Mr Mojo and the Envelopes

Wow! Mr Mojo is well and truly back today. After doing my post yesterday I was itching to do something inky  but somehow I got sucked into online stuff and well, after that nothing happens. Then last night after the kids had gone to bed I ended up going out to visit a friend of mine and well, after that nothing happens! LOL. So this morning I packed Herself off to school on the bus and Weeself decided that she was happy playing on her own, so I decided to follow her example and headed to my desk. I had about 3 or 4 hours of complete (almost) uninterrupted bliss!!

Now, before I show you what I made I'd like to explain a little of the 'back story' to this item..... Our finances are currently a mess. I think most of you will know the feeling, especially as the pay cuts, inflation, higher taxes, higher fuel costs, and super-inflated grocery costs all hit our pockets. Added to that the fact that hubby hasn't had a pay rise in nearly 6 years, we're carrying two mortgages (long story!) and both cars seem to be determined to be as expensive possible at the moment we're definitely finding it hard going at the moment. Please tell me I'm not alone in this?? Does any of it sound familiar?

Well, I often read the Life as Mom blog and had seen her explain how they got out of debt using a modified form of the Envelope System. I took no notice as I figured this was a 'big American thing that couldn't possibly apply to us'. Then I saw (quite by accident) a video on YouTube on it, a book on Amazon about it and heard another friend talking about it. By that time I was sitting up and taking notice... and finally getting the message that maybe this idea was being presented to me over and over again for. a. reason. The final straw was when I was browsing on my mobile phone only to find an App for it!! So hubby and I have done a budget and labelled up some envelopes and we've been using the system for about 3 weeks now. And it SO WORKS!! Have a look at this video to see how this system works.

My only problem is.... it's not PRETTY. Yep, as a crafter I have to resist the urge to make it pretty. And today I completely failed on the resisting front!! Mr Mojo came back in full force and I went with the flow..... including cutting up an old pair of jeans. Not my usual way of working but I'm soooo pleased with the results....

 

So there it is... Mr Mojo's much-prettier-completely-craftyfied-envelope system. What do you think??

WOYWW 25th May '11

Wow, it's Wednesday again! Fancy a look at my seriously messy desk??

Oh my! A little tidier than last time isn't it?? It's tinged with sadness though as I've had to pack away the mini album project for now. I promise I will get it out again soon though as I really want to finish it. I'm about halfway through the photo's that I wanted to scrap for this mini.... and I must admit that it's not looking so 'mini' anymore! In fact, it's going to end up quite a chunky, fat album. The only thing mini about it is the pages really. It's going to be lovely though.... once it's finished, that is!

Unfortunately, though, I've run out of time for personal crafting as I have another workshop tomorrow night. It's my first mid-week one ever and I'm being told to expect 12-15 people so it's going to be  busy! So in preparation for that I've had to pack my Dorset mini album stuff away so that I can get cutting and glueing for tomorrow night.

Here's my desk now.... with a fresh piece of grid paper.

I love that grid paper cause I can get as messy as I like and I know that my cutting mat is not going to get all gunky. Mind you, it's had it's fair share of gunkiness over the last few years!!

So now, bid me adieu... cause I'm off to get all inky again! That grid paper isn't going to stay clean for long!! If you'd like to see some really messy desks, organised desks, pretty desks, haphazard desks, feats of engineering desks and desks with piles of stuff on that somehow manage to defy gravity and all the laws of nature.... then hop over to Julia's blog for a peek at other WOYWW entries!

Thanks for popping by today and leaving me a comment!

WOYWW 18th May '11

Wow, what a busy day I've had today!! My apologies for not posting my WOYWW earlier today but it really has been manic today and this is the first time I've managed to have two minutes to even think about posting. Actually, I had actually decided not to post as it was so late but then had second thoughts about that too. I'm so decisive, aren't I?! However, since Julia takes the time to host it and I've not joined in for a few weeks I figured I just had to!

Anyway, I'll stop chattering now and show you this:

Oh yes, I've been getting creative again! This time, however, it's been personal stuff not business related! It's been such a long time since I last did any scrapbooking just for me! I nearly forgot what it felt like actually. Anywho, I don't know how much you can actually see here.... there are a few random things dotted about as I had to quickly make a birthday card this morning to put in with a gift that was being posted. The birthday 'girl's big day is tomorrow so I thought I'd better get my butt in gear! So I hauled out my SU inks and stamps to get that done, but they've already been cleared away. The open printer is because I had to print off directions to get to someone's house last night and the rest of the stuff is what I've been using to scrapbook with!

There's still my trusty SU Stampin' Scrub for cleaning my stamps, grid paper for being messy on and punches for adding lovely handmade elements... but the rest is all from my stash!! OH MY! I've actually managed to cut up one of those Scrapagogo kits that have been hanging around in yellow pizza boxes for the last 2½ years! Yes, 2½!! I went to a charity crop last weekend in aid of Arthritis Care Scotland and took along a whole load of  'Beach holiday' pictures, masses of tools and one Scrapagogo kit. I completed all of one double page spread for a Paperbag minibook during the whole day and I really thought I would end up unpacking it and shoving it underneath my desk and forget about it. However, for some reason the Mojo has really got going with this one and I'm really enjoying it again. Yay!

On the grid paper you can see the results of my only Non-SU purchase in the past 12 months. At the crop I got my hands on two bottles of Mica Mist. I've never seen or used this stuff before so I was intruiged. Wow. It's gorgeous.... even if a little messy. I'm normally a very clean lines, crisp edges sort of crafter so it's been refreshing to get really inky and shimmery with these. You can see a little bit of the front cover for the minibook on the desk and it's well and truly covered in Mica Mist! Oh and ribbon, lace, chipboard letters, stickers, papers and...... a beautiful rose that I made using 2 punches and a pair of scissors. I'm really rather pleased with that rose because it came out so beautifully!

Anyway, none of that has been played with at all today (although I'm considering a late night session tonight!) as I was out and about all day. This morning started late for me and then proceeded to be a headlong rush all day. Took Herself (aka TwirlPower) to school, rushed back and gave Weeself (aka DestructoGirl) her breakfast. Changed nappies, got dressed, made a birthday card, grabbed present, rushed to train station, caught the train to Edinburgh, found friend, strolled down to her house, kids played, kids had lunch, unpacked wardrobe, moved wardrobe, held baby, had lunch, ordered taxi, got into taxi (forgetting changing bag at friends house), got to the train station, walked 2 million miles to get to the correct platform, ended up running for the train whilst pushing Weeself in manic pushchair dash, got on train, entertained Weeself in order to stop her getting killed by grumpy businessman, got in car, dashed to bus stop to pick up Herself, went to Tesco to buy wrapping paper, wrapped present, posted present, rushed home, helped Herself with homework, greeted hubby, helped cook tea, ate tea, helped bath kids, attended screaming child after she fell off the changing station, calmed distraught hubby down, calmed screaming child down, convinced distraught hubby that it wasn't his fault, got kids dressed and into bed, read bedtime stories, did some business adminy stuff, surfed Facebook, blogged and collapsed! Phew!

Any chance I can have a quieter day tomorrow please? Mind you, it's been good to get out of the house and see some real people again so I'm not complaining too loudly. PLUS, I got to hold my friend's new baby which is always well worth any rushing around that was done to get there in the first place!! Shhh.... dont tell hubby I said that! LOL.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. I know now why the chinese curse is "may you live in interesting times"..... Right now a quiet life sounds like a good idea to me!

All advise on how not to run around like a headless chicken would be gratefully received!

Confessions of a 30 year old!

So the lovely Shimelle.. scrapping goddess as she is, has graciously given us a freebie class! Normally you have to pay, but this one was free.  It's called "I have to confess" and was just about doing silly confessions, things that people might not necessarily expect I suppose.  So, earlier this week I printed out my photo's and got my cardstock, inks, stamps and some scraps of patterned paper out to do some serious confessing.  I really enjoyed this little class and although I used the same stamps (Scribbled Flowers from Banana Frog) my pages came out completely differently. I also got to experimenting with UTEE on inked chipboard brackets which was loads of fun and the result was very pleasing too!  So here's my Confessions:

I'm beginning to like Pink

I have to get out

I don't 'do' handbags

I'm arty but...

I could happily do Jam and Jerusalem

I really enjoyed doing this project, so a big "Thanks" to Shimelle!