Oh how I would love to tell you that I was so busy finishing things yesterday that I just didn't get a chance to post. Actually, it's not so far off from the truth. Yesterday, I finished off my week with a Friday broadcast of my show, Musically Sunshine. Once I was done with that, I did a bit of work around the house and got on with my big item for the day.

I made a wedding gift for my ex-husband and his now new wife. That's right. I did. Their wedding was today (Saturday) but I wasn't invited. I'm not sure what that's all about, but I can respect that she probably found it a bit uncomfortable to have his ex there. I'm hoping that eventually all of that will end. I honestly like her and don't want him back so there's no reason for the weirdness. Maybe I'm just weird like that. Once a relationship is over, I honestly just want everyone to be happy.

Anyway, enough babbling about that. So, I decided that even though I wasn't invited to the wedding, I still wanted to give them something to show that I'm happy for them. It took a while, but this is what I made:



In other news, Dell finally came through for me. I got a phone call on Thursday night letting me know that after reviewing what happened to me, they're going to fix my laptop free of charge. That's right, it's not costing me a penny! I have to say that it was worth 3 months of total frustration and aggravation to get that news. They're sending me out a box to ship him to Texas in. They're going to replace the motherboard and run tests on everything else to make sure that there's nothing else wrong with it. I'm so excited about this! Once I have that laptop back, I can start doing stuff I've had to put off because I just didn't have the computing power! Yay! Did I mention Yay? Yay!

Ok, it's dinner time so I need to scoot but I just wanted to mention....Yay!

Wow! I cannot believe how sleepy I was yesterday. I'm so thrilled that even though I was falling down tired, I still managed to get some stuff done. I did a quick tidy in my bedroom and hauled in the leather chair from the van. Then, I managed to get it upstairs. I still need to get it cleaned up but I'm hoping that will be on the agenda today.

For today, though, I need to take some time for me. The truth is, that's what I'm doing right now. The address to this blog is craftsbykatie and I so rarely post crafting photos because of the circumstances of where I was before these 8 months. Now that I have a nice home (in progress) and The Wall actually has functional crafting space aaaannnnd I got chosen as a Chocolatier for Crop Chocolate, I spent some time doing crafting and now I'm going to show off what I made! I'm seriously considering doing something with my Etsy shop so this is my first step in facing my fears of having someone tell me that my items suck.

Ok, enough chatter. It's time for some photos!


And that's what I've been doing! If I get the chair all cleaned up, that will be all for me! It's going to be part of my reading corner up on the landing. I'm so excited. I can't wait to have another part of the house done!

It's early on Thursday and I'm happy that I'm on top of remembering to get this posted. As always, I have a list of things I'd like to get done today. I have two "big" ones. I want to email the Dell customer advocate and continue that saga. I'm waiting for the final conclusion before I write up this drama, but I will write it up. Hopefully for Dell and for me, it has a happy ending.

The other thing is my bathroom. It has this horrid plastic bathtub. I swear I don't know why anyone would install one of these in their homes. Then again, the same people also installed carpet in the bathroom and the kitchen. Anyway, this horrible plastic bathtub was stained and dirty looking when we moved in back in June. It's still stained and dirty looking. I'm going to try another cleaner on it today and see where that gets me.

Of course, there is also the time I'm going to take for myself. I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do. I've considered doing some crafting because I still have projects to make for Crop Chocolate. Of course, there's also my Wreck This Journal. I've been twitching to play more with that now that I have the numbers all in. Ok, I think it's pretty clear that you'll find me in "The Wall" (the kids voted we keep calling it that) this afternoon for some fun time for me!

How about all of you? What will you be doing? I can't wait to see!

It's Tuesday but so feels like a Monday. I'm always a little bit thrown off when the boys are here for a four day weekend. Of course, I wouldn't trade those extra days with them for anything. I love having them here with me and I love the boys that they're turning out to be. I've worried sometimes if my absence while I finished my degree didn't harm them, but it seems that they're doing just fine. Granted, it's not as if they never, ever saw or heard from me for those two years.

Anyway, I want to keep this post kinda short because I want to go do my tackle before I "forget" and don't do it. What would be so dasterdly, you ask? Well, I need to haul our outside trash can to the curb. Yes, the snow is melting slowly and yes, I did shovel the driveway, but I didn't shovel up to where the trash can is which means I may have to haul it a few feet through a good foot of snow. Ick! But, it needs to be done. Tomorrow morning is trash pickup and our can is verrrry full. So full, in fact, that I can't put anything more in it. The excitement never ends, eh?

Once I have that done, I need/want/can't wait to work on a scrapbook page. I was selected as one of Crop Chocolate's chocolatiers and once we receive our kit, we have two weeks to create with it. The best part is that you can create anything you want using it. You just have to submit photos of it in progress and completed. I don't know if they're accepting anymore people to the "team" but the really nice part about this company is that it wasn't a competition. If you signed up, you got to be on the team. It's a really great company with really nice service.

As for my page, I'm keeping it really simple for now. I haven't done any serious scrapbooking in about 5 years (long story as to why) so I'm easing my way back into it and testing to see if my creativity is still there. Hopefully they are. I had some fun last night playing with chalks and inks and it felt good to just be creative without any pressures.

So now that I've babbled on and on, I need to post this and go tackle that trashcan..and hope I don't end up with a snowy bum for my efforts!

Well, I promised you a photo update and here you go! These really should say day 7 because other than to take these photos, I haven't had the chance to step foot into "The Wall" today. I expect that tomorrow I'll have far more time and will actually begin to dig into what's left in there, which is a lot.



This is the wall unit that I managed to get hung after about 4 tries. A laser level might have come in handy there.


This is a shot from just inside the door. The cardboard box tucked partially under the card table is actually full of items to be listed on freecycle. All of the other boxes you might see have all been gone through once and all of the obvious trash and get rid of items have been taken out of them.

This is standing in the doorway and taking a photo straight in. You'll notice that I discovered I had tables under all of those boxes. Those tables are now covered with other things that are no longer in boxes, which is good because I can see what's there now.
And these are my storage drawers that I also managed to find hiding in all of those boxes. As you can see, I did get in there yesterday and put all of those labels onto the drawer fronts. Sadly, I still have to go through all of those drawers and organize them because what's in them doesn't match the lovely new labels.

So, there we go. At the end of week 1, I have managed to go through all of the boxes and bags and this is what I'm left with. Only 20 more days to go and I'm sure hoping I can finish up this challenge!

So, what to do when you're sick and curled up on the couch? Scrapbook, of course! So I sat down today and finished my final layouts for Anita. I have never, ever done anything in a landscape layout so this is new for me. On top of that, I made it a 2 page layout!


I love these snowflakes!


I don't know if you can tell from this pic, but the 'o' in snow is a snowflake!


The completed layout!

Now, I just have to get these all envelope'd up and get them sent off to Corinna!

I finally got the time to work and finish the 3rd layout for the lovely Anita. This one is really simple, but I am realllly happy with how it turned out. What do you all think?

Since I started this blog, I'm not sure that I've actually ever posted any layouts. That's probably because I haven't done any serious scrapbooking in about 4 years because of going back to school, my marriage ending and then moving and continuing with school. Well, no more excuses! I decided that the time had come to get back into "the habit" and right at that same time, Corinna came to us girls and told us that she wanted to help make a scrapbook for this lovely woman who is battling cancer. You can read Anita's story over at Corinna's blog. Since I am in school and really rusty at scrapbooking, I only took about 8 pictures to do. Some of the girls are doing way more than me, but it is so very much worth it.

I would love to be able to deliver the album to Anita, but I'm not 100% sure where she lives other than in Ontario. I do live less than an hour from some parts of Ontario, so maybe I will get lucky enough to be able to see her open this.



The pictures aren't great, but I'm hoping that she really enjoys the layouts.

Yes folks, it's true! I am a scrapbooking, craft supply hording junkie! I've often wondered if there's a 12 Step program for this, but I suspect that unless it was a new way to find fabulous craft finds, I'd fall off the wagon super quick!

Speaking of falling off the wagon, I got a small paycheck (clearing out my workstudy funds at school) and could not not not resist this Etsy shop! It's called Quality Craft Supplies and all it took was one look at their stock and I was hooked! I mean, who doesn't love a shop where the owner is super nice, the stock is fabulous (and green friendly!) and they do free shipping on any order that is $10 or more!

I have to show you the goodies that I bought! I just have to!

Up first, some gorgeous beads!



Aren't the colors on those gorgeous?!? Ok, my second item..I think I may have bought this for a few reasons:
1. The name...Blue Banana Paper.
2. It looks soooo pretty!
3. It's made from the waste bark of banana trees that are cut.

Which brings us to my very last item...and probably, possibly my absolute favorite! Ecofriendly Lokta Paper! It's sooo gorgeous and totally Ecofriendly which makes it an even bigger hit in this house!

Isn't it gorgeous? I think that may be my word of the day for this post! lol! Now, by now some of you may be asking what it is that I did for me today? I got to tear open this package and oooh and ahhh and touch and dream about what I'm going to use all these goodies for!

I totally wasn't expecting these to arrive in the mail yet. Jodi told me she was mailing them, but wow! Super fast shipping and yay for USPS for delivering something quickly for once.

Now, I just know that all of you are itching to get your fingers on some of these fantastic items (and trust me, there are even more great items over at the store!) so you're going to be doubly excited when I tell you that for my first ever giveaway here at Crafts By Katie, I'm going to give away a 10 sheet pack of Lokta Paper! There are 2 sheets of each of the colors shown in the above picture.

To earn entries:
1. Head on over to Quality Craft Supplies or their sister store, This Is It! Creations and then come back here and leave a comment letting me know what your favorite product is!
2. Add me to your blogroll. Make sure you leave a separate comment letting me know that you have. I don't have a picture link yet (still need to figure out how you all do that) but hopefully I will before the contest closes. Don't worry, a text link works just as nice!
3. Subscribe. That's right...find out what I'm doing every day via your inbox. Again, make sure you leave me a comment letting me know that you have.
4. Blog about my giveaway and leave me a comment here so I can check it out!

Also, if you are a non-blogger, please feel free to enter, but make sure you leave me an email address so that I can contact you!

This giveaway will stay open until June 18th. I will announce the lucky winner next Thursday in my Time For Me Thursday post. I'm sorry, but this giveaway is open to US residents only. (6/12/08 - 6:23pm)