This thing seriously keeps me sane. I am SO Type A that I feel better knowing that I have all the things I need to do on paper and together and give my brain a little break. :) This month I will give you a peek into what I keep in planner/ notebook. There are a bunch of photos so make sure to keep reading after the jump!

I bought this super fun blue notebook with gold polka dots at Target. It's perfect. It even has a woodgrain pattern on the inside. I also keep a pencil (or pen) and a highlighter (or maker) handy. I change up the colors on how I'm feeling that week. :) I also bought tabs, pockets (not pictured in my post but they're in there) and lined paper.

I'm so excited to show the first part (of three) of my craft nook. It's pretty picture heavy so make sure to read more after the jump. I was trying to think of what to title this post since I have a lot on this side so I stuck with the 3 most prevelent supplies: Paper, ink and my heat embossing tools. I was really lucky that work was tossing out an old mail sorter that fit 8-1/2 x 11" paper perfectly! I snagged it and put all my card stock in it. I am more of a card maker than a scrapbooker so I always strive to have lots of color in 8-1/2 x 11" on hand.

On top of the mail sorter I keep my 12 x 12" paper and chipboard, paper scraps and ink! Along with my handy Stampin' Up! Color Coach. I like keeping scraps around because they are perfect if you only need a small piece! I especially keep white and cream colors since they're perfect for sentiments and layering. My Stampin' Up! inks are in my SU! ink caddy that I bought on eBay. Gently used but a bit cheaper. But it is getting FULL. Since SU! went through a color refresh, I'm thinking about partin gway with inks that I do not use often and replace them with new colors. :) Same with my markers!

I am so happy to be on Week 17 of Project Life. Still treking 3 months behind, but I'm taking some extra time off soon so maybe that'll give me a chance to catch up. :) This week was the week of Fat Tuesday and Valentine's Day! So those took up most of the photo spots & the 12 x 12" layout.

The left page contained photos and ephemera from going to the Jazz Kitchen at Downtown Disney with some friends. Jonny also went beer tasting with some guys at The Bruery that week and I started organizing my craft nook! This layout is in a Stampin' Up! page protector and i used some paper and embellishments from Studio Calico kits.

My right page is dedicated to Valentine's Day and it is definitely... not my favorite. I shouldn't have used such a busy background with such busy photos and I kept trying to make it better until I just said ENOUGH! It is what it is... We all have those pages we're not too crazy about right? I didn't even really want to post it, but I'm all about accepting that things don't always come out how you envisioned them.

What do you do when a layout doesn't turn out how you like (and you've glued everything down so it'll be too hard to salvage it)?

Remember how I kept my wish list short since I new there was going to be more I wanted to buy this month (eek)? Well I did get the Paper Smooches set and I'll hopefully be getting the Avery Elle set soon. ;) But anywho, here are my hauls together:

Starting with my Stampin' Up! retiring haul... :)
1. Hoop La La Clear Mount Set
2. Hand Knit Clear Mount Set
3. Island Indigo and Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon
4. Shimmer Paint Frost White
5. Blush Blossom Stampin' Write Maker
6. Lucky Limeade 8-1/2 x 11" Cardstock
7. Color Coach In Color Cards for 2011 and 2012

And my super fun new Lawn Fawn haul from Stamp Fever...
8. Happy 4th Set
9. Scalloped Circle Stackables Lawn Cuts
10. Blue Skies Set
11. Blue Skies Lawn Cuts

EEK! So many new, fun sets and things to play with! I cannot wait to get started on some new projects with new things. What new products are you most excited to use right now?

Since I'll be showing off my little craft nook this month, this Pinsday I wanted to show an organization idea I found on Pinterest. Here are the pins: ribbon containers and wrapped twine. I have four containers (found at Walmart, super cheap!); one for my warm colors (pink, red, orange, yellow), one for my cool colors (green, teal, blue, purple), one for my neutral colors (brown, black, white, metallic) and one for my twine (all the colors!).

For the ribbon, I spent some time (read: hours and hours and hours) wrapping all of my ribbon around large popsicle sticks and used a straight pin to keep the ribbon in place. I wrapped more than one on some sticks if the ribbon was in a color set or I only had a small amounts left.

When wrapping my twine, I used a similar technique. But instead of using a straight pin to keep it in place, I used my Cropadile to punch a hole and run the end of the twine through. This helps keep the twine from unraveling and easy to find the end.

I love having my ribbon and twine easier to see and access! I still have to open them up and sort through them, but it was SO much easier than when they were tossed in a box. :) I hope this inspires you to organize your ribbon or twine as well!

Time for another challenge... an Iron Craft Challenge! The title of the challenge is "I've Got a Notion" and we were challenged to gather our supplies for our projects in the sewing section. I knew I wouldn't have enough time to attempt to sew something (my banner was difficult enough) so I thought I'd look for other items from the sewing section. I remembered seeing a cool tutorial online to make a button necklace so I grabbed some twine and buttons and made this:

Other than my twine being a bit too thick to for a few of the buttons, it was relatively easy to make! I used natural buttons and Lawn Fawn twine. If you'd like to make one yourself, here's the tutorial I used!

I promise this post will not be quite has long or photo heavy as my first post. But there is still so much you can do with the very "in" theme: Vintage Elegance. If you're wondering what that even means, just think of all those gorgeous inspiration photos you've seen with doilies, ribbons, lace, pearls, metal accents, flowers and burlap. Also super trendy are the aquas, pinks and seafoam green (or aquamint or even just mint)!

Here's a roundup of some great embellishments (and some places I buy them from or my favorite brands) that really make this trend gorgeous:

This trend also uses a few of the Spring/Summer colors: Dusk Blue, Linen and Grayed Jade.

The three names that come to my mind that really inspire me are Melissa Phillips, Melissa Frances and Mariasela Vallejo. Now, two of those names you may have heard of so I'll start with them.

Have you ever seen the AMAZING work by Melissa Phillips? You can see her gorgeous work on her blog Lilybean Paperie. Or just do a quick search for her name on Pinterest. She is so inspiring! Here are a few favorites of mine:

Melissa Phillips easily leads into Melissa Frances since she is on the Design Team for her gorgeous line. There is so much gorgeous goodness on the Melissa Frances blog and store. Here are a few favorites I have using Melissa France's products:

You can find so many more beautiful projects using her product on Pinterest, of course. The last person who inspires me is my friend Mariasela is super talented. You can find some of her amazing art on her Pinterest board. You can get a vibe of what inspires her to know what her style is so definitely follow her.

I hope this inspires you! Do you like the vintage elegance trend? What is your favorite product to use in this trend and what is your inspiration?

I'm really excited to show you all a little sneak into my craft nook. It's not a lot of space (my Cricut and Silhouette are kept elsewhere), but it totally works for the space I have! I will show you each "wall" the next three weeks and show I arrange my tools and everything. I definitely do not have all the space to organize exactly how I would like, but this is what I've done for now. :) So check back soon for "wall" one: my paper, ink & tools.

Week 16! I feel like it's been a while since I had some devoted scrapbooking time and I am glad to have another week done. There were not a lot of photos so I was glad that I had a 12 x 12" page to work with. I went with my mom to an event at The Makery (which is in Anaheim not Santa Ana... oops!) but I was also battling a cold! We made cookies, ate out and just spend time together this week.

I had a bunch of ephemera from the night at The Makery so I put my ticket inside of the envelope and used their business card and super cute heart drawing as part of the embellishments of the page. They worked perfectly with the colors which also made me a happy camper!

This is my first "Project Life" page that is not an actual Project Life layout. This layout is a Stampin' Up! layout. My SU! layouts have been sitting there collecting dust because I was so nervous to start Project Life. Weird, right? I thought I need actualy Project Life product to get started. The things I think sometimes... This layout had spots for 4 4 x 6" and 1 6 x 8" layouts. I didn't embellish much. I wasn't really feeling my creative juices. So I'm thankful that the 12 x 12" layout kind makes up for it.

I'm excited for tomorrow's post! I'm finally ready to show off my craft nook. :)

Can I tell you how much I love this stamp set from Studio Calico? It's so adorable! And it also keeps that guilty pleasure of a song stuck in my head everytime I use the set. :) I created two different style of cards using this stamp set and Card Kit. The first card is an A2 size and I used paper, twine and those super cute enamel dots.

The ink is Momento in Tuxedo Black. I had trouble gettting a super clean image for some reason but I stamped them anyways and I think they turned out still pretty cute. The grid paper looks kinda neat coming through the ink on the stamp, too. The card below is more of a post card style that I created to fit inside the cute envelope included in the kit.

I am in love with that paper! It took ind of a lot to get myself to use it. I was hoarding it! I told myself, "Lauren you used in your scrapbook and that's enough. Plus you need to make room for more." ;) You can see a montage of photos below of the post card and envelope below.

Do you have a new stamp that you are just in love with right now? Does it make a silly song stick in your head. :)