Get Organized Challenge

Ok, well if you know me, getting organized is always a challenge, but this is for an actual challenge, not a comment on anything else. I was fortunate enough to win a $10.00 shopping spree with Amber Ink from a recent Blog Hop. As soon as I saw this Hostess with the Mostess set, I had to have it. And when I saw the current Amber Ink challenge was to make something to Get Organized I knew I wanted to play along. We are saving money to redo our kitchen. I have in mind a retro, 50's style kitchen using the colors white, yellow and red. I am forever printing off new recipes, clipping recipes out of magazines and trading recipes with friends. I really needed something to organize all those pieces of paper. My organization idea was to make myself a recipe book. I have made tons of these for gifts, but this is the first one I have made for me and I decided to make it to match my new (some day) kitchen. 

I covered a composition book with red card stock and then added some yellow gingham paper. My hostess was colored with Copic markers and then cut out with my new Nestability set. I decided any 50's hostess would of course be wearing pearls as she served her friends so I pulled out my adhesive backed pearls to use as embellishments. To finish my book I added some red ric rak and added some die cut letters for my title. The alphabet is a Sizzix set called Wingo Dingo. Here is a close up of my image. 

Our anniversary was a couple of weeks ago and I showed you what I made for Kip in this post, but forgot to show what he made for me. When I first started talking about my dream kitchen and told Kip the colors I wanted he wasn't very enthused. I think he was thinking something along the line of a McDonalds, that wasn't really the look I was going for. After explaining that I want to keep the walls and everything mostly white and use red and yellow as accents he started to come around. Since the traditional gift for five years of marriage is wood, he decided to make something for me to hang in my kitchen. We had seen something similar one day and I told him I loved it and would hang it in the kitchen for aprons. I was very happy to get this one that he made and of course customized to my color preferences!

I was quite impressed since he came up with the idea, gathered all the different material and found those cute yellow drawer pulls to use as hooks. 

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone has had a great start to their weekend. I was able to have a fairly nice low key Saturday. Originally my parents had said they were going to come for a visit but there ended up being a conflict with something else. That left me with a Saturday with no plans! I wasn't going to leave the house but then I realized we were out of coffee and I wouldn't have any if I didn't go to the store. No thinking was even required, I went out to buy coffee! I also spent some much needed time creating in my happy space. I made this card using School Girl Sophie from Hanna Stamps. The image was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. I made this card to give to Jenna, using the school colors at her new middle school and tried to color the uniform as close to hers as I could. It's funny that I have about 8,000 spools of ribbon and not one that is blue and green plaid! Instead of plaid, I used this green and white ribbon from the Paper Studio. I am not sure of the maker of this charm, Cindy gave some of these to me when I visited Papertrix last weekend.

I have been on the lookout for the perfect storage system for my Copics. I wanted something that would keep them somewhat organized, not take up too much room and something that could be easily transported when I go to crafting get-togethers.  Someone posted on SCS the other day asking for storage solutions and Karolyn posted a picture of her system. I loved it! It is large enough to hold all my markers, Copics and Prismas too. It also has handles so that I can carry it to different places. Right now on the inside I have the acrylic cases that the sets of markers come in, but if ever get most of the colors, I will switch to dividers that take a little less room on the inside. This works for me right now since I am teaching Samantha how to blend colors and to choose the colors so they are all laid out in numerical order by color family.
This is one of the cards that we made in the Copic class taught by Candice last weekend. Great class! I will show you the other cards in the next day or so. 

Sunny Hello Card and marker storage

Don't adjust the color on your computer, however you might need some sunglasses! I made this card with a specific friend in mind that is in need of some bright cheeriness in her mailbox. Like me, she also enjoys the color yellow. This is exactly the type of card that she will love. I kind of think this look like an orange! I made the background by stamping the flower onto white card stock and then using UTEE embossing powder. Then, using a brayer and CTMH Sunflower ink I went over the entire piece of card stock. I stamped the large flower and then colored it with Prismacolor pencils and used a clear acrylic bauble in the center. The flowers on this card are from the TAC set Petal Factory. The "hello" sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps. This is the same type of card we will be making for craft night on Friday at my church, but with a different color scheme.

Since I mentioned on my last post about organizing my markers, several people have asked to see a picture. I am a semi-organized person most of the time, but I have a hard time keeping my craft supplies organized. I love these containers, they have been keeping my Copic and Prisma markers organized for some time. The problem was that my Prismacolor pencils were organized in another place. And the watercolor pencils in another. And the Gelly Roll pens in yet another. There was the problem, each coloring medium had it's own organizational area which was not working for me. I combined them all into one system, with the exception of the watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons. Both of those items sit on top of these cubes so everything is now together in one place. I also have a portable file box that these cubes will slide into when I go somewhere. I was going to leave them in the file box on my desk but it is deeper than the cubes alone and it took up just a little too much room. So what do you think? Do you think I might regret mixing all my coloring mediums? I often mix them on a project so I thought it would work well for me.

Purplely Goodness

This has been a nice relaxing weekend. We didn't really have anything planned so it has been nice. Today has been a perfect Sunday; we got up and went to church, came home and ate the beef stew I cooked yesterday and still had time for a nap and crafting time! Right now the house smells great because I have pizza dough in the bread maker. I have made tons of loaves of bread in there but I don't think I have ever used it to just make dough. Someone gave me this recipe and I have been anxious to try it. I love homemade pizza.

In my little crafting area, I have been experimenting a little. I have tried playing with new color combinations, to learn some new techniques and I have been using some new products, or older products used in a new way. I have also been trying to use a lot of the things that I bought and then never used.  My card today was the first time I have used water crayons to actually color something. I have used them before to make backgrounds but this is the first thing I have actually colored with them. The stamp is from The Angel Company and is called Treasure It, paper is from Paper Pizazz and the brads are from Jo-Ann's.

I am also working on some storage solutions for my craft room. Specifically for my coloring tools. I decided to combine all my coloring mediums into one system. Before I had my Prismas and Copics in one area, coloring pencils in another and then water based and Gelly Roll pens in others. I have cubes that have four sections in them. Three sections in each cube has a different color family in it and then the fourth section in the cube has the pencils of the same color families.  I think I am going to like it. I will try and remember to take a picture tomorrow to show you. I like it too because it is also portable,  the cubes will fit easily into a portable file box. Have a great one!

Home Organization Binder

No school today! Since the girls' mom is out of town I decided to take to day off too, they hate going to Kid's Club at the school. Jenna is writing a story for and illustrating it with my stamps. She needed a toucan stamp and imagine my surprise when I actually found one! Other than that we are just hanging out, taking it easy.

One of my main goals this year is to get a little more organized. When I saw this project on Erica's blog,  knew I needed one too. We have been doing better with our home organization, but it's nice to have everything in one spot. I used Boards and Beams from PTI for the house and the letters are Sizzix Round Table alphabet set. My wonderful friend Julie let me borrow this image and I loved it so much I had to order my own. My house is colored with Prisma markers. I could not get a picture of this without the flash showing up and without the flash it was just too dark. 

If you are interested, inside my binder are dividers and I have the following sections:

     Calendar: We both have schedules that change frequently and I cannot live without a      

         calendar. I have calendars for the entire year for long term planning. On our refrigerator

         we have a dry erase calendar that has a space for each day of the week. On Sunday nights I

         transfer that week's information. If I am really on top of everything I also write in the 

         meals so I know what needs to be pulled out of the freezer each day.

      Housework Lists: We made lists of things that need to be done around the house and then 

         separated that list into things that need to be done on a daily basis, weekly basis and a 

         monthly basis. We alternate who does what. Kip also had the great idea for us both to 

         come up with what needs to be done for it to be considered done. For instance, one of us

         HATES putting away laundry and when it is my my turn, I forget to put it away. All those

         lists are in this section.

     Projects: A new thing for us,but we are planning to do some rearranging and other things 

         around the house and this is where we will keep up with all that information. 

     Goals: Just a way to track our progress as we try to meet certain goals, right now, saving for         furniture.

     Menu: I try to preplan our meals, sometimes doing better than others. My meal planners 

        are in this section as well as recipes that I find and want to try. Erica's blog is great for 

        that too! 

     Lists: I will keep things like birthday lists, Christmas lists and other things like that in here.

Plus there is a section for each of us to file things in and a folder with a velcro closure for receipts. Have a great day!