Thursday, June 28, 2012

"For Those Who are Left Behind" Blog Hop

Welcome!!!  This weekend my absolute favorite online scrapbook store, Crop Chocolate, is having an onsite crop retreat called The Spring Thing.  However, since they are located in Utah, and I'm in central NY, there was no way I could afford to go, sniff, sniff.  I will miss the opportunity to meet some of the most wonderful scrappers and crafters in person, but maybe they will have another one next year.

So while the lucky ones are in Utah, some of us who couldn't make it decided to have a blog hop so that we could get our scrappy on also.  Each stop along this blog hop will have a challenge for you to work on.  Some of them will have blog candy for you to try to win.  So hopefully you came from Michelle's blog, if not you should really start at the beginning, which is Kathy's blog.

My challenge for you today, since it is also almost July 4th, is to create a project using the American Flag as your inspiration.  For example, use the colors (red, white and blue), use the 50 stars, use the 13 stripes, use a repeating patterned paper (or create your own with stamps), or any combination of these.  The project can be a card, a layout, home decor, altered art, anything you want.

The project, however, must include at least 50% products bought at CC.

Good luck and have fun. 

Here is the project that I have started for this challenge (I have not finished it yet - there are only 35 stars on it so far and nothing is attached yet).  It is from the July 4th when my DS was 1.

Please link your project(s) (whether from your blog, a post on FB, or an uploaded photo on CC) by commenting on this post and including the URL for your project.

All projects are due by 11am EST Thursday, July 5.  Deadline has been extended until 11 AM EST Friday, July 5.  Projects may be combined for up to 3 different challenges within the hop, but you must post on each blog.

To one lucky participant, drawn at random, I will be sending some blog candy (that has yet to be picked out).  The winner will be announced on Monday, July 9.

Other prizes are also being donated by CC ($10 crop credit, EP Homemade mini theme kit, Doodlebug Blue Jeans paper and distress inks).  You must upload at least one project to any blog along the hop to be eligible for these prizes.  Winners will be announced on Monday, July 9 on CC.

Now on to your next stop and challenge at Laura's blog. 

And in case you have gotten lost or missed someone's blog, here is the list for the hop:

clayton528 – http://www.upinthenightwithkat.blogspot.com/
Scrappy Canuck – http://scrappycanuck.wordpress.com/
Karey2005 – http://www.karey2005.blogspot.com/
by belle - http://stuffbybelle.blogspot.com/
bethd488 - http://engineeringmemories.blogspot.com/
scrapaddict-laura - http://scrapaddict4life.blogspot.com/
mom2tayandbay – http://www.talesoftayandbay.blogspot.com/
raebae – http://kitchentablescrapper.blogspot.com/
NinaN - http://ninastimeout.blogspot.ca/
Christina - http://www.thriftysisters-chris.blogspot.com/
Haf2scrap – (guest of centralnyscrapper) http://centralnyscrapper.blogspot.com/
NanCDru-Char - http://craftychicchar.blogspot.com/


Friday, June 15, 2012

Subway Art and 3-D elements

So this past week's challenge at Crop Chocolate was to create a project with a 3-D element, using a mix of masculine and feminine patterned papers.  And for challenge #9, Paper Girls Challenge Blog wanted us to use Subway Art on a project.  Since I had never used subway art, I had to look it up and then decided to combine the two challenges (yes, again).

I also decided to use my new Cameo, as they had subway art files.  I chose one for dad's since it's almost father's day (and I needed a card for my CH anyway).  Here is the final project (I think it's kind of simple, so I might add something, but I'm not sure yet):


Besides my Cameo, I also used my EP Happy Days 6x6 paper, SU crushed curry cardstock, and MM crystal brad.  I'm not happy that the cut out is crooked, but it is what it is (my mantra is "If it was perfect, it wouldn't be homemade").  The 3-D element is the pinwheel, which is also cut by my Cameo.  I think I scaled the file a little too much, but I did get it to work.

Hope you enjoy (and I hope my DH does too).

Monday, June 11, 2012

Scrappy Space Blog Hop Winners

First of all, I want to thank everyone who stopped by my blog during this past weekend's hop, and to those who left comments and became followers, mwah, mwah, mwah!!!

I hope you all had lots of fun visiting all our scrap spaces, I know I did.  It amazed me (and put me to shame) the quality of work that comes out of some of the smallest spaces!!!  I wish we could continue the experience of being the DT for CC a little longer (just because I had so much fun with it, and learned so much while doing it), but it is indeed time to say Adieu - so stay tuned in the next day or so for my finale.

In the meantime, and as promised, I would like to announce the winners from the hop.  Since I received well over the 30 comments, and got about 25 new followers, I have decided to increase the number of winners to three (that's right - 3)!!!



The first winner is comment number 46:

Love your huge workspace! I'm a new follower!






The second winner is comment number 15:

Love the cubes nice work area.








And the third winner is comment number 26:

I am in stamp envy! Thanks for sharing!
thecutandcluckclub@yahoo.com






Congrats to all!!!  Please email me with your addresses so I can send you your winnings!!!  I will give you a week to send me your info.  If I don't hear from you by Monday, June 18, I will pick another number.

Also, for some reason I could not reply to comments given, but someone had a question regarding the table top.  We made it out of 3/4inch MDF.  My DH took the router to the top edges and rounded it so that it wouldn't be so rough (and to make it look more professional).  Eventually I think I would like to paint it, but like it the way it is right now.

I also wanted to tell you all that I was smiling every time someone mentioned how wonderful my DH is - he certainly is wonderful and supportive!!  Sometimes I think he cringes inside when he sees me doing something crafty (because I spend more time there some weekends than anywhere else), and he certainly rolls his eyes every time a new box of chocolate arrives, but lately he has been more interested in what I'm making.  He is not one for compliments (one of the only times I've heard him say I look pretty/beautiful was on our wedding day - at least he said it then), but he actually said he likes my finale project - so it must be good LOL!!!

Friday, June 8, 2012

CC Scrap Room Blog Hop

Welcome to the farewell blog hop of the current Crop Chocolate design team (sniff, sniff)!!!  For this hop we decided that we would share our scrappy spaces (be they rooms, corners of rooms, or tables), and some organizational tidbits for you.  If you did not come from ScrapAddictsAttic (Paula M), or just happened upon this blog, please go to the start of the hop at Ambaju (Amber - our fearless leader).

For a long time, I used a collapsible 6foot table (the kind you see at churches for dinners and such) as my craft table, while sitting in a folding chair.  I did my scrapbooking and card making on it, while my sewing machine was constantly taking up valuable work space.  The table ended up so cluttered most of the time that I would actually carry my stuff over to the coffee table (where my kids would craft) instead.  Then I amassed so many supplies from Crop Chocolate and other places, that I needed more storage space also.  And I had a drafting chair just sitting collecting dust.  So shortly before Christmas I got this bright idea that maybe my DH would help me create a better work space, and he could do it while home with the kids for Christmas break.

So I told him my plan and ideas (which were fairly simple), and he went off and did one better.  Yay hubby!!!  The top of the table is now about 8feet long and 3feet deep.  The base is made up of the 14inch square cubes that you can get from various places (M's and ACM being two of them).  I had about six before, but had to buy more to fill in the space underneath (darn, while snapping fingers), and now have 12 of them of various arrangements.  The only problem is that the corner of the room is now a little crowded, but I can deal with that.

The dimensions were in my favor, as when we put the cubes in place we had left a space in the middle for cords and such to pass through (like when I use my sewing machine), but that space ended up being exactly perfect for my sewing machine to fit and sit on the base he made.  Luck was on my side that day.  I then used the space above my sewing machine to store my Cuttlebug dies and folders (they are in the blue cases - these are made by Cuttlebug and have pages that fit various sizes of dies and folders).

I also have a smaller table in the corner that I use for sorting pictures and storing smaller items like inks, extra adhesive, some ribbon and my clear stamps (as well as my overflow of paper).  The table is one I bought when I was in grad school, and has served us many purposes (dining room table, sewing table, etc) over the years.  I love baskets and try to use them to store these small things to make help it look nice.  They also allow for easy access to things.  The only problem is that they often don't stack well, so over the years, I've moved to some of the squarer baskets.

Under the table (and they ended up pushing the table up a little) are two filing cabinets I procured when my the company I work for moved to a different office (we were getting all new furniture and they were giving away the old stuff).  In the one cabinet, I have all the paraphenalia from trips and events that I need to scrap (I've got my work cut out for me).

In the other cabinet, I am storing the majority of my wood mounted stamps (a few of the smaller ones I felt would get lost are in the blue basket on top of the table).  I have them on end for easy access, and to read the label.  In the back of one of the drawers I have my 8.5x11inch cardstock.  I was hoping that I might be able to store my 12x12 in here, but they don't quite fit.  It would have been awesome though if it had.  In between the filing cabinets, there was enough room to store my extra cutting mats, scoring board, and t-square.

To help me remember which stamp sets I own (I think I need more though, LOL) and some examples of how the company has used them, I saved the catalog pages (most of them are from SU) and stored them in page protectors in a 3-ring binder (the red binder to the left of the table).  For those that you don't have a catalog page for, you can either photo copy the top images, or you could stamp the images onto a sheet of paper, making your own "catalog page".

For my 12x12 paper, I have various ways of storing it.  One of the cubes I got (which I think is fairly new) is a sliding drawer with hanging files.  In this cube, I have stored a lot of the kits I have bought for easy access - I feel they fit better in here with all the accessories they sometimes have.  I also have the slotted cubes (some I have in the vertical position, and some in the horizontal position - just for variety really).  In those I have the paper sorted by topic - Christmas, baby, boy, girl, seasons, etc.  I also have my stickers and other accessories sorted that way in the square drawers.

For my overflow paper (I have a lot, and it doesn't all fit in the cubes partly because I allowed two of the drawers to be stuff for my kids), I bought a few of the plastic 12x12 storage bins.  In those, I have sorted the paper by manufacturer (one bin for EP, one for MME, etc).  I also have those for projects I have started but haven't finished.

I don't know if you can make it out behind my big table, but I also have access to a two-shelf book shelf, which is where I store my idea books and magazines.  There are also some baskets, which is where I store my punches for now.  Eventually I would like to get some rods for the wall and hang them so that I can see them and remember which ones I have.  The other idea I have would be to use some cardstock and punch the images, and then store those similar to my stamp images.

I think that's all for now.  I hope you enjoyed reading about where I do my work, I certainly enjoy creating in this space (especially now that I have room to really spread out - I certainly love that I can keep my newly acquired Cameo on top of the table all the time and have plenty of room around it).  I also hope you learned something to help you store or sort your supplies.

If you leave me a comment and follow my blog (if you don't already), I will put your name in a hat for some blog candy.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time to actually figure out all that I'm giving away, but I can say that it will involve some alphas, some paper, and some other goodies.  If I receive more than 30 comments, I will give away two blog candies.  All comments received by midnight June 10 will be eligible.  I will draw the names on Monday, June 11, and will post the winner(s) then also.

I hope you have also enjoyed seeing my work over the last eight or so months, and have learned something from me.  I certainly enjoyed being on the DT and creating and learning new things.  I will miss the experience immensely, but will be looking forward to what the new DT has in store for us.

Now please join our next DT member Little Miss Crafter (Jamie) and enjoy her scrappy space.  I can't wait to see where she does her work.