The Journey Starts

Well ladies, after following Sparkle Tarts journey in cleaning up her crafting area, I've have gotten some really good ideas! Thanks Paola for your suggestion with the cubbies and that would work, mounting them on the wall, except it would be my luck that they would fall, taking half the wall with them as they are very heavy ;0( So, along the lines of Kate Palmer, I think my first investment is going to be a new, old desk. Right now the little guy I am using now is barely big enough to hold anything, much less deep enough to stack things on. I am going to be keeping my eyes and wallet open for a deep desk, with some drawers that I can use as a base to put those cubbies on and some other fun things that I have seen on the web. Went on Google Images and found these for reference....
  


I love older things so my goal is to find something that might need just a little work but has lots of character for me to bring home and love on and make it a true craft desk. So my journey starts and I hope yours does as well. Take care everyone and thanks for stopping by.

Challenge #23 April showers Bring May Flowers

Well I don't know about the May flowers thing, but we sure do know that April winds bring allergies, dust, snow, heat, and who knows what else here in the Southwest :0)  We went from almost 70 degrees, beautiful weather, to winds, cold, rain, and now back to the high 70's sometime this week. Don't you just love Springtime :0)

Our latest challenge is being sponsored by the wonderful "Tiffany Doodles" They have the coolest selections ever in their store.  This digi, Strawberry hearts, can be found here and it was so much fun to color up and create. The possibilities are endless with this set. So, pop on over to Paper Creations Ink, read the rules and all that stuff and join us with your paper creation. Remember it can be altered art, tags, boxes, bags, scrapbook layouts, you name it, as long as it has some form of paper on the project.

Copics

Strawberries - R 29, 27, 22

Leaves - G94, 21, 20

Blossoms - Y19

Background - B000

Stardust Stickles, Sentiment from TLC, Plaid hearts, Butterfly sticker and Roses from Hobby Lobby, Ribbon from SU, leaves from my stash, Papers from stash as well. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my site and have a fantastic April.

Craft Room Cleaning

I just saw this really fun idea over at Sparkle Tart. Why not join in the fun, inspiration and encouragement as some of us look for ways to clean up, store up, change up, and find that missing room that is somewhere in our crafting areas.  Here is what my tiny little area looks like and believe me I need more storage ideas.

I can see now that compared to others that have tons of stuff, this area does look a little bare. About a year ago we moved into this wonderful home and I had to sell practically ALL my stamping stuff, this is what's left and it is now starting to grow. So before things get out of hand I need to get things ready. There are so many things that I want to purchase but need to wait until I either have the money or have the room. So far the two have not gotten together very well.

This are is in our Master Bedroom behind the door. The wall with the table is about 6' and the wall with the ribbon is about the same 6'. I had all those little storage cubicle on the wall where the ribbon is but I was starting to feel claustrophobic and no elbow room at all. But now I miss having my stuff within reach. My table, (which is 4' x 2') has a computer monitor, plastic storage for my copics, 2 lamps for light, a roundy round that holds my sizzors, pencils, rulers and other misc small stuff.  I put 2 pieces of sheet metal on the wall, then attached some magnets to them to hold buttons, and brads. I also strung a piece of ribbon and purchased some cute clips to hang some of my cards for decoration.  My ribbon is stored on a small piece of rope and is just hanging from a very strong wall hangar thingie.  I am open to some ideas on how to extend my area, store things better and have things handier to reach, oh yes and look pretty as well :0) so give me some ideas ladies, I would love to hear from you. 

New Mexico Breezes

I've been trying to get some good pictures of our "breezy" days here in New Mexico and well it's tough! It's a little breezy here on the mesa and sand is flying everywhere. We are supposed to possibly get some snow somewhere in the state and the wind must be blowing it in. This really doesn't look to bad, but this stuff gets in your hair, your mouth, any crack in your window and it's in the house everywhere.  It just looks like a real foggy day, and it's been a lot worse. This is in our neighborhood and if I turn totally around there would be Sandia Peak to look at, but not today, it's invisible due to the sand.

Natural Things

I went looking through my "old' cards and came across this oldie but I still think goodie.  I designed this card, let's see now, boy it's been that long ago. I live in Washington State and had found this tree that the bark was peeling off and was so thin that I had to use it for something so this creation came about.

All I can say is that it was for a St. Patty's day card and it was in my paper tearing days. I usually tore paper because I could never get a straight edge. I thought you might get a kick from seeing one of my beginning cards.  Seriously, I think this was done in the 80's or early 90's :0) 

Challenge #22 "Natural Materials"

With Easter right around the corner, fantastic weather is almost everywhere it's time for another great challenge at Paper Creations Ink!!! This challenge is sponsored by Shelly's Images and the winner receives a $9 Gift Voucher. Who out there could not use more images?  We would love to see some "natural thing" on your creations, like burlap, twine, cork, twigs, bark, etc. Use your imagination and show us your skills.

The image I used is called "Hummingbird" and can be found here.  There is a beautiful fuchsia flower that this little cutie is sipping out of that is just beautiful. I wanted to show how you can take a part of an image and use it, instead of the whole digi.

The recipe I used is as follows:

V9, 6, 5, 4

G20

Y04

The flowers, ribbon are from my stash, and the papers I was blessed to find at Michael's on the Clearance rack. They are from K & Company and I love them all. I used some twine and buttons from SU. The flower in the middle was my attempt to make a 3D flower from paper, but, need to work on that technique.  The leaves are a punch from MS.  And of course lots of Stardust Stickles.

So hop on over to PCI, check out the rules and let's see your gorgeous creations. I hope your Easter is filled with many blessings from above that the God who created all wants to pour upon you. Such a glorious day it will be when my  Saviour I shall see :0)

Emily's Card

Here is the card the I made for Emily.  I would encourage all of you to get on board to send some cheer to a very brave and wonderful little girl. Just click on the sidebar and it will take you to all of Emily's update's.

The image is from Dustin Pike that was made just for Emily.  Emily's favorite colors are pink and purple, so I  had to go with this paper that I had from DCWV called "Butterfly & Blossoms" it was perfect for her image. I used copics to color everything, some pearls from SU, ribbon from my stash and the butterfly and double heart were given to me by my best friend.  there is lots of sparkle on this card as it was colored on Cryogen (my favorite) found at the Paper Temptress.  If you have not visited her site I highly recommend that you do. She has specials going on lots of the time and she does have the perfect paper for you. Oh ya, the reason I mentioned sparkle is that when I tried to photograph this with a flash all you could see was the glitter :0), so the picture is a little dark so you can truly see the colors and image well.

Copics used:

RV 10l 13, 14, 19

V 12, 15, 17

Cat:  E99,97, 95 & W1

Horse:  W 5, 3, 1 & E99, 97, 95

Thank you for visiting my blog and I pray that all of you are in the best of health, financial prosperity and spiritual joy. - Pat