Prairie Paper & Ink

Still Alive..

I'm still here LOL!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. Mine went very well thank you very much! I am VERY thankful I took an extra couple days off work - after cleaning/cooking/hosting my side of the family Christmas day (21 people in total) plus all the other little get-togethers over the holidays I was EXHAUSTED.

Not to mention Tim got the spare room pretty much done (all that's really left are baseboards and honestly I don't even care about that right now - no one's going to notice so we can install those later - which pretty much means never LOL) right before Christmas. So we left the room empty as it was GREAT for all the kids to play in on Christmas day (made a HUGE difference from last year when I had a ton of kids underfoot when I was trying to cook). 

Now that everyone's gone I've been moving my stamp stuff into the room over the past couple of days. Tim had to go back to work on Monday so I've done most of the work myself. He helped me move my desk and my big EXPEDIT (IKEA) unit down after he got home but other than that it's been all me.

I'm not done yet - still have all my little shelves, ribbon racks, punches and the entire closet (which is where I store my cardstock - so a HUGE job left to do there) to move down and somehow organize - so I won't share pics/video 'till then.

ALSO - I decided to FINALLY make up a Prairie Paper & Ink Facebook page so that you guys can follow me on there. I've been meaning to do it for months now and just never got the time. I told myself I'd get it done over the Christmas holiday so a couple days after still counts *wink*.

So if you're on Facebook you can check out the page here:

Prairie Paper & Ink Facebook page

I think it will be a fun way for me to keep in contact with everyone PLUS I have decided to keep my personal facebook page limited to friends and family I actually know in real life - it was just getting to be too bonkers. So if I've deleted you it's nothing personal - you can come to the new page and I'll be friends with you there K?? :o)

Gotta run - still have a bunch of schtuff to organize and put away!

Winter Wishes

Hoo boy - these past few weeks have been INSANE eh? I am REALLY REALLY REALLY looking forward to the extra couple of days I took off at Christmas. I NEED the break (as in REALLY need - I have been way too stressed out lately - I can tell when it gets really bad because I start to have really bad dreams at night that involve me yelling at people and getting really frustrated LOL! Sadly that's no joke!) and cannot wait - only today, tomorrow and Wednesday left 'till a little holiday!

PLUS as y'all know Tim's getting that spare room done (see post below). He worked his butt off yesterday and got a TON done - he'll have it finished by Christmas! Which is perfect b/c I'm hosting again this year so we won't move anything in 'till after (that way we've got a big room for all the kids to play in without worrying about them wrecking or getting into stuff...).

And we're going to Edmonton in the middle of January (more about that later) and plan on hitting up IKEA for a couple more things to finish the room the way we want it.

Anywho - I'm at work right now and between clients and FINALLY have the Internet working (for the past few weeks we've been having issues with it and I keep needing to tweak it to get it to work - so frustrating) so here's a card!

I LOVE this Sugarplums Teddy image - she is so freaking adorable! I colored this image weeks ago (seriously) then was just blocked on how to finish the rest of the card. My mojo is still missing and I have all these random pieces of half-finished cards and whatnot lying about and NOTHING seems to want to work for me!

I finally decided to keep it as simple as possible. I die-cut an oval from light blue cardstock, then added a couple of pieces of white cardstock that I had torn the edges of. Before adhering them to the blue cs I used my Mono Multi glue on the torn edges and covered them with Ranger glitter - SO sparkly!!

I also added Crystal Stickles to her shoes (I just can't leave the shoes alone can I??) and to the ears and tie on her little hoodie - how CUTE is that hoodie? I would totally wear one if I had one like that LOL!!

To bring it up a little notch I scored crisscrossed diagonal lines on the white cardstock (was inspired by her tights) using my MS Scoring Board.

The sentiments are from my Merry & Bright stamp set. I used SU oval punches to punch them out. And to get the crisp white on the red for the inside sentiment I stamped it with pigment ink then embossed it with detail white embossing powder.

Hope y'all are having a fabulous day!

And nearly a month later...

Since I posted about the chaos in my house last month from the spare room renovations - a LOT has been accomplished!

You can see the original post here.

And then I took these pics a couple of days ago:

 
We ran into the city the other day to hit up Home Depot on the chance we could score some flooring for cheap - and we did! They had a sale on flooring, AND some staff members were putting out the last few packs of this laminate that was cheaper than the rest. They didn't have enough left for us to do the entire room, but Tim had them call the other store in the city and they told us they had 5 packs left which was EXACTLY what we needed.

You can't tell from the pile but those last 5 packs were damaged/open/etc - which we knew. But when we got there and checked them over there was enough salvagable pieces for us to get the job done (we hoped!) and they gave them to us for half price - another score!

We ended up getting all the flooring, the underlay, supplies and some paint for less than what we had budgeted originally for the floor.

 
Tim started installing the floor a couple of days ago. I took this picture of "my" corner of the room where he started. He actually finished the floor last night - it looks so much better! And we had a little left over to spare so whew!!

And here's the pic of the OTHER side of the room:

 
That will be "his" side - and sadly it needs a lot more work.

Honestly our plan was to just get it functional and deal with everything else at a later date since there is a LOT that needs to be done (you can't tell from the picture but the drywall on the far wall has to be ripped down and the studs adjusted as they're jutting out in areas - whoever originally put that wall in didn't know what they were doing!).

BUT today we ended up with a sick kid, and since I couldn't leave work to get her from school Tim did and while V was sleeping off her fever he went to town and pulled out the drywall, put up NEW drywall and patched a lot of the random holes and whatnot while keeping an eye on her. I still don't know how he managed to do it all on his own (as the ceiling goes up to about 12 feet on that angle) but he did! I am even more impressed with him as he doesn't have any real carpentry/reno experience - but he learns quick LOL.

I don't have really high expectations - it doesn't need to be fancy or expensive - as long as it's functional and we can both use the space together for our hobbies and whatnot I'm happy! I spent a lot of time and effort on the studio I have now but I'm actually looking forward to moving everything (as are the girls b/c that will mean they finally get their own rooms) and re-organizing and working with what I already have - which is a LOT of stuff!

It's become harder and harder for me to be upstairs by myself trying to stamp and create when the rest of the family is off in the rest of the house doing their thing. My room is so small (and usually such a disaster) that I can't fit anyone else in there - it does get lonely! So having a bigger area that I can share with Tim and we can watch movies together (while I stamp), or he can play video games (while I stamp) or whatever (while I stamp - LOL) will be FABULOUS!!

AND it's still a separate room not part of the rest of the house really so I can shut the door and keep everyone else out if I want! *wink*

Anywho that's a quick update on me! Our room will hopefully be functional/done sometime after Christmas - I'm hosting again this year for my side of the family SO we decided we won't move any of my studio into the room until AFTER Christmas. That way we've got a big room for all the kids to run around in LOL!

Plus I just don't have the time. I'm going to be working overtime before and after this weekend so that I can have an extra couple of days off around Christmas. I can't believe it's next week already! ACK!!!

The Sweetest of Holidays

OK here's the card I peeked yesterday morning! I worked late last night then had to get groceries since they were open to 9pm (thank goodness my favorite packer was working last night - he's the friendliest kid in the world and always helps take out my groceries and get them into my vehicle - which I needed b/c I was exhausted LOL!). I got home and had a (really) late supper then started this post. My brain was mush so I left it to finish this morning before heading off to work again. :o)

So as promised here's the card just a few hours later:

 
It's sad to admit - but I made this card a month ago!! It's been sitting on my desk ever since while I've attempted to create other things - basically taunting me with it's fabulousness (LOL!) and the fact that I couldn't create anything half as nice.

Seriously. This month has been crazy with just WAY too much on my plate which definitely saps my stampin' mojo.

 
I used the oh-so-cute Sugarplums Cookie Emma image along with the Sugarplums Stool image.

Emma was stamped onto CCD CQ80lb White cardstock and colored in with Copic markers (I am REALLY happy with how her hair turned out!! I've been trying to achieve the more realistic look for some time now with cruddy results - but this time it just worked!!). I paper-pieced her shirt to add a little more oomph :o)

I added Stickles to her shoes (I just can't help it - I ALWAYS want to color her shoes red and make them sparkly - nothing to do with Dorothy - I just think deep down **I** want a pair of red sparkly shoes.....preferably with like 4" or more heels LOL!!) and to her outfit and ribbons in her hair.

She was also cut out and adhered to the card with dimensionals.

The patterned paper is from Cosmo Crickets Mitten Weather pack.

The sentiment is from my Holiday Greetings stamp set. It took several attempts to get it the way I wanted it as I tried using a few different patterned papers but in the end I went with white cardstock otherwise it just looked too "busy". I used one of my Spellbinders Labels 5 dies to cut it out.

 
The ribbon is May Arts textures ribbon - LOVE that stuff and I just wish it came in more colors!!

 
On the inside of the card I followed the same layout I used on the front and stamped Emma onto white cardstock with a light brown ink.

The Happy Holidays sentiment is from my Merry & Bright set and this time I stamped it onto one of the Mitten Weather patterned papers and cut it out with a Labels 9 die.

All the purple snowflakes were punched out with one of my Martha Stewart Snowflake punches.

Aaaaaannnddd that's it! I gotta finish getting ready for work!

 

I don't have much time as I have to jet off to work right away but here's a sneak peek at the card I'll post tonight after I get home from work:

 

Have a fab day everyone!

ATS Order Haul #7 - AKA Ribbon Haul!!

OK I got another video edited and uploaded - yay me! LOL

I can't even remember when I filmed this - maybe a month ago? Eeeek! I'm getting there....

 

And as always you can click here to watch it on YouTube <---click!

And here's the links:

Binder Boxes for UM Stamp Storage

Copic re-inkers

CCD Sand Cardstock

ScorBuddy Mini Mat

May Arts Checkered Ribbon

May Arts Faux Suede

May Arts Wrinkled Ribbon

NEW December AmyR Stamps! Love-ly and All About Love

**post #2 for today! Scroll down to check out the previous post/video!**

Hey guys!

My 2 newest stamp sets are now available at All That Scraps!

Love-ly:

 
and

All About Love:

 
I will have samples posted soon - promise!! I've had a serious lack of stampin' mojo these past few weeks and NOTHING I was making looked any good (to me!). But I'm feelin' creative again and want to start cranking out some cards so stay tuned!! :o)

Comparison of the ScorBuddy to the ScorPal

Finally got some time to edit a video! I got *some* of my to-do list done over the weekend - still have a ton of stuff to do - and it's 1am right now so I'm posting this real quick and heading to bed!

 

You can watch the video on YouTube HERE <----click!

And here's the links:

ScorBuddy

ScorBuddy Mini Mat

Soooo busy!

Hey all. I posted this on my youTube channel and was planning on posting this here at the same time and just didn't have the time LOL!

 

You can watch it on YouTube HERE <----click!