amyHELLER | my paperie sweets & me

The New Space | Work in Progress

It took a week+, but I got my space in the new house about as organized and tidied as I possibly could. I thought I'd share some pictures with you today since the kids are both occupied with friends today!

As you walk in, straight ahead are my desks, under two large windows.

My camera doesn't have a wide enough angle on it to get both from inside the room, so please forgive the overlap in the first photo.

As you look to the right of the sewing area, are my two Ikea 4x4 Expedit's

As you continue to look to the right, is a large closet (where LOTS of miscenllaneous schtuff is being kept, like film photos, kids' artwork, college portfolio work, wrapping paper and gift wrap supplies,  etc. It's a catch-all right now of the things that don't "fit" in the working space of the office/studio.

Next to the closet, and as you come in the door, is this little nook.

 

This is the area where I'll be hanging my completed pages, or other artwork. That drawer system currently holds all of my hand punches. 

Last up, and my least liked portion of my space, is the computer desk area. 

Right now it's just a folding table with my computer, my husband's laptop, our printer, my silhouette, my bamboo, my time capsule, and more, and it's just not working! This whole wall (as well as the dek potion of the perpendicular wall, is where I want to get built in cabinets, and desk space so that we can more effectively use this space. But that won't come for another year or two. For now, it is what it is, and it ain't purty. (ARGH, that mess of wires is making me itch!!!)

Anyhoo - I got some great news about some things that will be coming up late in August, so I can't wait to share that with you, along with some fun stuff, I personally have planned for the blog, and design projects for the future. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Introducing | The New Space

I posted this a little while ago on Instagram. This is my space in the new house. About a third of it anyway. Well, it hasn't changed much since, so I thought I'd share here. But this morning, I finally spent some time rummaging through that pile in the center of the room and have it down to, well, a smaller pile! Progress. Little steps. The good news is, I'm ready to tackle this space. and I'm excited to see what happens with it over the next few weeks. 

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my post yesterday and on Facebook. It meant a lot to hear from you. I had forgotten how much I missed this part of my life, and all of you! You are all so kind, and forgiving, and I so appreciate that! 

As I further get this organized I'll update here so you can see the progress! 

Apologies + Goodbyes + Hellos

It seems fitting for me to come back today to update you on several things.

 

But first, an apology 

I've been a terribly bad blogger, a worse scrapbooker, a TERRIBLE 1st-time Project Lifer, and woefully absent from a LOT the last 6 months - in my own little world of household and daily life chaos. I've been trying to work on me and that's been an uphilll battle to say the least. More on that later. Back in March, we moved into our new home and I have a wonderful new space to call my own (studio) with it's own door that I can close off! It's an upper level room with large windows - and an additional space just adjacent to it that is perfectly suited for a mini daylight photography studio! I should be thrilled, right? Alas, it's been 3 months and everything is still.in.boxes. and I can't get it together.

What I thought would be a wonderful jumpstart back into my designing life -  after we moved into the new house - was curtailed mid-way through the purchasing process by a terrible knee injury back in mid-February that required a reconstruction of one of my ligaments and 4 months later is still requiring regular Physical Therapy. (If you can avoid it, don't ever rupture your ACL-the recovery time is ridiculously long). While I'm finally able to walk (because who needs to do that?!) and all my "normal" daily routine stuff, I can't exercise like I was; kickboxing and high intensity conditioning classes. They say I'll be able to get back to it, but not for another 3 months, and never with the same "umph" as before. Not being able to exercise along with the circumstances related to my injury have played a major toll on my emotions. I've physically not been able to do a lot until recently, so doing any design work was on the backburner. I wasn't able to photograph much, because I wasn't able to get around very well, so memory keeping and photography were on the backburner. Not being able to do the things I was SO looking forward to, and loved to do on a daily basis were torn from me. I was feeling very, very down and unmotivated. I think having all this happen on the heels of feeling bettter about life in general after 12/14 just amplified my melancholy. I apologize, for not updating when I have previously stated that I would, or designing more when I said I would. I just haven't been able to yet.

(Man, this sounds like a lot of quibble, when I write it out like this. Jeesh!) 

 

The First Goodbye

Last month, I said goodbye to being a member of the October Afternoon design team. I couldn't keep up with everything - with my newly implemented physical therapy regimine, the kids' and their schools, tending to a new house and managing our previous house as a rental, it became too much and I needed a break. It was three wonderful years with OA, and I've loved every minute of working with John and Kim. It was a dream come true for me and they saw me through a terrible time in December 2012 when I needed it most. To be honest, with me having to say goodbye to OA, I felt like the last of my scrappy career had crumbled  - from the onset of the shootings that terrible December day, is what sent my then flourishing career into a tailspin. It's been a very sad time for me in that regard. I've always been a person with goals and aspirations, and recently I've been aimless in some ways. Lost.

 

The Second Goodbye

Yesterday, I was perusing my personal FB page, where I'm connected to a few scrappy friends from the past, when I noticed a post about Two Peas closing. I was dumbfounded. The place that I looked to as the "rock" in the scrapbooking community, and in many ways my rock through my scrapping career was closing its doors after 15 years.(What!?) (UPDATE: The year I spent as a Garden Girl was one of the best times for me in recent years. It was one of the biggest highlights of my career.  I was so proud and eager to succeed at Two Peas. I loved the people I worked with and was so elated that I was able to share my art with a community that was as passionate about the art as I was. I was completely distraught that I was unable to contunue there after 12/14, and it still weighs heavily on me today.) I had hopes that I would return in the fall to scrapping again, and utilize everything that Two Peas had at the ready to help me feel re-connected to the community again. Because of that, I'm oh, so sad. A premature goodbye and one that I wasn't ready to relinquish. I continue to think of Kristina and Jeffery and their family, and hope that with this new chapter brings all the best of luck to them as well as the rest of the the Two Peas employees. It's sure to be a very difficult time for them.

 

My Workshops

I sent an email to Kristina today with regards to the ownership of the 2 workshops that I created for Two Peas. Like many of the other Garden Girls have said in blog posts today, and I say the same, I have not heard anything with regards to the rights to those workshops. What I do know is that I wish to regain those rights back and then figure out a way to make them rightfully available to those who have previously purchased them, and also make them available to others in the future. My color workshop was particularly popular and continued to be so (happily), and I always had the intention of creating a version 2 to that workshop. I would love to continue to do just that!

Until then, you should have FULL ACCESS to the workshops until July 10th. Please make sure to download all PDFs and other files associated with the workshops. 

 

Hello to 40 + New Beginnings

Back in January, I turned 40. I've never had an issue with my yearly increase in ages really, until this one. Not sure what it was, but turning the big 4-0, had left a sour taste in my mouth.

Steadfast to overcome my feelings about it, I started the year off on top of the world - extremely hopeful and optomistic and making things happen. While it hasn't gone exactly as I hoped or planned back in January - in fact it's gone nowhere like I thought it would! - I am hopeful that we are turning the bend in this crazy year.

Some things are starting to come to light for me, when for a long while it's been murky, thick mud in my eyes! I have a new knee, I'm no longer with DT obligations and I have a beautiful new space to call my own. Perhaps this is where I shut one door on the past, and open this new one up for what will happen for my future. I'm hoping this time to make it sooner, rather than later. Perhaps with my new studio unpacking on the blog? ;)

October Afternoon Sketch + FREE Cut File :)

Hey everyone! I know it's been ages. I need to get back here to update not only the blog but what's been taking me so long to get back to the blog. For now, I wanted to come over and share a quick and easy layout created for today's October Afternoon sketch post on their blog. Check it out for all the details and where the inspiration came from. 

But quickly, I wanted to share the cut file I created to go along with the sketch for your using. Simply click on the image or the link below to download the file. 

Download Here! (Please let me know if you are able to download the file - it's not seeming to work for me for some reason.)

Make sure to check out the OA blog for the full details and I promise I'll be back soon with updates on life, scrapping and design!  Have a great day!

Seriously, What a Month it's Been!

I spoke with a friend the other day that said to me, "Wow, you're life has done a 180 in the last month" and my response to her was "Yeah, you're telling me! Well, actually it's been the last 15 months that have really done that, but yes, the last month has been a doozy!" It seems that in the last month, everything really just came to a head - the good, the bad and the ugly, all seemed to want to pile on me all at once. 

It all started on my 40th (yes, 40th - YIKES) birthday, back in January. We made the decision to put an offer on a new house and rent out our old house. We made the offer on the house ON my birthday. I also found out my sister is pregnant ON my birthday! Both fantastic. Honestly it was the best birthday that I can remember. It was a super great day, and I remember thinking, "this is too good to be true" and it was, to a degree.February 15th, I was at my regular kickboxing class and I decided to take my VERY first sparring class - I'm now a blue belt and have spent the last year doing kickboxing and mitts classes, but in order to become a black belt you have to spar, and I had put it off long enough. To make a long story short, my left ACL in my knee was completely torn leaving my nearly completely unable to walk without major assistance from a brace and crutches. Fast forward a couple weeks, with a newly diagnoses condition (torn ACL, sprained MCL and bone bruising to the connecting leg bones) I was able to begin more steady hobbling thanks to a knee stabilizing brace. The day after my STAT MRI reading, we left for our bi-annual trip to Mexico with our extended family. It was great to relax in the sun (FAR, FAR away from all the snow we've had this winter), but it was a difficult trip. My knee swelled a lot on the flights and made the normal things I wanted to do much more difficult. Walking on sand was torture and walking any distances was downright near impossible. There was a lot more lounging poolside than I would have liked, but it did force me to relax, which was a good thing.  Literally, two days after we came back from the trip, we closed on the new house and have been moving ever since - about a week and a half. My husband has been a real saint through the whole process. SInce I was unable to assist in much of anything realted to the move, he's carried the brunt of that burden. He's been such a trooper. We had friends help us, too. Since it was and in-town move we never thought hiring movers would be needed, however, I wish we could have, just to save him so much of the burden.

We are finally *almost* fully moved in and settled. The bad news is I have to have knee surgery in two weeks from today reconstruct my ACL. The good news is, we are in our new home and we love it.

It's been some time, these past couple months. I'm emotionally and physically exhausted and simply cannot wait to get back to a boring, normal routine again. I'm sure when it is all over, I'm going to have a good long cry about it all. To be completely honest, my life hasn't been the same since December 2012, and this last series of events just seems cap it all off. It's all the beginning of a whole new chapter of my life I'm really looking forward to . . . in a few weeks when I'm back on my feet again :)