The Evolution of a Stamp Room - Part 1

Happy Thursday! I can't wait for some nice down time this weekend! Hope everyone is having a good week.

This is a post I've been wanting to write for a week! Ever since my stamping room at this house (finally) came to be, and got unpacked and (mostly) organized, it was beyond time to go "squeeeeeeee" and share it with all of you! All that was holding me back; I've been searching all the digital archives I have here to try to find a couple of TRUE "before" pictures of the overall space so you could really see how far it has come.

Well unfortunately, I can't find any pre-move in, or even just-past-move-in but pre-digging-through-boxes-trying-to-find-a-birthday-card-to-send-or-some-stickers-for-the-kids.  :(  I do have a few in the middle stages, and of course the end, so this has waited long enough, so it's time to just go with what I've got!

Here we have the disaster of half opened boxes, searching for treasures here and there:

What a nightmare!!

So then after some of the other house remodel projects were done, hubs framed out the entertainment/family room (which shares a wall with my new stamping area). Then we had the entire finished portion of the basement exterior spray foam insulated, as well as the rim joists of the WHOLE house. That means we had to move Every.Single.Thing. in the basement away from the wall at least 3 feet....

 

Then we painted the brick that was left unfinished, and hubs did wiring, more wiring, added outlets, lights, drywall, painted, shelving, counters, etc. etc. and we finally got somewhere.

As you can see, it's not quite done in these pictures. The kids' toys were moved into the family room once the carpet was put down, so that's gone. I also unpacked the last of the stamps and boxes. I'm not sure what happened to my final pictures, but if I clean up the papers I dragged out for ACTUAL CARD MAKING the other day, I can take some more where the room is at about 95% complete and organized (rather than the 80%) you see here.  But for tonight, I'm posting. I guess the stamp room evolution discussion will be a 2-part post ;)

Have a great night! Thanks for dropping by!

Get Your KRAFT On!

Hello lovelies! Hello bloglandia, and stampers everywhere! I'm so excited today - this is the FIRST CARD I have created in my SHINY NEW STAMP ROOM!!!! Yessssss!  Thanks to DH for working so hard so I can (finally) get my craft on! :)

And....here it is:

I stayed pretty simple here, although I also colored a few images for later use (tomorrow?? maybe??).  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, all the happy pink tones, layers and sparkle just make me smile.

Supplies:
Sentiment from Paper Pretties - Cursive Greetings I
Flowery Flourish from Prickley Pear
Kraft and Vanilla Cardstocks
Various papers & punches from my stash
Kaisercraft gems
Shimmerz Angel Wings to highlight the flourishes
Regal Rose ink

I would love to enter this card in the following FABULOUS challenges - THANK YOU for getting me inspired to create...instead of reorganizing my new space again. hehe. This was SO much better!! :)

• Wags and Whiskers #148 - Use Kraft
• Fairy Tale Challenge #112 - Use Kraft Paper
• Inspiration Destination #22 - Anything Goes
• Jo's Scrap Shack Fun-Day Friday Challenge #FFC77 - Anything Goes
• Brown Sugar Challenge Blog #135 - Anything Goes
• The Crafter's Cafe Challenge Blog #105 - Lots of Layers
• DigiChooseday #8 - Anything Goes
• Whimsy Stamps #80 - Use a Sentiment
• Cuttin' & Stampin' #8 - Anything Goes
• Sister Act Card Challenge #95 - Anything Goes
• Crafty Catz #268 - Dies and Punches
• Crafting For All Seasons #96 - Dies and Punches
• Crafting From the Heart #48 - Anything Goes
• Scrapper's Delights Challenge Blog #41 - Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes
• Tuesday Throwdown #233 - Anything Goes
• The Pink Elephant #TPE287 - Anything Goes
• Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Well, Happy 2015!

I thought I would try a blog post. YES! I'm still around here and I'm looking forward to getting back into stamping. After so So SO many trials and tribulations over the last couple of years, I am healthy, I have a healthy family, slightly more self-reliant little boys, and...MOST importantly of all...A BRAND NEW SPANKIN' BEAUTIFUL STAMPING ROOM custom built for me, by hubs.  It was just finished a couple of weeks ago and I've been unpacking, organizing, reorganizing, and getting reacquainted with all of my beautiful, wonderful, *amazing* crafting supplies.

Photos coming soon. I know you want to see them! :D

Time to dust things off and have a glitter-baptism of the new space! Right?!

Alive (...But Not Quite Kickin'!)

Hello to my lovelies out there in blogland!  I thought I'd load things up for a fly-by post - assuming anyone is still reading after my many months of being out of commission.  My knee surgery from this spring is still in the rehab phases, baby steps to getting back to "normal" but not there yet.  I am hopeful I can get back to stamping in the near future, it's no longer an issue for me to get downstairs, but the bulk of my time is still spent on exercises and work catch-up.

For all those who still pop by from time to time, I thank you, you know that I luuuuuuuurve you so!  We can look forward to the return of craftiness together!  :)

Paper Pretties and 365 Colors!

TGIF people!  What a week.  We have begun the remodeling of our house after the dust finally settled from the move so today I need to get everything out of the kitchen because tonight the cabinets are coming down.  Wish me luck being without a kitchen for 3 weeks!  So that's the crazy & messy, but what is GOOD about today?  Well, it's time for another fantasmic color challenge from 365 Cards!  

A very soothing color combo for you to play with today!  Here is my creation. 365 Cards is sponsored this week by SK Digis, and she's offering a great prize of digital images from her shop!  Check out the details at 365 Cards!  Unfortunately I had technical difficulties in printing so I wasn't able to use the adorable image I had chosen :(.  Our new printer HATES cardstock, even the thin GP cardstock, and I could NOT get it to feed.  I need to have hubs take a look at it, he has gotten it working for me before.  Our little old cheapie inkjet never had an issue with cardstock, this new fancy one throws a fit every time I try.  Go figure.

So pinch hitting, this cute image is from Paper Pretties. The current PWC (PWC247) is getting PUNCHY.  So bust out those punches and have some fun!  You can check them out at the Paper Pretties Blog.  It's another chance for you to win!

Here is the official color swatch from 365 Cards:

That's it!  I hope I have inspired you on this Friday morning. :) Thanks for stopping by, happy stamping, don't forget to link up!