Success!

I love Glimmer Mist. There, I said it.

I love to spray it on everything to give it a hint of shimmer. I love that it gives me the chance to make custom-colored ribbon and paper. What I don't love about it is the price ($7.00+). Glimmer mist is nowhere to be found in the craft stores of the greater Peoria area. That means I either have to order it online and pay hefty shipping costs or else I have to drive to St. Louis and go to the greatest scrapbook store known to man...Archiver's. Now don't get me wrong...I love going to St. Louis because that means I get to see my BFF and go to Archiver's but it isn't exactly a short trip or one I can take very often.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it is possible to make homemade glimmer mist! Today I did a little shopping to buy just a few items needed to make my own. I really like the fact that I can make the colors I want because I can't for the life of me find a shade of orange that I like. As soon as I got home I decided to run upstairs for a few minutes and whip up a batch of my own.

How did it turn out? Well, the first bottle wasn't the greatest but I think that was due to the fact that I used a pale paint color which doesn't give very bright or vibrant results. I tried a darker color and voila! Success! I really, really can't wait to get home and experiment more with it this weekend. I'm thinking a bright red and maybe a shade of turquoise?

Things I love today

1. a nice, quiet office all to myself
2. the internet
3. leaving early to watch my son play t-ball

Giant Mess!

I decided to finally go through the stacks and stacks of pictures and duplicates, triplicates (is that even a word?) just to try and get them in some sort of order. The primary reason was to get little buddy's baby pictures together and finally start on his baby book.

I have made two observations:

1. I order WAY too many of the same picture.
2. I should have done this project a lot sooner. I'm going to have to do some research and figure out when some of the pictures were taken.

On the plus side...at least I'm starting to get some of the extra pics in actual photo albums.

I did it!

I have officially posted my first item up for sale on etsy....

Why I Scrap

I started scrapping back in 2002. I originally did it to make a book of my wedding. Now I do it mainly to document my son's life. I also make gifts and cards. Mostly it is just nice to sit down without a clue as to what I'm going to work on or do and just create something out of the blue. It is an amazing stress reliever and is about the only time I get to myself.

I like to work with different styles and different products. I have no hard-and-fast rule to my creative process. Sometimes I like to use sketches and see how they transform into an entirely different layout.

I am obsessed with stamps...and ribbon...and buttons.

Other things I love:
1. my scoring board
2. stickles
3. glossy accents
4. fiskars non-stick scissors
5. glimmer mist

More projects

Little Buddy helping me with his father's day card.

Finished product

Organized paint drawer!

Thank You cards from the bridal shower order I had last month

Anniversary card - work in progress

My partner-in-crime





Project Birdhouse

I made this cute little birdhouse for my friend Jen. I bet it looks great in her sun room. My plan, and I am actually working toward it, is to whip up a bunch of these cute birdhouses and sell them on Etsy.

My Craft Room - Before and After

One of the reasons I waited so long to work on anything was my mess of a craft room. I had stuff everywhere. I finally figured out some storage solutions that would work better than the system I had in place. I stumbled on some 3 drawer Sterilyte carts that I found in the storage room. I used them back a long, long time ago when I sold Tastefully Simple. Anywho, I thought I'd spray paint them a light pink, Ballet Slipper, to be exact. They looked good but I decided that I wanted something a little darker.

That is where my plan was temporarily derailed. I bought some Jade spray paint and tried to paint a few other carts that I bought. For some reason the paint just dripped everywhere (hands were covered...and don't let me get started on how hard it is to get spray paint off of your hands...). After a strongly worded letter to Krylon they finally sent a reply. They think the cans froze during shipment causing defective cans. I'm waiting for my replacement cans to come in the mail. :)

Anyway, enough of my blabbing. Now for the before and after pictures.

Before - disclaimer: I had already moved the carts to the side of the room and pulled out all of the drawers so it really wasn't this messy.

After: I moved some stuff from this corner of the room that we weren't using. I decided to move the entertainment center that I had been using as storage to this corner so that there was more space in my working corner (you'll get it after you see the other pictures)

Before - this is the space that I actually work in. I decided to take down the table I was using because I wasn't using all of the space and the open areas I did have seemed to accumulate junk.

After - I used the desk that was also storage and took off the top shelf. It worked out much better than expected.

I absolutely LOVE it. It is organized, uncluttered, and I have so much more room now.

Since I've Been Gone....

I have no excuses as to why I haven't posted in about a month. Life has been busy with t-ball games twice a week, gardening and yard work, and work....and I keep forgetting to upload my pictures...

Well, get ready because I have a ton of things to post...new projects, new cards, and other fun stuff. I apologize in advance :)