My Craft Room Chaos

There's a fun Link It Up party going on over at Craftin Desert Divas where you need to share pictures of your craft room.  My craft room is actually in what used to be one bay of my two-car garage.  Hubby built a wall between the the two, installed sheetrock, electrical, heat, built a closet and put down inexpensive carpet.  It's not the prettiest room, but it works :)

 I have to confess, these pictures make the room look more cluttered than it really is, I guess just because of the angle of the photos.  Not saying that it's not cluttered, but there is quite a bit of room to move around and when the work surfaces are cleaned off, it's much more roomy.  I had to give my hubby a little area of his own, so that desk in the background with the rockets (don't ask, LOL!)  is his.   That tall, white shelving thing with the Cricut Imagine on it, I just picked up for FREE....while at a doctor's appointment, I noticed a supermarket emptying out all kinds of stuff from the back of the store, and a couple of shelving units were by the dumpster.  I checked with the store manager to be sure it was indeed trash and he said I could take anything I wanted.  He even had one of the kids help me put it in my car.  The shelves lift out easily so I can arrange them however i want.  The shelves are heavy duty steel and all it needed was a light cleaning.  

As you can see, I have lots more organizing to do.  Problem is, I just have way too much stuff.  The computer in the on the desk is where I do all of my Cricut Craft Room, Silhouette Studio, digi printing, blah, blah, blah....I'm slowly weaning myself off the PC and onto the Mac.  You can see my Cricut Expression and E2.  My Silhouette is hidden on a shelf because I'm trying to explain to the hubs that I need a Cameo and I don't want him to see the prehistoric Silhouette and start asking questions.  He has no clue what either one of them are, but all he knows is I have way too many cutting machines.  I'm sure you can all relate to this.  LOL!  If you look closely, just to the left of my Cricut E2 you can see one of the bow makers that my husband made for me.  It's a little rustic, but it really gets the job done.  He put lead inside the wood base to keep it from moving around and I added a rubber gripper mat to the bottom to really hold it in place.  I didn't want it moving around while wrapping the ribbon around the pegs.  He made it with 8 removable pegs, so my bow sizes are limitless.  Oh, and look at the top center of the photo....see my Yudu?  Yup....it's been sitting there for well over year now.  Still haven't used it.  Someone motivate me, please!

This next photo is taken from the back corner of the room.  I usually do my coloring, gluing and card assembly at that desk.  The tv is usually always on.  The desk is very cluttered right now and for some reason looks very small in the photo, but I find it to be the perfect size.  I also have my MacBook on it right now, which makes it look more cluttered.

The large wooden shelf holds most of my Cricut carts.  My hubby built it for me and I'm very tempted to pack up the Cricut boxes and find a storage solution for the cartridges so I can use the shelf to store all of my sprays, glitter, embossing powders, etc. 

The large table is where I do all of my paper trimming, embossing, metal die cutting, etc.  Again, it's a bit messy at the moment.

 Here you can see the Silhouette SD and below that you can get a peek at my Sizzix eClips and below that is the Zutter Dream Kuts and hidden behind that is the Zutter Kutter.  LOL...think I have a bit of a gadget addiction?

These bins hold Nesties, glitter, embossing powder, sprays ribbon, small paper pads.  They're a MESS!

So there ya have it.  My cluttered chaos.  There's a few areas that I haven't shown you, due to complete and utter embarrassment by the mess.  :)

EXCITING NEWS!

Hope everyone's weekend is off to a good start!  I am sitting here recovering from surgery and feel much better today than I did last night.  Didn't get home till 8:00 pm....it was a long day.  

Much has happened over the past couple of days...I have joined two fabulous Design Teams!!!  In addition to the Whimsical Designs and SOUS design teams, I will now be on the DT's for

Silhouette Challenges 

and Craft Lovin' Challenge Blog

This is so exciting!  I will FINALLY be getting a Silhouette Cameo and can't wait to start cranking out the projects with it and Tabitha's new Craft Lovin' blog is going to be a new addiction for me with all of her beautiful digi paper designs!  

Just thought I'd share some of my good news with you all...kinda lift up my otherwise yucky day :(

FLOWERS for SOUS Die Cut challenge

Happy Friday.  Well, not so happy for me.  It could very well be that as you are reading this, I am in the operating room having my gall bladder yanked out.  I'm hoping it doesn't keep me out of commission for too long.  The Die Cut challenge this week over at Stuck On U Sketches is Flowers/  C'mon now, we couldn't have made it any more easy for ya. :)

My flower is from a QuicKutz 2-die set.  I think it looks really pretty with the glittered background.  While at Micheal's the other day, I realized I had a coupon on my iPhone for any Inkadinkado Stamping Gear product, so I treated myself to a small set.  Have you gals seen this product yet?  I LOVE IT!  This is the set I bought.  You can see all of the sets HERE

I used two different color CTMH inks to create the border. 

Just added some pearls and a light blue cardstock base and called it done!

I hope to be back in action by mid-week.  Not sure what kind of pain or recovery time to expect but I'm always the optimist to I know it won't keep me away too long :)

Please head on over to the SOUS blog and see the gorgeous floral creations my DT sisters have created and hopefully you will walk away with tons of inspiration to play along!

Mix It Up! for Whimsical Wednesday

I am going to have to make this a very quick post.  It's time for another Whimsical Wednesday challenge and this week we are mixing it up with MIXED MEDIA.  

The bird/branch is wood and I colored the bird and leaves with Dylusions.  For the branch I used a metallic wood stain.  I also added clear UTEE to the bird. 

 The yellow background was stamped using Tim Holtz Distress Paint Dabber in mustard seed.  The cardstock is foil so I used black Staz-on ink for the sentiment, a really pretty one from Whimsical Designs.  It's from the Whimsical Fun - Vol. set.   I added EK Success photo corners to trim the background.

We have a fabulous sponsor this week -- Tabitha's Designs

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/TabithasShop

Head on over to Whimsical Designs to see all of the projects by the amazing Design Team and get the details on how to play along for a chance to win!

Mother's Day Monkey

I just LOVE this little 'stached monkey!  He's called Mr. Monkey by C.C. Designs and I won him in a challenge over at Loves Rubber Stamps, so I thought it only appropriate to use him in their current challenge.   He has a wife too! LOL!  Her name is Mrs. Monkey.  Mine are rubber stamps but I believe they are also available in digi.   I made this card for my grandson, Angelo, to give to his mommy on Mother's Day.  Those of you familiar with Angelo's story know how much he loves monkeys, so I thought this card was just the right one for him to give to his amazing mommy.  I colored him with Copics and dotted a background and then cut it out with a Marianne's Designs die.  Then I used the die again on kraft paper.  I dabbed Distress Ink (fired brick) before removing the kraft paper from the die.  Then I used a Martha Stewart red glitter glue to add dots to the flower centers.

  I needed something to to put between the kraft paper and dp (which is from the DCWV Safari Kids 12x12 stack) and a ribbon would have been to thick, so I decided to break out my Sew Easy by We R Memory Keepers.  I've had it for over a year and never used it.  I have about 6 different stitch heads but opted for the plain old straight stitch one.  I used a thick Martha Stewart twine and added a Doodlebug Designs button to finish off the stitch. 

 The sentiment was stamped by using a Marcella K wood mounted alphabet stamp set and the fired brick Distress Ink.  I added a little puffy heart sticker and called it done. 
CHALLENGES:
Loves Rubber Stamps ~ Anything Goes

Alter It at Whimsical Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, and it's a gloomy one here in New York.  I'm not complaining because my garden really needs the rain.  Today at Whimsical Wednesday, the challenge is Alter It and the Whimsies have been hard at work creating some fabulous projects.  Now, I'm not gonna lie....I broke out into a sweat when I saw what this week's challenge was.  I am always so intimidated by altering items but I guess I had to give it a go at some point.  So I took a plain old balsa box and made it my own.  I created a fun little goodie box and matching card for my granddaughter.  I'm going to fill the box with her favorite Summer essentials....lip balm and sun block!  I guess I'll also have to sneak a little something sweet in there too :)

I neglected to take a photo of the box before getting started, but I'm sure you've seen these before.

The first thing I did was paint the exposed areas with yellow craft paint byMaking Memories.  I used a really cute 12x12 sheet of double-sided paper by Imaginisce, cut it down to size and covered the outside rounded portion of the box with Mod Podge.  I used the reverse side of the paper for the sides and was lucky enough to find that one of my circle Nesties was the perfect size to cut them out.  I used ribbons and twine from a Recollections set and replace the heavy, brown elastic cord with a thinner, pink one.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere the button and center bling. 

I added self-adhesive glitter pearls to the sides.

I decided to make use of the remaining paper, so I created a card to go along with the box.  Added some shabby crinkle ribbon and made a couple of bows with the fabulous bow maker that my hubby made for me.  The tag is a Sizzix die and the sweet sentiment is from the Whimsical Fun - Vol. I set by Whimsical Designs.

Here's a view of the back of the box.  

And here you can see the inside, which I painted yellow.  What I like about these balsa boxes and craft paints is that everything dries so quickly, even the Mod Podge...so there's no down time.  I am an extremely impatient woman! :)

We have a wonderful sponsor this week -- V's Sweet Ideas and she is graciously offering up a $10 gift certificate to one random winner!  WOO HOO!  Please visit the Whimsical Designs blog for all the details and you'll also see all of the amazing altered items by the Design Team.   We'd love to have you play along with us this week!

OH, in case you haven't heard, Stephanie has a Design Team Call going on RIGHT NOW.  You can find all of the details HERE

SOUS Mother/Mom Die Cut Challenge

I've been so stressed out for the past two weeks, back and forth to the doctors for more tests.  Feeling better, but looks like gall bladder surgery is unavoidable at this point. YIPPEE!

Here's my Design Team card for the Stuck On U Sketches die cut challenge.  The challenge is to use a die cut of the word "Mother" or "Mom" or whatever variation you use.  We're from The Bronx, so my kids call me "Ma"...LMAO!  My son says, "Yo, Ma".  Not kidding...

I used a QuicKutz/Lifestyle Crafts alphabet die set for the word "Mother" and the flowery sprig.  They came with a kit that I purchased years ago.  I added a partial doily to keep the die cut from getting lost on my background paper, which is from the DCWV Stack Whimsy.  Used a MS Scallop 3 Dot border punch and added some Pearl Pen liquid pearls here and there.  I thought the flowers need some dimension so I dabbed on a touch of Distress Stickles in Worn Lipstick.

The SOUS Die Cut Design Team is just amazing and they have some gorgeous cards and layouts to totally inspire you!  Check 'em out right HERE and you will most certainly want to play along :)

Whimsical Wednesday BLING challenge!

Phew!  My third and final post for the day.  This week at Whimsical Wednesday, we are getting our BLING on!  I used glitter paper for my Cricut dress form and added a bling swirl with my i-rock tool.  I also added ultra fine glitter to the flourishes and the dress form belt has a bling accent. 

The sentiment is from the Everyday Sentiments set by Whimsical Designs.  I love the versatility of this set!  You can find all of the Whimsical Design stamp sets RIGHT HERE!

We have a fabulous sponsor this week...The Paper Nest and if Copics are your thing, you'll want to head on over to Whimsical Designs to find out how you can win a handful of them!  You'll also be able to soak up some inspiration from the bling'd out projects by the Design Team. Woo Hoo!
 

Design Team Call!!! 

Don't forget....Stephanie is having a Design Team call so if you're interested, 

CLICK HERE 
CHALLENGES:
Fab 'n' Funky ~ Lots of Pink 

Googly Eyes Challenge at Two Creative Chicks

It's the first of the month and time for another challenge over at

2 Creative Chicks

Ch#2 Googly Eyes

Begins: Wednesday, May 1

Ends: Friday, May 31

Sponsors:

My Crafting Chanel  Package Googly Eyes
Tabitha Designs Digi Pack (Winner's Choice)

Welcome back to my second post of the day!  I still have one more coming later this morning, so please stop on back :)

As I stated earlier, I'm really not feeling well and have been dealing with some mild, consistent pain, so I'll get right down to it, but first I would like to thank Nana and Migdalia for inviting me to be a Guest Designer for May's challenge.  Their new challenge blog is going to be a HUGE hit!

The owl is a Cricut cut and I believe it's from the Give a Hoot cartridge.  I used a few layers and added some Stickles.  It's attached using an Action Wobble.  I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug folder.

SOUS Card Sketch

It's going to be a crazy Wednesday!  I've got 3 Design Team projects going live today so please stop back later on this morning for the other two :)

I'm still not feeling well so I'm going to get right down to business here...

We are working with a fun sketch by Leah, over at the Stuck On U Sketches card sketch challenge

 

Here's the sketch.  I turned it sideways

The embossing folder is by Craft Concepts and the flowers are an Imagimisce snag 'em clear stamp.  Butterflies are from two different Martha Stewart punches.   I added a piece of brown rick-rack, oh, and a little bee that's been laying around on my craft desk.

Head on over to Stuck On U Sketches to see the amazing work by the rest of the Design Team and come play along with us!

A Few Quick Cards

I'm a bit under the weather and not feeling too creative at the moment, so these are very clean and simple. 

A very old clear stamp that's been laying around.  I used gold UTEE to heat emboss, an EK Success border punch and a Whimsical Designs stentiment stamp

 

The elephant and lion were cut out from the DCWV Safari Kids 12x12 stack.

 

The background is embossed with Medium Polka Dots by the Paper Studio.  Twill tape is from The Kraft Outlet

Background is embossed with Typewriter Alphabet by the Paper Studio

CHALLENGES:
Cards for Men ~ Animals
Paper Playtime ~ Emboss, wet or dry
Dream Valley ~ Things with Wings

Happy Mom's Day

How cute is this?!  She's called Give Peace a Chance by Sylvia Zet.  She's available HERE.

I colored her with Copics and cut her out using a Nestabilities die.  I used Marianne's Designs dies for the flourishes and cut some of them on glitter paper and some on glitter foam.  The bigger flowers are also Marianne's Designs.  The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch and the smaller flowers are from I Am Roses.  The blue paper is embossed with Swiss Dots. Added some gems from my stash.  The sentiment is by Studio G.  I guess stamping the sentiment directly on the patterned paper wasn't the best idea, huh?

CHALLENGES:
Marianne's Design Divas ~ Going Girly

Art Impression Stamps ~ Layer it Up

The Perfect Sentiment ~ Mother's Day

Starting July 1st, Blogger will no longer have Google Reader.  Sign up for free at Bloglovin and it will automatically transfer all of the blogs that you are following to your new account.   It's very user-friendly :)

  

Whimsical Wednesday Sketch Challenge & DT Call

 Here's Nanne's Sketch:

Happy Wednesday, Crafters!  Today's Whimsical Wednesday challenge features a simple, yet fun sketch, designed by one of the Whimsical Design Team members, Nanne.   This sketch is limitless in possibilities and can be used for any theme.  Just let your imagination do all of the work.

I started off with the Cottage Cutz die Birdcage and Bird and ran it through my Grand Calibur using glitter craft foam.  The green and patterned cardstock is from the DCWV Stack Mi Casa and the solid red cardstock is Bazzill Dotted Swiss.  There's also a piece of kraft paper from my stash and the textured yellow card base is by The Paper Studio.

I used an EK Success double embossed dotted lace punch on the kraft and another EK punch on the red borders.  I have all of my EK punches labeled with a Sharpie except this one :/

  I added a burlap ribbon from Liz's Paper Loft Boutique.   The rick rack is by Recollections.   Some bling and Stampin' Up pearls as embellishments and there you have it....my take on the sketch!

 

 

The sentiment is by Whimsical Designs from the Everyday Sentiments set.  You can find all of Stephanie's fabulous stamp sets HERE

I can't wait to see how the rest of my DT sisters have interpreted Nanne's sketch.  We'd love to have you play along with us and share your creations with us.

Our sponsor this week is Whimsy Stamps and you can find all of the challenge details and prize info over at Whimsical Designs.

DESIGN TEAM CALL!!!

Whimsical Designs is having a Design Team Call!  The current Design Team term is coming to an end and Stephanie is on the look-out for a few new designers.  Head on over to Whimsical Designs for all of the details. 
CHALLENGES:
Going Grey with Scrap Creations ~ Insects or Animals

Memory Box Tree

Just playing around with two Memory Box dies....Twiggy Tree and Leafy Canopy.    The canopy die actually cuts out every single little leaf.  There's no way I'm gluing all of those little suckers on to a card, so I used my Grand Calibur embossing mat to just "emboss" the leaves, rather than cut them out.  This way, they sort of "pop" up a bit.  I lined up the embossed leafy card stock with the cut out leaves on the blue card stock.  I used a Martha Stewart border punch for the grass and added a burlap ribbon from Liz's Paper Loft Boutique.  The clouds are from a My Creative Time die and the stamps are by Whimsical Designs....the Whimsical Fun-Vol. I set and the Everyday Sentiments set.  You can find all of the Whimsical Design stamps HERE.
CHALLENGES:
4 Crafty Chicks ~ #138 Trees

Knit Happens!

Kraftin' Kimmie has a fun Tic Tac Toe challenge that just started up today and although I colored my image last night, I was able to create a card that fits the challenge.  Yippee!  This adorable image is Natalie the Knitter and this is the first time I am coloring her.  I chose the first row on the tic tac toe chart...blue, ribbon, eyelets.  Cut the image out with a Nestie and made a pretty bow using the bow maker that my hubby made for me.  The sentiment comes with the image and I stamped it using Archival moonlight white.  The paper is from the DCWV Crafty Stack (8x8) and the paper is textured giving the stamped sentiment a bit of a distressed appearance.  Those eyelets came with my Crop-A-Dile, which I've had for about 6 years! 

CHALLENGES:
Kraftin' Kimmie ~ Tic Tac Toe
Two Sisters ~ Blue and/or Green
My Time to Craft ~ Stitching (brown border has faux stitching)

Crustaceans for SOUS Die Cut Challenge

TGIF!  Time to get your crustacean on!  LOL!  I had the funniest conversation last night with Stephanie about the word "crustacean".   

The Die Cut Challenge this week at Stuck On U Sketches is "crustaceans" and I kinda went with the most obvious one...a crab.

My crusty fella is a Cottage Cutz die.  I gave him google eyes just cause he has that silly grin on his face.  The fishies are stickers.  The background papers are from the DCWV Photo Stack 2 and the sentiment is by Whimsical Designs.

The Design Team has made the cutest bunch of cards EVER!  You just have to have a look...you will definitely want to play along with us.  Hop on over to SOUS ....you'll get a chuckle out of our cute cards :)

DESIGN TEAM CALL!

Stuck On U Sketches (SOUS) has a DESIGN TEAM call going on right now, if any of you have been thinking about joining a Design Team, this might be just what you're looking for!  There's a few different challenge teams over at SOUS so whether you enjoy scrapbook layouts, die cuts or both, I'm sure there's something that tickles your fancy.  For more details, visit the SOUS Blog HERE

Smell The Flowers ~ Whimsical Wednesday Challenge

Good morning....AGAIN!  I'm back with my second DT post of the day.  Please scroll down to see the really cute card I made for the SOUS Card Sketch Challenge :)

This week, the Whimsical Designs team is SMELLING THE FLOWERS!  Spring is in the air (for most of us, I hope) and the early bloomers are showing up here and there around New York and soon we will be in full bloom.  

This week, our sponsor is Saturated Canary and the DT is featuring some of their adorable images.  My image is called Books and Bed Head.  My hubby is always trying to bribe our granddaughter into reading her books.  She's not too keen on reading, so everytime she reads a book, she has to write a little report on it and he rewards her with a few dollars.  Sometimes bribery is necessary :)

I colored her up with Copics and cut her out and matted with Nestabilities Labels 7.  Kinda has the shape of a book and fit the image, so I went with it.  The pink piece is embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.  I used an EK Success double embossed dotted lace punch for the scalloped edge.  The flowers are Prima...have had them for about 5 years!  I added bling centers.

The sweet sentiment is, of course, a Whimsical Designs stamp from the Whimsical Fun Vol. I set.

You can find all of the Whimsical Designs stamps HERE

A big shout out and thank you to Saturated Canary for sponsoring our challenge this week.  They really do have some adorable images and they are lots of fun to color.

Why not stop by the Whimsical Designs blog and see what kind of flowers the Whimsies have used on their fabulous projects this week.  The inspiration will be worth the trip :)  and I know you'll want to play along.  You'll find all of the challenge details over there as well

CHALLENGES:
Saturated Canary ~ Anything Goes
Copic Markers Europe ~ Girls Aloud
Addicted to Stamps and More ~ Anything Goes