A Pinterest Curator's Apology

The last few evenings I have been elbows deep in Pinterest looking at all the cards I have pinned. I joined the social media site because it is perfect for hoarders who don't want to clutter up their homes. Unfortunately, as with hoarding at home, sometimes you have to purge and organize electronic collections too.

My apologies
At 1,000+ pins the Cards board became overwhelming. The cards have been repinned into the categories below to make finding what you are looking for easier. The Cards board has 321 followers and the individual boards each have 150 followers. I didn't want 171 followers to lose the cards they liked on the original board. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Each new board is linked here:

Baby
Birthday
Christmas
Congrats/encouragement/support
Fancy folds/pop-ups
Geek/tech
Get Well/Sympathy
Girlfriends
Image
Layout/sketches
Love
Masculine
Missing you
Punches/die cuts/embossing folders
Sentiments
Shaped cards
Stamps I own
Technique
Thank you
Thinking of you/hi
Washi tape
Wedding/anniversary


Happy Crafting,

Card Maker & Pinterest Curator

Playing catch up

Best intentions

Sometimes no matter how good your intentions are you fail. Stuff happens and takes your focus, energy, and/or desire away. I had every intention of posting regularly to the blog and even more regularly to Instagram. Well, I got the Instagram part right, sort of. I try to make a card or cards every day but writing a blog post each day isn't happening. I just don't have that much to say.  Posting to Instagram is so much quicker, easier, and more practical for what I do. If you want to see those daily please follow me here: https://www.instagram.com/katemade.designs/ 

I am still working on the "Use Every Stamp Challenge" so I am not able to purchase new stamps, even though my wish list is long. Here is the link to my wish list on Pinterest. I am not allowed to purchase new stuff but nothing was said about receiving new stamps as a gift.

Being Social

I have recently joined some crafty groups on Facebook. One of my favorites is Stamping Enablers. I think I found my people y'all. I've learned things. I've been in conversations and I've even won a stamp set. The sentiment and kitty from this card are both from the Art Impressions set Loving Feline. The shoes are from Claudine Hellmuth and the rest is me just cutting paper and coloring with Copic Markers.

I plan to make several of these cards for The Tree House Humane Society. I can't volunteer there. Can't even walk in the place because of allergies. But I love cats and want to help find homes for them if I can. I have not been able to attend their fundraisers. But I can make cards, with my friend who does volunteer there, to sell in their gift shop.

Organization Tip

One of the topics in the Stamping Enablers group is organization. But then isn't it always a topic among paper hoarders crafters. Storing stuff so it's accessible is huge for me and there was a discussion recently about storing blending foams that go on those Ranger blending tools. Divided boxes were popular but I have a system that I found works great for me.

I only have 2 blending tool handles and I don't have a lot of room to store more. I have a foam for each color I own because if you use the same foam for multiple colors it really muddies up the ink pads. I stamped the ink color on a slip of cardstock and used the blending tool to add color to the end of the card. After writing the color name on the card I slipped it and the foam into a badge holder. Once they were all colored, stamped and labeled I put them on a binder ring. I added another ring to the first ring so I can hang it on the knob under my drafting table.

Happy Crafting,

Lovin Feline Set

Sparco Book Ring, 3-Inch Diameter, 10 per Box, Silver (SPR01441)

ADVANTUS Proximity Badge Holder, Horizontal, 3-3/8 x 2-3/8

InLinkz.com

WOW WOYWW

My first class in web design and animation was supposed to happen tonight but the school has been closed because of the blizzard. So grateful because my car cannot be moved. To see more picture you can go to my Blizzard 2011 set on Flickr.

My car is not going anywhere any time soon. Someone stole my shovel

Now on to the main event. The reorganization of my craft space.

Click to see larger image.

First I thought I should move the bulletin board out from behind the door. How inspired can I be by something I can't even see? I removed a lot of junk and added some organization stuff. The To Due section is for things that have a deadline. The Ideas section is for images and notes that don't make it into my notebook. The row of envelops above Ideas contain cards with timed activities for  when I need a bit of direction/inspiration. Here is a sampling of the cards:

• Journal
• Read for pleasure - sometimes I need to be reminded.
  
• Make a card with Glitter on it - yes I need to be told to do this.
• Make a card with ribbon on it - yes I need to be told to do this too.
• Clean off a work surface - I generally only clean off the space I need when I need it.
• Finish an altered project - I am good and getting things started but this year's one little word is Complete and hopefully this will help me complete things.

Click to see larger image.

Several WOYWW visitors have commented on how organized the space above my desk was and I was happy with the set up to a point. But I got tired of being hit by falling punches and stray wood mount stamps. I decided to rearrange to minimize the damage to me and my supplies caused by, well, gravity.

I have always been jealous of those who organize their punches on Ikea Bygel rails. Well I decided to see if I could do that too. The holes don't match those in the peg board but the pegboard hooks worked ok to attach it – Yea!. I also wanted to move the pencils so they were no longer in shadows, and moved the distress inks so they were within easy reach.

I removed the organizer I was using for ink and sponges from the pegboard because I had trouble reaching everything anyway and put it where the bulletin board was and put shelves there so that nothing everything would be easy to get to.
We'll see how this new set up works out in the coming weeks. So far so good.

Of course I have to show off a project so here's a page I worked on at a crop recently. I have had a lot of bad luck lately but when I stop to think about it each bad turn could have been a lot worse. Each episode turned out to be the best case scenario, financially, so I scrapped them all on this page. The faulty carbon monoxide detector, the knee injury, the plumbing problem, and when I find the key tag from the car repairs I will add that too. I guess I really am blessed.

The particulars

Paper: patterned paper from Stampin' Up!, Solid papers Summer sun and Only Orange. Die cut from Silhouette and Spellbinders. Happy Crafting,

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*Edited to add Flickr link.

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