I LOVE it when someone does a "Boy Line" right! I can't wait until this new line from Simple Stories hits the market! I REALLY love that I can use it to scrap my son, for masculine cards, and for pretty much anything else I want to use it for. Home Run! Go check out their page, they've been updating it with new releases all week, and I just can't wait to get it all in hand.

Copic coloring

OMGoodness! I love copics! I bought my copics over the last year, but have never really played with them. They are so intimidating. Well, I cracked them out last night. What do you think? I'm super excited! Now hopefully tonight I can "card them up!"  The images are Marci from La La Land stamps and Cheeky Beauty from the Greeting Farm. Thanks For visiting!

I have a lovely PTI penpal, Terri, of ... Just What I do... ! I've promised her that I would post my unloved PTI stamp sets here at some point. Ooooo was that an eye opening process. I have no less than 72... yes... 72 unloved PTI stamp sets. Meaning, I haven't used ANY of them. AND I just ordered 2 more! So, I'm posting my list in hopes that Terri will force inspire me to use as many of them as possible.

In No Particular Order...
Wise Owl & Bellies
Garden of Life
Sheet Music
BGB Diamonds
Polka Dot Basics 2
Embellishments
Damask Designs
Borders and Corners Circle, Rect, Square, Oval
Star Prints
On my Couch, Additions, Chairished
Friendship Jar Fillers, Fall, Winter, Summer
Guidelines 1 & 2
Vintage Picnic and Sayings
Beautiful Blooms 2
Everyday Button Bits
Love Birds
Enjoy the ride
Up Up & Away
Honey Bees
Baby Button Bits
Autumn Abundance
Scattered Showers
Delightful Dahlias
Mixed Messages and Mega Mixed Messages
TT Valentine
2010 Love Tags
Mailbox Greetings
My Punny Valentine and Year round Puns
Christmas Blessings
All about You
Year of Flowers (minis)
Mother
PaperTray
Garden Variety
Autumn Acorns
Framed
Botanical Silhouettes
TT Bday
Signature Greetings
Daily Designs & Sentiments
Inside & Out Birthday
Big Bday wishes
Simple Alpha
Matstack 1 & 2
TT Halloween
TT Christmas
Silent Night
Big Bold Holiday Wishes
BGB Tin Types
In the Meadow
It's Official
Big Bold Wishes
Say it with Style
Turning a New Leaf
Heartfelt Basics
Healing Touch Sentiments


Help!

In the meantime, please go make some cards to donate to Operation Write Home and then mail them in! I watched a youtube vid over the weekend asking that we continue making cards to send to the troops. Remember just because many have come home, doesn't mean they all have!

Thanks for checking me out! ;) Have a great day!

The finished card! Excuse the poor photo. I'll get the hang of this yet! Let's see... I used Crate Paper Paper Heart Collection, some cream cardstock that I got for a steal at marco's paper, a piece of old velvet ribbon i had lying around, some Doodlebug fun-flock, and red glitter. Oh... and I totally fell in love with my Sakura "Quickie Glue" pen! You HAVE to get one! Have a great day!

And life begins again...

So it's been awhile... a long while. I have no excuse really, so I'll just jump right in to my current dilemma. This year I decided to make mini albums for Christmas presents. I picked the Holiday Style paper line from October Afternoon (LOVE IT) but read into that, the fact that I didn't buy the line until mid-December. Yes, they didn't get done. They didn't even get done during the week I had off after Christmas. To my credit, I moved Dec 21. It's taken me weeks to unpack my craft room... I posted a youtube vid of the "before," which was really just a "mid-stream" view of the process. I finally finished today (YEA!) got my son down to bed at 7:30 (a MIRACLE), watercolored a little Boyd's Bear Valentine image from a stamp I got yesterday, and went for the mini's. Well... They weren't where I thought I put them. Actually, I can't find them anywhere. I can vividly remember putting them in some kind of box because they barely fit. But I have no idea which one. I'm bummed. Pretty soon they'll turn into advance Christmas presents for next year. (When I promised them already!) Boo. Well, I do have a picture of the cute little Bear I just finished up,and I hope that I'll create her a suitable card (before Valentine's day!) Thanks for checking checking out my post! Have a fabulous day!

Tip 2: Dont make time...take advantage of the time you have in a better way!

So, what does this mean, you ask? Well, it means you don't have to clear your schedule for an hour or two or three to craft when you are busy. You just need tho take advantage of the time you have. For instance, I have a crazy schedule at work at the moment, I go in to work at 630, stay til 430 when I leave to pick up my son, and return to work at 830, to work another two hours. (only there more dates of this madness...trust me!) Anyways, right now it is way to hard for me to make time, so I find it. I listen to tutorials on my Droid in the car. I bring magazines for my lunch break, and kits that I've put together for whatever project I'm working on. I search splitcoast or stampin up while I am taking a break. I write down all of my inspiration in notebooks, shopping lists...wish lists...favorite blogs. AND I shop online whenever I have a lull in the action. Now, you have to find what works for you. Maybe its something as easy as taking a magazine to the doctor's office. Maybe you ride the bus and you have time to mass produce some punches, or room to color. Maybe you still get an hour lunch break and you take that time to order supplies or finish up last nights card. There are so many ways you can take advantage of the time you do have! Try it! You can stamp too!
A for post of actual cards... I've just done about 5 or 6...hope to photograph and post tonight!

Maybe soon...

I finally hope to get this blog moving... I finished a bunch of cards last night. 2 Christmas styles and one happy froggy! I'd like to focus this blog on how I find time to craft and the tips I have for saving tons of time! So without further ado, here's today's tip... Get and stay organized. Now...if I showed you my craft room right this minute you would clearly laugh me out of dodge. But...I would say...hey! I have a system. I have a place for everything and everything its in its place. Unconventionally. Listen, it doesn't need to be magazine perfect. It just needs to be YOU perfect. Make sure the things you need the most are accessible. You don't want all of your paper tucked away in drawers or shoved at the bottom of a closet. You don't want your scissors and bone folder in a box on a shelf. Pull your go to supplies to daylight. Keep a few sheets of your favorite cardstock in a magazine holder box, your scissors, pens and bone folder in a cup on your desk, or within easy access. I have a ribbon rack. This works great for storing my ribbon when its not at risk of use... But if I'm running out the door, it stinks to take each rod off and deal with ribbon spools everywhere. So, I keep the ribbon I use the most... 4-5 rolls...off the rack, also in a cup on my desk. Think functional, not pretty. And you'll save a good 10 minutes a day. Off to work my day job!