Congratulations to our dear niece

Good Evening friends,

My DH and I have just found out that our wonderful niece Charlotte has purchased a business for herself. She is completely and utterly passionate about dogs and all things relating to dogs. And she has now bought a dog business. She will be walking them, training them, house sitting them, etc. This is simply perfect for her and DH Frank and I are both just so proud of her. So, naturally, I had to make her a card to offer our congratulations.
 

 

The stamped image is from Whimsy Stamps and I think it is just too cute. I coloured it with Copics and cut out the image and the matt with Spellbinders Labels Two dies. All the little sentiments are from a range of Joanna Sheen dog stamps from the UK. The paper is of course from my stash and I added a bit of ribbon. Kept it fairly CAS as that is what I think Charlotte would prefer. Frills and bows are not her style.

Thanks so much for joining me. Have a great evening. Cheers.

Stash busting

Good Evening once again blog friends,

As I am now feeling more like my old self, I thought I would set myself a challenge. I sorted through the leftover paper I had. You know the kind, the stuff that you do not really know what to do with but simply CANNOT THROW IT OUT! With that in mind, I decided to use it up and make as many cards as I could using just a few supplies. I tell you, I think my pain killers were having an effect on my state of mind.

Anyway, here is what I came up with.
 

 

I have not the faintest idea where I got the pattern paper from but the stamped images are some of my absolute favourites, In Bloom from Papertreyink. The sentiment is from them also. I used a Martha Stewart punch along the bottom.

More of the aforementioned paper, this time using the Funky Flowers stamps also from Papertreyink which I fussy cut as I have not purchased the matching die yet. A different Martha Stewart punch and some ribbon.

 

The bicycle image was already on the paper but I added the stamped butterflies, sentiment and cut out the other butterflies with the Papertreyink die set called Beautiful Butterflies and added a button with some twine.

 

 

The sentiment card and the butterfly dies are from Papertreyink. Still using up minute pieces of scrap paper.

 

This last card used up the first sheet of pattern paper and I added the stamped circle from the Papertreyink set Tag-Its #2, the sentiment and teeny wee flowers are from Papertreyink Tag-Its #3 and the larger flowers and leaves are also Papertreyink Ruby Reprise. Used Memento inks for all cards.

 

Making 5 cards used up only twos small sheets of paper and a few small scraps. When you consider how much paper we all probably have lying around, as I know that I do, I find that totally shocking.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great evening. Cheers, Melanie

Second Prize at the Fair

Good Evening my dear blog friends,

I am so sorry to have been MIA for a while but sadly, I had to have dental surgery. I am completely and utterly terrified of dentists due to the misfortune of having a total butcher for a dentist for a number of years. Anyway, I have been dealing with pain and swollen jaw and feeling completely sorry for myself for the past week. However, the swelling is going down, pain receding and I am once again seeing the bright side of life.

I realized that I had not posted the card which won me the second prize at our local fair, so here it is. The focal image is a die from Cottage Cutz which is mounted on a Spellbinders die on some paper from my stash and a piece of ribbon. A wee die for the sentiment and a tiny rhinestone. Easy peasy.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Cheers, Melanie

Justrite Stamps Cool Craft Storage Ideas Linky Party

Good Morning blog friends,

I have been absent for a while as I was working on decorating my dining room and was so very fortunate as to have some dear friends visit for several days. As we live about 4 hours apart it was terrific of them to make the trip so I spent all my time with them.

The purpose of this post is to show a little bit of my crafting space for my organization. I am one of those people who likes everything to be in it's place, at all times. When I am working on a project, I pull out what I need but then put it away as soon as I am done with it. My craft space in our old house was TINY so if I did not keep things neat, I was doomed.

Here are some photos of how I organize things.

 

Probably like everyone else, I use a variety of markers when I colour. I keep my Tombow and other assorted ones in the unit on the left which my DH built for me. My Copics I keep in the storage unit on the right which is from Crafters Companion. It is fantastic. I like to be able the find the marker that I want without a lot of hunting around and this does the trick and I can add to the unit when I purchase more Copics.

 

I have been stamping for a long time and all my original stamps were wood mounted. A long time ago I decided to remove all the wood blocks and mount them all on EZ Mount cling foam (also from Crafters Companion) and I store them all in these binders which are labelled by category. I now find that since all the stamps I now buy are already mounted or are usually clear stamps, I prefer to keep them sorted by who makes them. The bottom shelf of this bookcase contains Iris cases in which I sort pattern paper by colour. the blue basket on the top shelf contains small 6" x 6" paper packs. The two blue boxes on the top of the bookcase house dies from various different companies, all kept in CD envelopes and filed by name. I keep Papertreyink dies in one box and all the rest of my collection in the second box. the little unit on the top holds spools of bakers twine and washi tape. The black books on the shelf on the right is how I keep my Spellbinders and Justrite dies.

 

Here is a close up of the books. I made them from heavy illustration board bought at Michaels. The panels are 20" x 30" so I got 6 sheets from each board. I used the magnetic sheets for making photo fridge magnets from the dollar store to line the pages and I stick in the dies. I used the Bind it All tool for the rings. I do have wonderful intentions to make a pretty decorative description on the left side of the dies but that has not yet happened. :)

 

I also do scrapbooking and have a collection of Cricut cartridges and other CD's etc that I use. They are stored in these Benno towers from IKEA. They all fit quite nicely into two towers and I am not planning to get any more of them.

 

As you can see from this photo, I have put bookcases, also from IKEA, back to back when you enter the room. That way I get a lot more storage with a much small footprint. This Benno tower houses other stamp sets in CD cases for easy access.

 

This is one of three storage cube arrangements. These are the Jetmax cubes that you can get all over the place. I got these at Michaels. This is where I do most of my die cutting and I keep all the plates for both my Cuttlebug and my Grand Calibre in the desk top holder. The drawers house all kinds of materials from Ink pads to tape runners, etc.

 

These small binders are the perfect size for the Justrite stamps. I bought them at Staples.

 

 

The clear Justrite stamps I keep in one of the two drawer cubes that has dividers in it. It is an easy way to keep them neat and easy to get at when I want them. I put them in the drawer alphabetically and have a list of my collection so I know where to find them.

 

I have a table in the centre of the room, which is not huge at 9' x 14' and that is where I usually work. Anything I want is a single step away. Thanks for joining me today. See you soon. Cheers, Melanie

Good afternoon my dear blog friends,

Well, we just came home from the Fall Fair. I had entered 4 items, 2 Easter Cards, 2 Christmas cards, and two framed pieces of counted cross-stitch embroidery. I am very happy to tell you that I came away with one 1st and three 2nd place prizes. This was my first time entering at the fair and I am pretty much thrilled with my prizes.

Thanks for your well wishes. Cheers.

Papertreyink Make it Monday

Hello my dear friends,

Tonights card is the Papertreyink Make it Monday challenge. As I do not own any of their cover plates I made my own using their Beautiful Butterflies dies. Cut them out to make a template, added Versamark ink over the openings which I then dusted with clear embossing powder and heat set. I sponged over Memento Inks, namely Angel Pink, Lulu Lavender and Lilac Posies. I kept it soft as I knew I wanted to make a baby card.

I added a piece of lace down the side and cut out the flower using Spellbinders rose dies. I hate to admit but it is just felt from Michaels. The sentiment is from Papertreyink's Wonderful Words Baby, using the stamps and the die. I added a few pearls here and there and one in the centre of the flower.

Thanks so much for stopping by. See you soon. Cheers.
 

Good Evening blog friends,

As I have mentioned previously, I live right out in the country outside a tiny hamlet in eastern Ontario, Canada. The tiny hamlet next to ours has an Agricultural Fall Fair every year with all the expected things like cows, horses, etc. They also have a HomeKeeping section which includes all the wonderful baking and needle arts done by the very talented people in this area. There is also an Arts & Crafts section and as I was reading over the list of items one can enter for judging, what did my little green eyes spy but CARDS!! Yes, my friends, CARDS. There are two categories. Easter and Christmas. I have no idea why Easter for a fall fair but there you have it. One needs to make two cards for each category entered. So, tonight I sat myself down and made the requisite 2 Easter cards. I will do the 2 Chrismas cards if I have time tomorrow. Did I mention that this fair is on Saturday, as in this Saturday. Well, I am new to the area and I would have made my cards much earlier had I know. Here they are.

I have used Flourishes stamps on both of them drawn by the much talented Marcella (thank goodness for PowerPoppy), coloured them with copics and added bits and pieces here and there. For the Easter Egg card I actually pulled out a corner punch of all things, something I have not used in ages but I think it looks OK. There is also glitter on the flowers and the tag but I am afraid it does not show up well in the photo. I also stamped out the centre pink flower and the tag a second time, fussy cut them and popped them up for a bit of dimension.

This Lily is also from Flourishes, coloured subtly with C1 and C3 with a tiny bit of green thrown in, cut out with Spellbinders, as I also did the egg above, matted with some white card that went through an embossing folder which I edged with a silver Pilot marker and added more of my previously dyed lace and a few pearls and popped up the focal image and the sentiment on pop dots.

Well that is it for me for tonight. Thanks so much for stopping by. Cheers.