Crop for Autism

I was so excited to attend the Scrapbooking event for Autism!!!

This is another crop that I enjoy every year and I think this is the 4th year of the event and my 4th year attending.

Here is my gang :)

There was a Red Carpet photo wall..I am admiring my friend Lesli's (Vintage Scraps) huge rock of a diamond :)

My friend/SIL Sharon :)

We have been crafting together before my daughter's were even born.

I think us 3 here (Lesli, Lynne and I) are the loudest of the bunch.
Mind you our table was pretty tame this year…even Dena (one of the ladies that puts this event on every year) came over and asked us why we were so quiet, lol.

2 other of my silly friends Verna, Denise and I.

When I saw these rabbit teeth candy, I just had to put them in the gift bags I gave out to my friends.
I knew we would have some fun with these, teehee.
My friend Debbie and I doing just that :)

I was happy to have won a pretty cool prize :)
I was so excited to see that there was a gift card to the Painted Turtle art shop!!

Oh and I even got some work done :)
I of course brought way too much supplies with me.
I brought 3 scrapbooking kits, my Copics with images and papers to make a few cards and Ashley's wedding album.
I ended up completing 5 layouts and a card.
I was using up the last of the scraps in a kit I had. These are not the colours I would normally scrap with, it was a challenge but fun.

Here are the gift bags I put together for my friends :)
I added a stamped image to the front of the bags so they could use them on a project if they chose.

We all had a blast at the crop…but then again my friends and I have a blast where ever we go or what ever we do :)

I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)

April 2016 Tag

Be prepared for a picture heavy post.
Look at me go 2 days until month end and I have my tag done for the month…go me, teehee.
I'm thinking I like how this one turned out :)

So here we go…
What I liked about the techniques for this month, is that I had never tried them before…its always fun to try new things :)
I liked the resist technique with the distress paints and stains…I also really liked the look of the wood grain.
I used Vintage photo and by using the dabber on the bottle, I could paint directly onto my wood grain stamp.

After it was dry, I then used Tea Dye stain to colour in the rest of the tag.
I then watered down some Black Soot paint and flicked it on the tag with my handy dandy false teeth tooth brush.
No, I don't have false teeth, but this tooth brush works great for this…I can't even tell you how long I have had this…I'm thinking I purchased it specifically for crafting, lol.

Now for the main focus on this tag.
I purchased a few of the Tim Holtz butterfly and dragonfly dies and have yet to use them…I know, right!
So grabbed them all and decided to go with the large butterfly.
I cut it out of chipboard and used Black Soot paint to colour it up.

The next technique was to do a faux mosaic.
I tried just cutting some papers up and putting them haphazard on the butterfly…but was looking a bit messy.
So I used the embossing folder that came with the butterfly die. I embossed my papers and then cut the shapes out ….I liked that look even less.

I tried a few different dies and such, but nope.
Lastly I looked through my punches and used this border punch from Martha Stewart.
But I used the pieces that are to be discarded when punched.
I was much happier with that look.

To make the mosaic look, we were to add Glossy Accents to the pieces.
I haven't used mine in a while and then remembered why…the tip of mine was plugged a long time ago and to unclog it, I stuck something in the end and split the tip...oops.
I ended up picking the glue up from the backing paper with a plastic tool and applying it to my design.

I like the contrast of the colour against the black background.

Here is my completed tag :)
Early for me isn't it ;)

Here is Tim's Tag.
I am off to check out everyone else's tags..I never check out the other tags until mine is complete.
But I do check them out as I love to see all of the different ways these tags turn out, all so different but all using the same techniques :)

I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)

Punches….Defunkified!!!

When I go in my room, I am really starting to like what I see.
I have so much to share with you :)
I have gone way past organizing my punches, but one area at a time :)
I have this shelving unit that I have had for many years.
It has housed many of my supplies..flowers, ribbon, sequins even my mists.
But I had moved many of these supplies to other areas and it became a bit of a mess.
I like to keep my "like" supplies together and since I have some of my punches on those towel racks attached to the wall, right beside this unit…I thought I should use my this to hold some of my punches I had on the floor.

Here is how I have been storing my punches ever since I made my room years ago.
I like to see my supplies….but in a way that is pleasing to the eye.
Which for me this is :)
Not only do I like to see these on my wall, it is also easy for my friends to find a punch if they need one.
When the door to my room is open, these punches are behind it.

I also keep my bigger punches in this over the door shoe organizer.
The pockets are big enough for those very large punches.
Like the punches on the wall on the towel racks, these are also hidden when the door is open.

At first I had these Stampin' Up punches stacked on top of each other.
But the images on the stickers were upside down….considering how messy my room was, you would think that this wouldn't bother me…but it really did.
So I decided to put them on their sides…this helped, lol.

Putting them on their sides also helps not to scratch the shiny images on the tops of the punches when sliding them off of one another.
Win win :)

Tips on how I defunkify my space:
1. Remove-Take everything out or off and gather it in one space.
2. Clean-Use some cleaner and wipe the area down.
3. Sort-Put all like items together.
4. Purge- Get rid of any punches that you no longer use or want…I actually kept all of my punches.
5. Organize- Put away and organize the remaining items.

I am documenting my Defunkifying process on my YouTube channel as well.
I can share more in the videos then I do with just the photos I can share on here.
If you would rather watch the video on my YouTube channel, then just click the link "Tracy's Treasures24" to go to my YouTube channel…and hey if you do that, you might as well give me a thumbs up :)
I can't wait to show you what else I have been working on.
Just takes time to edit and upload the videos.
Are you Defunkifying your space?
If you are, I would love to hear what you are working on and how it is going :)

I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)

Taking a Break from Defunkifying….Time to Clean

I need to take a bit of a break from Defunkifying my room.
As much as I am loving how it is coming together….I needed to clean it up a bit.
It was getting a bit dangerous in there…plus I seem to make an even bigger mess as I organize…odd, I know, but that is how I roll, l

Whenever I need to do a good room tidy, I always start with my desk.
I do this for a few of reasons..
1. It is the biggest area I seem to pile things on.
2. It gives the biggest impact when looking at it.
3. Where else would I put the floor stuff I need to tidy up, if not on the desk ;)

There, now doesn't that look a lot better…..maybe don't look under my desk anytime soon though;)
Just kidding, I cleaned under there as well.
I did a short video on this.
If you have noticed, I have been documenting this whole Defunkifying my Craft room, on both my blog here and my YouTube channel.
If you would rather watch this video on my YouTube channel, just click on the link "Tracy's Treasures24"

I am hoping to complete my room before summer and cottage weather hits us :)
Because once summer is here…that is it for staying inside :)

I hope you all have a very creative Day :)

Tracy :)

Stickers….Defunkified!!!

This one was a task.
I knew it would be so I put it off….until now.

You know they didn't look like this to begin with.
I had stashed most of them under my desk.
I knew one day I would eventually have to sort them out, so I just kept stashing them under here.
I notice that this is a pattern for me, lol.

You know the 1st step to defunkifying is to round up all of the stickers in one place and go through them all.
I even grabbed my sticker binder and went through them as well.

Next step is to put them into categories.
The categories I chose that I think will work best for me were…
Letter stickers
Word stickers
Nature stickers
All others.

These are the left over supplies that were under the desk.
Funny thing was….I did this on a Friday and my friends were coming over that evening for Friday Night Scrapbooking.
So I stashed this back under my table and forgot about it until I edited this video.
The sad thing was, I had organized these areas already, so had to go back and re-do some, lol.

Here are my categories in more detail.
Letters- consist of Thicker type letters and chipboard letters.
Words- consist of anything with word on them, I also added rub on words. resin pieces with words.
Nature- consists of flowers, animals, fairies, outdoor theme, trees, fishing..again anything to do with outdoors or nature.
All Others- Birthday, baby, wedding, heritage, sister, family, travel….anything that doesn't fit in the first 3 categories goes into this bin.

I am not so nieve to think that I don't have more stickers hidden here and there amongst my other supplies that I haven't gone through yet.
But now that they are in order and all have a home, it will be easier to put the stray ones in their proper place.

My tips on Defunkifying my Supplies
1. Remove- Gather all of your stickers and put them in one area
2. Clean- Wipe down the area where you are going to store your stickers and where you kept them.
3. Sort- Sort your stickers into categories that work for you.
4. Purge- Donate any stickers that you don't think you will use in the future.
5. Organize- Put away and organize the remaining items.
I hope you are following me with defunkifying my scrap/craft room.
If you are, I would love to hear what you are working on :)

Well you guessed it…I did a video on Defunkifying my Stickers.
If you would rather watch it on my YouTube channel, click on the link, subscribe and maybe give me a thumbs up :)
"Tracy's Treasures24"
I hope you all have a very Creative and Defunkified day :)

Tracy :)

Scrapbooking Kits…Defunkified!!

This one was an easy one to tackle :)
Mostly because I don't have a ton of scrapbooking page kits (I do have my fair share) but not a ton.
I don't belong to any type of scrapbooking kit club, I purchased most of these from when the Crop & Create event came to our city.
I think I bought every one they sold over the last 3 years, lol.

My kits were all in a few tote bags, so they were more or less all together.
And being as they are kits, they are all contained in bags already, so no tedious organizing :)
I put them in a bit of order, such as:
Paper kits I put together,
Christmas kits,
mini album kits,
Fall kits,
and lastly….Pocket Page kits.
which I found odd that I purchased these, and I don't even do pocket pages, lol.

My Tips on Defunkifying:
1. Remove or Gather- Collect all of your page kits and put them all in the same area.
2. Clean- wipe down the area where you plan to store your kits.
3. Sort- Put all like items together…in this case, they are already contained in their own bags…so easy :)
4. Purge- I know…bite my tongue. I didn't purge any of my kits as they are all projects I am planning on completing..one day ;)
5. Organize- Put away in a place that works for you :)

Now I better get to work putting these Kits together….Crop & Create will be here in October ;)

I put together a video in more detail on Defunkifying my Scrapbooking Kits
If you would rather watch it on my YouTube channel, click the link and maybe leave me a comment and a thumbs up :)  "Tracy's Treasures24"

I hope you are all have a wonderful and creative weekend :)
We actually have beautiful weather here and I got to go out for a nice walk….the snow is almost gone…if this weather keeps up, it should be all gone in a couple of weeks :)

Tracy :)

Card Share….Dark Souls 3

Look, even with all the organizing I have been working on in my craft room, I still had time to create.
Well actually I had to create….it was my daughter's boyfriend's birthday.
So I made him this card, inspired by him (at the time) favourite video game.
Dark Souls 3.

I have been busy today.
I was working on organizing my pocket cards.
Considering I don't do Project Life, I sure have a lot of pocket cards.

Here is a quick video I did where I share a couple of my cards :)
If you would like to watch it on my YouTube channel, just click on the link "Tracy's Treasures24"

I hope you all have a very Creative day :)

Tracy :)

Cardstock….Defunkified!!

Worked on my card stock.
It was in pretty good shape, thanks to these great paper racks I picked up when our local Scrapbooking store went out of business a few years ago.
But if you look on the floor, you will see a few packs of card stock.

I took this 12x12 pack of card stock out of its package and sorted the colours.

Doesn't all of these colours just make you smile :)

I also had some 8.5x11 black, grey and light brown card stock on the floor.
I re-used this hanging file folder (I used it when I did book-keeping) and put each colour in each slot.

A friend gave me this sturdy plastic container (I think it was from a card kit) for my papers.
I keep my kraft 8.5x11 card stock in here.
I just used "S" hooks to attach it to the paper racks.

It hasn't changed much…but nothing on the floor now :)

I have been documenting all of my defunkifying challenges on my YouTube channel :)
If you would rather watch it on my channel, just click on the link "Tracy's Treasures24".

I hope you all have a very Creative Day :)

Tracy :)

Tracy's Quick Tip…more ways to store our paper scraps

I shared with you how I store my paper scraps in my legal size file folder.
"Paper Scraps..Defunkified"
But I also have another way I do this.

 I like to keep some of my paper scraps, from my paper pads, together.
So here is how I do it.

I usually use my 6x6 paper pads to make my cards.
I like to paper piece some of my images for my cards, so I save some of the smallest pieces of paper.
And because I like the paper piecing to match the cards, I like to keep them with the paper pads.

I take an envelope and adhere it to the back cover of my 6x6 paper pads.
As you know, I have my fair share of these paper pads, so I could go through a lot of envelopes.
I like to use envelopes from junk mail..or the envelopes or return envelopes that come with bills.
I just cut them to size to fit the back of the paper pad.

I like to make mini albums and my own matching embellishments out of the same papers.
So I again, want the paper scraps to stay with the 12x12 paper pads.

Again, I use envelops for this.
I am sure you can also use scraps of paper, but I like to use envelopes.
The reason I like to use envelops is because if I have a 12x6 piece, I need the paper to go right to the bottom of the paper pad or the paper scrap won't fit.
With an envelope the paper scrap can go right to the bottom…..with a scrap piece of paper the adhesive used to adhere it to the back of the paper pad will take away some of that space I need.

So there you have it all the ways that I store my paper scraps.

I hope this tip helped you out and you all have a very Creative Sunday.
Oops…almost forgot, I also did a video :)
If you would rather watch it on my YouTube channel, just click on the link "Tracy's Treasures24"

Sadly the Walking Dead is finished until the new season in October…so we are filling in our zombie sundays with Fear the Walking Dead.
Not as intense, but still not a bad watch…so it is a zombie marathon today :)

Tracy :)

12x12 Paper Pads….Defunkified

It is on to the 12x12 paper packs !
Look at them all standing up straight like good little soldiers, teehee.

But oh no, they didn't start out that way.
They were a mess and shoved in where ever they fit.
I also had my paper kits I put together in here as well.

I don't usually purchase loose pattern papers..but when I do, I also purchase card stock that matches and put them in a kit.
So it isn't a completed kit with embellishments, but just the papers.

I have to say, I got a lot of steps carting all of these papers out of my room, teehee.

I organized them into they types of categories….
Vintage/Heritage
Brights/whimsical
Pastels.
I put the paper kits that I put together in their proper bin.

You may be thinking..is that all….nope.
I put my Christmas papers in the bottom of my cabinet.
Christmas papers on to the left and Halloween are to the right.
In those Iris cases I have Christmas embellishments in the bottom one and Halloween embellishments above it.

I also made a video on the details of getting my 12x12 papers in order.
If you would rather watch it on my YouTube channel…just click on the link "Tracy's Treasures24"
I am getting there with my room…mind you, every time I start a new area, I make a BIG mess of my room.
But I just pick up and move to the next challenge :)
Here are the challenges I am following to keep me on track.
I have altered them a bit to suit my needs though :)

My Love Affair with the Label Maker (wookiemouse)- http://wookiemouse.blogspot.ca/2009/05/let-challenge-begin-overview.htmlThe Keeper of Memories (52 week challenge)-http://www.thekeeperofthememories.com/2015/10/52-weeks-to-an-organized-workspace-lets-get-this-party-started/

I hope you all have a very Creative Day :)

Tracy :)