Hello Monday!!

  I guess I will never figure out WHY the weekends always fly by and the week days seem to always go by slower?   On the upside I had a pretty good weekend, much of which I spend in my craft room.   I did get quite a bit or 'drawer' organizing started and am happy with how it's going.  It will be a long task, but I'm also only doing a little each day, so I have to time create and don't get burnt out.

   I never did find time to post yesterday and by late afternoon I was wiped out again....so I had another nap and that also helped.  I do hope once these new thyroid meds kick in, it will help with some of the fatigue.  I hate sleeping away my life, but know when you are exhausted, the best thing for your body is to rest!   Today, I'm feeling so much better and so happy to see the sun shining again.  We have more rain that eventually turned to snow and ended overnight.  Luckily, with much of it being rain, we did not end up with a lot of snow and the few inches we did get, seems to be melting very quickly under today's gorgeous sunshine.

   And speaking of sunshine, one of my first cards today features sunshine and it was a new card I created yesterday for the newest challenge at CASology, where this week's cue to -- Flame.  A cue that I really was challenged with and to be honest I'm NOT loving this card.  If I find time and come up with a new idea, I may try to get another done.   As you'll see most of the cards I did make yesterday, did not at ALL come out like I wanted....but, as always I'm sharing...the good and the bad!  I also did re-create some new cards today, to replace some of the duds and was much more pleased with the second takes.

   

My Card

      I am still really "stumped" with the "flame" theme and went searching through all my digi images, stamps and even all my Silhouette files and never did find anything that I really wanted to use.  I thought about a candle, a fire flame and then settled on a star-burst type flame and found these summer sun likes images in the Silhouette Store and cute them on a variety of yellow and orange cardstock.   I then layered them onto a piece of embossed orange cardstock and created the "Hello Sunshine" sentiment on the Cameo too.  It's far from a favorite and a card I HOPE to re-create this week, if time allows!!   UPDATE:  As it turns out, I was already too late for the challenge and never did get this uploaded, but that's okay.  Now I wait for the new challenge to be posted and come up something even better!!

      My second card was one I also worked on yesterday and is one I'm not how I really feel.  I love this sweet little digi image (it's from By Lori Designs) and also love the sentiment  but something seems off, and I'm not sure what it is.  The sketch for this card was from the Sunday Sketch Challenge over at OWH's Stars and Stamps blog and I am sharing a copy below.  It's another card, I would like to try and do over, but that will depend on time.  In additional to the Sketch Challenge, I am also submitted it to the latest "Sentiment" inspired challenge over at By LORi's Designs, which you'll find HERE!  

    My next two cards were both inspired and created for the newest Challenge over at Cas(E) This Sketch and as you will see, the first card I originally made, again was not working out for me, so today, I created a second card, which is the card that I will be submitting to the challenge.  This has also become one of my favorite new challenges and I try to play in it every week.    This is the sketch for this week's challenge, which is shown in both a landscape and portrait version !  It's your choice of how you want to use the sketch and in both my cards I went with portrait.

  

 My First Attempt

A big HUG!

Card # 2

My favorite!

   Lately, I really am finding the I like creating simple graphic cards....easy clean and simple cards that seem to have a lot of pop.  I like this one ten times better than my first card and it's all the same sketch.  I think the first card is simply too light and the contrast looks much better on card number two.

  And my last card today is another card I worked on today and one that I am very happy with on my first attempt.  I realize now that my mojo was apparently half asleep yesterday and today after a nice long rest, my cards are coming out much better.  I hope this trend continues for the rest of the week.  This is also another challenge inspired card and another fabulous new challenge that I love.  It's called the Muse Card Making Club and our Muse this week is this lovely card created by Deanna Jean.  You can find it along with many more of her fabulous cards at her blog -- Kloset Kreations!!

Muse Challenge # 6 - by Deanna Jean

My Card 

   

     This card features two of my newest stamps.  The first is the fun new Background Stamp - Everything Flowers, from Hero Arts.   This is one of the few stamps that they did in Cling and Wood.  First, I inked it in Versamark and then heat embossed it in white.  To color my flowers I used a variety of  Distress Inks, all in shades of red, pink, orange and yellow and simply colored directly from the pads and then topped it off with Perfect Pearls Mist and dried them with my Heat tool.  Next, I cut out the flowers and used a Spellbinder die to cut out some leaves/stems.  I arranged them piece of white cardstock and added black pearls to the center of each flower.  Next, I used a brand new sets of stamps by Kristina Werner (for Simon Says Stamp) that were included in this Month's card kit -- I LOVE these kits that Kristina puts together for SSS each month and am a monthly kit subscriber!!  They are fabulous and well-loved by all -- you can find them here and a photo of this month's kit HERE!   I used the Thank You sentiment and stamped it directly to the cardstock in black archival ink.  I then used my brand new Fiskars Procision Trimmer...now loving it, to cut the two thin strips of black accents that I added under my sentiment to complete my card!!

  My special thanks to Elizabeth at A2Z Scrapbooking for doing a special order and finding this trimmer for me at a fantastic price!   I highly recommend this wonderful store which you'll find on ETSY!  If you hurry on over now you can use the St. Patrick's Day Promo Code and save money on all favorite goodies -- I especially LOVE that they carry so many of my favorite - Hero Art's products and was thrilled to see they now have the new "Shadow Re-Inkers" in stock!!  Woohoo!!

  Before I sign off, I'm also sharing a couple pictures of the re-organizing that I've started with all my craft supplies.  This is one of my "Alex" Drawer Units (from IKEA) and this one is next to my desk, so I wanted to keep supplies in it that I use almost every day.  I started with my Inks and also a large selection of my 6X6 Paper Pads, which you can see in the photos below.  I have a four more units to totally re-do, but I'm taking my time and trying to be very neat.  

  

   It's so nice to be this organized and I'm going to do my best to keep on top of this.  I also picked up quite a few little drawer inserts and tiny boxes to store small things.  I found most of these at The Container Store and also at the Dollar Store.  These are all my binders, which hold the majority of my clear and cling stamps. I keep them on top of one of my Expedit Bookcases and love this system!

  Oh, and found some super cute valances that I ordered from a store called The Kangaroo Closet.t    I wanted something different and have mini blinds in the windows, but like to have valences for extra color.  My room is painted in a very light aqua and all my furniture is white.  I also have lots of pink, purple and black accents, so I thought black and white would work well, plus I LOVED this cute style!!   You can find them and many more at in this store -- another awesome ETSY find.    I'm also have one long panel made to match, which will be for my closet door.   When we first bought this house it had an old wood bifold door that would never stay closed.  I took it off and still have not found the right door to replace it, so I use drapes and curtains, which has always made it easier to move things in an out of the closet.   I also use a valance on that door, that matches the others, so I think it'll be cute or I hope it will!     I  There were so many cute designs that it was not easy to choose.  I also loved the Chevron Patterns and almost bought these!!

 

  Tomorrow I am very excited to be heading to the monthly Card Club at my LSS.   This month we'll be working on CAS cards and I've thrilled about that, since they are now my favorites.  I also missed out on January's class when I was in San Diego, so it'll be nice to be back with the girls again.  I LOVE classes and having other people to create with and I also love browsing the store before and after class for the latest and greatest new products!  I'm sure I'll buy something, as I have a coupon to use -- how could I ever go to a craft store and leave without buying something new?   Could you??