WOYWW #210

I'm so sorry I missed the last few weeks of WOYWW. My mother is selling her house in Massachusetts and moving to Maine permanently. We have been back and forth a lot, as well as helping her to get unpacked. Plus, I have been getting our summer shop open and watching it. I will try to visit as many people as I can, but with things so busy here, it may not be very many, since she is due back with more stuff this weekend. (She's 82, so I try to help her as much as possible). I may take a little break from WOYWW until fall, since I don't think it's fair for me to participate if I don't get a chance to visit as much as I should.

Anyway, here is how I have things set up in a room behind my shop at the moment. Right now, I have a set of shelves sitting on the counter with jars of flowers and bows in them. The large jars with the red covers on them are instant coffee jars our supermarket used to sell. They were wonderful for storing all sorts of things, but alas, the supermarket has changed to cheap plastic jars, and we can't get these any more. The rest of the jars are a couple of antique glass cookie jars which belonged to my grandmother, and a very old blue Mason Jar. There are also a few flat plastic containers with more bows and flowers, as well as assorted stuff.

On the left is my precious wooden box with scissors and other things I use every time I make cards, (the tape is what I use to tape down dies. It's easier to remove from that, than from the tape dispenser), as well as my wax paper for die cutting. On top of that is my favorite Core'dinations Pearl paper. I hope they haven't stopped making it, because I haven't found any other paper I like as well, and JoAnn's has stopped selling it. The paper is sitting on my sponge dauber box.

Next is a small notebook from Staples with JustRite stamps in it. On my cutting mat is a card I am working on. Behind that is a plastic container with embossing powder in it, and behind that are my cups of pencils, brushes, blending tools and embossing styluses, and some jars of Ranger Nibs.

Leaning up against the wall, are my Grand Calibur plates, trimmers, my scoreboard and various other cutting mats and things. On the right are a bone china cup I found in the stuff my mother is selling on a yard sale, (Her stuff is all in that same room). A decorated cigar box I am finishing is behind it with my ATG on top, and my Really Useful Box organizer thingy is to the right of that, with some other boxes I have stamped and am painting. Usually the Really Useful Boxes aren't right there, but I put them in the photo because I know Shaz Silverwolf likes them too! You can also see the end of my heat gun peaking out from behind them as well as scissors and a stamp on an acrylic block.

If you want to see what WOYWW is all about, go visit Julia at The Stamping Ground, and find out how you can snoop into people's craft rooms all over the world!

Oh, it's quite neat because I am so used to having to pick everything up all the time at home. Sometimes I leave everything out, but I am trying not to do that. I will try to do some visiting tonight. I was supposed to open the shop 15 minutes ago, but I haven't even left the house yet!

WOYWW #204

Gosh, I can't believe it's Wednesday again already! This is the fun day when we all get to snoop around each others craft spaces. If you want to take part, go visit our fearless leader Julia at The Stamping Ground!

For those who tried to find me last week, my number changed three times. First, I was 105 in the morning, then 110 in the afternoon, then 108 the next day. Sorry for the confusion! edit: it happened again this week. Yesterday I was #129. Today, I'm #128.

My desk seems to have many of the same things on it every week. I have to clean it off every session, but it seems to have so many of the same things because apparently these are the things I use the most.

This time I have three little desk cups instead of two. I got five of them at a dollar store last year, so rather than using my coffee cups to hold pens and other things, I use these. My brushes are still in one, but I divided my blending things into one cup, and anything I use frequently to draw with in another.

You can also see my latest trimmer. I got it for half price, and it is the one I like the best of all the ones I have. I still have to use my old ones sometimes though, because this one doesn't have metric measurements. This is the first Fiskers trimmer that hasn't had them. Sometimes I wish paper crafting would switch completely to metric so we all could be using the same dimensions and tools. I have used the metric system quite a few times for cards, and it seems to be a lot easier than fractions of an inch. Yeah, I'm in the US and used to our system, but I still find metrics easier for measuring. I've always found measurements like 7/16, 3/32, 3/8, etc a real pain. It's so much easier to get used to .3, .4, .5, etc.

My Yes! paste and cup of water with the paintbrush I use to spread it are always on my desk, and so are my antique box of frequently used things and my drawers of most used stamp pads. My little jar of Ranger nibs is also still there, along with another jar containing some makeup applicators I found at Walmart. They are cheap, and have a pointed end and a rounded flat end. The brand name is Swisspers. They come in a little plastic bag with 80 applicators, and work quite well.

On top of the drawers is a hanging file folder over stuffed with blue CS. You can also see a card I was working on, as well as one of the dies I used on it, a metal ruler, a pencil, my box of daubers, a gold Gellroll pen, my coffee cup, and a blade holder thingy.

Don't envy me too much on the daubers, they are getting worn out, and the last time I got any I bought two of the three packs. Unfortunately, our JoAnns and AC Moore must only have old ones, because they crumbled rather than blended. I bought the first pack at AC Moore, and when I went to JoAnns, I decided to buy another pack, so I thought I would have enough to last a while, but both packs were crumbly. I don't know what the girls in Bangor, Maine are using, but so many of the supplies there are really old. I've pretty much given up on Krylon pens. They are $8.69 each, and are dried out when you buy them. Some of the PenTouch pens are just as bad, which is why I've been using my gold Gellyrolls lately.

The blade holder is there because I worked for hours trying to make a mini album with complicated pages. It was something with flip and fold pages I had in my head that I never got quite right. Anyway, you must know how it is when you keep trimming something and then you inadvertently trim off the sides with the folds!!! After that, I decided to make a card instead!

I'll try to get around to as many of your desks as I can, it's still really hectic here!

WOYWW 203

We have been busy moving my mother, so there is nothing on my workdesk today.

My favorite part of snooping is seeing what everyone has for goodies, and how they store it, so I thought I would let you see most of my collection of Spellbinders, a few of my Marianne Dies, and a few Cheery Lynn dies, and how I store them. I have more, but I ran out of magnets, so they are still in notebooks.



All except the last photo are magnets mounted onto those cube things you get at Michaels. I just took whatever I had for magnets and attached them either with push pins, or double sided tape. These are temporary, since I move to our summer gift shop as soon as the weather warms up, and I will have to organize them all over again.

The bottom photo is a foam core board with magnets on it. I really like being able to see most of my dies, and being able to hold them over each other to see what works and what doesn't for mixing and matching. This would be a great system if I didn't have to keep moving everything. I would really like to completely cover a big surface like a door with magnets so I could display them all! In the second row of photos, you can see all of my flower dies organized together. In the first row, I have a side that is mostly the Spellbinders motifs and accents type sets.

I think where I have to move everything a few times a year, I may get more foam core and more vent magnets so they will be easier to move, then organize all my dies according to type, rather than having them on the sides of the cubes.

Anyway, if you have enough room, this is a really easy way to use your dies, and always be able to easily see what will fit with your projects!

If you don't know what WOYWW is, go on over and visit Julia at The Stamping Ground!

Strange, I was #105 this morning, but I just refreshed Julia's page, and I've jumped to #110 after putting my number as 105 on everyone's blogs this morning. I guess Katie will receive a lot of visits! I woke up this morning, and someone told me that I'm now #108, so my later visits and comments are sending everyone to Rhonda!

WOYWW #202

I'm back for my second WOYWW. I had so much fun getting to know so many of you last week, and I hope I can get to even more blogs this week! For those who don't know what I'm talking about, hop on over to see Julia's Stamping Ground!

For those who thought I was neat last week, it's only because I have to pick up after every session. There is also so little room, that I pile everything up on the sofa and coffee table while I'm working.

To the left of my desk, you can see my Cinch V2 standing on the floor, and a little cardboard box to throw scraps into, as well as a Xyron, both sitting on top of boxes of supplies.

To the right of the desk is a rocking chair with boxes of stuff and my wax paper. See, I'm really not neat at all!

New things on the desk that weren't there last week are a cup of coffee, two cards I was working on, some Brilliance stamp pads, a Studio G white stamp pad, an Anna Griffin stencil, and a bunch of sponge daubers in an organizer box. Everything else was identified on last week's WOYWW.

Behind the desk, you can see some rolls of glittered gift wrap that I stick onto white CS when I want cheap glittered paper, as well as a couple of rolls of really pretty paper I bought years ago at a paper mill. There are more boxes of stuff back there.

If I'm not here next week, it's because we didn't get home soon enough to participate. My mother is selling a house out of state, and we have to go help her move this weekend.

WOYWW #201

This is the first time I have participated in WOYWW. My blog friend Regina reminded me to take a picture of my desk before I clean it up so I could post it. I always love seeing everyone's desks, so I thought I'd show mine!

This is the card I just finished. I work on a table, and have to clean up after every session, so I had to take the photo the night before.

The stamps I used on the card are on the left. You can also see one of my Xyrons in the photo. The cup has water in it so my paintbrush wouldn't dry out before I cleaned it. I used that to spread the Yes! Glue on my card.

You can also see two mesh desk organizers, one holds small paint brushes and my aqua painters, and the other holds blending stumps and Fantastix and things.

The wooden box is one of my treasures. It belonged to a great aunt, and is very old. She gave it to me when I was a child. That's where I put scissors and other small things that I use every time I stamp. Next comes some Krylon Spray, and a little box with a push pin and some scraps in it. When I use my Spellbinders, I use the pushpin to poke out the little bits into the box. I empty the box into the waste basket when I clean up.

Next comes my heat gun, which is barely visible in the photo, and a set of plastic drawers where I keep my most used stamp pads. In front of that is my Yes! paste and a glue runner which doesn't stick. There is also some Mod Podge, some regular tape that I use to stick my Spellbinders down with when I don't need to use removable tape, my wax paper, which is my most important tool when using delicate dies, some scissors, a roll of dimensional tape, and a little plastic container of watercolor I made from PearlEx.

There is also a glass jar of Ranger Nibs, Glossy accents, and a pencil.

To see what WOYWW is all about, and visit everyone's desks, go here to Julia's Stamping Ground.