I hate to wake up early but for this...I will be an early bird! Oh yes I will! LOL Early Bird Great Paper Purge 2008 Task: Here's an early bird assignment for those of you ready to start the new Great Paper Purge challenge for 2008. (And you don't even have to get up early if you don't want to.) We know we'll be reducing our paper supply this year. But what tasks do you do first??? 1) GATHER -Have your papers all together in a convenient location. That means find a box, bucket, or basket (probably a large one) and use it to gather ALL your loose scrapping paper in one location. Dig the papers out of the old tote scrap bag, empty out the bags of papers you bought on those shopping trips, and gather any papers that might be hiding in different rooms. 2) SEPERATE : FOR JANUARY MONTH: You can either mentally tally --or actually separate out-- all the targeted papers for the Jan. month long use-it-up focus. Thi s would include any papers that have sparkles, glitter, gloss...

Here I am with our dear little cousin in her baptismal gown...Yeah us! Take a look at her gown... Just wanted to share photos of a baptismal gown I sewed last month for a little baby cousin of ours. The family wanted an heirloom quality gown blending two ready-made patterns and using a certain style trim. I love to sew and can do this specialty kind of garment sewing. It was a joy to create this for little Sasha. I told her mom that every stitch help a prayer for Sasha's happy future. I love sewing almost as much as I love scrapbooking, so you KNOW I love it! :) Rockester

Do you need to get organized on your time-- but you are just not sure HOW? Here is how I set up my schedule: (roughly) and got myself set using it! The key is to use your schedule daily and not give up after 3-4 days. Your schedule will look very different from mine. Especially if you work outside the home or have smaller kids, your tasks will certainly vary. But you can still use this guide to help you get started on HOW to schedule your own personal goals in --as well as the daily grind tasks. KEEP IT HANDY: LIST MAKING 101 The key to any schedule for yourself is to physically keep the list making 'stuff' handy. Keep your list/schedule located where you will sit down and look at it daily--or many times a day. For some this is the refridge, others a dining table or the office or kitchen desk, but for me it is the laptop. :) If it is a hard copy paper list, keep paper and pen in that same area all the time for updates. You can even computer print out your base listing for the...

I think the following issues have sucked up wayyyyyyyyyyy too much of my time in 2007. I resolve to not let that happen so much in 2008! Time Wasters: 1. Unclear goals : my goals have not being clear --and set --in a couple aspects of life. So I go in circles more than I need to. 2. Lack of Scheduling : my genealogy project goals are not scheduled so I am allowing long term interruptions. 3. A Drop and Go Mentallity : my drop and go tendancies in my craft workspace are a bother later on. Good thing I use clear storage! I will try to make my "Drop and go" tendancy into a "Drop into storage" tendancy! LOL 4. Biting off too Much : I have been attempting too much in too short a time. No, you cannot completely reorganize a jam-packed 1000 square foot space in 4 hours. Small steps, Kathy small steps. 5. Getting Sidetracked : this is especially true online-- I need to FOCUS not continually browse online. :) Ideas are NOT actions. 6. Lack of Delegation/lists : Ineffectiv...

Hurray for Dawn H. She was brave enough to send her pics for review last month ...and I am sorry it took me a bit to get this one out. She actually has a lovely space and here are the shots she sent in and my comments on each. Bravo Dawn! I hope I can offer a few helpful tips. I love, love, love the fact that you have family member portraits in your work area. I hope they are your inspiration pieces and motivators for all your albums and projects. :) The ceiling border is a nice touch and the live plant is a terrific touch. You do have a natural wood furnishings style so it is nice that you have put the white plastic boxes inside a wooden case at far right of the above photo. I tend to say that if you have plastics, keep them all one color. Most drawer and storage boxes are sold either as white or black. Because the entire rest of your plastics in this room are black, consider switching these 8 white boxes to black. Terrific that the pretty green photo boxes are labeled. You are off ...