My VLVS Haul

I don't usually do haul posts. Personally, I think it's bragging, especially for the people who can't afford to shop like others can. If I get something new, I'll let you know when I use it. Hey, it's how I am.

However, I wanted to talk about the shopping experience at Viva Las Vegas Stamps. I love their stamps. I've found some awesome irreverence there, not to mention a full pint of clear embossing powder (no longer available, I don't think, sorry).

The shopping experience needs to be explained for the uninitiated. VLVS has a bazillion stamps in their catalog, maybe two bazillion, and they are listed alphabetically. That's right: alphabetically. So unless you know the name of the stamp you seek, you'll be scrolling for hours. The only advantage of this situation is you see other stamps you didn't know you needed. heh heh

One major change that saved me is their new categories. They at least have Words as a category, so your endless scrolling is only through sentiments, not images.

My screenshot of the last page didn't work out, sadly, but here is one from near the beginning, just to give you an idea:

Please note the number on the left in the handsome red circle. Yep, 4255 images. I was scrolling at 25 per page, people, We're talking hours. However, if you'd like some amazing snark, you just plan an afternoon and do it.

I only got like five (okay, eight) stamps since I already have a ton of them. I think my favorite find many years ago was a sentiment that says: "Sometimes I wish I were a monkey so I could throw poop at people and it would be legal." That one went right into my basket, and I wondered out loud if they had an image of a monkey. They do.

Oh, what the heck, time for a card:

I have had these VLVS stamps for many, many years. I struggled with how to use them on a card, when one of my SU customers (Hi, BettyT!) suggested I make a beautiful card so people wouldn't expect snark, then BAM! And you know, it worked. At one of my farmers markets, a customer said, "Oh, what a pretty card!". Then she read it and said "Oh." She put it right back. HA! It was always a big seller, though.

What did I get this time? These:

I get them cling-mounted (you have options), so I need to make an index so know what I have. I stuck all of them to a large acrylic block and stamped them. Sorry about the photo quality, but I think you can read them. You'll see these soon, I'm sure.

So if you have a LOT of patience, dedicate an afternoon to scroll through their store. I will say the categories help, and the search function works really well. Both the sentiment and monkey image came up when I searched for "monkey". Just beware the "Naughty" category. Some are X-rated, and you have to click through the warning to see the image. No, I didn't.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: Here's the sentiment, and here's the monkey stamp.

Are We In Danger?

The other day, when I walked into my craft room, I found this on the floor:

It's a jar/bottle of Ferro that has obviously moved from it's home on my shelf. It doesn't look like it has legs, so I say the darned thing exploded and landed here. The contents is ... clumpy:

(sorry, out of focus)

I don't think this can be saved.

Here is where its former home was:

You can see the dried goop at the top of the shelf. I'm fairly certain this bottle exploded. Oh, and the lid was found across the room.

So, are we crafters in mortal danger? Do these things expire? Are they fermenting? Can we drink them if they are?

Granted, I don't use my Ferro much, so if you're supposed to air them out now and then so pressure doesn't build up inside, then it's my own fault.

But now I imagine sitting at my craft table, minding my own business, whining about how my card isn't turning out like I thought it would, and then BAM, I'm beaned in the head with exploding, flying craft supplies. Not a pleasant thought. This hobby is messy, but not normally hazardous to your health.

I think I'll go check the other bottles and make sure they aren't about to become projectiles.

Y'all be careful out there, and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I don't usually share a lot of personal stuff on my blog, but I thought this topic was worthy. I lost my Dad earlier this year. Well, as a cousin so aptly pointed out, we lost our parents years ago, and we've been mourning them. My Dad was still here, but he wasn't my Dad, you know? Don't get me wrong! I loved every minute I got to spend with him these past few years, but the Dad I knew had been gone for a long time. Every once in a while a glimmer would come though in a stray snarky comment, and I truly treasure those memories.

My parents were children of the Depression, and they were excellent savers and re-users. They weren't great splurgers, but when they did something, they did it right. My parents both had a love of good single-malt scotch. They got the good stuff, and they savored it. Not big drinkers, but man, they sipped a good scotch now and then.

In the Jewish tradition, one remembers a deceased family member by lighting a Yartzeit memorial candle on the anniversary of their death, or on Yom Kippur. It's tradition. We always had candles burning on Yom Kippur when we were kids. But I'm a rebel. (No big surprise there.) I think you should remember the good stuff, not the sad stuff, so here's my new plan:

On my Dad's birthday, I will drink a good scotch and toast him. So I went to the liquor store and bought "the good stuff":

I know everyone's definition of "the good stuff" is different. When I walked in, the guy asked "Do you want $1000 good?" Um, no. I settled for 18 year-old Glenfiddich.

In crafty terms, this is a SABLE item: Supplies Available Beyond Life Expectancy. I might need to add this to my will so my kids can carry on the tradition.

And yes, I made a card:

I felt it could be simple. I also felt a burning need to print out a photograph, fussy-cut it, and put it on a card.

About the color and amount of scotch in the glass. First, I had to create a smaller glass (had to), since the only glass I had was too tall. Here's how I over-stamped it and made the smaller glass:

and I just cut out the smaller part of it. As for color and amount of scotch, when I was in Scotland, I had the pleasure of touring a small, still-family-owned distillery, and after the tour, we each got a dram of scotch in a glass. There were also pitchers of water on the table. The woman in charge said, "Please do not insult us and fill your glass with water." Who were we to argue?!?! So what if it was 9:30 am and we were drinking straight single-malt scotch, right? We didn't insult her!

So tonight I plan to have a small toast to my Dad, and remember all the fun things we did and great moments we had. Thanks Dad, and Happy Birthday! *cheers*

Stuff I used: Kelly Purkey/SSS Happy Birthday stamp set, and the following:

InLinkz.com

So, I Went To A Crop

A friend held a fundraiser all-day crop yesterday, and a bunch of us attended. Even as I packed the car I still wasn't even sure what I'd be working on all day, but I had a skeleton plan. I brought my Brothers labeler, some card stock variety packs, a box of tiny stamps that needed to be re-packaged and filed, ink and swatches to maybe stamp ... stuff that needed to be organized.

I also had my trusty collection of mini Distress inks, some water color paper, and the contents of my craft desk top, including trimmer, tools, etc. Oh, and black inks and acrylic blocks. And my MISTI, of course.

So, 10 hours to play, and not a lot of planning. Funny, but a lot of us did the same thing ... some people brought their Copics to update their color charts. But crafters being crafters, we also all brought enough "other things" that between the 10 of us, we managed to have enough stuff to actually make things, which is always nice when you have 10 hours to fill. I kinda love that about us.

After I'd labeled all my card stock and tiny stamp sets, I stared at my Tim Holtz Bird Crazy birds set that I'd brought for someone else to play with, and then realized I'd only brought water color paper, no plain white card stock. #FAIL  Hahahaha, but it all worked out, because I used my MISTI with the water color paper to stamp the birds, water color them, then stamp them again after coloring. I love how that crisps up the image.

Here's one of the bird cards I made:

These guys are so fun to play with, but they do seem to need just the right sentiment to go with those expressions. I had to dig through my mini sets and borrowed sets for sentiments at the crop. Next time I might bring a box of irreverent sentiments. They may need to be a traveling staple.

Here are two more bird cards I made:

Fortunately, while I forgot white card stock, other people forgot enough other things that the barter system was well in place, and I received white card stock in exchange for inks and other supplies.

The fun thing about borrowing from others is you tend to use things you wouldn't normally use, like flowers. Yes, I made a flower card. Soooo not me, but I played with Copics and coloring and I like how it turned out.

and some detail with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents in the flower centers (because I could):

Naturally, we had other things to focus on during the crop. It was to benefit a local High School band, and there were a ton of very generous sponsors. Lots of gift baskets for raffle, mostly of the crafty type. We bought up raffle tickets for the cause, then stuffed our favorite bags with our winning tickets. We kept close watch on each other, and re-stuffed the bags when someone else was spied stealing our personal thunder.

And food. It's all about the food, right? Our lovely hostess provided a home-made lasagna dinner, compliments of her mom, for a small donation to the band. It was soooooo good.

Then, the raffles. We hooted, we hollered, and some of us even won! Oh, and those baskets with 46567645 tickets in them? One of our friends won THREE of those baskets, and she only had one ticket in each basket. We cried FOUL!  And she wasn't even there, which made it even more stunning for us. We contemplated booby-trapping her winnings, but in the end we just issued a plea for sharing of duplicates if she has any. We're nice like that.

In the end, it was a very good day. I love spending time with my fellow crafty peeps. We get each other. It's very reassuring, and always good for the soul.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stuff I used: various colored card stock from my stash, various sentiments, and the following:

InLinkz.com

Something Crooked This Way Comes

You may have noticed I've changed my blog header. I've been working with Miss Lauren, who has mad digital skills, and we've come up with what you see up there.  There may be a little tweaking for size, but it's the final version.

I also have something else in the works, and once I get my act together, you'll get to see that, too. Hopefully in the next week or so, but I may wait until Feb 1st.

Any guesses? :D

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stamp something.

Thanks for stopping by!

WOYWW Jan 7, 2015

Today I decided to play in this week's WOYWW link-up, where we shamelessly share the current condition of our work desks and show our fellow crafters our work-in-progress.

Here's my desk as of a few moments ago:

I won't do the numbers today, just words.  Front and center is my current project: my attempt to use a floral builder set. I've stamped, I've layered colors, and I eventually die-cut all of it. I'm not feeling the love. It may never happen.

Other items of interest ... Top left corner of the desk is my pile of challenges I'm currently hoping to do. The center blockage is the top of my desk lamp, with pieces of clothing tags washi-taped to it. I use those to keep my Glossy Accents from clogging, and it mostly works. I so rarely shop for clothing, I need to save the tags I do have so I can find them when I need them.

Top right of the desk is my usual collection of must-have tools. This stuff goes with me when I take my desk on the road.

Bottom right is a growing pile of OH, RATS things that didn't work, but that don't actually qualify as UFOs (Un-Finished Objects). I need to work on that pile.

Also today, I'm sharing my current ghetto photo studio set-up. I have a photo tent, but I can't seem to get the light right, so I use this instead:

This is a small drop-leaf table in my kitchen that I put into the corner. I have two floor lamps* I aim at the back, where I have a few different papers I use as back-drops. At the front edge of the table are three background stamps I use to support my camera. My hands are too shaky to do this any other way.  (Thanks to Laura Bassen for showing us her photo set-up!)

Just to the right of this table is a french door with lots of light on a sunny day. And that stool in front? I sit on it to take the photos. I'm too old to just bend over and expect to stand up ever again.

That's it for the sharing. Thanks for stopping by!

* Why yes, there is still plastic on those floor lamps. I've had them for years, and just couldn't be bothered to take it off. It's nowhere near the bulb, so there's no risk of fire. I'm good.

WOYWW - Dec 17, 2014

In my world, it's all about baby steps. I've lived here just over a year, now, and I find I only unpack a box when I'm looking for something. Well, yesterday I was looking for my S-hooks because I wanted to finally hang up some of my IKEA Bygel storage (photos in a sec), and they were nowhere to be found.

I started in the craft room annex, also known as the third bedroom. I unpacked three large moving boxes of "stuff", some of which is now trash, some will make it to the craft room closet, some will be given away (I think I have every color curling ribbon ever made), and some landed here:

It's time to play What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday! 

Yep, this is my desk right now. It holds things I've found in various boxes and bags, and also some new things like the pretty flowers and ribbon on the right that were a gift, and a stamp I haven't used yet (that miraculously didn't get covered up).  All that stuff is either from a box I unpacked in the annex, or from a bag I cleared out from the corner behind my desk (pic in a sec), or from kits I received last year that I have no idea what to do with since I don't scrapbook. They all eventually need homes, but for now they are here. I can't make another card until I address this ... stuff.

In all fairness, I have a huge empty space in the annex that used to hold the three packing boxes. I also have this:

I finally hung up two of my IKEA Bygel rails (you can find them in the kitchen section). See my Copics on the right? My refills used to sit on top of the cubbies, but I got a few more and ran out of space, so I grabbed the basket you see on the top rail, put all the refills in the center, and put in some button storage boxes to hold them in place. This freed up the top of my cubbies for a tin bucket of miscellaneous bling, and my box of Gelatos.

Here's the top basket up close and personal:

The bottom basket holds all my bling:

In a rare moment, I bought this container because it was pretty, without a thought to what I'd use it for. I had three small baskets of bling, one each for rhinestones, pearls, and enamel dots. Now they all live happily together in here.

This is also the basket for which I needed the S-hooks. Sadly, after I'd emptied the three huge moving boxes, I still hadn't found the hooks.

Then I moved on to the craft room to look for the hooks. One of the things on my list of self-assigned tasks was clearing out the s-crap that was piled up in boxes and bags that filled the space behind where I stand at my desk, and continued all the way to the open closet doors, and behind the doors. I could barely move in there, and I couldn't get to the closet for all the s-crap piled in the way. Some of the stuff now on my desk was in that heap, and now that space looks like this:

I see floor! And the doors actually close! Wheeee!  Standing next to the cabinet are a few SU grid pads I re-discovered, a few stamping pads, and my large MS score board. Also my cache of wet wipes and a few book ends that will make their way to the bookcases in the annex. Once I relocate that black bag (it holds a bunch of Hero Arts card bases), all the standing stuff will live under the cabinet and it will look much neater. I probably won't be able to handle it.

Bobra couldn't figure out what happened to his exploring area. He does not like closed doors. See:

He opened that.

One other thing I did in the craft room was bring in my two wooden CD storage boxes, that now live here:

You can see the closet on the left and my standing desk on the right. Now that the closet doors close, I had room for the wooden boxes on top of my cabinet. I used these boxes in my old place to hold my black inks, my most-used acrylic blocks, etc. I see no reason why they can't be used that way again.

On top of the boxes is an altered letter E. I also have an M and an H (MEH), and these will eventually be hung on one of the walls as ART! I have several other pieces of "other people's" art that will also make it to the walls one day.

Oh, about those S-hooks? The next thing on my list to organize is a stack of boxes under my wooden library card catalog. I looked into one of them and found the S-hooks. I hung up my green basket and called it a day.

Up next: the desk.

Baby steps, people, baby steps.