Day 2... What to do with all that ribbon

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SCROLL DOWN TO POST # 100 !!!!

Those of you who know me... know... RIBBON RIBBON RIBBON is my favorite embellishment. And boy do I buy ribbon. Satin ribbon, grosgrain ribbon, velvet ribbon, striped ribbon, polka dot ribbon.. You get the picture. Since I started stamping my dilemma has been.. Where do I put it all ???????

Have you been over to check out Nicole Hardy's blog or Michelle Wooderson blogs and their brandy spank'in new "oh I wish I had their studios ~ studios.." (If not, you just may want to... LOL) when you do you'll see they have some FABULOUS organizing ideas.. When your checking out Nicole's pay close attention to pictures # 13, 15 and 16 (Yepper.. I did the counting for you...:) that's the type of person I am... LOL) .. You'll see she's wrapped her ribbon around old fashioned clothespins, then organizes them in clear candy jars she purchased at Wal-mart for about $5 a piece... AH HA... was that a light bulb moment or what???? Thank you Nicole for the inspiration.. Here's my ribbon storage solution..


Off I went to the 'Yankee Dollar Store". Hmm where to find old fashioned clothes pins. I happened upon the craft section first (it just happens to be next to the gardening section and how can I resist either...) YIPEE here they are. $1 for 20. 5 packages should do me.. I should even have a few left overs.. HHAHAHAHHAHA.. Boy did I under estimate myself. Wednesday evening I wrapped 100 spools of ribbon and wasn't even close to finishing.. Friday, back to the dollar store for 5 more packages. Another 78 spools wrapped and yipee I was done and boy did my hands thank me. (a total of 178 spools of ribbon) HMM now what to do with them. A few stores down from the dollar store is "Tuesday Morning". Jackpot... Large canning jars with the flip lids $3.99 each.. I chose to organize my ribbon by colors (this is just what worked for me..it's easier on the eyes) blues, neutrals, pinks, black/ white/ metallics/ twines and all others. On the 2nd shelf I also have a cropper hopper embellishment holder which holds 90 embellishment boxes. These too have ribbon rolled up and neatly tucked in each little box (again organized by colors). These are clear as well so you can see what ribbon is inside.


Tip #2... Keep what you have a lot of.. together, where you can see it and it's easily accessible.. What do I mean by that? Personally I have a large amount of ribbon, so I've kept it together on 1 shelf and store them based on how you use them. You can sort them by color, type, texture, wide, thin.. what ever works for you because your the one using it. I chose to sort them by color and in clear jars. This way, I simply have to go to my jars and pick a color. I'm able to see what I have, can pick one that matches my project, reach in and I'm done.. No pulling out bins, sorting through trying to see what I have, will it match my project. By having them in clear jars and sorted by color all of the work has been done for me. I also have extra clothes pins so as I acquire more ribbon I can easily wrap it up and put it where it belongs..

Happy organizing :)

Day 1...Purge Purge Purge

HEAD DOWN TO POST #100 FOR A LITTLE BLOG CANDY...

Saturday morning I got up at what felt like the crack of dawn.. went to get my hair highlighted (the things we do to be a DIVA), stopped and picked up a few groceries and got home just in when my DH finish cleaning the house (sometimes it nice to have a house-boy... LOL) so I meandered upstairs to my stamp room only to find it looking like this...

BEFORE

So I nestled myself in and started cleaning. The first thing I did was purge purge purge.. I decided I couldn't get much done with all of my hoarding. Where are those empty SUP boxes? I knew I was saving them for something. I started filling them with everything that I needed to get out of my stamp room. I had scrap paper stacked up to my bootie (literally) and stuff everywhere. So I made 3 piles. Pile 1.. everything that I really couldn't live without ... Pile 2... This would be good for blog candy and Pile 3... get this junk out of my stamp room. By the time I was done.. My garbage pile was stacked to my bootie, I had a nice pile for blog candy and everything I was keeping was much more manageable. Now I could start to organize.

Tip #1... Purge, Purge Purge.. I'm sure this is the last thing on your list you really what to do.. But it is a very important step to your organizing. You can't organize until you've de~cluttered. Don't limit your de~cluttering to your stamping table and surrounding area. Don't forget drawers, boxes, shelves, paper scraps... Keep what you must have (limiting this to a manageable amount), donate the rest that is not trash... and get rid of the trash (there's no sense keeping it hanging around if it's no good).. and keep asking yourself.. Do I really NEED this? Be honest. You'll be surprised by your answers.

100th POST !!!! BLOG CANDY TIME :)

Yipee Skippee.. (me jumping up and down)... Can you believe I'm on my 100th post. That is so awesome. Thank you to everyone who stops by to see what I'm rambling on and on about. I appreciate all of you :)

As you already know, since I wasn't able to attend convention this year (Who knew sod would be sooooo expensive YIKES !!!) I decided to put my free time to work and finally clean and organize my stamproom... (AKA my no boys allowed tree house.. I'll go into that later)... As expected, I am such a hoarder that I knew I would come across a few things that would make some fabulous Blog Candy.. And since this is my 100th post what better place to do it than here.. So here goes...

Who would like to have this package of goodies.... Card stock labels, Very Vanilla diecuts, Misc. colored die cuts, Christmas confetti buttons, snowflake satin.. white satin.. and gold satin ribbon, M&MBI embellishments and MM creative handwritten 7/16" letter stickers in white... show up in your mailbox. What do you have to do? This one's an easy one... Just post a comment here. Stop by, say hello, tell me something you'd like to see more of.. what ever you like. You have until Thursday 8/2/07 at 8 AM EST to post your comment. The winner will be drawn Thursday by the Random # generator.

Good Luck Everyone !!!

Merry Merry

I loved this stamp set but need some creative inspiration to use it (Guess I'll be stalking the SCS gallery with this one :) ).. Here's a little something I came up with. If you enlarge the photo, you'll be able to see the stickles a little better. I used them in the centers of the ornaments and snowflakes.

Stamps... Merry Merry, Linen

Card Stock.. Purely Pomegranate, Kraft, Very
Vanilla

Ink.. Purely Pomegranate, Sahara Sand, True Thyme

Accessories.. Diamond Stickles, Slot Punch, Hemp Twine

NEXT WEEK >>>>> Stay tuned for 5 count them 5 days of organizing. I figured that since I'm not at convention this year (as much as I'd like to have been).. I may as well use this time to be productive. So I'm taking some of the tips from my favorite bloggers (Mish and Nicole to name just a couple) and putting them to good use. So don't forget to stop back each day next week to see how productive I actually am.. Who knows what treasures I may find buried in my stamp room that would make awesome Happy Mail for someone :)

Just how big will my flowers grow?

Every time I wander around my garden it just amazes me how beautiful flowers can be. With a little help from Mother Nature and Miracle Grow wait till you see how big everything has grown.

Welcome to my garden. This flower bed is a 1/2 circle at the end of my deck and each year it fills right to the top. This year I added my rustic chair, small bird bath and a butterfly. The mango/ yellow cornflower I added almost a month ago and yesterday I added a deep orange/ red rubecia behind the chair. To the right is a sedum which will bloom shortly and to the left is my ginanormous "Helen's Flower". No one has been able to identify this plant by any other name but it gets approximately 5 - 6 foot tall, is currently about 5 foot wide and blooms with small yellow daisy type flowers. I added it to my garden about 5 years ago because my MIL's name is Helen.


Here's a side shot of the "Helen's Flower" and my star Cosmo's (planted from seed right into the ground). Mind you, my deck is 2 steps up so both of these are well over 5 foot tall. My cosmos are just starting to bud. If you enlarge the photo you can see "Harley" lying on the porch. He's exhausted. He is currently in the "Mouse relocation" program. He relocates them from all of the neighbors yards to ours.

Oreo is in the bottom right of the photo.



Depending upon where you live you may or may not be familiar with this plant. Since it's not native to the NE I was not familiar with it until this year. It's a "Caster Bean Plant" the same plant that caster oil is extracted from.







Thank you to all of my birds, squirrels and chipmunks who feed on my bird feeders. They drop sunflower seeds and this is one of the many sunflowers which have grown. The birds love these and the feisty squirrels will chew the tops off just as fast as they grow. I have no idea where they take the heads.







This is the rubecia I just planted. You can see it has a deep orange/ red petal and is just spectacular. I hope it comes back next year.

Play Ball

I confess.... Not ALL of my stamping this weekend has been Christmas. But I did make a few. In between I couldn't resist my new doggie friend. Owning 2 dalmatians (one standing here as I type with his head on my leg and those big sad brown eyes looking up at me basically saying... 'come on Mommy get away from that darn computer") this set is definitely one of my favorites...

Stamps.... Dog Gone It
Ink... Black Stazon, Copic Markers in red and gray, Stampin Up Markers in black and bashful blue (for highlights)
Paper... Real Red, Black and Whisper White Accessories... May Arts black/ white polka dot ribbon, bone clip, crystal effects

Merry Christmas

Today was the first day in a long time that I was actually able to spend as much time as I wanted in my stamp room.. Boy did that feel good. I played around with a few of the new sets and new colors hoping for a little inspiration. This will be 1 of a few Christmas cards I use this year.. Unlike last year I've promised myself that this year I won't be rushing to stamp my cards and get them in the mail the week before Christmas.

Card Size... 5 1/2" square
Stamps... Solomon Stillness, All Holiday's
Card Stock... Blue Bayou, Very Vanilla
Ink... Blue Bayou
Accessories... Cuttlebug 'swirls' embossing folder, Vanilla wide organdy ribbon, Versa Mark and Silver Embossing Powder
Technique... embossing & Stamp-a-ma-jig

New Colors

Wow.. I'm never up this late on a Sunday evening.. Well, that is unless I have tomorrow off.. WOO HOO.... Jumping up and down.... I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I've been playing around with the new colors and just love this combination.

Stamps... Sidekick Sayings (Hostess level 1), French Script
Card stock: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava and Whisper White
Ink: Blue Bayou, Groovy Guava and Mellow Moss marker
Accessories: White organdy ribbon

I Love Baroque Motifs

I'm a swirly kind of gal and just love the baroque motifs. I get into a rut and I'll keep using the same stamps and colors over and over again. Luckily there are so many wonderful cards out there for inspiration.

Today's card uses...

Stamps... Baroque Motifs and Linen (background)...

Ink... Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa and Sage Shadow (this goes great with the new Outlaw Designer Series Paper).. OK now that I think about it for a second I've confused myself.. it may be Mellow Moss. Suggestion.. stamp on a piece of white scrap paper and hold it up to see which goes better. I can clarify later for you as well.. SORRY :( definitely a brain fart kinda' day..

Card stock... Chocolate Chip, Outlaw DS and Very Vanilla

Embellishments... light green adhesive rhinestones

Technique.. I've distressed the edges with close to cocoa which gives it that aged look I always like.

Have a great weekend everyone. My goal is to start on Christmas cards.. I WILL NOT be stamping my holiday cards the week before Christmas this year..

Screamie Screamie.. Happy Halloweenie...

No you haven't lost your mind. It is still July.. But I just fell in love with this stamp when I was strolling through Ellen Hutson's store on Friday. You remember.. when I was picking out my "Must Have" Copic Markers and my Spell Binder die's.. enable enable enable.. I need HELP !!! Somebody HELP ME PLEASE !!!! You'll soon learn that Halloween is my all time favorite holiday. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas as well but Christmas is so much work. Halloweenie is just F-U-N. Where was I .. Oh.. Ellen's shipping was beyond speedy. If you decide to order from her (or if you already have I'm sure you can attest!!!) she must have Santa's elves helping her. I placed my order Friday evening (7 PMish est) and I had these in my mailbox on Monday. How awesome is that???? Whoops back to my witchie..

You definitely want to click on this card to enlarge it. It's difficult to see but both pieces of very vanilla card stock were completely embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder. It gives it an awesome glittery effect. I think your going to see this a lot from me for a little while. I just love this technique. I hope you all like it too..

Stamps... lockhart (sentiment & witch legs), dittydot background Cardstock... vintage violet, pumpkin pie, black and very vanilla Ink... versa mark, black stazon and the following markers... eggplant envy, old olive, always artichoke, more mustard, pumpkin pie, night of navy, black Accessories... twill tape, iridescent ice and black embossing powder, hemp twine, hodgepodge hardware, large oval punch and the blender pen.

Scratch and Sniff....

OM goddnessssssss... I had a beautiful (at least me and all of my other personalities thought so... hahaha) card to share today but I'm very excited about something else. I was perusing the latest issue of Stampin Success and came across the neatest thing that I just had to share. Are you ready guys and dolls...

Scratch and Sniff cards....

Wanna know how to do this? Your gonna crack up when you find out how easy this is... Here's how. You'll need a bold-style stamp, a VersaMark pad, sugar-free drink mix, clear embossing powder and an embossing tool. For your drink mix select a sugar free flavored creamer such as hot cocoa or a sugar free drink mix, such as Kool-Aid. Remember that the color of your drink mix will now become the color of your image so keep that in mind when selecting your flavor (I wouldn't want a brown apple... lol).. Are you wondering why you need sugar free? Well, what happens to sugar when you heat it as hot as an embossing tool gets.. It's going to crisp and turn browns like crème brulée. YUCK.. how horrible would that be? HMM... what could be some awesome color/ scent choices? Right off the top of my head hot cocoa would be awesome for "Like it Latte" and think of all of the possibilities for Holiday gifts.. HMMM Where will my mind take me?

Now, mix 1 part sugar-free drink mix to 1-1/2 parts Clear embossing powder (ie: 1 tsp. drink mix to 1-1/2 tsp. clear embossing powder.) Woo Hoo.. your embossing powder is now colored and scented ! How cool is that? Stamp your image in VersaMark ink then onto your card stock. Sprinkle with your scented, colored embossing powder just like you normally would. Emboss with your embossing tool and viola, you now have a scented image. Is that out of control or what?

So what are some ideas that pop into your head? Please tell !!!! We all wanna know... How about...

Witching you....

I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend. The weather was just perfect here in the NE. Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to play around with a few of the new stamps and new colors.. Here's just 1...

Stamps: Haunting Halloween (SUP fall/ winter 2007)

Card Stock: Pumpkin Pie, Halloween ds paper, Basic Grey, Whisper White
Ribbon: black checkered & orange grosgrain

Accessories: Giga and Mega scalloped circle punches.

Ink: Black stazon, eggplant envy, only orange, black and always artichoke SUP markers colored with the aqua painter & blender pens.

If you haven't noticed yet, I've cleaned up my "You have got to check these out". I've removed a few bloggers who are taking a little time away from blogging and have added a few new ones that I just stumbled upon.. Today's featured stamper is Ashley from Ashley's Creative Corner.. OMG I just love her. Cruise on over to her blog and check her out. She's doing some awesome things with the new stamps (while your there don't forget to sign her guestbook and say hello !!) It's quite obvious how extremely talented she is. Thank you Ashley for being such an inspiration !!!

You must go shopping

So enabler is my middle name... But I would not be doing my J-O-B if I didn't send you all over to Ellen's store to pick up a few must haves TODAY !!!! I would post the pics of these but I'm afraid I'd get a nasty email or at least one with a very stern tone from Ellen, so I'll refrain. But you'll see what I'm talking about when you get your snarly little butts over there.

First... Your copic markers. I've been watching everyone do fabulous things with these so you need to pick yourself up a set. These are pre-orders but you can read all about them on Ellen's blog and get the details of the pre order. Now I personally picked up the 12D along with a dim green and light pink. I can't wait for them to get here..

Secondly...
The Spellbinders dies. I'm hoping these will eliminate the need for me to have all of those really heavy punches that I just broke down and purchased 2 of (you know the one's I get a hernia lifting).. I went for the large rectangle scalloped and large oval scalloped (I have the circles in the giga and mega scalloped).

I've saved the very best for last... GET OVER THERE NOW!!!! for 13 hours today (6 AM - 7 PM PACIFIC time... that's 3 hours behind all of us East coaster's.. It's 7:45 here now so you still have about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get your order in..) Using promotional code 131313-v2 (typed exactly as shown) you will get 13% off your order .. This includes those preorders.. So stop reading and get shopping gals.. But wait.. one word of advice.. if you order the spellbinders and the markers, put them on separate orders. This way you'll get your markers sooner !!! Otherwise your entire order will be held up for the spellbinders.

Please tell Ellen who sent 'ya and then come back and let us all know what you picked out. By the way, if your looking for fabulous examples using the makers and the dies go check out Ellen's, Michelle's (mish's), Trudee and Debbie's blogs. It's all there for your viewing pleasure. Now why are you still reading and not shopping? I thought I taught you better than that now get over there !!!

I was just monkeying around

In between laundry, picnics, dr appointments and mounting stamps yesterday I did manage to squeeze in a little monkeying around. A former big sis of mine who shall remain nameless (trust me she knows who she is) wanted a 'bee' joy fold card. So while I was cutting one for her I thought I'd make one with my favorite little monkey's that I had not used yet. Here goes..

For the base of the card is so saffron with the new Flair Designs Autumn Splendor paper (Autumn Squares and Autumn Harvest Brown.. you can pick these up at Jacksonbelle Embellishments... hint hint off to the left under shopping).. and very vanilla card stock. The harvest brown circle was punched with my giga punch and the mega punch for the very vanilla. The leaf stamp is from this month's Papertreyink "Text Box" and were stamped in always artichoke. I stamped off first (stamped on my scrap paper to get most of the ink off of my stamp) before stamping on the card stock. My monkeys (don'tcha love'em...you just want to tickle their bellies) are from Eclectic Paperie. HMM I shopped just about everywhere to make this card.. LOL. Their colored with my Stampin Up markers (Cropics were only ordered today. I can't wait for them to get here !!!) in Sahara Sand and Close to Cocoa. To hold my fold down I stamped "Giggle" in chocolate chip again on the very vanilla and then antiqued it for a little added flair. Attached a couple small prima's with a copper brad to the card stock, popped on a dimensional glue dot and whammy I was done 'monkeying around'.. SHHH don't tell anyone but these colors are fabulous with the bee trio as well...

Congratulations Jodene

As I promised... When I hit 5 K I was giving away the last gift certificate to Eclectic Paperie... Congratulations lucky subscriber #25

Jodene..

Thank you to everyone who reads and subscribes to my blog. It's all of you who keep me stamping..

What is the true defintion of "Stalking"

Yesterday was a truly magnificent day.. It was 'NEW CATTY STUFF ARRIVES DAY'. Since I had ordered with 2nd day air shipping I started my stalking quite early in the day..

• Check UPS website.. Yep out for delivery.. Now hmmmmmm what time do they deliver 2nd day air?
• Continue checking website over and over again.. Nope not delivered yet....
• Get home from work... Check front porch.. Nope not delivered yet... Better check website just to make sure they didn't deliver it some where else.. Nope not delivered yet...
• Make dinner... Check website.... (I'm not quite sure why I would certainly hear my boyfriend when he pulled up in his big brown truck and then rang my doorbell)...
• Eat dinner... Nope not delivered yet...
• Do a little work on the computer... Ohh who do I hear out front... Run to the door... Nope false alarm..
• Back to the computer... Wait.. Is it, could it be.... Jump up and run to the door... My BFF in his little brown uniform drops my box on my front porch and make a mad run for his truck. OK so it was raining.. OK so it was thundering.. OK yep even a little lightening. Did he have to drop my beautiful box of new stuff....

This is what my beautiful box looked like with that teal sticker. It's a little blurry but you get the gist. I delicately open the box, tear out the brown packing paper and look what I find...

All my goodies... Here's my first order of must haves..

• Basic Grey Classic Stampin Pad
• Basic Grey card stock
• square envies
• hemp twine (I was all out)
• Outlaw designer series paper
• Ice rhinestone brads (back ordered)
• Haunting Halloween set
• Merry Merry Christmas set
• Dog-Gone It
• Baroque Motifs
• Please Come
• All Holiday's
• 5/8" Chocolate grosgrain ribbon and the
• 5/8" Celery grosgrain ribbon and finally
• Sidekick hostess set..

There's plenty more on my wish list... My absolute next must haves is the Stack N Store, Pretties, Art by Design, Totally Tabs and my hostess set will be the Party Punch..

Now tonight... I Mount... that didn't sound to good but you know what I mean.. LOL.

It's a BEE party

July seems to be a month for lots of birthday's. Last night I whipped up this "Bee Party" card. I made a bunch (taking Michelle's advice to make more than 1 when your making cards). Beate's tutorial for a joy fold card makes them so easy...

The base uses Sage Shadow and I apologize but I'm not quite sure where I picked up this decorative paper. Any coordinating paper will do.. The fold is pretty in pink and the bee is stamped on whisper white in black noir palette ink. I then made a little button using my 1 3/8" circle punch in the sage shadow and attached a pink prima flower with a silver brad.. The image was colored with SUP markers in sage shadow, pretty in pink, barely banana and brocade blue. Inside say's.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY... :)

I've been tagged ....

Thanks Lindsey.. I've been tagged.

Here are the rules.. I must post 7 random things about myself... I must tag 7 other bloggers to do the same... I will post rules and the bloggers I tagged here... and I will leave tagged bloggers comments on their site so they know they've been tagged... Here goes..

1) My favorite ice cream is soft serve vanilla with fresh raspberries.. Ok, so may be that's a sundae but ohhh it's so good.

2) I love to cook, but I stink at baking.

3) My very first 'official' car was a green '67 Dodge Dart.. It was 20 years old when I got it..

4) My favorite vacation spot above all else is the ocean. There's nothing better than smooshing your toes in the sand.

5) If I allowed myself I could be a choc-o-holic.

6) My husband says I cheat at games.. I wouldn't necessarily call it cheating, I would call it a need to win.

7) I sing to the radio when I'm driving and I sing even louder when someones watching.

Now, for my 7 tagee's..

1) Adelina (well said cards)

2) Cindy (creating with the heart)

3) Cheryl (Engineered Expressions)

4) Alex (Sillybirds Stamping Diary)

5) Angie (Quacking Creations)

6) Dani (Stamping Dani) and,

7) Lindsey (Embellished)..

Happy Sunday

Happy Day's are here again.. The skies above are clear again.. well, they've been clear for a few days now but whose getting technical. Wow what a crazy weekend again. Making salads and deviled eggs on Friday for a graduation party yesterday. Now today is my DH's 39th birthday. We don't discuss the fact that Wednesday was my FIL's bday and Thursday our anniversary. WHOO I'm looking forward to a rest. I think my stamp room is getting dusty. I haven't been up there much all week.

This morning I did a little weeding in my garden and was amazed at how much everything has grown this past month. I wanted to share a few pics with you all because gardening is in my 'blood'.. :)

Everything is pretty green right now but green is much better than the brown and white winter we had. I'll take green any day. My "Helen's Flower to the left is about 4 1/2' current and will probably grow another foot or so before blooming beautiful yellow daisy like flowers. My 'peas' are spiraling up my my little trellis and right behind the peas is a small patch of 'star cosmo's'. I can't wait to see them bloom.





This little fellow I just picked up.. It's a 'mango yellow' cone flower. The petals are a deep orange/ yellow color. This is a definite keeper..





A month ago these 'choreopsis' were just itty bitty things. Now look at it. The bush is about 2 ' tall and is just loaded with buds. It's like the Snapple commercial for white tea. Each time I 'pluck' the dead flowers off of it. Twice as many come back. This would be beautiful in a red.








I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with this flower. It's a 'Caster Oil Plant'. Yep, the same plant that they extract the oils from for that nasty ole' caster oil (not sure what they do with the oil afterwards but I have heard of it). This plant gets these beautiful red ball flowers. It just started to bloom so I'm anxious to see how big it will get.














This year I planted my morning glories in a planter box and set it in my garden along the fence with a little black trellis behind it to grow on. Look what it's already done. It's winding right around that trellis.












These are small maroon sunflowers I planted from seeds. Their gonna be gorgeous is another few weeks. Although I can't remember how big their supposed to get... Whoops.








And finally, these are the 'firecrackers' given to me last year from one of my dear friends (it seems like were in a never ending gardening competition.. what's come up in your garden, what bloomed today, my dahlia is bigger than yours... blah blah blah.. that's what we do for fun.... hahahah).. Last year I planted 1 lonely firecracker and this is what came up this year. It's my understanding that they'll keep multiplying and spreading each year. Next to it is 1 pitiful dahlia that came up. For some strange reason all of our dahlia's seem very small this year..