Saturday, January 31, 2009

My Cleaner Stamp Room...

....revealed!

I posted a few pictures of my messy stamp room a few weeks ago and promised to post pictures of it cleaned up when (if) I ever got it cleaned up!

My stamp room doubles as our guest room so anytime we have a visitor, I try to get my desk cleaned off. I have devised an organizational plan that requires little upkeep---I call it "Don't be too organized!" I find if I have places for everything but not strict guidelines on how things are organized, I can keep the place pretty organized most of the time.

Here is a picture of the room--my desk area:


Here is my room facing the other direction. You can see my photo box and a little embellishment center. The boxes below the photo table hold some designer paper. The brownish little table holds my Cuttlebug and embossing folder and dies and my Wizard and my Spellbinders dies.

Here is my desk. I keep my Scor-Pal out as a working space at all times---I stamp on the mat, move the mat to score, put the mat back on to color, etc. You can see my pink ott light there (a must-have for coloring!)

My giant desk (made by my father-in-law) has so many giant drawers and that helps a lot to keep the room neat-ish. This top drawer on the right pulls out when I want to color an image. It is filled with my Copics. I just pull out the colors I want to use, use them and throw them back in the drawer. There are no little spots to put them back so it takes no time to actually clean up! (grin!)



Here is an embellishment drawer. I put all my fun new embellishments in here so I can see what I have and use them more. I have another embellishment place that I keep staples in--like paper clips, other clips, buttons, etc. I do try to keep embellishments in their packages for publication purposes. (If you submit work regularly, you need to keep track of where the embellishments came from!)


One of my drawers holds my Gina K Stamps (I actually have another bin of these stamps too but I keep the most current releases in this drawer.)


This is another coloring drawer, right under the Copic drawer. This drawer houses my Prismacolor Pencils, glitter, watercolors, SU markers, colored pencils, Shimmerz, H20s, etc.

My two closets are filled with stamping supplies. This is one closet. It has most of my paper sorted (loosely) by colors. There is also a big embellishment box filled with common embellishments and embossing powders, etc. The cubed areas hold my MFT stamps,
embellishments and lots of other odds and ends. At the bottom of the paper stacker there is a large cube filled with more designer paper.
The other closet has two of these hanging shoe holders. This one holds punches. Behind this is a drawer organizer that holds small punches, adhesives and small paper packs.

Other holder holds ribbons (so I can see them). There is a huge ribbon bin behind this that holds all of my other ribbons....and there is no organization to it at all (smile!)

So now you have it! It may look disorganized, but I actually know where everything is located so, in my book, it is a-ok! I am VERY organized as far as deadlines and stuff so I make sure everything gets done in a timely fashion.
I will be back this week with teasers of the newest My Favorite Things sets that will be released on Wednesday! Good stuff! You are not gonna want to miss it and there might be a little blog candy along the way! (wink!)
Have a great weekend!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Simple Spring Box

I am battling a bad cold so I will likely be taking the weekend off from blogging until my head clears. Hopefully I will be able to get back to blog hopping soon!

Today I wanted to share this little box I created. I used my box tutorial to create the box and then just added the decorations and handle.
I used Spellbinders Daisy Heads dies for the center flower. I inked the dye with color box yellow ink before running it through my NEW Wizard (LOVE that thing!) I also decorated the border (Spellbinders Pierceabilities 5 1/2 Pinking Border) with the same ink. I ran the border through my Wizard and then embossed the shape. When I removed the paper and die, I pierced through the template holes and then I sponged the color over the embossed designs. I love how simple this was to create.

The large classic scalloped rectangle was cut out and then I scored the pattern using my Scor-Pal. I only used part of the rectangle for this so you could see the three sides of scallops on the front.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

CHA Friends!

Well, I am back from CHA! It was a blast.....my favorite part was meeting (or seeing) so many awesome friends! All of my pictures are people ones this time because I didn't have my camera much while I was on the show floor. There are lots of fun products that will be released soon---but I am sad to hear that some (of my favorite) companies will be closing their doors. Sigh!

Here are some pictures (that I remembered to take!) There were so many other people I had the opportunity to meet or see again that I don't have photos of---just didn't take enough pictures I guess!

This picture is of the Stamper's Dream gals: Amy Sheffer, Laurie Schmidlin, Michelle Rodgers (owner), Tosh Leyendekker and me:

This picture is of Carole Burrage *yeah, we're friends. She was one of my roomies at CHA this year. We had a blast!

This is Emily (Stamping Bella), Nicky (Stamping Bella) and Shannan Tuebner:

Well, I am a bit embarrassed about ALL the empty drink glasses in this picture. Let's just blame them on Michelle Giraud and Laura Canale. Love these gals!


Here is a picture from dinner on our last night. We were all tired but it was so worth it!


Me, Lisa Johnson, Val Stangle (some of my stamping idols!):
Gina K Gals: me, Cindy Lawrence and Emily Giovanni:

At last I got to meet my CCEE buddy--Tosh Leyendekker:


What a doll---Sharon Harnist:

Kim Van der Sanden (My Favorite Things) and Alma (The Cat's Pajamas):

The Splitcoaststampers Dirty Dozen dinner on Sunday night:

Deb Anton and I---6 a.m. Sunday morning at the local hospital, sans makeup! (We had to take a friend to the hospital suddenly and took this picture in the waiting room. Sadly, this is the only picture I have with just her and I! She was my other roommate and another dear friend of mine.)

Daven Nolta, Cindy Lawrence and Tosh at the Dirty Dozen dinner:


Carole Burrage and I:


AJ Otto, Me and Jennifer Buck at the Splitcoaststampers Cupcake reception on Saturday night (They are so much fun!):
What an amazing group of people. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to meet so many of my stamping friends in person. I only wish I took more pictures...
I will be back with regular posts soon!
Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, January 26, 2009

CCEE Valentine Treat Bag

It is Monday and time for another CCEE challenge. This week is a supplies challenge. Cindy M sent us all the same supplies: a white coffee bag, two heart embellishments, two heart ribbons, two pieces of designer paper, heart stickers and a sentiment.

We had to use the white bag and the sentiment and one of the papers. We had to fill it with something fun for our husbands for Valentine's Day.
Here is what I came up with:
I cut off the fold over top of my bag. I punched a Marvy heart and used a craft blade to trace the design on the bag front (Tip: Insert a piece of cardstock inside the bag when you cut it out so it wouldn't cut through to the other side!) I used a heart I punched out to create the bag closure. The silver heart brad can be taken out for the bag to open.

I cut up my sentiment and placed it all around the heart (tried to make it look like it was fluttering!) Here is a close up of the opening:
You can check out all the other bags the clever CCEEers made on the CCEE blog!

Note: I am at CHA this week but will return on Wednesday!
Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Very Special Birthday Request

Happy Birthday to my sister, Jeanne, who is 37 today!!! When I was visiting my family over Christmas, my sister told me that for her birthday she would like to be "blog famous!" lol! She is amazed at all of the friends and the wonderful support cardmakers/scrapbookers are for each other. So, she wanted me to make her a card and post it on my blog.....so here it is: Stamp credits: Best Friends Forevah (Stamping Bella), Cupcake (My Favorite Things).

Happy Birthday Deed! You are an amazing mother, wife, physician and SISTER! Love you! Hope you feel "famous" for today!!!

Here is a picture of Jeanne and I when we were two and three (I think!)
And here we are just last month at Christmas (just a wee bit older, ahem, I mean better!):
Because I knew I would be out of town for Jeanne's birthday, I had to actually make this card several days BEFORE her birthday....(anyone who knows me knows that.......that IS love!)
Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, January 23, 2009

CHA Bound!

Well, my friend Deb made it here and we are getting ready to head to California for CHA! I have a few posts all set to go while I am away and I will *try* to check in while I am there. You can count on lots of photos when I return.

If you happen to be going to CHA, be sure to stop at the My Favorite Things booth on Monday and say hello!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Gina K Preview Day 3: Sweetest Blessings

Today I get to share with you the new set, Sweetest Blessings, that will be released TONIGHT at Gina K Designs.

It is an adorable set filled with classic desserts and fun sentiments. Here is my card:

Materials used: Stamps- Sweetest Blessings (Gina K Designs); Memento tuxedo black ink; white cs-Pure Luxury (Gina K Designs); Designer paper- Bittersweet (Basic Grey); jumbo eyelet; Cropadile (We R Memory Keepers); tulle; dimensionals; slit punch (SU!); Copic markers; paper piercing tool and mat pack (SU!)

This card is pretty self-explanatory. I popped those little pies up on dimensionals and added a tulle bow and some paper piercings!

Check out all the amazing creations by the other design team members:
Cindy Lawrence, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Jessica Fick, Joanne Basile, Kurtis Amundson, Melanie Muenchinger , Theresa Momber and Mary Anderson *In the Spotlight Designer and, of course, Gina K!

Don't forget: Gina K will be holding her new release party TONIGHT in the Gina K forum on Splitcoaststampers from 7-10 p.m. CENTRAL time. Join in the fun, games and contests HERE!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Gina K Preview Day 2 : Warm & Fuzzy

Running short on time today so without further ado---here is a peek at the new set from Asela that will be released through Gina K Designs on Thursday! The set is called Warm & Fuzzy. Here is my card:



I colored and cut out the adorable bird image before layering it over the heart (that i punched and sponged the edges of). I added some rhinestones for the chain and a tiny sheer bow at the top.

Shhh! The sentiment on this card is from an adorable set that will be peeked tomorrow called Tag Lines!

Materials used: Stamps: Warm & Fuzzy, Tag Lines(Gina K Designs); ink-Memento tuxedo, bashful blue (SU!); Gina K Pure Luxury Cardstock; Marvy heart punch; rhinestones; designer paper (My Mind's Eye); ribbon (May Arts); Copic markers; dimensionals (SU!).

Check out all the amazing creations by the other design team members:

Asela Hopkins, Cindy Lawrence, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Jessica Fick, Joanne Basile, Kurtis Amundson, Melanie Muenchinger , Theresa Momber and Mary Anderson *In the Spotlight Designer and, of course, Gina K!
See you tomorrow for another peek!


Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Gina K Preview Day #1-Best Things in Life

Welcome to the first night of Gina K previews. Yeah, I know I peeked a stamp yesterday but this is the first *official* preview!

Tonight I am showing you a glimpse of Melanie's new sentiment set called The Best Things in Life. This set is wonderful because it works so well with so many stamps you already have!

I created the card using my favorite designer paper EVER---Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl. (I literally bought 6 packs the first time I saw it and have had to replenish!) It is beautiful.

I paired the sentiment from Melanie's set with the ice cream in the How Sweet It Is! set.
I added some tulle (I seem to be on a bit of a tulle kick right now--which is a good thing because I have TONS of it!)
Finally, I painted a medium sized clay pot red and added some m&m gravel and lollipop plants.


Check out all the amazing creations by the other design team members:
Cindy Lawrence
Theresa Momber
Mary Anderson
*In the Spotlight Designer
and, of course, Gina K!
See you tomorrow for another peek!
Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Winner!

Congratulations to lucky poster # 274---

Tina said...
Great card, thanks for sharing the tutorial! Also, congrats on making the Dirty Dozen, what an amazing accomplishment. Thanks for the chance to win!!

Tina, please email me your mailing address so I can ship this Scor-mat out to you! You are gonna love it!

Thanks for playing!!!

IS it a Fish??

It is Monday and time for another CCEE challenge. This week it is the "Catchy Name Featured Stamper" challenge (CNFS). This is one of our favorite challenges that we do each month ... basically one of our members picks someone who has a catchy user name on SCS and then we create a card around that name. This week, Cindy Motherway picked the CNFS and she picked 'Fishlips'! Cindy instructed us that when we created our card it had to have fish/fish lips on it, or fish of some sort (preferably the kind that swim!)

My dilemma---I received my new Gina K stamps that will be released this week (on Thursday!) and fell in love with this seahorse image (from the Best Fishes set). So, I created this card and my husband said, "I don't think seahorses are fish. You might want to look that up!"

Ekkk! I did not have time to make another card and I knew that no one else would use a seahorse for their fish image. So I did a bit of research and found that a seahorse IS a bony fish. They don't have scales but they have a thin layer of skin over plates that are arranged in a circular pattern throughout their body. They swim upright and during times of social interaction, they turn a bright color.

Score.

So, I am proud to present my FISH card (giggle!):
I love this seahorse. It was the first new Gina K stamp I have played with and I know I will use it lots. I painted the seahorse with reinkers and then applied a layer of Shimmerz (olive and December sky) over him. Then, to add even more sparkle, I added some crystal Stickles to some of the sections.

In this picture you can see more of the shimmer. This seahorse really sparkles!!!

Materials used: Stamps- Best Fishes (Gina K Designs); chocolate chip cardstock, Watercolor paper (SU!); Designer paper-My Mind's Eye; Memento black ink; bashful blue, old olive, certainly celery, brilliant blue reinkers (Stampin' Up!); Close to cocoa Classic Stamp pad (SU!); sponge; paper piercing tool and mat pack (SU!); Shimmerz-December sky, olive, blue; Stickles- crystal (Ranger); jumbo eyelet (SU!); Cropadile; hemp (Hobby Lobby); spellbinders dies; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); dimensional (SU).

You can check out all the other FISHY CCEE creations here. Hope you will play along!

Stay tuned: Gina K previews begin tomorrow! I cannot wait to share some more of the newest sets that will be released on Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Too Nice...

to be inside today....so we took the kiddos to the Austin Zoo! This is my oldest daughter, Cara (12). She looks taller than me but that is just because she was standing on an incline---won't be long though!

This is my son Ben (6)...my little bugger. I don't think I have any pictures where he is making a normal face. I think I was telling him to smile or stand still in this picture:

And this is Lauren (3.5). She was so happy to see all the animals. Check out that HUGE turtle behind us!

Hope you all had a great weekend. I will be back tomorrow morning with my CCEE challenge card (and a Gina K sneak peek!).
The winner of the Scor-mat will be announced tomorrow. (There is still time left to enter below!)
Thanks for stopping by!