The most expensive layout EVER!

6 months ago, I attended a local scrapbook convention with a couple of friends. I took 4 classes and really liked 3 of the 4 products. Of those, 2 were taught by the same person and also another class that Bestie H attended. I really liked that layout so asked Bestie H to pickup a kit for me and I would just recreate from looking at hers @ home. BIG MISTAKE.

First of all, I didn't think the kit would cost as much as it did. I don't even want to post the price here cause I'm embarrassed I spent that much. Actually, Bestie H spent it not thinking to call me first.

Second, they had to "go home" to make another kit for me and weren't sure if I wanted boy or girl, so they made both. I wanted the boy - it was a way cuter layout and something I have almost nothing of. I do have tons of nephews and friend's kids that I can use it on...

Third, a month and a half later I opened the kit to recreate it from Bestie H's and there is a sheet of patterned cs missing! A few months later, I went into my LSS to find a sheet and they were sold out - not to be restocked. I had waited too long (not unusual in my life...). So now I've been hunting a suitable replacement. You must remember I am a perfectionist. I admit it. I'm trying to get better but it's hard.

So there we stand with the most expensive kit that is missing a vital piece. Sigh. Collecting dust in my craft space. And if you've been to my house since September or so, you know how dusty and cluttered that space is. I've had an extra work table out that also ended up being cluttered.

So I woke up Sunday with an itch to clean and organize - specifically the craft space. ***This does not happen often!*** So I had to take advantage while my mood was right. About 7 pm, guess what I found? Remember the red cat's eye chalk I thought I had? Yup, I had it. I finally finished tonight after being gone most of the day. The extra workspace square table now holds all of my supplies to donate or sell. I am so proud of the purging I've done. It's almost like losing weight or getting a haircut!

So a day and a half of work later, here's the cleaned up space.Sorry, I'm too embarrassed to post before shots! Probably what I'm most proud of is that I organized all of my paper/sticker/odd shape embellishments into one (very large) binder - organized by theme. No more searching in multiple locations when I want to work on a layout. There are other storage places for embellishments as well but they've been that way for a while now. This binder, wow! it even has tabs indicating each theme :)

I promise this really is going somewhere. I rewarded all of my cleaning with sitting down to work on the most expensive layout I discussed above. In all of my cleaning, I found a piece of patterned paper that I thought would be a good replacement for the one left out of the kit! (Oh there is so much that I "found" in the last 2 days...)

The top is Bestie H's (do you even still recognize it since I've had it for 4 months?!). The bottom is my version.

And I couldn't leave out the frogs...




I used buttons instead of cutting circles out like yours.... If you click on either of these 2 pictures it will take you to flickr where you can see the set of pics and view pages individually.

So, Bestie H, if you've made it this far, what do ya think?!?