Scrapbooking Room Layout

I am fortunate to have an extra room in my home with a beautiful wall of windows and lots of natural light. The room is about 6' and 9'.   It is always difficult to keep this work space tidy as I nearly always have a project on the go.  This is pretty much as tidy as it gets!

I have my scraps of paper sorted by colour and hanging in ziploc bags below the windows.

The dark blue drawers on the white shelf are just a workshop organizer for  screws , bought from the hardware store.  The large beadboard drawer is actually the drawer that my old ugly melamine desk had.  I loved the feature for storing my Cricut and knew I would really miss the storage and pull-out drawer feature, so we just cut it out of the desk and re-faced/aged it.  The desk was a great find!  I bought this solid oak beauty off Kijiji for $40.  I sanded and stained the top as it was in very bad shape, but didn't touch the long drawer/legs at all.  I love the weathered look.

The cabinet on the left was purchased on Kijiji as well.  It was only $40, but was in really bad shape.  It is not very well made (as I found out later), but it opens up to give me an extra work surface and has cubbies that make great storage.  (The before and after shots are in the furniture make-over section.)

Sleep Over Birthday Party Ideas

I have found that as my kids have gotten older, the parties become much easier as the themes are much less elaborate and they are happy to make their own fun, and thus require less planning.  My daughter did a sleep over theme two years in a row, but only had a "half sleepover for her 8th birthday the girls were picked up late in the evening.)  You will see two sets of pictures as the activities, cakes and decor were a bit different for each party, but I have combined the ideas in the description.

Invitations:

The first invitation was cute.  I stuffed the pillow, so it was actually 3D, although it is hard to tell from the photo.

This invitation came with a paper doll that could slide in and out of the sleeping bag.  She is resting her head on a real mini-pillow.  The girls were told to bring their invitations to the party and they then designed clothes for their doll.  The orange pull tab at the bottom slid out to reveal the party information.  The back of the invitation was made to look like a brochure with details about what the kids would be doing, timelines and a checklist detailing what to bring.

Decorations:
Birthday Banner (I always make one of these to coincide with the theme)
Table Cloth ("dress table to look like a bed")
Set up the living room with lots of pillows and blankets


Activities and Games:
Decorate a Pillow Case with fabric markers
Designer Paper Dolls (handmade to go with the invitations and scrap booking paper for clothes)
Kiss the Prince (Kiss the Poster - blind fold, spin around and girls had to kiss the poster)
Pass the Present (Wrap a small prize/gift in several layers of paper.  Works like musical chairs, but when the music stops, whoever is holding the present gets to unwrap one layer.  Whoever unwraps the final layer gets to keep the gift!)
Watch a movie
Girls were invited to bring their cameras and take lots of fun pictures throughout the activities
Musical Pillows
Foil Fashion Show (split the girls into partners or small groups and give them a roll of cheap tin foil.  Have them design clothes and accessories out of the foil and then get "dressed-up" for a fashion show.  They loved this!)
Twister
Karaoke
Just Dance (Wii)


Loot Bag Ideas: (I usually buy one or two larger items and try to avoid the whole $store/candy loot)
Mini Scrapbook album with embellishments
Glow Sticks
Pillow Case (decorated at the party)
Paper Doll with their own designer clothes
Flashlights/headlamps
Movie Rental or Pass gift card
Bag of Popcorn or microwavable popcorn bag


Food:
Chocolate Fondue (fruit, mini cream puffs, marshmallows, pretzels, etc)
Pizza
Cake and ice cream (of course)
Popcorn, liquorice and grape floats for during the movie
Waffles with White Sauce and berries for breakfast

Pajama Party (8th Birthday)
I just realized that it is hard to find photos without party guests in them!  Here are a few that give a good idea.

Homemade Bunny Slipper Cake

Homemade Sleep Over Cake for 9th Birthday Party.  The headboard was made out of gingerbread cookie and the little flowers on it were candies.  It was lots of work, but turned out well!

Scrapbooking:
I am also a scrapbooker, but wanted to keep my necessary layouts manageable, so that I could stay on top of my must do layouts each year.  I am making keepsake albums for both kids, but keep my layouts to two per year per child.  I do one layout of their year at a glance and one layout of their birthday party.  I do several other layouts as well, but not in their keepsake books.  I have a Christmas album, that I update with one layout per year and have one School Days album where I scrap book school memories including concerts, special events, teachers, field trips, etc.  This gives me a total of 7 "must do" layouts per year and all others are just for fun!  Vacations are compiled into hardcover online photo books that are fast and easy to put together.

Organization and Planning

The chalkboard menu is posted on the wall near the stove. My menu is actually made on metal, so it is magnetic as well.

This idea was borrowed from Whipper Berry via Pinterest. Thanks for the great idea!
http://whipperberry.com/2010/11/tutorial-chalkboard-menu.html

 This is my kitchen organization centre.  We update the weekly schedule every Sunday using a simply dry erase marker to write directly on the glass.  Works really well!

The "FAMILY" banner is made from old CD's.  I borrowed the idea from Road Kill Rescue via Pinterest and made the changes to make it work for my organization centre in my kitchen.
http://roadkillrescue.net/2011/10/cd-christmas-banner/

Idea was borrowed from Next2 Heaven via Pinterest and adapted to meet my own needs.  Thanks for the great idea!
http://fey-next2heaven.blogspot.ca/2011/09/our-launch-pad-new-weekly-calendar.html

Furniture Before and After Photos

BEFORE:  Antique dresser transformed into bathroom vanity with handmade pottery sink.

AFTER

BEFORE:  Antique dressing table sanded and repainted white for my daughter's bedroom.

AFTER

BEFORE:  Antique side table/magazine stand that was purchased for $20 was painted with high gloss back paint.  Sanded, painted and upholstered the top for a new piano bench for the kids.

 AFTER:

Cabinet on the left was painted and updated as well.  This was given to me for free!  I haven't done it yet, but hope to install metal slide out drawers for potato and onion storage in the bottom.





BEFORE:  $40 Kijiji buy  Old brown/grey painted cabinet.  Needed lots of work, but turned out well.

AFTER:  Looks great painted out white and new hardware added.  I have this in my scrapbooking room.

BEFORE:  Old wooden coffee table puchased on Kijiji for $20

(Sorry, not a great picture)

AFTER:  A beautiful upholstered bench for the end of our bed.

Cute Cookies

Santa cookies made out of sugar cookie hearts.

Winnipeg Jets cookies were handed out at my son's hockey birthday party.

Super Easy Glow Bowling Party

 This turned out to be the easiest party ever!  The bowling alley provided the food and drinks.  I just had to bring the cupcakes and loot.  In lieu of a loot bag, I made all the guests a personalized glow in the dark birthday bowling t-shirt and handed out silly bands and glow sticks that they could wear around their wrists and necks as they bowled.  This was simple and the kids loved their shirts and had a blast.  The best part was it was over and done within a few hours and my house was not trashed in the process!  It isn't gender specific, so the same ideas can be used for more than one party.

The invitation had a brad on it so that it could spin open to reveal the specifics about the party.

Simple homemade cupcakes with whoppers for bowling balls and fondant pins.

Homemade Cards

Valentine's Freindship Bracelet:

Our class would "KNOT" be the same without you!
(This idea was borrowed from Dandee via Pinterest - thanks!
http://www.dandee-designs.com/2010/02/friendship-bracelet-valentines.html)

Winnipeg Jets Valentine's cards.

We'll "owl-ways" love YOU!

Never "frog-et" how much we love YOU!

Various gift tags are shown below:

Happy Birthday 

Very frustrated…can't get this to keep the rotation when I import the picture.  This is a card I made for my cousin's wedding.  The "f" is for their last name, of course.