Back from the Oncologist in IA and a side trip to IKEA!

Sorry to have been gone for so long (a week exactly).  We left last Wednesday morning bright and early for my appointment with my oncologist in Iowa. Since we made such good time on the road, we decided to stop at Antique Archaeology in LeClaire, IA.  This is the store that is owned by Mike Wolfe, from the American Pickers TV show - WOW! Lots of cool things to see and of course I took lots of pictures to scrap too! Here are just a few.

The "original" Antique Archaeology Store in LeClaire IA

This picture was upstairs by Mike's Office 

So many cool items in the "garage" - my favorite was a Coke sign in the back from Eastern NC

The salesgirl that day and her cousin - both grew up in LeClaire, IA. They were really nice and fun to talk to.

My husband outside of the "new" Antique Archaeology Store, just across from the old sore

The new store had all kinds of things you could buy with Mike's store logo on them, plus lots of cool antiques too 

The end of the check out area - I loved the barber shop neon sign!

Looking from the back of the store towards the front.  This place is packed with anything and everything. If you ever get a chance to stop in, DO IT! You won't be disappointed!

The rest of the week was spent having tests and bloodwork done but my oncologist was quite happy with my results, except for my thyroid, which is very low so he has started me on medication for that and FINALLY started me on Octreotide for my Carcinoid symptoms. I even had the techs doing my scans take some pictures of me on the scan table to scrap - I've decided since I have to make at least a yearly trip to IA to the oncologist and because this cancer is not going away, I may as well scrapbook this part of my life. 

Getting wrapped up and tucked in by my X-Ray tech so I can't move during the scan

By the time the scan started I was already fast asleep (and snoring! LOL!) 

The Mummy Lives! I had to be like this twice since this was a 2 day scan - thank goodness I can fall asleep the minute I lay down.

On the way home we left super early Saturday because I was going to IKEA one way or another in Bolingbrook, IL.  It was our first time at that IKEA but certainly not our last!! Much easier to get to than the Canton, MI IKEA we usually go too. I had my list of items to get for my scrapbook room and ended up getting one that wasn't on  the list since it was in the clearance room.Now alI I need is one more Alex Drawer and some elves to help me finish organizing my space and I'll be done! I'll be getting the 2nd Alex Drawer when we go to the Mega Meet in May. 

I just can't help myself - I get all giddy with excitement whenever I see one of these buildings!

As you can see, it was a beautiful day to do some scrapbook room shopping!

Waiting for Mike to get the truck - all of my purchases! One large set of Alex Drawers, a bag full of other items for my scrapbook room and a net to put up over my windoweless window seat in the Hello Kitty Lounge part of my room

My unplanned for purchase that set me over my spending limit but I couldn't pass it up for the price.  It was in the clearance room, marked waaaayyy down and the only thing wrong with it was that it was a store display! The plus besides those things - it was already assembled, which Mike really liked! This is going to replace one of the HUGE paper racks in my room.

Since getting my TV stand, doors, drawers and containers to fit in the cubbies from IKEA a couple of years ago,  I've come to realize I prefer the doors so I got 2 more of those for the Kallax unit.  Unfortunately they don't make them in pink anymore :(

This is actually a plastic bag storage container when it's assembled. But in the scrapbooking world everyone is using them for storing their vinyl.  I only got one since I have'n't done any vinyl yet but have a feeling I'll be getting a few more in the very near future.

These are spice container organizers for your drawers.  They also make great Washi Tape and Ribbon organizers.  I'm going to be using these two in my new Alex drawers and will pick up a few more in May when we go to the Canton store after he Mega Meet

Since I've been home I've been doing nothing but sleeping to catch up on all of the non-stop going I did for the last two weeks.  I'm attaching pictures of the items I got at IKEA plus some Hello Kitty Iris storage boxes I found on eBay that came while we were gone.  I hope everyone has been busy scrapping, card making or organizing! I did manage to finish getting all of my embossing folders into the clear envelops from Avery Elle and most of my clear stamps - unfortunately I ran out of envelopes again.  I've also ordered 4x6 and 5x7 magnetic pieces to put in envelopes with my dies.  Those should be here tomorrow so I'll be starting on that project as soon as they arrive.  I've decided to order double the amount of envelopes I think I'll need since I've already run out of them twice.  I'll try to get a photo of them all organized for the next entry.

Oh, I almost forgot the one item that came in the mail while we were gone! Hello Kitty Iris storage containers!

I found these great Hello Kitty Iris storage containers on eBay just before we left for IA and ordered them.  There are 6 of them - not sure what I will put in them yet but I like that they keep with the theme of my scrapbook room. 

Happy Scrappy and enjoy the rest of your week!

Joyce

Finally Getting Back into the Swing of Things

After seeing the date of my last post to my blog, I am hanging my head in shame.  Although I do have a very good reason for not being able to keep my blog updated, I'm still quite embarrassed.

Recently I joined a wonderful Facebook Group for organizing your craft rooms and it has really given me the incentive and some great ideas to get my scrapbook room back on the right track and .... gasp! It may even be done by the end of March of this year.  At the very latest, I'd say April.  As with everything in my life, deadlines are ruled by my cancer and how I feel each day.  But I've been working very hard on organizing things in my room and would like to share some photos of what has been done so far. It may not look like a lot but the before pictures that I did take look like a hurricane had gone thru my room. So here are some pictures of before and after shots.  

Before:

Back corner of my room

Work Table and Chair (chair from IKEA, table is a vintage 50's formica table)

My room as you walked into it before

These 3 photos are my room at it's worst. I had not idea where I wanted to put things plus my dollhouse collection somehow made it's way into my scrapbook room (they now have a room of their own!)

Paper Rack made by my husband with my Toby Keith Shrine on top of it! LOL!

Recollections organizer from Michael's that has been moved over my cutting station

Cutting station that has an Accu Cut machine, my Hello Kitty Cuttlebug machine and then all of my Cricut cartridges and dies underneath. This uni came from the Container store.

More storage as you enter my room. A storage cupboard, another paper rack made by my DH and them more cubes from Michael's that have been moved to a different area.

The items in the photos above have pretty much stayed the same except for the tower of cubes at the end of the paper rack in the last picture. The 1st photo is my paper storage rack that my husband made and also my Toby Keith "shrine"! LOL!  The Recollections shelf has been moved above my cutting station (picture 3) and in place of that shelf unit, we have added 3 more long shelves. 

I added an over the door rack to store my Washi Tape and some of my larger bottles of things in. I also plan on storing my ribbon in this but I still need to get a few more racks to add to it.

This is my Kallax Unit from IKEA that also ha Recollection cubes from Michael's in it.  The Cubes that were at the end of the picture 2 pictures up are now residing across the top of the Kalax unit.  All of the albums across the top are there just temporarily.

A closer look at how I have arranged things around the Hello Kitty TV.  The clear paper holders will house my Bazzill cardstock in color order.

This is just a regular storage cupboard from Menards.  I have all my Zutter Binder supplies in here.  Plus the tiered racks are actually for spices but I plan on putting wood mounted stamps on them.  I also have my Stampin' Up stamps in here  There is a lot of wasted space in the top so my husband is going to try to figure out how to add more shelves.

And now here are some of the updated things I've done and organized over the last week or so.  Which is quite a bit for that small length of time for me. Once I go going I didn't want to stop!  The following three sets of shelves cover one completely wall that runs the length of my scrapbook room.

These shelves will eventually hold my small Cricut, Xyron machines, my Zutter Binder and any other large items used for scrapping.  The pink OTT light on the bottom shelf will be put on my scrap table eventually

I finished organizing this set of shelves about 1am Sunday. The top shelf has some vintage cameras and a fe photos I have taken and framed (I'm also an amateur photographer). The 2nd level of shelves hold a birdhouse that my niece made for me with Hello Kitt on the ends and zebra stripes on the sides, to represent my cancer. I also added a few photo frames which I have yet to fill. And I found the cute tins that decline in size with the fuzzy tops and bows last year around Valentines's day. The first one has all of my decorative scissors in it, the next size down has my creative memory writing pens, and the next one has Xacto knives, blending stubs etc in it.  The smallest one is still empty - suggestions for that one are welcome :)

This is the last set of shelves on that wall.  The top shelf has containers for small embellishments,which will probably be the last thing I organize since I seem to have them all over the room. The 2nd level I haven't quite decided what will go in all of the baskets.  Right now in the first basket I have my Hello Kitty Smash Book items,  And in the last basket I have handmade cards that are ready to send out. Now to figure out what to store in the large middle basket!  The bottom level I have buttons, flowers and ribbon all stored in glass Ball Canning Jar, arranged by color.  I go this idea from Pinterest (like a lot of ideas I've used)

Next are some misc storage items for the scrap area and also for the Hello Kitty Lounge area (on the other side of the 2nd large paper rack).  The lounge is in case I get tired or start to not feel good so then I can just lay down and rest on the windowless window seat my husband built in that area.

For some reason I'm not able to put captions with the next item so I'll just explain hem here. The first picture is 1 of my 2 Raskog carts from IKEA. I had my husband paint that pink also (in case anyone wonders what shade of pink it's Ballet Slipper and you can find it at Michael's and Hobby Lobby).  This cart is going to be for storing my metal dies, clear stamps and embossing folders.  I just ordered the Avery Elle envelopes that Jennifer McGuire uses (I'm a HUGE fan) and they should be here Friday so you can guess what I'll be doing this weekend!

The 2nd Raskog cart is for my Project life cards.  I did change it up since the photo.  I moved all of my cards to the top two tiers and now on the bottom tier have my Daily December albums and items to go in them, along with the Project Life punches - one square corner and one round corner.

The next photo is of he storage bin I got for Christmas to keep my paper scraps in sorted by color. I love that the handles are colored so it's such a no brainer!

Next is my glitter storage - I saw this on Pinterest and fell in love with the little salt shakers. They take up so much less room and look so elegant. I found mine at Tuesday Morning and also at Wal-Mart.  The Pink polka dot boxes they are in were found at Joann Fabric.

And last is my Copic storage. Before I had too many pens and they were floating all over the place and I was afraid I was going to lose some. This unit is going to be mounted on the wall between the 2nd and 3rd set of shelves on the long wall.  I have them all in numerical order according to their color chart. 

The next few items are things that will be in my Hello Kitty lounge area - more for decoration than anything else.

I got this at Target a couple of years ago as they were taking Valentine candy displays down.  I asked the lady if I could have it and since it didn't have a log on it she said sure. There were quite a few areas where the paper had been torn but I fixed that with some Hello Kitty Duct Tape. It even had attachments still in it to pop it into my pegboard

This is a small pegboard wall just around the corner from the windowless windowseat.  The 2 calendar on the wall are handmade - one was  class I taught and the other was a kit.I found the light up HK letters at Hobby Lobby and HAD to have hem.  And of course my Hello Kitty cuddle pillow!

I found this cute metal board at IKEA and had my husband spray paint it pink to match my pink and brown room.  It just has some mementos and things I've made in the past on it.

So that's it's for this update. Sorry it's so long. I'll be back downstairs organizing tomorrow so hopefully the next update won't be as long or as late.

Happy Scrapping Y'all!

Joyce