Overwhelmed When Trying to Scrap :-p

Yesterday I made a couple of cards & today I spent several hours reorganizing some of my materials. I'm feeling a little discouraged because I have so many scrapping/cardmaking supplies and so rarely use them. Whenever I try to scrap I end up spinning my wheels, getting overwhelmed, and accomplishing nothing. I have years of pics to scrap and tons of pretty things to use. So, my question to you is: How do YOU get started when you're not sure where to start? Any tricks or suggestions will greatly appreciated! :-)

Ticker Tape Quilts

I like to quilt but haven't done it in a very long time. Just now I read about "ticker tape quilting". Have you ever heard of it? I hadn't. Apparently you use small scraps & stitch them onto a quilt sandwich. I've been looking at pics on flickr of ticker tape quilts & it looks like there are quite a few ways of assembling the pieces. If you haven't seen them, there are a variety pictured here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1347527@N21/

My friend Ruth wrote about them - that's how I first heard of them. You'll find her blog under "fuzzy's faves" there on the left side of my blog. There's a sew-along project going on that she featured today in her blog. Each person works at their own speed, posting pics to show others how they're progressing. When you finish you'll have a Rainbow Ticker Tape Quilt, so called because each square will feature a different color. It sounds like fun!

Taste Test: Blue Buffalo vs Canidae

While we have double the dogs we usually have, we thought it'd be interesting to do a little dog food comparison & see which dog food is preferred. Our dogs (which we'll call the White Team since they're both white) normally eat Canidae and the visiting dogs (which we'll call the Black Team since they're both black) normally eat Blue Buffalo. Both are high-quality dry dog foods that are similar enough that we (and the owners of Dex & Sam) agreed that it'd be ok to have a bowl of each brand of food available to all four dogs.

First Day: All 4 dogs ate like there was no tomorrow! Seriously, they ate twice as much as they usually do. The White team (aka our dogs) ate Blue Buffalo almost exclusively. Black team (aka the visitors) ate Canidae almost exclusively. Both bowls were almost completely empty at the end of the day. While the dogs were extremely active, I think part of the encreased eating was due to having something new since each chose the food he/she didn't normally receive.

Second Day: Food consumption returned to normal. All 4 dogs returned to eating their own brand, and at the end of the day both bowls were still half full. The dogs were not as active today since the excitement of having each other around had abated. Funny that the "new" wore off this fast, both with having new companions & with having different food. All 4 are happy & content, playing and napping.

Double the Dogs!

As you know, we normally have two dogs here at our house. Right now we have FOUR! That's right, Polly & Garcia have houseguests. Dexter and Sammy, 2 little black Shih-tzus are visiting. I'm sure I'll have some pics posted of the 4 of them before the visit is over.

We brought them home with us yesterday morning & Polly & Garcia were SO excited! We walked in the front door with Dexter & Sammie and headed straight through the house & out the back door with Polly & Garcia joining us along the way. The 4 of them ran around like maniacs in the back yard while Mike & I rolled around laughing. It was the cutest/funniest thing you've ever seen! We then came in & everyone under 2 ft tall got a treat. We thought they'd all then take a rest, but NOPE, they were still way too excited for that! The 4 of them ran around in the house, pulled out all the toys, hopped up & looked out the windows, and had a grand time.

Sammie, the baby, was SO excited about having a fenced yard in which to run that he scratched at the door (his way of saying he needs to go out) about every half hour. He got to go outside lots & lots, & the other 2 boys went with him just about every time. Pollyanna decided to hang with the humans instead, and just went out at her "normal" times.

We could not believe how active the 4 of them were all afternoon and evening! When it came time for bed they did really well though, settling right down to sleep without the whispering & giggling I remember from having tiny human sleep-overs. :-)

Today the four have alternated between playing & napping - I think they wore themselves out yesterday. Wonder what they'll do tomorrow?

The First of my YAWYK Items Left Today!

Today I did my first papercrafting of 2011: I made a card & sent it with a bunch of stickers to a little preschooler and her big sister. (Should've taken a pic of the card but didn't... but at least I made the card LOL!)

Items used: 3 small Sizzix cardstock sheets, 1 ribbon, 1 blank card, and some epoxy alphabet stickers. I'm counting all the letters as one item rather than counting each one individually, so that makes a total of 6 items used for making the card. (I'm not counting adhesives.)

I enclosed:
24 little sheets of stickers (the sheets that are 3-5" square that you buy from a roll)
and 2 mini-scrapbooking kits.

SO... 6 items used on the card + 26 items given away = 32 items out of the house! Just 1,979 to go to reach my goal of sending 2011 craft items out of the house in 2011. That's kind of daunting, but if Ann Marie can do it I can do it! (See Ann, you've inspired me!)

YAWK 2011 (You Are What You Keep)

My friend Ann from the old Scrapbooking board took part this year in a movement called YAWYK ("You Are What You Keep") which encourages you to get rid of the excess stuff in your life. Ann did a scrapbook-related project, striving to get rid of 2010 scrapping items in 2010 by either using them, donating them, selling them, or tossing them. Even though she didn't start until June, she actually accomplished her goal!!

So.. I think I will do the same thing! I vow that one year from today my crafting room will contain 2011 fewer items than it does today! This will include scrapbooking, sewing, and needlework (knit, crochet, embroidery) items. I think this will be fun - I plan to use the same guidelines she did when it comes to counting items. You can read them here in her blog:
http://vexedangel.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/not-sure-if-this-is-possible-in-5-months/

I just read some blog entries by the person who inspired Ann, and it looks like she counted everything in the house (clothes, etc.) in her count of items. (Her blog is here: http://youarewhatyoukeep.blogspot.com/2010/06/getting-started-few-ground-rules.html )
I'm going to stick with the craft items though - having to list clothes, etc. just seems too complicated. I think I'll be more inclined to stick to it if I stick with one room. (Other items may fly out the door, they just won't be counted.)

Want to join me in the YAWYK for 2011?

Life Insurance - ugh!

DH got something in the mail today that started a conversation about life insurance. That's fine & dandy as long as I can stay semi-detached from the topic & just discuss it intellectually. When it comes down to the realities of it though, I don't really like to think about it. I'd say most people feel that way - I mean who wants to think about their spouse dying (unless they don't like them).

Anyway, I guess we're going to get some, so I'd like some input from YOU. Do you have life insurance? If so, do you have very much (you can be as specific or as vague as you want). What company did you choose?

Thank you! :-)