CSS App

I have a card up on the CSS App today!  Click the photo below for more info:

Everyday Eclectic by Echo Park

The amazing Allison invited me to create some projects using the Everyday Eclectic collection she recently designed for Echo Park!  It is an awesome collection to work with  :)

I have one card up on the Echo Park blog today (you'll have to click over to see it!) and here are some other things I made....

(above card will be submitted to the focal point challenge at the Moxie Fab World.  The plain white frame with blue mat draws your eye to the focus in the center of the card)

ric#19

Good morning!  I'm so excited to share the newest Runway Inspired Challenge...this month, we are focusing on menswear!  

source: style.com

I love the graphic color blocking in his shirt, so I chose to replicate it in a softer color palette:

(another entry for the Moxie Fab World Gallon/Quart/Pint challenge!)

I cut out the different colors and arranged them to fit perfectly on the card front.  It looked kinda blah until I added the black strips.

I love how it makes the design pop, in a Frank Lloyd Wright kind of way.

This time around, you are playing for a Simon Says Stamp gift card.  I'd love it if you could stop by my DT friends too, because they have some great cards to share!

Aga
Angeline
Cristina
Laura
Sarah

MTE September Stamp Release Blog Hop! (plus giveaways)

Good morning, and welcome to the spooky September Release for My Thoughts Exactly!

I hope you are getting ready to make some Halloween cards, because there are some scary and cute stamps being released today!  Here's the rundown:

Fright Night Friends 

Halloween Subway Art

plus, you may remember these great Halloween sentiment sets from last year:

Fright Night Phrases

Ghostly Greetings

Halloween Super Bundle - if you choose this option, you save $7 and qualify for free shipping!

Here are some cards I made using these fun sets:

(I'm submitting this one to the Moxie Fab Gallon/Quart/Pint challenge.  The gallon is white, quart is red, silver is pint, and my neutral is kraft)

There are some free (yes, free!) SVGs being released to go along with Fright Night Friends, for those of you with electronic die cutters.  You can find those HERE.

That's not all...there is a cool SVG you can purchase, to make this adorable stationary set:

The file is only $2, and you can purchase it HERE.

Giveaway Time!

You can win a set of 25 Cotton Bags from State Line Bag Co, and 3 winners will get a $10 gift card to the MTE store!  Just fill out the raffle form below for a chance:

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

You're next stop on the hop is Jessica, and if you missed the beginning you can head back to My Thoughts Exactly

MTE Fright Night Friends

MTE Ghostly Greetings

InLinkz.com

a REAL look at my craft room (and a proud aunt!)

I love it when I'm online checking out blogs or browsing Pinterest, and I find photos that people post of their crafting spaces.  Their beautiful, perfect crafting spaces that could be (and sometimes are!) found on the pages of a magazine.

As much as I love drooling over their expertly organized storage, I also wonder....is that what their room always looks like?  I could be wrong, but I imagine 90% of the crafters out there create in total chaos (or is that just what I want to believe, since it often applies to me?)

So I decided to take spur-of-the moment photos of my craft room.  No tidying up.  No re-organizing.  No throwing out the stray paper that landed on the floor a week ago, and for some reason is still there.  

Here's the REAL look at my craft room.  I wish I could say that this was some kind of "before" picture, leading you to an amazing "after" photo.  But nope, what you see is what you get.  A lot of people have left comments or sent emails about my space, so I've labeled some things for ya:

(honestly, this isn't that bad.  It's usually worse. WAY worse) 

1. A box that is bursting from the seams with prizes.  I need to host a giveaway stat!  
2. Packing materials, blank canvases, and paper storage.  The only way I like organizing is by color.  The paper in these drawers (and my thread, ribbon, markers, colored pencils, embroidery floss, etc) are in rainbow-order.
3. Sewing stuff.  I've got the thread, embroidery hoops, my sewing machine (with the cover on), and my exploding bin of fabric is in rolling bins under the black table.
4. This is the miscellaneous storage.  I have my watercolor supplies (paints, pens, paper, brushes, etc), acrylic painting stuff, polymer clay, markers, crafting magazines/books, sewing notions, yarn, crochet hooks and knitting needles, and other random things.
5. My photo studio.  I leave the light tent set up all the time under the table.  Clamped underneath the table on either side of the tent are 2 lights from the hardware store, with daylight bulbs.  When I take pictures of projects, I lay on the floor and take them here.
6. Paper crafting stuff.  Stamps, inks, embossing folders, dies, embellishments, etc.
7. Electronic Die Cutter.  I bought the Pazzles Inspiration back when it was the most inexpensive non-cartridge die cutter.  I would love to upgrade to the Silhouette one day, but I'm cheap and this thing still works.  

The other side of the room

1. Since technically this is the "office" in our apartment, it's only fitting to have some actual office items in here.  Computer, printer, scanner, and more.  ("more" includes a bin of sheet music and the guitar amp that is laying down on top of it)
2. Comics.  Because we're cool like that (ps. cool=dorky).  You can also find my viola, violin, flute, and electric guitar next to it.
3. Jessica just gave me this to display the handmade cards I've received.  I didn't realize until now that I put all the cards on the same side. Hope it doesn't fall over!
4. Sewing rotary cutting mat and ruler.  This is right next to my door-of-purses.  You can kind of see 2 of the bags sneaking in from out of the frame.
5. Top shelf has copies of some of the magazines I've been published in, and 3D paper crafts that I don't know what to do with.  Do you have stuff like that too?
6. I'm embarrassed to admit that this iron has been out for over a week.  I was working on a sewing project.

...which brings me to photos of my sewing project!  My sister-in-law gave birth a few weeks ago to my first niece, Emily!  Dave and I visited her and my brother last weekend, and it was so much fun!

I made her these cute little shoes and a stuffed elephant:

...and I can't end this post without showing you some sweet pictures of my husband Dave and I with Emily:

I'm a proud aunt :) 

after I told Dave "you need to look happier in the pictures!" he made this face, lol

a rare combination

Hey everyone! Have you heard about the new stamp release? Join us on September 2nd when MTE releases some awesome (and spooky!) stamps. I've got a little sneak for you today, using my new goodies :)
 


I LOVE these poison bottles. They are cute, and deadly (a rare combination).

Before you leave, I wanted to share a new painting inspired by Jessica, a very cute fashion blogger (who probably has about a gazillion followers).  I emailed it to her, and was so excited when I saw that she put it on her facebook page!

Thanks for stopping by!

Casadia

Today I want to introduce you to a special "project" going on right now.  You might already know about it, if you're cool like that.  My buddy Wida has started a card chain...sort of like the game Telephone, but for crafters.  It started with a CASE of a CASE (it was a CASE of my CASE of Laura's card!  Does that make sense? it will soon...)

It was a CASE and an idea...hence "casadia."

Wida wrote an amazing post about it, and has the sweetest things to say about each card maker involved.  What she DIDN'T mention is how incredibly sweet she is.  The chain isn't done yet, so please check out Wida's blog for more information on how you can be a part of this! (also, read it if you were confused by this post- she does a great job of explaining the whole thing)

I'll be back tomorrow with a fun card for My Thoughts Exactly!