My New Space

Hello! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Labor Day weekend. Mine was spent working in our local ER and by the time I would get home in the early morning hours, I was just too pooped to post (much less be creative.) Like I mentioned in my last post, the craft supplies are pretty much settled into the new room. We are still working on the homeschool supplies but that should be finished sometime this week. Since I don't have a card to share I thought I'd share some photos of the new room. I've implemented some new organizational ideas and well as stayed when some tried and true things that I have found really work for me so if y'all will bear with me, I will be sharing some of those specific things over the next few posts. Hopefully, these will give those reading some new ideas to help organize their space! This first picture is one of an antique pie safe that I have had since I was a teenager. Okay, guess I'll show my age, but being a teenager in the early '80's I wore lots of sweaters (does wool and crewneck ring a bell with anyone.) I loved this pie safe because it was a great place to store and display my folded sweaters (I loved the colors and textures together even back then.) I have the actual punched tin doors that go with the pie safe but they are in need of some repair and I felt it safer to put them in storage as opposed to keeping them functioning. This is where I primarily keep all of my rubber stamps. My current SU stamps are on the first 2 shelves and the few retired "must keeps," as well as, all other mounted rubber stamps stored in SU boxes are on the bottom.

This is a set of shelves that my father-in-law made for my husband many years ago. It is a perfect height to fit under the Bulldog brand pegboard that I got at Wal-mart for my embellishments. I keep unmounted and polymer stamps here, my sewing machine, albums, books and die cut machines among other things on these shelves.

This view shows what my hubby considers the sore spot of the room- my table. Now I know it's not very attractive but my dear friends Belinda and Chris gave this to me and it totally rocks! It is a perfect height for me and it is as solid as a rock! Perfect to getting a good impression from your stamps!

I will go into greater specific detail regarding organization like I said in future posts. Some fun news, I won a Clearly Swanky Stamps set by The Cat's Pajama's from Toni! Thanks so much, Toni! I got my set Polar Holiday today and can't wait to ink it up! Speaking of TCP- have you seen their new website? It is completely awesome and definitely worth the "click" to check it out. Of course, while your there I'm sure you won't be tempted by the new holiday stamps... Take care!

Please, Nobody Faint....

Yes, that is a card and indeed, I did stamp it this evening!!!! Hooray! 95% of my tools and supplies are in our newly remodeled room and although I was exhausted (didn't sleep well last night, youngest DD had speech and an IEP meeting today and Girl Scout troop met- we have 22 girls in our troop) I told DH that I just had to stamp! I totally missed out on Kim's contest over at Kraftin' Kimmie's Korner which I had every good intention entering (what do they say about a road and good intentions....) but I was determined to at least make Julee Tilman's drawing for her sketch challenge which ends August 31st at 10pm (MT)! Heck, I'm actually early for that one! Anyway, about my card...I had so many new goodies that had been laughing at me tauntingly due to my lack of time to stamp that it was very hard to decide what to use. I had been completely inspired several days (weeks?) back by a card that Trudee from Follow Your Bliss created using Lizzie Anne Designs' Au Naturale. Well, my brand new Copic markers had arrived on Monday so I just had to try them out! All I can say it "I love them!" Now you may have seen many wonderful tutorials by the celeb stampers on their blogs. These are very much worth reading! But these ladies are awesome at coloring images-forget just trying to stay in the lines, these gals are so.... good that the image doesn't even want to stay on the page! So what does this mean to an everyday stamping with the masses type girl like myself? Sometimes the tutorials are a little over my head artistically. Maybe somebody needs to right a tutorial in titled "Copics for Dummies!" All kidding aside, these are wonderful markers, the gals doing the tutorials are doing an awesome job and the bottom line is practice, practice, practice! After choosing my stamp set, I turned to all my new PP. Enlightened by Memory Box definitely stood out! I added some SU Chocolate Chip and White Shimmer paper and I was good to go. Okay, stamped and colored my main image, choose some Making Memories ribbon, and put the card together. I still needed an element in the right hand corner of the main image layer as required by the sketch. So I decided to experiment with some of my toys. First, I took some white mulberry paper and ran it through my 'bug to create a variety of white flower pieces. The mulberry paper actually cut very well, other than one stubborn string that I snipped with my scissors. Next, I am excited to say, I colored the mulberry cut outs with my Copic markers. It was much less messy than using reinkers! I layered my flower cut outs, stamped, colored, cut out and attached the pretty little dragonfly from Au Naturale and my element was complete! It sounds like a lot of steps but truly only took a few minutes to complete. Speaking of complete, as I said the new craft studio/ home school room is finished and most of my craft supplies are settled. Tomorrow we start moving the home school supplies in but I did get some photos of when it was mine, all mine!!!! I'll start sharing those over the weekend since I work each evening and will probably have NO time to stamp! Thanks to all for stopping by even when new projects were not posted. Take care!

Au Naturale card recipe

Stamps: Au Naturale by Lizzie Anne Designs

Paper: Enlightened by Memory Box, Chocolate Chip, Shimmer White, White mulberry

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Adirondack Espresso

Supplies: Making Memories ribbon, circle punches, Stampin' Dimensionals, Copic markers, Copic Spica Glitter pen, antique brass brads, Cuttlebug, paper piercer

And the winner is.......

Cheryl !!!!!! from Engineered Expressions! I would like to thank everyone who stops by my blog and for the great organizational suggestions. My new room is really shaping up and I hope to have some new pics in the next couple of days. Hopefully, I will be back later this evening with something I've actually stamped- I'm having withdrawals! Take care!

Blog Candy

Okay, here is the pic of the goodies that I am "paying it forward" for my recent good fortune! I've added a pretty Prima that I bought yesterday at my LSS and will add, yet, some yummy ribbon (things are a bit scattered since I'm moving from one room to another so the ribbon is not pictured.) Just remember to add a comment to this post. Oh yeah! In all my excitement I forgot! I will be making the random drawing on Monday evening around 8:00 (central time.)

Wishing everyone a safe and happy weekend! Take care!

Paying It Forward

I have been very blessed lately. We have completed the new craft studio/homeschool classroom (although it is currently empty), I was randomly selected for Beate's weekend sketch challenge a couple of weeks ago and besides getting some Hero Arts note cards that I had been admiring I got a card from no other than Beate herself (I'll share that soon) AND I was randomly chosen by Angel at Angelosity for some really yummy blog candy (I will share that soon, as well.) Due to my good fortune, I felt very strongly about "paying it forward." So I've been trying to come up with some real yummy goodies. I wanted to take a photo of the goodies but my camera batteries gave out on me tonight so I'll have to list them today and will add a photo tomorrow: A Bo Bunny 6x6 Bare Naked Binder, a selection of Autumn Leaves buttons, some of the new velvet flowers and a kraft coffee bag from Papertrey Ink, and of course, some Delicious ribbon! What do you do to be selected randomly for these fun items. Simply answer the following question as a comment to this post: What is your favorite craft storage solution? It can either be one that you have implemented or one that you've heard about and would like to try. As I organize my new room, I'd love to know what has worked for others to see if it would fit into my space! Now about my new space, I have to first brag about DH. He and my dad did a remarkable job with the laminent flooring! It is absolutely beautiful and even better than I ever imagined! It has taken a while to finish replacing the baseboards (ended up having to get new ones for 3 out of 4 walls), installing quarter round, filling in nail holes, caulking, patching and painting (life keeps getting in the way) but it was officially finished tonight (other than replacing the light fixture for the ceiling fan that is still in the box in our garage.) I did get a few pictures before the camera pooped out. I'm so excited to share them!

Rockin', Bumpered and Nice

Okay, over the past couple of weeks or so... I have been nominated/tagged for several fun blog titles that are being passed around. Now, if you know me, I am by no means a computer wiz! Anything "new" takes me a bit to figure out (although I do usually figure it out.) I was tickled with the nominations from my blogging friends but just have not had the time to see how to get these things on my blog. Now it may seem silly, but this had been weighing on me a bit because each and everyone that visits my blog means the world to me- I know how busy we all are- heck, we are all women, if not moms, we are the QUEENS of multi-tasking! I certainly did not want these 3 special gals to think that I was not pleased with their thoughtfulness. So...here goes:

My dear friend and scrapbooking soulmate, Chris from For Love of Paper, nominated me for Rockin' Girl Blogger. What can I say about Chris? First, she is the Princess of Distressing (only second to her mother, Belinda, who I would have to say it the Queen.) She and I met when I first started scrapbooking in 2005 and our personalities clicked right away! She moved to Austin, TX last year and I have missed her greatly. She and her mom are trying to encourage my hubby to transfer to Houston so we will at least be in the same state. Anyway, I am to pass on the nomination to 5 more bloggers. This is difficult since this has been going around for awhile and if you have already been nominated, I apologize but that only means your are "Rockin' 2 (squared- didn't know how to make it a little 2.)

1. Kim

2. Jules

3. Jill

4. Beckie

5. Bekah

Next, is from the sweet and talented Cheryl at Engineered Expressions. I was first drawn to Cheryl's blog by its title since my husband is an engineer. Cheryl is an engineer turned SAHM who comes up with some of the most creative ideas! I have a project of hers that I was fortunate enough to receive as a gift that I will be sharing in the near future! Cheryl tagged me for a game of Bumper Card. This is sort of a pay it forward where you send a card to someone and then tag 5 folks to do the same. For this I tag:

1. Chris

2. Becky

3. Linda

4. Kelly

5. Heather

Finally, this evening, the most awesome Jill from Inkgenious nominated me for this Nice Matters Award. Talk about nice! Jill is such a sweetheart! Not to mention incredible, she does not miss a beat with her blog- I think she probably reached for a stamp pad as soon as this last baby was born. Supermom for sure!!!! Anyway, I could have come up with many nominees for this award. Most certainly the bloggers nominated/tagged for the above 2 categories but I was trying to search through blogs to find folks who had not been nominated for the other 2 and it was no easy task! So the 5 gals I choose to nominate 5 more each are:

1. Cheryl
2. Sonya
3. Wendy
4. Hulda
5. Chris

If participating in these games is a hardship for you, my feelings will definitely not be hurt. These good tidings are sent with fun in mind and to let everyone know that I am thinking about them and appreciate all of their hard work on their projects and blog. To all, Take care!

Lizzie Anne Contest

Well, I actually entered my first contest. The ever talented Lindsey at Embellished sponsored a card contest using Lizzie Anne designs stamps. I absolutely love Lindsey's e-bay store. It is a super stop for beautiful paper craft supplies and of course Lizzie Anne Designs stamps. Although I didn't win, I was pleased that I participated. I actually feel that I gained some confidence simply in trying and will definitely do something like this again. Lindsey did an excellent job with choosing the winners (4 categories with a winner and runner up) and she certainly had some beautiful cards from which to choose. You can see all of the entries here. I wish a very big CONGRATULATIONS to all of the winners! For my entry I used the set Jolies Fleurs. I started with a piece of Whisper White CS and made my own PP by stamping images from the set in Black Noir by Palette and water coloring them with ink from Classic Ink pads in Bashful Blue, Ruby Red, So Saffron, More Mustard, Certainly Celery and Old Olive. The actual focal flower was paper pieced using Memory Box Homespun PP which I purchased from Verve Visual. To make the center of the flower, I punched a circle out of red-line sticky tape and covered it with red mirco beads that I think I got at Michael's. The brads were covered in a similar fashion. The ribbon is May Arts and the slide is chipboard and Homespun PP cut out with my Cuttlebug. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Faux Ribbon. I am pleased with the card and with my first contest. Take care!