This and that . . . and here and there . . .

Decided to revamp the craft room in a major way to make room for a much better layout. I have a table in the craft room but it seems to be a catch all on the table top.  I stand when I am crafting so having a table and chair in here taking up valuable space was not working. Decided to walk the craft room and look at it from all angles and decide what works, what doesn't, and what to do to improve the use of this room?  Thought about a new layout for a couple of days, drawing out changes on scrap card stock and then tweaking that. . . .  With a plan made the changes began. . .

First to go was the table and chair - they will get much more use in the sewing room so that is their new home. As for the craft room that gave me the space to move my workbench, (DH had built me a couple of years ago to my specs) (see photo) and that has made a big change in here.  Ended up moving the workbench about 8 inches back but that has made a huge difference in the room:

Before on the other side of the workbench was the table and chair. I had originally kept the table and chair in the craft room in case I had someone come over to stamp or craft here but I find I go to classes and do not have other stampers over to stamp. With deciding to move out the table and chair this gave me a lot of space to reorganize and move other furniture around.

Now on the backside of the workbench I have put all my wheeled carts that hold various card stocks and such in IRIS bins:

Two of these units I had bought new on sale and two I had bought used. It is going to work much better having all of these together in a row rather than here and there or wherever they would fit in the craft room... while I was moving things around I decided the "X" storage containers by Deflecto that I had all the coloured pencils in were not working. They took up too much room and many times the pencils would fall out of the holders or if I went to move them again pencils would fall out. Awhile back I had made a trip to IKEA and was going to use these holders for another storage use but I decided these would work much better than the Deflecto storage system. I had bought 5 of them for the other thing I was going to use them for and 5 was all I needed for the coloured pencils so this worked out quite well for them:

Also I am finishing up BOO Day projects and cards and such and moving onto Thanksgiving and Christmas crafting. Last weekend I went to a used stamp sale and was able to pick up a few new to me crafting items for Christmas. I used IKEA bins that I have on hand and labeled one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. In these bins I put items I have picked up for both holidays and craft projects. Here is a photo of the two bins:

In the Thanksgiving bin are some dollar store craft items and two spools of holiday ribbons that my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) had picked up for me. In the second bin I have Christmas items. Here is a better photo of that to show the items I picked up at last weekend's sale:

Happy me that one of the crafters at the sale was selling her gold sparkly holiday picks for 10 cents a piece. I bought them all and I will cut them apart for the projects that I want to use them on. Also the silver and gold cording will get lots of use for the holidays.  As well as the holiday ribbons from Really Reasonable Ribbon in the holiday pack. Having all the misc items in a bin will be easy to take them all to the workbench when I am working on projects for that holiday. It also keeps odds and ends together that I would want to use.

Looking around I would say the room is 3/4 done so have a few more things to finish but this certainly is a good start and hoping to have it all done by this weekend for sure.  Sometimes change is hard but it can also be good as well -- If I can't find it I can't use it ... so hoping this new layout will eliminate that problem..... or that is the plan at least!  ;0)

Road trip with my PIC

Yesterday my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I headed out in the dark for a used stamp sale that is held once a year that we have shopped in the past.  For both of us we really did not have a "must have/find" list but we were sure we would find something we did not know we "needed" . . .   ;0)

Here is a photo of the set up in the parking lot:

We arrived a little early and many of the sellers were already set up or setting up and they let us shop when we arrived. My PIC was able to get a great deal on Close To My Heart brand new photo albums so she was happy to find those.... that was probably her "big find" whereas with me I came across a bit of this and that and I was happy.

About a month ago my Big Shot machine decided it cut it's last die.... sniff..... but since I had bought that machine used to begin with (SU pricing for new is too expensive for this crafter), I guess I could not complain as I had used it for a few years.... This one seller had a Big Shot machine at her booth and she said to make her an offer and so I did -- for $10 I brought this home:

Dusty from storage but a clean up will work. DH said he can put the handle back on it and I can use this Big Shot or he will take the gears out of this one for the Big Shot I already have.... either way I will be back in the Big Shot die cutting business soon . . .   this same gal also had a big bag of BOO Day stuffs for $15 .... she said she was open for all pricing so I offered her $10 for the BOO bag and I brought that home as well:

Inside this bag is chipboard pieces, stickers, washi tapes, ribbons/trims, bone shaped alphabet stickers, tags, etc.... Great additions just in time for my BOO Day projects I am working on. . .

I will say it is seeming like Stampin Up is passing it's prime.... don't think one of the booths was not selling SU stamp sets, card stocks, tools, trimmers, inks, dies, etc..... I shopped all the booths and had seen this bundle at one booth but the stamp set was well-loved and the clip to keep the punch closed and flat for storage was broken - that set was $15 and I did not get it since the punch clip was broken... but happy to say I found the same bundle at another booth - brand new stamp set and new punch in the original packaging for the same $15 price:

At another booth I also found another new bundle:

Also bought two die sets - one was $2.00 and the other $3.00:

They are the Lantern Builder and Four Seasons die sets.  Also came across packages of the Really Reasonable Ribbons for $2.00 a piece and was able to find a couple to bring home:

and a couple of stamp sets:

with two other items:

Holly background stamp from Just Rite Stamps and a Sizzix die set for $3.00:

And a used bundle:

and two brand new Sizzix dies of the month sets:

Was happy I did not bring one piece of card stock home.... so happy about that....  After we left there we decided to stop for lunch before we headed home and happy where we ate lunch is near a Hobby Lobby.... here is my big purchase from their Clearance Section:

$2.00 for a bag of the bakers twine -- in the back of this bag is silver and gold bakers twine and those will work for Christmas craft projects....  Fun day shopping for new to me additions to the craft room.... now to get it all unpacked.....  hahaha

* * *   UPDATE * * *

Used Simple Green and cleaned up the new to me Stampin Up Big Shot machine and happy to say it works well:

Once I tried out the machine and it cut well all I had to do was pop off the black Sizzix tool caddy from my old Big Shot machine and put it on this one. Everything is back in place on the die cutting cart and off to die cut more BOO Day projects~~happy for $10.00 and a good cleaning all works well!

1st, 100th, FINALLY!!

** Photo transfer issues so will put on some photos from the camera rather than the ones on the phone**


WOO HOO!!!   FIRST Wegmans in North Carolina!! 100th of their stores!!  Wegmans has ARRIVED!!   Grand opening of the new Wegmans last Sunday in Raleigh, NC..... I waited two days and went on Tuesday.... here are photos:

So happy to have a Wegmans nearby again.... Wegmans has always done a "bit more" for their customers -- IE:  Apple signage in produce has the name of the apple, what the taste/texture is and maybe what it is best for - snacks, baking, cooking, etc:

Over in the Meat Dept they have plastic bags to slip your packaged meats in and their signage above that will tell you their pricing VS two other popular competitors in your area:



Plus they have a fresh Floral Shop, Bakery, various food bars, Cheese Shoppe, deli section, fish section, and on and on:

and so much more... you can order a pizza from the pizza shop, a sub from the sub shop, stop at the Sushi Bar, etc..  If you can't find it in this store then I am guessing you won't need it..... plus it sells a lot of groceries/brands the locals don't..... A fun stop for sure.... and as a shopper not only you get to have a fun shopping experience.... but in the end your grocery cart also gets a ride:

This is my grocery cart getting a ride on the cart escalator next to me on the way to the car in the ramp garage -- free parking (and shade - haha)..... LOVE they are here now and happy the DSD is on their management team at this store!! YAY!!

Autumn Cards

Late sending out the Autumn cards for this year....but when it is 96 degrees outside Autumn does not come to mind...

For the cards this year I used Autumn printed card stocks from my stash as well as a collage die. For the "Autumn" die cut piece I used a die set from Karen Burniston.  I die cut the word from glittered card stock. I also die cut this word from the pull top of a kleenex box to give the word some stiffness as well as depth. I covered the kleenex pull tab piece with Sticky Sheet and then die cut the words. Adhered these words behind the glittered words:

Here are photos of the cards with the various fall prints:

 For the glittered leaf I used an EK Success single leaf punch. The card base for this card is the #110 weight Kraft card stock from Mikes.  Had never used this before and it is a good weight for card bases. TFL