Overcommitted…is that a word?

If so – it will be a good word for Me – The Abridged Version. I think I have lost control. To many things I want to do at the same time. So many enjoyable things to chose from. Today I couldn`t chose so I started cleaning my hall. Good choice. If you are bogged down with clutter and have trouble maintaining order in your home, I highly recommend joining in on Aby Garvey`s  next class starting next Tuesday. The forum is already on a roll.

So –  no scrapbooking today – but here is a layout from Jessica Sprague`s Beautiful Evidence class.

Influences…I love Kolette`s quote; I am my own work in progress – so true.

Paper clutter…

…is the most difficult thing to handle. And even worse if you are a paper scrapper who loves to take classes. The stacks of paper grows and grows. In the beginning I had to print everything and every paper was put in a binder. I have nine of them. And I have never – ever opened one of them. Maybe I will one day? Or maybe not… But that is not the problem. The binders are stacked in a cabinet and are not hurting anyone. It is the paper that are not in binders that create the problem. Because somewhere in those stacks of paper there are one or two treasures hidden.

I signed up for Aby Garvey`s Paper Clutter class weeks ago but she lost me in the third lesson. I wanted to set up a perfect system for all my papers and made it very difficult for my self. Mistake number one- I gave up without trying. Mistake number two – I didn`t ask for help. Well, I am stupid, but I am not going for mistake number three. With five days to go before the class close – I set the timer and went to work. 

I am not done. Still have a long way to go, but I am making progress. And I have a pretty good idea of how I want my system to work. While the rest of the house is completely decluttered, my work space is not. I did organize my scrap things at the beginning of the year, and that is still working great, but I have been moving things in here for three months without taking action and it shows. Well – that ends now.

Good thing I made my layout for “Beautiful Evidence” early this morning.

Love the beautiful papers Jessica provided us with. Good thing I`m working digital these days…

Senses…

 

In the early morning hours Jessica Sprague had us take a test. 240 questions – and yes, it was early morning.

My character strengths:

1. Industry. diligence, and perseverance - You work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project. you “get it out the door” in timely fashion. You do not get distracted when you work. and you take satisfaction in completing tasks.
2. Hope, optimism, and future-mindedness – You expect the best in the future, and you work to achieve it. You believe that the future is something that you can control.
3. Humor and playfulness – You like to laugh and tease. Bringing smiles to other people is important to you. You try to see the light side of all situations.
4. Perspective (wisdom)- Although you may not think of yourself as wise, you friends hold this view of you. they value your perspective on matters and turn to you for advice. You have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others and to your self.
5. Zest, enthusiasm, and energy- Regardless of what you do, you approach it with excitement and energy . You never do anything halfway or halfheartedly. For you, life is an adventure.

And it goes on and on. Me? I call it obsessive.

To declutter…

…may make me a happy girl, but it does nothing for my inspiration. I am thankful that  Jessica Sprague`s class Beautiful Evidence started today. Working on the computer is easy when the desk is clean. It never occurred to me to look in the classroom to see if there were any homework before class started so it came as a big surprise last night to find a ton of things to do. It would have been so much easier if I had the photos gathered before I started to work on the assignments. But, I am okay.

The awesome templates Jessica gave us are big and makes my computer slow down a bit, but  if I were to complain about anything it would be that there are to much beauty to choose from. I took the first template for a test drive and came up with this:

All about me. Seems to be this years theme…Maybe a little to much me these days? I think it is, so I made one for my sister in law also:

So – we might have  the same passion in life…If I had had any hope that she would have an answer to give me I would have asked her what was the most important things in her life these days. I don`t think she would have answered. So I am taking the liberty to do the picking.

These pages are 12×12. I have no idea if it is possible to print that size in Norway. If it is it will expensive. So I re-sized to 8×8 and did a print here at home. It looks good. I doubt I will make an album for me, but some pages will be printed and put in somewhere.

Aby Garvey`s free decluttering class started today. It feels so good to get going again. I started working on my to do list this morning and I love to have the message board in the class as motivation. I am fit to fight and ready to go to morrow morning.

Rainy Sundays…

…is the best. I prayed for it and I was heard. Love staying inside without feeling bad about it. I was up early this morning, trying to avoid to establish the bad habit of sleeping in late. That feels like a waste of time at my age. I spent the morning playing with Jessica Sprague`s tutorials in her Brush*Abilities class. I have learned so much. My challenge is to play with that knowledge so I remember what I learned.

Safe trip to my family about to hit the road.

I prefer to stay home to play with photos and paper instead of wet hikes in the mountains. Hiking would have been healthy – I know. Do I want to? NO. I rather stay home, warm and nice.

I am working on my Recipe class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. They launch new handouts every Thursday. With a week between every new handout I looked for some outside inspiration yesterday. The theme this week is use of paper. I am not good with paper, but Nic Howard is. So I scrap-lifted one of hers and I loved how it turned out.

Kristian is eating apple at grandma before going out to play in the snow back in February.

Another chapter…

…in the book of Sunday Depression. Actually I feel good today. Only three more days of work before vacation. And one more Tuesday. I can`t wait for Thursday to arrive. Even if that means a visit to the dentist – again. I am still feeling the inspiration from May Flaum`s Recipes for Scrapbook Success.

He knows how to work with his small fingers.

The lace thing isn`t me, but we are talking about using our stash here.:)

That is more like me. Even if I wish I had stopped before using the snow crystal brads. Sometime I don`t know when to stop.

 It is more than two hours since I started to turn in for the night. But I had to stop in on the Jessica Sprague class and I got lost. Her tuturiols are so easy to follow but I am a slow learner.  Making brushes was fun.

And we learned to make frames. I loved learning that, even if I messed it up when I was using it.

The cute bride deserves a perfect frame.

Brush*Abilities…

..@JessicaSprague. Since I am staying home during my three weeks of vacation I thought I needed something to play with so I signed up for Jessica`s new class starting yesterday. Who am I fooling? I would have signed up anyway.:) I didn`t have time to start last night so I have worked my way through the first lesson today. As always – something went wrong. Guess I have to do it all over again tomorrow. Once or twice….

I have always wondered how you made that cool line around your image. Now I know. Hurray! And then comes the brushes…

So – it is hard to know when to stop…:)

Shimelle produced new printouts today. Witch I didn`t know what to do with. But I had a memorie that would fit in my ME-album so I opted to print the image directly on the layout.

I wanted a guitar. I really thought that I could learn how to play. It couldn`t be that hard. Everyone could play a guitar. Hm…I never had the will to keep going. But, I did learn one song – a hymn, and we had fun. At the time we were allowed to sing even if we had no talent.

And I finished and framed a collage made for my Unravelling class.

It`s Friday and wreck this journal…

…cutting…

…connecting…

…blind eyes…

Unravelling myself – also feels like closing my eyes and connecting the dots.

 

@Jessica Sprague we learned how to make storyboards today. That was FUN.

Political views…

We have started the last week of this great class at The Big Picture Scrapbooking; The Challenge of Me. Lisa Day has been pouring inspiration our way every week. For a while I was worried that I wouldn`t have enough space in my album. Now I am happy to see that there will be room for adding some layouts later. Lisa really sparked some memories that need to be documented.

One of the prompts this week was to document our political views. For me – this was a simple one. I have never doubted where my heart belongs.

The Norwegian labour party – Always.

Jessica Sprague`s class is coming to an end. I have learned so much and I love that we can go back into the class whenever we want. I am a slow learner and will need to come back. Again and Again. Today we learned how to add colour to our converted B/W. I always wanted to learn how to do that.

A real cutie. I am thinking about this little guy tonight. His baby brother, Tor Magnus, who is 8 weeks tomorrow, had surgery at St.Olav on Monday. For now – everything is looking good and we are so thankful for that.

The kids parents bought a small estate in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains, a few weeks back. While baby Tor Magnus and his mother are still at the hospital, daddy took Kristian and Elin to this place for a first time sleepover today. I wonder how that works out. No electricity, no indoor toilet, no television…But, I am sure this place will be a sanctuary for this young family. Being together without the everyday distraction, hiking, fishing and just being together.

Ice cream and weight watchers…

Ice cream and weight watchers, originally uploaded by elinjanne.

…and I forgot to upload what I have done to my journal this week. I am blaming it all on the fog.

After two weeks with cold wind and sun the fog came. Fog is no good for humans.

But we keep going. And like Jamie also suggested I followed my mood working on my “wrecking” this week.

I finished my family section in “The Challenge of Me” at BPS.

And besides working this weekend I did find time and inspiration too play with Jessica Sprague.

Yepp – it has been a long Sunday. A good Sunday. Except for the dinner.

It is time to call it a night. The International Jazz-festival in Molde starts tomorrow. That means a lot of extra costumers and good sale – if the fog leaves. If the fog stays – the tourists go…