I warned you...I'm addicted to my bind-it-all :) These mini books were made from 4 x 4 coasters that were cut down on one end and then filled with approximately 30 sheets of 3.5 x 3.5 card stock. They are so cute and easy to make!!!! I have a feeling you will be seeing more of these :)

Just a little Easter card that makes me smile and think of Spring :) I made this card about a month ago, but have decided it is time for it to come out of the craft room and onto the blog :) Think Spring!!!!

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Eat Your Dessert Before Your Dinner!

I woke up this morning and decided to change my routine a bit. I usually begin with walking the dog and then sit down to work and I find myself anxious to end the work day so I can finally do what I really want to do...which is to create. Today I decided to start my day a bit different. I walked the dog this morning and rather than hunker down and get to work, I decided to go into the craft room and start my day by creating. I know as a kid, I always wished I could eat dessert before dinner. And now as an adult, I let myself start my day with my dessert :) And no, I don't think I spoiled my appetite :)

For today's "going green" challenge on SCS, I cut the dictionary definition from an old dictionary (reduce, reuse, recycle) and sponged with sahara sand. The flower image is stamped with always artichoke on always artichoke card stock. The greeting is popped up on dimensionals.

Hope you like it!

OK, I admit it...I'm addicted to my bind-it-all! It sat on a shelf for months when I bought it and I finally decided to give it a try and now I'm crazy about it! I think these little books will make wonderful gifts - for myself and others :) If you have no idea what a bind-it-all is, you can check it out at www.binditall.com. They have a video you can watch to learn how the machine works. I have only made these small books so far...but the possibilities seem endless!!!!

(I was asked what paper I use on the inside for the pages. On these small books I use either unruled 3x5 index cards or ruled 3x5 index cards. I try to get the ones that are at least 30% recycled material. You can find them at your local office supply store. I can fit half a package - about 50 cards - in each of these small journals).

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Look at Things in a New Way

When I printed out today's sketch challenge, I flipped it horizontally and immediately saw an envelope! It's amazing how you can look at something in a new way and see something totally different. Sometimes we can shift our perspective by ourselves. Sometimes it takes someone else to come along and share a different perspective - a different way of seeing things - and then new worlds open up to us. It's as if we are seeing things that were always there, but were invisible to us!

I stamped the calendar with Staz-On on a piece of clear plastic (which is actually the packaging from a cb folder that I had purchased a few months ago...I knew it would come it handy!). I figure that once I decide who this birthday card is going to I can "check" the appropriate date boxes on the card.

Today, I hope we all see familiar things in new ways!

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Find Inspiration and Comfort in the Words of Others

Above my computer there is a quote that reads Alas for those who cannot sing, but die with all their music in them. Michael has a quote above his computer that says "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few. -Shunryu Suzuki. For both of us, these quotes provide comfort, guidance and inspiration whenever we take the time to read the words and think about what they mean to us. It continues to amaze me how a sequence of shapes and lines - letters and words - can be so powerful - can move us to inspired action or to tears.

So today I created a space to capture some of my favorite words and quotes. I often jot them down onto small pieces of paper, the back of an index card, or mark them with a piece of torn paper in a book - often they get lost or misplaced. Now I have a place to collect them - to refer back to them and appreciate them.

What's your favorite quote? I'd love to hear what words inspire you...I have a feeling they might find their way into my new place for safekeeping :)

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Focus On What You Have To Be Grateful For

I'm not sure when the habit started, but at some point in my life I decided to keep a journal every night. A simple journal where I would right down at least 6 things that I was grateful for that day. I have not always been consistent with the habit. I do find, however, that when I do take the time before I go to sleep to remember what I have to be grateful for, it puts me in a place where I am happy, content, and peaceful.

My last journal began as spiral bound index cards - the kind you find at any office supply store - and you look and wonder why the spiral binding made such simple index cards so expensive! I am on my few final "pages" and decided to save myself a trip to the office store and walk, instead, into the craft room. I have to admit that I had bought a bind-it-all machine quite a number of months ago and I had never taken it out of the box...until today! Now it is staying out of its box because I am thrilled with the ease of putting together my new gratitude journal and feel this project will make a very special gift for many people in my life (who I am very grateful for!).

So tonight, before you drift off to sleep, take a few minutes to reflect on your day and focus on all of those things you have to be grateful for. It may surprise you how long your list actually is.

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Listen to the Still, Small Voice Inside of You

Today's challenge on SCS was to visit Spunky Sprout (www.spunkysprout.com) for inspiration. I am always a bit excited by inspiration challenges as I never know what is going to inspire me. As I click and scroll through pages on the site, I am listening for my still, small voice to say "That's it! That's the one!" And I am always a bit amazed by what get's chosen. Sometimes it's something that feels familiar and comforting. Sometimes it's something that I would never have guessed I would have been drawn to! Never a dull moment with that little voice :)

Today my inspiration came from this rug: www.spunkysprout.com/glamourgirl.html. I created the image on the card using paper piecing and drew the facial features freehand. The SU! greeting from Sweet Little Sentiments seemed incredibly on target - I really was impressed, amazed and inspired by the rug! Hope you like the card! And don't forget to listen to that still, small voice :)

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Run a rope from the back door to the barn.

Today I began reading a book called A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life by Parker J. Palmer. In the prelude he shares a story about a time when farmers on the Great Plains, at the first sign of a blizzard, would run a rope from the back door out to the barn. Everyone at that time knew stories of people who had wandered off and been frozen to death, having lost sight of home in a whiteout while still in their own backyards.

This story touched me today as I thought about the act of creating art as a way to run a rope from the backyard to the barn. Any act of creative expression is a way to find our way in the blizzards that appear in our daily lives - the swirls of responsibilities, unexpected occurrences, and the maelstrom of negative news that tries to attach to us when we turn on the radio or the tv. Through it all, our ability to create art keeps us whole, grounded, and able to find our way home.

Today my wish for you is to run your rope from your back door to the barn and trust that it will always lead you home.

(ps after writing this entry I went to stamp my name stamp on the back of the yellow card and messed up...so I cut the front of the card and just made it into a panel on a blue card and I ended up liking it better :) I love it when an "oops" turns itself into a "wow!")

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Do What Inspires You!

The last two mornings I have woken up with visions of a little dog album running through my head. I did not have time...or should I say I did not make time...to create yesterday so the impulse was even stronger today. A little voice in my braining was saying "Oh, but you should do the challenge on SCS before you do anything else" and I decided to put my foot down (figuratively speaking of course...not sure how I would put my foot down in my brain...oops I'm letting you into my thoughts a bit too much right now...where was I?). Anyway, I decided that there was nothing I "should" do, but rather I could do what inspired me - the little dog album running through my head. So off I went into the craft room this evening and my vision came to life! Hope you like it! I used chipboard to make the front and back covers of the album and card stock and designer paper for the inside. Now I can't wait to fill it with pictures of my best friend (who happens to be 4-legged and lying behind me right now, waiting for his evening walk to the park!).

So if you find yourself telling yourself what you "should" do...put your foot down...and do what inspires you!

I was feeling punchy tonight and needed to make a quick card for my cousin's birthday. This one was super easy and I love the modern graphic look. I ran brocade blue (LOVE this color) through a cb embossing folder. Also used my circle punches (yes, I really was feeling punchy!) to create the black circles on the front of the card. The birthday greeting came from Stampin' Up! - it's from a set called Four Square. I used square punches to punch both the greeting and the black square behind it. It's amazing how quickly you can whip up a card when you're feeling punchy!

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Think Outside the Box!

Today's technique challenge was to make a crimped envelope pocket card. My mind decided to think outside the box and rather than create a square/rectangular card, the minute my mind thought about the look of crimped paper it thought CUPCAKE!!! (yes, my mind tends to think of cupcakes a bit anyway, so the thought could have just been randomly running through my mind and I'm just trying to tie the thought to the crimped paper...I admit it :)

The idea of a big cupcake also made me think of the SU Simple Birthday Thanks stamp. So, I made my own template for the cupcake top (which I'm happy to share with you if you email me or leave a comment on this post) and cut it out of 2 sheets of card stock (this card is a mirror image on the back). I sponged the top with green galore. I created a "stencil" with my 1 1/4" and 1/2" circle punches and used them to put dots on the bottom of the cupcake. I used the 1/2" circle punch and horizontal slot punch for sprinkles. The inside card is simple - just green galore on the bottom with a whisper white layer and a small stamp of the cupcake from the short & sweet set. The cherry was punched from a 1 1/4" circle punch and then "modified" a bit. I cut the stem freehand.

So next time you find yourself in a box remember to think outside of it (who knows, you might get a cupcake :)

Just a quick update to today's post...I decided to take my own lesson from the craft room to heart - to try, try again...so, I went ahead and submitted some photos of a few of my cards to a magazine. It was scary (not sure why it's scary, but for some reason it is) and now I get to play the waiting game. (No, I'm not a big fan of the waiting game...hmmm, that might be tonight's lesson from the craft room...patience :) This was my first time submitting anything to a magazine so if at first I don't succeed, I'll try, try again! Hey, if I can do it, so can you...What are you waiting for? :)

Today's Lessons from the Craft Room: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again AND Bring your dreams to life!!!!

Today I woke up having dreamed about a card concept. It's funny how ideas come to you in the place between being asleep and being awake - the place where your mind is open and not critical. So, of course, I had to run into the craft room (after walking the dog and doing morning chores) and try to bring the dream vision to life. And I LOVE what came to life in front of my eyes! (I now am deciding what to do with the creation. I think I'd like to submit it for some type of contest so I'm going to hold off posting it here...I will keep you posted though).

What I can share is a card I submitted for Stampin' Up's monthly contest. I was sad that it didn't win a prize, however my cousin emailed me today to tell me it was on the Stampin' Up! website in the Stamper's Showcase so I got excited all over again! I can share this card with you since it is no longer "in the running." Hope you like it.

So today my two lessons live alongside one another. Bring your dreams to life AND, if at first you don't succeed, try try again...I'm bound to win one of these contest if I just keep trying!!!!! :)

Hi! I'm bananas for you!!!! My mom created me today - she was leafing through a Crafts 'N Things magazine and saw a pillow with a sock monkey on it and she got all excited and ran like a crazy woman into the craft room to try to put me together. I'm so glad she did!

Once she put me together with punches and a bit of paper piecing for my hat (she made my fringe by cutting a strip of card stock and then making little cuts into the strip...then she sprayed it lightly with water and scrunched, scrunched, scrunched it), she couldn't find an appropriate greeting for my card so she carried me (again, running like a crazy woman) into the office to get on the computer and make a greeting. I suggested she type "let's monkey around," but she said that that would limit who she could send the card to :)

Hope you like me as much as I like me :) And don't forget, I'm bananas for YOU!!!!!

Today's Lesson to the Craft Room: Stick with it!

Yesterday I decided I needed to start reorganizing the craft room...of course the hallway now looks like it has been struck by a tornado! Yes, I'm still working on it and am making slow and steady progress. So today's card is my congratulations for when I'm done! :) (which will hopefully be in the very near future!)

I was inspired by the utensil holder/bucket here http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/fo...d=123579265 3.

I scored 3 lines on the bottom of the card. I punched the stars from glossy card stock. The greeting is also stamped on glossy card stock with Staz-On ink. Whatever it is you are doing today, stick with it. If you do, congratulations are definitely in order!!!!!

Today I tried a new technique! I had never frayed ribbon before and once I frayed it I decided it might look very cool to cut up the frayed ribbon and glue it down to a piece of card stock. It makes the paper look handmade! I was really pleased with the finished product.

I used mono adhesive to coat the card stock and then applied the cut pieces of frayed ribbon. I used was paper to push the ribbon down into the glue (which will save you from getting incredibly sticky fingers if you decide to give this a try!). Let me know if you try it and how you like it!!!!

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: All You Have is All You Need

Today was a great day to be reminded of the lesson that all I have is all I need. The challenge on SCS was to be frugal - to use something we already had to create a card. I used the acetate box from one of my Sizzix dies and ran it through the Big Shot with the Circle Die and made acetate circles. I stamped them with white craft ink and then made the same circles out of card stock and attached them to the acetate with brads.

I also cut out 3x3 and a 3.5x3.5 squares of card stock and used those to dry emboss the "frame" on the card. I paper pierced around the frame.

I hope to always be reminded of this lesson since I seem to forget it sometimes (particularly when it comes to art supplies!). All I have is really all I need.

Today's Lesson from the Craft Room: Follow Your Own Rhythm!

Today I really noticed how my energy ebbs and flows throughout the day. At times I am focused and energized. At other times, distracted and dragging. So I tried something a bit new today. I worked when I was energized and did household chores when I felt I was dragging and here I am at 9 p.m. feeling like I accomplished a lot by following my own rhythm - rather than letting the time on the clock rule my day.

The color challenge on SCS today was also energizing! What great colors (summer sun, kiwi kiss and pumpkin pie)! I stamped the polka dot punch stamp in white craft ink on the summer sun paper. I also used white embossing powder for the heart image (also from the Polka Dot Punch stamp set). The "heart to heart" panel is attached using dimensionals so I could "tuck" the larger yellow panel underneath. Hope you like it!

Tonight's Lesson from the Craft Room speaks for itself...CREATE!!!! I made this sign using the clear flower Big Shot die and the Naturally Serif alphabet dies along with some of the free designer series paper from Sale-a-bration. I've included a photo with some up close detail since it was hard to get a great photo of the entire banner (need to work on my photography skills).