Wednesday, August 21, 2019

A Look Into My Craft Studio and Into My Crafting Past

More of My Craft Studio & Starbucks Inspiration


While I had a short introduction into card making and papercrafting when my husband and I were stationed abroad in Iceland many many years ago, it was not something I embraced to do on my own. 



It was about 4 or 5 years ago when I ventured onto the Stampin' Up! Website looking for ink refills for a set of pads I had for over 10 years. This is when I found out that a demonstrator lived down the street from me and I started going to her classes. That lasted for about a year before she decided not to continue with Stampin' Up! 

It was too late for me as the excitement of the creative process set me out on a journey to find out what I did not know I needed. I soon joined Stampin' Up! to have an outlet that allowed me to offer classes. 

It was not long before I kicked my beautiful boys out of the basement that had become the local pubescent hangout.  One that needed regular scrubbing, which my boys lacked the forethought or motivation to participate. I threw out the sofa of no return, packed up the video games and relocated them to their appropriate preadolescent owners that had their own available spaces in each of their rooms and begin constructing a personal creative space where my friends could come and find an outlet to create while getting away from the rigmarole of every day.

If you have not taken part in previous posts, you will have to get caught up on the other shared images of my craft studio. I do believe everything needs a place, which makes it easier to find what I need when I need it and to quickly and easily put it back in its place when I am done using it. 

Forgive the quality of the photograph. I am in the process of blogging even though there are a great many things to learn ;)
Here is a shelf, one of two sitting on each side of my cutting station. I store various types of paper for different crafting mediums, stamps, all my copier supplies and a hodgepodge of other supplies, folders, books, and memorabilia.

I love twine and that is located and displayed on the top of the shelving unit. 

Underneath the unit lies Floyd's (our dog) feeding bowls. They are out of the way when they are not in used, but of coarse, any crafting studio must make room for the other members of the family, our dog and cat members anyway. Just kidding, husbands and children are allowed too!



This Stampin' Up! bundle is called Humming Along. It was included in the 2019 Occasions Catalog. It is a retired set, but one I elected to use.

In the past two years, I have collected a great many stamp sets. I have not had the time or opportunity to use all of them, nor am I ready to get rid of them. I plan on using everything in my collection in the future. Am I alone in this??? I have not stopped buying, but when I need a certain something special, I often find it in my retired stash, so how can I possibly part with any of them?!

The background splatters also comes from a retired set, the much beloved Gorgeous Grunge. In the 2019 Creativity Calling Catalog you will find the Tropical Dies (146831) used above.


The hummingbird was colored using Stampin' Blends and was thoroughly coated with glossy accents, which I love, love, love.

To finish the card, I curved a couple of diagonally opposing corners, added a Balmy Blue piece of cardstock to peek out below the Whisper White Cardstock (100730) with the mounted image. I used Stampin' Dimensional (104430) for a select number of cut out images to add dimension and finally, all of this was adhered to a Thick Whisper White Folding card base (140272).


How fun is this card! I am not sure why some of projects stand out as one of my favorites, but this set did. There were originally five, I gave one to my mom for her birthday in July before I got around to photographing them. 


The layers start with my Thick Whisper White card base, next is piece of Blackberry Bliss Cardstock (133675) topped with a slightly smaller piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock (101650). This layer was stamped with lines in Pumpkin Pie (147086).    


The cups and star bursts from the retired Hug in a Mug Stamp Set are stamped in Blackberry Bliss (147092). Of course, I added a little glossy accents over the inner part of the mugs.


A combination of squares and inlaid circle are created using Lovely Words Thinlits (143733)Blackberry Bliss (133675) and Mango Melody (1469898) cardstock are used. The lines in the focal image are also stamped in Pumpkin Pie (147086). Stampin' Dimensionals (104430) popped up the focal image adding extra interest.  


A fussy cut spoon was stamped in Blackberry Bliss, dressed with a bow made from Linen Thread (104199) and popped up with Stampin' Dimensional (144108). A few corners were rounded using my Envelope Punch Board, but any rounding tool will do the trick. Stampin' Up! has a Detailed Trio Punch (146320) that has a a rounding punch.

Well, what do you think? Will you be running to Starbucks to check out the gift cards that are displayed this season? I hope these projects inspire you to find inspiration everywhere you go...

Until next time, follow my blog and stop by my online store to find all the tools and supplies you need to make whatever inspires you.

💗 Vally

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