Bead Storage

Finally got my beads organized!

I put each color into a plastic sandwich-sized container. Some I grouped by type into smaller jars or baggies, and then those went into the sandwich container. I have plenty of room for even full bags of beads, plus it's easy to look through what I have.

Metal items (other than the basic findings) are in a container I got at Joann's (the jars in the sandwich boxes are also from this type of container).

Findings are mixed in the divided box from a company whose name I cannot remember since I pulled off the label - Jill help! The owner is super-nice and makes some great products though lol!

Wire is in another sandwich container, and tools will be in a plastic Art-Bin box w/ a handle as soon as I get to Joann's to buy one!
Jenn

Jewelry Organization

With all these bracelets I've made and plan to make, I needed a better way to organize my jewelry. Here are my solutions.

Necklaces are hung on the wall using a rack from The Container Store. It's supposed to be for scarves, belts, and ties. This way I can see all my necklaces easily, and they don't get tangled (Suz - yours is displayed on another hook so I can enjoy it :)

The pink bowls and holder are from Pampered Chef; they are the breast cancer ones from last year. They hold all multi-colored bracelets.

All other bracelets are on the mug tree (Target) with one arm per color.

The white drawer unit came from The Container Store. Each drawer has a divider and a couple colors in it. I've put earrings, charms/pendants, rings, etc. in there, all sorted by color.

The cute little bathtub came from Bath & Body Works a few years ago as part of a Christmas gift basket - so cute! I keep the next day's jewelry in there so it's easy to grab and put on.

Above everything on the wall will be one of my CHA projects that doesn't match anything in my house!
You just knew my scrap room organization had to spill into the rest of the house, didn't you? ;)
Jenn

Bead Boot Camp Projects

Jill and I took a Beading Boot Camp today at Yia-Yia's in Lakeland. LOVE this store! We each got to design a bracelet and pair of earrings. I've made several things before, but learned how to do the nice finishing touches, so the class was well worth the money. Plus it was just us two and the teacher, so we got one-on-one attention. I love the colors and most of the beads I chose - I think the two dropped leaf-looking beads look like ears (lol), so I may re-do the bracelet. We'll see.

Jenn

Card Share

I went to my unit meeting for CTMH today. This card is one of the things I made. It's a combo of ideas - Addie decided on a circle card, Toni gave me the inspiration for the cut-out flowers and the flourish stamps, and then my contribution was the pearl accents. All supplies CTMH.
Jenn

Build-a-Bear!

I had earned a $10 reward certificate and still had a balance on a gift card, and I sure wasn't going to waste them - so I went to Build-a-Bear earlier this week with Jill. They have a great deal through the end of the month - for $30 you get a bear, an outfit, and a pair of shoes.

Meet Autumn!
I showed Rob and he made the mistake of asking how many BAB animals I have. The answer is 7 (sort of - one came from Pawsenclaws). Ooops, actually 8 - the Moose from Christmas is in with my Christmas decorations. He was appalled that I had named them and remembered some of those names lol!
Jenn

Latest Ribbon Organization

While at the CHA Craft SuperShow in Orlando last month, I purchased Ribbon Rings so that I could make my ribbon more accessible and see at a glance how much of each type I had. The 90 tags I got didn't last long - so I split a 500-pk with Jill and we shared some of the jumbo ones as well.

A gazillion pieces of ribbon later, here's what the back of my scrap room door looks like!
This is how I used to store my ribbon - on 3x6 cards. Worked quite well, but I decided I'd rather have them hanging. I have over 100 cards and the pins available to anyone who wants them - you pay flat-rate priority envie shipping and they are yours!
Jenn

Pour Some Sugar on Me!

Last night Rob and I went to see Cheap Trick, Poison, and Def Leppard in concert at the Amphitheater - they rocked! And Live Nation has deals every Wednesday - this week it was $15 reserved seats/$10 lawn seats w/ no service charges. So for $30 we both got to enjoy a great concert!

Cheap Trick opened, I though I knew more of their songs but apparantly not. They were pretty good though. Here's a pic - taken with my phone. They didn't let us bring cameras in, but so many people had them I wish I had taken mine anyway!

I'd seen Poison once or twice before, loved them again! I guess they don't have anything new b/c they played all their older hits. Rob asked what "Unskinny Bop" was supposed to mean, then decided it meant bopping a fat girl. So of course I came back with "next time we 'bop' you better not start singing!" LOL. During their set, it POURED. We were in the last row of the reserved seats, and got as wet as those on the lawn. Everyone just covered their drinks with their hands (gotta protect the beverages!) and continued dancing and singing along. Our clothes were still wet 3 hours later when we got home! No pics, the couple I took with my phone were too blurry.

I missed seeing Def Leppard as a teen, so I was thrilled to get to see them live - they did not disappoint! What a great show! They played mostly their late 80s/early 90s hits, along with some newer ones and a couple covers. I will definitely see them again if they come back. When I told my mom I was going to the concert the first thing she said was "I want to go to that!", so next time I will check with her first before buying tix!

While we were there, they were selling $10 no fee lawn tix for Crue Fest - so I got one for me and one for a friend. Can't wait - Motley Crue, Godsmack, Drowning Pool, Theory of a Deadman, and another band I've never heard of (Charm City Devils). The tickets are quite ragged at this point - folded in my pocket through the rain! Oh well, at least they are still readable, and I'm sure ours won't be the only ones like that!

I needed cash to get the tickets and drinks, so rather than using the expensive ATM, I found someone buying t-shirts w/ cash, paid for her shirts, and took the cash lol. Worked well, and no ATM fees!

Rock on!
Jenn

Tips for CTMH Ink Tower

I was so excited last summer at the Close to My Heart convention when they announced we'd be getting an ink storage solution! I bought it immediately and love love love it!

Joann's has a plastic divided basket right now in the back-to-school storage section that fits perfectly in the reinker tray that sits on top of the tower. I got my basket 50% off - paid a whopping $1.99! It comes in pink (shown), gray, blue, and green (I think those are the colors). I am storing my Glimmer Mists and Dabbers in it.
You'll notice I've added my name in bling - I plan to add some pretty white rub-ons too, just haven't gotten around to it. The opposite side of the tower is a blank canvas - you could add some plastic hooks (love the 3M Command ones - strong but removable), or do like I did - I added a small piece of velcro to the tower and the back of my color wheel, and attached it. I can take it down or use it while it's hanging.
Another tip is for markers/pens shorter than CTMH ones. The pen slots are long - gel pens, American Crafts markers, etc, won't fit without potentially getting stuck all the way in. So I took drinking straws (try to find the larger ones), cut them into small sections, and slid them in each slot - now my shorter pens fit with no worries of them getting stuck!

If you have any other tips, let me know!
Jenn

Last ProvoCraft Make-and-Take from CHA

There actually were a few I didn't do - but here's the last one I did. Was supposed to be a brown inky butterfly, and the "Life Is A Journey" was supposed to be repeated several times on the page - forget that lol! I inked the butterfly black and sprayed Pearl Glimmer Mist on it. Frame was pre-painted black for us, and we used the Yudu silkscreen machine to decorate the corners. This is going in my closet since it really doesn't match anything in my house lol! (Hung up in the closet - don't worry, I'll be able to enjoy it, I have empty wall space in there!)
Jenn

Silly Man!

I went to a bead store the other day with my friend Jill. Rob called while I was there, so I told him where I was. Later on that evening, he innocently asked, "So, are you getting into beading now?" Oh honey, it's wayyyyyyy too late - I've BEEN into beading! Not that he'd notice since that takes up MUCH less space than the scrapping stuff!
Jenn

More ProvoCraft CHA Make-and-Takes

This is from the ProvoCraft booth. We used the Yudu screenprinting machine to make the main image, etched in the bottom left corner (hard to see), applied vinyl HOPE, and did the corners using the Cuttlebug. We inked up the embossing folder(!) itself with a similar shade of brown, stuck the paper in, and ran it through the machine - so cool! Gotta figure out where to hang this - doesn't match anything in my house lol!
Here's a close up of the corner - you can see a bit of the etching on the blue (glass needs to be cleaned lol).
Here is another ProvoCraft make-and-take that we didn't get to do there because it passed 5:00 (show end - they turn out the overhead lights at 5!!) and there were two painfully slow women in front of us. So the nice people gave them to those of us who endured the torture once the show ended. Not sure if I'll end up doing it or not - I have an altered recipe box already, and goodness knows I sure don't cook enough to have one just for Summer lol! (Ok, and there are too many dots on it, that's another reason. But not the ONLY reason! I swear!)
I have one more PC make-and-take to finish, hopefully in the next day or so, then I'll post it. I also have to take a pic of all the goodies we got from a big giant multi-sponsor make-and-take!
Jenn

More CHA - Make & Takes

****1/16/10 - sorry, had to remove the album from Flickr since I'm only allowed 200 pics! If you want to see the pics that were here, comment and I'll do a new post with them****

I added pics of most of the make-and-takes I did to the Flickr album. Still have a couple more to finish and photograph! E-mail me or comment if you need the links to any of the companies I mentioned!

Stamp Club Cards

This month's stamp club project at Violette's lss was playing with alcohol inks on acetate! So much fun!

Jenn

CHA Happiness!

****1/16/10 - sorry, had to remove the album from Flickr since I'm only allowed 200 pics! If you want to see the pics that were here, comment and I'll do a new post with them****


Jill, Cheryl, and I spent the week in Orlando at CHA. We had an awesome time! I learned so much and enjoyed almost every minute. Took 7 classes and all but one were awesome (one stunk!). Won a pink Slice and new card, a Scrap Caddy for my Cricut carts, and at the Supershow I won an OTT Light! Tons of freebies too. I haven't taken a pic of the make-and-takes, that will come later - still trying to put everything else away! Here's a slide show of some pics from the week - believe it or not, I didn't even take 50 photos! Enjoy!
Jenn