In a Funk? Let's chat... All right. It's just you and me here. Me typing on my end and you reading on your end. Let's ignore the other 9900 people on the SC list that read this at other times during the day and chat a minute. You and me being real. As the moderator you hear my little speeches and emails almost daily. I try to encourage everyone as a group every day to MOVE toward those goals that we have in common. Now, I am just talking to you. You may not know me in person. But I can tell you are waiting for something. You are waiting for some sort of a 'go' signal from the cosmos, from me, from the groups you belong to, or from yourself before you really kick start yourself and make a change. You might say you are waiting for the loved ones in your life to do x, y, or Z before you tidy up your life. You might be waiting for a raise before you can 'afford' to organize. You might be waiting for the kids to move out so you can have more space. There are lo...

Make sure you keep a sense of balance in the room. Don't weigh it down with furnishings or with wall clutter or with too heavy a drape. Rugs pull a big room together but are not as vital in a small dining room. The color of the wood doesn't matter as much as getting rid of the 'extras' in the room. Let a few pieces shine instead of filling the room up. Be picky. Put out only your best. I like the balance in these rooms. They have very different decor styles and budgets--but still look nice. Do you see how even the red Victorian room looks cohesive-- but not cluttered?

The first week of April we will tackle the Dining Room (using the Flylady schedule and tips here: ) http://flylady.com/pages/FlyingLessons_Declutter.asp Remember that decreasing everything in this room overall by 50% is the goal. If you have more than ten to 20 things on the walls in here, take down HALF the items. Keep only the best. In each room we go through this month let's start at the top. What's on the walls? Wall art Keepers: What's hanging in your Dining Room? In the dining room keep it washable! Black and brown anything is classic. original art or sculpture by known artists -as long as you can clean it truly good paintings by family members IN FRAMES behind glass! one floating shelf of perhaps 1, 3 or 5 BEST items- wipe-able of course Move to other rooms anything that can get dirty but you want to keep vintage needle art/heirloom needle art Family heirloom photos in GOOD frames. --Not those old metal clunky things that are rusting. Wall art -Rethink it: clashing ...

From our discussions this am --and from other talks with friends lately-- I think we need a Halfsies (50%) Household Challenge. What is that? Is is an aggressive Spring Cleaning challenge for those of us who have waaaaayy too much stuff. A room or a whole household...it doesn't matter. If you can't walk through your home and say that it is pared down and perfect, join us! Do as much as you can. If you feel overwhelmed by your belongings and your household disarray, join us. If you feel like no one can come over because things are a wreck, join us. If you just want some focus and encouragement in each room, join us. If you can truly say with an objective eye that HALF the stuff you own (50%) has to go for you to get back to happy, let's do it! April will be HALFSIES month. We will go around the home room by room and cut in HALF our inventory inventory in all the places we can. You may not even realize yet that you have as much in each category as you will find.... Half the ...

First Francine wrote in to our big group the following. What a heartfelt note and how brave of her to ask for advice. In ScrappersChallenge@ yahoogroups. com, "joeyenergy" wrote: I have been in my house 14 yrs now, and CANNOT get the basement area organized. I made the front room my scrapbook/studio and yes, I admit, I use the floor A LOT and everything is making its way to the back room. I have been very depressed and overwhelmed because I don't know where to begin, PLEEEEESE, can you give me some suggestions as to where I should start??????? ?? Thanks so much. --------------------- Here is my reply--because I have been through this too! :) > From: rockestertm > Subject: [ScrappersChallenge] Re: Organizing- joeyenergy > To: ScrappersChallenge@yahoogroups.com > Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 10:16 AM Good for you for tackling this! Take it on--but take it on in a better way this time. :) Sometimes organizing is not enough. By that I mean it is not enough to p...

Hey Hey Hey! What's new today? I want to share with you one of my recent projects/goals. One of my resolutions in 2009 was to focus on TRYING to stretch myself and really go for more of my creative and work-related goals. So when I saw the design team call out on Graphic 45's website, I knew this was something I had to try. I love their product line "Communique" a LOT. And I do use it in my year-long genealogy class scrapbooking/research series at our local store. When my dd sent me pics of her beau and their Valentine event, I knew what I was going to do! So the motivation combined with the supplies and the creativity and well, let's just say this little book exploded out of the mix. :) Two other projects for the DT call were my triple clipboard and a two page layout--also shown here. The G45 DT call is closed now --and my entry is in for consideration. So now, I just have to wait and see! Here are the extensive pics for your viewing and inspiration! Don...

I am uploading a couple of layouts I did for our ScrapperChallenge Jan. challenges. I hope you enjoy them. January's theme for scrapbook supply use on ScrappersChallenge was clocks and time elements or papers. Here is my layout on the right and my online inspiration on left. Our other challenge is the sketch challenge and we are to use one photo in January since it is the FIRST month of the year. Here is my layout for that January sketch challenge --which is posted monthly on SC by Fran. (Thanks Fran!) And while I am uploading pics, how about this CUTE pic of my son and his newlywed bride (July 08) at our home over Christmas break! And one of my DD and her sweetie.... Just because I miss them all off at college. :) Good luck on exams kids!! Rock