www.paperartistsonline.com

Yeah.... it's "paper collecting" for sure.

I get a ton of use from texture type print papers... and much less use from things with definitive patterns... hardly any use at all from cute patterns... although I still have photos from my childhood to print... and photos from when I was teaching...

Have to work on the big bunch of zoo photos I took when Helen and Peggy and I went to the zoo.... and then I MUST get back to the Arizona photos... in fact... that project is coming out of the spare room and getting sorted/organized tomorrow... just in case I have to evacuate... it's going with me.

So.... some purging today.... and more organization tomorrow!! Yay!!!

I've been working in the scrap room today.... holy moley.... there's just toooo much stuff crammed in that poor little room... BUT... there's less now that I've boxed up a bunch of papers and embellishments to send to one of the girls online (in the ScrapGals group) who does classes with a couple different groups of folks... some older folks who don't have much of anything... and a church group, too... so it may cost me a fortune to ship the stuff out there... but it's going to be out of my room and it made me go through all the paper packs I've accumulated .... some I didn't remember I had... so now I've got more goodies fresh in my mind...

I'm exhausted... but making tons of headway.... I do not need to buy more paper for quite some time... LOL .... I'm good on patterned paper and on cardstock (where was all that hiding??)

I've gotten all of the supplies back out of the living room (that's a plus) and just folded up the little table that was out here taking up too much space. The Silhouette is still out here on the drawer rack that it fits so perfectly on... because the computer is also out here... so I've got to work on figuring out where to put all that... part of the bigger goal... LOL

Good job Debi! It feels so good to go through all that stuff and purge to a good cause. Before I moved to Mesa I donated 3 large lawn and leaf bags to a good friend of mine who has a daughter that teaches art in a Denver elementary school. She took it to her on one of her visits and she was overjoyed at all that stuff.

Made some more progress last night... got space cleared off so I could work at the table that's in there... whoohhhoooooo ... so I grabbed the HipKit that Pam C. gave me for Christmas and I scrapped the photos of me opening my gifts from her!! I have to do some journaling tonight and then I'll post it. But... sure felt good to keep my mind off weather for a little while... AND to make more progress in that room.

That's awesome Debi! Having a large open work surface to work on is a huge motivator for me (or maybe it's more like when there's not enough space to work, it's a de-motivator). I've been trying to put stuff away after each layout so that my work surface doesn't get cluttered up and I can keep working and stay motivated.

Nice job on your cleanup! I know how great it feels!

Exhaustion is setting in.... but the reward is worth it. I've got a functional room, now... still have some work to do.. have to go through some more containers and drawers... but it's all pretty much as it's going to be for a while...

Those first two are of the right-hand side of the room.... a functional workspace... all those little bins are dies and stamps in those plastic envelopes...

These pics are the rest of the room... the left-hand side has shelves with photos.... geezzzz.... photos photos photos... I need to get busy scrapbooking!!

Then... the paper racks... that were full in those earlier photos I took... but now I've purged a bunch of paper and was able to add in paper that was in boxes or just lying around... and devoted one rack to cardstock (not all of the cardstock... but at least now I can go grab a color)

Knowing my luck, Mike will get a wild hair and decide to put the flooring down in that room and move those cabinets out to the kitchen... but it'll still be easier to move things out if I need to.

When he gets that wild hair, it'll be worth all the moving.

I think I've finally reached the last of the boxes and totes that had scrapbooking supplies stored in them... I've got totes with completed scrapbooks... and some containers with empty ones... but... all the stuff and paper and and and ... have all been sorted through. Amen!!!

Whew! That was quite an undertaking! All those photo boxes though - yeah, you need to get to scrapping!

Actually, part of my major purge was getting rid of all of the photos I printed, but decided NOT to put in the albums. I never threw them away, and there were thousands of them stacked on the floor. I have digital backups of all of those photos, so pitching them and getting them out of the way made sense. But it still left me with about 15 photo boxes full - some of which are leftovers of what I have digitally, but others are packed with film negatives. I guess those need to stay right where they are and continue to take up space.

I still have lots of photos to scrap that aren't in digital format.... I am, however, also going to start scanning in all my old 8.5x11 scrapbooks (for starters) so that I have digital images of all those layouts. Those are from when I first started scrapping (20+) years ago and none of those photos are digital... so I need to have some more peace of mind about all these photos and scrapbooks.

A lot of what's stuck up in that photo shelf is ephemera, too... so I've got to get that stuff sorted and filed better... then I'll know what the heck I've still got. Lost all the Arizona ephemera in Irene... it was all on a bottom shelf of a bookshelf... sigh...

Really tackling the house this week... I may need major painkillers by the end of my "staycation" but the crap will all be out of my house again!!

jfugina wrote:Whew! That was quite an undertaking! All those photo boxes though - yeah, you need to get to scrapping!

Actually, part of my major purge was getting rid of all of the photos I printed, but decided NOT to put in the albums. I never threw them away, and there were thousands of them stacked on the floor. I have digital backups of all of those photos, so pitching them and getting them out of the way made sense. But it still left me with about 15 photo boxes full - some of which are leftovers of what I have digitally, but others are packed with film negatives. I guess those need to stay right where they are and continue to take up space.

Just remember everyone, you shouldn't store your negatives in your own home. If something happens to it, all will be lost. I kept mine at my Mom's house for decades but after we sold it, they came back home. I still need to find someone else who will keep them.

And, realistically, out of the thousands of film negatives which are the most precious? The ones with your family in them. Toss all the trips and travel scenery, you would never reprint them all. I went through all mine and only kept those with family or friends in.

I've got a negative scanner.... have to scan in all the wedding negatives. Still haven't done that project since Irene blew through. I knew the negatives and the photo albums (not scrapbooks) were in the house when we were packing things up to head out... and I put my hands on the negatives but still hadn't found the box that had the albums in it... so, of course, the photos were ruined... but I still have the negatives... Hooray!!!

Have to check out that scanner and make sure it's working and then I'll get those all scanned in. Then I can add those digital images to the hard drives and keep them stored.

Have to remember to take one of those drives with me to work... to store there.

O.M.G. I got almost all of the scrapbooks in one location (there's still one box that's stored up high and Mike will have to get it down for me) ... but there are 44 scrapbooks already.

I think I seriously need to scan in all the 8.5x11 ones and then think about getting books printed so they'll take up way less space. All of those are from when I first started scrapping and I want to scan them anyway because they're photos I can't replace... but then maybe get books printed? Still toying with that idea... guess I'd have to count the pages and see if I can afford it... LOL

But... til then.... at least they're all in one place... the photos show the shelf they're mostly on.... plus the 7 that are on the bed (I wiped the dust off them so the covers are damp... so they're not stacked on the shelf yet)

the ones on the bed... and the 7 in the far left of the shelf are all 8.5x11... so they'll be easy to scan in...