Category: MCE - Page 23 - My Creative Escape

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I’m back from Iowa. It was a FABULOUS trip. I need to pull my photos off my camera card and share some of the fun! I got to meet Jeanne Tomshack on the way home because we decided to come back through Colorado instead of Wyoming. It was AWESOME! I’ve got a busy few days, but I will be back crafting and sharing asap. 🙂 I’ve had a few requests to show how I made the flowers for my luminary and recent card posts, so I will be doing that very soon. I worked a super long day yesterday and am going back in to finish up month’s end accounting and get the rest of the monthly invoicing done. Argh! (It’s only money, right? Nevermind that I have things I’d rather do besides work! hehehe!) Our veggies that we started from seed in the house are not as big as we’d like them to be for putting out in our garden, so today I’m off in search of larger tomatoes and bell peppers, maybe some cucumbers. I will share photos of the garden, too. We’re trying some new stuff this year, onions and garlic! I will also be picking up some annual flowers to plant in the tree rings in the front yard and fill in some places in the back yard. My patio pots are loooking AMAZING! I planted them before I left… no flowers on them, just beautiful healthy green plants and now they are blooming like mad! Anyway… I’ve got to go get ready to go pick up my friend, Trish, and head out for the afternoon. I’ve got a TFT to share and it’s coming up right after this post! Inky Smiles! Erin

Watercolor Irises

I needed a simple and quick card to send to my friend, Kathi, with a packet of goodies for a challenge that we’re going to be doing here on the blog in June. I’m not good at keeping “ready made – ready to go” cards on hand… I should really get better at it. {I think I do mo bettah at actually creating if I HAVE to create something… still working on Jeanne’s advice to “create just to create”} So anyway… needed a quickie card to send with the goodies and sat down to play. I have a little envelope of pre stamped images that I received from the swap I did ages ago with Wendy Tunison. This little stamped gem has stood out since I got the bunch of images back… I LOVE the image, nice rich, black lines, AND it was stamped on this really amazing textured paper. It feels like the portrait paper you have professional pictures printed on… kind of like a canvas…. kind of like watercolor paper. {You can kinda see it in the second photo if you click and squint.. lol!} I colored the image with some water color pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits and blending stumps. I love the simple richness of it. Hope you have a MARVELOUS Memorial Day Weekend. We’ll be “on the road again” driving back to Utah… See ya again soon! Inky Smiles! Supplies: DCWV Luxury CS Archivers CS Misc Stamped Image Misc Grosgrain ribbon Misc Watercolor Pencils (SU &/or CTMH – they live in the same bucket) Odorless Mineral Spirits (raided B’s shop again) We R Memory Keepers Brads We R Cropodile

Enjoy

{scheduled post} {did i tell u that i heart windows live writer?} {WLW ROCKS} So while I was cleaning up my studio before the Iowa trip {and waiting for Brent to get off work so we could finally LEAVE}, I decided not to save my scraps and odds & ends. {More items to find homes for…. ugh!} I had this cool “Enjoy” stamp from Heidi Grace that I picked up in the Hot Spot bin area at Archivers about a hundred years ago and still hadn’t used. It was calling, nay, screaming my name from my “odd stamps bin” in the bookshelf… “ERIN, USE ME, INK ME, MAKE ME YOURS” What can I say? I succumbed to stamp pressure. The result was a fun little card that I made for a friend who just had a birthday {yes, it’s belated} and also had an offer accepted for their first house! I am soooo stoked for Amaryllis and her family! They’ve been kicking butt on getting things in order and saving for their house for the last year or so. CONGRATULATIONS A!!!! …and ENJOY!!!! Inky Smiles! Supplies: Archivers cardstock Gina K LUXURY white CS CTMH Chocolate CS Heidi Swapp stamp CTMH Blush ink Glue pen Doodlebug Glitter Martha Stewart Lattice border punch Cuttlebug embossing folder (grass of some sort… lol!)

Delight

{scheduled post} {i heart windows live writer} {amen & hallelujah} Here’s a fun little card that I made with a leftover flower and extra piece of scalloped mat paper for a friend. I ‘ve decided that I have to just sit down and create… my friend, Jeanne, told me that not every piece needs to be a “masterpiece”… “JUST CREATE!!!” LOL! And you know what, she’s right…. sometimes we just gotta sit down and create for the sake of creating. So here’s one for you Jeanne!! I just CREATED. So there, HA! :PPPPththt~~~ Supplies: Nestabilities classic oval & scalloped oval White gel pen Archiver’s CS (love the free cs coupons) Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper pack Papertrey Ink ribbon Martha Stewart border punch Gina K Designs LUXURY cardstock… lol (it really is awesome) CTMH Delight in Everything stamp set StazOn Timber Brown ink (and I need the refill soooo bad) Score Pal So many tools, such a tiny card. Yikes! Hope you’re having a DELIGHTful week! Inky Smiles!!

Brilliante!!

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Hey, so I scheduled this post before I left… let’s hope the other two actually work, too! LOL! A while back, Tresa Black gave me an award for my blog…. and I failed to follow through on passing it along… so I think now’s a perfect time, eh? So without further adieu…. I nominate the following folks… for various reasons…. because they are BRILLIANTE in my books! Stop by their blogs, check out their brilliant works of art and give them a shout! Kathi Carlson Barbara W. Michelle Durheim Karyn Campbell Stacey Flores Sparkle Smith Rachelle Funk Stacey aka “Stace” The official rules are to tag 7 people and then they tag 7 people. Some folks don’t like to play the tagging game, but I think it’s fun sometimes… so if you’d like to play along, go ahead and nominate more ppl on your blogs! Have a happy day! Inky Smiles! Erin

On The Road Again….

…….I just can’t wait to get on the road again….. da da da daaaa daaa… something, something… I can’t remember the words, but I just can’t wait to get on the road again……. I’m checking out for about a week. (In order to be fair, I must admit that I am 99.9 100% sure that the sign has been poorly altered. See the seam? LOL!!) We’re headed to Iowa today to visit my parents, sibs, nieces, and nephews… Yah, I’m the “lone wolf”, the “black sheep” who moved to Utah for school, and STAYED here. I love Iowa… it’s choc full of cornfields, rivers, and open spaces…. as far as the eye can see. That’s the problem… as far as the eye can see. Is there something that is opposite of claustrophobic? If so, that applies to me and Iowa. There is no end to what you see… it just goes on and on and on… (which might be ok for some folks, but I like my mountains…) The other problem is the summer humidity. Too bad I can’t show you a photo of that. If you’ve never experienced that kind of humidity… imagine a steam sauna and no breeze…. and then add the ‘squitos… ick. In the thick of it all you may as well not bother drying off after a shower, just pull your clean clothes on and head out. And hair? HA! I do enjoy going to Iowa to visit my folks… but I like to do it in May/early June and in the fall. Iowa is absolutely gorgeous… (Don’t get me wrong, I love Iowa, too, I just don’t think I could live there full time…. :P) There’s all kinds of neat places to go see & do: The Living History Farms, The Iowa State Fair (awesome!!), JOhn Wayne’s Birthplace, The Bridges of Madison County (ok, kinda boring), LOADS of lakes, The Amana Colonies… all sorts of neat things… and then there’s the shopping. My ‘rents live smack in the middle several cities meeting each other… and literally across the street from GOBS OF SHOPPING. And then there’s that way stinkin’ delicious CORN.. Nothing beats good Iowa sweet corn! And they have a beautiful State Capitol building. But then there’s Utah. I love Utah. I love the mountains, the lakes, the forests, the deserts. We live smack in the middle of a mountain desert area. I can drive 5 hours to Las Vegas (for the shows and rides), 6 hours to Yellowstone, 2 hours to Zion National Park, 4 hours to Arches National Park, 6 hours to the Grand Canyon, 8 hours to Denver, 8 hours to California (10 to Disneyland), etc, etc, etc. And if I could ski…… 40 minutes away from world class ski resorts….. we have the BEST SNOW ON EARTH. I literally live at the base of the mountains. The views here are amazing. The mountains behind my home and to the south of us are incredible. We can drive 5 minutes to the mouth of the canyon for a gorgeous mountain canyon drive (Payson Canyon, Nebo Loop)…. Gotta stop at the Daley Freez first to pick up the world’s best Lime Freezes….. Mmmmm. I will spare you winter photos… I’m finally warming up and I am so stoked for summer! So enjoy your week/weekend. I might pop online with a couple of photos of having fun with family…. I’m praying for decent weather…. you know, no tornados or other maladies…. lol! (Not quite tornado season, but you never know… ) Inky Smiles! Erin (edited): PS.. I am not from IA… grew up an Army Brat… Dad retired from El Paso, TX and IA was just where he was when he retired from his last civilian job. Also, non of the pics were taken by me. I snagged them from the web (google images) this am when posting. PPS… We have a beautiful (and newly remodeled & nestled up high on a mountain side) state capitol, too!

What’s This – A Bouquet of Flowers!

I joined Curves almost a month ago. I finally decided that I needed to something about all this extra hamburger I’ve been packing around for years. PCOS and all the many years of infertility drugs have done a number on me… UGH! Went by Curves to “check it out”…. did you know they make you stand on a SCALE and MEASURE you during an assessment before you even sign up??? MY LANDS! The nice little old lady had me kick off my shoes and stand on the scale…. which was followed by a string of obscenities a few naughty undermybreath words and a swift kick to the scale after which I departed the scale, put my shoes back on and handed over my money. So anyway…. the first day was pure hell. I worked a little too hard and my fibromyalgia flare up points (my forearms) went BERZERK and I laid in bed in pain all night hugging a hot rice bag. The next day I got up and hauled my aching carcass back to Curves and worked out again. So much better the 2nd day and so far, so good. I feel great, haven’t lost any pounds yet, but my shirts are feeling a little looser and my body feels stronger. (Now to work on strengthening my lower back for walking endurance and less pain.) So what does this have to do with the pretty little teaser I showed you earlier? Well, I will tell you…. Curves is big on “causes”… especially cancer. The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life is coming up in June and you can buy a plain little white sack for $5, decorate it, then hang it on their wall until the Relay For Life. During the RFL, they fill the sacks with sand and a little candle, then line them up along the course and light the candles. I have many relatives who have had cancer… but I thought I’d honor my paternal grandmother this time and make a luminary for her. Here’s what I came up with. It was so much fun to dream up and make!! I quilled the butterfly out of hand cut cardstock. The flowers are made using BG Urban Prairie paper and CTMH Rustic Flowers Stamp Set and heat embossed & popped up with foam squares.. I hand cut each one and curled the edges. The leaves are hand cut and inked. It originally did not have leaves, but I think I like it better with… 🙂 Supplies: Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper pack CTMH Rustic Flowers Clear Detail Embossing Powder + Versamark SEI Buttons Rhinestones & Stars Martha Stewart Lattice Border Punch & Bubble/Dot Punch (??) Nestabilities Large Oval and Scalloped Oval Timber Brown StazOn White Gel Pen Textured White Archiver’s Cardstock Archivers Smooth Cardstock Aileen’s glue (for quilling) American Crafts Foam Dots {As always, you can click for a larger view.} It was really difficult to get a good photo today. Here are some better close up shots. And the back:

What is this?

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Teaser….! Can you guess what this is? LOL! I just wanted to share a sneak peek and show ya that I have actually been crafting this week! My studio is an absolute pigsty right now… I’ve got to run some errands, but I will be back later to show you what this is! Inky Smiles! Erin

Studio Tour: Part 5 – It All Fits Together In This Small Space {full reveal}

So now we’ve made it through the details of how I organize and function in this space… here’s the full reveal of my creative space. I know, I know… how long have I been promising it?? {I hereby pinky swear to never promise anything on a time schedule ever again…. } This is a wonky, odd shaped, small space that I share with the family office at the bottom of the stairs in the corner of the basement. {Ok, mostly I’ve taken over..} Here’s the “official tour”. Thank you for your patience. I hope you like it as much as I do and I hope it inspires you in some way to do something fun with your creative space, no matter what wonky size or shape you’ve got. {You can click on the photos for a larger view. They should open up in a new window.} {Edited: All of the details – pattern # for curtains, paint color, etc., are listed in the posts linked under “My Studio” on the left side of this blog.} Peeking down the stairs from the first level. All the crazy colors in my house meet in this small little space… Thankfully the tin box of silk flowers breaks it up and blends all the colors together and makes it work! {Yah, I know there’s no carpet on the landing… LOL! When Brent got laid off in Jan we put the remodel finish on hold. Now that he is full time employed again we are gearing up to choose carpet for the stairs after we get back from visiting my folks.} When you hit the bottom of the stairs and look left, I have some fun clipboards hanging on the angled wall with pics of my favorite people to keep me company. Looking straight ahead from the stair landing is the office workstation. {I must have been jamming to tunes on winamp.. it’s up on the monitor. Today’s blogging tunes are a variety of hits from Ace of Base and the Beatles… Winamp is playing in alphabetical order this afternoon… hehe!} And we’ll go around the room from here… And that view again from the hallway into the studio…. And back around… here you can see the antique window and what I did with it. Originally I had wanted to do a “wall of E’s” all cutely decorated and altered, but as the studio re-do progressed there wasn’t a wall that really worked for just “E’s”. I thought the window was a fun place to rest some of the previously altered E’s. I’ve got to work on some more.. just gotta find some cool looking letters. A bird’s eye view of the whole space. It’s hard to get an accurate photo of the place because of the wonky size/shape. This is my space. I love it. I am so very grateful for a sweet husband who helped me customize it and agreed to the fru fru and fun colors in the open space. It took a long time to pull it all together. {Life happens that way sometimes… and the cleaning and purging and organizing was a bear!!} But it came together and it fits my creating style and it works for mE. Thanks for coming along on this tour with me! Inky Smiles & Happy Crafting!

Studio Tour: Part 4 – Bookshelf and Desk Organization

I’m so sorry for the delay in posting. I got rather busy with work, the business, getting the yard in shape, the garden ready for planting (and some planting done), and life in general. I wanted to show you how I organize my stuff that’s “out in the open” in my bookshelf and in my desk. I have plans drawn up for a really cool big, red bookshelf to replace the small brown Sauder one that’s currently in the space. I “kinda” ran out of money for the red bookshelf during our remodel because I chose a more expensive faucet set for the tub/shower/sink in the master bath AND ended up putting in a granite counter top… so, I guess I didn’t really “run out” of cash, I “reallocated it” … lol! Anyway… some time this summer when we find some time, Brent and I will build the big red bookshelf! Until then, this is what I have in the space and it is working fabulously for me. BOOKSHELF ORGANIZATION: The current bookshelf sits at the end of my desk. Here’s a view of it from down the hall that goes to the rest of the basement. My closet is on the left. You’ll see the first photo again in the next post when I put it all together for the full view. 🙂 {Click on photos for large views”} The bookshelf is a GREAT example of how I like to have things visible/open/out in the open but contained and everything has a home. I have gobs of ribbon because I “*think* I might be addicted…. It’s stored in 3 places: extra weird ribbons and fibers in the closet, scrap pieces and tiny spool in a jar (coming next post), and spooled ribbon in the RibbonStak from Stamper Storage. I have not decided on a color to paint it yet, because it depends on the red bookshelf making it in the room… so it sits in here naked… next to the lovely white Magpie storage from Quickutz. I flipped the silver boxes upside down and use it to contain a variety of items such as: mini metal alpha charms (for jewelry, crazy ladies, and papercrafting), a large grommet setter, extra shuttles and blades for paper cutters, metal rimmed tags, etc. There’s a jar of beads, an old soda bottle that holds my red buttons and some red silk flowers that I snip off to use on cards and a metal bucket with odds n ends blingy things like sticky rhinestones, etc. Movin’ on down the bookshelf…. to my “cutting station”. Some folks have a dedicated table/space to cut with their Cricut/Wishblade/Silhouette, etc…. I haven’t decided what I want for an electronic cutter yet {well sorta leaning towards the freedom of a Silhouette} so I just cut and emboss everything with my Cuttlebug and a little elbow grease. The Cuttlebug fits neatly between two baskets {recycled from the family/media room} which hold my various cutting and embossing dies {Nesties, Sizzix, and Cuttlebug} and odds & ends stamps. I was having a hard time keeping track of what CB embossing folders I had… could never remember their names, so I looked them up online and wrote my name and the name of the folder on each folder with Sharpie. Works great now! I keep the Nesties banded together by shape. I store my CTMH square packaged stamps in an AWESOME set of drawers that Brent built for me for Christmas. Again, no color decided yet and I’m searching for the perfect drawer pull handles for the fronts. These are amazing little drawers… I think the super packed middle drawer holds 23 sets of stamps. That’s a lot in one little space! I’m out of space for these stamps already and thankfully there are pieces for a second set of drawers cut out in the workshop. There are several white photo boxes on the next shelf down that hold a variety of extra goodies. I like being able to pull out a box and set it on my desk while I’m working, then toss all the goodies back in the box and put it neatly on the shelf. Closed and contained! I store my embossing powders, adhesives, etc in them. {It’s funny, glue sticks are awful for scrapbooking and I really don’t like them, yet I have a zillion of them… lol!} Bottom shelf – My paper is all neatly stored in Cropper Hopper vertical boxes. I sort most by color and by brand in individual 12×12 file folders. Patterned papers are stored together by general theme; polka dots, stripes, vintage, wedding, red patterned, pink patterned, etc. I keep my CTMH kits/packs in the plastic bags they came in. It helps me keep track of what goes with what. 🙂 {I need to do some purging of the paper collection… there’s paper in that collection that I will probably never use!} DESK/WORK SPACE ORGANIZATION & SET UP: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my humongous desk and work station. Brent and I built it several years ago to fit this wonky space. It has a bunch of drawers and cubbies for all kinds of great organization. The far end is used for computing and Stamper Storage business work, but the end closest to the closet and bookshelf is my fun creative space. The InkStak is a custom build by my sweet husband, Brent. Regular InkStaks can be customized at Stamper Storage, but this one is super special. Brent custom built the trim on this sweet baby and picked out “just the right pink” paint. {I tell you, I am the most handicapped paint color chooser on the planet.} This InkStak holds 90 inkpads and 60 + markers {or 10 more inkpads to total 100 inkpads, which is likely going to be happening soon and the markers will find a new home!} I love my InkStak, the inkpads slide out easily and stack nice and neatly. Currently mine are sorted by color and brand with StazOn,