What a mess!

What have I been doing?  Well, let me tell you. This house is a hot mess. I have been trying to get us more organized.  Some of you are thinking, "Your house is organized, Jess."  Not all the time. We live here, we eat here, some of us outgrow our clothes every few months, we play here, we run in and out as we play other places, and we sometimes hide our messes and say we will deal with it later.  I am feeling like the kitchen and the crafting areas in particular are getting out of control.  How is this happening?  Well I think it's mostly unfinished projects, school papers, and stuff I should have thrown away, but it was trapped under the other stuff.  Aaack!!

I think a good way to get started is that I should be doing some scrap booking. I don't do it as often as I would like.  I tend to mostly make cards and other projects that intend to give away.  Making a card can take me as little as 8-10 minutes if I all ready have the idea in my head. This kind of quick project is perfect for me, since I don't always have all the crafting time I want.  Scrap booking is very different for me.  I do have a dedicated space in my house to craft in, but it is also a mess right now.  It is unfinished projects, memorabilia, and too much stuff!! The only way to beat this monster back is to purge and to scrapbook the important things. 

I decided to get started by scrap booking the photos and annual letters that came with our Christmas cards last month. I created this kind of layout last year and I loved it.  I originally saw the idea on Nichol Magouirk's blog last year. I think it's a great way to do something with all these wonderful annual gifts I get in the mail and treasure them. Here is a link to Nichol's blog: http://www.nicholmagouirk.typepad.com/

Here is a peek at what I made.  

The page on the left has two hidden, pull out, tabs that have more photos on them.  I was really trying to pack the pictures into 2 pages.

I'm sorry for the poor photos. I'm not used to photographing scrapbook pages.  :-)

I think you get the idea though. 

The page on the right has a pocket sewn at the bottom.  I used my sewing machine and sewed around three sides of the lower patterned paper.  I tucked the annual letters, and a few cards I couldn't fit into the pocket.

I cut that pretty swirl piece with my Silhouette. I had it sitting around waiting to be used. 

I will be trying to work on some more scrapbook pages and posting what I have done.  I really want to get my area in ship shape because I will be making a bunch of baby shower invites soon and needing my desk to be clean and organized in order to make a large quantity of the same thing. 

Do you do a similar thing in order to keep all of your Christmas greetings and photos?  Do you make a special Christmas album?  Maybe you make a special album to take care of all the photos for each year?  If you have a tip or great idea, please leave me a comment.  I love Becky's Project Life, but just can't seem to spring for it when I already have so much scrap booking stuff on hand. 

Thanks for stopping by!!

P.S.

Yikes! I forgot to say that the kraft cardstock is by Paper Reflections, patterend paper & stickers is by Basic Grey, the tabs on the pullouts were punched with a punch by Stampin Up! and the flourishy swirl was cut with my Silhouette.  Sorry!  Thanks for stopping in.