Pinterest Obsession!

I recently discovered Pinterest.  I had never heard of it until people in my Indie Biz 3.0 class started talking about it.  LOVE!  It is one of those places that you can waste spend many hours discovering and drooling!

These are a few of the pictures I have pinned onto the Farmhouse board I created.  Oh. my. goodness.  The inspiration you can find on Pinterest!

 I have started some boards for the farmhouse we are hoping to build when we move back to Texas.  What a great place to keep all the ideas I run across online!  And every time you pin a picture to a board, it saves the url for that picture, so you can find your way back to the original source.  Sooo helpful.  Sometimes in the past I have saved a picture in my google notebook, and have wanted to go back to the blog or website I found it on, but have been unable to locate it.  With Pinterest I can always find my way back to the source!!

 If you want to see the boards I have started on Pinterest, go here.

Oh, how I WANT these lockers in a mudroom!!  Love!

If you are on Pinterest, I would love the link to your boards so I can browse!

Shannon

Indie Business 3.0

This class is SO FUN AND INSPIRING!!!  I'm soooo glad I registered for it!  Some of the class assignments are fun projects like this notebook.  And then other classes are brainstorming and filling out the worksheets in our notebooks.  As we work on different projects and assignments, I have this wonderful notebook to collect all my information in one place.  Inside the front cover I made a pocket for holding info that I'm not quite ready to transfer onto my worksheets.

To make the dividers, I traced the outline of a regular office supply divider onto chipboard so that I would have my spacing right.  I cut out five dividers.  Then I just decorated them with scrapbook papers and some little metal embellishments.  I had to get the metal in there, because most of what I create is either from metal, or has some metal on it somewhere.  Silver, obviously, draws me like a magnet.  But I also LOVE the look of mixed metals, whether it be in the jewelry I make, or the servingware on my dinner table.

One of the sessions we have been working on is Constructing Your Style.  I had so much fun with this.  It truly did help me to refine some of the things I already knew about myself.  Ok, I said fun.  Finding the pictures to represent my style was fun.  HOWEVER, creating a digital collage - that was less than fun.  I used several different free sites online trying to create a collage that I could print out for my notebook and upload to my Flickr.  I spent HOURS.  I finally got this collage done on Smilebox, and was able to print it out for my notebook.  But could I upload it straight to Flickr?  No - not unless I wanted it to be sideways!  So I finally took a picture with my camera and got it onto Flickr that way.  I really hate being technologically STU.PID. 

But now that I have fiiiiiinally succeeded in making one collage, I may make another one with some more pictures for my style.  Because I wish I had included some clothing on this page.  I would like to spread this style across the board in my life - my house, my clothes, my blog, my website, my jewelry.

It's a fun process to refine your style!  I have also found a book at the library called Style Statement, by Carrie McCarthy and Danielle LaPorte.  I've read about a third of it so far.  It seems to fit right in with this Indie 3.0 class!

I'll put up more pictures about the class projects soon.

Shannon

Adapting to a Very Small Space

Ok, so I have lived through the past month. My hubby has been working in DC for the past few months on a short-term contract job. (He's back now - yea!) While he was gone our house sold, so I had to deal with all the house repairs, contractors, packers for most of our stuff, and move us into a small apartment without him. Not the kind of things I am good at! But, we got it all done and moved into an apartment till mid-May. The week after we moved in, hubby came home - and, comically, he is home to start a new job which will have him working from his home "office" a lot of the time. We're here till mid-May, when we will move HOME to DALLAS! Yea!!!!!!

In the meantime, we have all five claimed our own little spots in this small space we're living in, and it's working for us. We're all just consciously trying to be considerate of each other's needs for quiet and space.

This is my view from the chair I have claimed. I pretend I'm already living in a wonderful farmhouse in Texas, and this is my own brick wall, with woods beyond. It's a great place to sit and look outside and think about my assignments - I'm taking the WONDERFUL online class - Indie Business 3.0. Lisa Leonard is one of the teachers. We started this week - it's soooo inspiring and enlightening! Love it!

This is my "studio" - I work on my Indie Biz notebook here, and I work on my jewelry here. Hopefully in our next house I will have my own studio again, but until then, this works.

By day this is hubby's home office, by night this is his game arcade....

This is Lexi's piano studio.... She is a piano performance major in college, graduating in May (which is why we're hanging around here till mid-May). Much time will be spent in this corner....

Rachel hides out in the girls' bedroom when she is home...as long as she has her computer and books, she's happy.....

This wall of electronics is in the bedroom that my hubby and I sleep in, but it seemed like the place to put Peter so that we could close the door if he has games going and we want some quiet. He's usually on his headset talking to someone online on xbox or pc games....

And, just in case the stress of tight quarters gets to anyone, we have this......

Now that we're settled, I can enjoy my Indie Biz class. And start looking for a house in the Dallas area!!!!

Shannon

One of My Lists

I run through most of these emotions on any given day lately....

Maybe I should draw my emotions on my sticky notes. Would that help my stress level??? We close on our house in 2 1/2 weeks. I have 2 weeks to finish the repairs. :/

We are moving into some short-term housing. All of our stuff is going into non-temporary storage until we know where we're going.

So, one of my lists is what to take with us that we might need in the next few/several months. We only have room to take the ABSOLUTE ESSENTIALS. So far here is what I've got....

4 extension cords (Because then each one of us will have one. I don't want to have to share my extension cord with anyone.)

some of my jewelry making stuff (because I need that!)

only the necessary clothes and shoes
ALL computers (NEED)
2 small tv's and their CABLES
DVD player and its CABLES
remotes

oh, and the xbox and its STUFF and its CABLES (because my son might die without it)

a few books (we neeeeed books)
school books

wireless router (NEED)

vacuum
Mrs. Meyers cleaners (need the pretty labels in my kitchen)

oh, make-up and shampoo, obviously
food from the fridge and pantry (because my kids will think that they need to eat every day)

my daughter's caged creatures (because I don't think they can go into permanent storage)

sticky notes (because I can't get through a single hour without using at least one)

I want so badly to write MAGAZINES on my list. Serious addiction to home decor and craft magazines. I might break out in hives if I don't have a tall stack of magazines to look at! I think that falls in the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY category, doesn't it???

Am I forgetting anything essential???

Shannon

Making Lists

So, these are my constant companions lately. I'm trying soooo hard to be organized...

I used to think I was a very organized person, but certain times over the past few years I have begun to realize that.....well, I'm not. I write things down on sticky notes. Lists. Many lists. I usually have a PILE of lists on sticky notes on the table by my chair. Then when I have to straighten things up for company, or a house showing, etc., I put all those sticky notes in the drawer, or in a stack of paper, or in a drawer in my studio, or in the closet in my studio, or...you get the idea. I may or may not see them again in time for them to be useful to me...

We fiiiinally have a contract on our house and will be closing the end of February. And a lot of the things that my hubby would normally be taking care of I am having to do because of what his job has going on.

So I have lists. Many lists. I'm trying so hard to keep my lists contained. And findable. I'm trying to keep my lists in this little notebook. And papers in this blue file. But, for some reason, as I sit here typing, I see that there are about a dozen sticky notes on the table beside me.

Is there any hope???? I don't suppose anyone has some magnificently perfect solution for me???

Shannon

What happens when you DON'T keep your house clean while it is on the market???

Well, that is when your realtor will call you with a one-hour notice of a showing! Below are some of the messes I had going when my realtor called today. My entire studio looked like this... And because my studio was a mess, I had also started a project at the kitchen table. Piles of shredded rope that I am turning into "bottle brush" Christmas trees...

And since the kitchen table was a mess, I had also started a project in the den. This looks like piles of mummy-wrap, but it is for another type of Christmas tree I am making...

Sooo...when the realtor called today, I had to go tearing home. The shredded rope and piles of mummy-wrap got thrown into the back of my car. I straightened up my studio lightening fast. Between the kids and I, in less than one hour we cleaned all the bathrooms, vacuumed the hard floors, dusted most of the house, scooped the leaves out of the pool, wiped down all the kitchen counters, turned on all the lights, and ran out the door to go eat dinner.

It helped that under the messes everything was actually already clean. But, I think I will try to keep my mess limited to my studio! I am doing my FIRST-EVER craft show in 3 weeks in Dallas!!! I'm excited! Which explains the hairy rope piles and mummy-wrap piles.

My kids seem to think that I need to review Rule #1 and #2 of my new house rules...

Shannon