The Brain Child for All Scappers- THE BINDER

As my time and energy is wasted away in the scrap room, some evenings full of crafting and others just sitting and looking at the stuff to make things, the need to have a binder full of ideas arose. I had this black 1" that was covered in glue, had a few cut marks on the front and was falling apart. But now... TA DA! I invested in a green one, 2" and with the nifty D-ring that allows interesting movement with your pages. This purchase has now spawned a greater need to have ideas, cards, techniques and other information and pictures cataloged.
This afternoon was filled with gluing, making notes, writing out directions for certain techniques, and other things. I've also used paper clips to attatch some of my own hand made cards and tomorrow I will be making color copies of the cards.
Justin thinks I'm crazy... and I really am! But I can't help it... it's like an organization bug has settled in and more needs to be done.
If only I could apply this same kind of manic energy and attention to the rest of my house.....

The Scrap Room- Updated!

As time has gone by, married life only gets better and better. Today, Justin helped me hang the anti-sneaking-Justin device. Here is the situation.
I have this large, beautiful, red cabinet that I love in my scrap room. It was in a spot that wouldn't allow a small rolling drawer between it and the wall. I needed the cabinet to move an inch- AN INCH! So I removed all the things inside, including the glass shelves, and squashed myself between the wall and the cabinet. Pushing with all my strenght, and boobs, I was able to move the red piece the inch I wanted... while successfully gouging huge holes in my wall. There was a moment of confusion in which I had forgotten that said cabinet had been anchored into the wall!!! The doors flew open as it all tipped foreward and the backing ripped off from some freak something. And me, poor Caitlin was trapped!!!
It took some convincing but I was able to un-squash myself from the wall and get everything under control. The problem was that I had these huge holes. They bothered me but I figured I would get over them.
A few nights later, about two in the morning, I was sitting in the scrap room thinking about life and how happy I was and how much I wanted more space in the room so that Justin could sit and talk with me. It was then, that fateful hour, that I moved all the stuff (ALL OF IT!) out of the room and packed things away so that I could tape the room off. This was a Saturday night (technically a Sunday morning). Sunday afternoon I had collected supplies from my mom and dad, bought my paint, and taped off the room. The following morning I rose early and painted the room the happiest and cheeriest yellow!!! And by two o'clock that afternoon, the room was painted, I was clean and my hair was curled.
It was a wonderful Tuesday afternoon moving back in. And NOW> the lovliest and best scrap room is all moved in and perfectly perfect! Not only do I have the best supplies in darling coordinated storage, I have my mini fridge, my TV and DVD player, an easy chair, and the new electric tea kettle. Truely I am spoiled and most fortunate.

So the original problem has been fixed, the stacker has been placed where I had wanted it. My walls are happy and yellow, the embellishment centers have been mounting and are straight, and I have a wonderful, comfy place to stay.
And yes, the beaded curtain helps... Justin no longer sneaks up on me, but occasionally the cats play with the handing strands and it's annoying:P

Twelve Months, 24 Books

This is a list, month by month, of my favorite and least favorite book from that month. For the most part these books are YP (Young People) or YA (Young Adult) with a few adult fiction titles mixed in.
January- Favorite: Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis Least: Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton
February- Favorite: Fight Club by Chuck Palanhniuk Least: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
March- Favorite: Vidalia in Paris by Sasha Watson Least: Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
April- Favorite: Hippie Chick by Joseph Monninger Least: Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
May- Favorite: Wake by Lisa McMann Least: Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
June- Favorite: Star of the Morning by Lynn Kurland Least: Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
July- Favorite: Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz Least: Eyes like the Stars by Lisa Mantchev
August- Favorite: Fade by Lisa McMann Least: Death Angel by Linda Howard
September- Favorite: Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn Least: Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
October- Favorite: Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolartz Least: Tragic Magic by Laura Childs
November- Favorite: Venomous by Christopher Krovatin Least: Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton
December- Favorite: Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler Least: Holly by Jude Deveraux

I will update this every month so you can watch as some of my favorite authors rise and fall... I think it all really depends on how much of what kind of chocolate I am eating when reading these novels.

Craft Project: Coffee Dying

For this dandy project I used fresh coffee grounds, hot water, paper towels and the shawl in question.
Step 1: Make little dying pouches with the paper towels and coffee grounds. I doubled up the paper towels so that the grounds didn't get loose. You can also use the actual coffee grounds still in the filters but the filters break easy and make a mess on the project.
Step 2: Boiled water works best. The color is darker and is quicker to stain than cooler water. Pour boiled water into a bowl with your dying pouches and let them steep for a few moments, just enough to saturate the grounds.
Step 3: Do this in a large area that can get dirty. For me, I facilitated the second bathtub. I used the pouches in a "stamping" motion and covered my area. It's easy to tell when you need to swap pouches and let the old one soak again. Don't be too gruff though, splitting the pouches makes the grounds tumble out and they make a terrible black mess on the project. If this happens, simply wash them out with cold water and start over. Try not to let this happen! In no time you will understand what a pain it is to rinse and start over, not to mention the incredible mess it makes.
Step 4: Let your piece dry. Outside is best because the sun helps the color fade to the antique look I wanted. It also airs out the garment. Try to give it plenty of time so it's completely dry and the smell isn't so strong. If not, your room will smell like Starbucks for a week or so. If you're into that, then by all means, place that baby inside.
Washing the dyed piece is not recommended. Certain fabrics don't completely stain the whole way through and washing can actually undo all the work. Trust me. I know this to be true.

Craft Project: Easter Box

I wanted to start posting some of my craft projects that seem out of the blue. So the first one I used the cardboard drink boxes that you get when you purchase beer or other glass bottled beverages.

Step 1: Cover all the sides of the box with your selected paper. I made sure to overlap the edges on the small sides so that I didn't have corners exposed. For the handle just measure and cut out a little larger than the shape and fold edges over for the same purpose.

Step 2: Cover a single piece of heavy cardstock or photo mat with coordinating paper. I buy this stuff at my local DI. Old pictures used by the LDS church often are sold there and are the perfect thickness for reinforcing my projects.

Step 3: Embellish! Add tags and ribbon to at least one side of the piece to give it some pizazz and glam. If you use really interesting paper though, try not to overdo your embellishing.

And ta da! You have a cute and functional Easter Carry box for whatever you want it for.

Our Boycott of Kelloggs

After listening to the news and eavesdropping on conversations the past couple weeks, Justin and I have come to the conclusion to boycott Kelloggs for pulling funding from Michael Phelps.
True the many, many weeks of seeing his face on magazines, books, and plastered on the news did grow old. There is no doubt in my mind that as soon as America had the chance to see the golden boy doing something not-so-golden, we pounced like a pack of starved jackals.
Despite my "clean" lifestyle, I still feel the need to supoport our Star athlete in his quest for peace.
Ever wonder, "Wow. If I swam that fast and had to train all the time, I probably would crack under the pressure too." or "Well, can't see that I blame him. Poor fool is constantly water logged."
Nope! Just like the people we are, we pointed our dirty fingers at him and called him out on his indiscretion.
I for one think, "What the hell? He is simply blowing off some steam. Or he is bored." Good enough reasons. So from this day forward, it is General Mills for me.
Good thing Lucky Charms are NOT Kelloggs, lest my resolve be taken under by fun shaped marshmallows!

The author ruined the book for me

I recently was given the opportunity to meet a local author. Though I had not yet read the book, I was excited to meet the author and have him sign my book. However, now that I have met the man, I doubt I would read the book.

He was nothing short of a total ..... (no word appropriate). After telling him that I had sent him an email some time back and was happy to see that even though I received no answer, I was still pleased to meet him.

"I don't usually respond to emails unless they have some constructive critisism," he relied.

Had I been in a terrible mood, trust me, he would have recieved some constructive critisism. As it is, I will read the book but with a skeptic opinion.

Authors are some of my greatest heroes, and I am much more excited to meet authors than any person from Hollywood. But stuck-on-themselves newbies like this man tend to make me less than excited to read their stuff.

Domino and I looked at the book all weekend. It got put on the shelf this morning, with very little possibility of it coming back off.