My pencils have a home

My collection of Prismacolor pencils is growing. I have tried a few ways to store them but since I like them to be right at hand the original tins, as cool as they are, weren't working for me anymore. I have tried storing them in a big glass container. That was handy but not efficient because they were all mixed up and it took too long to find just the right color. I needed to find a way to keep them separated into color families. I finally took an old top loading card box, cut the lid off and fashioned dividers from foam core board. Foam core board is my favorite building material lately. Next I covered the dividers with patterned yellow paper. I decided to decorate the box with Club Scrap paper and used the artwork by Monica Rieffrom from one of my Prismacolor brochures and altered it with a chipboard hat that I inked. Some black and white paper ribbon covered the bare edges at the top. I found a couple of chipboard hearts and pasted those on there too. Lastly I added an art quote. I am really happy with how it turned out and now I can quickly find the colors I need. Pictures, you ask? Of course!
The outside



The inside showing the dividers

Never enough time

There are not enough hours in the day. That's it, I declare it! I never have enough time to do everything I want to do. I joined a RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) group on SCS and sent off my first card to someone this weekend. I would really like to start a stash of cards to send so they will be ready to go. I can't seem to get ahead of it. I think that part of the reason is that I rarely make 2 of any card. Each one is one of a kind. Even though I like making the card with someone in mind, I think I am going to have to get over that and start making a couple at a time. Maybe I could change the colors but using the same design. My sister Chris likes to make three. Two to send and one to keep for herself. I think that is a terrific idea.
I made this one for my Granddaughter's birthday and I do wish I had made two. The front of the card is like gift, the ribbon unties and there is a pocket for money or a gift card. The sentiment goes inside as usual. I made a matching envelope too. The colorful cardstock is from Artic Frog. This was a heavy one. Luckily I hand delivered this one. Sorry, didn't mean to write a book, lol, it is only a card after all!

I need an assistant,

someone who can manage the house, pay the bills, cook and clean up after us. All the things I let slide when I am in a creative mood. I got a layout done and another card, but not too much else. I spent some time making charts to keep track of my Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils. I unmounted two more sets of stamps. One of them was a small alphabet and it was a pain to say the least. I really need to sell some stamps but that would require some thought and I am not in the mood yet. So for now, I will indulge myself and think about that another day. Here is my scrapbook page. This is my son-in-law playing Guitar Hero. Full credits here


This is a card I made for a challenge on Splitcoaststampers. They have had awesome challenges all week. Thanks for looking! Full credits here

I had a pretty productive day today

At least from my perspective. I made a card and and cleaned the bathrooms. Notice the order there? I guess cleaning should come first, then playtime, but that is not the way it works around here. Shh, don't tell anyone! I made this card for a challenge to use a grid. I used the Scor-Pal to make the quilted background of the yellow cardstock. After digging around in my old scrapbook stash I found the measuring tape ribbon and needle. For full credits you can click here.

I was away a few days...

We attended my nephew's wedding in Williamsburg, VA. Such a sweet couple, they looked so happy. We were so glad to share in their special day. Here is the bride and groom.

Two posts in one day!

Unusual for me, I know, but today is my sister Carol's birthday and I wanted to give her a shout-out! Happy Birthday Carol! Love you girl!! Now that she has gotten it, I can also share the birthday card I made for her. I made her an accordion style card, with some interactive pull-outs, photos, envies, and hidden journaling. I really love how it turned out. The paper I used is from a K&Co Scrap Pad to Go. Click on the image for a larger view.

I scrapped today

I think my scrapping mojo is coming back. Must have been on a little vacation but I am feeling it now. I used Got Boys kit by Melissa Bennett and Amanda Rockwell available at ScrapArtist.

If you want to read the journaling, you can see it here
Well, now that I've done something creative, I won't mind doing the laundry so much!

I have another one to share...

I pulled out some watercolors for this one. I'm rusty but it was fun. Of course I had to add some embossing and some ribbon. I also found some old floral wire and used that for embellishment. I have been digging around in my craft stash and I'm on a quest to use up some of these supplies I have been saving. I just realised I don't know why I've collected them if I'm not going to use them. Hope you like my card.

Trying Windows Live Writer

I thought that I would try  this to see if it is easier to post photos and other content on my blog using this writer. I am hoping that this will be an aide to making my blog more interesting. There is only one way to find out, isn't there? Insert picture, okay....

My two sisters at Brookside Gardens

Hey, that was really easy. It even let me  resize it. I am going to make this a short post so I can publish this and see if it actually works.

He has stolen my heart...

This little mouse, that is! I have always had a thing for cute little mice. Not real ones but the illustrated ones have always made me smile. It was inevitable that I would fall in love the the series of House Mouse stamps. This is my first one. The little critter is named Mudpie. I think he has so much personality. As soon as he came in the mail I had to use the stamp to make this card. The printed papers are from Artic Frog, a gift from the artist who designed them. This card is going to a friend who is feeling a bit under the weather right now. I think it will make her smile! Don't you?

I think I'm hooked

For a long time now, I have been reading about the merits of Copic alcohol art markers. I've seen some beautiful artwork on SCS and I finally decided to get a small set and try them for myself. After a few problems related to the image smearing I finally got an image colored and I am very pleased with it. I think I am going to be doing a lot more coloring. Here is my card

Full credits here in my card gallery at SCS

Color testing

I have been playing with different ways of coloring stamped images lately. I have been looking at all the beautiful cards colored with watercolor crayon, art markers, regular watercolors and different kinds of pencils. I did a little test with a few of them last night and this is the result.

The images aren't are large as I would like, but if you click on the image you can see a larger version. I personally like the look of the SU markers, myself. I was surprised at that. I like the Prisma pencils pretty well and the watercolors the least. I used watercolor paper for them but a smooth thin paper for the other two. I will be trying my Copic markers on the same image too. I found this little stamp (Anita's-Sugarloaf, Inc) on sale for $1 at AC Moore. Couldn't pass that up! The border is plain but I doodled the stripes on it with a multiliner. Back to the drawing board!

My craft space

I thought today I would post a few photos of my crafting space. This is where I make messes and the occasional masterpiece (Yeah, right!) I spend a lot of time here. Sometime it is stamping, sometimes scrapbooking and a whole lot of time cleaning up and storing stuff! I am always looking for a better way to organize and store things. I like to have everything handy but for the area to look neat when I am not using it. It also helps when you want to find something. So here is where you might find me a good part of my day.

This is my work table and my Iris storage carts

This is where I store my die cutters

My storage closet for paper and other supplies

I get lots of light from the big sliding door
Tomorrow I may actually have something I have been working on to post!

I've been playing

Playing with ink and watercolor and Prisma pencils. I don't have anything to post yet but I will finish something soon. I have been trying lots of new techniques and having a lot of fun with a lot of art supplies that were tucked away for a while. I have been so involved in other things I forgot how much I love to mess around with this stuff. Time for bed now. More about this tomorrow.

Made a little flap card

I really have been enjoying using my new Nestibilities dies in my Cuttlebug machine. So easy to use and such nice results. I have also been challenging myself to use up some of my older paper crafting supplies. I used Chatterbox cardstock and paper to make this card and I found some cute clip art by Rebecca Carter for PC Crafter so I used that instead of a stamp for a change. You open the card by flipping up the top like a wallet, thus the title "flap card".

Got a page scrapped

I finally finished this page and got it posted in my galleries. I started with one of Tracy Blankenship's Templates with Attitude from Ver. 14. I had to alter it a bit because she always has so many cool elements included and I am a relatively simple scrapper. Her templates are fabulous and she is the sweetest person! She sells all her goodies at Scrapdish.
My sisters and I enjoying the flowers and plantings at Brookside Gardens.

Full credits listed at DST

How did that happen?

Somehow a year's time has passed. As far as Shutterfly is concerned, anyway. I have 94 pre-paid prints to use up before the end of July. This is going to be interesting. Considering it takes all day to upload a few photos to their site, it may take until the end of the month that to upload some photos to print. I guess I know now what I will be doing this holiday weekend. :)