Friday 20 January 2012

A work in progress!

I think this is going to be a long post! The craft room is pretty much done, so I thought I'd show you how it's looking now. Just needs a few finishing touches, and there may be some rearranging done as I see how the layout works, but at long last I have everything to hand and space to work. Space!! What luxury! This was my room in the old house, barely 6 feet by 7 feet.


My stash and equipment were spread over various rooms, and much of it never got used because it took so long to find what I needed. The consequence of that was that I didn't realise just how much stuff I have. Now, with it all in one place, I do! Oo-err!! I think my 6 year old grandson's comment summed it up. "Grandma," he said, "It's like a shop!"

In my defence, I hasten to add that I've been collecting stuff for at least 20 years now, and  there's a lot which I'm very lucky to have been given or inherited. For instance, my mum, bless her, used to make her own duvet covers and various other things, which she trimmed with ribbon or lace. She bought miles of it, far more than she could ever have used in her lifetime, so now I've got it all. I'll probably never use it all either....

Anyway, let me take you on a tour. The new room is 11 feet square. This is how it looked when we first came to view the house.


When I initially moved my stuff into the room, I think the best way to describe it was chaos!




This was my desk at one point. Can't show you a photo of the floor then because you couldn't see it!


The transformation began with phase 1 of the new shelves........


....... which was soon followed by phase 2.


When it came to filling them, well, talk about getting a quart into a pint pot....!


But I did it!



Eventually there will be something to cover the shelves and hide all the clutter,  but I haven't decided what yet. Probably roller blinds.

No longer is my laptop hidden under piles of stuff on the desk.


My unmounted stamps are all neat and tidy in folders, instead of spread around in boxes and bags.


My ink pads are all to hand in smart little drawers.


And this is what I look out on when I sit at my desk.


Which now looks like this! (Although it'll probably never be this tidy again!)


But best of all is the space. Finally I have a room in which I can work comfortably and walk around without having to climb, or fall, over things.

Behold ........... the floor!!!


Sunday 1 January 2012

Happy New Year! In Monochrome!

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas. My resolution for this year will be to get back to the blogging and blog hopping as often as possible! Thank you to all my lovely blogging friends, who have stuck with me even though I haven't been able to reciprocate. We're still busy getting things sorted in the new house, but I should have a bit more spare time before very much longer. My DH has almost finished the final phase of the shelves in my craft room, and I'm looking forward to being able to get all my stuff organised. Photos will follow in due course!

Anyway, being the first Sunday of the month, it's time for the first Stampalot Challenge of the year. For January, our theme is

Monochromatic

In other words, your entry must use a single colour, though of course variations of that colour from light to dark are fine, as long as they are all of the same colour "tone" (eg. all blue-purple rather than a mixture of blue-purple and pinky purple). I chose Adirondack "Eggplant" dye ink for all the stamping on my card, coloured the ribbon with Promarker "Lilac", and used a dark purple toning paper for the scalloped frame.


All the stamps I've used are by Hero Arts. The dogwood flowers and the butterfly are from a HA Stamp & Die Cut set (Antique Flowers and Butterflies), and I diecut the butterfly to add a bit of dimension. I could have cut out the flowers too, but the card will eventually be posted so I didn't want too much depth. To colour the flowers and butterfly I employed one of my favourite techniques - using a paintbrush and clean water to draw the colour from the stamped image, and just adding a spot more colour picked up from the inkpad where it needed to be a bit darker. The words on the punched circle tag are from an old set called "Conversation Dots", which I keep coming back to every now and then. The corner pieces are also punched. I've distressed various edges with the Adirondack ink.

There will, of course, be the usual fantastic Stampalot Challenge prize up for grabs this month, but for the moment it's a secret!


The lovely Stampalot crew are having a well earned break, but I'm sure they'll reveal the goodies very soon! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing all your monochromatic designs, and if you need any inspiration, just hop over to the Stampalot Challenge Blog and have a look at the DT's gorgeous creations.

I hope 2012 will be a wonderfully crafty year for everyone. I wonder what's going to be the big crafting trend this year.....