A Card, A Mess, and Another Card

Tonight something terrible happened. The Captain's Table reached critical mass. It actually happened two nights ago, but I am just now able to speak of it. Last night on the way home from work, I stopped at Target to get (1) a lamp to replace the one on my headboard that has died, and (2) baskets or SOMEthing to help me organize the crap crafty parts on The Captain's Table.

You crafty types may not be too alarmed by the reveal I will do in a moment, but for any non-crafty types out there: this is our world. It is not pretty, but boy is it FUN! Well, until it reaches critical mass, or someone loses an eye.

But before we get to that, let me show you card #4 of 4 for this weekend's Stamp Camps:

It's from an SU kit. IT IS! I decided I'd use a kit card and show The Ladies how stinkin' EASY this is. The card comes with that border and swirly bit already on it. All you do is add the flowers and a sentiment. The flowers are included, the sentiment is not, but there is a two-stamp sentiment set right next to the card kit in the catalog, so you just get both and you are home free. The kit comes with 8 cards and envelopes, and 24 of those ribbon flowers.

The colors are Baja Breeze and Old Olive, so if you want to further embellish the card it's easy to do with all the SU matchy-matchy items. I chose to just leave it as is, and I stamped the sentiment in Soft Suede. Why Soft Suede? Because Old Olive didn't work too well. Look:

If you want your sentiment to blend in with the swirly thing, go right ahead - Old Olive is perfect. I wanted it to stand out a little more, so I went with Soft Suede. (Did you notice how I took that boo-boo card and used it as a lesson of what NOT to do?)

Okay, are you ready for The Captain's Table reveal? Here we go!

Before:

Yes, things were actually hanging over the edge. This was really bad.

On the right:

This is a heap of a mix of sketch printouts, UFOs, and left-over DSP and card stock. There used to be a heap of ribbon behind it, but I took care of that last night.

Center back:

This is a gold mine of everything I need and use all the time, plus a lot of stuff I don't. It's just a really convenient spot to toss things. Or pile things up, in this case.

Center front:

We saw this the other night. Still not sticky, but yeah, it's time.

Left side:

A stack of clear stamps in various stages of use. And my corner rounder (see - still out).

Left back:

This is my box of still-homeless supplies. I still have no idea what to do with them. One day this box will get its own blog post. You can also see a box of tape and my heat gun.

Then it happened. I cleaned. Here is my After:

Not too dramatic, but boy, what a difference! Let's take a closer look.

Right side:

From back to front:

That 3-drawer thing is what I picked up at the store last night. The bottom drawer holds the scrap ribbon pile. The middle drawer holds true UFOs - die-cut pieces that didn't make it to a card, layered pieces that didn't make it to a card, etc. The top drawer holds some stray buttons, a few rub-ons left over from a BG kit, etc.

And yes, that is a stack of papers on top of the new 3-drawer thing. It's all that remains of the heap of papers and I do plan to use them first. No. matter. what.

In front of the drawer thing are two piles. Small piles. On the right are 1/4 pieces of card stock, mostly neutrals. On the left are true projects-in-progress and a few card fronts that could maybe be salvaged and made into full cards.

In front-front is a pile of 1/2 pieces of card stock, mostly white pre-scored pieces. I have them within reach now.

Center:

From right to left:

Standing up next to the drawer unit are the notes I include with my Etsy orders, a color wheel, a card from Libby, and the technique book I made in a Claudine Hellmuth class.

To the left of my tape dispenser are a few stamps I have out that I haven't used yet and I WANT to use them before I put them away.

My black and brown Memento inks are front and center where they belong, along with my black and brown Memento markers and my white gel pen.

The left side:

Not too much difference here, but it IS better. I turned that mystery box sideways so there's more room for the heat gun. And yes, that corner rounder is still out.

I was SO excited by this cleaning accomplishment that I had to stamp. This is Tiff's Sunday Sketch #6:

She says to be inspired by the sketch, and we can change it up if we want to. This is a good thing since all I remembered was the swirly part and not the sentiment placement part. I might just have to make another one later, but for now, this is my take on her sketch:

See? I thought I'd do the swirl and make it grass. I stamped every stinking one of those trees crooked, too. And I stamped the fawn over the grass so he has no feet. I could say he is floating in a cloud, or I could fix that, or I could start over again.

Anyway, that was my evening, and I think I might need to go to bed now. All that cleaning. Sigh.

For my next trick, I might {gasp} clean the cutting stations - paper cutter, Big Shot, Scor-Pal, etc. Well, I might.

Thanks for stopping by!