28 day Organizational Challenge

Hello Everyone,

It's been a VERY long time.  I have been neglecting my blog to work on my A-Muse Studio business and holding card classes.  In the process of all this, I have let two areas of my house completely deteriorate, Not that they were in excellent shape to start with.

I have been following Laura at I'm an Organized Junkie for a while and she has started the 29 Day organizational Challenge.  I figured this was the perfect motivation I needed to clear out and clean up all the extra junk in my two seriously troubled areas.   Then maybe I can tackle the rest of the house. 

Let me start by saying I have a space problem.  No matter how much I water the house, it will not grow, and for some reason, my card making and quilting supplies just seem to keep multiplying.  Hence the space problem.  The DH on the other hand says I have a buying problem.  The man just doesn't know what he's talking about.  Either way you look at it, I have an office and a craft space that are completely out of control. 

According to my DH, I have two areas of the house that can take up an episode of Hoarders.  He watches the show and then tells me how bad I'm going to become.  SO, I'm doing a self intervention before he sends in an application to be on TV. 

I have two areas that need attention right away.  The first is the home office.  We really haven't used the room since I finished school.  The room has turned into the place for everything that doesn't really have a place and other area overload.  When you don't know what to do with it, shove it in the front bedroom.

This should be the office and special furniture room.  I can't move the furniture to the basement and make it the craft room, so it needs to be that room in the house that is dusted once a week and looks good all the time. At one time, there was only enough craft stuff to fill have the closet and my sewing machine. The rest of the closet was the really nice clothes that you only wear to funerals.  Now I have so many clothes that I'm filling three closets.

The second area is the Craft Area.  It will have to have space for paper crafting and quilting.  At one time I was using this area for a library.  I love to read and I was keeping most of the books.  I have cleared quite a few out and want to keep my favorites that I re-read often.  Then I started putting my crafting things on the shelves.  I've purchased baskets and drawers, but I'm not using them to their potential.  Most of the stuff is just jammed in.   

The area is kind of tight, but I know I want a craft table that is counter top height.  I do a lot of my work standing up.  I find that I'm carrying everything up stairs to work on it in the kitchen and then when it's time to clean the kitchen, it just gets hauled down stairs and placed where ever there's a spot.  

So now it's off to plan what I want to happen and then figure out where to start.  I will be checking in on Friday the 10th with a progress report. 

1st Time as a Guest Designer!!!!!!

Hello Crafty Bloggers.  My name is Tammy and I’m so excited that Crafty Misfit is giving me this great opportunity to be her guest designer for the day.   My husband and I are recent empty nester and trying to figure out what to do with ourselves.    Actually, we seem to be driving up to see our son quite a bit.  I don’t think we were quite ready to let our only child grow up. 

In between working and watching rugby, it’s time to start thinking about what to give out for Christmas.  We like to give out something homemade that doesn’t cost a lot of money.  We wanted to create something that would work for all ages and combine a pin board and a magnetic board.  Brad had the great idea that it should be dry erase also.  We spent a few days trying to figure out how to create the dry erase part.  There is paint available to create the surface, but the reviews weren’t very good so that was not the answer.  I kept thinking about the overhead projectors with the write on sheets that a geometry teacher used. 

Here is what I started with.  A $0.99 cookie sheet from Wal-Mart, a small batch of cork board, A box of 3M Write-on transparency sheets from the office supply store, push pins, Dry-erase markers, magnets and pattern paper. 

Brad drilled holes in the top lip so that we had a place to tie some ribbon on.  Then I cleaned the pan with soap and water to get rid of dirt and finger prints.   Brad then took some of the push pins and cut off the pin part so they would be flush.

I then took my main pattern paper and cut out the opening I wanted for the dry-erase section.  The glued the paper on top of the transparency.   Then glue the whole thing onto the pan.  If you use a teflon coated pan, you have to sand where the glue will go, or it won't stick. 

We took the push pin tops and glued them with a flower base onto the magnets.  We tried both the really strong magnets and the regular ones.  We discovered that when you glue the flower and pin tops to the really strong magnet and place them on the fridge for later use, the paper separates and the tops fall off, but they work well when they are on-top of a couple of sheets of paper.

Here are some of the finished products. 

The last one is favorite.  We took a lot of time cutting the paper out and matching the cork board to the lines on the paper. 

I want to thank Rebecca again for giving me the chance to be a guest designer for her.  So lets celebrate and give away some blog candy.  I have two A Muse Studio stamp pads to give away.  To be entered into the drawing, stop by The Crafting Misfit's blog and leave a comment.  She will pick the winner at random and have you contact me.

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear what you have to say.

Two Cards and Winners

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

I tried to e-mail and/or visit all 46 bloggers that stopped by during the All About the Guys Blog Hop that was put on by Erica at My Cricut Craft Room.  I love reading all of the lovely comments and words of encouragement.  During the hop we were on a long motorcycle trip to Island Park, ID.  Along the way, we did stop and watch my son play rugby in Pocatello, ID.  Believe me when I tell you that I would have rather been at home playing on the computer and crafting than riding through he poring rain in 48 degrees. 

Here's part of the ISU team.  The one playing with his shorts and chewing on his mouth guard belongs to me.  I haven't learned the rest of their names yet, but considering they will be out at the house this weekend I'd better learn them quick. 

So on to some winners.  I am giving two A Muse Studio ink pads away.  Fern and Blackberry.  The first winner to respond will have their choice of color.  If your name is listed below, please e-mail me your your address and ink color preference.  Please list Blog Hop Winner in the subject line.  My e-mail is tk_themom_smith at msn dot com.

Winner #1 is..................

  True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 41

Connie Layman 

Winner #2 is.................

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 36

vick6740

So on to a few cards I've been working on.  The first one is for a card swap over at Cricut.com.  We had to build monochromatic cards for the month of September. 

I really seem to like working with turquoise and aqua when it comes to these types of cards.  I cut a string of beads apart and glued it to the middle of the flowers. The Thank you is cut from the Phases cartridge at a 3. 

The second card was a real quick card for me.  I was suppose to be cleaning off the kitchen counter and my notebook with current challenges was sitting open and I just couldn't resist.  So the two challenges I've combined are Just Us Girls Color Challenge #102 (using Pumpkin, Aqua and Kiwi), and Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #135.

  I was experimenting with coloring the doily pumpkin or kiwi.

The kiwi just didn't do it for me so I went with the pumpkin. 

The hello friend was an experiment from the previous card.  I don't even remember what cartridge I pulled it from.  The patterned paper was from a DCVW kitchen stack and the pumpkin card base is A Muse Studio card stock.  I love that their card stock is colored on one side and white on the back.  It's perfect for card making. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to have some more projects soon. 

ALL ABOUT THE GUYS BLOG HOP

I think it's that time of year when all us wives lose our husbands to the NCAA and NFL. Football is playing all weekend long.  Of course that leave more time for us to gather and play with crafts.  So I think it's great that Erica at My Cricut Craft Room is holding a blog hop that's All about the guys. 

I'm stop number six on your hop today.  You should have come from KIMBERLY at Scrapping Rookie 

Today's card is one for my son.  He is currently attending college at Idaho State University and taking auto tech classes.  He has always taken his toy cars apart and put them back together.  About four years ago our garage became the local spot for all our family and friends to bring their cars that weren't running just right.   

I cut the tools from the Lite Handyman Cricut Cartridge at 2.  The tag is a pre-cut from CTMH.  The stamp is from A Muse Studio, Tool-rific. The screws are small brads I picked up at the Expo last weekend.  The card is a standard A-2.

I couldn't resist putting the nuts inside. 

I hope this gives you an idea of a simple and special card for one of the men in your life.  I am giving out blog candy on Tuesday, September 20th.  Just leave me a comment and I will put you in the drawing.  This week I'm giving away two ink pads from A Muse Studio.  The ink colors are Blackberry and Fern. 

Your next stop is LORI at Scrappin My Stress Away. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Make sure you hit all the stops along the way to be qualified for Erica's blog candy.  If you get lost along the way, here is a complete list of stops.

Erica http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com

Yvette http://gammascreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Samantha http://samanthascricutcreations.blogspot.com/

Laurie http://www.lauriecandoit.blogspot.com/

Kimberly http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com/

Tammy Smith http://cuttinandstampin.blogspot.com

Lori www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com

Maria http://scrapfornat.blogspot.com/

Melissa http://pinkpolkadotscrapping.blogspot.com

A-Muse Studio Distributor

I'm soooo excited.  I just signed up as a new a-muse studio distributor.  I'm very excited for the opportunity to create and help others to create as well.  I've been looking for a way to continue crafting and have it pay for itself and I think I've found it. 

This is a company that has been around for more than a decade and is now starting to adventure into the home party world with independent distributors to help spreed the joy of crafting.  They have a wonderful line of stamps, paper, ink and soo much more. 

The current promotions is

with the introduction of the fall catalog.  Here is a link to my on-line order site where you can look at the wonderful catalog and all of the other wonderful creations.  Cuttin and Stampin a-muse studio website.

I hope you all stop by and take a look.  I'm just getting my feet wet with this and I will start to post my own a-muse projects shortly. 

Thanks,
Tammy

WINNERS AND FLOWER TUTORIAL

Hello bloggers.  I want to thank all of you that stopped by and left comments during the Card and Invitation Blog Hop.  Your comments are very gracious and it means a lot to me.  There were sooo many more comments than I expected and I wanted to do a little something extra.  I have picked three winners instead of just two. 

The Stampin' Up set goes to.......................

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 58

58 is CALLYANN of Callyann Crafty Creations.

The Close to My Heart stamp set goes to.................

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 20

20 is BUNNYFREAK of  Everything Digital Scrapbooking.

The extra candy goes to......................

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 48

48 is HOLLY of Holly's Hobbie.

If the winner will please e-mail me at tk_themom_smith at msn dot com with their address I will put the prizes in the mail.  Please put Winner in the subject line and thanks so much for hopping along.

Some of you asked how I made the flowers and I wanted to let you all know that they are really simple. (If they were difficult, I wouldn't be making them).  So here is a picture tutorial on how to make the flower.

First I start with a piece of 1" x 12" cards stock. I find that I use a lot of paper the size of my ruler.

The next step is to score the paper every 1/8".  I use my old cricut paper cutter for my score board. 

After scoring the length of paper, you accordion fold it.  It's much easier if the paper is folded tightly.

Once the paper is folded, add glue or tape to one end and make a circle. 

My fingers are in the way on the next picture, so it's hard to see.  You gather the top together and push it down to the surface.  I general have a small scrap piece with some glue on it in the center of the circle.  So when I push the top of the ring down, it will stick.

I then put a ring of glue around the center on the top.  This is where I will stick my stamped piece of paper or a button.



I place the button on and then use something heavy to hold it in place until the glue is dried. This is just an empty water bottle that was handy.  Hot glue dries pretty fast. 

I normally put a bow on the button before I glue it down, but I wasn't thinking that fast at 6 am. 

So I added the bow after the fact. 

I hope this inspires you to make a different type of flower for your projects.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at anytime.  Thanks for stopping by.

Tammy

Card and Invitation Blog Hop

Welcome to my Cricut Craft Room's Card and Invitation Blog Hop

You should have come from scrappingrookie and her Happy Halloween post.

If not please start at http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com for the beginning of our blog hop

 I was so excited to be a part of this card hop.  I have been building baby cards like crazy.  This seems to be the month for having babies.  Pink and blue have been swirling around and causing havoc in my head. 

My first try was kind of OK, but I didn't feel like it was good enough to give away. 

The tag was a baby bottle shape and the stamp didn't seem to fit right.  A few days of sitting at the craft table, working on other project and playing with the paper here is what it turned into.

.I made two for boys and two for girls.  All of the paper is from DCWV Nana's Nursery.  They have a Baby Boy and Baby Girl paper pack.  The strips were embossed with small dot cuttlebug folder.  The stamp is from CTMH Sweet Baby. 

I have blog candy to give away

 Stampn' up "A Flower for all Seasons" and

  CTMH special edition sentiments stamp.

I will post winners for these two stamp sets on Tuesday, August 23rd.  Make sure to check back to see if you've won.

Next you should go to Connies Craft Closet.   

If you get lost along the way, here is the entire line up.....

http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com  

http://www.micraftygal.blogspot.com/

http://katscrapfever.blogspot.com

http://autumnsbuggycreations.blogspot.com

http://scrappingwithpirkie.blogspot.com/

http://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/

http://britkdesigns.blogspot.com/

http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com/

http://cuttinandstampin.blogspot.com   ......You are here........

http://conniescraftycloset.blogspot.com/    ......The next Stop.........

http://simplysweetbysharon.blogspot.com/

http://jshandcrafts.blogspot.com

http://pinkpolkadotscrapping.blogspot.com
Http://mycricutcraftroom.blogspot.com (special post for blog candy)