Getting Organized

I whipped up this little project yesterday and although it's nothing that spectacular as far as stamping goes, I thought I'd share it with you all anyway. I love to be organized and I love making lists. It just makes life simpler, I think, when you know what you're doing, what you need to do it and when you need to have it done.

One of my least favorite housewife/mom duties is grocery shopping. Ugh. I love to plan meals and I love to cook, but if I could get away with going to the store once a month I'd be tickled pink. For that reason, I try to be very thorough when making my shopping list. I sit down at the beginning of the week and make a menu, and as I make the menu I go through the kitchen to make sure I have everything I need. If I don't have it - I put it on the list. I find that it really cuts down on $$$ spent buying things I already have or don't really need, plus if I get it all in one shot I don't have to go back to the store.

So this is what I made to keep all my grocery shopping/meal planning stuff organized. I just took a regular old school folder and decorated it up with background papers and a cute stamped image and now I've got all my things in one place. I even took half an hour and typed up another list (see what I mean!) of meals I know my family likes, for those times when I'm having trouble deciding what to make on a particular night.

I hope you find this idea helpful! I think I'm going to make another one for Christmas - to keep my shopping list, card list and receipts organized over the holidays.

Hugs!
Sue :o)

TLC231 Quilled Flowers

This card is for TLC231 over at Split Coast Stampers - to use quilling on your card. I was so excited to see the challenge yesterday morning! I learned to do quilling when I was in junior high after I signed up to take cooking and the class filled up. I was really ticked off about it too and thought for sure I'd hate it. I didn't though LOL and have continued to do it for the last 25+ years. Sigh. That just made me feel old!

Anyway, I love making these little fringed flowers. You can buy a tool to make the fringe but I'm cheap and cut it by hand. The white part of the card is actually an old sampler card I had from SU (not sure if they still sell them) and the leaf stamp is an old one I've had in my drawer for years. I'm not even sure who made it because the wording on the side of the stamp is worn off and covered in ink. There's another secret in addition to my age - I'm a sloppy, sloppy stamper. LOL.

I've got a ton of stuff planned for today. I'm getting ready to put some new stuff in my Etsy shop and I have another project I'm going list here on my blog as well. Even though I'm a sloppy stamper I am addicted to organizing things and making lists so I came up with something that feeds both of those addictions.

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! Hugs!
Sue :o)

HSC79 Riley Circle Birthday Card

Boy this has been a busy week with VBS. I've hardly had any time to stamp. I did have time for one challenge today though and found it in the Hanna Stamps forum on SCS. This card is for challenge 79 - to make a circle card. I used the scalloped circle dies from Nestabilities for the base of the card and the layers. Riley was stamped and colored, and then his face and the bottom part of the cake were popped up on foam tape. I added some polka dots with a red fine tipped marker and some punched flowers as accents. Quick & simple & perfect for a busy day.

Card recipe:
Stamps: Hanna Stamps
Ink: Memento tuxedo black/ZIG markers
Paper: K&Co. & Misc. card stock
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities dies, flower punches, hole punch, foam tape

Thank God it's Friday! I hope to have more time to stamp this weekend!
Sue :o)

CC228 Pretty Rusty? Not Quite

This card is for today's color challenge over on SCS. The challenge was to use Not Quite Navy, Pretty in Pink and Really Rust. I don't have those exact colors so I used Basic Grey papers from the Marrakech paper pad. The pink on the front of the card is just card stock. I've had this image from The Greeting Farm already embossed and colored on my desk for quite some time and I happily surprised to find it went well with the challenge colors today. The flowers were cut out and popped up on foam tape for dimension and I used the MS lace border punch for the pink paper. I never would have thought to put these colors together but I do have to say I like it!

Well, I'd love to work on some more challenges today but I'm due to pick up my son in a little bit here, cook dinner, get changed and then run straight to Vacation Bible School to craft with the kiddies. Maybe later - if I can keep my eyes open! LOL.

God bless!

Sue:o)

All Those Scraps

I'm sure I'm not the only one who keeps every scrap of leftover background paper. I'm also sure we all have our own way of organizing them. Me? I have a basket where I keep my smaller scraps. Large scraps (over 1/2 a sheet) are kept in plastic envelopes up on my shelf. The smaller ones are sorted by size and color - one baggie for big scraps and another baggie for small scraps. Am I bit compulsive about sorting? Maybe. I've posted a picture of the scrap basket so you can draw your own conclusions. LOL.

Anyway, I'm always looking for a way to use up these scraps and I've had this idea in my head for awhile so yesterday I decided to try it out. It was really quite simple and didn't take much time to do. I just took a sheet of 5.25 x 4 card stock and began laying out coordinating scraps of background paper on it until I found what patterns and shades worked together. Some of the scraps fit perfectly and others I had to trim down a bit so they fit on the card stock, but really I didn't do much cutting. I use double sided tape on all my cards, so once I was happy with the way my papers looked, I taped them down. Then I ran the whole sheet through my Cuttlebug with the Paisley embossing folder - to give it a quilted look. Then I just used that sheet like it was a piece of background paper for my card. I think it turned out really pretty!

Stamps credit: Great Impressions

I hope this is helpful to other scrap hoarders out there!
Blessings!
Sue :o)

New Stuff Alert!

I've got a whole new pile of good stuff going into the shop tomorrow so stop by and check it all out! You get to the shop from the link on the right, or click here. I posted a picture of the pile of goodies above. There are some new cards, a few card bundles, and some new tags. I was going to keep the little chickadees as tags, but after I took the picture I decided to put them on cards instead. They turned out so cute I almost contemplated keeping them for myself!

I am going to have SUCH a busy week this week. My church is having their VBS and I'll be assisting in the craft station. Big surprise, huh? :o) I am excited about it though. The kids always have so much fun and it's such a blessing to be able to plant seeds. It's like Christmas in July only with no snow and no shopping in crowded stores to buy presents.

Talk to you soon!
Sue :o)

Busy Busy Busy

It has been a crazy couple of weeks here so I haven't posted much. I've been busy in the craft room though and will be adding new items to the shop on Monday morning. I wanted to post a picture of an ATC I made for a customer this weekend. I just love this little bird from The Greeting Farm. I don't often make ATCs but I think this one turned out really pretty with the dry embossed birds and vines paper, the jeweled brads and the flowery K&Co paper.

I'm also posting a picture from my garden. I love walking out there in the morning and looking at all the flowers . I believe that God speaks to us through the beauty of His creation and it's such a nice way to start the day - looking at what He's made. How great is our God, right?

I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! God bless!

Sue :o)