!

FYI

You guys might want to check out the Cosmo blog. It's a good time. ;) Have a great day!

Yesterday

Yesterday was a great day. I worked on CME's in the morning while dh entertained J. I had completed enough to be able to renew my NC license, so I did that while J was napping. I also completed so many of the things on my to-do list during that nap that I was energized! What a great feeling. Now I only have to maintain the house, and work on pages this month. Really, getting all that stuff done for my license takes the weight of the world off my shoulders.

Yesterday would have been perfect had J not completely lost it in the haircutting place. Little dude's hair grows entirely too much and too fast for that kind of melt down every time we go. He screamed bloody murder. He was better when he was 1 year old (like in the photo). He was so freaked out that a stranger was so close to him, touching him. I was very embarrassed, it was crowded in the barber shop and he was so loud. My cheeks were hot enough to fry eggs.

Then we went to Chipotle for dinner, and I guess nothing is recession proof as they have increased their prices by 50 cents across the board where we live. Not like it would stop me from going there, but it was kind of sad to see none the less. Still, I enjoyed it. It put me into a euphoric bliss for the next few hours. So, all things considered, it was a great day.

We put together J's kitchen this past weekend in anticipation of bad weather. The sky looks kind of weird, but no snow here yet this winter so we will see. I can tell this is going to be a strange month as far as sharing my work on the blog is concerned. I have lots I'm working on, nothing yet that I can share just yet. Happy Monday everyone!

Happy New Year/Scraproom

Welcome to my scraproom. Which is also my guest room. It's a tiny room, but it does everything I need it to do. Here is what you see after you walk in the room:

There is the computer, external harddrive, photo printer, and my scraps are in the basket. I have the pug blanket for moral support I guess. I don't know. I have since filled up the spice rack with tiny embellishments. The paper in the frame is so old! I can't even remember who makes it, but I liked it.

I know this picture doesn't look like much, but the spot between the  drawers and the closet is where I like to sit on the floor. The door is to the right in this photo.

Since this is also my guest room, the sofa is actually a futon. And it is pretty comfortable. The cover comes off and reveals the mattress and all the bedding is stored underneath. I hope you can see how I've labeled the bins so that you know what is in them. (You can click on the photos to make them bigger.)

Lastly, the most important part of the room is my closet storage. I try to only use half the closet, but I would love to spread out. I have rigged plastic ($6 for 6) bins from the floor to the top. To pull this off you have to have something heavy (cardstock) at the top to anchor it all. Plus I have used jewelry wire I received from a publication a long time ago to wire it to the shelf. 

As long as I go through things pretty regularly, they get used up or gotten rid off. I really like to see everything, I think that is key. But I can't have my room looking like a scrapbook store, because my company has to hang out here too. And I never leave it a mess, it's just not in my nature. 

I know I should update my self portrait with the new year, but I hate doing that! We will see. Have a great weekend everyone!