My Craft Room

I recently got a request to post pictures of my craft room.  Well, here they are.  I'll try to explain what you're seeing the best I can and if you have any questions please feel free to email me. 

I took this picture standing in my door way facing right.  Off to the right of the picture there are bookcases filled with scrapbooks, books, magazines, and pictures.  The plastic drawers are filled withed with my paper scraps, next to it in the black dessert stand are my inks, and above that in the white basket are my clear stamps.  Below these are a set of white drawers that house half of my stamp collection.  The other half of my collection is on the other side of the room.  I keep most of my embellishments, paper, adhesive, tools, etc... in the white drawers that run across the wall.  On top of the drawers I keep my notecards, Spellbinders, paper pads, gems, and a rounder of stickers.  The shelves on the wall house my punches, embossing folders, rub-ons, glitter, embossing powder, stickles, and ribbon. 

My desk is from Ikea and I love it!  I haven't found a chair yet, so I hijacked one of out kitchen chairs.  I have a large, clear Alvin self-healing mat where I do all of my projects to keep my desk protected.  I have a lamp with a daylight bulb.  I have several different bins/cups to hold my pens because I have so many and several different kinds.  I have a large Making Memories paper trimmer for cutting larger paper and a smaller Creative Memories paper trimmer for the smaller paper.  I use the smaller one much more often because it's easier to use.  The bottom shelves on the legs of the desk come in handy for storage too. 

The little jars on the dry erase board are actually magnetic spice jars that are filled with all of my small embellishments like brads and buttons.  Below that on a microwave cart is my ipod player/radio and picture storage.  The shelves on the next wall hold the most recent cards I've made.  Below that on top of the white shelves is my laptop, a rounder with more of my cards, and a basket with more cards (behind my laptop).  The white shelves hold the other half of my stamp collection. 

I hope you've enjoyed the tour.  I've gotten a lot of great storage ideas by looking at other people's rooms so I hope I can give you some ideas too.  Like I said before, if you have any questions please feel free to email me.  Happy Crafting!

CAS FTL #109, Embellish Magazine Challenge

I hope you all had a great weekend and were able to get some crafting time in for WCMD!  I sure had some fun!  I was able to make a couple of cards and spend some good quality time in my craft room.  I love spending time in my craft room, even if I'm just looking around at all my creations.  It just inspires me and makes me happy.  I've had my room painted several different colors and the color it is now is the perfect color for my creative energy.  It was yellow first, with painted butterflies and such all over the walls.  I know, I know, you don't even have to tell me...what in the world was I thinking?  Not so great for creating..too distracting.  Then it was medium purple with a dark purple stripe around the top.  I was able to live with this for a while, but it just didn't feel quite right.  Finally, I painted my room a light green (Christopher Robin's Swing or something) and added white shelving.  It's perfect!  I feel so creative and everyone who sees my room loves it as well.  Has this ever happened to you, where the color of the room you're working in hinders your creativity? 

Today's card, if you're still with me,  is based on the sketch below by Clean and Simple Stamping and on the challenge below from Embellish Magazine.  You still have time to play both challenges until Thursday, October 7th.  I stamped the rain stamp (by A Muse) with grey ink on a pre-made white card.  I stamped the umbrella (by Technique Tuesday) on a piece of white cardstock, matted it with black cardstock, and border punched the right edge.  I outlined the umbrella with my trusty W1 Copic marker to make it "pop".  I stamped the sentiment on yellow gingham patterned paper, trimmed it, and adhered it to the cardstock panel.  I adhered the panel to the card with pop dots and then added white glitter to the umbrella.  I think I've said this before, but when using glitter you almost always want to add it to your projects last.  This way you won't get glitter all over your entire project.  If you didn't get any crafting time in this past weekend, I hope you can find the time this week!  Happy crafting!

                                                               CAS FTL #109

all paper, Rain stamp, black dye ink: A Muse Artstamps
The Weather Report clear stamp set: Technique Tuesday
grey whale chalk ink: Clearsnap
marker: Copic
scallop border punch: Fiskars
white glitter: Doodlebug Design

Not Your Square Granny Squares Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger Challenge

Surprisingly enough I have never made a "quilt" card before.  It was based on this week's Tueday Trigger Challenge over at Moxie Fab World (the picture below).  I believe you still have until the end of today to play along as well if you want. What inspired me about this picture was the quilt itself, obviously, and the colors in it.  I wanted to make my own "quilt" on the card with similar colors. 

To make this card I trimmed a piece of cardstock slightly smaller than my card, then punched a bunch of scrap patterned paper pieces with my square paper punch.  I adhered the squares to the cardstock panel, turned the panel over, and then trimmed off the overhanging squares with scissors.  Because I don't sew I drew stitching lines with my black pen, but you could also use rub-ons or stamps if you don't sew either.  Real stitching would look super cute, but alas that is one skill I don't possess.  Next, I stamped the dress form (from the Sew Lovely clear set by Lawn Fawn) on a white cardstock panel, trimmed it, paper pieced it with pink gingham and popsicle pink paper (by A Muse), colored it with my trusty Copics, outlined the panel with faux stitching, and adhered it with pop dots.  Lastly, I stamped the sentiment (from the Sew Artsy clear set by Hero Arts).  I have to tell you I really love how this card turned out, especially since I've never made a quilted card before.  I love that it used up a ton of my scraps, that it used so many colors and patterns together, and that it just looks so cute!  It seems that almost every time I try something new I like how it turns out.  What does that tell me?  Branch out and go out of my comfort zone more often...try new techniques and styles way more often.  I encourage you to do the same.  You too may be surprised and love the results!  Happy crafting!

Not Your Sqaure Granny Squares

all paper, ink: A Muse Artstamps
image: Lawn Fawn
sentiment: Hero Arts
markers, black multi liner pen: Copic
punch: Marvy Uchida

2S4Y #62

HAPPY WORLD CARDMAKING DAY!  I hope you all are getting some crafting time in today in honor of World Cardmaking Day today.  Just in case you didn't know, it's always the first Saturday in October.  So, mark you calendars for next year.  There are always a number of blogs that participate and give away prizes and have challenges.  Also, many LSS and chain Craft Stores participate with sales, make-and-takes, raffles, and give-aways.  It's grown to be quite a big deal.  If this is the first year you've heard about it, mark your calendar and start looking around a couple weeks before it starts next year and you'll be able to participate in a lot of fun stuff! 

Today's card is inspired by the sketch below from 2 Sketches 4 You.  The sketch challenge ends today, but you still have a few hours to play along.  I used the new Wander paper pad from Basic Grey and the chip stickers that go along with it.  That paper pad it so cute!  It's perfect for travel cards or for masculine cards, which is kind of what I was aiming for here.  You can tell me whether I achieved that or not.  I don't think I need to explain how I made this card because I think it's fairly self-explanatory, but if you have any questions please feel free to email me.  Once again, I hope you all get a chance to make some cards today in honor of World Cardmaking Day.  Happy crafting!

                                                                    2S4Y #62

cardstock, stamp, ink: A Muse Artstamps
patterned paper: Basic Grey
cornice border punch: Martha Stewart
chip stickers: Basic Grey

Changing My Mind

I've decided to change the name of my blog as you may have noticed, if any of you are following me yet out there. I've also decided to not have a set schedule of sketches and challenges, whenever I start doing them. Because I have chronic migraines I think it might be too much for me to try and have a set schedule and disappoint you and myself. Thanks for understanding. I promise to start posting the fun stuff soon..the cards! I just want my blog to look the right way first and I want to get everything on it that I have planned. Until my next post..enjoy yourself and try to fit in some creative time!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog and my very first post! I don't quite know what I'm doing yet or what my voice will be on this blog, but I can promise you a journey of creativity and whatever life has to offer together. I will be posting designs of cards and hopefully in the future we can have challenges and I will post sketches for inspiration. I hope to do this on set days for both you and me so we are on a schedule. I don't quite know when this will start, but hopefully in the not so distant future. Thanks for visiting and I hope you come back and give my blog a chance to blossom!