I actually created and cleaned....Wha????

I did. Really did. First I created. I joined back into the ATC group. This month the theme was birds/nature. Since my craft studio was A HUGE MESS, I had to use the kitchen table.

Here is what I made for the trade.

Now that I got that done... Time to get cleaning.

Here is what the floor looked like before:

What a CRaZy Mess! could barely get in the door. I did not show you my desk for a reason. My desk looked like the floor. Stuff piled way too high. Almost a health hazard.


Here is what the after looks like. So much better! You can see the floor! Only a couple little "piles" to find homes for.

Playing a little catch-up

Oh boy, I have not blogged about everyday life for a while.

I thought that I will show you a few things that I've been up to.

A few finds, a few deals, and a few studio changes.

I'll start with this awesome find...

A whole huge bag full of unmount and cling mounted stamps

(mostly flowers and leaves) for 25¢ at a church sale!

This is only about 1/2 of them. I weeded out the ones I will not use

and I will sell them at a stamp sale in March.

New to me Slice!

After seeing the Slice work at CHA I know I needed one.

I have the Cricut, but NEVER use it.

SO I asked a girlfriend who has one, is she liked it..

and funny, she did not use it (she's a scrapbooker)

and she just bought a Cricut.

Day late dollar short, we could have just traded. We did still end up trading

6 Cricut cartridges for the Slice. I think that was a fair trade.

So now I need to get some more cartridges for the slice.

I hope I will love it!

New bracelet!

Nicole made it for me. I picked out the beads, but she made it.

I LOVE IT!!!

Thanks Nicole

New lunch bag.

I NEED to control what I am eating.

to keep my Fibromyalgia under control.

I am supposed to "snack" all day long to

keep my energy leveled out.

This bag has a thin re-freeze cooler thing,

so I can keep it at my desk all day.

It has room for 4 snack tupperware containers

and room for my sandwich.

We'll see if this will help.

Studio clean up!

Old back wall. See to the right the file cabinets

with huge totes on top of them...

I consolidated the totes and put them and the

file cabinets in the closet. I bought another Expedit shelf

from Ikea and put it on top of the other horizontally.

I also got a few more pink "boxes" for the cubbies.

Putting them horizontally, made it so I have a lot more room

on top for display. I moved my tinsel tree up there, and my old retro

suitcase that I store all of my done cards in.

I also got a new shelf (from Ikea) for all of my stamp sets.

See the tall thin shelf on the left of this picture.

As you know I unmounted all of them and put them in CD cases.

Then I moved my "shoebox" shelves in the corner up against the wall.

Old candy jar for all of my flowers. So colorful and fun!

Sewing machine now right behind me under my window.

Enabler alert!!!

New Cuttlebug folders!

I visited a scrapbooking store that I have not been to since 2006.

Scrapbooks Too, in Bloomington. They had in the new folders,

and THEY BROKE UP THE SETS!!!

Oh my goodness, how smart! Cuttlebug has started

selling the new folders in sets of four, not singly anymore.

It cost a little more, but this way I could buy the ones I want

not the whole set for only the one or two that I want.

5 X 7- Bumble Bees, Art Deco, Pears

5.5 X 4.25- Rays (Tim Holtz) and Mushrooms.

Where Bloggers Create

Hosted by my desert cottage. You can go to that blog and see a list of all the bloggers that are participating in the blog hop. It was all inspired by the book "Where Women Create". If you have not seen that book, go find it and look through it. It is a wonderful sneak peek into the studios of some wonderful women artists.

Below are some pictures of my studio, for a detailed description, please visit this post on my blog where I describe my studio in more detail. I am mostly a paper crafter (ATC's, cards and scrapbooking), but I will try anything. I've tried quilting, made 2 quilts... HATED it. I've tried beading, too expensive and took too long. I've tried purse making (had a business for 3 years) was too hard on my back. But the one thing I ALWAYS came back to was paper crafting. I think I love the tactile and smell and what paper can do.

I have a lot of "stuff" around me for inspiration. I also tend to use vintage items to hold all of my paper crafting supplies. I really love the old blue Ball jars, wire baskets and old bins/boxes. I have quite a few old bread boxes in my closet to hold those things I don't need to get to all the time.

So please stay a moment and see where I create!



































































This is my back wall, I tried to put 3 pictures together to show the whole wall.

If you have any questions on a particular item, or what to know where I got something, or what a certain item is, please e-mail me.

Tuesdays Tip

Tuesday's tip is the use of 3M removable Command hooks. I am addicted to these 3M hooks, especially the Utensil ones. I use them all over my studio. I was always misplacing my scissors, so now I have a 3M hook right in front of me, above my desk. Now my scissors have a home. For you this could be on a wall, or the side of a cabinet.

You can see other places in my studio where I also use these hooks. The best part is if I re-arrange my studio these hooks will come right off.