Hello from my NEW craft space!

You may or may not have noticed, but my blog has been pretty quiet the last several months. To give you the short version of what life has been like we sold our house on December 20th, because moving 5 days before Christmas is a FANTASTIC idea. Hopefully you caught my sarcasm there. Unfortunately we hadn't found a new place so we ended up renting a house from some friends that had recently moved and just taken their house off the market to wait for spring to roll around. We lucked out there! We eventually got settled in there, my inlaws moved up from California and in with us and as soon as we got nice and cozy, all the while looking for a new house, our friends got an offer on their house completely out of the blue. Fortunately, the day we were supposed to move out and in to an apartment, we had an accepted offer on a house. We ended up moving in with friends for the two week overlap between houses and FINALLY we were able to move one more time in to a house we hopefully will not be moving out of for many many years. It was a crazy few months, constantly packing and unpacking all the while trying to keep up on other obligations. But it's done. Thank God! And I quite love our new house and all the plans we have for it as well!

So...on to the point of this post. I have a new craft space! You may have seen my previous room. If not, then I'll remind you! I had taken advantage of an alcove and utilized as much wall space as possible.




This time around I wanted something that would be easy to move around as my craft space is not in it's permanent location in the house. So now when I am ready to move it to another room I can do so rather easily and not leave 50 holes in the wall!

While my desktop is not as long as what I had before, I'm finding my space to be extremely functional and everything is still within easy reach. I think one of my favorite things may be my Tonic Guillotine hanging up on the side of one of my bookcases thanks to 3M picture hanging strips.

I do plan on painting the walls, but it's low on my to do list right now. In the meantime I am enjoying the natural light and finding time to create!

{crafty} Printables & Etsy

When I started my Etsy shop it was with one main purpose in mind, to share my love of everything paper in the form of inspirational words and quotes. Sometimes I do veer off to do something fun or whimsical, because let's face it, it's fun! 

I have some new altered frames and other projects in the works but lately my shop has taken quite a turn from paper based items to vinyl decals and signs. I have learned a lot along the way, like the fact that my love for fonts may soon overtake my paper hoarding problem, but I am learning more every day. I have been thinking about going back to school for the last few years and I suddenly (like just now as I started typing) decided I want to go back for Graphic Design. I have always been crazy undecided when it comes to schooling. I went to school for Psychology then jumped to Graphic Design (weird huh!?) and eventually Interior Design and all of that was many years ago. In the meantime I am going to play and teach myself what I can. After creating vinyl designs I recently started leaning towards print designs as well because I love the versatility of making quick color and size changes. Here are a few designs I have made recently. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you may have seen this first one, for a limited time I am making this available as a free download! I just ask that you please give credit where it's due if used in a project. 

I admit, while I do like this one I do plan on revisiting it. I like the way this font played well with these words, I'm not sure it was the right choice.

 I also recently used this design in another color scheme as a bold title for a layout using Crate Paper's Acorn Avenue (photo removed for publication)

{crafty} SMB HoliDAYS

I'm up on the Social Media Butterflies blog today with an Advent Calendar! Be sure to check it out, along with all the other HoliDAY projects this month!

{crafty} Holiday SMBiGBlogHop

Welcome back! We are so happy to have you back for the November edition of our Social [Media] Butterflies blog hop! This month we are spreading Christmas Cheer with a Holiday Hop. In the weeks to follow check back with us as we each share various Holiday projects from December Daily to Home Decor.

You should have come here from Shay's blog, if not head back to the Social Media Butterflies home base to start from the beginning.

My layout is the start of the Holiday season for me, using pictures of our newly put up decorations in the house. It's definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

SUPPLIES USED:
Mister Huey's Plum Thumb and Gold
Crate Paper Sleigh Ride Washi Stickers
Chic Tags
Background paper from SC Crack the Whip
Echo Park Season's Greetings
Charcoal POW 
Silhouette Cameo
Stamps from Scrapperin


Be sure to hop along for a lot of great layout inspiration!
Suz
Monica
Corinne
Shay 
Amanda 

UP NEXT -->Jenny
Kristin
Ellie
Mary Pat
Trisha

{crafty} Word Art Canvas

Word art seems to be everywhere these days, and I love it! From the simple tone on tone quotes to the distressed reclaimed wood lists, it all makes a statement. I wanted to get in on this word art action but being a scrapbooker at heart I couldn't bare to do it without having fun with some gorgeous paper and embellishments.

 I saw this quote planted over a serene image on Pinterest and it is one I kept coming back to. I knew it would be perfect for canvas. When SCTNow asked me if I would donate a piece for an art auction at one of their events I knew it had to be this quote. And even better when I found Studio Calico, who puts together AMAZING collections of scrapbooking products, I knew exactly what I was going to use to make my idea come to life.



I couldn't be happier with how this turned out! So much so that I was sad to see it leave my house. I couldn't think of a better reason to give it away though. If anybody is in the Portland Oregon area please come out to SCTNow's Freedom Flicks event on June 30th. There will be a documentary on trafficking, food, drinks, panel discussion and a silent art auction.

{crafty} Canvas wall hanging

I have really been enjoying playing with altered items lately. I found that it comes a little easier to me than creating scrapbook layouts and cards. It is a little difficult for me though to create something without having a purpose for it, or knowing who it will be for. I just keep trying to get out of my comfort zone, and luckily, Im always happy with the results.

I made this wall hanging with 3 thin 5x7 canvases and the My Minds Eye Fine & Dandy collection. I started with the "Dream everyday of your life" chipboard piece and continued the theme for there. I wanted it to be an inspiration and hopefully, wherever this item ends up, that is exactly what it will be.

The flowers are simply made, but I love the look. I cut several circles out in different sizes and papers, inked the edges and then roughed them up with a paper distresser. I layered them and finished off with brads and buttons, using ribbon as the stems. Also used on this canvas was glimmer mist, Fiskars scalloped border punch, brown ric-rac and staples. 

While searching through my rub-on stash I found this "Dream and then make it happen" from CTMH. I had them both in white and brown which worked out well to contrast off the chipboard clouds. Also used glimmer mist, Martha Stewart Optic Edge border punch, Crate Paper chipboard, silver pearls, and ball fringe. 

I LOVE ball fringe!

For the last canvas piece I created a banner. I totally cheated and used my Cricut for this. I think it probably would have been faster to just cut them myself, but I'm not the greatest when it comes to keeping a straight line. The letter stickers are from the Pink Paislee "Fetching" collection. Also used on this piece: glimmer mist, Basic Grey "Cupcake" rub-on, Ek Success border punch, and silver pearls.