I made this card while having a not very creative card making moment. It definitely feels like it is lacking something. I like the spider though.

images, paper, ink all copyright Stampin’ Up.

(Clicking the picture will keep you on my site but the picture will be much bigger).

I’m posting even though I don’t love the card to show that not everything we make turns out perfect! Hahahaha

And yet - another swap card that I made the other day. This one is for February (my early card since I was late with two of them!). I really like this Valentine’s Day card because it isn’t pink or red. LOL

All images, paper and ink Copyright Stampin’ Up. I used Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal and Whisper White paper, Certainly Celery ink, Sage Advice stamp set and clear embossing powder. The rhinestones are from Target.

See, a quote! I like that I lined up the hearts and the quote against the stripe, but sort of feel like something is missing in the space. I try not to always center everything – a drawback from my Desktop Publishing teacher drilling it into us that center everything is not a good thing. LOL

Oh and you can’t really tell from this scan of the card but the inside of the hearts I filled with embossing powder so they are shiny.

I try to send Valentine’s cards out every year - at least to my Mom, Dad, Grandma and nephews. I’m not sure if I’m going to use this card though. Well I mean, I’d have to make more because I just made the few to send out and one for myself! In my card making I found a LOT of pink paper … so maybe I will have to just go with pink.

Remember I mentioned being two cards behind in my card swap group with friends? Well way back in November my group swap theme was Red ~ just anything red, red card, paper, ink, etc. I picked red as an accent on a welcome card:

All image, paper, stamps and ink Copyright Stampin’ Up. I used Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel and Whisper White paper, Ruby Red and Chocolate Chip ink, Warm Words and Fresh Fillers stamp sets. The ribbon and rhinestones are from Target.

I like this design but feel like something is missing. Maybe something should be on the ribbon? Maybe there should be not as many flowers? I’m not sure. I do like the overall design though.

A lot of the stamps that I own are words ~ quotes or words that make up something a phrase, like Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas. I’ve always been a writer and assume that’s why I am drawn to the words. I like the images, but find I don’t have the patience to color a stamp multiple colors or to even just color something in. I have both the SU chalks and the watercolor crayons (I bought them before I joined SU – the chalks come with the demo kit) and have never used the chalks and only used the crayons a few times. I wish I wanted to use them more, I probably need to find designs that I like and just run with it. I’ve done projects with the watercolor crayons and oh my gosh they are so fun to play with and just beautiful. That’s it, I just need more project ideas!

More then two weeks after my first Tackle It Tuesday I am finally ready to update my first try. This post is picture heavy so be careful.

Just for an update, here is the post sharing my very, very messy office/craft room floor.

Since I generally tend to think of myself as organized, I’m not sure what it was that made me take so long cleaning up the area. I don’t mean the past two weeks, I mean before that. I shred junk mail the day it arrives, I put my crafts away when I’m done. It just all exploded.

But first, the bathroom:

We had that small dresser in the bathroom and it just wasn’t being used properly. Sure toilet paper was in the bottom drawer, but that was it! So I bought a cute stand, a scarf and a toilet paper holder and voila! Instant adorable-ness plus I get to use the dresser somewhere else. And a plus is the bathroom looks and feels bigger now. Because that’s important right? LOL

So the dresser now houses the kids stuff in the craft room. The bookcase in here had been sort of organized. I had the bottom shelf as office supplies (labels, envelopes, plastic boxes to hold them, etc), another shelf as kids stuff (crayons, markers, coloring books, etc), another shelf for stamping/card making. But though each shelf was organized, none of it really matched. So I moved a dresser that had been in the bathroom (here is the bathroom before w/ the dresser - and after with the new stand) upstairs to be the new kids stuff section in the room.

The bookcase went from looking like this

to looking like this after

I know, I know, what fun is showing an empty shelf. But it actually stayed empty for a few days while I tried to figure out what to put on it! Now I have a bunch of craft magazines but they are only taking up about 1/4 of the shelf. It’s nice to have an empty spot in here, I know I have a lot of stuff.

Here is the rest of the room (okay the plugin I use for my Flickr pictures isn’t working and I added a bunch of notes so feel free to click on the picture to go to Flickr to read the notes. LOL)

Standing at the door

Left side of the room (sewing table hidden behind artwork that is still there!)

Closet & Right side of room

Full on shot of right side

Basically *everything* in the room has been organized. The shelves on the bookcase are better put together and three of them are housing card making supplies, ideas and samples. The closet top shelf is organzed with cds and software rarely needed, photo boxes and kids school supplies like the 30 boxes of crayons I have. LOL Two shelves are for stamps and more card making supplies, and a third is partly card stuff. I moved a shelf from the left side of the room over to the right and have utilized it much better then before.

One thing that amazes me is that I didn’t have to go buy anything - I just used what I had in the house. I knew I had a lot of baskets and plastic boxes, but really, this many? LOL Good that I am finally using them though.

The room is still relatively cleaned up. I still haven’t moved the artwork (the pictures were taken a few days ago) or empty containers nor have I cleaned off the sewing table. I admit I took a lot of my card making stuff downstairs to the family room as for the past week or so we have all been watching a lot of movies. Never one to sit still, I make cards while we are doing so. All is neat down there though, I have enough containers and craft organizing bags that I just packed up and moved out.

Yesterday I shared the pink Birthday Card that I sent to be swapped with my team at the demo meeting. I also do a monthly card swap with a few friends back in WA State. We pick a monthly theme and then each make cards that go along with that. I am late with two cards (Nov & Dec) though. To make up for the lateness, I am also mailing my February card early! So anyway, yesterday I sent them each four cards. Here is one ~

All images, paper, stamps, ink and punch Copyright Stampin’ Up. I used Almost Amethyst, Blush Blossom, Apricot Appeal and Whisper White paper; Happy Everything stamp set; Flower punch and Blush Blossom ink. The eyelet came from a pack I bought at Target.

Sidenote about Target: You are stopping by the dollar section when you go right? I love that spot! And of course it is placed perfectly, at the front of the store where you can’t miss it. I think it was right before Christmas that they had the section stocked with scrapbooking/stamping/card making supplies. I grabbed some stickers and eyelets and also grabbed rhinestones that were in their stationary/scrapbooking section that were on clearance.

I am still loving this card design! I liked it so much that I made it my group swap birthday card. I picked paper color and just went with it. The stamp set come with other words - days, life, everything to name a few - and I want to experiment with different words with this design. And probably different embellishments too - flowers won’t work for everything. I need to make a birthday card for my Aunt’s birthday next month so I think her card will be the first I’ll experiment with.

I joined Stampin’ Up a couple of months ago – strictly as a hobby demo. That means I don’t hold parties, actively recruit anyone and just buy for myself. Yes, I am that addicted. LOL

This is the first month that I am making my own swap cards for my team demo meeting. My team is actually back in WA State, I signed up with one of my very good friends there. It is all her fault I love this! She made a set of cards for me for a previous demo meeting so I was a little nervous to make my own.

All images, paper, stamps, ink, eyelet and punch Copyright Stampin’ Up. I used Pretty In Pink, Perfect Plum, Sage Shadow and Whisper White paper, Happy Everything stamp set, Perfect Plum ink, Soft Subtles eyelets and Flower Punch.

I made a pink Happy Birthday card! The design is all my own too. The only thing I was thinking was I wanted a strip or I wanted half of the card to be a different color. I really like how this turned out – simple and pretty. I can’t wait to see what cards I get back!

LOL @ the ™ (trademark) on Craft ADD. I work online and this summer I participated in this challenge and every time the guys did a video, they would say whatever phrase and then “tm” - it was sort of a running joke but also sort of true because of the issues (both good and bad) they had in business before. Anyway, just a little explanation because I think it’s funny.

Anyway, my Craft ADD ™ is L-O-V-I-N-G crochet!!!!! I know most of the other crafts can be done quickly and get practically instant results. But for whatever reason, I’ve been able to breeze through crocheting. Seriously, this is awesome.

I showed the purple scarf the other day right, I made a little bit shorter and little bit skinnier one for my daughter (same color). Then I made a regular sized one for my other SIL. And then today I made one side of a wrist warmer for myself. I am LOVING this!!! I love all the crafts that I do - what’s the point otherwise right? - but I didn’t realize how fast I could be with crochet. Okay I do make it a point to craft often during the day - I will watch an episode of tv and crochet the entire time. Or just sit with my husband while he watches tv and crochet. I even took the crochet in the car a couple of times!

I have one other wrist warmer to make and then I need a scarf for myself. I need to find a pattern that isn’t as heavy as the one I’ve been using since I want to use the same yarn.

I also want to find a pattern for a baby blanket - I have two new nephews that “need” blankets. LOL I thought I found one but the instructions want me to crochet in the round. Maybe I can’t read the instructions clearly enough, but I don’t want a round blanket, just a square one. I’ve found a few patterns out there but admit I am still searching.