Saturday, May 31, 2008

Some Progress!

Well, it took a few weeks, but I finally have some progress to show on my craft room - a very SMALL portion of my craft room, buy hey, progress is progress! LOL I started with the corner that has all my stamping stuff (mostly from Stampin' Up).

Here is the before...

















And here is "after"!

The bottom shelf contains my cutter, card/stamp kits, punch sets, embellishments, pencils, pastels, crayons and my tool kit. The next shelf is obviously my stamps (I didn't realize how many I had!) and the next shelf is scissors, punches, more embellishments, inks and adhesives. They are in Sky-Rail storage boxes, which I bought for my stitching kits and had a few leftover.





The top shelf hold cards & envelopes, templates and patterned paper in more Sky-Rail boxes, and on top I have samples, more paper, stickers, and more cards & envelopes.












Here it is all closed up and neat. I've put large rolled up sheets of hand-made and imported paper in a planter in the corner (they were still in the plastic shopping bag before).







In the corner of my cutting table is a milk crate holding all the rest of my paper. And my greatest little organizational find! I got these tabs from eBay. They are printed on the color of card stock that is in the folder, which makes it really easy to find the right paper!








And since that was all done, I was actually able to make a card for my boss's wedding!



I got a chance to use a few things for the first time, including rub-ons, which I really liked!






I also made her a set of wine glass charms with some wedding charms Jodi sent me recently. They were really easy and fun to make.




And last weekend, I stitched Part 5 of the Papillion Creations mystery.







I hope to do a little more work in my craft room this next week. I still have a long way to go, but at least I'm moving in the right direction!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Another Long Update

OK, So I've finally taken pics of the stitching I've done over the last several months.


Hopefully I remembered everything!! First up is parts 3 & 4 of the Papillon Creations 2008 Mystery Sampler. I'm so proud of myself for keeping up with this!! Of course, it's so much fun to stitch that I'm not having a problem with that! LOL I've been dropping everything to start on it as soon as I hear a new part is out! Hopefully Part 5 will be out soon :)




I have two more ornaments stitched from the ornie RR I was in - JBW Designs French Country Reindeer stitched over one, which was Jennifer's choice and Little by Little's Making Spirits Bright from one of the JCS Ornie issues. That one was sent from Nancy and is also stitched over one. I put the scissors in the picture so you could see how small they are :) And attached to the scissors is a tiny little pallet made by Jodi's Dad Max from Bloom Woodworks. Isn't is sweet?



Let's see, what else have I done? I finished stitching another one of the Little House Needleworks fruit kits - Peaches. The colors, as always are so much better in person. I now have 3 of the 12 finished!



And for the kit exchange I'm in, I finished stitching what Cheryl sent - All You Need Is Love by The Drawn Thread. It's her latest freebie and was a lot of fun to stitch! Unfortunately, you can't tell in the picture that the fabric is a really pretty pink hand-dyed, and the Gloriana silks are just scrumptious! It's too cloudy today to get really good pics.


I finished my choice for the kit exchange and I love how it looks!!! This is The Victoria Sampler's Jazz Tuffet freebie. I chose not to put a button in the middle because I didn't want to cover up the blackwork in the center, so I just stitched over the stitches to tuft it after it was stuffed. On the back is just a small "x". Now to get the fabric cut and the kits mailed to everyone - sorry about the delay!!

I think that just about covers what I've been working on, except my WIPs - LOL.

I've made a decision to get my craft room cleaned and organized once and for all!! I'm posting "before" pictures and I'll post "during" and "after" pictures as well - hopefully this will keep me motivated to actually finish this project and keep it that way :) So, at the risk of embarrassing myself by showing all of you my disaster area of a craft room, here it is....





My cutting table piled high, including a kitty bed - LOL - and Stampin' Up orders I've received still in their bags piled in front.












One of my bookcases that holds stitching magazines, charts and books and one of my sewing tables piled even higher than the cutting table!












See, I told you it was piled high - and look at all that stuff on the floor!















And on this side of the room, my second sewing table is missing - DH took it to use as a work bench until we could afford to get him one - I'm hoping to get it back soon :) And look, a kitty got in the picture - LOL - that's Isabella, my Dad's kitty (so I guess she's my sister) and I'm taking care of her for three weeks while Dad and my step mom are on a trip.








And another set of bookcases with sewing/craft books, picture albums my yarn stash and other assorted stuff - and look, more piles on the floor! A few weeks ago, quite a bit of that yarn was actually in bags on the floor too - so I HAVE been trying - LOL.





And here's my open closet where all my fabric, threads and other random craft stuff is stashed. And my paper crafting cabinet halfway organized. I missed taking a pic of the built-in shelves where my kits are stored, but that is pretty well organized already, so I'll catch that another time.

So, that is my mess. Anyone else want to join me in an "Organize Your Stash" challenge? Hopefully I'm not the only one so unorganized, and hopefully these pictures and talking about the process will help me follow through :)



On another note, DH wanted me to post this picture on my blog. he LOVES pizza, and has been disappointed in what we can get around here, so I've started making them. On the weekends I'll make a batch of dough and then we can have pizza twice during the week. It's really good, if I do say so myself! LOL