Technique Tuesday - Organization - SU Catty's

I've been promising this post for over a week. Things are just not the same with Bob home 24/7. Not a bad thing in that our time together is so important - and he does NOT encroach on my work time. I just limit my work time so as not to totally ignore him. Thank you all for understanding.

So today is all about how I am going to organize the SU Catty's in the new space. Because that part is not done yet, I can't show them in place. But I am going to show you what I've done in prep. When the time comes, I'll just need to put them on the shelf.

I wanted a way to display the catalogues while still being able to see them. My other goal was to keep Sale A Bration and Mini's with their same yearly Big Design Book. I thought about a 2 pocket folder but the sturdy ones are expensive. Then I found an in-house shipping envelope amongst my stash and knew they would be perfect.

On an internet search I found them in pkgs of 12 on line with a company called ShopLet. They have a wide inventory of office supplies to choose from and their service was FAST! I ordered on a Friday morning. The invoice went through that afternoon and I had my package the following Tuesday!

While I waited for the envelopes to arrive, I prepped the spine tabs.

I photocopied the spine of each catty. This involved laying the catalogue open on the scanner and getting way more than I needed. Then I cut the spine from each picture and adhered them to strips of white cardstock that I had cut about 1/8 inch wider on each side. 

Then I cut them apart and sealed them in clear contact paper. I wanted them to be substantial. So while the front is wrapped in the clear contact, I kept a wide enough strip to wrap around and attach to the inside of the gusset on the side of the envelope.

Now when I stand them on the shelf, I can see the tab showing what year the catty is. 

These envelopes have 2 pockets. An inner pocket with the string closer. I chose to put the catalogue in so that the front faced out... 

Then on the outside pocket (used for slipping in the shipping invoice) I put the special sale flyers and minis as well as a retired list for the ones I had.

I will either custom make a magazine holder to store them or use Totally Tiffany's 12x12. In the envelopes, they are a tad too wide for the standard holder. While Tiffany's might be a bit over overkill, that might be easier than making my own. 

One more organization item situated for when I can get in the new office... at this point we've slid to sometime after June. Getting Bob's hands in working order are more important right now. 

How do you store you cattys?

NEEDLE & THREAD THURSDAY - A bit of non-sewing

What do you do when your eldest granddaughter calls and says 'Grandma, I need new nightshirts."  You ask her what she wants on them then proceed to do them up as quick as possible so they can go in the mail.

I sent Adrian a store-bought nightgown to tide her over. Poor Abby is getting all of big sis's hand-me-downs so I bought her a jammie set with a cupcake on the front. I call her cupcake so could not resist.

So along with their St. Patty's day treats, Adrian is getting six new night shirts and Abby is getting one. I made them each a Frozen night shirt then the 5 white ones are Adrian's by request.

I did both frozen's on blue t-shirts purchased at Hobby Lobby when I purchased the fabric. The rest of Adrian's were boy's XL shirts. I cut out the images and applied them to the shirts with Wonder Under. Quick and easy.

WOYWW #301 - On to the next milestone

Not a lot of change in my desk from last week. Been a busy work week. I did get the other 4 Christmas cards 'almost' finished. I need to stamp the sentiment on the inside then they are ready to file. I haven't had the chance to tag the cardstock yet but I did get the poly-shipping envelopes in for storing my SU catty's in. So maybe I can work on those Friday while Mother Nature is giving us a good pre-spring soaking.

This is my stop on a very long list of blogs by creative minds. Check in at Julia's Stamping Ground for all the details and let us have a peek into your space if you'd like. We do enjoy a good snoop ;-)

Creative Blessings!
Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Happy St. Patrick's Day Treats

Until I'm in my studio, Mixed Media Monday is going to be a mish mash of whatever I'm able to work on. This week, I bring you something I made for my granddaughters.

My sister pointed me to a pin for a St. Patrick's Day Treat jar she knew her nieces would love. Well, of course that meant Grandma had to make them - because I fell in love with them, too.

Here's the PIN. And here is a direct link to the BLOG.

I altered the recipe to accomodate what I had on hand so I wasn't buying stuff hubby and I were not going to eat. I used:

Shamrock Lucky Charms...
         the only marshmallow shapes in these special boxes are 4-leaf clovers & pots of gold!
Rice Chex
Honey Nut Cheerios
Pretzel Sticks... which I broke in half so they mixed well with everything
Green M & Ms.

I mixed everything together and filled two clear acrylic 'mason' jars I got at Hobby Lobby for $4.99 each.

I wanted to personalize the glasses for each of the girls so I dug into  my St. Patty's Day embellishments and came up with these sticker sheets....

Using strips of carboard, I wrote each of their names on the back of one (see the left side of above photo) and a sticker. Then I covered both pieces with clear contact paper. On the other strip I attached the Leprechaun hat with red tape.. the strong stuff. That's also how I sandwiched the two pieces together. leaving a space to slide over the straw...

Although I'm sure there is a slight air gap where the straw slides in and out I wasn't too concerned about the cereal going stale there but I did cover the tip of the straw with cellophane and sealed with green washi tape until the jars arrive at their destination in WA state later in the week.

I've been working on my Tim Holtz tag for March. Having to improvise on some of the products so it's a slow process this month. I hope to have that one ready to post next week.

Creative Blessings!

Kelly

WOYWW #300!!!!

Before I move on to celebrating our 300th Anniversary here at WOYWW, I wanted to show you the ice caps I had hanging from the house over the weekend. This is a result of not having an 'ice guard' installed when we put the new roof on. The ice/ snow melted and began sliding off the roof - freezing once again in transit. The 40+ degree temps yesterday sent them sliding to the ground... just in time for us to get another winter storm. Already sleeting here this morning, 32*F and we should see 6-7" of snow before the system moves out tomorrow morning.

Now to the important reason we are here. WOYWW has reached a milestone. Thanks to our illustrious leader, Julia at Stamping Ground, we have had the opportunity to peek in on other artist's studios for 300 weeks!  That's a lot of viewing of tremendous talent.  I hope you'll join us.

I actually have something in progress on my temporary desk besides a sorting mess. I did manage to get all of my paper (except for the slabs - they are in boxes under the table) in their respective paper holders. I still need to make the ID tabs for the colors. To the left, that red photo box is the beginning of my new stamp storage system. All of my boxed stamps will go in shoe boxes coordinating with what is in them. I have 2 for Christmas. Everything else you see is the remnants of that Christmas card project I showed yesterday. I still need to make 4 more before I can put those components away and start a new project.

So what's on YOUR desk? Leave your number so I can be sure to stop by your space to ooo and awww.
Creative Blessings!
Kelly

TECHNIQUE TUESDAY - My First Christmas Card!

I created my first Chrsitmas card for 2015. I will make at least four more of this one

I initially put this card together based on the February Challenge at Rubber Dance Art Stamps. I did not find their sight until Friday afternoon so decided I had one more day, I'd give it a shot. So after getting a couple other things out of the way today and spending time with Bob I sat down to make a card inspired by one from my Pinterest board. The designer is on SCS but I could not locate her. HERE is the inspiration card.

I did not have a 'single' snowman stamp but did have SU Frosty Friends so I flipped the card horizontal. The challenge at Rubber Dance was to use:

TEAL/ CHOCOLATE/ RED and to include the theme LOVE in any type of creation. I thought the colors would lend themselves well to my first Christmas card.

As it turned out, I got the card completed only to find out the deadline was CET (Central European Time) not CST (Central Standard Time) so I missed the entry deadline.

But I'm already thinking about the March Challenge. Come join us for your chance to win!

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Tim Holtz Feb.

I will bump this post to Monday for my regular viewers but for now I needed to get this uploaded and linked over at Tim Holtz' challenge. Today is the last day.

Thanks to my creative friend, Angela Radford at Felix the Crafty Cat for acknowledging my blog on her Tim Tag post. Not only was she also down to the wire for getting her tag in but she was one of the 12 tag winners for February. Congratulations! I hope you'll pop over and see her beautiful tag - made from Tim Holtz Fabric!!

After studying the elements in Tim's SAMPLE tag, I've had the ideas brewing in my head while I finished that article I had to turn in yesterday. So this morning I could sit down and put everything together. I did the base last night then the embellishments this morning.

Never mind the shadowing over the bottom part of that #14 heart. That is a reflection from the window. I will be thrilled to have a real lighting set up in the new studio.

One thing I have decided is that I think all of my tags will incorporate a key somewhere on each one. Tim had an arrow on his tag (ie cupid's arrow) but since I did not have one, I opted for the key and that's where the 'key theme' came from.

On to March!
Creative Blessings!
Kelly