Same photo two different layouts....

I just can't believe it's almost October & *gasp* the holidays are right around the corner.....

A friend sent me a picture message of a Halloween layout that is in the October Scrapbook Trends.  (sorry poor quality I'll have to get another when I see her magazine).  I'll get my copy when they return my layout.  It's one of the best scrapping magazines out there - such beautiful big photos of all the projects let you really see all the details.

But I used the same photo of my sister for a EMI Scrapbooking LSS design team layout recently....  I love the whimsy of My Mind's Eye Boo To You & it fit this photo of Karen even though she is an adult when Halloween comes she is a child at heart.

I'm busy today making mini album kits for sale & designing a new one.  I love creative days when I make a mess with my supplies and have so much fun.

Today is the last day to enter your work in the Paperclipping Monthly Challenge.  The winner is in the spotlight on 3 websites (internationally read Paperclipping, Lesley a.k.a Hungry Heffy, & here on my blog).  I was a past winner before becoming a judge & boy did it increase the traffic on my blog so if that is your goal it's a great prize.  We don't offer tangible prizes due to international limits and laws but I know I just like a bit of love & an acknowledgement.  Go here to enter you work.  I'm working on the topics for October as we speak.

Enabling alert... Unity Stamp Co is having a great last big sale & freebies with orders today in honor of moving to a bigger and better website in the coming weeks.  Go give the current website a workout lol... you will not want to miss these scrapbook sets.   Also chat it up at the SCS message board thread here & maybe win some great stamps & do the blog hop for inspiration/prizes it starts here...  I'm hoping my homeschool books sell on ebay so I can buy some....

Have a great day & thanks for visiting/reading

Hugs, Suz

What's with Blogger or is it my computer?

Blogger has been giving me grief the last 2 days trying to post... is it just me?  I did see another friend say on Facebook she was having trouble too... anyway here I try again

I went to my LSS yesterday to drop off my mini kits for sale & to help with some make and takes for Scrap Pink on Saturday.  One of my medicines was not making me the sharpest tack on the block & my hubby kept calling & bothering me with nonsense (doesn't he know that I'm in my shan-gri- la when I'm up at EMI?  Well I had the kiss of death with tools yesterday... first I jammed up a circle punch (not my fault). Then I was using a long  full alpha quickutz die in a Big Shot (I'm a Cuttlebug gal so not used to that tool) & dummy me while messing with all the "pages" to sandwich in forgot to put an extra cover plate on top... yep you guessed it I warped the die big time!  I was so embarrassed & was full expecting Susan to kick me out right then and there - those things are so pricey so I tried to bend it back as best I could....

While I was there Basic Grey Wander came in.  It is just fabulous!  I love this line so much.  See the slideshow here.  I never do it but I bought the entire paper pack.  You should see the doily paper.

I love them when they are an entire sheet of loveliness but this one his even better with so many different strips of lacy color.  It's a must buy multi for my stash for sure.

Well off to do Unity Hip Hop & hang out a bit in the Unity forum for chatting & maybe winning some new rubbery goodies.....

Have a great day

Winner & More

First off without delay.... The winner of the Ippity stamps is #22

patty w said...

You do lovely work ! Love the sisters page alot !
Just now getting here, it kept saying service unavailable earlier !
signing up to follow ..
patty 2832

Well Patty I guess it was lucky that the service was unavailable earlier since it made you the winner lol.  Send me your snail mail address at sgray110 at gmail dot com & I'll get your stamps out right away.

Thanks so much to EVERYONE who left such sweet comments over the weekend.  It sure was a great hop with so much inspiration that I'm dying to get to my table and start creating.  I really enjoyed visiting all of your blogs - Fiskateers rock creativity.

Next I thought I would share some things I'm excited about in the scrappy world....

If you haven't already I hope you will join us for the Paperclipping.com Monthly Challenge.  Winner will be spotlighted in the internationally read newsletter that Noell publishes.  See all details in the community forum here.

I love all things Teresa Collins - she is one of the sweetest people in the world.  She is going to be interviewed on Sudie TV tonight.  If you don't know Sudie she is a Fiskateer who has a weekly live web scrapbooking show.  See details here & tune in at 9:30 pm eastern time to hear what's going on with Teresa.

Who doesn't love Prima.... I saw a post about a Prima Idea Book & had to share.  They are having a giveaway on their blog for a copy.  Check it out here.

And finally I wanted to a sneak peak of the School Time mini album I designed & kits will be sold at EMI Scrapbooking in Cumming GA or order & will be shipped to you.  Crate Paper knocked it out of the park with all their lines that are available.  I loved this School Spirit line.  Thanks Susan for the opportunity to create for you.  I love your store, you are such a great friend & have a wonderful family.  (sorry gushing but it's true)

That's it for today... thanks for stopping by & remember do something creative.

Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop

Welcome to our weekend blog hop.  If you've come to my blog from Fiskateer  Marianne then have been hopping along with us.  But I'm sure you will like to start from the beginning so head on over to the Fiskateers blog. Take your time thru the weekend & visit all the blogs.  There are some amazing projects showcased on them.  I'm sure you will be bookmarking or following many blogs along the hop to come back again and again.  Thanks to Debby Lewis for organizing the hop.  So have you been inspired so far.  There are so many creative gals in the Fiskateers group.  I've met so many great people in the Fiskateers group.  


For those of you who don't know me... My name is Suz Gray & I'm known on the web as "craftysuz".  I got that name at age 8 because I would ask for craft kits from the Sears Catalog at Christmas & was always making something.  I'm Fiskateer number 6135.   I'm a longtime scrapbooker.  I have many albums created before there was an industry.  I love anything paper and have enjoyed evolving; developing my style.  I also love to make cards & enjoy sending some of them to Operation Write Home which is an organization that supplies blank handmade cards to our deployed military.  Making cards has caused me to have a "stamp addiction".  To fund my "habit" I sell {ippity} by Unity Stamps here.  All of them are on sale with free shipping.


Sorry for the quality of the photos my so took my DSLR to work so I was stuck with the little old point & shoot at the my LSS & I wasn't used to the lighting there so there are some shadows.  


This is new Fancy Pants Lilac House.  I use my micro point Fiskars scissors to fussy cut images from paper & of course my Fiskars Trimmer..  I'm always using the decorative border punches (I can't believe I didn't use them on any of these pages lol).

No girly layout is complete without some Prima Flowers.

I like stamping on inexpensive canvas from the fabric store.

Echo Park Paper is a new scrapbook company that is stirring up quite the buzz right now.  Here's a page about my best friend Lori & her kitty using their products.

I love the bright colors & banner

The last page I would like to share is a heritage page using an old photo of my grandmother.  She loved fashion.  The new My Mind's Eye is just gorgeous & oh so elegant.  It was perfect for this page.

The flower was made with vintage 1920's hand dyed silk ribbon that I've been saving for just the right story to tell.  It's a perfect match for the MME papers..

**** Woops I forgot to post my giveaway when I was working on this at 1 AM lol... leave a comment & I'll use random number generator to pick a winner.  Prize is Ippity stamp set A Little Buggy MSRP $18.  Comments posted prior to 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, September 12th will be in the drawing.  Follow me & leave another comment for an extra chance..  All comments made before 11 am will auto get 2 entries since I lost my mind and didn't have this posted lol

Well I've kept you long enough.  I hope you will come back & visit again. Now off you go to Jennifer Priest's blog.  She has some beautiful inspiration for you.


Thanks so much for hopping along with us.  Have a wonderful weekend & remember to do something creative....

EMI Scrapbooking Grand Opening Saturday

I'm so happy to share with you the grand reopening of my favorite LSS is tomorrow.  If you are in the Atlanta area come to EMI Scrapbooking in Cumming GA for shopping, cropping & a day of fun.  Yesterday all the new releases from My Mind's Eye came in (all 8 heavy boxes) - they outdid themselves with the embellishments this time. (you've got to read about the UPS fiasco yesterday on the store blog here complete with photos lol... but we got the boxes and everything loaded on the shelves last night)

Echo Park Sweet Summertime & Life is Good are in stock.

Bella Blvd is shipped & on the way.

Teresa Collins, Cosmo Cricket & Fancy Pants will ship any day

So many other companies will be coming in within the next month or so .... Crate, Lily Bee, Pink Paislee, Girls Paperie, Jillibean Soup, Studio Calico, Prima, Tim Holtz, Bo Bunny, Webster's Pages, G45, and more. 

Summer CHA really had so many great product line releases & Susan is a pro at ordering everything to keep us happy.

There's a fantastic sandwich shop across the street from the store named Deckers that I will be eating at each time I'm up that way.  The new owner was super friendly & shared how they only use fresh ingredients.  The chicken & rice soup & chocolate chip cookie I had was just fantastic (just like home made) and excellent sweet tea.

July's Paperclipping Monthly Challenge Winner Spotlight

We are getting so many great entries for the Paperclipping Monthly Challenges.  Thanks everyone for supporting us & getting involved again.

For July we had over 30 entries & so many great ones (check them out here)... this page just made me say WOW and litterally stop and stare.  Congratulations to Jamie Leija who submitted this page we chose to highlight this month! She submitted a response to challenge topic #1: Altered Backgrounds

So many things to love abuot this page... color, misting, all that journaling scattered around... not to mention how creative the cut up photo design is.

Here is Jamie's creative thought process

Jamie’s Explanation:

I was very inspired by the colors of the photo, the yellow in my sweater, the blue in my mama’s shirt and that so bright green in the plant behind us. I have these favorite masks that I use over and over again, but the thing is, they aren’t actually masks. Prima makes these great felt stems, that are beautiful in their own right, but just screamed mask to me the moment I saw them. I arranged them on my background paper and hit them with green, yellow and blue Maya Mist and outlined a few of the edges to give them dimension. The title of this layout is actually from a song lyric of Taylor Swift’s. I’d already decided to use that photo of me and Mama when I realized that this song would be a great way to journal about us, this day and our propensity for giggling.



Journaling reads: “We were in Rome, touring the Papal Residence, soaking up the gorgeous Italian sun, and were just taking a break from all the walking we’d been doing. I have no idea why we were laughing. Who knows with the two of us! We’re always giggling about something or other, which is why this is my favorite photo of the two of us. What a wonderful day to remember and what equally wonderful memories of so many seemingly small moments with my Mama.”

“I love you for giving me your [Asian] eyes. For staying back and watching me shine. I didn’t know if you knew. So I’m taking this chance to say…that I had the best day, with you, today.“

What the judges had to say:

It was the colors that first grabbed our attention — bright and bold, more heavily sprayed toward the bottom of the page, emphasizing the colors Jamie loves in her picture. On a closer look, here is what we found…

•Repetition, Continuity, Contrast
The grid design is unexpected on such a playfully themed layout, but it works well and is balanced by the plants and mists used for the altered background. We like that there is continuity in the repeating grid pattern, from the two different pieces of patterned paper, to the grid of patterned papers plus the photo itself. While it seems scary to cut that picture like that, the faces fit nicely into their own squares and she actually highlighted them this way.

She chose a good mix of patterns to group together: organics, geometrics, solids (or almost solid), loose patterns and tight patterns.

•Sections, Lines, Titles
A great element on the page is the zig-zag strip of paper that not only anchors the grid but also creates a line at the third mark and a separate space for the title. And the title — the title work is fabulous with its mix of size and colors.

•Balance
Jamie has balance around the entire page: a visual triangle of black text (three spots) and a visual triangle of butterflies that add dimension. She also balanced an artsy organic look (splashes of color mist with plant-like masks) with a bit of linear design (the grids and title-work).

•VIsual Mood-Expression
Overall it creates a happy, carefree feel balanced with stability. We think that’s pretty great visual story-telling, considering the story she revealed through her journaling.

Find Jamie Leiha

You can find her in the Paperclipping community, The Crop Circle. She also has a blog.

Join us for the August Challenges here for your chance to be in the spotlight on the Paperclipping website, Lesley's blog & her on my blog.



August Monthly Challenge

Want to join in on a challenge? Every month we issue a challenge based on recent tutorials and discussions. Anyone can participate. We choose one layout from the submissions to highlight here! Give it a try!  Here is the August forum thread to join in.

Unity Friends with Flair

It's been a while since I participated in a FWF hop as a stop.  I love to hop because I am always so inspired by others but lately I've been a bit post challenged.

Here is a card I made with Samantha Walker's Encompassed Grace Unity Stamps.  These were on my wish list since I knew they would be perfect for the shabby chic cards I love to make for sale but I was on the fence about if I would really get the stamping milage of using them on layouts since I do have only guys in the family.  Since winning them on a Hip Hop Thursday they have been one of the most inked stamps (second only to Donna Downey by Unity - swoon).  So add this set to your must haves and tell your LSS to carry these because you can't purchase them direct from Unity.

Thanks for stopping by & I'm sure you want to do the hop from the beginning at the Unity Blog.  There you will find an entire list of participants & remember one of the blogs will have a special avatar & that blog will be giving away 50 Unity Stamps to a lucky commenter so get hopping.

I am having a big sale on all my in stock Ippity stamps see the tab above or click here.... as always I offer free USA/APO shipping & discount international to reflect the free amount.

A quote since Angela & the Unity gals are all about quotes (love the stamps that incorporate them)...

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.  ~Sicilian Proverb (a favorite of my grandma)

Have a great day & do something creative.

CHA here I come

I had resolved myself to not going to summer CHA this time and had loaded my phone with reminders for all the online Prima classes next week and 2peas  to still feel a part of things.....

I got a call from my LSS owner YESTERDAY  asking me if I would like to go along since someone cancelled.  A few minutes of begging and pleading with hubby and I'm going to Chicago!  I'm beyond excited since it's so unexpected.  I even get to take the sold out Teresa Collins/Paperlife class & see the new stamp machine in action and her new product lines before CHA.

Can't wait to see all my online friends, beautiful samples, and all the new products... but most of hanging out on a road trip with the EMI gals.  They are so fun.

I'll have lots to post on the blog now.  Well I am out the door....

IPPITY STAMP Sale

All my in stock Ippity Stamps are on sale now to clear out what is left & make room for the to die for new releases next month.  Click here to shop now... remember I ship free to USA/APO & give allowance for international shipping.

I've been so neglecting my poor blog... I'm so sorry.  Our house is still a construction zone with the master bath and sunroom slowly being remodeled.  Chaos just seems to suck the creativity out of me... I like organization and everything being just so.  To top it off the pages/mini books I've been working on are all about my sons... and you all know that gives them "power of veto" when they don't want current things shared about them... oh how I miss having little ones with no say so lol.  I've also been trying to submit to CK and other card magazines which means no sharing that project online prior - why aren't they easy like the Trends?  So if they don't get picked up I'll have quite a few to share with you.

Also my sister is finally home from the hospital - wow almost a month was unbelievable.  She's recovering at our parents house.  Thanks so much everyone who sent her hand made cards - y'all are awesome and I can't tell you how much it encouraged her.  Thank you thank you thank you!

Well gotta run I promise to post something tomorrow

Card Frenzy for Everything Scrapp'n'

Well I guess you've heard the news that Everything Scrapp'n' is going out of business.   Heather needs to focus on family & can't give the business the attention it needs.  So everything is on sale right now - head on over for the best selections as there is still lots of the latest/greatest new products left.

I have been making lots of cards lately so that is what I will be sharing with you....
Note not all of the supplies are in stock at ES anymore.

My sister has been in the hospital for almost 3 weeks so she has been getting quite a few of these cards.

She wanted a funny card & I've been crazy about turquoise/green/orange color combo lately...

Distressed Inks are a favorite supply since you can do so much with them....

They make it so easy to get the antiqued look to plain inexpensive white cardstock

I always here scrapbookers say that they can't make cards because they don't have stamps... well using the tag paper from Pink Paislee you can easily make a quick card without any stamps.

I'm totally obsessed with these paper "yo-yo's" right now.  They are super easy to make by according folding a strip of paper then gluing down to a circle.  I love the subtle stripe by Echo Park in the Sweet Summertime line.  It matched well with the Pink Paislee line.

More Echo Park Sweet Summertime... It's such a fun line.

I cut out the strip of circles which reminded me of the gum balls in the stamp.

More paper "yo-yo's"  I hesitated to post this one since it's a bit of disaster....

I cut out circles from the Echo Park patterned paper & covered them with Diamond Glaze.  Being the impatient gal that I am they were dry to the touch but when I turned them over to add adhesive the glazing cracked so I'll be making them again (that's why they aren't adhered down) and how in the world did I stamp the sentiment wonky when I was using the Stamp-a-ma-jig?  Leave it to me....

I know it isn't Valentines Day but these paper doilies were hanging above my desk calling to me to do something with them.  They came from the Dollar Tree so I figured I could play around with them without feeling wasteful.....  I think it would be a great anniversary card.

I just used liquid glue and adhered it to red cardstock then cut out around the edges & trimmed the extra part of doily in the card crease which I added a ribbon to disguise. 

I cut the center part of the doily out of a second heart & adhered it to white cardstock then stamped my images & sentiment and inked edges.  I attached it to the card with pop dot adhesive.

Another super simple card with a doily on it.

The more I look at it the more I think it needs a sentiment on the front doesn't it?

Thanks so much for visiting today.  Don't forget to check out the going out of business sale at Everything Scrapp'n'.  I know there is still lots of good supplies still in stock so get to shopping by clicking here.

Everything Scrapp'n' Monthly Challenge & Design Team work

It's challenge day at Everything Scrapp'n'... I hope you will join us for a fun challenge with a super duper prize (Pink Paislee - Starlight paper & Tattered Angels Marshmallow Glimmer Mist.

Click here for all the details.

Here is my layout for the challenge (which is to use Red, White & Blue in a non 4th of July way).

I love anything Pink Paislee & have had a lot of fun working with the Starlight line.  It's great for layouts about my guys - so I'll be going back for more since good masculine lines are hard to come by.

I made my own distressed letters inspired by the Pink Paislee ones that were the wrong color for this page.

The sticker sheet for this line is filled with borders, journaling spots & embellishments.  They add a touch of shimmer to them but not too much that it distracts in any way for those who aren't glitterers

Supplies:   Paper (Pink Paislee - Starlight Bright, Pink Paislee - Starlight Dazzle, Pink Paislee - Starlight Glow, Pink Paislee - Starlight Shine, Pink Paislee - Starlight Spark); Stickers (Pink Paislee - Starlight Sticker Embellishments); Punches (Stampin' Up, McGill, & Marvy); Diecut Letters (Making Memories Slice); Spinner & Brad (Tim Holtz); Ribbon (Offray); Clip (Paper Studio); Thread (Coats & Clarks); Twine (Making Memories); Stickles (Ranger - Antique Linen Distressed); Buttons (stash); Alpha Stickers (Cosmo Cricket - Tiny Alpha Cream); Adhesive (Diamond Glaze, Tombow & Glue Arts)

I love ledger paper for my backgrounds, journaling, ANYWHERE goes.  This is a great one to add several pieces to my stash.

Pink Paislee - Starlight Shine

I also made a couple cards.

The first is made from scraps of the layout above.  I just love that subtle flourish on the background paper.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Paper Resources); Paper (Pink Paislee - Starlight Bright , Pink Paislee - Starlight - Glow, Pink Paislee - Starlight Shine, & Pink Paislee - Starlight Spark); Ribbon (Offray); Punch (Stampin' Up); Diecut (Making Memories Slice); Brads (Heidi Swapp); Stamp (Ippity Stamps - Fall for You & Unity Stamp KOTM); Markers (Copic); Ink (Hybrid)

My second card mixes October Afternoon (another one of those companies that makes my heart sing) with the Pink Paislee & some Webster's Pages scraps... I should have named this post scrapping with my favorite companies lol

I've been wearing out the Tim Holtz Bird & Cage Die by Sizzix lately.

Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (October Afternoon - Thrift Shop Good Junk, October Afternoon - Thrift Shop Collectors Item, Pink Paislee - Office Lingo & Webster's Pages); Die Cut (Sizzix - Tim Holtz); Stamps (Unity Stamp KOTM & My Sentiments Exactly); Ink (Ranger - Tim Holtz Distress Ink Broken China & Tattered Rose & Hybrid); Ribbon (Vintage hand dyed stash);

This is the paper with the music on the back.  For my card I used about an 8th of the sheet - there are many different songs.  It's a must have for your stash so stock up.

October Afternoon - Thrift Shop Good Junk

Well hope you have a fantastic day & make sure you enter to win those great prizes at the ES blog.

Paperclipping Festival

If you've been reading my blog for more than a week then you know I love Paperclipping (*no eye rolling please lol*) so I will not bore you with my bragging on Noell... too much.

Being a member has really helped me to refine my style & understand why a page "works".  The tips & techniques aren't limiting by saying do this or that but just general principles & tips that can be applied to any project.  I feel like I have been thru design bootcamp after watching all the episodes.  The most miraculous thing happened... I credit Paperclipping with speeding up a slow poke scrapper since I now have confidence in my design element choices I no longer agonize over them & even enjoy the process more.  No I'm still not a speed demon but I can have an idea in my mind & not pull out tons of product to audition it.  I even look at my supplies in a different way since I know I can change them up with paint, ink, or even how little/much I use them in a project.  Since becoming a member my creativity has been sparked like never before.  With so many LSS closing down & we just don't have the opportunity to take classes like we did in the past Paperclipping is really filling the void for so many of us by educating us & creating a community of scrapbookers.

As far as deign I could credit half a dozen episodes for this page (Designing with Lines, Hand Made Embellishments, Flexible Template, Visual Triangle, etc)  but I want to highlight some videos you might not think of at Paperclipping.  For this particular layout I also used the techniques learned in the episode about Working with Levels in Photoshop  & Fix Bad Photo Lighting to salvage not so good photos & make them shine.

While at CHA summer last year the day we left I was able to go to the Disney animal park.  I had never been there & love zoos so I knew I would like this.  The safari ride goes by pretty fast so it was look to the left... look to the right & the heads of the people sitting near you were in the way so I held up my camera & clicked not knowing what I would get.  I was in the shade of the tram & it was a super sunny day so the lighting on my photos were horrible.  I didn't know a lot about Photoshop other than auto fix which just wasn't cutting it so these photos went unprinted.  After watching the videos I was able to play around with the levels, lighting & shadows to make them photos worthy of being printed & scrapped.

Don't you love that camera stamp by Unity Stamp Co... retro fun

The lighting on this photo isn't as good but I know some of you like to read journaling & it was a cloudy day so I had to flash.

Design Team work for Everything Scrapp'n' online Scrapbook Store

Supplies:  Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (Pink Paislee - Starlight Glow, Pink Paislee - Starlight Shine,  Pink Paislee - Starlight Spark, Pink Paislee - Starlight Bright, Pink Paislee - Starlight Dazzle, October Afternoon - Thrift Shop One of a Kind); Sticker Letters (Cosmo Cricket - Tiny Type Cream); Diecut Letters (Making Memories Slice); Punch (EK Success); Journaling Spots (Little Yellow Bicycle Journaling Tablet & K and Company); Ticket (Pink Paislee - Starlight Diecut Sheet); Stamp (Unity Stamp Co); Markers (Copics); Rub Ons (Heidi Grace); Brads (Heidi Swapp)

So if you aren't already a member I hope you will become one.   Check out Paperclipping here.
It's an investment in your creativity. 

There's still time to enter the Paperclipping Monthly Challenges winner's work & a short interview is spotlighted on the Paperclipping site, Lesley Oman's blog & here on my blog.

And don't forget to join Noell for the live shows on Tuesdays at 9:30 pm EST here.

Guest Blogging

I'm guest blogger over at the Everything Scrapp'n' store blog today sharing my latest projects.

Hop over there to check them out.

Heads Up... don't miss this free class

 

I know I already posted today & no I'm not suddenly turning into a multi-poster (y'all are lucky if I post at all lately it seems).

I was reading thru my emails & came across one from Jessica Sprague.  The site is celebrating their 3 year anniversary (wow sure doesn't seem that long).  They offer really great classes filled with helpful tips and goodies.  I even made an entire journaling prompt book during one of them (they provided all the pages all I did was print & embellish - it had to have been over 50 pages).  I know you are going to enjoy this FREE class.

Just last week I purchased some items from the store.  The "kits of paper" were terific and not flat feeling in any way & the embellishments once printed didn't look home made in any way.

Since I am trying to incorporate more hybrid items into my scrapbooking this is perfect timing & I'm excited to take this class.

For more details click here.

Chaos & Mess

I know it's Everything Scrapp'n' design team day.  But, I don't have anything to share today I will be posting on Wednesday.  Instead Teresa is inspiring us.  So go check the store blog for details.  (Heads up I saw another shipment of Glimmer Mist in the store yesterday... including the new Heidi Swapp colors - hurry over I know they will not last long).

Ok now to catch you up on what's been going on.....

My life has been extra chaotic since buying a foreclosed house we are smack dab in the middle of major home remodeling.  Yes I've been taking photos of the bad along with the good so I can remember the process on scrapbook pages.  It will make me appreciate the finished product more in the end since I can see on a page all the sweat & work that went into it.

We knew the tile in the bathrooms were nearing the end of usefulness (not to mention they were ugly).  But we had hoped it would last the year & not be a huge undertaking... That would have been true if the appraiser didn't ask the bank to repair or we wouldn't be able to buy the house.  Well they did some cosmetic things & the way they did it made everything worse...

So now this is my master bathroom

yes I can see the downstairs thru that hole since we are taking it down to the rafters & pulling down a bit of ceiling in the family room.  It is overwhelming to think about but I keep saying it will be great when it is done.... like a new house.

The construction isn't just confined to the master bath, the hall bath shares that wall & the floor in there is also rotted which is causing the toilet to leak in there.  Which I closed & placed an X of blue painters tape so no one uses it.  The tub/shower in there is the only place we can shower right now.  But to go to the bathroom it means going down a flight & a half of stairs... that is going to get old in the middle of the night lol.  I'm going to Lowes today to buy some fast set mud to lay tile & put that toilet back in.

On top of that y'all know about the sunroom that the contractors are not taking my calls & I wrote certified letter demanding them to stand behind their work.  So all that conflict has been stressing me out.

I took out some of that stress on the weeds in the yard.  Pulling them out gave me a sense of control over something in my life.  Does that sound crazy?

 Then Andrew decided to paint the concrete floor in his apartment area of the house (hi-jacking my cameras in the process in an area that can't be walked on until Monday night).  Usually Andrew is a mega procrastinator but this time he jumped right in the day he thought about it buying the supplies but without making sure everything needed was out of the "dead zones" where we can't walk.  I guess I'm proud of him for tackling it... I guess watching HGTV for hours is paying off lol

I've been helping doing the light stuff while hubby & son are doing the heavy stuff.  It's so exhausting, dirty, depressing, overwhelming & expensive......

So this is my life right now... I have to smile while shaking my head... it'll get better