I Come Clean

As I promised, I sucked it up and took pictures of the unorganized work in process side of the craft cellar. I hope to one day post the same nice organized pictures of this side of the room as the first ones that I let you all see.

Here is the table that holds my sewing machine and serger. Eventually when everything has a home and it is in that home this table will be another crafting surface for creative fun.

This is the inside of the IOPC unit. It looks completely full of stamp sets but they are not pushed all the way back so I am sure that I could fit many more inside this cabinet.

This shot is of the floor area to show that no space is wasted.

This picture was shot with my back against the X-mas tree box toward the furnace (the furnace marks the halfway point in the basement). If you picture an upside down U, the right side and part of the bottom were the nice organized shots. These shots are the left side of the very messy and unorganized side of the craft cellar.

This was shot from the side of my desk back toward the back wall. The orderly side is to the right, the chaotic side is to the left (like you couldn't tell).


These wooden shelves are definitely a work in progress. They were filled with my brother's stuff. Slowly but surely I have been making my way to claiming them as mine. The top shelf has leftover parts from when he did the duct work for the furnance. The large box on the shelf below that is filled with motorcycle magazines and other boy stuff. I have cleaned off a different area and will begin moving things to their new home. The ultimate goal, to have complete "control" of that shelving unit for crafty goodness.

This shot is exactly opposite of the nice orderly white cube area. The brown cabinet behind the rocking chair goes all the way to the floor and is filled with stamp sets. Some day I will clean off that rocker and be able to sit in it.

This shot is to show that I stack things to the ceiling/furnance cold air return. No space will go unused when I am done with the organization.

This is the other, not so clean and tidy side of my desk. The large brown box is stuff leftover from my working from home stint in July. I need to go through that box and see what should be tossed, what should go back to the office and what stays at home.

One Down

One down and one to go.
We had part one of the two part test last night.
Despite the fact that we didn't have class last week and all of the material that the Professor (The Evil Queen)didn't cover will still be on the test. Yes, we are responsible for learning it ourselves.
This test was worth 50 points.
10 multiple choice questions worth two points each.
1 problem worth 14 points.
1 problem worth 16 points.
The multiple choice were all computational and I think I did okay on those. I am sure that I messed up some but hope to get some of the twenty points.
The first problem I feel pretty confident about and should get a good portion of the 14 points.
The last question I hope I will get partial credit. I couldn't make my balance sheet balance. My assets were not equal to my liabilities and owner's equity. After class when I was discussing the exam with a few of my classmates the reason that I wasn't balancing was because I forgot to plug in goodwill to make it balance. I wanted to kick myself but hope that some of the other work that I did was enough to get me some of the 16 points.
I didn't make any cards last night as I just wanted to veg after the exam. Tonight I will be hitting the books and probably won't have anything new. Maybe I'll take the photos of the other half (the messy side) of the craft cellar. At least I will have something visual for the blog.
Have a good Tuesday, stay warm, and dry.

A Few Cards

I am officially finished with the Valentine's Day cards.
This purple one I did for my co-worker Kerrie who expressed that she liked the style of one that I did with this layout but wanted it in purple. I did as she asked and the card is on her desk ready for her to sign and send to her special someone. The white square card is really just a cheater card. The hearts were already dry embossed. All I had to do was add the heart brads and the sticker and it was done. I am supposed to have part one of a two part test tonight at school but don't really know if it will be postponed since we didn't have class this past Wednesday due to the snow. The school closed at 4pm and since the professor did not have that class to finish her lecture and complete what is supposed to be on part 2 of the test I am wondering if she will lecture tonight. Have part 1 on Wednesday (2/13) and then part 2 on 2/18. Cross your fingers and pray that this is the case. I did study this weekend but would love an opportunity to get more knowledge inside my brain. The other cards are just the start of the new cards for St. Patrick's Day and Easter. Have a good Monday and stay warm.

Organization

I feel that I have been a bit dishonest with my last post. You see I didn't shoot the sides of the room where mayhem and chaos are reigning. I promise to take untidy photos of the other side of the room and post those. Then there will be something to compare to when I eventually get that side nice and organized.

Craft Cellar

I am afraid that the glimpse into my craft cellar is not as spectacular as the movie that Simone did on her blog. I am still a FAR cry away from being organized and this is only a glimpse of two sides of the area. However, for me this is progress and the more that I can bring down here and organize the more craft efficient I will become and be able to use all of the supplies that I have been hoarding.

Here is the left side of my desk down in the craft cellar/office. I will eventually show you the right side of the desk once I clean it off.

Next to my desk is a horizontal two drawer (only one drawer is in it)file cabinet. On top of the cabinet is the big box that holds my Christmas tree. I have decided to use the top of the box to store crafty goodness.

Here is another picture of the top of the tree box and beyond to the corner of the basement. The black and white boxes stacked up hold sewing patterns.

There is a table that holds my sewing machine and serger. That table is full of unorganized crafting stuff so I will take a picture when I am not embarassed of the clutter. On the left hand side of the table I have stacking boxes that I bought at JoAnn's. Each package had three boxes inside and they "nest" when they are not full. I have used my trusty label maker and each box is labeled with the contents (chipboard, stickers, 3-D stickers, alphabet stickers and numbers, Disney...). To the left of the boxes is an IOPC (mfg name) that my company reps. When we moved in July this unit was not coming to the new office. I got it for free!!! The top has moveable 8-1/2x11" trays and holds the craft store cardstock on the right and SU cardstock on the left.

To the left of the IOPC unit is another sewing machine in a cabinet. On top of the cabinet I have stacked 12x12" plastic paper storage and have separated my paper by color. To the left of that tower are two small IOPC units that have stuff stuffed into the trays that need to be pulled out and organized. It is a far cry from organized but much better than having all of this stuff up in my bedroom and everywhere else in the house just laying around.

Here is a full shot of the IOPC unit. The cabinet on the bottom has one shelf inside. This entire thing is filled up SU stamp sets.

Winter Wonderland

I can't remember a winter where we have gotten so much snow. In past years we would get snow, then a warm up where it would melt, then maybe more snow. We did have a warm up and much of the snow melted and then this new storm came packing many inches of snow. The forecast is calling for more before or on the weekend.
So....Cindy, out in sunny California treasure the fact that you live there at this time of year!

Here is a view of the alley taken from inside my garage toward the west end of the alley. This end of the alley ends in a "T" formation. This is where I got stuck this morning on the way to work. Thankfully my brother and a neighbor were able to push me into the grooves and I was able to get to work.

Notice how the "hump" in the center is missing from my side of the garage area. I got stuck there yesterday after work and had to dig my self out so I could pull into the garage. I sure do hope that the garbage truck with a plow on the front comes down the alley soon and knocks down that center hump so that my little car can navigate better.

Here is picture shot from my garage going east.

Weekend Cards

These are the cards that were made at the local scrapbooking store on my weekend up in WI with the girls. Mary Anne and I chose this activity on Saturday afternoon. Later that afternoon we connected with the other girls at a wine shoppe about two blocks away for a wine tasting.


Here is a pocket card. The pocket is formed from the side.

Here are the three tab inserts that go into the pocket of the above card.

This card as well as the rest are made with double sided paper. The band on this card wraps around the front of the card and appears on the inside top. The flower is raised up with pop dots and the center is a chipboard circle with a small brad.

This is a window card and the frame around the window is a chipboard piece held onto the card with small brads. The image inside the frame is affixed to the inside of the card.

This is another pocket card. The card opens from the bottom. The polka dot paper at the bottom forms the pocket on the inside.

This card is a folder style and the band with the word on it forms the closure.

Here are the two tabs that go inside the card above.

This is a tri-fold card with a ribbon tie closure.

These all were made from a kit. I believe that the manufacturer is S.E.I.
I purchased some paper from this shop (paper that I hadn't seen in the other stores that I visit) as well as some seals and sealing wax. This was a very cute shop and if I lived closer would be one that I would like to visit again.

Valentine XIX

Here is a valentine made from double sided paper and some embellishments that I had in my stash.

Super Tuesday

Here in Illinois it is election day. Illinois along with many other states are holding primary elections. If you are a registered voter I hope that you will exercise your right to vote. If you are of legal voting age and have not registered please do so before the general election in November. The right to vote is a very special priveledge and you should use that right to make your voice heard.

Enhanced Photos

I enhanced the dark photo's in the previous post.

Milton the Moose in all his glory.

Regular distance shot of the JUG's on the balcony.
Bobbi, Cindy, Bubbles, Patti, Mary Anne and Rhonda.

Zoomed balcony shot.

J.U.G.'s Wellness Weekend

This past weekend I went up to East Troy, WI with some of the J.U.G.'s.
The weekend was sponsored by the Y.M.C.A. and was termed a "Woman's Wellness Weekend".
I was not a good photo taker as Bubbles with her trusty tripod captured many group shots and so that we would have a least one shot that came out took two of every pose. In fact my camera spent most of the weekend in my luggage as I really forgot about it.
There was a snowstorm Thursday night into Friday and we were lucky that it stopped right before we needed to head up north. Patti and I rode together and the remainder also carpooled. Rhonda needed to arrive on Saturday so she drove alone.
We had a ton of fun and good laughs. Some of the activities that were offered over the weekend included nature hikes, cross country skiing, cardio class, yoga, pilates, tai chi, cardmaking, wine tasting, movie night, and massages.
It seems that no one made it to movie night as we chose to sit in front of the fire in our lodge and catch up with each other. I don't believe that any of the JUG's that signed up for a massage actually ever made it and gave up their spots to other campers. Mary Anne and I opted for the card making class held at the local scrapbook store. We made six cards from a S.E.I. card kit. I will post those in another post.
Some of the JUG's opted for cross country skiing. Late Saturday afternoon we all reconnected at a quaint wine shoppe in town. I found that all these years that the reason that I didn't care for wine was because I was drinking the wrong one. I hate the dry icky taste left in the mouth from the wines I was drinking and therefore thought that wine wasn't my thing. Well, this weekend I found that there are sweet wines out there that my tongue just loves. I ended up buying six bottles (4 different wines) that I really enjoyed. We deviated from the plan and went to dinner in town and skipped one of the meals offered in our package. The food prepared by the Y was very good but we all wanted a chance to sit and have someone wait on us and choose what we wanted to eat from a menu and take as long as we wanted to finish our meal. I will be getting copies of Bubbles prints and hope to scrapbook this weekend and will post here when that becomes a reality. All in all it was alot of fun and something that we want to do again whether it is back at the YMCA or somewhere else. The next time we need full JUG attendance so plans to organize next year's trip will begin soon so that everyone has a chance to line up baby-sitters and to save their pennies.

This is a shot of the J.U.G.'s up on the balcony area outside of our rooms taken yesterday right before we got ready to leave. The picture quality isn't that great. I am going to try and lighten it up and re-post. From left to right, Bobbi, Cindy, Bubbles, Patti, Mary Anne and Rhonda.

Here is Milton the Moose who hung above the fireplace where we had cocktails on Friday and Saturday nights and deep conversations.

Here is the view from our (Bubbles, Rhonda and myself)bedroom window

Bobbi, Patti and Mary Anne in the foreground.
Rhonda, Cindy and Bubbles in the background.
We took a Sunday morning hike before we went to brunch at 10:30.

Another shot of the hikers

Here is just a shot of the path that we walked. Look at the beauty of the trees.

The hikers.

Valentines XVI, XVII & XVIII

Here are three of the same basic design. The cardstock is Stampin UP very vanilla. I used the SU double sided designer paper and just reversed the combo. On one I just punched the corner with the SU ticket corner punch. The stamped image is from the $1.00 bin at Michael's and was stamped using SU Real Red.

Made It To Work

Well I made it to work in just about my average time, it took 40 minutes.
I got stuck in the alley when I left for about 5 minutes.
Seems that my car (Pontiac Sunfire) with the front wheel drive got better traction going in reverse then it did going forward through the deep snow. So I backed up out of the alley to the street and then proceeded forward. Once I was on the secondary streets it was smooth sailing. The parking lot here at work has not been plowed yet so it was a bit iffy and hopefully I will not have a problem getting out to go on my weekend later this afternoon.

Here are two more valentines, I think they are XIV and XV, not real good with the Roman numerals. The birthday card is going out to my nephew, it is belated so hopefully he will forgive me.

Everyone stay warm and dry this weekend and if you are in a snowy climate be careful. Those of you in warm climates, we can make snowmen and you can't, na, na.

Snow!

It is snowing like crazy here in Chicago, so I thought that I would post a picture from my CA trip in December. Nothing like a beautiful bird of paradise flower to cheer up a snowy Friday. I am working from home and listening to The Beach Boys. I will need to get to the office today to wrap up some things before I head up north to WI for the weekend. Seven of the twelve J.U.G.'s are doing a "women's wellness weekend". I have to get up to Cary to meet up with Patti and the two of us will be making the rest of the trip together. I have both my digital and regular cameras with me so I will hopefully have some pics of very relaxed women next week. On my agenda is a card making class, wine tasting (I'll probably get drunk since I really don't drink), yoga and cross country skiing. I have brought some crocheting in case I decide to just be a slug and sit in front of the fire. Either way I'm sure it will be FUN!!!

I will post some cards when I get to the office.

Valentine XIII

This was made with SU cardstock, KI Memories patterned paper. The phrase is also KI cut out of a sheet of 12x12 patterned paper. The brads are Making Memories.

Valentine XII

This card used SU cardstock and the patterned paper is KI Memories.

Valentines X & XI

Cardstock from SU and patterned paper from the Target $ spot.


Cardstock from SU and patterned paper from the Target $ spot.