Inspired Stamps Stairstep Card

 I must admit I was apprehensive when Antoinette asked the Inspired Stamps Design Team to make a stair step card for today!  They always looked so complicated.  Guess what?  They're not! I just googled stair step card and found some great tutorials out there.  All you really do is make folds.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!.

I used the following Inspired Stamps: Nativity Set, David's Shepard and the scripture is from Vintage Christmas.

other supplies:  ALL Close To My Heart: Pear and Partridge papers, cardstock, Scallop punch, Art Philosophy cartridge, stamp pads and alcohol markers

Embellishment Organization

 OK, I heard you all loud and clear-photo please!  I knew I would need to post a photo of my new organization system but was pleasantly surprised to see how many of  you actually READ my post:) and requested photos!  Thank you for letting me know I am not just throwing words into a vast black whole!

Anyhoo-this is my new system for organizing my embellishments.  I must say I have used more of my stash in the last couple of weeks than I had in the last few months!  Also, it takes up far less room than having everything in its own spot.  I simply took 12x12 clear cases and corralled everything by color-there's a jar of flowers, a jar of brads and buttons and a case of sparkles and tiny embellies but the rest is just tossed in the case-ribbon, journaling cards, stickers, etc.  Each case is by color-red, pink, blue, green, brown, white, yellow/orange, black/silver.  I am lucky enough that I found this unit that holds 5 cases on an "as is" table at Michael's a while back for $10!!!  It was missing a case-Yeah Me!.  The 3 drawer unit on top is full of my adhesives, tools and other necessities.  Then on top of that is 3 more cases of embellies.  This sits right next to my workspace.

I have always created projects by starting with color so this makes it incredibly quick to find what I need.  Another benefit is I can quickly see what colors I need to add to (yellow/orange) and what color I need to stop buying for now (PINK).  And it has made me branch out and use colors I neglect.  Before I had shelves of jars with buttons by color, flowers by color, drawers of sparkles by color, ribbon in drawers, etc.  And everything was all over the room.  I love the compact storage and that is within reach.  Hope this helps someone and that it was understandable.  Blessings!!

Inspired Stamps Shaped Card & Organization Tip

 Welcome to the Inspired Stamps Tuesday post!  Our assignment today was to create a shaped card.  I used a "top note" style shape.  Does anyone know why it's called that?  I sure don't!

I used the fabulous Fall Gratitude Stamp Set.  This set is just full of Fall goodness-punkins in all sizes, sentiments, vines and scripture!  On the front, I stamped the scripture and surrounded it with the vine.  I stamped 2 itty bitty punkins and then colored them in and covered with liquid glass.   On the inside, I had an "oops" I had to cover so I just made a smaller top note cut to stamp the sentiment and a 2nd punkin to overlay the bottom one.  Sometimes oopsies are a good thing!  Be sure you check out everyone's creations at Inspired Stamps Blog.

Organization Tip:  You will probably start seeing more clusters of embellishments on my creations because I recently revamped my organizational system for all my embellishments after watching a video of Stacy Julian.  Instead of having all my buttons separated by color in bottles, my flowers by color in drawers, larger embellies in other containers, etc, I took her advice and put ALL embellies by color in one container.  I used one 12x12 hinged clear cases per color and put all of  the bottles of buttons, tiny boxes of brads, etc into a case along with the loose flowers and larger embellies.  Now instead of having tons of containers spread around my room, I have 10 cases  stacked together.  I can just pull one case with browns or oranges when I know those are the colors I will be using. This allows me to have lots of choices in one spot.  It's AWESOME!

other supplies: ALL Close To My Heart: Artiste Cricut Cart, Alcohol ink Markers, cardstock, pattern paper and embellishments

Dining Room Redo On a Shoestring Budget

 

 Did you think I forgot about my dining room remodel?  I promised progress photos earlier this year and then progress slowed dramatically for a graduation and a busy summer.  The photo above is not about my cutie pie youngest son but it's so you can see a glimpse of the before pic of that wall.  The walls had been sky blue with white trim for the last 11 years.  It was from my "birdhouse" phase!  When we moved in, I started collecting the little dwellings and when word got out, birdhouses were the gift of choice for me by friends and family.  Our dining room became a virtual aviary!  I put up the cutesy fence and hung birdhouses on it and above it.

Hubby has suffered "in silence" for over a decade at every meal.  He hated the color and the decor.  I admit I was ready for a change as well.  Together, we came up with the color scheme of gray, black, white and red.  We do not believe in going into debt as we have been there done that and lost the t-shirt off our back!  So, we have been buying supplies as we can and DIYing it.  The dining room is almost done as of today after almost 8 months! 

This is one of the completed walls!  I love , love, love it!  All that's left to do is a new floor and we hope to have that finished by October.  I have made most of the decorations or purchased them on clearance or with a coupon at Hobby Lobby.  My favorite part of the room is the large metal clock from HL.  The photos on each side were taken by my sis on her trip to Seattle.  More photos and details later.

Great September Offer!

Great offer at Inspired Stamps AND all the new stamps are now ready to order!

Sneakin' a Peek at Inspired Stamps

Isn't this a  fabulous stamp?  Unfortunately, it's not available.....until Friday at noon!  This is one of the newest stamps from Inspired Stamps.  I wish I could show you all of the wonderful new stamps  but you will just have to check out  all the goodness this week at the Inspired Stamps blog for other sneaky peeks.

This is a new card style for me-it's called the "double Z fold".

other supplies: CTMH Artiste Cricut cart, CTMH ink and cardstock, paper from my stash

Here are 2 more fabulous new stamps.  I will use this scripture often and the tag stamp is part of an amazing set of stamps that you will want to get right away to start making your Christmas tags!  The tag outlines work perfectly with the tag cut from the CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.

other supplies: CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cart, Maya Road mini album, CTMH Dakota papers, CTMH Burlap ribbon and inks

 

Inspired Stamps DT Choice

 

Welcome to Inspired Stamps Designer's Choice day!  Yesterday was my 29th wedding anniversary so to commemorate that occasion, I decided to create something using a scripture we have based our lives on.  From the very beginning, we have wanted our lives and the lives of our sons to be lived in service to God. For this project, I used several stamp sets. For the sentiment, house and larger trees,  I used the adorable Home Stamp Set. 

The butterfly is from Butterflies and Blooms.  The "bushes" beside the front door are on the Whimsical Trees set.  Finally, the sweet bluebird is from Eye on the Sparrow.  I hope you enjoyed this little project!  Be sure to check out all the lovely creations at the Inspired Stamps Blog.   

other supplies:  Copics, CTMH Milk Carton, resin flowers, paper and ink; pearls from my stash.

29 Years of Life, Love and Marriage

The last 29 years of marriage have absolutely flown by with Jeff by my side. We were "in love" in high school but today we know what those words really mean. 1 Corinthians 13 states it best, here is a portion of that passage from The Message: 

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.
 

My sweet hubby has lived out every word and I am so thankful to God for allowing him to be mine!