Hey everyone! Happy Monday! Be sure to head on over to the
Mojo Blog today for the newest sketch. I didn't get any new stamping done this weekend, but I did re-organize my studio. No before pictures, but the important part is the afters, right?
So here's the tour. As you step in from the doorway, directly to your left is this bookcase filled with stuff. Once I get through Phase 2 and attack the closet to flush out all of the accumulated stuff from prior hobbies (beading, cross-stitch, quilting, felt ornaments, tole painting, and an entire dresser full of wood mounted stamps I never use) everything in this bookcase, plus everything on top of my hutch will be moved into the closet.
Moving along that wall, is my desk. I have an L desk unit that I just love, because I like to sprawl out. Plus, when people come over to stamp, (okay, this doesn't happen very often, but when it does...) they can use the long part of the L. I ordered the desk from RC Willey and it's done in a cape code finish with beadboard backing. Love it! And the hutch is absolutely perfect for storing my Copics, Stickles and a ton of other little things I like to have at my fingertips. Items I use a lot, like adhesives, embellishments and acrylic blocks are stored in plastic storage drawers (most from Target or Wal-Mart) on the desktop.
Moving around the room, in the corner I have a tall stand that I set my
Punches and More organizer on to hold the punches I use most. Next up, when I purchased my furniture last year it would have put me way over budget to buy the matching pieces for the desk, so I chose a similar line (but about $200 cheaper per piece) from the
Christopher Lowell Shore Collection to finish out my storage. The first is a lateral file. The top drawer stores all my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug accessories. The bottom drawer stores all of my Stampin' Up! cardstock. The little organizer unit on top I bought this weekend for $30 at the Craft Warehouse to house my old In Color SU! and Ranger Distress ink pads, plus some other odds and ends. Unfortunately the dowel for the ribbon rack is humongous and none of my ribbon fits on it, so I need to make a trip to home depot to get a new dowel. My Cuttlebug lives on the lateral file, along with the Mini Clip It Up! that I store cut lengths of ribbon in plastic bags with.
Next to the lateral file is a rolling file unit that stores my non-SU! cardstock and other odds and ends and also is the home for my most beloved crafting object... the
Hello Kitty Big Shot!
Next up is the Making Memories embellishment center I got for Christmas and we finally hung this weekend! Really, we're both so busy working all the time that the little household projects just pile up. This unit houses a bunch of spool ribbons, as well as a collection of prima flowers. I just love to see all the pretty colors lined up. In the corner is another Shore collection bookcase, where I store my SU! sets and on the bottom shelf, photo boxes sorted by company with wood mounted stamps from The Cat's Pajamas, Hero Arts, A Muse, Stampendous, Inkadinkado and Penny Black. There are also a few more flowers waiting for the right jars to go into the embellishment center.
Next to that bookcase is a low slung bookcase where I store 12 x 12 and 6 x 6 paper pads (anything loose or in bags are in the plastic storage drawers above my hutch that will eventually go into the closet), plus some other odds and ends. I also have the original Clip it Up with additional tier, to hold other clear and unmounted stamps. In the center is my current photo studio, but I'm ordering a different one, since this one has a huge stain where I set a brown candle and the heat from the lights melted onto the white cloth.
Next to that is my tripod and you can see just a tiny bit of the over-the-door shoe organizer I store my Marvy and other punches in. So there you have it - a little peek into where I do my creating. It's not perfect, but it works for me with the space I have right now and I'm happy! :)
Okay, next up is a little card I made with one of Beate's weekend sketches from a few weeks back {WSC102}. I adore making long cards, so I've been holding onto this sketch until I had time to play! I pulled out the O Christmas Tree set because I wanted to do a little coloring and decided on this wreath. I stamped on pearlized white cardstock with Versafine Onyx Black and then colored with Copics and added a little sponging with So Saffron once I cut the circle out. The rectangle panel is some SU! dsp and I stamped the small Merry Christmas sentiment in the corner. Next up, I embossed the So Saffron layer with the Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder, then added Real Red mats, some red and white striped May Arts Ribbon, some rhinestone bling and a Kraft card base. I just love the happy red and yellow combo for a Christmas card. It makes me smile.
What's In It?
I started by stamping the snowflakes in different sizes in Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo, then sponging the edges and matting with Melon Mambo and Basic Gray cardstock. Next I stamped the sentiment in Melon Mambo on a Labels 8 cut out and sponged the inner edges. After that it was a matter of blinging it up with a Darice pink butterfly, part of a prima bling flourish for the butterfly trail and some Jessie James snowflake crystals to dress up my frosty flakes. I finished off with a few knotted bows of basic gray taffeta and a white card base.
Next up I decided to substitute a snowflake for the small rectangle panel. During release week, I was inspired by several cards for our challenges where stampers had layered beautiful diecuts and I wanted to give it a go. I cut the Cuttlebug Ice Crystal Combo die in chocolate chip and vellum, then layered some Snowflakes Sizzlet diecuts cut with Wonderland Scraps and accented them with Frosted Lakes Stickles and a crystal snowflake in the center. I finished off with some brown snowflake ribbon I picked up at Michael's, some Jolee's swarovski crystals and a couple EK Success photo corner punches.
Welcome to the Verve Believe Blog Hop! Today we’re hopping for the Cure, sharing projects from a new set Verve released last night called Believe. This set was designed in honor of breast cancer awareness and Verve is donating $10 from the sale of every Believe set to the Susan G Komen For the Cure foundation. We believe that we can make a difference. We believe that each day should be celebrated, each moment cherished and that every little thing we can do in the fight to find a cure matters.
Anyhow, I inked her up with A Muse black ink, then colored in with Copics. I actually thought to take a pic of the markers I used for once (yep, patting myself on the back, here! LOL). I always feel like I struggle when I color, but I'm pretty happy with how Francesca turned out. I paper pieced the little skirt of her dress, then cut out with one of the bjillion Labels dies from Spellbinders (seriously, could they not come up with better names - who can remember the numbers? I think it's #8, but I refuse to go look it up!) and sponged a little Bordering Blue ink around the edges.
Happy Friday! Today I'm participating in another blog hop with the creative team over at Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs. Kelleigh just released some adorable new templates yesterday, including the one I'm going to show you today. Plus she's giving the Perfect Pumpkin template away (see the preview - that's my sample pumpkin!) to one lucky blog hopper, so be sure to check out the rest of the stops on the hop listed at the end of this post and then head on over to Kelleigh's blog to enter to win!
Kelleigh
I'm Julee Tilman, creative soul, lover of coffee and Hello Kitty, and Mama to 11 year old identical twin boys.
