Insperation!

So, here we are January 30, 2010. A new year, a new beginning. Finding new things to inspire you and your crafts for the new year. I was reading a friends blog "Life's Little Journey"
http://orchardviewcottage.blogspot.com/ and I was inspired by her inspiration about finding inspiration in store catalogs, hers was in Pottery Barn (her blog is totally worth checking out.) And it got me thinking. I know very scary, I promise not to hurt myself.

Were do I find my inspiration? I find it in many different places, things, and in people I have never met. Here is an example, I love the Ikea catalog for cool ways to store all of my craft items. This rolling metal drawer cabinet is awesome to store my tools and embellishments. I have two of them one for all of my tools and one for all of my embellishments. It is great to store magnets on. I have a magnet board in my office scrap room and I make the magnets for it, and i have a bunch that haven't been made so I store them on the side, perfect.

What the heck...

So, I know it has been a while since I really did my last update. But I have been busy, with what I am not sure but nonetheless busy.

I have been scrapbooking and being crafty in other ways. anyway, I was at Joann's and Micheal's the other day getting some supplies for my crop that I was having at my house and I saw this new toy/tool. I thought it was interesting and wondered what does it actually do and is it really worth the $300 price tag?

For those that don't really follow all the new trends on gadgets and gizmo's out in the craft world, there is the coolest new cutting system in the world the "Cricut". this is a personal cutting system where instead of having to cut out the letters one at a time like with the sizzix you cut out the entire word, phrase, or number all at the same time. There are different cartridges with fonts and pictures of cool stuff...

Now on to the "Gypsy" which is a hand held designer of such. I am not sure what this would be good for. I guess you take it places and design stuff to cut out with your cricut. But, I don't know about some when I use my cricut I am usually always just working on a project and have no need to create things when I can't see my project. I don't know let me know what you all think of the new toy from Provo Crafts.

here is a link http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=363&s=5&sc=1

I guess if it was a design software for your layouts of layout ideas then I guess I would consider buying that but at $300 bucks, the buck stops here and I won't be buying it...

Happy crafting!!

Wow! What happened to Septmeber and October?

So, I am sitting on my computer just trying to come up with some Halloween ideas and then it hit me, it is November already! What happened to September and October. Does it feel that when you get older the days turn into months and months turn into years, and either way you look at it time fly by super fast. Anyway, this is not what I am here to talk about.

Here is an idea that I love and makes me feel all creative and professional about my crafts. Rather it be scrapbooking, sewing, or photography I like it. I made this sign for my mom for the door of her sewing studio or fabric studio. What ever you would like to call it it is a super cool sign. Here are some pictures of it.

I am not sure where I found my inspiration for this cam from, but I used an eleven by fourteen painting canvas, some fat quarters of fabric that match her studio, some paper, and some buttons and flowers (just to add a little bit of flare), I also used heart shaped brads.

What I did was layout the paper peices and the fabric peices (some of which came from things that I have made her.) Then I glued (with hot glue) everything down and covered it all with my favorite crafters item ever MODGE PODGE!!! Let it dry and then I stapled the ribbons to the wooden frame.

And ta-da a great sign for my mom's fabric sewing room. I think that this would be perfect on a little girls room or what ever kind of room door you want it:)





Happy crafting for today!!

What is this!

Wow, what a special treat, it is cold and rainy, I am getting crafty. I have my cup of tea and my summer place mats for the patio. Yes, yes I know summer is almost over but at least I will have completed one of many of my summer projects. Here it is four outside cute pink and green place mat:)





This is the front of the place mats:

This is the back:

The front is lime green with big pink flowers and the back is the same lime green with pink and white polka dots. Super cute if you ask me!!

Happy Rainy day!!

The weather...

This rainy and cold day brings a memory of my childhood. The song or poem:

rain rain go away come back some other day. Which as a child I would sing and sing so I could go out and play. But, now as an adult with no kids in sight. I sit in my "studio" and think bring on the rain, as I see it I get more done crafting or cleaning inside my house when it is raining.

Oh, everyone says that they hate the rain. I have to say that I really like because it gives me a chance to stay inside and play craft day. Today, is a perfect day it is August but feels like October, it is cold and rainy outside. So, I am going to go over to my mom's house so she can help me cut out and peice together a laptop protecter ( which is a padded case for my laptop).

So, to all those people out there that poo poo the rainy day's, get to your craft room or corner and get some crafting, sewing, knitting, and scrapbooking done.

A happy day is a day spent crafting.

Kate

How do you get your creative juices flowing?

So I am just trying to figure out how to feel motivated to be creative? How do you do it when you feel bored and funky.

I think this is how I am going to go about catching the creative crafty feeling. I am going to clean my studio up, clear off my working space and jump in to working on my idea book tonight. I might even pour myself a glass of wine. I think that will definitely get the juices flowing. What do you think.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Well, it is the day before the 4th but close enough for me. I am starting my 4th celebration today. As I live right down the street from a fireworks show that goes on tonight so I invited people over so we are having a BBQ. On the menu is hamburgers, home made potato salad, home made baked beans, and rum and diet Pepsi's....should be a good time. Nothing crafty about the blog here today I just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July...I love INDEPENDENCE!!!

And remember a happy day is a crafty day!!

happy croppin!!

Katie Did!!

What an idea!!

So, I have been having trouble keeping track of all my clear stamps. As some of you clear stamp users they don't always stay on the plastic sheet they come on. So, I have lost the letter "P" in my alpha collection. I am hoping that I will find it soon. I am sitting here stamping (which by the way I don't do often) enough however, for some of the stamps not stick back on to the plastic sheet they came on. Here is what they look like when you them at the store.

I don't have the room for the storage binders for these stamps, as my Scrapbooking studio shelving is all full with boxes and other cute stuff. So, here is the SUPER cool, cheap, and fun way to organized way to store them. In the jewel cases of old Cd's. If your like me all my Cd's have been uploaded and converted to MP3's on my computer and then my Cd's are all in CD storage books. So your left with a bunch empty cases with nothing to do with them. I am glad that I never tossed mine.

Here is what I did:

I took clear cases took the covers out (tossed the paper part only on ones I didn't actually care about you like the Spice Girls or the Macarena Club Mix or Bobby Brown) hey no judging I was just a teenager I bet you ladies have some bad ones too . Anyway, take the CD holder part off so you get to the back of the jewel case and the back art out. Now you have just a case, now stick the stamps on there as if you where putting them back on the plastic sheet. See picture below.

I am even going to decorate the cases and make sure that I put all like items together. All the alphas, party, and journaling stamps.

A happy day is a day crafting (scrapbooking)!!

Katie Did!!

Getting Crafty for a Cause!

Well, here I am two days in a row of blogging. I just thought that I would share some fun photos of tye dying and painting of t-shirts that my family is going to wear when we do our 5K Walk. On Father's Day my family and I are going to be joinging hundreds of other people who want to raise money and awareness for Prostate Cancer research. We will be Runing (in our case walking) for the Ribbon. To find out more about it you can go to MIURunfortheRibbon.org

So, as the "team leader" really just the one that found out about the event. I decided that we needed to have matching T-shirts, so I enlisted the help of a friend for a night of beer, tacos, and tye-dyeing and here are a few of the the steps and what they look like.

This is my friends garage. (cool flames right, she did those by hand talk about a handy crafter). The shirt is pretty cool too. This is the pile of them after we took the rubber bands off. Here is a tip for tye dying: after you rinse them well in the bucket you dyed them in wash them in the washer with warm water and laundry soap with a couple splashed of white vinager. (this helps set the color.

Now, here my mom and I are painting the back of the tee with our team name and the year. Go TEAM JACKSON!!!

Here is what the back of the t looks like:

After the race and when we are all in our shirts i will post a picture!!

Go Team Jackson!!!

You've Got Mail!!!

Wow, it has taken me a while to get back into blogging. I promise going forward I will do more. I have had a hard time getting motivated but I think the mail a couple of days ago really helped me out.

I love when I get good mail. This is my favorite peice of mail in a long while.

It has inspired me to get crafty agian and finish projects that I have started and start new ones.

What is everyone working on? What is everyones goal for the summer. Mine is to start and finish my recipe book and my computer bag.

A happy day is one spent on your hobby!

Kate

Something Fun For Coffee Lovers!

I don't have a lot of time today as I am getting ready for my huge blowout of a yard sale. But here is my project from this week and a nice mother's day gift for my mom! And my first official quilted fun:)


I made a coffee corset cozy! I took the scraps of my previous project (magnet and cork board covers) and a template I found online (you can also use a Starbucks paper one). You can even use a fat quarter if you don't have any scraps. You will also need some sort of batting or backing to stiffen the fabric.


1. Using the coffee cozy template cut 3 pieces 1 out of the batting 2 out of the fabric of your choice


2. Pin all three layers together: batting on the bottom, outside fabric in the middle right side up, and fabric lining on the top with the right side down.



3. Sew all the way around leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance and an opening for turning.



4. Trim seams to a 1/4" except at opening.


5. for the corset look trim ends about an 1 1/2" from each side sew the ends together


6. turn the right side out and sew the whole closed by doing top stitching all the way around.


7. get some ribbon and lace like a shoe with the bow at the top.




here is a template for this:



A happy day is a crafty day!!
Kate

Getting Crafty!!

Well, I sure do love crafting. I am really starting to enjoy sewing, which is quickly becoming one of my 3 favorite hobbies. I didn't really enjoy sewing when I was growing up and I think that is mostly because I found it very annoying and fustrating. Now, I have made some basement curtains (with the help of my mom) who rocks at quilting, and I have made a cover for a magnet board and a cork board. Which is really nice. Here are the befores and afters.

These are the matierals that you will need for each board:

1 yard of fabric

3 yards of ribbon

1 metal piece

1 foam core 2 inches bigger than your metal piece

spray adhisive

duct tape

Here is what I did wrong on both the boards, both involving the ribbons. Cut the ribbon to 3 eighteen inch peices. Then pin them to the right side of the fabric, making sure they are spaced out equally (this is for hanging). Sew! Step 2 is piecing the front and back together (making sure you pin the right sides together. sew! leaving one side open so you can place the board inside the cover. Hand sew the side closed and you will have a completed project:)



Finished product!!

A Happy day is a day spent doing what you Love!

Happy Day!

Kate

All Cleaned Up!

Sew I am all cleaned up and ready to start my next project. My next project is going to be a sewing one.

The above picture is going to be my sewing table. that is where I am going to set up the sewing machine. I am really looking forward to this sew it should be fun.

Here is the working area I will be cutting and tracing or assembling my project.

A Happy day is a crafty day!!

How do you keep your creative space...

So, the question of the day is: How do you keep your "work space" clean before, durring and after projects. My space always seems to collect all the junk in my house that doesn't seem to have a home. It really bugs me how everything ends up in my office/creative studio. How am I suppose to get anything done...LOL all I seem to do is clean my space. Anyway, here is my messy creative space. I know what I am suppose to do, is clean between all projects but sometimes I start a project and then before I finish I move on to something else...

This is the desk to the right of my main work area it is so messy. I think that what I need to do is actully finish all the projects that I have started or stop buying new stuff for new projects.

This is my actual work space, still very messy I guess I just need to put stuff away and figure out more storage:)

This is my computer area see still messy I really think that I need a tray to catch all the random junk that flows through my house:) Just messy messy messy. I better get cleaning so I can start my next project:)

Please let me know if you have any tips that will help me keep my area neat and tidy

Happy Scrapin!

Random Thought of scrapbooking!!

So, here it is I am posting two days in a row. What will people think. Anyway, here is a super cute blog that I just happen to stumble upon last night (wink, wink). Life's Little Journey, which is such a super cute blog that I had to say something about it. She has some of the cutest little things around her house and that she talks about, and she goes antiquing on a whim...lucky lucky lady. I am sure there are more antique shops around here but I only know of one, how many times can you see the same old dusty crap. Ta for now!

Happy Scrapin!

Meet Betty!

So, I have not blogged in a while. Not sure why I have plenty of time I just haven't. So, many of my friends have wanted to see my ribbon display in my scrapbooking room. So without further a due here she is:

Isn't she awesomely cute!! All she is, is an vintage wire dress form on a hand crafted stand. She is the most perfect ribbon holder ever. I have a small (very small) obsession with ribbon (OK not so small) but now with her I am actually using the ribbon I buy.

Happy Scrapin!

Old School with New School!

So I don't know if any of you out there have started to incorperate some old and new tools and gagets. But I found something really cool, all you need is a crimper tool, some light weight cardstock, and a cricut. I am trying to cut back on my scrappbook spending (a crime I know) but I have a ton of stuff that I haven't really used in a while, I was just playing around the other day with a paper Crimper

And my Cricut (which I love) and I made this really cool flower and circle tag.

Step 1 I took some light weight cardstock cut it to fit the cricut and then I used the "Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More" cartridge and cut a circle and a flower.

step 2 I ran it through my paper crimper. I used a set of these on an altered note book that I make.

I think that I am going to keep on trying to incorperate my old school with my new school gagets and gizmos!!

Happy Scrap'n!!

Scrap Camp!!

So, it has been a while! I think it is because there is alot going on here. I am getting ready for SCRAP CAMP!! Let me explain what scrap camp is to those of you who don't know. Scrap Camp is a weekend retreat for scrappers to scrap for the entire weekend (morning, noon, and night) held at the beautiful YMCA girls camp Arbutis near Traverse City, MI. We get the full on camp experience bunk beds, the beautiful outdoors, fresh air, and 3 meals a day cooked and cleaned up for you. (I think that might be the best of all) and we don't have to even shop for it or plan a menu which most women think is the hardest job ever...

I have been editing my pictures and making lists of events I want to scrapbook and the tools I would like to take:) As we don't have a lot of space to carry my entire stock of items in the car. So here is a picture of last years scrap camp...

It is so much fun that I can hardly wait. It is in about 2 weeks and I have already started to get ready for it.

OMG Paris Hilton!!!

Really does Paris Hilton scrapbook? I don't think so, but she does have a new line of scrapbooking items. Here is the article http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/celebrities/hollywood/paris-hilton-scrapbooking-in-anaheim-210887/ as if it wasn't bad enough that she is getting paid to party now she is getting paid to put here name on the latest line of scrapbooking supplies targeted at teen scrapbooking girls.

As if the Scrapbooking industry isn't hurting enough she has to become a part of it. I am not sure if that is a bad thing or a good thing. I guess since Martha jumped on the scrapbooking ban wagon why not P. Hilton. I just hope that her line is going to be quality. It might actually be since she is not designing it herself, she just has approval.

So, anyway I am glad that Paris has a HOT new line of scrapbooking goodies coming out from Wooky Entertainment. We need to grab up the young new scrappers early so when they get older they will bring in their kids and the future scrapbookers will be born and if it takes a little PH then why not, maybe she is trying to clean up her act a little bit. It is suppose to be her style "glamorous" flashy while targeting the newest scrapbookers.

She lauched her new line on Sunday at the CHA (Crafter & Hobby Association) convention in Anaheim, California. Sounds like fun!! Anyway, good luck to her and all fresh newby scrapbookers!!

Sign of the Times even the Scrap industry isn't safe

I myself am not a fan of this magazine, but many people are (apparently not enough) Simple Scrapbooking will be off the shelf forever. I like to read there web page and there blogs but other than that I am not a fan of the magazine. Here is the official announcement.
http://simplescrapbooks.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/01/the-official-announcement.html

I am not a super fan of this due to the fact that a lot of there layouts are for one picture and every time it all about kids. Now, don't get me wrong kids are fine but gimme a break, page after page layouts with one picture of kids. Can't they come up with another idea. Yeah, yeah they are going to fold it into the back of Creating Keepsakes (not really fan of that one either) which is nice for those who like to read it. Now, don't get me wrong I will buy the CK magazine and read it, tear out what I like or not and send it along to a friend and they pass it along until there is nothing left. I have noticed though my scrapbook friends and I all seem to have the same taste, there is always duplicate copies of Scrapbooking ETC, I think it is because they give you a layout idea page for all of the layouts in the mag. Which I LOVE!!! Anyway, my thoughts on this sad little tid bit of scrapbooking!!