A little reorganizing

does the stamping mojo good :) ... For the past few weeks I've been feeling very 'un'inspired.. My stamping mojo was in the toilet.. LOL So I thought that if I moved things around a bit, opened my space up a little more.. If I let in a little ying and let out a little yang maybe I would be more inspired.. So here's what I came up with.. Keep in mind that the other 1/2 of my stamp room is our den.. So I still needed to make room for 2 recliners and a tv.. The best thing would be that if some day I could take over the entire den.. But I really don't see that happening at this point. May be a basement redo would work though.. .Right Tilly?

This first picture is my stamping desk.. You'll see that I have a 'shoe' organizer shelf which hold my tins of ribbons and reinkers/ stickles perfectly.. On top there's even room for my white spinners.. (That's my technical term for them).. I love these. 1 holds my glues, glue dots etc. and the other holds my cuttlebug plates. This way I always know where they are when I need them..

These 2 'x' cubes are the dividers from my spinners. I was looking for something to hold my copic markers so that they were readily accessible and could be sorted by color. I'm still on the look out for smaller wooden cubes so if anyone finds some and wants to send me a RAK.. I'd LOVE IT.. LOL But for now, these work perfectly..

This is the other side of my desk.. I call it my embellishment center. Ok Ok I'll admit it, besides ribbon I have an addiction to embellishments. There I said it. I actually bought this holder in the home improvement section of walmart. My original plan was to house my copics in it. But it was about 1/2" too short so whoops.. I've filled it with my ranger dabbers, glitters, dew drops and my pretties (SUP)..



You know you really have an addiction when you need an entire shelf just for ribbon.. what can I say.. I (((HEART))) ribbon... This metal shelf is perfect for holding your punches as well. The other shelves are for paper and misc.. gotta haves.. including my bind it all..

Did you notice the wire caddy on the floor??? These are all cards, looking for a good home. :)



Tucked over in the corner under the eaves is my paper.. I've chosen to use the Cropper Hopper paper holders and the plastic drawers for my paper. The cropper hoppers hold my solid card stocks and the drawers my 12 x 12 designer papers..

Can a girl ever have enough stamps? This nice big 5 shelf book shelf holds all of my stamps and misc. Stampin Up items.. I'm doing much better. At 1 point about 6 months ago, all 5 shelves were full.. But if you notice the MM shelf next to it.. all of the clear plastic cd tins house my clear stamps.. LOL So I probably have the same amount of stamps.. Just house them a little better now than I did then..

And finally... more embellishments and more clear stamps... This is my MM embellishment center (I'm not sure if that's it's real name or my name for it.. :) ) that I picked up at Mike's the day after Christmas last year for a steal.. I love it.. The shelves are just perfect..

Well, this is where I create my magic... HAHAH.. So if you have any suggestions how I could use my space a little better or organize my must-haves to be a bit more organized.. Please pass it on.. I'm always searching for ways to be more organized..

Happy Stamping :)
Lisa

The air is getting crisp

It's that time of year again.. The air is starting to get crisp (that is up until yesterday when it was 90' and Hazy Hot and Humid.. as I walked down the street, every air conditioner was running.. National Grid must have been in their glory.. But that's another story.. LOL )... My all time favorite time of year is the fall.. the crisp smell of the air, apple picking, pumpkins, Halloween, Thanksgiving.. The only thing that's not fun is pulling the flowers out of the flower beds and raking the leaves.. But I guess we take the good with the bad. ..

This past week I celebrated 2 birthdays.. The first was my MIL's and the 2nd was our Pastors wife... So I made them this beautiful fall 'birthday' card using one of my new favorite stamps from Penny Black... Fantasy... The tree it's self, along with the gourds, pumpkins and acorns were all embossed using my chocolate bliss embossing powder from Gele-tins. OMGoodness... it does smell like chocolate.. How cool is that...

Fall Recipe...

Cardstock... Close to cocoa, really rust, confetti white (SUP) & spring moss PTI..

Stamps.. Fantasy (Penny Black) & Autumn Harvest (SUP)

Ink.. various copic markers

Accessories.. May Arts striped ribbon, Chocolate Bliss embossing powder, orange peel & cinnamon stickles... large slot punch (SUP)

Here's a little something I just had to share... Our fur pooch "Carter"... named after former President Jimmy Carter.. he and his litter mates were all born right around the 4th of July so they were all named after former presidents.. So when we got him the name just stuck.. LOL) .. Carter is a big baby and carries around his babies.. He has a stuffed dalmatian 'baby'.. a stuffed 'piggy' and loofa dog... A few nights ago I was in on the 'puter and looked over. Smoochy was sound asleep with his head on piggy.. The life of a fur baby.. LOL

Happy Stamping !!

Lisa

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

do dragonflies actually buzz...... HMM.... I simply adore dragonflies so when I found this paper in my LSS I just had to grab a piece.. And knew exactly what I'd be doing with it... A fall dragonfly.. A wonderful thing about these little critters is that like butterflies they come in a multi-tude of colors.

For this card I tried something a little different. The "Gate fold".. I have to say I just adore how it came out.

Making your butterflies, dragonflies or for that matter any flying critter jump off the page is so easy to do.. I stamp my image directly on my cardstock. I then restamp the image on a scrap piece of the same card stock... Color both images identically.. Then on my scrap image I cover with my glassy glaze (which ever brand I'm using at the moment whether it's SUP, Ranger etc). Once dried I take my cheap little mini scissors and start cutting. Once it's completely cut out, suing my bone folder I hold down the center of the dragonfly and then using another bone folder fold the wings up a bit. Add a little 3-m glue and viola' your dragonfly is on the move..

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone. Here's hoping that Hannah has moved off of the east coast and maybe today we'll have a little sunshine. Yesterday was grey skies, wind and rain so I spent the day lounging, watching tv, doing laundry... made a big'ole batch of soup and played around in my stamp room just a bit..

Happy Stamping !!

Lisa

Has it really been that long

since my last post... OMGoodness. I'm sorry.. Allow me to catch you up to date a little... We were on vacation for a week. We didn't venture too far from home with the price of gas.. but it was nice just to not have to work for a few days.

My arm/ hands/ neck.. are still giving me problems. I receintly had an EMG on both arms and my neck. Can you say an hour and a half of being poked with needles and electrocuted.. Not something I would wish on my own worst enemy.. The neurologist said.. surgery.. But eeyyy'gods'... do you know how risky that is. I've made up my mind (thanks to a 2nd opinion from my orthopedist who I trust impecably, have a fabulous rapore with and who I feel would never steer me wrong).. to wait it out to see if the symptoms relieve themselves... if they don't and the pain & numbness get really bad I'll then (and only then) consider the herniated disc surgery.. My right arm/ hand though is a different subject. The neurosurgeon was doing nothing about it because he was relating 'everything' with both arms & hands back the the herniated disc.. Well buddy.. I don't have an MD after my name and I know that it's 2 different nerves.... My orthopedist agrees... it's 100% from pressure on the ulnar nerve. So yesterday I had wonderful (said with clenching teeth) cortisone shot in my elbow. Then in 3 weeks I'll have 1 in my wrist. If that doesn't help (which most of the time it does) the next step is an ulnar tunnel release (similar to a carpal tunnel release).. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the cortisone will do it's thing.. LOL .. In the mean time I've picked up the cutest little 'cush' pillows' at the dollar store last night to keep my elbow & nerve from pressing on the corner of my desk.

OMgoodness have you seen the new Stampin Up catalog.. My wish list is a mile long. My first order came Friday night and I have played a little.. So keep watching for those posts. I actually have about 5 or 6 projects to show you.. So I have been busy in my stamping room.. Just not too busy on the 'puter with the numbness in my fingers. Here's my first post. I know it's not Stampin' Up but I still love this Inkadinkado Ghouls & Goblins set that I picked up from Lindsay at Jacksonbelle Embellishments.. I am also 100% addicted to the Cosmo Cricket Haunted Papers, Blackboard shapes, and adhesive die cuts. The only thing I don't have that I need is the rub-ons.. I'll have to save them for my next shopping trip over to Lindsay's..

For both of these cards I used....

Card stock... Stampin Up Tangerine Tango, Old Olive & Whisper White card stocks, Cosmo Cricket "Haunted" DS paper.

Stamps... Inkadinkado Ghouls & Goblins

Ink... Pallette Noir ink, black Marth Stewart gel pen, misc copic markers, old olive ink

Accessories.. May Arts orange/ purple/ green grosgrain ribbon, Stampin Up large tag punch, pop up glue dots and a sponge for dabbing around the edges..

Now that's getting us into the Halloween Spirit..

Happy Stamping.. PS.. I have made huge changes to my stamp space.. Check back early next week for those pictures. I hope I can inspire someone else with my creative organizing techniques.. Or for that matter... just to change your space around a little. I find that a little change also helps the mojo flow..

Lisa