I Love it When a Plan comes Together!

Tonight we got the second and third bookcases assembled and ready for the next stage of construction. You can see in the photo how I will set them up with the two that are 2 x 4 cubes back to back and the 2 x 2 cube case on one end. The other end will be inaccessible (perpendicular to a fixed glass sliding door) so I didn't add a case for that end.



My very handy husband went to Home Depot this weekend and bought all of the lumber and wheels to make the platform that will make this a movable island and also the wood for the top work surface. I may have a piece of tempered glass cut for the top but we will see how the painted surface works first.

I spent a little time thinking about the containers for some of the shelves and I was happy to discover that my large Creative Memories Power sort boxes will fit perfectly in the cubes. I plan to get a few more of the plastic cubes that fit perfectly and we have some matching Expedit two drawer inserts from IKEA to build as well. This island on wheels will replace a folding table that is just a bit shorter and narrower with limited space for storage beneath it due to the leg mechanism. I am so excited to have it getting closer to being done and I just can't wait to "move in" to all that storage space!



It was a busy day and I had lots of new projects to think about! I find it relaxing to work on a complicated design when I have a lot of things going on - it helps me to focus my thoughts. So I worked a design that I have had in the back of my mind for some time now - with a lot of variations. Above you can see a screen shot of the preview of the design I was working on - I haven't even had a chance to test the cut yet. There are 50 elements to this design and, since I made it "adjustable," that means 49 of them needed to be nudged into position - which took a very long time.



The first screen shot shows the design as a nearly full page cut (eleven inches square) and the screen shot above shows the same design "adjusted" to a 4 and 1/2 inch square which can be cut on the baby bug mat. I like to make adjustable designs so many people can use them but they are very time consuming and tricky to make. I dearly wish that the Design Studio software would be upgraded to include "select all" and "group/ungroup" functions. I use these functions all the time in my Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus software and they make it much simpler to create intricate designs quickly and accurately.



Thanks for letting me share the progress on my birthday project - next time you see these units they will be riding on a platform with wheels (and they will be out of the family room and in my studio space).

I will try to test cut the design I showed you very soon - maybe even tomorrow. In the meantime, can anyone guess what cartridge or cartridges I used to design it? (just leave a comment if you think you know).

If you were waiting for our next classes to be posted, we have added a word book class for this week and one for next week as well. There is also another Basic Cards session next week. I have had a request for an evening "Getting Started" session for Tuesday, July 7th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern - if there is enough interest we will add that to next week's classes. You can sign up by following the directions on the LMSYHTDT blog. We only scheduled one class this week due to the 4th of July holiday.