Baby Announcements

Emily has been having some tummy and reflux issues. So I haven't had much time for anything other then holding her and trying to make her feel better. I did some research on the internet and found some suggestions that I tried tonight and so far she has been an angel and sleeping well. We also have an appt. with the dr. tomorrow so we will see what she says.

Anyhow, since Emily has been sleeping peacefully for the first time in days it seems like, I decided to see if I could come up with an idea for her baby announcement. Here it is!

I used Pink Pirouette and Whisper White cardstocks. I also used the dots embossing folder with the big shot. I used the punch from the SAB catty (not sure what it's called but it is in the main catty, and I can't find that right now). Then I used the retired set, "I'm Here" and a sentiment set call Small Sayings (also retired). I also used ribbon from the new SU catty. The only thing on here that is not SU, is the little hands in the corner. Not sure what those are from, I borrowed them from my sister-in-law.

Sorry that the inside is wonky. I couldn't get it to load right on blogger. Anyhow, I got the idea to do the little hand print behind the words on the inside from this card on Splitcoast. I got a little help on the wording of the last part from another adoptive couple who's blog I read (the words "lovingly placed in our arms") But the inside says:

Jacob, Sharon & Tamara

are proud to present

the newest addition

to their family

Emily Rose Crown

July 26, 2010 @ 5:26 a.m.

9 lbs. 5 oz. 21 inches

Lovingly placed

in our arms through

the gift of adoption

August 2, 2010

I also did the photo for the inside. Our Photographer has been booked and we haven't been able to mesh our schedule with hers yet. And hubby is leaving on Thurday for his annual 2 week training for the Reserves. So rather then delay the announcments till after we can get the pictures done when hubby gets back, I decided to try to see what kind of pic I could do myself. I think I did a fairly good job. ;o)

1 layer cards, late, but as promised!

O.k. I totally suck! I know, I updated a couple of weeks ago and said I stamped. I am just now posting those cards! I'm sorry! Between issues with my computer & getting ready for baby (any day now! Our birth mom is 37 weeks so baby could come any day now! But I think we're ready. LOL)

Anyhow, here are the cards I did. I did multiples of some of these. On all cards I use Whisper White cardstock & Tuxedo Ink from Momento.

On this first one (one of my favs) I used the SU dots embossing folder (EF) with the big shot. I have a cuttlebug, and I love it. But I find that the big shot gives the impression way better than the cuttlebug. For some projects I will want a subtler (is that a word?) impression so the cuttlebug will work great for those. For these cards however, I wanted a deep impression, so the big shot it was! Anyhow, back to the card. I used the dots EF and the Kind & Caring Thoughts from Stampin Up (SU) as well for the sentiment. I used a purple gingham ribbon which I am not sure where I got. I'm assuming HL (Hobby Lobby) or Michaels? Anyhow, very simple, but I love it!

This next one is almost the same but instead of the dots EF from SU, I used the Stylized flowers EF from Provo Craft.

This one is one of my favs. I used the Kind & Caring Thoughts set (SU) for the image with Rose Red, Lovely Lilac & Certainly Celery markers (SU). And then the sentiment is from Watercolor Trio set (SU). I used the SU dots EF on the right side, the image on the left and a ribbon from Michaels down the middle.

This one was using all Kind & Caring Thoughts with the Rose Red & Certainly Celery markers (All SU). This one and the next are using repeat stamping (ink your image and stamping it a couple of times before reinking). Also used the pink ribbon from Michaels.

This card is my next to favorite one. It is using the Watercolor Trio set with Rose Red, Certainly Celery, & Lovely Lilac markers (all SU). Also using the Michaels ribbon. I love how this one turned out!

This last one is my absolute fav! I need to make more because I wasn't how it would turn out so I only made 1. I used the dots EF from SU, purple ribbon from Michaels & the Kind & Caring Thoughts set from SU for the sentiment. This one is actually the only one that is not a 1 layer card. I had to do the dots on a seperate peice of cardstock and then adhere it to the card base so that the dots could be on the top. I also used the Elephant die set from the Cuttlekids collection from Provo Craft. Seriously, how cute is this!!

As soon as I can I will add some more projects that I have been working on, including quilts (3), more cards and a few other goodies.

Build-A-Bear Birthday Card

Sunday was not only Valentine's Day, but Sunday was also my mother-in-laws birthday. She is such a fun lady that I wanted to do a fun card for her. I hadn't used my Build-A-Bear set yet really, so I wanted to use it for her birthday card:
I like how it turned out!
Stamps: Aida BG, Build-A-Bear, Build-A-Bear Word set (SU) (not sure what the word set is called)
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White, Nursery Paper Pack (all paper SU exceot paper pack, got that from HL)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Access.: Signo Gel Pen, Copic Markers, white grosgrain ribbon

The bears dress is paper peiced. Seriously love how this turned out. I know, it's a little more like a little kids card, but I just loved these colors together. Very springy!

I found this fabulous sign at Hobby Lobby and just had to get it for her. ;o)

Gift card holder

Seriously, can I be any worse of a blog mommy? Sorry to anyone out there still reading my blog! I will try my hardest to be better and post projects more often.

I haven't felt much up to stamping lately, or doing anything crafty. But I determined to do the challenges on SCS in hopes of getting some creative mojo back.

My neice Kim turned 19 at the end of Decemeber. I can't beleive she is so grown up!
What do you get a 19 year old? I asked my 14 year old daughter Tammy what she thought her cousin might like. Kim and Tammy are really good friends and if anyone knew what she would like, it would be Tammy. Tammy suggested a gift card to one of Kim's favorite stores, Plato's Closet. Gift care it is! But that meant I needed to make a gift card holder. So here is what I came up with. Not my best work, but o.k.

Tammy chose the colors, they are some of Kim's favorites. And Kim is obsessed with fairies. I don't have any measurements for this, I just winged my way through it, and this is the result:

The colors Tammy chose were Taken With Teal, Elegant Eggplant, and Basic Black. I used the Build A Bear stamp set from SU for the flower on the outside. I also did the scallop edge punch from SU for the border. I paper pierced the edges of the sleeve thing and used the circle and scallop circle punch for the front focal image.

The inside looked like this:

I used some scrap cardstock to make the pocket for the gift card. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the SU Sell-a-brations set Whimsical Words. This is one of their new unmounted sets! SU unmounted, who knew?! I love it! It's the best of both worlds! unmounted stamps take up less storage space, and you can see exactly where you are stamping your image, BUT you still get the awesomeness that is the unbeatable SU quality rubber stamps! Love it!

Since Kim loves, and mean LOVES fairies, it was only fitting to put a fairy on the inside! For this I used the Enchanted Fairies set from Artful Inkables. I colored it using Copic markers. After I was done my daughter thought it needed some bling. So I added some stickles to the detailed parts of the fairy's wings.

Like I said, not my best work, by any stretch, but not awful.

Happy New Year!!!

I can't beleive it is 2010 already! That's just crazy!

It's around this time of year that people make resolutions. I normally don't like to make resolutions just because I know I won't stick to them. But this year, I thought I would make some crafting resolutions. I have been in a stamping funk for the last several months. And so to get myself out of it I decided to make resolutions.

First of all I'm joining a stamp club. Which I am totally excited about. My mom joined with me as well. I'm hoping it will help get my creative juices flowing again.

Next, I am determined to make at least 5 Christmas cards a month. This way I won't be scrambling at the end of the year when it comes time to mail out Christmas cards again. Each of the 5 will probably be the same. I don't like mass producing, but 5 isn't that many to mass produce. So I will have 10-11 different styles. :D

I also want to get my birthday box going again. A couple of years ago I made a birthday box, with index cards for each birthday and anniversary in our family. I made cards and put them in the box and then at the end of the month before I would get the cards ready to mail out for the next month. I stopped doing the birthday box right around the time we started getting ready to move. Now that we are settled I want to start that up again.

Another thing I want to do is just stamp. Stamp for fun, stamp for me. It's been a long time since I've done that. Stamping cards to put in my box of "hey, I need a card" cards. ;o)

The final thing, I need to come up with a way to raise funds for our adoption. Not sure if it will be stamping related. I know we could sell the ink storage units again. Hubby is starting college next week, in addition to his full time job, which is in addition to the Army Reserves, so he is rather busy right now and doesn't have the time to work in his shop. Plus he says it is waaaaaay to cold to be out there right now. So I need to figure something out. I'll let you all know so that if you want to help you can get the word out.

Things have been eerily quiet on my crafting blog these last several months and I'm determined to change that. I fell down the stairs early early Christmas morning and I'm still recovering from that. But I'm getting better every day. So be ready! Cause craft room, here I come!

WCMD challenge 5

This is the only other challenge I was able to do for world card making day. And it wasn't even a card challenge. This challenge was hosted by Magnolia-licous. They have such cute stamps, I don't own any, but I'll soon be adding some of these to my collection.

In this challenge we had to make a Holiday Ornament. I didn't want to do the traditional glass ball that I do when I do Christmas Ornaments. Instead I started going through my chipboard to find a good base. I found a large circle and decided to go with that. The paper I chose was Vintage Holiday from TAC. I placed my cicle on the paper and traced around it and then cut along the lines. Then I used some creamy caramel ink to give it an aged look. I attached the paper using some modge podge then added some ribbon. My image is from SU and is the set A Very Merry Christmas (retired). I colored it using colored pencils, punched it out using my circle punch and mounted it onto real read with I punched out with the scallop circle punch. Using my white Signo gel pen I placed a dot on each scallop to give it some dimension. I mounted the focal image using dimensionals so that it sits off the ornament just slightly. I used my crop-a-dile to punch the hole through the ornament (since it is thicker because of the chipboard, I knew the crop-a-dile would work beautifully) and then threaded some of the same ribbon I used on the ornament for the top to hang the ornament from a tree. It's not quite what I set out to do, but I was happy with it. :D

WCMD challenge 4

Sorry! I know it's been awhile since I posted a card from World Card Making Day! Sorry!

This challenge was hosted by some of the Splitcoast Ladies. This challenge was a 3 part challenge. The first part was, it had to be a Thank You card, then it had to include the color Chocolate (or a different shade of brown) and it had to follow this sketch. Love the way this card turned out!

First I stamped my roses and leaves using the A Rose Is A Rose stamp set and the ink colors I used were Regal Rose, Pretty In Pink, Mellow Moss and Chocolate Chip (I stamped the chocolate chip off once before stamping on the peice) Afterwards, to give it an aged look I used the DTP technique on the peice. Then I mounted it onto Mellow Moss CS and stitched along the edges. I mounted that whole peice to my Chocolate Chip card base and added some flowers for fun. The saying at the bottom is a white rub-on.

I still have my ornament to show you so look for that soon. I will be starting on my Christmas Cards shortly so I'll have those for you soon too.

WCMD challenge 3

It's 2a.m. and I'm still awake. Why? Because hubby is switching his schedule at work and he is trying to get used to needing to be up at night for work. So I figured I stay up for a little bit with him. Aren't I sweet? ;-)

I figure since I am up, (and he is in his office feeding his fish and probably updating Facebook), I figured I would post another card from World Card Making Day.

This one was for the Stamping Bella challenge. Now I do happen to own a few bellas (as the stamps are called), and I love them! Bella's are so cute and are a must for any stamper. Just sayin'. Anyhow, this challenge was to do a card showing what you and your friends like to do, the twist to that was we had to make the card with an 80's theme.

Now when I think 80's, I think tie dye. My husband was confused by this when I told him that. To him, tie dye is 60's. He's right, but see, I remember growing up making tie dye shirts at summer day camps, and friends birthday parties. So to me, 80's is tie dye. So, for this card I did an 80's tie dye, bella card. My friends and I love to just hang out, goof around, and chat. So here's my card:


The tie dye was done with the shaving cream technique. I used 4 different colored reinkers for the background. (Real red, yo yo yellow, tempting turqouise, and green galore). I love how the background turned out, totally remeniscent of the tie dye t-shirts I used to make with my friends when I was younger. :D I mounted the bg onto a real red card base then I colored the bella (PMSabella) with copics and mounted her onto Taken With Teal (I'm trying to make myself like this color, can you tell?). I added some ribbon and mounted this onto the card. After putting the card together I decided it needed something so I punched 2 flowers out of some extra tie dyed cardstock and put them together with a brad to finish it off. Seriously love this card. Call me crazy, but I do. :D

I do have a couple more from WCMD that I still need to post, including a christmas ornament, but I can't keep my eyes open so those will have to wait. The pillow is calling my name. :D

WCMD challenge 2

I know, I know, I'm falling down on the job! Sorry! I'm fighting off a cold, and I'm afraid the cold is winning. *sigh*

Anyhow, here is another card I did for WCMD. This one was for the Crafty Secrets Challenge. Again, I don't own any of their products yet. We've been saving for the move and for our adoption, so I haven't actually bought anything in a year, well, until I made over my craft area that is. That about covers my spending for the next year. LOL

Anyhow, back to the card. This challenge was to make a poppin' card. We had to pop the card with dimension somehow. I chose to do this in 2 ways.

First I stamped my solid butterfly in Yo Yo Yellow, then I stamped the same solid butterfly in Yo Yo Yellow again on another peice of cardstock. I then stamped the flowered butterfly overlay in Real Red on top of the second peice of Yo Yo Yellow. Then I cut around this two layered butterfly and then bent the edges. After that I attached it to the first butterfly, this was to give the butterfly's wings some dimension. Then I stamped the saying and mounted the peice on real red cardstock. I added more dimension but raising this whole peice using dimensionals and mounting it on my Taken With Teal Card base. I decided to add a peice of ribbon and luckily was able to slide it under the already mounted raised peice and attach it from there. I know, it's simple, but that's what I prefer. :D

WCMD challenge 1

Saturday was World Card Making Day. Over at SCS they had a day full of challenges from member companies. I didn't get to do nearly as many challenges as I would have liked, but I did get to do a few. Saturday I ended up going to see my dad who just recently got home after over a month in the hospital. He had double knee replacement surgery so I went up to see him. But I did get some of the challenges done.

The first challenge was sponsored by Unity Stamp Company I don't own any of their products yet, but the key word there is yet! This challenge was to use a quote or a saying as the main focal point on your card. So I went through my stash and found one of my favorite quotes for cards to make for my soldier when he was deployed. "I wouldn't mind being lonely, if you were here to keep me company". this card was simple. I just cut a strip of patterned paper from a paper pack I have from Hobby Lobby and I mounted it on Chocolate Chip. I paper pierced and stitched then mounted that onto the card base of Taken With Teal. I added some Chocolate grosgrain ribbon just for an added touch. Then added my saying which I stamped using Chocolate Chip Ink and mounted on more Taken With Teal.

I should add that, the folks over at Splitcoast and all the member companies joined together with Operation Write Home to have all of us crafters who wanted to, donate our cards to OWH. Operation Write Home is an awesome cause. I know first hand how much the soldiers love it when they can send hand stamped cards home to their loved ones. I received a few myself from my husband from organizations just like OWH.

More cards still to come in the next week, so stay tuned!

Just in time for world card making day!

My craft area is almost done! Minus the curtains it is done. :D I love it! It was a lot of hard work, but sooo worth it! Here is a reminder of what the area looked like before we bought the house. (This is all the old owners stuff) . Now here is what it looks like: (ignore the mess in the family room, that room isn't done yet)
Let's take a closer look at the craft area: On the side of the counter there is about 9 inches where I store my tables and ironing board (and my step stool because I'm short and can't reach the top shelves in the cabinets LOL! When I want to work I can just take those out and stamp and then put them back when I'm done.

When we installed the cabinets, we installed the upper ones with a bridge cabinet in the center so that it would fit my marker and ink storage unit that hubby made me.

The cabinets were originally an Oak color, I sanded them, painted them, sanded some more, painted some more, installed them, installed the counter top, installed the hardware, installed the new flooring (it had been carpeting but we pulled that out and put in hardwood laminate). (My mom helped me with the installation of everything, THANKS MOM!!)

I absolutely love, love, LOVE it! And it's just in time for World Card Making day tomorrow! Join me on SCS for lots and lots of challenges! Just what I need to get my creative juices flowing!

Moving Cards (The rest of them)

I'm a bad blog mommy! I'm sorry, I have an excuse! 1 week from today we will be arriving back home in Utah at our new house! Which means, on Wednesday we load the truck, Thursday we clear housing (we live in Military housing right now and so we have to sign for quarters and then sign out when we leave, the housing office comes and inspects and everything) And on Friday we leave New Mexico and start the almost 900 mile trip to Utah!! So needless to I have been busy getting everything ready.

Anyhow, because I have been so busy I have been forgetting to post the rest of the moving cards. So here they are: This is the same set I used for last years moving cards but I wanted to use it again, since it is the only moving type card we have (hence why all the rest of the cards have been non-moving themed). So this time I made it an all white card by stamping the truck in the center and adding the guy driving and the moving items in the back of the truck. All were stamped with momento black tuxedo ink. I then colored the image using markers and a glitter gel pen for the hub caps, door handle and bumpers. I finished it off by adding the sentiment at the bottom. (Stamp set- Loads Of Love and Loads Of Love Accessories by Stampin Up!; cardstock- Whisper White Stamping Up!; Markers- Copic Markers; Gel Pen- unknown; Ink- Momento)
This next one I started out by printing the sentiment at the bottom of the cardstock (took a few tries on scrap paper to get the placement right) and then used the faux framing technique (also known as reverse masking) to sponge my Pale Plum ink all over. Once I got the coverage I liked I then stamped my images randomly using Perfect Plum and Mellow Moss. (Stamp Set- Heartfelt Thanks by Stampin Up!; Sentiment- My Printer; Ink- Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss By Stampin Up!; Cardstock- Whisper White by Stampin Up!) The pale plum ink started seeping through the mask after 5 cards and I didn't want to make a new mask so for the other 5 cards I did this way simple (possibly too simple, meaning I might tweak it later) card:
This one was simple, as you can see all I did was stamp 3 flowers using Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Mellow Moss. So simple, So easy. (Supplies are same as above card)

So there you have it. The rest of my We're moving cards. I didn't have time to send them out before we left so I will do that when we get there. Probably not till we're settled though. Anyhow, today we are taking a break from packing (partly because we can't do anymore. What we have left is the stuff we still need, like clothes, so that will all get packed on Monday and Tuesday.) Instead, we are going out with some friends of ours who are also hoping to adopt. We're going to try a new wing place in town. Should be lots of fun! :D I probably won't post again until we are in our new home so see you then!

Moving cards part 2

Crock pot Sunday will be a little late this week. But trust me! It will be worth the wait. *big grin* (hint, my version of the recipe involves root beer to make carmelized onion pot roast. Plus, I made roast, so you know what that means! Hubby is making BBQ Beef Sandwiches so I will have that to share too. I made my roast tonight, he makes the BBQ Beef tomorrow. I wanted to post them together so that's why I'm not posting tonight)

Until then, I wanted to share my next card that I did for our upcoming move.
Remember the announcements that I did for my brother-in-law and his new wife before they got married? Well, I had a ton of cardstock left because I over ordered accidentally. Luckily Night of Navy is a color I like to use. So I figured it would be the perfect color to use for this next card. For this one I used Night of Navy as my card base. I added some Brocade Blue to it down the middle of the card base. Then I added my stamped image (I used Stampin' Write Markers, not ink) from Garden Silouhettes (can you tell that's my favorite set?) I printed up the words Home Sweet Home for my sentiment onto Whisper White and added that at the bottom. I added some paper peircing (may be hard to see in the photo) and some ribbon down the side. Really simple and easy. I like how they turned out. I did 10 of these as well.

I thought Home Sweet Home would be a nice sentiment to use for some of my cards because it fits oh so well. First of all, we are not only moving, but we are moving into our very first home that we will actually own. Up until now we have always lived in apartments or military housing. This will be the first home that we have ever bought. As if that wasn't exciting enough, we are moving, not only to our very own home, but to our very own home back home! Clear as mud? *wink* Well, let's put it this way. For the last 6 years hubby has been in the military so we moved away from home to live in other states. Hubby is about down with his Active Duty status (he has joined the Reserves) so this means we can move back home to Utah. So to Utah we are headed. We have more family there then when we lived there before. So we are extra excited. And I thought that Home Sweet Home fit in so many ways for these cards. *big HUGE grin*

I will post the Crock Pot Sunday in a couple of days. For now, I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow I am packing my cake stuff since I don't plan to make any cakes between now and when we move (less than 3 weeks now!!)

Moving cards part 1

I haven't forgotten about Crockpot Sunday. I will post this weeks recipes later. I just wanted to start sharing my moving cards. This first one I have for you was just for fun. I was joking around about how we moved less than a year ago and I sent out "We've moved" cards then. So now when people get these new cards they are going to say "again?" So for fun, I made up some cards that say this:
This card is a no stamp card. I printed the sentiment on my printer using Very Vanilla Cardstock and then mounted it onto Taken With Teal. The printed paper is from a paper pack I got when I did the recipe tin a few weeks ago. I layered it onto Taken With Teal cardstock and then stitched it using my sewing machine and red thread. Chocolate Chip cardstock was used for the card base. Simple, quick and easy. *grin* I did 10 of these.

I also have a few other designs that I did that I will share later. I need to space them out because my craft room is now in these: All 4 of those boxes are my stamp sets. I have about 14 boxes total of my craft stuff and several rolling cards and cabinets that we just saran wrapped and taped closed (we saran wrapped them so that scorpions and other nasty things don't crawl into them and stow away. Yes, we taped our boxes really well too *wink*).

My system for organizing stamp sets

I have been asked to share my stamp set organizational system several times and I keep meaning to, but I keep putting it off and then I forget. I figured since I mentioned it in my last blog post, and again was asked to share it, that I should do it now before I forget again. So here you have it, my stamp set organizational system.

First I took my stamp sets and I sorted them into categories. (I wanted to do them in categories because when I know I am doing a Christmas card I didn't want to have to sort through the binder until I found a Christmas set, now I can just go straight to that section.) I have Floral, Animals, Nature, Children, Other Occasions, Whimsical/Fantasy, Every Occasion, Words/Sentiments, Christmas, Patriotic, Tags, Background, Miscellaneous, And then all my single stamps. I also have my wheels in this book as well so that I have them at a glance as well, however all my wheels are in special cases made for storing wheels so those are easy to find. After I separated them into categories I stamped each set onto a piece of white cardstock and then labeled them in the book (I'll show more of that in a moment). As for my book, I have an ordinary 3 ring binder (I didn't take a picture of it, cause it's just and ordinary 3 ring binder. ;-) Next as you will see, in my binder I color coded each category.The lines you see show the separation of sets so I know what stamp goes in which set. Then I wrote under each set in the book, the sets name, the category and # that set is in the category along with the brand of stamps it is (Stampin UP, TAC, Missy B, Hanna Stamps, MFT, Etc.) and how many stamps are in that set.

Next I labeled each set with the colored label, category, and set # that corresponds with what is in the book.

As I get a new set it gets stamped into the book and labeled accordingly and then gets put on my shelf. It was alot of work when I started this system, but now it's really easy to keep up with it. The hard part in the beginning was the time that putting it together consumed.

Here is where my system comes into play. Take for example when I was making my niece's graduation card the other day, as I said before I didn't remember having a graduation stamp. So I opened the book and started flipping through. I came to the Every Occasion category and my Year After Year set from SU.

As you will see, it's listed in the book as Year After Year, Every Occasion # 7 (which means it's the 7th set I have in that category) and then set of 8 (because there's 8 stamps in the set) and that it's a Stampin Up set. (The brand of stamp, is important and I'll show you why in a minute.) I saw that there was a graduation cap in the set. Perfect!

So now I had to find the set. So I go to my shelf, and I know from what my book has labeled that I am looking for a Stampin Up set, color category orange for Every Occasions, set # 7.

Look! There it is! It took me literally less then 10 seconds to find it. Since I knew what color category I was looking for and what set # it was.

Now, the reason I put the brand is because different brands are stored differently. All of my SU sets are all mounted on wood blocks, so I know if it's an SU set that I am looking only in the SU plastic cases. My unmounted sets are all kept in either CD cases or DVD cases. It just cuts down on the looking time if I know the brand I am looking for with how I have them stored.

Here is a shot of my TAC sets so you know what I'm talking about. Some of these cases have more then 1 set in them so you'll see that those cases have 2 labels.

Here is a shot of my single stamps. They are all on my top shelf and are at the back of the book. That way if I choose a single stamp I know where they are located too.

Is this system complex? I don't think so, but some may. It works for me though. It sure has cut down on the time it takes to find a set to use. Before I started doing this I found that I would be standing at my shelf for sometimes 30-45 minutes just pulling out sets and looking for the ones I wanted to use. Now that I have this system it has cut down that time drastically. I will look through the book and in less then a minute find the set I want and then it takes me around 5-15 seconds tops to find that set on the shelf. So in less then a minute I'm stamping rather then it taking 30-45 minutes to even start a card.

So there you have it! Clear as mud? I hope I didn't confuse you all too much and that this makes sense. Like I said, the most time consuming part is when you start the system having to stamp every set into the book by category and then labeling the set and the book. But once you have all your currently owned sets done, it's fairly easy to keep it up as you add new sets to your collection. :)

Happy Graduation!!

My neice Kim is graduating from High School! I can't beleive it! I have known Kim since she was 3. She is actually my daughter's cousin on her dad's side, so since DD's dad and I never married Kim isn't technically my neice, but she is to me. I have a picture of Kim at the age of 4 holding my daughter when my daughter was only days old. So it's hard to beleive now that here she is, 18 and graduating from High School!



I wanted to make her a card but I don't have any graduation sets. So this is where having my sets all organized and stamped into a binder comes in handy. I was able to open my binder and look for a set to use. I have SU's Year after Year which has a Graduation Cap! SCORE!! I didn't remember that this set included that so yay!! I need inspiration so I went to the gallery at Splitcoast Stampers and I found this adorable card by liandrin16. I love the crayon resist technique and I hadn't used it in ages. So her card inspired me to do just that.

Kim's High School colors are Blue and Gold (if I remember correctly, but I know blue is one of them) so I opted for just the Blue and I did some black as well. First I took my Glossy cardstock and randomly stamped the cap using Momento Tuxedo Black Ink. Then I used my white crayon to highlight the areas I wanted highlighted. Next I took a sponge and my Brilliant Blue ink and sponged over the cardstock until I got the coverage I wanted. The ink doesn't stick to where you put the crayon (hence, Crayon Resist). I then mounted this peice onto Basic Black and used my Signo White Gel Pen to do some faux stitching lines. I mounted all this onto my Whisper White card base and stamped Congratulations from SU's set Holiday's and Wishes (or is it Hugs and Wishes, I always get those two mixed up). I added three brads just for some balance in the top right corner. There you have it, quick, simple, fun. :)

Happy Graduation Kimberly!! I'm so proud of you!

Seriously Honored!

Remember this card that I did back in April for the Vegas VSN on Splitcoast.

Well, this morning I got an email telling me that my card had been moved to a different gallery on Splitcoast. I was confused... So I clicked on the card link to find out where it had been moved to. It was moved to the High Rollers Gallery (a.k.a. challenge winners gallery). (Each hostess chose 2 cards as their favorites/winners for their challenge. And the winning cards get the distinction of being forever featured in the High Rollers Gallery on Splitcoast.) Huh? The High Rollers Gallery... There has to be some mistake.... So I check the VSN forum. Nope! No mistake. There is my card listed as a winner under the Bellie Up To The Buffet Challenge. Seriously, I'm so honored! There were some gorgeous cards in that challenge (in all the challenges actually). And Jenn (jbalcer!!) and Lori (stamp_momma) chose my card... my little card... to be a winner! I'm so tickled! Thanks ladies! You totally made my day!

New Craft Area

When we got back from Utah we put all the stuff we had gotten for the baby into my daughter's room so that it would be out of the way for a little bit (knowing that we would have to move it before she got back from her dad's). We didn't want it all outside in the garage where it would get saw dust on it (not to mention where it could have bugs crawling all over it). We have only a few weeks before my daughter comes back so that means it's time to move things around.

Our kitchen is actually an eat in kitchen that we never used other then for cooking since we had a dining room for eatting. Instead we had a book shelf with some cookbooks in the eat in part of the kitchen. So we needed a new place for the cookbooks. So I moved my cake stuff into the food storage room (since I don't get asked to do cakes often anymore there isn't a need for that stuff in the kitchen). Then I moved the cookbooks to the now empty cupboard where some of the cake stuff had been (yes, we have that many cookbooks that they fit an entire cupboard, and I still have two cupboards in the kitchen that still have cake stuff in them, because, yes, I have that much cake stuff too). We moved the bookshelf into the food storage area as well and then moved the dining room table into the kitchen. There had been a rug under the dining room table that we moved into the living room (the dog loves that, now he has an even bigger area to lazy around in and you can often find him smack dab in the middle of that rug). I left the pictures up that were in the room formerly known as the dining room because they are our wedding pictures and I love to look at them. (we had the best photographer, Rebecca Montague of Montague Photography, based out of Bountiful Utah. Who sadly, doesn't do weddings anymore, but she offers tons of other great photo ops.)

Anywho, the next two days were spent moving all my craft stuff into what had been the dining room. We had left the bookshelf with the photo albums (and my colored glass collection) in the dining room and I utilized the empty shelves to store my stamping and crafting books on it. The shelves that hold my stamp sets and alterable items were put next to the existing shelf. (we couldn't put it right next to it because there is a telephone outlet there that sticks out)

Here is my paper storage. The filing cabinet has all my 8x10 paper and the wire unit next to it holds my 12x12 paper. There is a purple box on top of that with my diecuts and chipboard. (the box on top of the filing cabinet is the hardcase for my camera, there is also my mini tripod, and come crocheting stuff on top of it that won't fit anywhere else.)

Here is my main crafting area. I like this set up. I have a lot more work surface area. And when my daughter is back, there is lots of space for her to work with me (she has her own area in her room, but it's nice to be able to work on projects together sometimes and in my old room there wasn't the space to do that)

Because the window is there I had a limited space to put my ink and marker storage. So I came up with a new setup for it. Just goes to show you how versatile this unit is. :o) (Thank you once again to my wonderful husband for making me this awesome unit)

I have one other area that I don't have organzied yet so I didn't take a picture of it, but it's the area with all my rolling carts that house my ribbons and punches and embossing powder and other crafting goodies.

Now that the room formerly known as my craft room is emptied out we have been moving the baby's stuff into it. So that room is now known as the baby's room. I know that it may still be years before we are chosen by a birthmom, but it's good to know that when that does happen, we are ready. The baby's room now has a crib, a dresser/changing table, a pack and play (portable crib), a book shelf, a chair for rocking the baby to sleep, and a car seat and stroller. We do still need a high chair but since the baby won't need that until he or she is 4 months old at least, we have a little bit of time to get that. The closet is empty right now which is perfect because now we have space to put diapers and such as we get those. We do have some blankets and burp clothes but we haven't gotten any clothes yet because we don't know if our little one will be a boy or a girl.

So things are shaping up. I did decide to make another crib set (well, I'm doing the quilt and my mom is doing the rest of the crib set). The jungle animal one I did just looks too boyish, which is great if our little one is a boy. But, I want something else in case our little one is a girl. So I had an idea in mind to do a sweet soft set with roses. My mom thinks it's a fabulous idea and is all for making two crib sets. So I'll see what I can find at the fabric store this next week. Wish me luck!

Scrapbook Profile

Our caseworker for our adoption asked us to do a profile online, which we have done, it will be posted to the agency's website as soon as we are approved. In addition though he asked us to do a scrapbook profile. When they meet with birth families they don't always have a computer to show them our online profile, so the scrapbook profiles are to tell them a little about us. So I created these pages for our profile. The scrapbook profiles are 2 pages all about us, just kind of a teaser if you will. I was just waiting on the photos from Snapfish to add to it. I got those on Thursday so I was able to finish the pages. I'm not a major scrapbooker, although I am trying to get into it more. So these aren't the best pages, but I was still happy with them.

I used the Bali Breeze DP from SU (I love this paper, I wish I had more, I'm running out.) I paired it with Tempting Turqouise and Certainly Celery. The Our Family is printed on Whisper White cardstock with my computer printer. I used my crafter's tool kit to paper pierce the pages and then hand stitched them. They took quite sometime, almost 8 hours total, but they were well worth the effort.

A detail shot of the stitching:

Tomorrow I will post some of my latest photography shots from the recent SCS photography challenges.

New color

Shelly and Lydia loved both cards, although they were in agreement that the red roses was their favorite (it was my favorite too). They asked if I could do it in pink instead of red though. So here is that card in pink, black and white. I hope you like it girls!