I did a little shopping today.....

It was a good day and I bought a lot of *good things* at Michael's today....actually, I bought wayyyyy too many good things but I couldn't resist. They were in my favorite colors of brown/sage/aqua! I got some wonderful twill ribbon, some fun punches, little paper tags and that delicious glitter and some glue for my girls to use.

What? This is all from Martha Stewart's new line? Get out, I didn't even notice it was her stuff!!!!!!! LOL! Okay, I knew it was...it's all the talk amongst we scrappers and stampers right?

There is a TON of new stuff on the shelves by Martha. Go see Julie's post(blog listing at right), she did a great job of summarizing the product line. To me, it doesn't matter whether the product is from Martha Stewart or Marty Stewart(country singer).....if I like it, I buy it. It's just like any other product line to me. Some stuff I love, some stuff is not for me. Some is nicely priced, some costs a little more than I would pay. It's all about what you like and if you'll actually use the product when you get it home.

Sooo, let me know what you bought! I can't wait to use my glitter and punches and will be sure to post some creations.

Bundle of Joy

I was in a coloring mood yesterday so I made up a few baby cards with this adorable giraffe image from SU!'s Bundle of Joy set. I love images like this because they don't take very long to color and I can still mass produce them easily for my card stash. I used SU! markers and the Cool Caribbean ink pad with an aquapainter since there is no CC marker. Then I glitterfied the spots with SU! Dazzling Diamonds fine glitter. Cardstock colors are Caribbean Blue, Certainly Celery and Barely Banana. Patterned paper is from SU! also. Sentiment is from Papertrey and baby letters are the SU! Doodle Alphabet. I love alphabet stamps!!!

Tip of the day: Use a light colored marker to outline your colored images. I used Barely Banana and Bashful Blue around the little giraffes. This makes your images just pop off the white cardstock.

Diet Coke and a Card

mkayteem left a comment:

"Mish -
Man, you are killing me! I have been stalking the blog for a new entry evey day and today is Friday...your last post was Tuesday. I know you have a life but your blog entries are like Diet Coke with Lime to me...I gotta have it to get going in the morning! Anybody else out there know what I mean?!!! How did the lady at school like your card and the chocolate? Your blog rocks!"

Well, I can't have you guys going through withdrawals now, can I? What's a Friday without a new card sample AND a Diet Coke with Lime, right?????? Here ya go mkayteem, this one's for you. Is it too early for a LARGE MARGE? (that would be mishie slang for margarita!..okay we'll settle for the DCWL (Diet Coke with Lime)!!) Whew, whatta week! Sooooooo glad it's Friday! DH is going turkey hunting so it's just me and the girls tonight!!

I just finished up these cards using leftover Card Club supplies. I love this big blossom from the Big Blooms SU! set. The possibilities of what you can add to the center of this flower are endless! You should buy this set, I give you permission. Other embellishments are my *messy stitches* on the snippets of ribbon, circle punches for the flower center, Borderline flower stamp along the bottom of the card (retired from SU!), and the *Happy birthday to you* sentiment from Papertrey. Any other sentiment stamp junkies out there? You'll love the Papertrey Faux Ribbon set then.

Tip of the day: I'm going to give you some little tips about selling cards in my tip section from time to time. Here's one from my wild and crazy friend Lisa Zappa, which I do ALL the time too: I've mentioned stamping multiples of cards before and my friend Lisa takes it one step further. She makes a list of all of the birthday cards she needs each month. She stamps up that many cards for herself to use PLUS she stamps up extras for her sale basket. This is an excellent idea to do while you have all your supplies out. That way, you don't run out of cards for yourself.....which I do all the time because I don't want to use up all my sale cards. Thanks Zappy!!!!!! Go check out her blog, she is the VINTAGE QUEEN!!

Summer Countdown Begins!!!

Woohoo ladies, are ya with me? Many of you know that I have a part time job as a substitute teacher. I sub mostly at the high school, and boy do I have stories for you!! Well, this subbing stuff (ha, we used to have a local sandwich shop called Sub-N-Stuff, it was GOOD!..I digress)is really getting in the way of my CRAFTING and I am not liking it one bit. But my husband says that my CRAFTING is getting in the way of paying bills, so off to work I go! Whatever(my favorite word!)!!

Sooooo, in leiu of me playing the tagging game-although I thank you all for always thinking of me-I am going to post cards that represent what I'm officially naming my **Countdown Til I Quit My Job For The Summer** challenge. We can all play along and post a link back here to our creations. That way, I can spread the word about all your wonderful blogs or galleries, plus have a little fun and see all the different ways that we meet the challenge. If you wanna participate, go for it. If not, enjoy the cards I post and as always, thank you for visiting my blog. Here's how it works: If I post a creation that relates to my summer countdown, I'll list a challenge for you too! Be sure to post the link to your card so we can see it in the comments section. Easy peasy, have fun!!

Back to the cards now.....both of these cards were created with the new Papertrey Faux Ribbon set. Other supplies include PT Green Thumb set, My Mind's Eye patterned paper, SU! Kraft CS and various inks. For the faux ribbon, I made long strips of ribbon samples and then just cut up *snippets* to use on cards. I crumpled and stitched on the three at the top of the main image of the boots card. I love to do this *messy stitch*...just stitch back and forth three times to adhere *ribbon*, real or faux.

The boots card was made for my friend Miss Becky. She is our new school secretary and the poor thing is about to go nuts. It's a crazy time of year with end of school sports events, etc and she is ready for summer. We are going to have margaritas together..not at school!! I'm giving her this card tomorrow along with that yummy little morslet of chocolate that has a coffee kick inside. Yummayyyy!

So here's my first challenge: Make a card that screams *HANG IN THERE*...or something similar. Surely you have a friend that could use a card like this these days! Or send them to me for quality inspection! LOL!!

Tip of the day: Today's tip comes from my dear friend HB (Carol)...she has created the *make and mail* policy. When you have the chance to MAKE some cards, be sure to MAIL out at least a few of them. Those cute cards are meant to be shared! Have fun everyone!!

Check out the creations from others:

Check out Sherrie's cute hammock card here: http://sherrie-cardcreme.blogspot.com/

More Tent Topper Cards.....

After I have my Card Club, I sit with all the leftover supplies and make extras for my stash basket. I'm naming these Tent Topper cards so you'll know what I'm talking about. I posted a version of one of these a few posts down but used a rectangle topper. I thought a circle would be cute for some girly cards so I used my circle and scallop circle punches this time. The flower was stamped in SU! Pixie Pink on glossy paper which is super cute with this set. I then stamped the big polka dot in SU! Certainly Celery and punched a smaller circle out of it with my 5/8" punch. That was adhered with a dimensional. Cardstock is SU! Pixie Pink, Glossy White and Cool Caribbean. Patterned paper and Big Blossom stamp set are from the current SU! mini catalog. Sentiment is stamped on a strip of CC cardstock and has some piercing for some added detail. I LOVE making these cards! They remind me of place cards and I can just picture the recipient sitting one of these on display on her desk or kitchen table. Fun stuff here, you should try one and let me see!

Tip of the day: Will these fit into a regular envelope? Yep, they sure do!! I made sure when creating this design that it would still be mailable. So I cut the cardstock 4.25" x 8.5" so that when it's folded it makes a 4.25" square. The tent topper can be as big as you want and in any shape. The secret is this: when you adhere the topper portion, lay your card on top of an envelope (or lay on top of a ruler)and make sure it is adhered between the length of the envelope. Or less than 5.5". And if there are any A Muse fans out there, these would be adorable made up with their cute, patterned notecards

All things green.....

So I put away all of my Easter decorations today and did a little decorating for spring. Everything I own is green! Green has been my favorite color since forever! When Hunter Green was popular, that was my color. Now it's a sage/vintage green. And I'm really into birds/nests/eggs, botanical prints, ferny type stuff, little stone statues and apothecary domes. I believe I am turning my house into a greenhouse!! Anyway, I thought I would post my photos of all things green that I love.....I get a ton of inspiration from the decorations in my home. Any other green lovers out there?

Papertrey Flowers!

These cards are the last of my samples from my weekend stampathon. The themes here were Mother's Day and Graduation. I love the little *Hello Mom* tag, it just adds a touch of whimsy. And for the graduation cards I used a generic *good luck* or *congratulations* sentiment. You can't see it but I used glossy card stock for the main images, it just makes the ink pop out. Other patterned paper is from Crate Paper. I love the texture and somewhat worn look to their papers, good stuff! The oval I used for the shadow at the base of the watering can is from A Muse, a must have stamp!! And of course the Papertrey stamps are front and center on these cards. I think you could stamp a bazillion different combinations of flowers from these sets and never get bored. They are FUN!! And thank you Nichole for mentioning me on your blog...you definitely made my day..again!!

Tip of the day: If you like to stamp cards to have on hand for your *stash* basket, stamp a stack that have generic sentiments or no sentiments at all on the front. Then you can add a sentiment later or simply hand write a note inside. For example, I used a *good luck* sentiment on my graduation cards but if I don't use them all, I can use them for another occasion later on. If you do a bunch of *Thinking of You* type cards, they can be used for lots of occasions such as *Sorry to hear about your gall bladder attack*....or *Just wanted to say hello*.....or *sorry your kids are driving you nuts, I know the feeling* type cards. Snort!

And have you seen the newest Papertrey set called Faux Ribbon?.....WOWZERS!!!...you gotta have it just for the sentiments alone!! My mail lady Dorothy came by in her little red mail truck yesterday...I nearly climbed inside to look for my square Papertrey box!! I'm hoping to use my new set this weekend!! Have a wonderful, wacky, wild weekend my friends!!!!!!!! Hope you get to stamp!

Virtual Stamp Weekend

My friend Heather BabyCakes McHooty hosted a Virtual Stamp Weekend. There were several challenges including a color challenge, distressing challenge and a sketch challenge. My favorite challenge was the sketch challenge, which I used on all of my cards posted today. When I look back at a lot of my cards, I am noticing a trend of using a strip of cardstock/patterned paper along with a circle accent of some sort. So this sketch was perfect for me, I love it! I was a stamping machine this last weekend because I needed to stamp graduation cards for a friend. She needs 22 cards, most with a different theme. So I was busy....stamp and clean up, stamp and clean up. Hope you enjoy!

Images include AMuse(piggy and yeehaw), Papertrey Inc(butterflies and sentiments), HA (stitched circle), SU! (congrats graduate), Michaels (you go girl). Pink paper by Three Bugs in a Rug, blue paper by Chatterbox, turq/orange paper by Crate Paper. You can purchase a ton of fun paper at Eclectic Paperie..see link under my shopping area.

Tip of the day: When you only really need to create one card, go ahead and stamp in multiples of 2. It makes so much sense, because you already have the supplies out and it's easy to create in two's because you cut a sheet of cardstock in half anyway. So go and make two, four or more cards to have on hand. And most of the time, I go ahead and use up a full sheet of 12 x 12 patterned paper. I lose the scraps otherwise.

You sure you wanna see this?

EDITED ONCE AGAIN TO ADD: The letter *H* in my plethora of M's is from an Archiver's class I took. It was an altered letter for HOME or Harmony. The plastic tiered ribbon holder was from a friend. She was quitting her jewelry business and had all of her beads in there. It's actually a display case for beads so maybe you could do a google search for *acrylic bead displays*, etc. I dunno, it was FREE so I nabbed it! And yes, I promise to post about selling cards soon. How I do it, how much I charge, how to get customers, etc....just promise me you won't come to Kansas and take over my beloved hickville customers! LOL!
Okay, here goes! Many of you have asked to see the rest of my stamp studio. I am very privileged to have my very own room for my crafting, and let me tell you I have filled it to the max! But let me say first off, it's a total MISH MASH of stuff! I have bought storage units from every place possible: my table came from a garage sale for $35 bucks, my cool green shelf came from a craft show, my sister got the wire baskets on EBay and my utility tables came from my MIL's church. I just pick items up here and there and shove them in. Whatever works, right?

I have found though that being *somewhat* organized, and I use that term loosely, is a GOOD thing. I know, I know it's hard and I am NOT good at it. I am not a neat freak either, nor do I wish to be. But I have done a few things that have helped me tremendously when it comes to crafting.

Here goes:EDITED, MY PHOTOS GOT OUT OF ORDER BUT I PUT THE NUMBERS BELOW THAT CORRESPOND TO THE ORDER OF THE PHOTOS POSTED... SORRY, I'M SURE YOU CAN FIGURE IT OUT!

3. Group like items together. For example in the first photo, I have stacked all of my 3 drawer Sterlite units together and have like items grouped together in the drawers. Adhesives in one drawer with labeled tag on the front, Stickles and glitter together in another drawer, chipboard pieces in another drawer, etc. All are labeled with a tag that I stuck to the front with giant glue dots. Nothing fancy but I can find anything I need within seconds. It wasn't always like this...it took me hours and hours to sort those drawers one day. I did a lot of purging too. See that area to the right? That is my most prized finds ever! My friend Cami turned me on to these Pottery Barn (YES, POTTERY BARN)slot shelves that I got for a steal, I tell ya! I bought two units and then they went on sale even more....I called and got one more. DH is gonna spew when he finds that out! This is where I have my Inspiration Station like I showed in my last post.

4. My second photo is my work table. My mom called one day while on a *mission* as we call them...aka garage sales. She said you want it, I said sure bring it home! It was perfect, with drawers and standing height too with drop down leafs! Woohoo Mom! Anyway, keep your work table clean and you will thank yourself over and over. Work on one project at a time and clean up and put away everything when you're done. THEN move on to the next project. Keep your scrap colors all separated and labeled so you can put them away easily. You will save yourself HOURS of clean up if you do this. This is hard to do because clean up sucks, I know. It's my best tip though, guaranteed!

5. The third photo is my tool table. I was tired of lugging these items in and out of my storage closet all the time, so I set up a table just for my tools. It houses my ink storage, Cuttlebug, Cricut and garage sale sewing machine. Nothing else is allowed here, although I do see my daughter's paper dolls on there! By the way, the answer is YES.....you DO neeeeeeed all of those tools!

6. Fourth photo is my metal storage unit from Sam's Club that holds my EBay wire baskets. These are HOT right now. Remember as a kid when you went swimming and you put all your junk in a wire basket? It had a metal plate with a number on it and then you got the matching number on a giant safety pin. Same thing! If you find them cheap, get them ALL! These baskets hold a bunch of my SU! stamps and other junk. I love em!

7. The next photo is part of my ribbon storage....notice I said *part*. I have enough ribbon to last a lifetime, but just don't tell my husband. This is a plastic pegboard from the hardware store with wire hanger things attached. I put about 5-6 spools of ribbon on each wire. I used little wooden pegs above the ribbon to hang my Fiskars scissors. Remember when they were about the only scrapbooking tools there was and you used your half price coupons to purchase every set ever made? Boy, did every photo mat have nice, pretty edges?? Snort!

1. And then there is my white spinner tool caddy. I got it at Target and it is COOL! It has 4 divided areas on top, drawers, a magnetic area and elastic strips for scissors,etc. I found a mesh magnetic storage thing from Making Memories and slapped that on there to hold small items like my dimensionals,etc. The little white storage box is new, I just found it at Target too. Fun stuff. You neeeeeed them both.

2. Lastly is my *monogram* area. I have one collection of M's in my room that I grouped together on another cool shelf with knobs. Below that is some Pottery Barn knock off magazine racks that I bought at a home collection store. I store one each of every mini catalog, envelopes and paper items in there.

Soooooo, I told ya it was a Mish Mash. But every little area has a story behind it and that's what makes it fun! You stumble across stuff here and there and then all of a sudden your husband thinks you are obsessed and possessed. A cult for women, he calls it! I just say *whatever*, one of my favorite words. How much did that new turkey gun cost ya, deary? LOL! Actually, he is very supportive and only rolls his eyes every couple purchases. He also knows that I pay for every bit of my crafting supplies on my own through workshop and craft sale earnings so he can't complain much. Now with all that said.......and if you hung on til now....GIT YOURSELF TO STAMPING, GIRLS! Organize those rooms, get to some garage sales (missions)...or Pottery Barn if you can afford it....and just do it! The ideas will flow forth, I tell ya! Okay, my hands hurt from typing now so I'm outta here. Frozen pizza, here I come!

Inspiration Station...prepare to be creative!

So many of my friends ask, *How do you always have so many ideas, Mish?* I'll let you in on some of my secrets. Settle in for a nice little story, get your coffee if you need to and come back. OK. Well, rarely do I just plop down and an idea comes to me. I *prepare to be creative* just like the title of this blog thread states. What does that mean, you ask? I surround myself with inspiration and ideas. I am constantly on the lookout for *stuff* that inspires my creative side.

For example, in the first photo you will see my *Inspiration Station*. I got this idea from a current issue of Home Companion magazine. A designer had all kinds of fabric, ribbon, papers, etc on a giant bulletin board and in baskets nearby. I LOVE that idea! So I made a smaller version of that Inspiration Station in my own craft room. At the time of this photo, I had some beautiful papers, ribbon, ric rac and some paint daubers all grouped together. You can't just purchase supplies and expect them to hop on the card. They need a little help....a little time to get to know each other....a little time to hang out together at the Inspiration Station! Then after you've looked at it all for while, an idea is surely bound to pop into your head.

Another source of inspiration is my sketch book...or piles of sketches that I have drawn, like in the second photo. I do this while I watch tv, or am waiting for the girls at soccer practice, or while I'm subbing at school during breaks. I have a little idea book that I put my tried and true sketches into, and I keep my *maybe* ideas on grid paper. LOVE that stuff! Can you see how my strawberry card is next to a sketch that looks similar? Just a little idea is all that is needed to spark a bigger idea!

Something else you can do is keep some of your current supplies out in the open where they can be seen, like with my green shelf in the photo. (By the way, don't you love my shelf...my green shelf....my favorite color shelf?) I love to hang rub ons, stickers, acrylic stamps, magazine pages,etc on those giant rings and then put a ribbon through that and hang on a knob or hook. I have this kind of stuff hanging all around in my craft room. It's organized and easily accessible...not stuck in a drawer. And I love my clear jars, perfect for buttons and baubles. I'm sure by now you've also noticed my messy ribbon collection(in my wire basket...my green, wire basket.....my favorite color wire basket..see a theme here?) I have tried to keep my ribbon in order but this is how I like it. All Mishy Mashy like a kid's toy box. I can dig around in there and find all kinds of good stuff!

Lastly, you can see how all of this inspirational stuff came together in my mind. I made this cute flower card using the ric rac and paint daubers that were grouped together on my Inspiration Station. No, I didn't use the pretty papers but I'll get around to those later. For this card, I used the Papertrey Green Thumb set that I can't get enough of. I just gathered up my supplies and a sketch and here's what I created. So I hope I have given you some food for thought with my creative process...and I wish you all could come stamp with me, oh the fun we could get into!

Tip of the day: Geez, that was the mother load of tips up there, but here's another one. When you are working with paints like the cool Adirondack Paint Daubers (from Eclectic Paperie), don't expect crisp, clean images. Paints give a textured, sometimes smudgy feel to your project. The results are unpredictable but that is the fun part. Go with it girls, it's fun!! Let loose, woohoo!! Also.....clean up after yourself after each stamping session. When you are done with a grouping of supplies, put them away. It's refreshing to start out with a clean table and much easier to put away supplies a little at a time.

Paper Trey Fun!

I needed a few cards to send out so I grabbed my new Paper Trey Green Thumb set and started creating. These two cards are paired with Daisy D's new patterned paper that was left out from my last project(typical!). I think this paper gives the cards a kind of vintage kitchen look, which I love. Nichole's images are some of the easiest to work with because each little element is a separate stamp. I love that you don't have to color with markers or using masking to get lots of colors on one combined image. I also love that you can bend the stems to get an assorted bouquet, an added benefit of acrylic stamps (that are growing on me!). I'm gonna have to go stamp more of these as I can't just send them off without have more on hand!

Tip of the day: Images like a flower pot, or the watering can on my card, look great when they are *grounded*. That means that the images aren't floating around in space, they are sitting on a surface. You can ground images by using several methods: 1)use a fine tip marker and draw a ground line, 2)use a brush tip marker or paint brush and scribble a ground line with a light color, or 3) use a shadow stamp like I did on my watering can card.

The particular stamp I used is an oval shape made by A Muse. I use it ALL the time. For my card, I masked the watering can, inked up the oval stamp and then stamped over the watering can. I think it adds a ton of detail and an element of depth to my card. If you don't have an oval stamp, you can also punch a reverse oval and sponge over a masked image. I believe Nichole did this one of her cards on her blog.

Red Ribbon Strawberries!

I've been playing again with my new PaperTrey Green Thumb stamps. They are SOOOOO cute, I can't even stand it! Be sure to head over to Nichole's blog to check out the behind the scenes stories she's been telling about the business. So interesting!

So who loves polka dots? I do and I just love the polka dot accents on these juicy strawberries. Nichole was brilliant in her two step strawberry designs. I've always wanted a strawberry that had the stem and berry parts separate...voila, here it is, and in two sizes! I used Daisy D's new red/polka dot paper on these two cards to create the topper and the *ribbon* accents. These strawberries would definitely earn ribbons at the fair, don't ya think? I also created stamped polka dots on both cards using various size circles from PaperTrey sets. And of course, I had to stamp matching envelopes. Can't wait to send these off! Enjoy your Easter weekend everyone....have a blessed day!

Tip of the day: To add some dimension to a focal piece (the double strawberry images), stamp one strawberry on the base piece of cardstock. Then stamp the stem of the second strawberry on the base piece also. Stamp a second strawberry on a scrap piece of paper, then cut it out and adhere with dimensionals(foam sticky dots). This creates even more of a focal point. And by stamping the stem first on the base piece of cardstock, you don't have to worry about cutting out those intricate stems.

My green garden boots!

So yesterday I go shopping with my neighbor to this awesome shop called Nell Hill. Oh, it is heaven ladies! There are actually two shops, one is a home and garden shop and the other is a furniture/linen store. In the bottom of the furniture store is this tiny little shoe/purse/jewelry shop...great marketing idea. Anyway, I see these polka dot flipflops and I immediately neeeeeeed them. I wanted the brown and white pair but of course they did not have my mammoth foot size available. So I purchase the black and white polka dots and continue with my home decor shopping.

Then today, my new Papertrey Green Thumb set arrives and I am giddy! I had this card idea and wanted to use the polka dot boot first thing. What colors do I use though? So I think a bit and then it comes to me. I would love to have some polka dot boots to match my flip flops I bought yesterday. But I think I would love a pair in this green color. Seriously! In the summertime, I wear my husband's black, ugly rubber boots in the garden. Sometimes it's just wet and sticky and you need boots on. He laughs at me because if it's over 60 degrees, I'm most likely in shorts....shorts and his ugly black boots and my big butt. I just know if I had a pair of these pretty green boots that I could look much more fashionable in my garden. Like the sentiment on the card says, *I can deal with anything if I have the right shoes*. LOL!

So for the card? I used some leftover paper from my scrapbooking weekend from Wild Asparagus. I adore their paper, it's heavenly! I thought the design would be fun for place cards and to display on a desk...more like a little piece of artwork. The overall card still measures 5.5" so it will fit into a standard envelope. The base card is 4.25" square and then you just add on the main image piece. I used very soft colors and Versamagic Chalk Inks..from Eclectic Paperie listed at the right.

Tip of the day: Always try to allow time to stamp your envelopes. It is such a treat to get a card with stamped images on the envy!

Scrapbooking!

Okay, I just finished a long post and it got deleted so here's the shorter version. Went scrapbooking last weekend, finished 30 pages, had a great time, thought I would share some of my favorite pages.

My style of scrapbooking is to fit a ton of photos on two page layouts, along with some fun titles and embellishments. My layouts are usually pretty linear and sequential because I do use so many photos. I love to use kit items such as pre-made titles, journaling blocks, embellishments and matching patterned paper. My Mind's Eye has several lines that are fantastic for this type of scrapbooking! I hope you enjoy my samples.

Scrapbooking tip: When preparing for a crop or organizing scrapbooking supplies, here's what I do. I purchase giant baggies that fit 12 x 12 paper. I purchase my patterned paper and at least sheets of solid cardstock and put them in the bags. Toss in other embellishments to coordinate such as ribbon, primas, metal embellishments, brads, buttons, etc. Add a sticky note that tells the who, what, when, where information. Then store these in a safe place. I do this as I purchase supplies.....usually my love of patterned paper dictates my layouts and I always seem to find photos that will match. If not, I just print off photos in black and white or sepia tone sometimes. Then when I'm ready to crop, I just pack up my basic supplies like trimmer, scissors, tools, etc. This helps me pack very light compared to the other croppers usually. Plus it cuts down on the stress and waste of time of not being prepared. Oh, I do love to scrapbook!