MIA and Motivation Monday

Okay, so I feel as though I owe everyone a bit of an apology. I have been getting used to this whole working outside of the home and still functioning and getting everything done. PS I'm loving my job sooo much! However, this past weekend I created a plan! I am the queen of plans! Follow through is the tricky part right? Yes, indeed. So, here's the deal. I plan on from now on changing things a bit to make things work with more ease for me. Wednesdays will now be the night for tutorials. Thursdays were my day of choice for this, however with football season going on.. ya.. um.. it's being changed! LOL I do regret to say that I have been crafting!! Well ok I dont regret to say it however, I made about 10 cards last week.. which was a task in and of itself as I haven't made cards in... hmm.. well in longer than I can recall. I mean I'm the person who will buy her friends cards.. lol. However, with the new job after the ladies in the front office saw my crafty skill I got nominated to make cards.. and I sorta voluntered! None the less, I made them and completely brain farted takign a picture to share. Good news is each week of the month I'll have cards to make. Sooooo, those of you who love cards... you shall begint o see some showcases once a week.

So, lets move on to some motivation shall we... All images are thanks to Pinterest.com and you can follow any and all of my boards by clicking here http://pinterest.com/craftdonkey/  Everyone knows my love for pictures and colors in general. So, today I'm bringing some amazing pictures. For the original origin of these images, check out my pinterest board titled "Motivation". These are mostly places and scenes, however there's also some color combos and flowers!

This & That

Sharing first a 15 minute layout. My point in showing you these is to show you a simple yet fun streamlined page. Nothing fancy yet still wonderful! Little clusters of embellishments and a bit of crackle and some simple stitching! Done!

Also, thought I would share a storage technique with everyone. I've shared this a few times with other crafty friends. I know many who love to store their thin dies in binders, but are often stuck with the hard fact of paying for expensive sleeves for the dies. I've created an easy solution for this. Created from simple 12x12 clear layout sleeves. All you need is a sewing machine. You can then make any size pockets you need. Here I've made long pockets to hold the long thin alpha or border dies. Just a simple stitch is all you need! You can even make pockets on top of one another with the simple cut across with a pair of scissors.

Motivation Monday

Hello this fine Monday. It's a fine Monday because of course I am not at work!!! Hee hee.

For today's motivation I thought we'd fall into the wonderful Helmar Sketch of the Month. I just adore these! I'm not a huge on on using sketches however, I have been loving Helmar's sketches! So, here's is this months sketch! Check it out here and then the link below the picture for more details on it!

http://helmarusa.typepad.com/blog/2011/09/stick-with-helmar-in-september-september-challenge.html

Tutorial Thursday

Here is Thursday's tutorial. I made a very nifty book. Had fun talking to the ladies that joined me tonight!

I'll post pictures of the completed album this weekend.... as well there's still a few touches to be added to it. Loved just pecking away at this one! Was ubber fun to get down and messy and then afterwards I shared a few projects I have been working on!

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17013898

Here is the video! Have fun ladies!

This & That

So, I finally got up a bit of a gallery! YAY!!!  It's not done by far but, its on its way. So, to check out things that have been showcased thus far on this blog check out the tab under the title of the blog titled "Gallery" I'll be adding to it regularly. Newer pictures will be towards the bottom.

I've been working on a few things that I am very excited to share with you all! I have an album dedicated to my daughter and everything I always want her to be. I also have a Halloween house to share. Both will be showcased this week.

To come on thur night: I will be live on Ustream at 8pm CST. I will be putting together a vintage ephemera album!!! I've seen many tutorials on this and over the last week spoken to quite a few crafty gals who have shared with me that their a bit intimidated to go ahead and dive into a project like this. I'm going to show you all how it can me done.. and not only done well but done on a whim and within an hour!!! It'll be a great tutorial. I'll show you how to use what you have on hand! 

If you are unfamiliar with ephemera albums thing about those albums that look like their a hodge podge of different items... odds and ends... all put into one book to create an album. I'll be showing you all some nifty things to make to go in them.  Misc papers, envelopes, embellishments etc.  If you do not think you have anything, you can look at yesterdays post for some great printable look alike ephemera. Printed on cardstock it'll work just as a great start!

So, that's what I have to come for the rest of the week. Ubber excited to share soo much with you all this week.