Christmas Recycled

We are putting away our Christmas decorations. For me, it gets to the point where it all just feels like so. much. clutter. I try to hold out until New Year's Day... but can't! I love the feeling of empty space when it is all cleared out and we have our house back. I thought I would share a couple of ways we "go green" as the Christmas season ends.


1. Ornament Storage
Nearly every time I go to Costco, I pick up a dozen apples. They are a staple in our fridge for school lunches and afternoon snacks. The containers in which the apples come are made of 70% recycled drink bottles, are recyclable, but are too way cool to throw away. They work perfectly to store many of our ornaments!

2. Ribbon Re-Do
I LOVE to wrap presents with real, woven-cloth ribbon! I love the luxury of big bows tied onto the packages. No wimpy, stringy, curling ribbon or stick-on bows for me!!! "It's so expensive," you say. Well, not really if you buy the big, 50-yard rolls of ribbon at Costco for just $6, and/or stock up at the after-Christmas clearance sales at the craft stores.

Plus, here is my big secret... I recycle much of our ribbon! Yes, I have trained my kids when opening presents on Christmas morning: "The paper goes in the trash bag. Pile the ribbon up by Mommy." Then, it is my job later to carefully smooth out and roll up that pile of ribbon. And, to make sure I find it when I need it, I put it away in our boxes of Christmas decorations. By taking care to store it, it is ready for wrapping next year. If you get a gift from me, you may wonder if the ribbon is recycled, but you probably won't be able to tell for sure!

How do you recycle {& I'm not talking about re-gifting!} at Christmas?

Laundry-- I love it!

Here is a post I have been meaning to right for a long time! I actually LOVE doing my family's laundry. Over the years, I have gotten into a routine that works for us.

I do laundry two or three days a week, sometimes four. I have baskets in each of my kids' closets for their dirty clothes. Whether or not they actually get the dirty clothes off their floor and into the basket is  constant issue. I have a 3-bag laundry sorter in my closet which I love. As Gil and I take off our clothes, they go into either the "lights" or "darks". The third bin in my sorter is for (dry) towels and washcloths, as well as items with stains that need special handling.

Mondays, I do laundry for Gil and I, usually just two loads. As soon as it comes out of the dryer, I take it upstairs and fold it on our bed, hanging all our shirts and pants in the closet, and putting away all folded items. It never piles up this way! Much of our laundry is hung... only underwear & socks and nightclothes are in drawers. My husband's t-shirts, jeans and sweats are folded and on shelves in our closet. One other day a week, or two, I will do an extra load or two of our clothes, as well as towels, sheets, and dishcloths, as needed.

One day a week I do my three kids' laundry. It works best if I have a regular day for it. They each bring down their basket, and then THEY sort into two piles, lights and darks. I can usually do just 2 loads... sometimes I need to do an extra load of darks.  After school, my oldest two put away their own clothes. I either put away my youngest's or have him help me. I hang all his shirts. My oldest son also hangs all his shirts. I am about to move my daughter over to hangers, too.

I like hanging as many clothes as possible because it is less folding, and less likely to get wrinkled and they sift through their drawers. {And I do hang our clothes in rainbow-color order!}

I love that my kids sort their laundry, because even though they don't have to do the laundry themselves, they are learning a valuable life skill. If they had to do their own laundry, they would know where to start.

I fold clothes on our bed because it gives me plenty of space on which to work. Also, I WILL make sure it is all put away in a timely manner so that my bedroom is back to looking pretty. This system works because I am also striving to get the laundry out of the dryer as soon as possible after the cycle is done. It also helps that I am only doing 2-3 loads of laundry on any given day. I fold the kid's laundry on my bed upstairs, as well, but instead of putting it away between loads, I pile it up until all is washed, dryed and folded.

I have also evolved into a system where each person's clothes has a specific "zone" on the bed where I place them as I fold them. I can toss underwear, socks, jeans, and nightclothes into the respective child's zone on the bed as I empty the clean laundry basket. As I come to a shirt, I can smooth it out and lay it in either Zachary's, Abbie's, or Jacob's shirt spot. Once the laundry basket is empty, I go back and fold each child's folding laundry. Years ago, in business school, we studied about efficiency... I find that it really is faster if I fold a bunch of socks all at once, then a pile of undershirts. Truly, it takes me just about 10 minutes to fold a load of laundry.

The best part is that I think about my family as I do their laundry. I love serving them this way. And every item of clothing is a reminder for me to take time to pray for each of them, which I do as I fold their clothes. I love doing my family's laundry!

Shhhhh.....

Here is my scrapbooking & all-things-photo "store", right in my dining room.... wonder what those boxes on the left hold????

Hey, it's my secret stash of grocery deals {$0.25 bags of Goldfish!}!!! Got to hide the stockpile so that I can make it last!

Easy Power Layouts

Abbie often asks me if we can do something together. She also noticed that while our family scrapbooks are "almost" caught up, her own scrapbook hasn't been updated since she was about 5 years old. So, for her birthday, I gave her a new album and some supplies. Yesterday, she was excited to work on her album. I intended to start her out right, so I led her through the Power Layouts technique!

Power Layouts is a method that is used to pre-plan an album using a sort of assembly-line process. It is one of my favorite speed techniques. When I am making a custom album for a client, I always start the project by doing Power Layouts for the whole book. When I am working on my own projects, I do the same. I have a number of customers who are very successful with keeping up on their albums because they have learned to make use of Power Layouts!

Step One: First you choose the photos you are going to use. It doesn't have to be every picture in a stack. We went into Abbie's Power Sort Box and picked out photos from the first several months of 2004. She immediately rejected any picture in her pile that didn't include her! The point is to narrow it down so that you are using the best pictures to represent an event. I try to keep in mind that each page will typically include 2-5 pictures. I also tend to limit most events to no more than two pages. Also, some photos won't fit into an event category, but are still worthy of going into an album. Go ahead and choose them, too!

Step Two: The next step is to lay out planning pages to start the Power Layout process. I use a combination of scrapbook pages and Power Layout Guides that come with the Power Layouts Kit. The white pages, above, represent scrapbook pages. The grey can be another scrapbook page, or a Power Layout Guide. The guides are nice because when it comes time to assemble the pages, you will only be attaching paper and pictures to the actual scrapbook page... with Guides, you won't make the mistake of attaching your layout to a filler page. I also lay out the planning pages so that I have my first page of the book, and then a series of two-page spreads.

Now, this step can take up a bit of room. But it is adaptable to whatever space you have available. You can do Power Layouts on an empty table, or across several tables. You can lay out pages in small batches using up the space you have, going through all of the following steps, then repeat the process. In my custom albums, I used lay out 90 pages on the floor, snaking around the house from the entry to the living room, to the dining room, and back again to the entry!

Step Three: The third step is to deal out all the photos onto the pages and Layout Guides. This is a quick process that gives you an overview of your album! At this point you will see if you have too many pictures for one layout, and how many two-page spreads you might need. You will also eliminate some pictures as you see that they may be redundant, or not as good as some others you have.

I like to have two-page spreads... so in this step, I can see if some of my layouts fall that way or not. I usually scrapbook chronologically, but I will rearrange the order of my pages, if necessary, to get my layouts to fall into two-page spreads. I also see if I have random photos that will group together into topical layouts. For instance, last year I had photos from three separate snow days. It made more sense to group them all into one snow layout. Power Layouts has the advantage of giving you that big-picture view of your scrapbook so that you can group photos in a way that is most efficient for the flow of the book.

Step Four: The fourth step is to crop, or trim, all the pictures that have been dealt out onto the planning pages, and to make a preliminary arrangement of the layout on the page. My preference is to group the photos close together, leaving open areas around the page for journaling, embellishments, and titles. I did notice that once I started printing digital photos, my need to crop my pictures was dramatically reduced. But these older pictures needed some help to remove background clutter and focus in on the subject. If you have any memorabilia, this would be the step to add that, as well.

Step Five: Now the fun begins! In step five, we start to choose the papers that will go with each page. Sheets of scrapbook paper can be left whole, or cut down to make it go further. You can stop with choosing the background paper, or also go ahead and choose the mats, journal boxes, stickers, and other embellishments that will go on the page. Those items will be be dealt out onto the pages, ready for the assembly step.

Step Six: In Step Six, you are basically done with Power Layouts! You stack up the planned pages, with the first page on top and the last page on the bottom. You can then store them in the box that comes with the Power Layouts Kit. Some people do this step at home, then just bring their Power Layouts Box with them to a workshop and assemble their pages. I have other croppers who do Power Layouts on 6 or 8 pages, complete the pages, then do Power Layouts again. Some like to do a batch of Power Layouts at my workshops, then do their assembly at home. It is all about what works for you!

Step Seven: This is the time to be creative and play! The first steps of Power Layouts are where a lot of decision-making is done and less creativity is needed. In this final step, you are assembling the pages, and adding decorative touches. You will pull out the first page from the Power Layouts Box, adhere it and complete it, turn it over, and then continue on with the next layout in your box. It is great because if you just have a few minutes, you can pick up where you left off and complete a page. Some people say they don't have room to scrapbook, or don't want to pull everything out... well, with this step all you need is your Power Layouts Box, and adhesive!

Abbie did great! We spent about 15 minutes on the Power Layouts. Less than 3 hours later, she had TWELVE completed pages!!! Are you ready to try some Power Layouts for yourself???

Preparing for a Productive Retreat!

Only 18 more days until our crop retreat at the beautiful beach!!! Ten of us will enjoy a great weekend away. We will have fabulous food, great girlfriend time, the opportunity to relax and enjoy the wonderful setting, and also get some scrapbooking done. I can't wait!!! Every year my mom attends quilt camp, which is basically the same concept as a crop retreat. She comes home refreshed and feeling like she got a lot accomplished! Before she goes, she decides on her projects, cuts out all her fabric blocks, and organizes her supplies. When she gets to the retreat, she is focussed on her sewing: getting it done! Do you ever get time away to work on your hobby? Maybe it is not an entire weekend... maybe it's just a night, or an extended day, or even a weekly date with a friend. How can you make that time as productive as possible? I think preparation is the key! Before the retreat, think about your goals for the weekend. How much do you want to accomplish? What project or projects do you want to work on or complete? Do you have a deadline? Are you one to focus on just one project for the entire time, or do you need a few things to work on depending on your mood and energy levels? Ask yourself these questions, and establish your goals. Now that you know your goals, think about what supplies you may need. Go ahead and pull out a tote or box, and start gathering up what you know you will use or may want to include. Think through your projects and make a list of what you still need. This gives you time to order or shop for additional supplies. Do you need to get pictures printed or enlargements made? Do your photos need to be organized? I always prefer to have too much, than to be stranded without something I need! To maximize my scrapbooking time, I love using the Power Layouts technique. This is a way to pre-plan pages so that some of the thinking is done ahead of time. Before my retreat, I have a couple of Power Layouts workshops scheduled so my ladies can come and get ready. Just going through your photos and picking out the ones that will end up on pages helps a lot, too. Any time spent organizing pictures ahead of time gives your mind a chance to start generating ideas, so that when you actually sit down to make pages, you are not starting from scratch. The more you plan and prepare beforehand, the more you will accomplish at the retreat. Your number one goal should be to have a good time and enjoy your getaway! I usually never accomplish as much as I hoped to, but I always come home loving all that I got done!!! What helps you to be productive with your cropping time?

Aahhh... that feels better!

I am a girl who loves lists! I have a pretty spiral notebook that is full of lists... monthly To Do lists, project lists, gift-giving lists, book to read, etc. I also make a daily To Do list on a cute pad of paper {and sometimes it takes a day or two or three to get through that list!}. But what has been driving me crazy is that I haven't had a place to see all my various projects laid out in one spot. I am visual and need to SEE it or I feel so out sorts and not organized.

After months of trying a few different systems and the frustration of not having a system at all, I finally came up with a plan I feel confident will work! So today I invested a few minutes and used some items I had on hand to create my new Project Board. I know this new system will be flexible and fluid -- just what I need!

Here are the ingredients:

• Poster Board, 28"x22" {mine has a light grid on it that made things simple}
• A pack of Post It Notes {one of my most favorite things in the world!}
• A Sharpie Marker
• My Favorite ABC Stickers
• A large Ruler
• A few strips of Scrapbook Paper

When I played with the Post It Notes, I figured out that I could lay them out 7 columns by 6 rows. I decided I would use the top row for my Project Titles, and have the tasks and due dates on Post It Notes below the titles. All I had to do was draw a few lines to divide up the poster board into 4"-wide columns, attached a 2.5" strip of scrapbook paper across the top, put on my title, and attach it to the wall!

Instant organization! I feel soooo much better now! Can you tell I am in denial about getting my taxes done?



Also linking up with Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family!