Chat tonight!

Please join me for a “farewell” chat at the SBG chat room at 9pm EST. It will be my last chat for a while, so I hope to see lots of you there! We always have such a blast!!

You can read a little more here and here!

See you tonight!

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Just a reminder …

… that my 50% OFF Sale is still going on!

Please also refer to my initial blog post for an extra 10% OFF coupon!

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5 “must try soon” things I recently found in the blogasphere

1) Faux Canvas Print @ Infarrantly Creative

This is so clever! One of those “why haven’t I thought of that before” things!

 

I love canvas prints and I have a few that I got on very steep sales etc, but for me the problem is that I like to change things up and I just can’t justify paying what canvas prints cost and then wanting to change it out a few months later!

THIS might be my solution, especially for some smaller items hear or there!

 

2) Ribbon Organizer @ Spunky Junky

I have everything already on hand, including a TON of ribbons which are currently organized, but not easily accessible, so I think this might just be the solution for me!

 

 

3) Heart cupcakes with a regular muffin tin!

And this is another one of those clever things! So simple, so effective!! And not just on Valentine’s day, I think this could be an every day trick to get a little more out of your muffin tin!

 

4) Hot Chocolate on a Stick @ Whipperberry

This one is just such a yummy and cute thing to do! I’m thinking hostess gift! I definitely want to try my hand at homemade marshmallows though! I’ve had that on my list for quite a while!

 

 

5) Super cute Ladybug Cupcakes @ The Stories of A2Z

I think those would be the perfect treat for my guys on Valentines day!

 

And here is one that I don’t think I will end up making (again,) but it’s been on my favorites list for a while now and I just LOVE looking at it!

The Valentine’s Day Gift Box of Cake by Bakerella

 

 

What have you found recently that inspired you?

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Can’t Miss Amazon Offer!!

As you probably know by now, I practically live at Amazon.com! This just totally made my day!

And there’s the greatest offer for Amazon gift cards today!!  Amazon  gift cards are selling for HALF off today!

Don’t miss it! The deal is time limited of course, so go get yours!!

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When Jack Frost Visits Phoenix, AZ

So, you may remember my post about our backyard when we first finished it!

And it grew and it bloomed even though the rest of the country was going into winter mode, but this is Phoenix, Arizona. It’s warm here and Winter is the nice season! That’s why everyone comes here this time of year

 

But this year, the year where we spent a lot of time and effort on gardening of course, we finally got a cold(er) winter. At least for a few days/nights. We got hard frost and even a little dusting of snow! Imagine that! But we also got a few fierce thunderstorms with high winds to boot!

And even though the Bavarian in me LOVED the fact that we actually had “a season”, meaning the weather consisted of a little cold and not just varying degrees of warm, hot and blisteringly hot, I am so not loving what happened to our lovely yard!

 

We went from this

{Imagine this fuller grown in, mulched and with LOTS more blooms all over the bushes.}

to this, pretty much overnight.

I guess for now all we can do is wait for a few weeks, cut them back and hope that some survived. I’m not holding out much hope for our Lime tree

The orange one doesn’t look so bad however, so maybe that one will make it.

The “regular” honeysuckle varieties seems to have withstood it relatively well too, but the other varieties and the Hibiscus look to be in a very sorry state! This Honeysuckle was the only one not in bloom, so that probably helped protect it some!

 

My fav orange blooms that had taken off beyond belief, climbing that trellis like nobody’s business and blooming like crazy, now looks like this It wasn’t just the cold, but the wind did a real number on this too!

But I see a little green sprout in there, so maybe there is hope for this one yet!

  

It is a dismal site! And the front yard doesn’t look much better!

I guess I’ll have lots of gardening to do when we are firmly back in the warmer temperatures!

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Announcement and 50% OFF Sale

I'm writing today with a heavy heart, as I have made the difficult decision to take some time away from digital scrapbook designing. For quite some time now, I have had way too much on my plate, and it is time to prioritize and simplify. Amongst other things, my mojo  has been suffering in the process, well, to be exact it has been more like MIA for a while now!

 

{Ok, so it hasn’t exactly been gone since 1968 lol}

Source: Google Images

 

I don't expect to be retiring permanently from SBG or from digiscrap designing in general, I just need to take an extended break!

I may however be gone for as long as a year!
I trust that I will know when it is time to return, just like I know right now that it is time to make some changes!
Currently the goal is to come back when my children have established a routine in Kindergarten.

 

I will however continue to blog regularly, so if you are interested in crafts, DIY, scrapping and the odd recipe, make sure you are a follower or subscriber!

 

I will close the doors to my store on Jan 29th, 2011 and the

50% OFF retirement sale

will run until then.

 

This should give everyone time to get everything they want!

 

Pssst, here is a coupon for the sale! It will give you an extra 10 % Off!

sabbatical_10_BK

I think my sabbatical is also a good opportunity to permanently retire many of my products! I may bring some back by popular demand, others may come back in a redesigned fashion. But for the time being, make sure you get everything you wanted

 

For now I want to thank each and every one of you so much for your business, friendship and on-going support! It has meant so much to me over the years and I certainly look forward to returning when I have taken care of all the other things that are pressing right now!

I bid thee farewell until my return

Well, it’s really not nearly as dramatic as I will be around as usual on my facebook page and my blog, I just won’t design/sell for a while

 

So happy scrapping as usual, and see you around the digi world!

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Make your own microwave popcorn!

It’s so easy and so much healthier than the stuff you can buy! You can choose your own ingredients and toppings!

Here’s the basic method and you can make up your own variations from there!

 

You will need:

- 1/4 cup of popping corn of choice

- 1 brown paper lunch bag

- 1/4 tsp oil of choice (I use a mild olive oil)

- a little sea salt to taste (or  any other topping you like)

 

I you would like air-popped  popcorn, all you need is the brown paper bag and the popping kernels.

 

1.) In a bowl, mix the kernels with the oil. Stir them around until they are evenly coated. Sprinkle on the salt and stir to distribute evenly.

 

2.) Put the kernels into the brown paper bag. Fold the top over twice.

 

3.) Place in the microwave. Unlike the store bought packages, this bag should sit upright! Microwave on high for 1.5-2 minutes, depending on your microwave. You know that the popcorn is done when there are 2 seconds or more between pops. Be careful not to burn it. Mine is usually done after 1.5 minutes!

 

4.) Carefully remove the bag from the microwave! Watch out for escaping steam!

Voila! Perfect popcorn – and not a single kernel usually stays un-popped for me!

 

Now that you have the basics down, you can go experimenting!

One of my favorites currently is to add 1 tbsp of fresh, finely grated Parmesan as soon as I open the bag with the steaming popcorn, shaking it around while the popcorn is still in the bag and hot. Yum!

Another one is adding some Truvia and cinnamon for a faintly sweet treat.

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New Wordart Elements @ Studio Birgit Kerr

In this pack, wordart meets elements. It is perfect for all your modern and traditional scrapping needs. Whether you are scrapping a modern love story, the engagement or wedding album, a valentines card or an every day page about somebody you love, this word art pack will give your layouts just that little bit extra!

And this new pack is 20% OFF for a limited time!

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10 Goals for 2011

Yep, goals. I don’t do resolutions!
Somehow the expression “New Year’s Resolution” already has failure written all over it. Almost like it’s definition itself suggests that it won’t last beyond January.
Goals however are steadfast and long reaching. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking with it anyway!
1.) As always, health, fitness, weight loss and all that is a #1 goal. But for the most part I have the healthy eating under control already, even though I don’t have the weight loss to show for it (long story there!) So my goal is to not obsess but to enjoy. Maybe that’s an odd goal, since most of us strive to be more “obsessive” about our “resolutions” when we make them, but I find that the obsessive aspect sucks the joy right out of it all and makes it a hard thing to achieve … a chore. I want to make a concerted effort to ENJOY whatever it is I am doing to reach my goal! So maybe my #1 goal is to find JOY in what I’m doing … be it working out, eating well or a blood test!
Not sure there’s much joy in that last one, certainly not when I’ll look at my “somebody-must-have-confused-me-with-a-pin-cushion” looking arms (the plight of rolling veins and inexperienced lab assistants *sigh*)
But I digress. I want to do it consciously, fully aware, fully and joyfully taking it all in!It ties in with goal #10, but adds the joy aspect!

2.)  I want to make time for me. I don’t mean the kind of time that is a result of “Honey, could you take the kids to the park, so I can clean the house” kind of time. However little it may be, I really want to find some time for just me. Where I can do nothing or something … where I can maybe go to a group of some sort … or not. And I want to make this “me-time” as much of a priority as I would any other commitment or deadline.
That’s going to be the hard part – the commitment!

3.) I want to simplify. It’s so easy to say that, yet so hard to do. I find that my life is surrounded by a lot of “stuff” and the chaos that comes with it. Both my husband and my children are very much challenged when it comes to looking after stuff. To put it mildly. Between the three of them, chaos is easily spread around every single space in the house. And it’s not a matter of just “training” them … well, not entirely. It is in large part a genetic thing I think ;) Joking aside, I think it really is. However, one of the ways to get on top of that is to simplify. Simplify the stuff  - I have all the organization in place but where they is just too much then even the best organization can fail.
I also want to simplify my time table. I have too much going on. It’s a fact and I won’t deny it. So simplifying will at times mean to say the dreaded word “no” and live with the consequences. It will also mean prioritizing. Which things/people/jobs/projects are worth spending a large chunk of my time and energy on and which aren’t.
NOT an easy thing to do and not a goal that will ever be fully reached I’m sure, but I want to continue on that path in 2011.

4.) I want to laugh more. Yep! It’s a worthwhile goal. I want to have more laughing tears and deep belly laughs, mostly with my family!

5.) I want to be more frugal. I have always been one for a good deal or a bargain and I tend to have a lot of those aspects down pat. Especially the internet shopping thing. I have however let other things slip. Like even looking at newspaper coupons or reloading my store cards on the things we really use. I doubt I will ever become a hard-core couponer (is that a word?) as it would seriously conflict with my goal # 3, but I do want to be more conscious about these things when I make our shopping list. It will take a little more time, but from what I’ve seen this last 2 weeks of doing just the basics, it literally puts about 10-20 extra dollars per shopping trip back in our pockets and that has to be a good thing!

6.) Step away more from the electronics. My husband and I are real techno geeks … so is my son. My job is solely based on the computer and most of my means of contact to extended family and friends is also based on the computer. A lot of my hobbies are too! I think it’s too easy to be sucked into the “electronic overload!”
I need to make a real effort to step away from it all more, especially as we live in the city and I can’t just open the door, go for a walk in the meadows and sit under a tree when I need a break.  Some of it does tie in with goal #2. My goal is to curb the being “sucked in” factor a bit more!

7.) Don’t sweat the small stuff! I know, everyone always says that and many people are experts in this. I am not one of them! I am somewhat detail oriented and a recovering perfectionist. This is a good thing for a crafter and a digital scrapbook designer!
It is not such a good thing in all situations all the time. So, my goal is to continue on the path of being a bit more laid back about the small stuff. It ties in with goals 1, 2 and 3 too!
Let’s embrace imperfection! Yay! 

8.) I want to do a lot of things with this little beauty I got for Christmas from my dad. Well, he doesn’t know it yet, but that is what I got from him lol Since dad lives in Germany, gift giving from him usually happens in the form of a wire transfer and the notion to get something for each of us that we REALLY want, even though not necessarily need!
 
I’ve been wanting one of those since the DIY days in my Edinburgh flat – 15 years ago! And I have a fair list already of all the things I want to build! From simple storage shelving to the built-in for the living room down the road (when I’m more experienced.)

I’m also looking for some recommendations for a nail gun. If anyone can offer any experiences/recommendations I would be much obliged!

9.) Make more time for my marriage/relationship with my hubby.

10.)Be fully present. I want to continue in my goal to be in the moment. Not in the past, not in the future, just right here, right now! Present in my life, present for my children, present for my relationship with my man!

All these may seem like very grand and lofty goals and they are! But really this is a list of ongoing goals for me. It just helps to reaffirm them and to have renewed focus on them!

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Personalizing the “Flip”

As I’ve mentioned before, I recently got a Flip Video Camera and I’m loving it! I can’t believe I waited this long to get something to take movies! And it’s so compact and easy to take along just about anywhere!

 

But I digress. The flip looks very nice an sleek, but I really felt like it needed a bit of a personal touch. There are plenty of skins available in the flip store, but I thought I could do it myself – much faster and much cheaper thanks to the Silhouette Craft Cutter. Love that machine!

 

And it was so simple too!

Here’s the Flip as is:

Then I simply used the kiss lips from the Silhouette library, sized it to what I needed and let the machine do the rest on a bit of red vinyl scrap.

Then I just picked out the bits I didn’t want transferred and applied to the transfer tape.

Then I just positioned the lips and applied!

Voila! My customized Flip!

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Keeping the toy clutter at bay

I received a few questions in email and in comments as to how I deal with the toy clutter in our very small  living room that is also the only common play room for the kids.
As most of you know, I have boy/girl twins. They turned 5 years old at the end of October.
They mostly play in the living room as we don’t have a separate play room. They do now each have their own room, but they are not all that much into playing separately for any length of time and at their age, I think that is just fine! I WANT them to play together and somewhere where I can see and hear them!

However, this means that the bulk of the every growing mountain of toys resides in the living room! And since it’s the only living room/ communal family space we have, it is also supposed to be a space for us adults to relax in the evenings. Ha!

So when we moved to this place, I had to make sure that the room functions both ways. For the kids during the day, for the adults the rest of the time! I don’t much like climbing over mountains of toys and to be honest, I don’t really like looking at them, even when they are sort of “tidy” and confined to one place. If too much of them is visible, I don’t feel it is an adult space! It’s a fine line for sure!

I think you can basically go two ways when you’re designing/furnishing a space you share almost 24/7 with small children. You either go for the indestructible kind of design that is usually more high end and costs quite a bit more, but it is meant to last for years and years, despite the considerable wear.
Or you go with the cheaper option, well knowing that it just isn’t going to last beyond the first few years of your kid’s life as it won’t wear nearly as well. But it gives you the chance to redo that living space once the children are older. And if you are a DIYer and amateur decorator like me, that’s always an appealing solution!
Since we had just moved into the house and where financially somewhat tapped out, we chose the second option – especially as we were planning on using as much as possible of what we already had. I also really wanted to live in the space for a few years before I committed to a definite way to furnish it. So, most of our furnishings in there are either from IKEA or Wal-Mart.
I tried to find the most inexpensive but stylish ways to make this living room work for us at the time. Inexpensive because I am well aware that in a couple or so more years, the children’s toy and play needs will change and this space will get another major overhaul then!

So, how do we keep the toy clutter at bay?
Well I started out with some Billy shelves (IKEA) we already had. Of course we could put some doors on them to banish the toys, but when we did, it looked really closed in, since the space we have isn’t very large! The solution could have been to have closed storage at the bottom and open on top which would have worked fine for our very young toddlers, but in the last two years our guys have become very adept with a step stool!
And at the time we didn’t want to buy the shelves all over again … as IKEA in their ultimate wisdom decided to discontinue the finish we have *argh*

Leaving the shelves open with two then 3-year-olds just meant that every book, basket or whatever else you decided to put in there ended up on the floor on a daily basis. So we mounted some glass doors. They came with a backing on which you could insert paper or fabric, but for now, we’re using them as glass doors. It gives the openness necessary for the small room and it keeps little hands away from the things inside … with a well placed child safety latch on top :) It also allowed me to use glass shelves on the inside, which gave everything a much lighter feeling than the wooden shelves the Billy system comes with!

Of course, visually they were still open shelves and had to be treated as such. So a variety of baskets, boxes and containers tame the smaller clutter there, without looking nearly as cluttered! And let’s face it, if you can’t hide it, you need to display it in a manner that says “living room (with kids)” rather than daycare! However, the decorating choices will always be different with kids on a tight budget than it would be in an adult household! But with neutrals and a few chosen colors you can make it look a little less psychodelic even in completely open toy storage!
 
I generally place items behind those doors that I want the children to ask for. Like puzzles. My son LOVES to do puzzles and he has moved to rather involved puzzles at a pretty young age (100+ pieces) He is however not very good at keeping track of his pieces once he made the puzzle, so one of our rules is that in order to get a new puzzle, the old one must be back in the box and go back into the cupboard before a new one comes out.
It has made a lot of difference in the “I lost my piece” drama that used to ensue AND to the floor strewn with puzzle pieces dilemma every evening!

By far the best purchase I made were these two Ottomans. They are worth their weight in gold as far as I’m concerned. They look pretty good and were quite inexpensive!
And they hold a LOT of toys, especially all the small stuff that forever gets in the way! We started with one and once we realized just how great it was, we went and got a second one.

Ugghh!! Looks familiar, right? But then you close it and you have this:Ahhhhh!!

They are also moved quite easily even when full, serve as seating when we have guests or as coffee tables for kids an adults alike! And the kids have an easy time tidying up by themselves with these too!
Next, I stacked 3 Expedit (Ikea) on top of each other. We constructed them so that they are not only fixed to each other, but also to the wall, so there is no danger of anything moving or falling. It enabled me to go all the way to the ceiling (unlike the taller ones that come ready made,) making the most of storage on that side of the wall!

As you can see I employ a variety of methods for that area. Baskets are always great for the toy clutter, and they look so nice and neat when put away.


The little mirror doors are great too, not only for taming the clutter, but for little princesses that need to look at themselves frequently during their dress up games etc And from a room design standpoint they provide the illusion of light and depth, which this small space definitely needs. The disadvantage is that little finger prints are very easily visible, but oh well.

And the kids love to open and close their “secret” compartments to “hide” their stuff.
I also leave some open cubbies as a daily catch all … it’s easier to tidy it away from there than to go fishing under the sofa or cupboards! I also put the silk pillows in one of them during the day, since my boy has the habit of having pillows on the floor or builds fords with pillows and the couch etc and the silk ones are just not that suitable for that. I leave the hard wearing ones out though!

This photo was prior to construction and with the old color scheme in that room, but you see what I mean!

Basically as much as possible, I have everything have it’s separate box, as well as place throughout the room. It just makes it easier to keep things (like legos, tiny doll clothing items etc) together and easier for the kids to remember where they live and hopefully eventually learn how to put them back there themselves!

One of the first things I also did when we moved here was to put up the magnet board for the kids. Not only is it great for all the magnetic letters and numbers, it keeps all that off the fridge, enabling you to either have a clutter free fridge exterior, or to have a few select pieces on there, not everything magnetic! And the kids can hang their art work themselves there too, even the bigger pieces as we have room to the floor!
I basically just view this one as a piece of art! It sure beats ALL these things on the floor though! Or on my refrigerator and then it slides of every time I open the fridge! Arrgghh!

We also have a lot of very large cardboard building blocks.

The photo is from a year ago, prior to construction and prior to changing the colors in that room!

We could have filled both ottomans just with those, or several cupboards, but obviously that wasn’t going to work out. I found these sturdy, relatively inexpensive and neutral “laundry” bins that house the bricks just fine. And they have a lid, which means that once they are in there, they are truly out of sight! And they could easily be painted too, which is what I initially had in mind when I purchased them, but so far I left them as they are since they work with the room’s color scheme.

And lastly, the book storage. Many a book ends up on the floor in this house. Mostly because often it gets read on the floor, but that also means that it gets stepped on. I’ve tried to instill in my children that books are treasures. Special companions that are to be treated well, so obviously we needed book storage in abundance, since we have a LOT.
My solution to the book “clutter” problem was to have book storage in almost every room. We have book shelves in all the bedrooms and we have this one in the living room. It leaves the books visible and at times a little chaotic looking, but they stay in. The problem with open shelves was and sometimes still is, that they are shoved in rather haphazardly and they begin to slide out again. So the sling shelf works really well for those often read and well-loved books that reside in the common space! It was worth every penny and I love the neutral colors on it that fit almost any decor and doesn’t draw attention to itself with it’s primary colors that these type of sling shelves often come in!
This is what it looks like on a daily basis. I tend to straighten it up and “neutralize” it a bit more when we have company, but for the most part, this is it!

On a side note – see all the little dog eared papers in there? Those are Anna’s “books”! Anna draws and “writes” very elaborate story books which she then tapes together page by page to create her own books! Of course they need to be on the book shelf too!

So, that is my system for taming the toy clutter! Of course the most important part about that is keeping up with putting it all away regularly! It requires discipline no doubt, for me as well as the kids but we are working on it every day!

The other discipline I adopt is to declutter and get rid of all the toys they haven’t played with in a while on a regular basis. I also sometimes sort things away if it is worth keeping but the kids don’t seem interested and then bring it out again a while later and for them it’s like getting new toys. Granted I only do that with the higher quality stuff that is really worth keeping. :)

So, those are the finer details of our SMALL playroom/living room! It is by no means a formal living room or a Candice Olson style room, but it is a room where we can relax in the evening without feeling like we’re camping out in a daycare room!
The Candice Olson inspired living room will come later!

What is your tip for taming the toy clutter?

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