In Desperate Need of Order

Now that holidays are over here too, I definitely need to start decluttering my craft room...

I used to reorganize it at least every two years with some quick clean up in between but now it's been a while since my last deep cleaning and clutter has increased without control.

Less time and a change in my craft habits mean that I need to do it with lots of attention and dedicated work.

I used to be a painter and my craft room was organized so that I had wood pieces easy to be found, paints well in order, brushes on the table, water always available, rugs ready for a quick clean of my brushes and spots, painting books divided by author.

A couple of years ago, I closed my eBay shop and decided to move towards card making: now I have cards, inks, stamps, papers, Copics, glitters, embellishments... to store and space is still the same.

For this reason, a quick after-Christmas clean-up is not enough. I need to take boxes down from the shelves, open them and take some difficult decisions: some things need to be thrown away. I still keep some books and notes from my high school and university years, paper work from my previous jobs, books and teacher's material from my teaching years, old photos, magazines, cross-stitch books from when I still lived at my parents' and spent hours stitching with my mom.

Even if some of these things may still be useful, some other are now out of fashion or out of my current taste or simply can be stored in the basement.

I have taken a few photos of my craft room at the moment but I'm so ashamed of its state that I cannot show them on the blog! I can hardly walk in or put a ladder in front of the bookshelf to take things down...

In any case, I've some clear ideas on a few things:

1.I don't want - or need - to buy new containers for storage

2.I don't want to drill holes in the wall

3.I want to part with all the things I don't like

4.I could reduce my stash: keep some items for me and sell/give away the exceeding amount

5. If I ever have an idea to create something from items I find during the cleaning process, I must write it down so that I won't forget it. The same with storage containers I may find along the way which can be revamped and be more pretty!

I'm a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work I have to do and by the amount of dust. When I have a look at those incredibly organized craft rooms full of containers, boxes, vases, jars, etc. I wonder how frequently they dust. Dust is my worst enemy, I really never conquer it!

Happy New Year

dear readers and followers!

I know, I know I've been a bad blogger in December but I've been busy creating cards, invitations and favors for my daughter's birthday party, making and looking for gifts, decorating for the holidays...

BUT

I'm planning great things (at least for me) for these first months of 2012: I'm already making my new year's resolutions which include taking my brushes out again and paint a new line of pretty plaques for the home, making new cards, creating photo albums and... cleaning my studio.

This last will be a very hard task to accomplish, it's in such a mess! But I I need to learn to let things go and this will probably be the most difficult of things.

I'm planning to post my progress here on the blog: I discovered a few blogs dealing with decluttering and found lots of inspiring crafts studios on the web and somehow I look forward to starting this adventure.

Holidays here in Italy have an end on January 6, when we put decorations and Christmas things away. School will start on January 9 so, until then, I don't think I have time to start.

Meanwhile, I'm also thinking about new cards for my Etsy shop and I'm avidly waiting for new realeases in digi and rubber stamps.

One of these new releases is going to be from Tiddly Inks: have you seen the new badge on the sidebar? Isn't she cute? I really look forward to seeing Wryn and her friends!

Well, that's all for now!

HAPPY 2012!

DigiStamp Boutique Customer Competition

In November I took part in DigiStamp Boutique monthly Challenge and I'm amongst the three lucky - VERY LUCKY - winners!

I LOVE their digis and it was SO hard to choose the images!

And what about the new December digis? They are ADORABLE!

While waiting for my new images to arrive, I made a card for this month Challenge with one of my "Oldie but Goodie" images:

I made two or three cards last year with this lovely Marty and Matilda digi stamp and they are all gone so I decided it was time to make another batch of cards with them.

I've kept the pastel colors of one of my previous versions of the card, added a sparkly ribbon and two pearls in the mistletoe which is glued with 3D dots for a dimensional effect.

The sentiment is attached with a snowflake brad.

I'll enter this card into the following Challenges:

DigiStamp Boutique December Customer Competition

and

Abc Christmas Challenge: Y is for Yipeee - Christmas is almost here!

That's true... Christmas is almost here and there's still SO much to do....

Cyber Monday Sale!

My very first Cyber Monday Sale is going on in my Etsy shop:

10% off your entire order (shipping excluded) with Coupon Code CYBERMONDAY10.

You have time until Tuesday, Nov. 29.

Happy Shopping!

Christmas Kisses

Love and kisses for Christmas!

As soon as I saw a preview of the latest S.W.A.L.K. collection of stamps from Crafter's Companion I decided I needed one. This one:

I needed this lovely couple kissing stamp, all dressed up in winter clothes. Perfect for Valentine's Day but also for Christmas. And I made my Christmas card: a very big and very bright green card, with lovely patterned papers in pastel colors with a touch of Christmas red; rhinestones, pearls and glitter for that special bling and bright Copics to color them.

I think this card is another favorite of mine this year: i love the image, the colors, the overall look. It's a happy card!

No challenge to enter with this card, I just wanted to show it to you!

One of my Favorites...

So far, maybe this card is one of my favorites amongst the ones I've made for this Christmas:

I love the green card, the background paper (I don't know where it's from) the stamp (Feathered Friends from Lili of the Valley), the bell... everything! Although I'm not too fond of traditional Christmas colors like red & green, I love them! I added lots of glitter and rhinestones to make it shine and look as festive as possible.
I made three samples: one for my mom, the others for my Etsy shop. She'll love it. I'm planning to send her many cards this year (ehmm.. I always plan to do so but I rarely manage to...) during the countdown to Christmas: she displays every card she receives on her door and they look wonderful all together!

This card is perfect for the following challenge:

Lili of the Valley Challenge # 121: a Christmas card for someone special
and
Digi Doodle Shop Challenge # 83: red & green

Family

To me Christmas has always meant Family. Family traditions, family dinners and family time.

Now that I am a mom, it's even more family.

Not only I look forward Christmas Eve when we go at my mom's and have a lovely dinner with my sister and her family but I also love to prepare the atmosphere for my daughter.

I decorate the house, we decorate the Christmas tree together, there's always a small Advent Calendar to help us counting down to Christmas, a Nativity to remember the reason for Christmas celebrations.

I wait in bed on Christmas Day for my daughter who wakes up, look in the living room and says: "Santa has come!". Maybe this year will be the last one she believes in Santa but to me it'll always be something to treasure: the magic of Christmas! The lights, the warmth, the time spent together, the astonishment of children in front of these little things, the poetry of Christmas.

To celebrate Family, I made this card:

I actually bought this S.W.A.L.K. stamp to reach a minimum order value in an online shop but once I had it in my hands I had to make something with it and a family Christmas card was perfect.

I used a patterned paper I've recently found at Ikea in a lovely card kit on sale! Felt and paper snowflakes to celebrate winter and ice-skating and a heart charm to celebrate family and love.

And... I remember when I was a young girl I wanted to learn ice skating and sometimes my parents brought me to a rink so I could try: maybe my dad was not too happy to drive a long way on chilly Sunday mornings but he wanted to make me happy...

Treasured family moments I'll always bring with me.

I'm enetering this card into:

ABC Christmas Challenge: W is for Winter Sports

Crafters Comapnion Challenge # 18: Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it Snow

Fab'n'Funky Challenge # 99: Baby, It's Cold Outside

Moving Along with the Times Challenge # 125: Let It Snow

Sweet Little Santas

As soon as I saw this new release from DigiStamp Boutique I fell in love with these little Santas.

Perfect for card and tags and... for my tiny clothespins.

I was looking for cute Christmas images to make seasonal clothespins: I had chicks for spring, crabs for summer, pumpkins for Halloween and I needed something for the Holidays.

They were just perfect. I chose three images and made these:

They are perfect as place cards, clipped on napkins or glasses, as tags on presents, as party table decorations... I've found a variety of uses for them.

Of course, I put some glitter and a ribbon... it's Christmas!

I've already made a series of tiny tags with these Santas and planning to use them for other projects... they are so cute, I wish I could hug them!

Although I did not plan them for a Challenge, I'll enter them in DigiStamp Boutique November Customer Competition: it's not a card but I hope they'll like them!

This Mouse Makes Me Happy!

It frequently happens that I fall in love with images. I bought many children's books (with my daughter's utmost pleasure) just because I loved the illustrations, the colors, the atmosphere.

And I've recently bought this digi stamp because I love it, it really makes me happy:

It's Mistletoe Jasper from DigiStamp Boutique and I decided to make a happy, bright Christmas card with traditional colors: greens and reds.

I colored it with Copics and used lots of pearls for the mistletoe and the buttons in Jasper's jacket. Glitter of course, a couple of paper flowers and a red satin ribbon. The lovely paper is Holly Jolly Christmas from Echo Park.

I love it! It makes me happy and it's so festive!!!

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

DigiStamp Boutique November Customer Competition - Anything Goes

The Stamping Boutique Monthly Challenge - Holidays/Winter projects

Crafty Caz Challenge # 108 - Use a Digital Image

Digital Tuesday Challenge # 136 - Anything Goes

Paper Sundaes Challenge # 94 - Rectangles

Have You Already Started Buying Christmas Presents?

I haven't. Well, that's not true. I bought a Lego house for my daughter a couple of days ago... I've already forgotten...

That's the problem I have when I start buying Christmas presents in advance: I forget what I have already bought, especially when I'm in a shop, see something that could be perfect for someone and buy it. I do stop and think if I have already bought something but I always forget I already have.

I usually use paper scraps to write down wish lists or lists for what I buy but I always lose them in the mess I have on my table...

This is the reason I think a Gifts List Notebook is useful: you can keep it in the bag and bring it with you when you go shopping...

This year I've already made several of them for the shop. This is the last one I've made:

This notebook was created from a mistake: I printed this Scarlette digi image from Bugaboo Stamps a bit too big for a card so I decided to use it for a tall notebook.

She's so pretty and elegant and... so full of gifts! I've used some colors perfect for Christmas but I think it can be use for the whole year.

I'm entering this notebook into:

Bugaboo Catch the Bug Challenge where "Anything Goes"

Since I printed and colored two Scarlettes, I think I'll use one to make a notebook just for me!