Only a few hours left of May...

It's been a whirlwind around here lately. I've been a very bad blogger, I know. I tend to get caught up in things and April and May were no exception. I was very busy getting my submission together for a contest with Stampin' Up!, and planning some classes and then it was time for camping! Well, as I ease into summer I hope I'll be a little more frequent in the blogging department. During the summer when it's really too hot to do anything, I get built in rest time during the day. Not every day mind you, but a few a week. The little ones (and me!) can handle only so much heat so resting in front of a fan is a must. I'm hoping some of that time could be spent updating you all on what's happening over here at the camp. I'm finding that I tend to want to put so many photos up on here but that it really slows me down. I might not worry so much about it and just keep trying to get on top of things. We'll see how it goes. Have a great week!

I'm baaack!

It has been a few days since my last post but at

least it's still March. These are some of the things that I have been working on the last few weeks. His Holy Name Challenge '09 Weeks 2,3,4 and 5. Some info on these...Creator-Top Note Die was run through the Big shot in an embossing folder and then sponged with bravo burgundy to highlight the embossing, retired Parisian Summer DSP, ribbon and bling. Righteous-Bella Rose DSP, scalloped rectangle nestabilities. Sovereign-prima flowers,re

tired DSP. Protector-retired DSP, prima flowers and some brads. I'm trying not to hoard all my DSP especially the retired stuff that I can't use in my classes.I have also been working

some stuff to submit to Stampin' Up! for their Artisan Award. I won't be able to post those here because of their contest rules but I am hoping to get some feedback from some peers. I'll let you know what they say. As you can see I'm also trying to get used to this blog stuff. Please excuse the poor layout. Everytime I insert a photo or do any typing, everything moves around! Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong or what I should be doing? It's very frustrating for a visual person. Eventually I'll figure it out so keep checking back! Have a great day!

A Month from Tomorrow...

In my last post I mentioned that I would show you some more projects "tomorrow". Well, it happens to be more than a month after "tomorrow", sorry about that. I'm not so great with keeping in touch. I was never a letter writer or thank you card sender kind of person. I don't think that's going to change either. But seeing as how this is neither a thank you card or an actual letter, I might still get the hang of this blog stuff. And so without further ado, here are some of the promised projects...

These are two from a set that I made using the Raspberry Tart Papers. On the Love card I used SU!'s felt flowers but folded them over to mimic the flowers on the paper.

These ones are pretty basic but I really enjoyed mixing the patterns together on the left. I'm not always comfortable mixing patterns but when you stick to the papers within the same collection it makes things much easier.

This card was for my Aunt Kate's birthday this past February. I love making cards for her because she makes them as well and totally appreciates all the love and effort that goes into them. I really love this card as it uses all my favorites on it. The Top Note die, Birds and Blooms and my fave, Parisian Summer papers(retired,sigh).

Well I think I'm about blogged out tonight. In my next post I will have the last 4 challenges for His Holy Name '09. Check back soon, because I might even surprise myself and post these in the next few days.

I can't believe it's February...

...already! What happened to January? Okay , I guess I was a little busy and that always makes time fly. I did wrap up the month with my first Stamper's Club '09. I've got 8 fabulous ladies that get together every month to learn new stuff. This month all the ladies got to make a cute little 2,4,6,8 box filled with Hershey's kisses and a chipboard notebook covered with Stampin' Up!'s new Designer Series Paper. My sample notebook below is actually covered in a retired paper called Parisian Summer. I loved the colors so much and I was certain they wouldn't retire it, so I made mine before the list came out. Well, I was wrong and didn't order more. I decided to use it on something that I would use a lot and for a long time. I stuffed this baby full of paper to write down challenges and sketches, ideas for classes and projects, and general inspiration stuff.

I've already taken a few pictures of a little project I whipped up earlier this week, but I'm going to post them tomorrow. I used the Raspberry Tart that my Ladies used on their notebooks so you can see a sample of that paper. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

IT"S ABOUT TIME...

So this is where I've been spending most of my "spare" time. It's finally (almost) done. Only the floor is left and even I can install that on my own. I just need a few more days in the week. Anyways, here it is....

This is where my embellishments are stored in hanging spice jars. Gotta love Ikea! Also in this area is my Bind it All, Cuttlebug, embossing station, and sewing machine. I use the sewing machine as the backgroung for my picture taking.

Next on our tour is where my stamps live. This was an old shelf DH's dad had when he owned a video store. DH would like me to note that it was his idea to mount the pink shelf on top to hold heavier books and the lighting. Spools of ribbon are lined up on the shelves and pieces are hung on hangers in color families.

This is my desk. It's a beautiful old table that I inherited from my Poppa. I've covered it so it doesn't get damaged. All my inks and tools are near so I know what I've got to work with.

This is my paper storage tower. I love it. I finally found a system that works for me. These units have 3 drawers. I labelled them by SU! Color family. For example: Rich Regals Cardstock, Rich Regals Designer Series Paper, Rich Regals Scraps. There is one for each family, In Colors, dark neutrals, light neutrals, simply scrappin' kits, chipboard and discontinued papers.

And here we have my storage boxes and project bins. Below are 3 stacks of drawers full of kids craft stuff. I do lots of kid's classes but they don't usually get to use "my" stuff. The last wall holds more Ikea rails and buckets. I'll show you those in another post because my pictures of them were so bad, I have to try and take better ones.

So that's what I've been busy doing instead of all those challenges I said I wanted to keep up on. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of "my room". Now that the space is done, I'm going to go create!

I'm a little late with these challenges, but I guess better late than never. The first one is for SCS Friday's Limited Supplies challenge 202. Basically use red and hearts. Nothing too fancy but it meets the requirements.All the red is SU! Riding Hood Red which has to be a favorite of mine. I'm not sure why but I'm not really a red person. However I have used this red on most of my Christmas cards and I just keep coming back for more. Pink Pirouette cuttlebugged hearts and Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon(see what I mean?). I also used this for Tuesday's Card Sketch Challenge 210.

This one is for Patter's HHN09 challenge. I chose to do a rolodex type display so I can leave it out on my desk and have easy access to it. The first picture is of the back with the following scriptures, Psalms 145:21, 99:3, 103:1. I used my label maker with different size fonts to print the word HOLY then dabbed them with ranger's alcohol ink to cover up the white tape background. The buttons were given to me from a friend. Some are vintage, some aren't but I have A LOT of them so I thought I should start using them.

This is the front of my rolodex card. I love the adhesive felt flourishes and used them in different colors for the front and back. Prima flowers with a fire rhinestone brad to give it a little sparkle, and more buttons. HOLY is done with those alpha stickers from Julie's RAK. The paper is from K&Company. I can't remember the name of it but I love it. Flourishes, flocking,distressing and script all in my favorite shades of antique. It just doesn't get any better. I'm trying not to hoard it but I've used it on projects that I'm keeping for myself, so I'll always have some around.

And last but not least...actually this was the first challenge I completed last week. CC200 was pumpkin pie, garden green and brilliant blue. This is definately not my favorite color combo but when I saw them together I thought I could make it work for a boy card. SU!'s All Wrapped Up is retired but it's my "go to" set for little boys. There's also a gold fish and an accessories set that you can use to fill the jar with candies or bugs, etc. Definately boy stuff.

Sorry for the long post today, but I wanted to get all these up before I started on this week's challenges. Have a great Monday!

A couple of Firsts...

Happy New Year everyone! I know I'm a little late with that one but I do have a very good excuse. We were sick. And I mean we, all four of us, were not feeling very happy. Last weekend I finally came down with the bug my sister and her girls had on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Not very merry for them let me tell you. Well, Mike had to leave the New Year's Eve festivities early(a first) to go hang out with our toilet. By Friday night Parker was running for the bathroom... he didn't make it(not a first). We woke up Saturday to Connor making the dash. He, bless him, made it in time. Big brownie points to my wonderful husband for doing all the clean up and the night watch(another first). Thanks Babe!

Well, now on to more pleasant stuff. Christmas evening I found out that I had won a RAK from Julie! My first ever! Very cute stuff, I can't wait to break into it. Thanks Julie! You'll want to go check out her blog, mini moments, she is so very talented and creative. She also sent along a great little card but my camera did not want to take a nice pic of it this evening. I'll try again tomorrow.

Another first for me is seen here on the right. I did the Monday Try a New Technique challenge from Splitcoast. The very sparkly background was the technique. I'm sorry to say that my camera skills are horrible but I hope to get better as I go. The card is not my favorite. I was thinking of trying out something for Connor's upcoming birthday, so I didn't want anything too "girly sparkly dazzling". He likes blue and yellow, but the yellow looks more like gold. I think I'll try something else,maybe my first Tuesday Color Challenge. I'll let you know how that turns out.

One last first...Patter from triple the scraps, has posted the first study from her "His Holy Name" Challenge. I'll be following along and trying to keep up. I'll post my stuff here as well as uploading to Splitcoast(yet another first). Check back to see what I'm up to.