Life and everything else

So yeah...it's not that I've been avoiding you so much as I've been run over by time. Sorry. I had to revise priorities and you weren't in the top four. More than four and I just can't make it all work. My top four are, in order:
Husband
Children
School/Art/Creating/Teaching/Fun
House

I think I've been putting Children before Husband a bit recently, but he's a big boy and knows how to take care of himself...mostly.

To catch up, I've decided to go back to school to become a mortician. So far I'm failing chemistry but I've made new friends and I'm determined to get it right. It's been 10 years since I've gone to school so really, I'm not surprised that I've forgotten almost everything. I'd be more crushed if I hadn't put the whole thing into perspective. I can take the class again, if I'm lucky I have quite a few good years left in me to be able to achieve my goals.

My flickr account has also been neglected, just not as much as this blog. If you want to keep up in a short hand of images and quick comments, find me on Pinterest, look for Sasha Lewis.

Wish me luck!
-S

Sewing now.

I've been on a sewing kick since I took a pattern making class series last month. I'm determined to not buy any children's clothing for my girls for at least six months. I figure I won't buy anything else until September unless it's absolutely necessary. Right now I'm trying to draft a pattern of a 1930's inspired toddler's dress for Ana and my first try was a failure. I WILL get it right! My successes have been pretty awesome though. I made two pairs of pajamas out of Ana's old receiving blankets. I love them, she seems to tolerate them. I consider that a win win situation. As soon as I figure out how to draft this pattern, I'm going to be making the dresses out of some of Marshall's old dress shirts that he no longer wants. I'm also on a recycling and reusing kick.
The exciting news is that a friend of mine has asked me to create some items for her new baby boutique in town. So far I've made a few of the Latte Changing Pads from the One Yard Wonders sewing project book. I love this book so much! I'm looking forward to making a few more of the projects soon.

Going Together

Going Together, originally uploaded by The Paper Doll.

A quick layout I slapped together, inspired by a free Micheals project sketch. I plan on putting this on my demo board for the Scrapbooking classes I teach at Michaels. Ok so not the original, I'll keep that. I made a copy of it to post on the board.
Geeze we look young.

Taking a break from paper

Taking a break from paper, originally uploaded by The Paper Doll.

I was feeling a little burned out on paper crafting so I've decided to dig out a bunch of beads I purchased while on vacation in June. I also broke out the soldering iron, wire and chain. We'll see what I come up with.

Cricut book binder

Cricut book binder, originally uploaded by The Paper Doll.

Holy Moly this took forever just to laminate and put the pages in the binder. There has GOT to be a better way. A better way to what you may ask? I saw somewhere on the Cricut forum that someone had unbound all of the books that come with the cartridges and put them in binders in alphabetical order, excluding the thirty thousand pages of basic information repeated over and over in 20 different languages. It so inspired me that I wanted to give it a try. Now I almost wish I hadn't. I know once I get all of the books situated it will actually make my life easier to find shapes I want to use, but good grief! Maybe I'm not using the right binders, maybe there are itty bitty page protectors that I can slide these things into. Maybe I should just get a laminating machine next month. Either way I really need to find an easier way to do this. Any suggestions?

The Clutter Studio Blog is up!

Hoooray! That's where I'll post projects, class schedules, tutorials and links to other cool learning tools. I'll post stuff here too, no worries!

Clutter Studio Blog

Marshall's USMC album, Opening Page

Marshall's USMC album, Opening Page, originally uploaded by The Paper Doll.

1 page down, untold number left to go! Like many of my projects, this one's been in the works for years, I can't even remember how many really. if I had to guess I'd say at least 4. I'm so easily distracted by newer, shinier projects that I tend to shelve the bigger ones. I'm an instant gratification kind of girl, a craft sprinter, not a marathon crafter. Anything that threatens to take longer than a week might as well lay down and give up on getting done in the same year it's started. Sad but true. So you can imagine my delight at digging out a well preserved project and getting something done on it. This is one of the projects I promised myself I'd work on for the UWYH challenge. Yay for actually doing it!

Background paper: K&Company, 12x12 Marines Flat Paper
Decadry rub on letters: #5 (24pt)
Cricut: Stand and Salute cart Star frame and Banner .