Baby Girl

We were delighted to hear of the birth of a healthy baby girl on March 31! Both sets of grandparents are friends of ours and first time grandparents. Their children (the baby's parents) were former sixth grade students of mine and family friends. What a joyous occasion!!! Since her parents didn't reveal the sex of the baby prior to her birth, I had to scramble to make cards for all parties :)

I happened to have these puffy stick-on letters which inspired the color scheme.

When our grandson was born we received several congratulatory cards, and I thought they were pretty special.  It was fun making cards for each set of Emma's grandparents!

The card wasn't cockeyed in real life, only in my photography.

Both grandparent cards were inspired by Pinterest.

The very next day, April 1, my high school BFF welcomed her fifth grandchild. He was named Nolan - same as our grandson - and we are hoping to introduce them one day! I need to get busy making another card:)

April Tag 2014

I really like the Tim Holtz April 2014 tag.  I had all the materials on hand except for the Trellis die. I went to Michaels today to see if they possibly had it but they never have any of the recent releases (I was really hoping to find the round blending tool but was once again disappointed).  I created the trellis look by making a repeating pattern from one of the Cricut Mini basic shapes. It's not an exact match but has a similar feeling. I've had a lot of use from my pinecone die which I used to make my roses and foliage. Previously I mentioned that I got a ton of Tim Holtz products for Christmas so I already had the token, pin, distress paint (I used broken china), and tissue tapes. Usually I try to do my own take on the tag, but this month I tried to mimic Tim's.

Note the glare from the mirror insert! 

March Tag 2014

I'm back from Boston just in time to make my version of Tim Holtz's March tag.

The one on the right is supposed to be the second, lighter version. I must have really inked the stamps well since my second generation stamping looks nearly as dark as the first. I don't own the new Distress Marker Spritzer tool so I had to improvise the splattering using a stencil brush.

Virginia's View Watercolor Challenge

I spotted a link on one of the blogs that I follow 

describing a watercolor challenge. I thought it
sounded like fun and decided to participate. 

I love using Distress markers and inks to create 

a watercolor effect which is what I did with this card.

Markers were applied directly to the stamp, it was 
misted a couple of times, and then it was stamped 
on watercolor paper. I used a water brush with

Distress inks to shade and fill in select areas and
layered the watercolored piece on patterned papers.

I see that I need to glue down the lower left corner of one of the papers :)

Craft Room Pictures - Part 2

SEWING, DIE CUTTING, and EMBOSSING AREA

My sewing machine is tucked behind the garbage can.  Tag samples 
are displayed on an Ikea Dignitet curtain wire, and a turntable to the 
right of the desk holds edging scissors and junk.

I have my Big Shot die cutter, Cuttlebug embosser, and Cricket Mini on the desk.  

The white Idea Expedit units are used to store dies, embossing folders,
laminator, Bind-It-All, books, and storage boxes filled with other supplies.

CLOSET AREA

There are two huge double closets on each side of the plastic drawers with shelving.
My Ikea Raskog cart holds zippered plastic folders filled with paper scraps,
and the bottom two shelves have my  rosette and flower creations.

This closet on the right is far too messy to show in its entirety, but this is where I store my wrapping and quilting supplies, gifts, books, and assorted paraphernalia. Major purging is needed here!

The center space behind the dividing wall and the left closet are used to store my patterned papers and cardstock. The colored drawers and additional plastic boxes house more wooden stamps.

I have lots of Graphic45 and The Paper Company cardstock collections since I've found great deals on them at Tuesday Morning. Some of the boxes are arranged by theme (holidays, babies, etc.).

Lots and Lots of Pictures of my Craft Room

The process of arranging and rearranging my craft room seems to be a hobby in and of itself. Having done yet another rearrangement, I had my husband take updated pictures. Some areas - especially the closets - need further purging; other areas - such as my desk - will always have essential clutter that can't be hidden away. You will see a strong Ikea presence here!

MAIN WORK SPACE  a.k.a my little corner of the world :)

The majority of my everyday supplies are within arms' reach when I sit at my desk.

My husband built the white stamp shelves and my large ink pads and blenders are stored in
Ikea Antonius plastic trays upended on their sides.

The second section of my L-shaped desk has two sets of Ikea Alex 5-drawer units (a third Alex supports the first section). I store my 8.5 x 11 inch colored cardstock in stackable letter trays and assorted embellishments in the desktop drawers and shelves.

Many of my clear stamps are stored by category in 3-ring binders. 
More of my wooden stamps are housed in acrylic box frames. 
The binders and acrylic boxes are held in the plastic drawers (below left).

Getting Caught Up

Here are a few recent cards I've made and sent.  I love using dimensional embellishments, but the post office doesn't share my love! Creativity comes at a cost :)

birthday card for a friend

birthday card for another friend

baby girl card

nephew's birthday card

the same nephew's college graduation from U of Illinois

my son's 28th birthday