Wedding Fever

I haven't been in my studio much lately but I have been thinking about crafting…a lot…like a lot a lot. Why? Because I am  helping my friend with her wedding and as with all other aspects of my life I don't know what to say when.  I keep finding new, awesome projects that I just have to do to make the wedding perfect.
I often complain that when I got married it was Pre-Pinterest- and in fact Pre-Interent -but the reality is I might have been overwhelmed if I had this unlimited source in inspiration.  We got married in Michigan but I planned the entire wedding myself while I was living in Texas.  Thankfully Martha Stewart had just published her Weddings book which was my best resource.  In 1994, she didn't even have the Wedding magazine yet.  Even without a lot of resources I still managed to make my own cake,  have the dress and bridesmaid dresses made (I chose fabrics and styles), made the paper for the invitations, and made cookies for the reception and made all the other decisions myself.  Can you imagine how over the top my crafting would have been if I had the recourse  and the skills that I have 18 years later?  I promise to share pictures from my wedding and all the projects I worked on but this post is about B's wedding.

The color scheme is all pretty peaches and dusty pinks.  We are adding neutrals and a pop of aqua and gold.  Lots of vintage items will be used to decorate the rustic barn including tags, garlands, glittered letters, poms, mason jars, burlap, and peonies.

The barn has twinkle lights from a previous wedding so we don't have to string all those but we still have a lot of work to do to make the space look like a wedding.  And the lack of electricity and need for generators will also be a factor.

I love this door and have plans for it….

Source Pom+Love

 I ordered this aqua pom and some color swatches from Kirstin at Pom+Love on Etsy.  First of all those swatches you see in the photo above are what I received.  I expected postage stamp sized pieces, but I got huge pieces of each of the colors I requested and she didn't even charge me for the swatches.  I did pay for the pom but at $4.50 for a beautifully made pom it was worth it.  Pom+Love gives volume discounts for large orders and sells confetti and tissue tassels as well as gorgeous poms in several sizes.  She carries a huge selection of colors and patterns and makes the most adorable  tiny poms on garlands or stems.

Source: Pom+Love

Source: Pom+Love

Kirsten offers a video on YouTube explaining how to open up the poms correctly and how to hang them.  I cannot say enough about how this woman does business.  When I decided to make the poms myself and wanted to order a huge amount of tissue from her she ended up sending me the links to order every color I needed from the sources she uses.  Each individual color had a link.  What an amazing thing to do for me.  So please check out her beautiful work and if you need poms, garlands, confetti or tissue consider ordering from her.

I spent all of yesterday and today trying to find and order all the seam binding, tissue paper, cardstock and patterned cardstock that I need for the projects.  It is exhausting.  I don't have a local scrapbooking store so I have to spend hours on websites trying to find what I need and hope the colors are true enough.  All while trying to get the best deal for my bride.  I will post photos as the products arrive.  

I did get my Distress Paint today so YIPPY For me.  Oh, and I found the recent issue of Simply Handmade Paper Crafting with my Valentine Garland in it.

Laters Baby….

Valentine Projects

Today I am heading down to my recently cleaned studio and plan to create all day long. Expect good things to come soon.  I am also thinking of doing a give away in the near future.  Question…would you rather get a craft supply item or something handmade by me?  Leave a comment letting me know which you would get more excited over.

I am super excited to be helping a friend with her June wedding.  When I got married 18 years ago it was pre-internet.  Gasp..can you even imagine?!  I still managed to do a lot of stuff myself and will be sharing some of my projects from both my wedding and my friend's wedding over the next several months.  The best part of helping B. with her wedding is that we have the same taste so it is easy and exciting to come up with projects.

In the mean time I just wanted to share the Valentine projects I made last year.  My garland is being published in Northridge Publishing's handmade paper crafting J/F 2013 issue..Yay me!

Valentine Projects:

These are fun little cards that I made using images from House of 3 which are no longer available but what I wanted to show is how easy it is to take a digital image, lay it over a digital paper and print it out.  You can also take a digital image and simply print it out on patterned paper and get the same look. Then simply add some embellishments to make the craft a hybrid project.  This way you get the best of both worlds: the digital images allow you to be very creative and make it really your own and the 3D embellishments add texture and bling that make the project come alive.

This sweet and simple project I made for my grandmother to decorate her walls in the nursing home.

The Scrapbook below was made for a wedding gift but certainly could also be used as a Valentine gift or use as a place to record your Valentine's memories each year.

Below are a bunch of digital images I played with and printed out using products from Rhonna Farrer.  I adore her digital images, brushes, papers, etc.  So much fun.  This year she released a set that coordinates with last years images (these are last years). I played around with the colors because originally her colors were more peach than pink.  After I made everything more pink I ended up printing both colors and mixing them together…LOVED the combination. 

I added glitter and book paper hearts and rhinestones after I printed this out.

I love decorating bottles for the holidays.  So pretty. 

 Ah…..Swarovski.  Nothing sparkles more.  These are made using Crystal Clay and Swarovski Chatons.

What are you working on for this Valentine's Day?

Laters Baby….

Organizing My Studio

I have a lot of craft supplies….like A LOT….No, I mean more than the average Josephine Crafter…Really, you DON'T understand, I really really have a lot a lot.   Creating things fills my heart and soul in a way that is beyond words so procuring craft supplies gives my brain and spirit a transfusion of it's life blood. This would be bad enough if I was a paper crafter…but I also do glass solder, jewelry, sew, and make general crafts like wreaths, flower arranging, home decor and on and on.  Add on my I-Hate-To-Add-To-The-Landfill because I-Might-Find-A-Cool-Use-For-That hoarding and my studio is packed to the max with delicious items.  The end result is my studio is always a mess.

One way I know I have a lot of stuff is the new trend to publish craft rooms and studios in various magazines and blogs.  You see I laugh out loud when I see these well organized craft rooms.  Because there is no way my stuff would ever fit in anything even close to the storage in these rooms.  But having to see such well organized spaces does given em ideas and motivation to keep attempting to rein in the mess.  Last year I bought a bunch of the white laminate organizers sold at Michael's and it helped but my desk is always really bad.  You can see…













I must have mentioned this to my mom so for Christmas she bought me an ink organizers specifically made for Distress Pads- I have there pads but I mainly use Distress and have all of the 48 colors and most of the Reinkers.

You can see what an amazing change this made on my desk…and it keeps the Reinker right with the pad so it is easy to find whether I want to add ink to a pad or make a spray.  I added the colored labels from the set of labels I got from Paula Cheney making it easier to find the color I want with only a glance and giving me a very pretty visual right in front of my workspace.  While I was at it I also redid the labels on my Distress Stains- here you see the white labels before I inked them.   Ironically, cleaning off my workspace led to cleaning up my entire studio and moving my stamp cabinet closer to my new workspace and filling up again.  Don't tell anyone but for the last at least 8 months- I have been storing my stamps on the floor next to my workspace.  Ugh, it was a big mess.

The sad thing is that even though I reorganized everything it is still a mess….the clutter is the problem.  I just have too many projects half done or supplies purchased but haven't started them or supplies and tools for a specific craft that I am currently NOT working on…it is a process though.  I think the hardest part is finding storage that fits the need.  Like I need small shallow shovels and lots of them because deep shelves and drawers swallow supplies and I cannot find them or forget that I own them.  But it is a fight that I will continue to fight and I am trying to back off buying supplies…yeah right…did you see all the cool crap Tim is releasing in the next 6 months? I did and there is a bunch of must haves….like a TON.  Oh and I am helping a friend with her wedding…Super excited about it and you will see most of the projects here as they are completed but it also means ordering more supplies…new tags, new papers, ink in the wedding colors….peony stamp to coordinate with her flowers…you get my point.

But back to my new ink organizer.  It was made by Organize More and made in the USA.  Actually the products are Made To Order so it did take a good 6 weeks to arrive, but it was worth the wait.   Check out their website OrganizeMore.com to see all the great stuff they sell.  This is not a paid endorsement, in fact they have no idea I am writing this post-I just love the product and wanted to pass it on.  They have organizers for Stampin' Up and Close To My Heart ink pads; ribbon rolls; punches; stamp wheels; and Sizzix dies.  They carry organizers that hold a combination of ink pads and ribbon rolls as well as stamp sets from Stampin' Up.  Even the Copic crowd will find a storage unit.  There are a few more but I don't want to bore you….check it out.

As for labeling my Distress Products…I used label paper and cut out circles using a 1/2 inch circle punch, applied them to the top of the Stains, then simply swiped the stain over the label.  I found it gave a nicer finish if I screwed the lid back on the stain and then dragged the wet label over paper towel.  It kept the color from pooling and leaving an uneven appearance.  The labels for the ink pads were made by Paula so I don't know the specifics but Avery 48266 File Folder labels would work.  You can add the names using either a Word or hand write them.  MS Word has templates for all the Avery Labels making it pretty easy to do.  For most of the labels I stuck the labels on and then used my Blending Tool to add the ink but as I went on I found that dragging the ink pad over the label worked better giving me a more accurate color.

Laters  Baby….