The studio... in real life :)

I posted pictures of my studio a few days ago, and have had such lovely comments from you lovlies out there! My parents are coming for a visit tomorrow, so I will have to tell my dad how well his craft table was received :) I warned readers to look quick, as it will never be that clean again...

I just brewed a pot of coffee (it is after 10:30pm) and plan on heading downstairs soon to my new favorite place in the house. I thought I would share some more pictures, too. I don't think I mentioned before that my creative space is only half the basement (which believe me, to a girl who used to scrap on the kitchen island while trying to cook pancakes at the same time... very grateful!) ... the other half is a family area. Ok, fine, it is the twins' area to wreak havoc. The make forts out of the loveseat cushions, bring every toy they own to spread on the floor, try to convince me that picnics in the basement are a good idea, and pretty much thoroughly enjoy themselves.

And if you look closely at this picture, you will see that it isn't a child-free zone...

There is about 12 inches between my work table and the loveseat. So much fun to try to stand on mama's table and jump onto the loveseat.

I have decided to pick my battles.





Yes, you can come look at the pretty papers.
No, you can't jump off the table.
Yes, you can arrange all my wood mounted stamps in a row.
No, the Crop-o-dile is not a toy.
Yes, you can pick two buttons to glue to make your "own card."
No, you can't taste the glue...

And so it goes. I don't think I have mentioned it here or not, but my boys turned four just last July, and they both have been diagnosed with Autism. If you are familiar with autism, you know it is a wide spectrum. Johnny's autism is more mild, whereas Mikey struggles a bit more. Mikey loves my craft area. His favorite thing is to line up all my stamps, and to line the edges of my table with his dinosaurs. Johnny makes arrangements of pictures, toys, and cups around my sewing machine. Here is Mikey intent on improving my collection of vintage books (that dress form is now in three pieces, by the way. They said it was a trophy and the boys hosted a race to see who would win it... the trophy lost).


While it can be a bit messy, and I may spend a few extra minutes looking for my distress ink (by the dinosaurs, of course! Duh, mom) I love it. I love that I can make a card, tickle my kids, sort some paper, play pirate, work on a scrapbook page, go outside and push the boys on the swingset... Don't get me wrong. Some days are better than others, and some days I can't wait for bedtime. And then there are those moments, when the house is still and quiet, I go into my workspace, see a T-Rex on my chair, and laugh so hard I cry.

Meant to be...Midnight madness at its most sincere

Midnight Madness... This is my first MMSC and I think it pretty appropriate that I am posting it at, if not midnight, the middle of the night... I am having one of those I-can't-sleep-but-can't-decide-of-I-should-go-back-to-bed-and-try-to-sleep moments. These usually turn into me deciding to get on the computer "just for a minute" and then see that two hours have gone by, it is almost morning, and by the time I fall asleep, the kids are up. Oh well. I'll just drink an extra pot of coffee.

This card originally had a digistamp on it, then I did the unthinkable - I tore it off, because I had used a funky red and it threw the whole thing off! I usually am not a teal and pink kind of gal, but I had this roll of fabulous lace edged fabric trim ribbon and have been dying to use it... and that determined my colorscheme... So then I sat here, card without an image, done in teals and pinks. I dug through my stash of vintage pics, and there she was...

(cue the swelling orchestra!)

the exact size, already printed for crying out loud, and she was wearing a soft bluish teal dress and holding a bouquet of pink flowers. Seriously? It was meant to be.

When working on a project, I usually "print to order." That is, I print out a pic for a specific project. However, I have this well-meaning, if not productive, intention of being frugal and trying to be productive notion that if I print on photopaper/fabric/whatever, I may as well fill up the sheet as to not waste time/material. What usually happens is that I cut out the image I wanted, set aside the sheet, and either forget about it, spill my coffee on it, or accidentally roll my chair over it three months later when it falls off the pile of other preprinted sheets that met the same fate.

But this little vintage gal somehow survived and is now looking beautifully melancholy on my teal and pink card. Three cheers for not getting rolled over!

See what happens when I wake up at 2am and can't sleep?

Ingredients

Papers: Basic Grey

Image: rescued vintage image (Luna Girl)

Embellishments: buttons (of course), thread, vintage lace trim

Inks: Ranger distress ink

Thank you... and could I LOVE buttons any more than this?

I mentioned in my previous post my love for Mary. I did some digging, and I have quite a decent stash of ME stamps! Wooo Hooo! I made this little cutie card in response to the Friday Sketchers challenge (I sure love their sketches!) and it was fun to use bold, bright colors...

...and buttons! I think I have layered buttons on the last 4ish cards I have made. I even put a button on the inside. I hope I am not overdoing the button thing. They make me ever-so-happy...

Ingredients

Papers:MyMindsEye, BoBunny, Graphic45

Image: Mary Engelbreit

Embellishments: ribbon, BUTTONS :)

Ranger distress ink and colored pencils

Hey baby... loving Mary Engelbreit

I am a huge fan of Mary Engelbreit. Huge. My little workspace is plastered with prints from her calendars and posterbooks (I was looking through my stash of old calendars, and I have been saving them sine, oh, 199osomething), and I just love her sense of whimsy, her great use of color... When I started stamping years ago, some of my very first stamps I bought were ME stamps. Cute Card Thursday had a challenge of "new beginning", and the first image that came to my mind was one of my most favorite ME stamps. A prefect baby stamp, it works for Stampin' for the weekend's Baby challenge too! Using a fabulous sketch from EverybodyART, I created this card. I loved this sketch, and know I will be using it again :)


I really enjoyed building this card up. Lots of texture with buttons, quilted fabric, layers of paper and chipboard, paint, a little safety pin...


I really feel like my obsession with cardmaking is coming along quite nicely.

Speaking of Mary, did anyone read her article in the magazine "Where Women Create"? It is new on the shelves, and I sooo want to live in Mary's world...


Ingredients
Papers: MyMindsEye (I so love their papers...)
Stamp: Mary Engelbreit and GStudios (sentiment)
Embellishments: Fabric (moda), silver safety pin, buttons, thread, chipboard
Ink, paint, colored pencils

So many cards...and FREE SHIPPING offer :)

With all of the challenges I have been doing, in addition to just making cards for the fun of making cards... I have a ton of cards! Some of you know that I sell scrapbook pages and such on eBay and Etsy, so I decided to put some of my cards up in my shops :) Some are cards you may have seen here on my blog, and others are creations that no one has seen yet. I plan to stay up late tonight and stock up my shops! If you do buy from my eBay or Etsy store, just mention you found me through my blog and I will give you FREE SHIPPING! I have cards, altered tins, blog banners... Take a peek!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

I know it is probably too early to think about Christmas, but as someone who is always late sending out cards, I thought I may as well start getting in the holiday spirit. Now that I am back into cardmaking, I want to start a nice stash of Season's Greetings! This card was created using the delightful sketch on the challenge site PaperTake Weekly. Using cool greens,cream and gold and peppermint reds, this vintage styled card is entered in the Colour Create challenge. I printed the image, which is from an antique postcard I found in a dusty old store in Traverse City, MI, about three years ago, onto teastained muslin. The fabric is from my stash, and I distressed the golden paper that is matting the picture with my edger.

Ingredients

Papers:Webster's Pages, Flair Designs, Crate Paper

Embellishments: Vintage postcard image, fabric, muslin

Inks: Ranger Distress ink

Double Dutch Friendship card...

It's no secret I love vintage! When I found this set of K&Co. vintage embellies on sale at Michaels this summer, I knew it would be just a matter of time until I found just the right project :) The challenge at Double Dutch challenge was "Back in Time" where you could pick a previous challgenge, and I chose the sketch from DDC#06. It was the perfect layout for the card I had in mind: lots of layers. I love to layer papers, and this card uses six different companies' papers. It is a kind of a funky retro look, and I love pink and green together.

Ingredients

Papers: Crate Paper, Creative Imaginations, Jenni Bowlin, MyMindsEye, Basic Grey, and Prima

Embellishments: button, K&Co friendship card, stitching, trim

Ink: Ranger distress ink

How fancy do I feel?!? I just found out that my card was featured on the Pink Petticoat blog... In my quest for stamps, I found out about digi-stamps, and this cute little boutique has some great ones! I love technology... Anyway, thank you, Pink Petticoat, for making my day! And thanks to Emma, who was a sweetie and told me about it :)

Hey Cupcake...

The doorbell rang yesterday, and my two cutie little neighbor girls were at the door. They wanted to see if they could borrow some vanilla extract. They were making cookies with their cousin, and you could tell they were sooo excited to be baking from scratch (plus they like to ring my doorbell). I supplied the extract (I use it sometimes when I teastain fabric) and felt compelled to bake with my kids.

I used a mix, however. We made brownies, and the boys enjoyed the bowl-licking the best. After filling the baking pan, I let them have at the bowl with various spoons, mixing cups, and measuring utensils. I have never seen so much teamwork. These two were on a mission, and they were very dedicated to their mission:

Get as much chocolate on their faces as possible.

Of course my full attention was on my children, but I was also dreaming of the next card I could create. I wanted to combine some of the challenges... I am loving the challenges! So while I stirred and tried to keep the boys from putting their complete faces into the mixing bowl, I decided to do a cupcake card.

In my quest to see how many challenges I could do with one card, I was pleased to be able to use the sketch from Friday Sketchers, use circles as challenged by ABC, stitch around my papers for Creative Inspirations, and make this a little birthday card for Stamp Something .

Ingredients

Paper: MyMindsEye, Bazzill

Embellishments: handpieced cupcake by me, fabric, button, stitching

My Scrap Space...

Look quick, because it won't be this clean ever again! I used to work in the extra bedroom on the second floor, and then had the genius idea to move to the basement. Of course, moving all my stuff down two sets of stairs didn't feel very genius... Especially my work table.

Let me tell you about this work table. It is the most amazing, fabulous creation ever! One of a kind, it was built by my dad. This man can make just about anything out of wood. If-you-sketch-it, he-will-build-kind-of-guy. The catch is, and the family joke, is that when dad makes something, it weighs a TON. A lover of fine wood, he doesn't go for flimsy balsam. We are talking sturdy pine, people! It would take two people to move a nightstand my dad created. (Sorry, dad, but you know it's true). Don't get me wrong - I would waaaay have a sturdy piece of his furniture than the soon-to-be-broken pieces I can find in a store!So when I sketched out a table that was over six feet long, waist high, with cubbies to fit 12x12 paper, he made this amazing work desk for me. That had to be assembled in the room because it wouldn't fit through the door, let alone be lifted. That was six years ago. And now I decided I wanted to move this mammoth of goodness down stairs. Two sets of stairs.

Now a reasonable woman would plan this out, make sure she had several strong people on hand, and plan a weekend to complete this feat. I must not be a reasonable woman.

By some miracle, both my boys fell asleep at the same time, so I seized the moment! I grabbed my power drill, ran upstairs, and started disassembling. I must have been on a complete adrenaline rush, because I somehow managed to get the wooden Titanic safely to its new home.

I was sore for a week.

Getting my School Times Mojo on...

What a week! A flurry of cardmaking, back to school preparation, and trying to steal a few moments of summer before they are gone. I never thought I would say this, but I can't wait for school to start. I love my boys. I super do. But...

Oh. My. Goodness.

Having two four year olds is, um, tiring. Especially when their favorite activities include running, jumping, running, jumping, and running.

The school themed card (can you tell I have school on the brain?) used the sketch by Mary, and it turned out even cuter than I planned. I just love sketches... and I love that this card is perfect for the SimonSaysStamp challenge!

Ingredients

Paper: Basic Grey, MyMindsEye, Foof-a-La, DCwV, Graphic45, Little Yellow Bicycle

Embellishments: Gold brad, teastained ruler ribbon

Ink: colorbox and Ranger

Sketch: MojoMary

Ho Ho Ho...and lots of O's...

Newly addicted to blog challenges, I tried my hand at combining several challenges into one card. This Christmas card is inspired by the sketch at WhimsieDoodles, Simon Says Stamp's Christmas Challenge, and the challenge to use spots, dots, and circles over at Creative Inspirations. I have a ton of Christmas paper, and used one of my most favorite Santa stamps. I have had this guy forever.

Ingredients
Paper: MyMindsEye, Chatterbox, Imaginsce, Basic Grey
Image: so old the label is worn off and inked to oblivion
Embellishment: ribbon
Inks and colored pencils

Creepy... mojo 101

So Halloween is approaching, and I found some cutiepatootie green pompom trim just begging to be used. I added a paper pieced witch hat, and here is my card for Mojo101!

Ingredients

Paper: Basic Grey, BoBunny, Making Memories Paper Loft

Embellishments: Felt letters, trim, metal brad

Inks: Colorbox

No Place Like Home...

Today, one of the sweetiest gals in BlogLand is having her Wizard of Oz gala. Stop by Two Crazy Crafters to see what magic Twyla and Lindsey have cooked up in honor of this fabulous theme... My creation, inspired by Dorothy, is a sweet little card. I love the saying, "There's no place like home," and was initially going to paper piece a little house and such. But then I spied amongst my stash a little bundle of blue gingham fabric.

Dorothy dress fabric!

And so this card was born. Using the Mojo Monday sketch for today's challenge, which was created by Janette, here is my homage to the songbird from Kansas. I almost used an image of Judy Garland for Dorothy, but this picture speaks to me. For one, it sooo looks like a farmhouse in Kansas. Secondly, she looks to me like a young Dorothy, dreaming beyond her farmland and over the rainbow... yet still loving the home she has in her sepia colored world.

Ingredients

Paper: MyMindsEye, Jenni Bowlin

Fabric: soft blue gingham flannel

Image: vintage pic from personal collection

Embellishments: ribbon, Fiskars punch for eyelet trim, chipboard

Ink and paint, and sentiment printed from computer

Little Miss Pumpkin... Mojo100 Day 5

Yay Mojo! Having a blast with all of these sketches, I tell ya....

In my quest for stamps, I found some digi-stamps!Pretty cool, especially if you are impatient like me and want a new stamp image NOW and can't wait for the mail :) This cutie little image is one I purchased from PinkPetticoat. Isn't she super sweet? Perfect for Halloween, and I used the sketch at MojoMonday for the 5th challenge this week. I turned the sketch to make it vertical, and lost of fun mixing papers!

Ingredients

Paper: MME, BoBunny, Making Memories, CosmoCricket, Basic Grey, and Bazzill carstock

Image: Pink Petticoat Frillie Millie

Embellishments: ribbon

Ink and colored pencils

Lace...

I got a nice comment from Kathy, and she told me about the challenge at Daring Cardmakers. The challenge was this: Lace. Since I love vintage and old goodness, I had a stash of lace to choose from. I found this crocheted lace that I just had a smidge of, and it was an odd, green color... perfect for the papers I have been wanting to use!

Ingredients

Paper: Websters Pages, DCwV, Graphic 45

Image: Luna Girl

Embellishment: lace :)

Ink: Ranger distress ink

hello friend... Mojo 100 day 4!

I have been doing many vintage-y cards, and decided to challenge myself to do something different! Yes, I played with bold colors! Pinks and green, and no distress ink. Gasp! And it was fun! I was a little nervous, but I am happy with the results. I am also happy I am actually keeping up with the challenges! I am the Queen of Sidetracked as well "Nostalgia", but I am so pumped with doing cards, I find myself itching to do more and more and more!

This card uses the sketch by Sara from MojoMonday, and it was super fun :)

Ingredients

Paper: MyMindsEye, Creative Imagination, Prima

Image: Judith (it is dated 1995... I told you my stamps were old! But isn't that guy cute?)

Embellishments: Chipboard, ribbon

Techniques: Sanding (paper edges) and Paint (chipboard)