TOTES! Journal and Planner Storage

Flashback Friday!  This was published just two months ago....but I think Google would like to see it again.

A while back, my dear friend and partner in organizing all things showed me her Thirty One Tote that she uses for storing greeting cards.  Jessica is just brillant when it comes to finding clever way  keep her things tidy so I always try to steal borrow her ideas when I can.

Several months ago, I was walking around Home Depot.  I think I was looking for the bathroom because I constantly have to pee, when I found a bunch of handheld tool totes.  I looked that them for a long time and thought I should get one of these so I can copy Jessica.  I found the bathroom and forgot about the tote.

This week I was walking around WalMart.

Disclaimer: I drove 20 miles to the nice part of town so that I could have a pleasant WalMart experience.

I found myself in the tool section explaining what all the tools are for my kids and I saw it.  My Tote!!

TOTES!  It's perfect and purple and doesn't scream CRAFTSMAN on the front!  It's exactly what I was looking for and it was only $12.98. I snatched it up and took it home and hugged it for a long time before I put all of my stuff in it.

Here is what is in the my Journal Tote:

• Smash My Year Smashbook and Thirty One bag that Jessica gave me to hold all of my stickers and what not. 
• My kids journals that I write in every week
• My journals that I write in every week
• Sharpie Markers
• Papermate Markers
• Scissors
• Stuff that needs to go into journals (pictures, movie stubs, invites)
• HAPPINESS

It looks so great sitting on the corner of my desk and since I don't have a dedicated space for crafting/journaling and I ofter lug all of my stuff to the bedroom or in front of the TV, it's just perfect!

SMASH Your Life

Originally posted in January 2013 when I started the challenge.  

I'm so excited to share my Smash Book pages with you today. I can't wait to document my entire year...one month at a time. If you think you don't have time for this project, I'm here to tell you that is not true. It took me longer to edit the pictures than it did to put it together.

I've been picking up the goodies to use on my pages at Target and Michaels through the month and there is still more I want to get. The nice thing is that these accessories are under $5 and won't break my craft budget.

My friend Jessica who accepted my Smash Your Year Challenge  (click here to see her pages) gave me a super cute Thirty-One zippered pouch for Christmas.  I was thrilled to discover that my Smash Book fits into it perfectly!  Through the month, I collected pictures and my fun Smash Book Accessories so that when I was ready to put this thing together...I would have everything in one place.

In case you missed it...How to Print Your Instagram Photos.

Can you tell that I love Downton Abbey?

I stacked the pictures from my Whole Foods Cooking Class so I can lift one up.  I really like this technique and will probably use it every month.

I'm also decorating the cover.  I saw this picture on pinterest and it is my inspiration.  I'll be adding to it each month and my goal is to have it complete at the end of the year.   Follow my Journaling Board on Pinterest.

Are you joining us in the Smash Book Challenge?  Please put a link to your post in the comments!  We want to see your pages.

More Pages:

February Smash Your Year
March Smash Your Year
April Smash Your Year

More coming....I promise!

TOTES! Journal Storage

A while back, my dear friend and partner in organizing all things showed me her Thirty One Tote that she uses for storing greeting cards.  Jessica is just brillant when it comes to finding clever way  keep her things tidy so I always try to steal borrow her ideas when I can.

Several months ago, I was walking around Home Depot.  I think I was looking for the bathroom because I constantly have to pee, when I found a bunch of handheld tool totes.  I looked that them for a long time and thought I should get one of these so I can copy Jessica.  I found the bathroom and forgot about the tote.

This week I was walking around WalMart.

Disclaimer: I drove 20 miles to the nice part of town so that I could have a pleasant WalMart experience.

I found myself in the tool section explaining what all the tools are for my kids and I saw it.  My Tote!!

TOTES!  It's perfect and purple and doesn't scream CRAFTSMAN on the front!  It's exactly what I was looking for and it was only $12.98. I snatched it up and took it home and hugged it for a long time before I put all of my stuff in it.

Here is what is in the my Journal Tote:

• Smash My Year Smashbook and Thirty One bag that Jessica gave me to hold all of my stickers and what not. 
• My kids journals that I write in every week
• My journals that I write in every week
• Sharpie Markers
• Papermate Markers
• Scissors
• Stuff that needs to go into journals (pictures, movie stubs, invites)
• HAPPINESS

It looks so great sitting on the corner of my desk and since I don't have a dedicated space for crafting/journaling and I ofter lug all of my stuff to the bedroom or in front of the TV, it's just perfect!

So now.  I made another purchase that was inspired by watching Jennifer from Tatertots and Jello participate in a crafting challenge a few days ago.  Have you seen the house that Jennifer is re-doing?  It's so cool and exactly what I'd like to do someday if I had a husband that was handy. Anyway!   I bought this!

It's for my top secret painting project that I just realized I can't start until next week because of the holiday coming up this week because iKeith can't know what I'm up to.  It's a secret!!!!  Shhhhh.....

Like it?

SMASH Your Year: March

Welcome to SMASH Your Year!  Me and my friend Jessica are SMASHing two (or more) pages a month for the whole year to document our lives!  We don't want to lose these precious memories and scrapbooking is too hard.  It's not too late to join us!

January SMASH pages
February SMASH pages
Jessica's pages


I feel like I lost a week of March.  It was very busy and we traveled 1900 miles to Texas and back.  My daughter also turned 6 and I now have two six year olds for the next couple of weeks.  She thinks during this time that she is the BIG sister.  We let her think that.....

 I did two pages for March and then a bonus TEXAS vacation page.  Only problem is that I accidentally skipped two pages in between.  Dang it.

This month I listed all the great things that happened! I love those little booklets from SMASH BOOK.

I had to do one whole page about the birthday girl!

THE TEXAS PAGE!

I've been sick for two weeks so my pages are not as creative as I would have liked.  Hopefully they will be better next month.

And my cover....I added TYPE A.  I think it fits me.

April pages will post on May 9th! 

Down With The Sickness

I had big plans to do a VLOG showing you all of the cool stuff I got while shopping with Bobbi in Dallas.  Unfortunately, I've been sick since Saturday and I've had a turn for the worse.  If I live...I'll try to do it for tomorrow.

I've had plenty to do while laying on the couch because Keith informed me he's finally shutting off the cable TV since The Walking Dead is over for the season.  This means I had to quickly watch 300 hours of DVR'd shows.  I'm all caught up on The Rachel Zoe Project, Whitney and The Real Housewives of Everywhere.

I deleted the entire season of Dallas because J.R. is dead and I didn't want to watch him die.  I'm in denial.

ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm moving Smash Your Year to the second Thursday of every month because I like ordering my photos from Foxgram and it takes about 5 days.  You should also know that they have a new app so you can order right from your phone.

In closing I want to tell you that I can't wait to take my Nyquil tonight and get to bed.  Last night, I dreamt that Channing Tatum was wooing me and trying to get me to leave Keith.  Every time I said No....he'd start dancing.  I woke up in a sweat.  I could have been the fever......

Smash Your Year: February

To see January's Smash Your Year pages, click here. 

My goodness, February was busy!

We went to see Phineas and Ferb Live,  we had Kindergarten Valentine's Parties, Dr Seuss's Birthday/Jammie Day and it was Denver Restaurant Week.  We had a very full calendar and we had a blast!

Other notable items on the list.  Mallory learned to read and Alex had a double ear infection, but it didn't keep him down....in fact I think he rather enjoyed the extra pampering from me.

I love the idea that Jessica shared with us last month about lifting the picture and writing underneath it!  Brilliant!  Mallory and I experimented with cutting out the background on a picture in her Hello Kitty Smash Book and I like it.

I like stacking the pictures, because I have so many there wouldn't be room to put them all on the page. I tried another new trick and attached the kids valentines to paper clips and attached them to the spiral.  This way they are floating and can be moved to see more.  That is actually pictures of the valenties...to make them extra sturdy.

I added another word to my cover.  Do you agree?

Are you SMASHing YOUR YEAR?  We want to see your pages!

Leave the link in the comments or share it on my facebook page.

Hello Kitty Smash Books

I've spent a lot of time crafting this year.  It started out because I had to for the Valentine's parties I was throwing for the kids' classes and then it was because I challenged myself with the Smash Book.  It was kind of amazing that once I started doing it....I started wanting to do it more.

The more I crafted and completed little projects, the more peace I felt in general.  I remember this feeling.

Being creative and making beautiful things feeds my soul in a way that nothing else can.  It also keeps my hands and mind busy so I can't dwell on things or put chocolate in my mouth!

Knitting is the best diet ever!  Have you ever tried to snack while knitting?  It's impossible.

Mini Me is watching me like a hawk.  She wants to cook, read and craft like me. We are much alike sometimes it scares me!

Imagine our delight and surprise to find that Michael's has a new line of Smash Books that are perfect just for her.  Hello Kitty!

This one is supposed to be a travel journal but she liked the stripes.  So many fun accessories and tapes.

I gave her a few left over pictures from my January Smash Book Pages and she got to work.  Now, she's bugging me to order more pictures!

What do you do to bring out your creative side?  Does it bring you peace?

Disclaimer: I was not paid by Michael's or the Smash Book people to blog about this.  I just wanted to brag on my daughter a little bit.  However, I am available to be a spokes model for your products.  Call me....

Smash Your Year: January

I'm so excited to share my Smash Book pages with you today. I can't wait to document my entire year...one month at a time. If you think you don't have time for this project, I'm here to tell you that is not true. It took me longer to edit the pictures than it did to put it together.

I've been picking up the goodies to use on my pages at Target and Michaels through the month and there is still more I want to get. The nice thing is that these accessories are under $5 and won't break my craft budget.

My friend Jessica who accepted my Smash Your Year Challenge  (click here to see her pages) gave me a super cute Thirty-One zippered pouch for Christmas.  I was thrilled to discover that my Smash Book fits into it perfectly!  Through the month, I collected pictures and my fun Smash Book Accessories so that when I was ready to put this thing together...I would have everything in one place.

In case you missed it...How to Print Your Instagram Photos.

Can you tell that I love Downton Abbey?

I stacked the pictures from my Whole Foods Cooking Class so I can lift one up.  I really like this technique and will probably use it every month.

I'm also decorating the cover.  I saw this picture on pinterest and it is my inspiration.  I'll be adding to it each month and my goal is to have it complete at the end of the year.   Follow my Journaling Board on Pinterest.

Are you joining us in the Smash Book Challenge?  Please put a link to your post in the comments!  We want to see your pages.

More Pages:

February Smash Your Year
March Smash Your Year
April Smash Your Year

More coming....I promise!

Printing Instagram Pictures

I'm getting really excited to show you my SMASH YOUR YEAR journal pages that I made for January.  I knew that I wanted to use pictures in my pages but all of my best pictures tend to come from Instagram and they aren't the right size for printing.

Bummer, right?

Well....I have found a couple solutions.

FoxGram.com will log into your Instagram account for you and then let you select the photos that you want to print. 3inch by 3inch for .25 cents a piece or 4 by 4 for .45 cents.  Shipping is only .99 cents.  And If you like your instagram photo so much that you'd like to display it on your refrigerator...they have a magnet for $2.  I ordered my photos on Saturday and I had them 5 days later.

If you need to get your project done TODAY.  This next option is for you.  Download Printicular to your phone (iPhone and Android), select photos from Instagram, Facebook or your phone's albums and send them to Walgreens to be printed on 4 by 4 paper and available in ONE HOUR.  Each photo costs .39 cents and does not come with a pretty border.   The quality is not as good as FoxGram but you have your photos the same day.

This has nothing to do with printing your pictures but is more about sending postcards to your friends and family!  I love this idea so much!  Download the Postagram App, pic a picture from your Instagram feed and then send a postcard to your loved one.  Once they receive it, they can pop out the picture!  So cool!

Make sure you come back Thursday February 7th for the first installment the of SMASH YOUR YEAR challenge.  Jessica and I will be showing you our pages and we want to see yours too.

Disclaimer:  I have not been paid to talk about any of the apps I mentioned today.  I'm sharing what I've learned as a public service to the world.  Your welcome! 

I Challenge YOU

Click Here for
January Smash Your Year Pages

February Smash Your Year pages
March Smash Your Year pages 
April Smash Your Year pages coming May 9th

Subscribe today so you don't miss it!

I have to stop making resolutions for a little while (yes, I've made more) and make a few announcements.  I've been making....plans.  It's so funny how a new year makes you think of new things to do with your time. I obviously have too much time on my hands and I might be a little bit competitive.

SMASH BOOK CHALLENGE!

My Type A friend Jessica found a great blog post from Crafts Unleashed and we decided to SMASH BOOK our year.  Every month we're going to collect pictures, notes and other memories and scrapbook them.  We'll post our pages (2-4..or more) on the first Thursday of every month.  Do you have a K&CompanySmash Folio, Pretty Pink ?  We'd love it if you would join us and make your own journal. It's a great way to keep all of your memories in one place and be able to look back and remember the fun you had.

30 by 30 Challenge

Have you ever heard of the 30 by 30 Fashion Challenge?   It's a fun (or not) way to find new combinations of your outfits by picking 30 items.... shirts, pants and shoes and then only wearing those items for 30 days. I love coming up with new outfits and I like taking pictures of myself and posting them on the internet.  I'm trying to get my extremely fashionable sister Bobbi to join me.  Who else wants to give it a try?


News of The Cute!

Uncle Robert was with our family in California during Christmas so we got together last night for a little party. We realized that Mallory fit in the gift bag.....and we had so much fun with it!