Sharing (part 5).

This cabinet used to be a natural wood color, so I just painted it White Linen. :) It holds my rubber stamps and things. :)

The top drawer holds acrylic blocks, my stamping press, and stamp cleaners. :)

The next few drawers hold rubber stamps, laid out in one layer (not stacked), so I can see them easily. Each drawer has a theme, so it's easy to find things. :)

The 2nd to last drawer holds my foam stamp shapes. They are housed in project cases I found at Target's Dollar Spot. What a steal!

The bottom drawer holds my foam alpha stamps. Each column is stuck to the bottom with a strip of double-sided tape. Then I used my white Uniball Signo to write the letter of each stamp, so I don't have to pull it out to look. :) I used to keep these stamps in plastic bags, but I use them SO much more now because it takes less time to find the letter I need! :)

This cabinet sits right under my Stamping and Trimming Station. :)

Sharing (part 4).

Did you know that all you need to make cool ribbon storage is a 5/16" dowel, closet/shower rod hardware (found at any home improvement store), and some thumbtacks?! I wanted something easy; something cheap. This is what I came up with...

Then I got a really cool cabinet (found at a moving sale for $5... though any wooden shelves or cabinet will do)! The doors on this used to be blue as well, but these people left it outside and it got yuckier than any soap and water could fix. Well, painter's tape and some Antique White spray paint fixed it right up!

Once that was finished and dry, I "installed" my hardware, added some spice jars and little jars up top (Christmas Tree Shops), and Voila! Pretty neat ribbon storage!

Loose fibers and ribbons are in the spice jars. The jars above hold whole spools of ribbon that are now wrapped around close-pins and secured with pins. I was going to do that for EVERY spool I had, but gosh, that took lots of time. I gave up and bought the closet/shower rod hardware instead. :p

The cute little shelf in there holds little shards of ribbon that come with scrapbook purchases from select online retailers. I suppose they send you those to entice you to buy ribbon?! Or is it just a free gift? Hmm...

Next is my alpha storage. Really, nothing to get all excited over. I used to have it separated by color and type, but I didn't like that, so now it's all just stuck in here organized by color (black, brown and white up front because I use those the most). This container is actually a Desktop File that I spray painted Antique White. :)

Inside this alpha box, I have a small pencil box (dollar store) that I hold loose alphas, ghost alphas, alpha brads and other alpha things that are not on a sheet. They're all contained by (very high-tech) Ziploc bags: :)

I love the look of sterling silver. You can find it at thrift stores and antique stores and even eBay for pretty cheap. It adds some class, I think. :) This plate was like $2 at an antique store near me. This woman has TONS of it, so she tells you to take a bunch off her hands for pretty cheap, so she can get rid of it. I was happy to oblige! :D It holds adhesives I use on an everyday basis:

I also use sterling silver sugarers and creamers for my everyday pens and scissors. These were found at a thrift store. The small saucer (found with the plate above) holds little embellishments I need to set aside while I'm working (brads, small die cuts, etc). Photo is of my mom and dad's wedding:

I had seen a few times that people kept their pens in wine racks, as to keep them sleeping horizontally. I LOVED this idea, and I searched for over a year for the perfect wine rack. I seriously waded through hundreds (probably millions...) of them before I found this one on eBay. It was a brown wicker before I spray painted it. It's one of my very favorite things in my room. Always makes me smile. :)

These totally awesome paper shelves are kept on my desk as well. I've had quite a few scrap rooms now, and one thing I knew I needed when I had been scrapping a while is a place to put papers while I'm working. The paper storage next to the pens are where I put papers I'm working on at any given moment. (Out of the way until I need them on the page.)

You know... you're working on a page, and you have like a whole handful of coordinating papers to choose from. You choose three... or seven, but you can't use them/trim them/glue them at the same time, so you need *somewhere* to put them that's away from your workspace, but still in arm's reach when you *do* need them. That's why I needed this. Plus, it's a place to put aside a project if your eyes need a break from it and you want (or need) to work on something else.

It's from The Container Store. And though it's more expensive (if you work there, you get 40% off!) than one of the ones from Michaels or Jo-Ann, it has SIX shelves instead of four or five and still takes up the same amount of space. That was worth the extra money to me. :) This is where I keep pages I'm working on right now as well:

This next photo is in the cabinet from the previous post, but it goes better with the theme of this post. :) Here on this top shelf, I have my glue gun (in another one of those dollar store pencil boxes), paint brushes (in an altered Lay's Stax container), Mod-Podge (and brushes), Bazzill Chips, Creative Imaginations mini-albums, and business cards (mine and my husband's).

I altered the four matching boxes. They were EIGHTEEN CENTS each at The Christmas Tree Shop. If they would have had more, I probably would have gotten more. :p They used to have a weird floral pattern, but I like them much better this way. :D Just goes to show you, you can take anything and alter it... be it a shoe box, a gift packaging box, garbage... whatever!

On the lower shelf, I have my 6x6 paper pads and hole punches/deco scissors. The containers came from The Christmas Tree Shop.

Are you tired of looking at my scrap space yet?! You're probably more tired of my long-winded explanations...

Sharing (part 3).

Paper. I love paper. Paper's my favorite. Do you love paper? I'm sure you do.

One day while I was out shopping for a mattress (more comfortable than the kitchen table), I found this adorable cabinet. I measured it in the store, and what do you know... it was the right size to hold Cropper Hopper Vertical Storage Holders (well, with the back removed...)! Hoorah!

I know, I know, I have a lot of cardstock. LOL. In my defense, a scrapbook store was going out of business, Bazzill was on major clearance, and I decided what better time to stock up? I bought about 500 sheets.

I already had a couple hundred at home, so I probably have over 800 now. *sigh* The good thing is though... I haven't had to buy one sheet of cardstock (except for white, of course) for over a year. :D So really... it was an investment... On the bottom left (just slide open the doors a bit), I have my cardstock.

Separated by color, of course, and in ROYGBIV order. :) Orange and yellow share one. As do brown and black. (They're buddies. ;) ) This is to save space because I don't have as many of those colors:

The Cropper Hopper Paper Pouches hold scraps... that stay in the Cropper Hopper Vertical Storage Holder with its respective color. This way, it all stays together. I use scraps SO much more now! I've organized my scraps four different ways now, and this is, by far, my favorite. :)

All my patterned paper is organized alphabetically, by manufacturer. On this top shelf, I also have white/cream cardstock (which I use the most), clear stamps (in the white container and the blue binder), a binder with photos, and some ideas.

On the bottom shelf, the first four holders are Basic Grey, organized alphabetically by collection (A-H, I-M, O-R, S-V).

And each collection (with its papers, alphas, tags, die cuts and scraps) is kept in a Craft Keeper Envelope, so it all stays together nicely.

Then holders #5 and #6 hold "Other Companies," separated alphabetically by manufacturer.

The 7th holder has random "by the sheet" paper, sorted by color (bought in the "olden" days before I knew kits and collections were the way to go)... that I'll probably never use. LOL. Well, I use them for gift albums and mini albums. :)

Then on the top shelf, I have a holder just for Christmas papers (I have about six different collections from different brands... mostly Basic Grey, of course, including THREE Fruitcakes and two Wassails. LOL).

I also have a holder for Studio Calico kits (by date). And then two more with random stuff (whole sheets of chipboard, extra dividers/storage bags, doodling, cutting templates, paper memorabilia), and still labeled appropriately... LOL...

Here is what the inside of one looks like. As you can see, the collections are separated by tabbed dividers that have the collection's name. This is the Basic Grey A-H holder:

And here is a close-up of the Craft Keeper Envelope in action! Modeling it beautifully is the Studio Calico Iconic kit. Inside the envelope, I have a 4x6 acid free bag to hold all the "little guys" that are floating around:

Phew! If you got through all that, you deserve a break. How about some turtle brownies? Those are yummy. I'll post the recipe soon. :)

Thanks again for looking at my space! More to come...

Sharing (part 2).

I think this may be one of my favorite things in my room... perhaps because it took the most work?! LOL. Shopping at Pier 1 one day (for a lamp I didn't find...), I found these hot pink boxes (and some electric blue ones too):

The first time I went in, they were on clearance for $7.48. I bought two of them (8 drawers). Then I figured... hey, I could use these for almost ALL my embellishments! So I had hubby go back and get me two more. They were on BETTER clearance (by that time) for $5 each.

I headed to Home Depot and got some paint in White Linen and three coats of paint later... tee hee... they looked like this:

I used my 1 1/4" scallop punch to punch the labels. Added a hole-punched hole, soft white string (all-purpose... we also use it to tie up the fake-Christmas tree), and white paper clips (a la Stacy Julian LOM albums). I wrote the contents on with my brown ZIG. Presto! Beautimous embellishment storage! So all this (minus the frames and gelato jar that holds my favorite "pretty" ribbons) for under $30:

My sister, she's my hero. She taught me that if you don't like something the way it is, change it! If you have to paint it, cover it, sand it, add balcony spindles... whatever! And seriously, if it weren't for her, I'm not sure I'd have the confidence to just go and PAINT things. LOL.

Seriously... you should see her house. Not only does it look like a magazine or home decorating book, but if you walk through it with her, you hear her say, "This China Cabinet?! It was $2." or " This chair? It's old. We found it in a shed. I painted it black." or "This cute, little, sewing dress-form? Found it at Ross for $5, but the flowers were pink, and I needed them blue, so you know, I made them blue." She never buys ANYTHING full price. Ever. EVER!

Fun. Very fun. She's all kinds of inspiration.

Hoping.

Today, I need prayer and Pixie Dust (thanks, Kitty!), so I'm asking for it... please. :)

I called into The Container Store today, telling them I wasn't feeling well enough to make it to work today (I fainted there on Wednesday), and she actually "commended" me and gave me "kudos" for calling in (I usually just go, feeling sick, and then they send me home). LOL. Yeah, that made me smile. How awesome are the people at my work?! Seriously!

So if you pray, or if you just send out good thoughts, could you please? I have not been feeling well, got some not-so-good news from the doctor, and I could really use some prayers and good thoughts. Thank you. :)

And on a happy note, I got some peanut butter on my way home from the doctor yesterday. I love peanut butter.

Sharing (part 1).

Instead of my regularly scheduled post, I'm posting photos of my new scrap space. YAY! Can I officially call it a "Studio" now?!

I took over our dining room, and we moved the kitchen table to the living room (about four feet in front of my scrap area. :-)

The shelves and work-tables are elfa shelving from The Container Store, which are totally awesome. And I get a 50% discount, so that rocks even more! :-D

Here is the main wall. My workspace is about 39" high because I'm a standing scrapper. My two cabinets fit *perfectly* underneath, and I was SO excited about that (plus, a little room on top to "hide" things)!

(The cabinet on the left is an old twin bedframe that my sister and dad converted into a storage system. The cabinet on the right is from Oak Express.)

Then you move to the left... (you can see my adhesives in a sterling silver tray on the corner there), my embellishment drawers up on the shelf, and a totally awesome blue vase I got at an antique store here in Austin. :-)

This wall is my computer wall (plenty of room to add more shelves if need be...). The altered photo-collage cupboard door *should* be hanging above my printer, but I've been procrastinating putting the hanging hardware on. I need to get on that!

And then there's my trimming/cutting/stamping station. The table is from IKEA (*before* I worked for The Container Store...):

There are like 40 photos total, but I won't post them all here... at once. HA! I would if I had Typepad! Man! Some day... tee hee. I'll post them here in spurts... with commentary. ;-)

Discovering.

I've always loved babies. (See... even in this photo when I was six. :) ) I've always loved children. I started babysitting when I was ten. Well, I was mature for my age, and my cousin was sleeping, and my aunt had to run to the store for all of 30 minutes, but still! I babysat! 

But that day began years of babysitting and nannying. I always wanted eight children. Yes, eight. 

I had seven Cabbage Patch Babies lined up (with name tags on their beds) in my closet (big closet). They were my seven babies, and then I had an older daughter (who, you know, could help me take care of my seven babies).

The number eight slowly turned to four, and before I was married, that was the number that was set in my head. My husband didn't want any children when we got married. But I wanted to marry him, so... I said okay. I don't need to have children.

And as the years went on, I actually felt that I didn't even *want* to have children of my own anymore. I could just babysit and coach gymnastics, and I'd be fine. People thought it was very uncharacteristic of me. And it was. I had *always* wanted children.

Then a few years later, I wanted children again (my husband had also changed his mind). But the feeling came and went... as often as I bought new scrap supplies. Did I want children? *sigh* I LOVE children. I just couldn't make up my mind... mainly because of health reasons.

Then this last Saturday, a woman came into the scrapbook store. Her hands were full... shopping bags, jackets, and a diaper bag in one hand, and a baby in the other. "Can I give you a hand?" I asked. "Sure! That would be great!" She looked relieved.

"I can hold the baby for you!" She smiled as I reached my hands forward. And then the most amazing thing happened. It was like coming home. 

Landon is only six months old. He didn't know me. I didn't know him. But for the first minute, we just stared at each other. He smiled and then laid his head on my chest. He picked his head up and then stared at me and smiled. He didn't blink once. Then he laid his head on my chest again. "I've never seen him do that," his mom told me.

And I actually started to cry. So here I am... at work, in my apron, holding a baby, and crying. *sigh* I'm sure I looked utterly ridiculous. And I felt myself whisper, "I want one." And I heaved a big sigh.

Now? There is no doubt in my mind that I'm supposed to be a mother. I've known it. I've known it since I was a child and dolls were all I wanted... ever. I've known it since I was in 4th grade, and the kindergartners would follow me around, and I loved it. I've known it since the first time I laid eyes on my nieces and the tears just started to flow. I've known. Why I doubted myself, I'm not sure.

I know God has his timing. And I'm so glad He also has the ability to give me patience...

Oh, and by the way, thank you, Landon. That moment will forever be in my heart.

Updating.

May not stop playing with iPhoto... ever.

iPhoto-ing.

Can't post.

Received iMac.

Obsessed with iPhoto.

May not be back for a while...

Lord, help me.

Stamping.

I got a new toy! And since I'm so excited about it, I thought I'd give a little tutorial. :) Fun, right?! Yes, I know you're stoked about this!

I'm not much of a stamper, but I really want to try it more. So... I got these super awesome new Studio Calico stamps, but I wanted a block large enough to fit whole words. And I saw this little baby at my work (the scrapbook store, not The Container Store ;) ), and I just HAD to get it!

The Fiskars Easy Stamp Press comes in two sizes, but I got the bigger one because for just under $5 more, wouldn't you want to stamp longer words using larger alphas? I think yes!

So... first you add your acrylic stamps using the cool lines and ruler grid thing...


Then you add your ink...


Then you place it where you need it. And the cool thing about this is that it has these orange foamy feet, so when you place it on your paper, the stamps don't touch your paper... yet. You set it exactly where you want it, then you push down on it to flatten the foamy feet...


And when you lift off, the foamy feet bounce back up, and you remove the block press!



AND it has a removal plate, so if you need to stamp TWO things, and you can't get them on the same plate (or you need to layer stamped images), you just take the plate off and use the under-side of the press. They probably sell additional plates as well, so you can save designs you've created. You could make your own patterned paper in a snap!

Seriously... how cool is that?! I know, I know. The coolest. :)

You're welcome.