My Scrap Space

If you're coming from Kiwi Lane and want to look at cards, they are in the previous post.  Feel free to read on your way there :)

Every once in a while I get asked what my scrap space looks like.  This usually happens when a fellow crafter finds out that I am also a crafter.  So today, since I really don't have anything else to share that's not already in my Etsy shop, I thought I'd share my space!

My "Scrap Room" has evolved over the years.  Maybe revolve is more applicable.  My "room" changes every time we change residences.  It is usually furnished with whatever furniture we don't use in the rest of the house and goes where we can fit it in.  It has been stuck in the same room as our daughter (when she was 2 years old and didn't have toys in her room- they were in the living room), put in our room (sometimes stuck in drawers in a corner and I would pull things out and work on the floor at the foot of our bed), put in it's own room in the coldest room at the back of the house (does my family remember the house we named the "shanty house"?), stored in the family room, and sometimes it has had it's own spacious room all to itself (seriously- I took over the largest bedroom in the house once and made it my craft room!).  Right now, we live in an apartment with a large master bedroom so about 1/3 of our room has my scrap table and supplies.  It looks like this:

And I love it!  There are two windows close to my work area, which makes it nice and sunny.  And there are boxes, drawers, bins and shelves of paper and supplies EVERYWHERE!!  Really!  Under the table, right of the table, on the shelves on top of the table, left of the table in file crates and a wire paper rack.... everywhere!!

Hmm...  I should have moved the pillows from the floor before I took pictures :)

This is the area left of my table (you can see the green paper cutter on the corner of the table)- it's a kitchen storage cabinet that we don't have a use for in our kitchen.  So I have stuffed it full of scrap supplies!  There are dies in the bottom cupboard and divided boxes of small embellishments, drawers with ribbon, small boxes of die cuts, a dishpan full of paper punches and a box of paper scraps, and more!  

I hate to admit this, but I didn't include pics of ALL my scrap stuff.  Yep, there is MORE!  There is a dresser to the left of my storage cabinet that has a TV on it (J is watching a movie in the photo and you can see his hand!) and in the top drawer is a whole bunch of alphabet stickers and other embellishments like felt shapes and jewel stickers... and it is packed!  Just one drawer, though!  The other three house about half of our movie collection, which I like to watch/listen to while I'm at my desk.  Is there more, you ask?  Why YES, there is!  We have a walk-in closet with 9 different sections for clothes/shoes.  My hubby and I each have a side.  His side houses clothes/shoes in all 4 of the sections.  Mine houses clothes in two sections.  And craft supplies, idea books and magazines in the other two.  Did you do the math?  There's one more section in the middle... I took that over with craft supplies, too!  My super sweet husband knows that having this space is important to me and makes me happy, so he is content to let it take over a good sized chunk of our space.  I'm so grateful he is so understanding!!

So that is my space.... I hope you enjoyed the tour!!

And really quick before I end this post....  I want to show a glimpse into my creative process.  Are you a messy crafter or one who puts away one supply before getting the next one out?  I'll admit, I'm on the messy side!  Here's a peek at what my table looks like while mid-project:

So I want to know- are you messy when you craft or not?  I'd love to know!  Feel free to leave a comment...

March Sincerely...

I'm a designer for Kiwi Lane Designs.  They are a company that make AWESOME templates that you use to make scrapbook pages, cards and other craft projects.  If you haven't heard of them, you can visit them at www.kiwilane.com and/or find them on Facebook.  

Anyway, my monthly designing assignment is to make cards for their monthly "Sincerely..." card ideas.  I will try to post them here every month (from now on), but if you don't see them here, you can see them on their blog at http://kiwilanedesigns.blogspot.com/

This month I was asked to do some Easter/Spring cards and Glimmer mist.  I only have one color of Glimmer Mist right now- and that is Pearl, which is just what it sounds like.  It adds a great pearly sheen, but is difficult to capture in photos.  So zoom in as much as you can to see the sparkle!!  And this assignment has brought me to this conclusion:  I need to get more colors of Glimmer Mist!  It is so much fun to use, and so versatile.  I don't know why I haven't used them on everything!!

Card #1- Spring Birds

Finished card size: 5”x7”

Templates used: Nature 1, Tiny Nature 1T, Mini Paisley Place 2B, Tiny Wacky 2T

Supplies:  Cardstock (the Paper Company); patterned paper (3 Bugs in a Rug); ink (Ranger); Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels); brads (Basic Grey); vellum (Provo Craft); stamp (Hampton Art); pens (Staedtler); fringe scissors (Martha Stewart Crafts); googly eyes (craft supply)

I felt inspired by the cards that Kiwi Lane posted for Valentine's Day- especially the one with the two love birds.  I couldn't wait to transform leaves into birds and this card was the perfect chance for me to do so! If you missed the how-to for the birds, go to http://kiwilanedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/01/mini-madison-swak-card.html and check it out.  My new favorite tool:  Martha Stewart fringe scissors!  They are scissors with multiple blades that let you cut multiple parallel cuts at once.  I've had them for a few months but hadn't used them yet and they let you create the look of grass so easily.  I sprayed the birds, grass and cloud with Pearl Glimmer Mist and let them dry without manipulating them at all.  I liked the slightly warped look that I ended up with.  Warning- Glimmer mist will make some inks bleed!  Like distress ink, which is what I stamped my sentiment with.  So either cover your sentiment before you spray or stamp after you spray.  Experiment to see what one looks better to you.  I wanted the ink from the pen

I used to outline the cloud to bleed and not be as harsh, but not the sentiment, so I covered the sentiment with a sticky note and then sprayed a light coat of Glimmer Mist on the cloud.  I didn’t want the beak of my birds to bleed, so I drew them on last.  I drew their legs after everything was glued on the card.  To add dimension, I used foam adhesive to attach the birds to the card.  I made the wings of the birds out of clear vellum, inked the edges and attached them with brads.  Things you could also do with this card (that I wish I had done, but didn’t):  use a distress tool around the edges of the birds (wouldn’t it look like feathers?  Love it!); use a different paper for the beaks; ink the edges of the blades of grass to make them stand out more; add a sunshine in the corner using Tiny Accents 4T.

Card #2- Happy Spring

Finished card size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/4" (slightly off the standard notecard size, but what can I say?  Tip: measure twice, cut once :P )

Templates used:  Tiny Nature 1T, Tiny Accents 1T, Sentiments 2A and 2B

Supplies:  Cardstock (The Paper Company); paper (3 Bugs in a Rug); Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angles); fringe scissors (Martha Stewart Crafts); punches (Marvy Uchida); ink (Ranger); baker's twine (The Twinery)

I tried masking for this card and it turned out great!  But, you can't see it in this picture.  

If you don't know how to use a mask, it's pretty simple.  You just use a paper or other material to prevent the Glimmer Mist from getting to the paper in some spots.  I was masking small areas, so I used the sticky part of a few sticky notes to cut my shapes from:

I used a 1/2" circle punch, a small flower and hand cut lines.  Then I applied my masks, sprayed the eggs (ovals) with Glimmer Mist, let the mist dry completely, and removed the masking.  And this is what I ended up with:

The light is weird for this pic, but that was the only way I could get the masked patterns to show up.

I made the grass using card-size border template (both A and B) and my fringe scissors.  I also sprayed the flower layers with Glimmer Mist, let them dry and put them together.  For the flower center, I used a 1" circle punch for the base, covered it with adhesive (Terrifically Tacky Tape works great, as would Glubers or Glue Dots XL).  I then tied a knot at the end of the baker's twine, cut the tail off really close to the knot, put the knot in the center of the circle and then started wrapping the twine around the knot.  This made a fun and whimsical flower center with some texture.  

My sentiment "happy Spring" is hand written, but feel free to use a rub-on, stamp or leave it blank.

Card #3- Easter Bunny

Finished card size: 5"x7"

Templates used:  Rings 2 (trace the outside, not the inside), Tiny Shapes 4T and 8T, Tiny Brackets 2T and 4T

Supplies:  Cardstock (The Paper Company); patterned paper (3 Bugs in a Rug); brads (Doodlebug); flower and ribbon (Making Memories); scalloped scissors (Provo Craft); jewels (Doodlebug, Heidi Swapp for Advantus)

This is a simple card! More info is on the Kiwi Lane blog at http://kiwilanedesigns.blogspot.com/ 

One more tip- adhere everything on a background piece 1/4" smaller than the card, including the brads and ribbon.  This way nothing shows on the inside of the card.

Thanks for looking at my Sincerely... cards for this month!  I would love to see what this inspired for you- feel free to post them on Kiwi Lane's Facebook page.  

Kiwi Lane Picture Perfect Challenge - 3

Here is what I submitted for Kiwi Lane Design's Picture Perfect Challenge for March.  The stipulations were to use 3 photos and some KLD templates.  

Templates used:  Bracket 1, Mini Scallops 3A, Strips, Photos

Supplies:  Cardstock, patterned paper and large alpha stickers (American Crafts); glitter brad, staples, small alpha stickers (Making Memories); buttons (Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye, craft supply)

I loved how it turned out!  These pics are from (dare I admit it??) 2008 and I'm happy to have them out of the box and on a page- a cute page I like is even better!  This was a super fast layout- about 30 minutes total- and that includes making the accordion folded circles.  Now to get the even older pics onto cute layouts, too!