Retrosketch #45

Have been enjoying making cards for various challenges this weekend!  Another newly found challenge blog was Retrosketches and I am participating in Challenge #45 (click here for link to this challenge).  Here is a copy of the sketch:

And here is my entry:

Retrosketch Challenge #45

Since I wanted to make a masculine birthday card for my stash, I used this challenge as my inspiration.  I layered cork (purchased at Menards) on silver cardstock from my scrap stash.  Actually, everything was from my scrap pile. Bonus!  I added the Happy Birthday chipboard and the glittery present, along with some fiber paper in copper and silver.  This was an easy card to put together and I will probably use this sketch again.

Hope you join along in this challenge!  

Happy Crafting!

CAS-ual Friday Challenge

Clean and Simple Thank You!

I am happy to be participating in the CAS-ual Fridays weekly challenge (CFC84).  This week's challenge was to create a clean and simple Thank You Card.  And I'm happy to do just that!  You can never have too many Thank You cards in your stash!

Here is my entry:

CFC84 - Ro Donner

The cardstock and bling I used was from Recollections.  I cut out a heart by hand and used the negative stamp on my cardstock.  The stamps were from Stamps By Judith (Open Heart and Dots) and Hero Arts (Tiny Backgrounds).  The two different inks were from Stampin' Up! (Pretty In Pink and Pink Passion), and the sentiment stamp was from My Creative Time (This & That).

I hope you enjoy my card and I hope you'll play along!  

Happy Crafting!

Craft Room Organization

ORGANIZATION 101: Or How to Cram Tons of Stuff Into a Tiny Room

Hey, crafty bloggers!  Happy New Year!  I've been busy in my teensy-weensy craft room trying to get some organization done (again).  My daughter tells me I organize as much as I craft.  Too true.  But I find that a clean and organized craft space helps me be more creative.  Less distractions = More creativity.  

My craft room is maybe 8x10.  And I have enough "stuff" to easily fill a room 16x18!  What I have learned over the years is how to condense and organize without doing a lot of purging.  I am admittedly a paper hoarder.  I can't seem to part with any paper I've accumulated, no matter how dated or ugly.  I vow that I will find SOMETHING to use it for SOMEDAY!  But when I can't find anything because I have so much "product" laying around, it's time to do something about it.

What prompted me was the fact that I needed to make more room in my bedroom closet.  I had a tall black shelf in there holding shoes for my DH and I, but it took up too much space.  I needed something shorter.  So, without having to spend a dime, I repurposed a shelf from my craft room to hold my shoes in my closet and thus created the space I needed.  But then I had all the crap that came off the shelf from my craft room and needed to put it someplace so I could go back to crafting.  Enter black shelf.  After a few hours of putting away and reorganizing, I actually ended up with a few empty drawers, got labels on one of my units, and found a couple of treasures I forgot I had or couldn't find.  Whew!  It was worth it!

While I don't have any "before" pics, I have a few "after" pics that I wanted to share.  Here is a little peep show into my special little place.

This is the first glimpse.  Here you see my shelves and carts in my pink and orange paradise.  I wanted bright colors that reminded me of my vacations on Captiva Island.  Everything is very "beachy" with lots of bright colors and seashells.  (Notice the stuffed pelican sitting on my printer in the lower left corner.)  These spaces hold all kinds of crafting supplies including stamping, jewelry-making, clay, sewing, and anything else that catches my fancy at any given time.  You also see the place where my furry kids like to hang out.  (I have 7 dogs.)

What you see when you enter my room.

This is panning a little to the right.  Here you see my black shelf repurposed from my bedroom closet, my pegboard, "guest" chair (actually it's to prop my feet up when I'm reading), and the back of my stackable cubes. 

Straight In from Doorway

Here you see the upper half of the wall next to the doorway.  It holds (top to bottom) boxes with my computer cables, spiral binding supplies, photos, CDs and DVDs, my printer, office supplies, more equipment, vinyl and tools.

Wall Next to Entryway

Lower Half of Wall Next to Doorway

Turning to the next wall, you see more crafting supplies and shells (which I use on a lot of home dec projects), markers, decorative scissors, and sewing supplies.  

Pan Right from Doorway

Gazing down you'll see more storage for jewelry, distressing products, embossing, stamps, and other miscellaneous supplies.  Notice all the Cricut boxes in the lower left.  I just moved them from the cube drawers and condensed the space the contents took from 4 drawers to 2.  Haven't decided what I'm doing with the boxes yet.  I hate to get rid of them.  I'll think of something....someday.

Lower Half of Wall Panning Right

Continuing down the wall, this is the upper section of storage.  I have lots of pens, markers, embellishments, Stampin' Up! Stamp Pads, Unity Stamps, buttons, and Xyron machines, in addition to many other crafting items and doodads.

Movin' On Down the Wall

The lower half shows all my carts which house my prefolded card bases, envelopes, unfinished boxes and frames, clay, paper-making supplies, stamps, punches, tissue paper, painting supplies, small-sized cardstock, etc.

Lower Section of Wall and "Footrest"

Hanging right to the wall opposite the entryway, you'll see my pegboard of often used tools and the cart which was repurposed from my kitchen and now holds all my cardstock and 12x12 papers.  I added some tacks to the front to hold the rulers and label stencils that I use most often.

Wall Opposite Doorway

This is the corner where I create.  I love the natural light coming in from the window, little drawer organizers to hold things like "bling", Stickles, Dimensionals, Markers, Ink Pads, Scoring Boards, Stamp Cleaners and other miscellaneous crafting tools and supplies.

The Craft Zone

Upper cabinets hold magazines (on top), Stampin' Up! stamp sets, RubberStamp Tapestry stamps, my mini sewing machine, embellishments, Sizzix Dies, Spray Paints and Spray Adhesives.  Below is my computer and TV.  Under my desk is another storage unit and a rolling cart which holds my Cricut, which I just roll out and off to the side when I'm cutting.

Computing Area

This is the repurposed shelf.  It holds my pressboard, ribbon, more embellishments and tools, bin of stamps not yet "cataloged", stamp catalog, some current craft magazines and my Dremel.  (One of these days I'm going to learn all the neat stuff that little Dremel can do for me!)

Repurposed Shelf

I had to share with you my "find"....I saved my old shower rack just knowing I'd find a use for it in my craft space.  And I did!  It now houses my glue gun, my canned air, favorite glue, stamp cleaner and water/alcohol mix.  It also gives me a great place to hang my little dust pan and brush, and my brayer.  On the wall on the left, you can see where I store my punches.  It's an old crib rail.  I had my DH remove every other bar.  It is PERFECT for all my favorite punches.

Side View of Shelf

Repurposed Shower Caddy

My 9-cube unit holds a lot of the paper embellishments and specialty papers that I use most often.  It also houses my glitter, embossing powder, ArtBin full of metal dies, and Hot Off The Press stamps, plus a few card books and my photo book where I store my unused Dazzles.  

Next To Computer -- Area with Most Used Supplies

I took all the booklets, overlays and cartridges out of all their boxes and made dividers for my cube drawers.  I was able to condense four drawers down to just two!  MUCH BETTER!  Now I just have to decide what I'm going to do with all the boxes (as I said earlier).  They're too nice to just throw away. 

Cricut Organization

I hope you enjoyed the tour, and I hope you got a couple of storage ideas in the process.  I'm now busily crafting away, making a few cards to have on hand for those special occasions.  I'll be sharing those tomorrow.

Until then, Happy Crafting!!

Card Update

From "What Was I Thinking" to "Wow"....

I had a little time and didn't feel like doing a card from scratch.  But I have a pile of not-so-great cards that are in my "please redo me" stash.  This was one of them...

YUCK!  Right?  Right!  So, armed with my freebies from PaperWishes and Hot Off the Press*, I proceeded to unassemble the ugly card and give it a stylish update...

* If you click on the link, it takes you to the "freebies" section of the Paper Wishes website.  Click on each design and you can download a free pdf file that coordinates with that paper pack.  Thanks HOTP!!!

I resized and printed the label from here:

I printed 4 of the selected label on one page and cut out the layers.  Then I adhered them with foam tape to get a dimensional look:

Added a few little bling elements and ended up with a MUCH more appealing card (in my very humble opinion).

Well, that's my quick little post for today.  I hope you all have a very blessed Christmas.

Happy Crafting!

Sharpie Mug

FIT FOR A QUEEN!

Around my office, it's kind of a joke that I am the "Queen" (of everything).  Ok, so it's only a two-person office, but I still rule the roost.  Usually.  And since I am so spoiled (just ask anyone), I have all my "queenly" decorations around.

My parking space....

My window and door....

             

And my favorite mug....

....even though the fact that "different" should be "differently" (grammar check, people).  It's still my favorite mug.

But, when I came in to work on Monday, what did I find???

EGAD!!!!  A big ol' CHIP!!!!  Man!  I loved that mug!

It was a good thing I had been "Pinteresting" and found all the cute ideas on how to do a Sharpie mug...plus I had bought a couple of inexpensive mugs to try.  I like a BIG cup of coffee, so I need a BIG mug!  This one I had purchased for only a few dollars at Target.   

B O R I N G ! ! ! ! !   But fear not, my crafty colleagues....Have Sharpie and my trusty Cricut and some vinyl will travel....er, stay put in my craft room!  

I jumped into the Cricut Craft Room and found the crown I wanted.  I sized it to the size and shape I desired and cut it out on vinyl.  Transfer tape took it from the cutting mat to the mug and a little marking and doodling later....VOILA'!!!  My new favorite mug!  (Note:  Bake for 30 minutes in 350 degree oven to set the ink, and hand wash to keep it looking good.)

And no grammatical errors!  Oh, the ideas are spilling out of me now!  Look out...MUGS FOR EVERYONE! lol  

I hope I inspired you to try something new!

Happy Crafting!