The "ROOM"

I took pictures of my craft room. It is not all cute and fun. It is not all organized yet. But it is heading in the right direction. Mostly, it is MINE! Well, mine and my daughters'.

From the door, this is the view. There are 2 windows. I have a white shade ready to put up where the black shade is, though I probably should have left the dark ones up to keep out the heat. My table is there and will stay there. The white boxes on the right have held sewing stuff for years. I am going to reorganize all my sewing things and think I might use those drawers for stamping stuff. The bluish purple and the aqua drawers currently hold stamping stuff. I bought the Janome sewing machine a few years ago. My big heavy Viking machine, about 30 years old, just wasn't working well anymore. I'd love to eventually have a better machine, but this one is simple & will be good for the girls as they learn to sew. Natalie (10) has actually made her own pj pants already using this.

To the left of the table/room are my semi-organized stamping supplies. Still trying to figure out the best arrangement for that. Bethany's dollhouse that we made (almost finished, still lacks some parts) is on top of the shelves.

Not sure why the vacuum cleaner is still in there, but I guess it's a motive to clean! LOL!



To the right of the room/table. Apart from the blue/purple drawers, this is mostly sewing supplies/fabric. This is where we'll eventually put in a table for Bethany to use for artwork. Natalie can use my table or Bethany's, but Bethany is the "artist" who, like her mom, tends to spread out as she works, thus the need for a table.




Example A. Bethany is working on a project.







Below you can see the closet. The boxes on the left are SOME of Bethany's art "supplies". We need to go through those & purge them AGAIN. We did that before packing, but we really need to sort out what she has & decide if she is going to keep it. The other end of hte cabinet has more of those cheap plastic shelves. Don't you love the duct tape look on them? That would be my husband's creative hand at work to keep them together when we moved them.











Thanks for taking a little tour of my craft room with me. Hopefully it will be taking shape but mostly I hope lots of loving will pour forth from this room to encourage others.

CDS Guest Designer Challenge

This is for the July Clear Dollar Stamps Guest Designer Challenge here: CDS JULY GUEST CHALLENGE This month was a sketch challenge.














First, may I just shout: I LOVE MY CRAFT ROOM! I actually got to stamp, emboss, color, sew, glue, assemble, cut, photograph, and ENJOY making cards ALL IN ONE ROOM! AND I don't have to clean it all up so we can have a place to eat! PRAISE GOD!!!! My dh Phil told me I'm already spoiled. He's right!

Okay, on to business. I've been MIA from crafting for a few months due to our move to this house. I've missed being able to participate in the CDS challenge. In case I haven't said it enough, I LOVE Clear Dollar Stamps. Here's their store site: http://www.newcleardollarstamps.com/servlet/StoreFront As usual, when I saw the challenge, my ADHD mind went in 10 different directions & my OCD mind made me make 3 cards, with a 4th waiting to be assembled. It will have to wait longer.

First, this is in honor of my Dork Sisters. Pigs are our "mascot." Each Dork is unique, even though we are all dorks. I used Patchpal Piggy and Critter Messages. I HAD to make this a patchwork card. I did some paper piecing on the special piggy using paper from the DCWV stack with fruits (dork brain can't think of the name). I sewed around it with a zigzag stitch for that patchwork effect. I added some sparklies for fun. I thought this piggy needed rhinestone nostrils! SNORT!




Next, I used the June Flower of the Month set (Rose). I stamped the flower image with Encore Gold, then embossed in gold on watercolor paper. I used markers and an aquabrush to watercolor the roses to match the DP. Am I the only one that picks out my dp then colors my image to match it? I have 3 different rose pattern papers and had to choose just one to use. I LOVE these papers and the rose stamp was a PERFECT match! The birthstone for June is pearl, so I incorporated that, too. I used my CM oval cutters and Nesties scalloped ovals. The words are in the same set and tell about Roses as the June Birth Flower. I also sewed this one around the outer edges.

Finally is a tribute to San Antonio using the Texas on my Mind set by Laurie Wilson. Remember the Alamo? Side note: my parents asked my girls once if they'd been to the Alamo. They said, "We've been to the Alamo Cafe." It's a GREAT Mexican restaurant in SA. Sadly, this homeschool mom has never taken her kids 15 minutes away to see this historic landmark. If YOU'VE never been to the Alamo, it really looks just like this stamp, just like the movies, just like the pictures. The difference is that now it is surrounded by skyscrapers, hotels and tourists! I decided that the Alamo was one living legend from SA, but when I saw the chili pepper and the word HOT, I knew I had to use this. We DO have hot Mexican food (at the Alamo Cafe---LOL!), but right now, everyone in SA has one word on their mind: HOT. We've been near, at or over 100 all of June. We all dread August because we're having typical August weather in June. Of course, no Texas card would be complete without TEXAS! I love that this stamp set allows you to stamp the blue and red sections separately. Notice the one star. Our motto is the "Lone Star State," and the colors on Texas mimick our state flag. The paper was from a patriotic set, but lended itself perfectly to a Texas card. Hemp cord seemed fitting for an old, distressed looking Texas card. The star was punched out with a Creative Memories punch, then I used my Scor-Pal (which I bought with from CDS with a coupon a few months ago--I love CDS!) to score the star so it would be 3-D. This is a gate fold card.

I cannot tell you how THRILLED I was to create something on a table in one room. I know I said it already but this is just GREAT. I don't know if I'll get chosen to be a guest designer, but I really am thankful for the challenge and the perfect timing. It made me stretch and it made me finish getting things into my craft room fast!

Thanks for looking!

A different kind of Father's day card using Paper Pretties Sweets for the Sweet. I make my dad a coconut cream pie for Father's day nearly every year. The pie stamp in this set has a lattice top pie, so I went over & over with my versamarker using the brush tip then white ep. I have no liquid applique & can't find my puff paint, so that had to do! As it turned out, I didn't get the meringue made on the pie, but it looks cute on the card! LOL!

Sorry for the fuzzy picture.

Nuggets of Wisdom

I LOVE this tutorial from Clear Dollar Stamps: Nugget Box with Money There are several cute ways to give money listed, but scroll down to find the Nugget Box. I made this for the son of some friends who just graduated from high school. I told his mom to be sure he doesn't throw away the wrappers without looking carefully. You'll see why as you read on!

I altered my box by using Five Dollar bills rather than ones, and learned some lessons along the way. Also, I don't have the stamp set "Sweet Jesus" (YET) but it is on my wish list. I used the computer for my words instead.

In the tutorial, the directions show to fold the ends of the dollar bill to meet in the middle. I found that on the $5 bill, Abe isn't centered. If you fold the ends to the middle you get this:
To avoid that, you need to fold the ends off center, putting Mr. Lincoln in the middle: So you end up with a nugget like this:

After wrapping all 6 nuggets, I wanted to add some real nuggets of Wisdom from God's Word. This also was part of the fun as I disguised the money. They fit perfectly into these boxes from Clear Dollar Stamps.

To fill in the little space, the tutorial tells how to make a spacer. I thought it was the perfect spot to hide some more money, and being a graduation gift, I decided to make a scroll.



Finally, I added the computer generated words and a bit of ribbon. I thought a knot was more "boy-like" than a bow.



Hope he enjoys opening it as much as I enjoyed making it. I am thrilled to have my craft room almost ready to occupy for real. Even having all my things in one room and working on the floor is a MAJOR improvement from having to move things around each time I stamped. I sold some stamps on ebay last week & ordered some new ones. Can't wait for more "play time!"

Quick post with a picture!

I made this for my soon to be born great niece. Will elaborate more later, but for now, enjoy the picture!