You have heard of a microscope....You can use it to look in giant detail at a tiny bit of something. Our society tends to encourage us to do this with our science, our education, our politics, and even our hobbies and lifestyles. Everyone is a specialist. One expert will even try to out-expert the other.... But today I was reading about turning our thinking around a bit when we solve problems. It is often better to take a MACRO-scope view instead of a microscope view. We can use this kind of 'overview thinking' not only in our jobs --but at home. That concept got me thinking. The bigger picture of life and a sense of prioritizing on a bigger scale are often left behind in lieu of pursuing the specific immediate goodies of life. Taking a bigger view was brought to my attention this week as I am helping a friend organize her entire home. I empathized with her when she said she had lost sight of what it must look like to other people coming in to her home. She has been overlo...

Do you have a messy clothing closet? Would you like to learn how to tame it? How BAD is it? :) Send me your ONE photo of your clothing closet as a messy-mess. Send it to me at Rockester@magnaspeed.net with CLOSET MONSTER UNLEASHED contest in the subject line. ONE lucky person will win the following book: Some of the closet pics will be posted here without names. OCTOBER 31: I will RANDOMLY pick the winner on the scary holiday (because those closets are scary too!) on October 31st, 2008. So pass this on to your friends if you don't mind the competition. :) Unleash that Closet Monster in your wardrobe area and win a truly helpful book on Halloween! Remember--just ONE pic so make it good. Rockester@magnaspeed.net Good luck Rockester

Keep what is working for your storage needs. Eliminate what is not.Here is how to keep your home organization and scrapbook workspace decluttering manageable. Commit to it. Every change starts with commitment. If you don’t have a way to mentally keep yourself on track for any organization project, write it down. Something as simple as “YES I WILL!” note to self hanging on the bathroom mirror will help you keep going when organizing the bathroom cabinets.Cheer yourself on with post it notes. Start with something manageable . Projects take time but don’t bite off too much at once. Peter Walsh says 30 minutes. Flylady says 15 minutes. Julia Morgenstern says 10 minutes. I am not sure I honestly keep my work sessions that tiny. But the idea of making things more manageable in smaller time slots is sensible. No one likes to have to stop in the middle of clearing a dresser or filing life insurance papers away. You like to have a start point and a stop point and then pat yourself on...

My makeup drawer needed help yesterday. Well actually it needed help LONG before that. But I just got fed up yesterday. You see I don't wear much makeup on a daily basis. I can get dolled up for a photo shoot or a public speaking event. But daily? I can't be bothered. I don't know if it is because I was raised on a farm until I was 12 and mom never had a ton of time for makeup back then either. (Later she became a beautician so go figure!) Or maybe it was because it was Oregon in the 70's when I hit my teen years and everything cosmetic was aloe vera this and avacado that. Those are good ingredients but I didn't feel compelled to put things on my face to wear that I was also seeing on my dinner plate and on my grandfathers sunburn. So now I am an adult and I do wear some makeup. But for some reason, I have accumulated a ton of suppplies. My makeup drawer overflows into the medicine cabinet and the hall linen closet. Maybe that has something to do with having a bea...

Cropping Party Games Because I have been a scrapper so long, I am often asked how to plan a crop or party. Sometimes I just say “Bring out the chocolate, call our scrapbooking buddies and it will instantly be a party!” But honestly it takes a little more planning than that. One of my favorite things to do is to share my stash in the form of prizes and giveaways. From fiber to gems to rubber stamps, if you come to my crops you usually get goodies!!! But usually you have to EARN them in the form of occasional crop games or contests. I have adapted some bridal and baby shower games to scrapbooking parties with success. And I have also adopted other games I have played at conventions and store crops. Here are a few games for scrapbooking parties that might help you plan your next get-together. Here are a few games to space out throughout the crop about an hour apart. At the beginning of the crop: Name Doodle Contest: Have markers of all kinds available (your Zig collection?) and blank name...

FIBER GIVEAWAY FREEBIE!!! LEAVE A COMMENT and you could WIN!! I have two box lots of various fibers and yarns to give away this month. Want 'em?? Leave a comment below how you use yarn in scrapbooking and everyone who leaves a comment on this blog entry is in the random drawing for a box of various yarn skeins and partial skeins of several colors. Colors will vary from photo above but you get the idea. So, just leave a COMMENT in the comment button/box at lower right of this blog entry and mention a ribbon or fiber tip or yarn fiber-use comment. You MIGHT WIN one of these goodie boxes absolutely free. Be sure to leave your email so I can contact you if your name is chosen. Thanks! And good luck! Rockester

Click to enlarge any photo. Here are the photos! Walk with me through the before and after pics of my various sections of the room. :) You won't believe how messy a room can get in one month (NOV/DEC) and how clean it can get in two weekends of really sorting and hard work (1/13/2008 and 1/20/2008) Above: AFTER: Inspiration board My inspiration board of photos of my family. It really is just a garage sale bulletin board hung long way on a door back and covered in pretty fabric. Use what you have to make your space special and creative--including those precious photos. Below: Before: cutting desk my cutting station desk with a few projects stacked on it. And then...after...The cutting station desk with a close up of my tool caddy. It is really a garage sale find--a Pampered Chef tool turn around. This wooden desk is in need of a coat of paint but I love that it is sturdy and STAYS where it should when I am using the Sizzix or the giant iron school guillotine paper cutter (garage s...

Need an aggressive method of purging your home of unwanted clutter? Tired of the build up from decades of household crap? There is an exercise I recommend. I do it sometimes when organizing my stuff and other people's items. I call it the "STOP and Drop 8" method. I just did this with my friend Judy P's on friday with her. She is on oxygen and needed my help. Here is what we did. A STOP sign has 8 sides. So we use the number 8 here as a benchmark number. Take everything out of the drawer or closet or whereever. In this example we have the spice rack in Judy's kitchen. Judy had about 35 different spice bottles in one cabinet. they were falling out and spilling when the door was opened. A couple klobbered me on the head when I went to make us lunch. :) Laughing, she gave me the go -ahead to consolidate for her because she can't reach up and do it. She had duplicates and emptys and all kinds of herbs and spices. Some looked pretty old and some were brand new. I ...

100 pages a month? 1000 or MORE pages a year? Yes it is true. :) 1000 12x12 scrapbook pages a year....that means I usually average 100 pages a month or more. And not bad ones either! LOL 2000- 707 pages 2001- 487 pages 2002 - 1202 pages 2003- 1321 pages 2004- 1304 pages 2005-1172 pages 2006-1326 pages 2007-1358 pages For the last 5 years I have averaged over 100 a month. that makes well over 1000 a year! How do I get over 100 pages a month? I think it is a combination of learned tricks over the last 15 years as a scrapbooker and paper arts/scrapbooking teacher. These rates are do-able for many people. Not everyone...but many more people can do this than currently THINK they can! Getting pages/books done is a combination of things I do that add up to the total package when scrapping. here are my top 15 tips. 1) GET REAL . I begin with a fundamental NEED to get my photos (and my heritage photos) documented and out of magnetic albums and old acidic environments as soon as possible. Mo...

I moderate a great list. I love it! :) As moderator there, I often get private emails asking for additional tips or help or thank yous. Every now and then I hear sadder stories about very creative people feeling overwhelmed. Feeling stuck. Scrapbookers who haven't scrapped in years. Stampers who can't seem to get motivated even to pick out ink for a card. Crafters and sewers look at their lovely stashes and say "Why was I doing this again?" That's when I get out my thinking cap-- and my empathy pen --and write them heartfelt notes in typical Rockester style. Here is what I usually say. Overwhelmed? You wanted to start 2008 off with a productive and loving focus. You had good hobby intentions... But why are you just heading for the sofa instead? Any of these three common scenarios may be the problem. 1. SUPPLY CHAOS STRESS : You come home from a full day of work. You are soooo tired. But you would love ot be able to get some crafting done tonight. You might even ma...

Click on any photo to enlarge it. Finally, my cd case calendar gift is done. I meant to get to it last month but a few more urgent craft projects got bumped up in my schedule. :) This little twelve month 2008 calendar is sized to fit in a empty plastic clear cd jewel case. Unsnapped and turned wrong side around in an L shape, the case shows off the calendar one month at a time. Remaining months are stored nearby in a plastic zip baggie. January February March April May June July August September October November December That is the 12 months of 2008 in altered stash CD jewel case Calendar style! Enjoy! Rockester