Flower Pictures

I cant believe I am half way through Saturday and I still haven't posted!  I have been easily distracted lately.  I have not established my routine yet.  Today I have been playing with some craft projects to hang in my stamping room.  I bought some great frames from IKEA (where else) that were on sale.  I had seen these ribbon flowers that I thought were just beautiful and wanted to try.  My plan was to show you both of my framed works of art for this post but alas I have not finished one.  I will explain in a minute.

The first one was a lot of fun.  I changed up the colors to match what I had on hand.  I used Striped Old Olive for the stem and leaves and Rich Razzleberry Polka-Dots for the petals.  I used a button from Playground Designer Buttons.  It is weird but I have used all the Old Olive buttons from the set and I still have plenty of the three other colors, wonder what one of my favorite colors are :D  Anyways, once I mastered the hot glue gun (only burning myself a couple of times) I managed to put together the fame you see below.  I am just going to save the glass from the frame for some other project I am sure to scheme up.

The stem probably could have used some work but overall I am pretty happy with the result and overall impressed with myself.  The elated feelings were short lived.

I then began on the second flower.  I chose to do the Chocolate Chip Wide Striped one.  I changed up the Stem and leaves to be Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon.  I have the Old Olive in all the other styles but Satin :)  I think it came out great and I even liked it better than the first stem.  The pleating hides the hot glue.  Anyways, this is how far I got.

Then I began on the flower.  I bought this great little machine a while back to do stitching on cards and such.  I figured it was perfect since I am not a sewer.

It is hard to tell in the picture but it is about as tall as my hand.  Very cute.  Anyways, I pull it out for the first time because to gather the ribbon I need a stitched thread to pull.  I figured Perfect.  Not so much.  An hour later I still cant get the thing to work.  It all looks right and I have it all threaded right and it runs, however, no stitches are made.  I then had one of my clients over (thank you Barbara) and she looked at it as she sews a lot and knows WAY more than me.  She couldn't see anything wrong either. 

Well that brings me up to now.  Here it is 4pm on Saturday and I haven't finished my project to post!  I am going to have to pull out my cross stitch stuff and sew a thread by hand to complete my project.  Not a big deal, I was just hoping to show you my great project that I COMPLETED.  I just wasn't meant to be.  I will post the completed flower when it is done.  Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

Supplies:
Card Stock - Rich Razzleberry, Kraft (soon to be called Crumb Cake), Certainly Celery
Accessories -hot glue gun, Playground Buttons, 5/8" Satin Certainly Celery Ribbon, 1/2" Old Olive Striped Ribbon, 1/2" Rich Razzleberry Polka-Dot Ribbon, 1-1/4"Chocolate Chip Striped Ribbon (in flower to come), Corduroy Chocolate Chip Buttons (in flower to come)

Renovation of my Stamp Room

Well I have had a little time on my hands recently so the first thing I took on was cleaning up and rearranging my stamp room.  I wanted to show off my hard work.

First, my birthday present.  I got one of the deluxe ink storage units from Storage Units, Ink & More.  I Love It!  It holds all my stamp pads, markers, and reinkers!

Here is my primary work space.  As you can see I mounted the ink rack on the end of my table.

I used rods from IKEA for my punches.  I need to get another rod, I have already run our of space!

I made my ribbon rack from wood posts and peg board with hooks.  Then used dowel rods to "string" the ribbon.  I have one more rod to add to make four rows.  If you want exact dimensions to make your own, email me and I will send them to you.

This piece is one that I still want to change out; however, I have not figured out what to do yet.  Right now, this is four wire cubes that lock together.  I have the top two facing my table and they hold currents sets.  The bottom two face out and hold the few retired sets I cant let go of and other ideas and stuff I collected and probably need to go through and clean out.

Behind where I sit is all sorts of containers for storage of all my toys.

First, to my right side are all the things that need to be easily accessible: adhesives, clear blocks, punches too small to fit on rods, white cardstock, accessories I use often, wheels, etc.  On top is my stamp cleaner and other random stuff because I cant actually have a spot for everything.  Next to it is a crate with my neutrals and In Color Cardstock.  I put them in file folders with the tab being a piece of the color.  It is a great way to hold both the paper and scraps to minimize waste.  Under that is the container that holds all my 12x12 Cardstock and Designer Series paper.

In the closet there are three layers, the bottom holds all the rest of my accessories and toys.  Two more crates for the 4 families of Cardstock.  And lots of bins with drawers full of accessories, paper, tools, glitter, embossing powders, stamps, inks, ideas, and random stuff I cant bring myself to throw away :)

I have installed a couple of shelves to hold accessories that are current such and buttons, Florette's, eyelets, brads, etc to easily see what I have to work with.  I am a visual person and if I put it away I will forget I have it to use!  I need to get one more shelf to finish it off.

The top of the closet holds other type of crafting stuff such as candles, candle holders, cross-stitching, and paints along with pictures, cards, envelopes, and albums.  The very top shelf is my husbands storage, mostly computer related stuff.

One of my favorite new additions to the room is my 5x5 square shelf from IKEA.  It is not completely finished as I want the bottom to all be bins and I want a couple more inserts like the one set of drawers I already have but it is SO awesome!  It displays my catalogs, magazines, scrapbooks and many projects.  It is also where I store my Big Shot and accessories.

(notice the extra chair, anyone is welcome to come and play with me!)

This corner holds the filing cabinet every house has but more importantly the TV!  And because my husband and I are computer geeks, the TV is actually a monitor that is run through a VCR (yes we still have one) and a computer so it is on the house network so I can tape shows on my TIVO downstairs and then transfer them to my room to watch!  I also have my high quality color photo printer.  The great little table was from IKEA for only $8!

Here is a closer look at my work table and my view out the bay window.  (Meeko loves laying in front of the window while I work!)  Notice my Netbook, another birthday gift.  My family Spoils me!

Frequently my husband will hang out with me and work on his work (he is a website administrator) on his laptop so he has a table by the couch to work on.  And of course a tea set up for brewing.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my stamp room.   I am very blessed to have such a wonderful space for my crafting!  It is by far my favorite room in the house.  Let me know if you have any ideas on how to better organize my stamps; otherwise, I guess I will have to wait until all I have are clear stamps!

Back Into the Swing of Things and Color Renovation

I am back to blogging!  And just in time too.  Stampin' Up! has announced a Huge change!  But more on that in a minute.  Thanks for all the support with my layoff!  I am still job hunting but now that things have settled down and I have actually finished working at my previous job, I am able to get into my stamp room a little more!  The last couple of days I have been working on cleaning and rearranging my stamp room.  I will post pictures of that "renovation" later this week. 

(Making you wait another minute on that big announcement.) 

Yesterday I was able to go and hang out with a couple of my stamping girls during the day!  That was a first for me and we had So Much Fun!  We made two cards that were modifications of cards that I have done in the past.  Yes, we were together for half a day and only made two cards!  We were having so much fun talking and teaching that we didn't accomplish as much as we originally thought we would.  Here are the two cards we made.

This is the same card as here; however we used Vintage Vogue for the flower top instead of Awash with Flowers.  The only reason we made this change is because when I was grabbing stamp sets to take I grabbed another set instead of the solids part of Awash with Flowers.  I was so mad at myself but we recovered nicely.

This card is using a retired set one of the girls was playing around with.  I just think it is a beautiful card!  The dimensions are 5 1/2" x 2 3/4".  We used Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron, and Kraft paper.  The background is stamped with White craft ink and the flower is stamped with Basic Black.  We then used Bravo Burgundy and Blender pens to color in the flower.  Just varying the amount of ink on the blender pen and mixing in the white craft ink that wasn't quite dry, we were able to get the different shading.  It is hard to tell from the picture; however, on the Bravo Burgundy we stamped a retired background stamp with Basic black to give the card a nice texture.

Color Renovation
Okay I held out long enough, now for Stampin' Up!s big announcement!  We are going to have a color renovation in the 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog released on July 1st!  I love that Stampin' Up keeps things fresh!  Colors and styles are constantly changing and cycling—and Stampin’ Up wants to stay on top of current trends.
First, for the very sad news; to accomplish these great changes some current colors will retire as of June 30. Everyone has their favorite colors, and I am no exception. If some of your favorites are retiring, you will definitely want to stock up on them before they’re gone. You can place orders for retiring colors through June 30, while supplies last. Click here to see a list of the retired colors.

The good news is that there are some beautiful colors being added. Our core color line will be reorganized into four color collections of ten colors each for 40 core colors. And then each July 1st 5 additional "In Colors" will be released and best of all, they will last for two years each time instead of just one as they do now! (so that will be 45 colors in the 2010-2011 catalog and then 50 in the 2011-2012 one.)

Within the new four core color collections we will be getting 6 brand new colors (including a great one called Crumb Cake that is an ink version of our current Kraft card stock) plus 10 former In Colors that were very popular are returning! Click here to see the new color families.

Now I know you're wondering about things like pastels, markers, watercolor crayons, etc. that you may have in your stash. Stampin' Up is going to be offering lots of great kits to retrofit lots of existing color tools you may already own. I will have more on that soon.

I am so excited about the new colors and I can't wait to share them with you soon!!!

Please Hang In There With Me

I know I have been slacking on my posting.  Please hang in there with me as I am going through a transition.  I have recently been laid off from the day job.  Everything will be okay, just have a lot of things to get into order right away.  I promise to be back in my stamp room creating again in no time!  I miss it and need the calm it brings to my life.  Stamping is what gets me through tough times!  Keep visiting, I should back into the swing again soon.

Simple Happy Easter Card

Here is a simple Happy Easter card.  I am just in love with this card!  I got the layout from this card.  What is even better about this card is you can put just about any saying you want on it and use it for any occasion.  This would be a great card to make up a bunch without the saying and then add it when you know what you need the card for.  I love having these types of cards around for "emergencies". 

Supplies:
Stamp Set(s) - Well Scripted
Card Stock - Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Ink - Certainly Celery
Accessories - 5/8" Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Tea Party DS Paper, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Plate, Big Shot

Two-Step Into Spring Promotion

I have been hinting to the Two-Step Into Spring Promotion for about a week now.  Finally, here are all the details!

Here are the Images for the Awash with Flowers Stamp Set.  These are not actual size.

Promotion Details
Hostesses
Host a $350 workshop in April and receive the brand-new Two-Step Awash with Flowers stamp set FREE!

Customers
Two-Step into spring with a sneak peek from the 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog! Be the first to add the Awash with Flowers stamp set to your collection.

Plus, purchase spring-themed Two-Step Stampin' sets at 20 percent off the retail price--no additional purchase necessary!

Qualifying stamp sets are listed below:

Valid only during the month of April!

The Awash with Flowers stamp set is a sneak peek from the 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog and will not be available again until the release of the new Idea Book & Catalog. Don't miss out on this exclusive opportunity!

Contact me today to schedule your workshop!

Demonstrator Meeting

What a GREAT time we had at this month's Demonstrator Meeting!  Only five of us ended up being able to make it this month but we still had such a great time!  In my last two posts I had mentioned this meeting.

Our Card Challenge was to make a card using our least favorite colors.  I showed you mine.  Here are some others.

This was done by Judie. She is not a fan of Brocade Blue. I thought she did a great job! I was impressed she had Designer Series Paper to match!

This was done by Marcy.  She was also showing off her mad skills at paper flower making.  One of these days I need to sit down and try one.  Maybe I will get her to give me a tutorial. :)

Besides my Shoebox swap we made one other provide by Marcy.  Isnt this ADORABLE!!!  This little bunny envelope is made from the Petal Card Bigz Die.  The bunny is made from the following punches:  Ornament, Large Oval, Small Oval, 1/2" Circle, and 1/4" Circle (retired).  I am just in love with him and already trying to think of other ways to use him!

Here are the girls, I took pictures without warning so I am sure they will be mad at me for posting them.  Sorry Ladies!

Lisa Reber and Barbara Pelak

Marcy Walsh

Judie McCandless

Thank you Ladies for all you do!