Flower Soft Goodness!

What better way to start out the first Monday of 2010 than with a Flower Soft blog hop! Happy New Year to YOU!

For today's creation, I chose to use one of the darling Hedgerows from the Hedgerow Friends With Love Card Toppers pack. I cut her out and covered her fur with Nut Brown Flower Soft. I then added Baby Pink and Russet Red to the little hearts on the envelope she is holding! I also added a clear heart sticker to the envie! The sky is created with my SU Cloud, Moon, and Stars template, an oldie but goodie! She's ready to be placed in the gate opening!

I used my Flower Soft stamp set, "The Gate" to create the fence and gate. I know! Flower Soft has stamp sets TOO! Oh, what a great surprise!!! A punched heart, tied and placed on the gate with a brad carries the heart theme from the front to the inside of the gate! Christmas Green and Summer Mix Flower Soft is added to the bottom card front. An adhesive pearl serves as the gate door knob. Papertreyink velvet flowers are added to the base of the card front as well, after I added a touch of Flower Soft to each center! I love how this little touch of Flower Soft adds dimension and color to the card front! To adhere all the Flower Soft colors, I utilized my Flower Soft glue. Be sure to check out the other Flower Soft designers to see what they have been up to! Enjoy the inspiration! Sharon Johnson Deb Saaranen Jeanne Streiff Jennifer Buck AJ Otto Barb Schram, that's ME!

The Not Quite Finished Studio! Day 2

Hi! Thank you for all your kind words! I wish I could have all of you over...and yes, we have one spare bedroom! First come, first serve! LOL For today's tour, we have the unit that is on the adjoining wall to the closet unit I revealed yesterday!

Again all adjustable shelving. More cupboards, because this unit you can see through the doors, and I still need space to stash items away! The top shelf has a padded lid box that holds material and felt pieces.

The next two shelves display my ribbon jars. The counter serves as another work surface! With an above light and power strip. Housed in the right hand upper cupboard is all my heat embossing items.

The right hand middle cupboard is where I store my Copics, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, and misc. items that fall into that category!

The bottom cupboard is where I keep my sew mini, because I can easily pull it out onto the counter and plug in. Extra ribbons, another box of material, and on the bottom shelf I have given access to my husband! He houses his church treasury info and goods here, to work on the computer when I'm not in here! LOL

Let's take a peek into the left hand side of the unit. Top cupboard is where,for now, I keep packing materials, and all envelopes. This will be rearranged soon, have to find a better place for all the envelopes!

All handheld punches are stored in this Pampered Chef kitchen tool revolving holder. Easy to see, and can turn it easily! Acrylic paints and more lighting!

Bottom left hand cupboard contains my dry embossing light box...there again easy to pull out and plug in! Back drop materials, two baskets of various stands for photographing creations! And on the very bottom, you can see my large ClipIt. I love these! They hold so much and makes it much easier to locate and remember what I have! The blue box is my collapsible light box from Best Light Studio.

And the drawers...the top two hold my punches. This is the top drawer. I have a couple office drawer dividers to keep all the punch outs I did not use. That way when I go to get a punch, it reminds me to check here first! On the right side I have paper clipped extra punched edges for the same reason! The bottom two drawers house all the alterable items I have accumulated! I did weed out this stash out before we moved, but find myself with too many, still! One of my 2010 goals, USE the alterable items!

There you have it, day two tour! Tomorrow, I will have a FlowerSoft creation for the FlowerSoft Blog Hop. Lot's of good things the design team has created!!! Day three of the studio tour will resume on Tuesday! Thanks so much for stopping by, Take good care!

The Not Quite Finished Studio!

Remember way back when? I photographed the flex room that was becoming my studio? Well, I finally edited some pics of the new digs and thought I would share, because if I wait any longer to have everything "done" the photos will never get posted! LOL, I know, I know...I have to accept it will always be in the rearranging, updating mode!

So, sit back, relax and I hope you like today's tour! Remember this photo? The entrance to my new studio! Welcome! As the doors are opened, we are going to the left, and immediately there is a closet. This obviously is a before pic. So we went from this... To this! The closet doors are removed, and the first built in is revealed! Can you believe it? The shelves go all the way to the ceiling inside the closet (9 foot ceilings allows lots of shelving!) Five drawers, work surface, and slat wall. All shelves are adjustable! On the left inside of the built in, I have adhered removable 3M hooks to hang my Spellbinder Nestabilities. I actually got this idea when Julie Koerber stated in her studio description that she hung up her dies. That was a light bulb moment for me! But I didn't want permanent hangers, so the removable hooks are perfect! I placed two plastic paper holders on the back slat wall for my white and cream card stock, two colors I use the most. These clear containers can be easily moved as well. I took the plunge and purchased two ClipIts. This is the smallest one, located on the right side of the counter, the larger will be revealed tomorrow! I am using my items more when they are in front of me...how does one ever remember what they have! So this was a great purchase and aids in reminding me what I have!

Here is the bottom section of the closet built in. 5 drawers! Top drawer houses scraps of cardstock and patterned paper. Drawer two holds my Big Shot plates, tape, chipboard shims,etc. Drawer three contains my Xyron machine, cartridges, Melting pot, and bind it all. Bottom two drawers have frames, empty clear containers waiting to be altered! The bottom shelves have magazine holders (found at Target). This station is where I do most of the paper cutting and scoring of cardstock, making the placement of the cutter, ScorPal, and ScorIt right at my fingertips! I'm still deciding if I want to label the drawers...there again, I think it would be helpful to remember whats hiding inside!

Thanks for taking today's tour, I will be posting the room in sections! Tomorrow will reveal the unit on the adjoining wall. Thank YOU for stopping by! Take good care, I'll see you tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

I'm still in waiting mode for my camera to arrive! Now, I do know mail is not delivered on New Years Day, so I'm hoping Saturday the mail carrier will bring me my digital camera! Yes...I left it at my cousins house and she has to mail it to me. Ugh...Sadly I won't be participating in Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Challenge today because I have no way to photo my card. Be sure to check out Sharon's blog and the other Stamp Simply designers creations!

In celebration of Melanie Muenchinger's two years of blogging and illustrating for GinaK Designs, she is hosting a blog hop featuring designers who are sharing their creations with her stamp sets. And one of my favorite Melanie sets is Jumping For Joy! Take a peek of these creations from the past I created!

YES! Zebra flip flops! I embellished each flip flop using the zebra image on shrink art material and attaching to top of flip flops. Here is close up of the Zebra! And utilizing one of the sets sentiments, I adhered it to the back of each flip flop. Also, I pushed two brads through the laminated sentiment for extra staying power! I love this card! It is a mini card on a card! The striped paper clip is holding the mini card closed. Love the the ric rac and brad that embellishes the Zebra so well! Hop through the blogs and then go to Melanie's to discover all the ways you can win one of many prizes! Congratualtions, Melanie! Happy New Year and Happy Hopping! Charmaine Donna Bee Barb, that's ME Jessie Cat Pam Theresa Selma Carolina Gabby Ally Shanon Sankari Cathy Libby Laura Jean Tina Jennie Melissa Geri Karen Linda Lee Nina Jessica

Oh, What FUN!

How fun was Christmas this year! I think these photos tell it all! We are so blessed and thankful for this little guy! Here he is responding to his Grandpa's goofy laugh! I had to get these jammies while Christmas shopping...the front reads, What Santa doesn't bring me, Grandma will! Well, that's just about right! Not totally, but close!

Here he is just sitting back and taking it all in...I thought the Santa hat was a nice touch! Yes?

A somewhat blurry shot, but nice in front of the tree! And Grandpa wanted the shirt front to be front and center! Geesh...a grandma can spoil a little!

Thank you for indulging me and taking a peek! (again!) Hope you are having a great Tuesday! I have been trying to catch up and get back into the swing of things here in the studio! But, I discovered today that I left my camera at my cousins this past Sunday! UGH...she has to mail it and hopefully I will be able to post new creations soon!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

And what better way to warm up than a cup of a Family Favorite! Here is a hot chocolate mix (scroll down in the post for recipe) and that yummy Julie Ebersole chocolate popcorn (again, scroll down in post for recipe and instructions). Makes for a perfect combination! It is sooo cold here in Michigan. I know I should expect that, since it's winter and all, but truthfully, my bones do not like winter anymore! But I am thankful amongst all the snow, ice, and family travels, everyone arrived to their destinations and back home safely. The containers are ones my daughter saved for me. They had little melt in your mouth puffs for little ones starting to eat. All different flavors and our grandson loves them...he can pick them up by himself and that is a big deal!

JustRite sets used for the hot chocolate lid and the tag rim are from What's Cookin' and Christmas Joy respectively. I'm still using Christmas sets for winter creations! These sets offer so much more than just utilizing for the holidays...gotta love that!

JustRite's Something Sweet Set is where the adorable mug image is found! Perfect! Circle and oval Spellbinder dies are used for cutouts.

Closeup of the mug image. I Copic colored and added Dazzling Diamonds to the snowflakes and around the blue oval. Looks frosty! Ribbons used are from Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.

Here are the Copic colors used. I loved how this food gift came together. And to be able to add the perfect embellishments, well, makes it JustRite!

Hope you and your loved ones experienced the best Christmas holiday ever! The new year is around the corner, ushering out 2009 and welcoming 2010! Thanks so much for stopping by and take good care!

Stamp Simply Clean & Simple Thank YOU!

Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply challenge this week is to create a clean and simple Thank YOU! Perfect timing to convey thanks for all those holiday goodies! I chose to go REALLY simple, given the hustle and bustle of the week, I just did not get much stamping done! So, I started out with a package of note cards and envies from Michaels, from the dollar bin. Eight in the pack! The cards are thick and have somewhat of a gloss finish to them, so I knew I would add my sentiment on other cardstock then adhere to the face of the card.

What better way to add "Thank You" to your creation or in this case to my package of note cards. than to reach for a favorite of mine, JustRite Brayton font. Using StazOn black ink, I stamped my image and punched with a oval SU punch.

And here is a pic of the note cards turned Thank YOU cards! I added varied sizes of adhesive pearls for interest. I LOVE how simple and clean these look! And talk about easy...that's what I still need about now! lol Have to get busy and complete a few more gifts for my hubby's family Christmas gathering. Coffee cake just came out of the oven, the french toast egg dishes done! Phew! Check out the fabulous Stamp Simply designers: Sharon Johnson Michelle Woerner (December Guest Designer) Julie Koerber Tammy Hershberger Barbara Anders Jenny Gropp AJ Otto Jennifer Buck Deb Saaranen Janine Orchard

I thank you for visiting today! I pray you are having the best Christmas day, surrounded by those you love. From our house to yours, Merry Christmas!