Fun & Messy Friday

There's just something FUN about Fridays.  I think it is the promise of the weekend to come.   This week I have been working on a few things behind the scenes.   There are a few projects I have to share with you from my sewing room.  Check back in tomorrow to see those.

In my stamp room I have been doing some purging and organizing.  WARNING, graphic picture ahead.  Ugh!  Not for the faint of heart.  It's too scary for the general public.

Perhaps this will motivate me to take some after pictures before I mess it up again.  Those white organizers finally arrived from Organize More.  I bought them on black Friday when they were having their huge after Thanksgiving sale.  Apparently I wasn't the only one because it took a couple of months for them to ship.  I'm excited to get my dies, stencils, clear stamps and embellishments put away in something I can easily flip through to find what I need.  I won a $100 gift card to Organize More, so I think I will get another one of the organizers on the left.  Embossing Folders and More Caddy link

I was hoping to fit my papers and stamps in both organizers, but the storage pockets I have are too large for the one on the right.  Thankfully my dies SU mat stacks, many of my stencils and several embellishments fit perfectly! Card Supplies and More link  Please let me know what you would buy from Organize More if you had $100 to spend.  :)  I'm VERY pleased with the high quality wood they used.  These pieces will last me a long time.

The challenge this week at StampNation was the keyword "Love".  It took my 5 tries to come up with a card I liked.  The watercolor technique I was working on with Distress markers was NOT working.  Ugh!  Don't you hate when that happens?

 My plan was to put a "love" die cut in between color washed and embossed flowers.  That plan just wasn't coming out on paper.

Finally I scrapped it and came up with something I love.  (no pun intented)  Here is a sneak peek.   You can see the full card, inspiration photo and design team interpretations as well as member submissions HERE.

It is based on the sketch from Stampin' Celebration.  Clicky  I was hoping to get a video or two made this week, but that didn't happen.  Perhaps next week.  :) Sometimes we all struggle in the creative process and that's ok!  For me it is important to never give up.  Change direction, yes, but keep trying.

Speaking of StampNation, we chose Operation Write Home to sponsor for our birthday bash and asked members to consider donating some of the cards they made during the bash to OWH.  Cards have begun pouring in.  I am collecting cards from those who have not donated before so I can add the OWH stamp and make sure they fit all the OWH guidelines before sending them on to this fabulous organization.  Here's my dining room table.  Isn't this fun?!  I love seeing what these ladies created and I've got more ideas to CASE from than I have time to stamp.

This feels like a very "messy" post, so I'm going to leave you with a cute picture of our kitties and then get back to organizing and putting away.  We got this cat tree recently.  Usually the kittens take turns being on top, but a couple of nights ago they decided to "share" the top spot.  It cracked me up!  I'm so glad I had my phone in my hand to capture them before they jumped down. They are getting big fast and won't be kittens much longer.