Mouse Trap Note Holder

Here is the result of my playing around with mouse traps. I'm going to give it to my friend Rachael today at lunch, so I had to take a picture of it as the others are not finished  yet. I really stink at taking photos of artwork and cards. I can't for the life of me figure that out. I take good pictures of landscapes and anything outside. Yes, I've tried taking photos of cards outside too. It really does look better in real life. I got the idea from Pinterest. Here is the source: http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2012/02/make-mouse-trap-magnet-clips/

Here's my version. Don't get too excited about the coupon. I've spent my arts and crafts budget for this month. I just need to get tape refills, nothing fun.

Reorganization is Complete

My studio reorganization is now complete, and it made me so happy:) I tried to be finished yesterday, but I saw a three drawer unit on sale in Walmart for 12.88 and it was just crying for me to take it home. I tried to resist, I really did. I walked away and drove home.... and I kept thinking of how that unit would make it so much easier because it has drawers that could be simply pulled out to get to things instead of unstacking and restacking boxes every time I wanted something. Plus, it would allow me to eliminate one of the two layers in a couple desk drawers. That is efficient right? It was only 12 dollars, and it came in blue and you know how I love blue right?. So this morning I went back after it. I practiced my calligraphy skills making labels for the drawers too.

You can see my stash of matboard and foam core on the right leaning up against boxes of Christmas decorations. The tree is in the large box on the left of my stuff.

I won!!!! I organized, and I Played With Mousetraps

I'm so excited!! I won the challenge at Impression Obsession!!! Doin' the Happy Dance:)  I just LOVE their stamp images. I now have a gift certificate and you should have seen me looking at their stamps. I was drooling all over the keyboard:)

No, the mousetraps didn't have any mice in them, they were clean. Otherwise I couldn't have touched them. When I was a kid and lived on a farm, we'd get mice sometimes. Whenever one got caught in the trap, Mom and I would sweep it up into a dust pan and take it to the burn barrel (where we burned paper trash). Then we'd burn the dead mouse, trap and all, with the papers.  We NEVER touched a trap or a dead mouse. Mom said they had germs and were icky and I believed her of course. Oh, so why am I playing with mouse traps? Well I'm making something with new, clean, unused mouse traps. I bought them at Lowes and then took them out to my husband's shop so I could operate on them. I found some plyer grabby thingys and performed a trapectomy. I removed the plastic gizmo that the bait goes on, then, I removed the trigger gadget. Next, I used a sanding block to sand off the picture of a mouse and the words. I remembered to carefully put the tools back where I found them after wiping them off of course. I painted them with spray paint. As soon as they are dry, I'm going to glue a magnet on the back and a stamped image on the front, and put some designs on with my paint pens. Then I'll take them back out to the shop and put some sort of varnish or spray clear coat over the top - which ever I can find. See I don't want to ASK himself,  because then he'll just take over and do it for me. Which takes all the fun out of it ya know? Do you know what I'm making yet?  A note holder! You magnet it to the fridge or the storm door, and the killing/snapper bar holds the paper note for you.

I have been reorganizing my studio and I found the best idea on Pinterest. You take 2-gallon zippy bags and clip them to pant hangers. Then you can hang them in the closet.

Now I can use that wasted space better. The closet in my studio also houses the Christmas ornaments.

All the stuff in these boxes are now in the hanging bags and the box below.

This box holds all my jewelry making stuff and all my Vera Bradley patterns can stay together and be pretty.

I got all my binders and catalogs off the floor, on these shelves, turned the card basket around to the front, and all the boxes that I covered with this book print can be together and match. Yeah, I know I am such a dork!

Spellbinders' Inventory List

Disclaimer: I'm not claiming this is error-free. I don't know about retired dies. I have it in PDF format that my computer can read. Your computer may be MAC, or a different version of Microsoft Windows, or you can be using a different web browser. I hope you will be be able to view it.

A very sweet, generous lady on Split Coast Stampers put this together a while back. Her version was a PDF also and I was not able to convert it to Word so that I could simply add the new dies that just came out. I had to start alllll over, copying Brenda's information then add the new ones. It took me 6 days!

I wanted a list like this because the way Spellbinders' website is organized is difficult for me to use when searching for products that I may want to find a new home for. I guess their organization just doesn't fit my brain. When I saw Brenda's spreadsheet I thought aha! This is something that I can use. I'm not posting it on Split Coast because I saw how Brenda was inundated with requests for various formats and changes and additions. Bless her heart, she worked her tail off to accommodate everyone's special needs. I'm simply not able to do that. I thought if I shared it on my Blog, I could avoid the special requests. I do hope it is something that you can use.   

Spellbinders' inventory list.

Calendar

I saw this on Becca Feeken's website, and made that version below. I thought about working in white, but I love blue! It's been my favorite color since kindergarten. Besides, I'm totally allergic to white. I don't even wear white EVER. Why you ask? If there is a speck of dirt, a drop of ink or a speck of food within a 5 mile radius, it will find its way to my white clothing or artwork. I am a magnet when I'm around white, stains and accidents just find me. I scanned this but the colors don't show well. In real-life it looks better. However, I'm not happy with the front yet. I think I need a different ribbon. Maybe silk to show more contrast. I also have some old jewelry, perhaps a piece of silver-tone would look better behind the bow. I'm going to make some changes tomorrow and I'll post the improved version.

 

Update 3/8/2012: Improved Cover I just finished. Those sparkly fake diamonds are to cover up the glue dots! They were in a piece of old costume jewelry. I just pried them out. I have a friend that saves broken, old, remaining half of lost earrings etc for me. She saves up until she has a box full and passes them on to me. Don't you just love girlfriends?

Fred Mullet is coming to SC!!

I'm so excited that Fred is coming to my area! He will be at Carolina Stamper, in Beaufort in April. He makes rubber stamps from real fish and plant prints. His samples below were embossed and "painted" with different colors of embossing powders. I want to take his class:)

If you like the samples below, from Fred's website, check out more: http://www.fredbmullett.com/mullett/index.htm

Studio Reorganization

As I've told y'all before, I am a neat freak who loves to organize.... but I have secret shhh.... My closets are often messy 

See, when I clean or pick up the rooms in our house I often toss things in a closet and close the door!!!  You know, outa sight, outa mind.

When I first started teaching I was totally overwhelmed with the amount of paper work and projects that needed to be done but could never get caught up. Our school secretary, Lois, taught me never to have 'to do' piles of paperwork. She said to always file/store everything the minute you get it, or stuff would get lost in that 'to do' pile. Boy was she right! I caught myself doing that the other day. I have a bunch of projects that I'm currently working on all spread out on the futon in my studio..... bad bad I put all the projects away in the themed storage boxes and made a quick list of the projects I'm working on, on a sticky note. 

Then I opened the closet door... yee gads!! 

I just spent the last two hours cleaning out and reorganizing my closet, and rearranging a few things in my studio. I found stuff behind the Christmas boxes I didn't know I had!! I promptly moved some of the Christmas things to our son's old room. It's the guest room now, and that closet is not full (evil grin). I went out to my husband's shop to see what I could 'borrow' for storage instead of spending money that would be happier being spent on art supplies or clothes. See, even my money has a mind of its own. I knew I'd put some old milk crates in the shop and those would be great for the closet. Well wouldn't you know my darling husband had things in all of them. He was even using the big plastic storage box I brought home from school last summer. He's the saver, I throw everything away if I haven't used it recently. I probably had more milk crates and threw them away. As I came back in the house I walked past my purse..... and I could have sworn I heard a very faint sniffle. I told you that money really didn't want to spent on boring ole' storage stuff!  I got busy reorganizing what was in the closet. I did make a lot of improvements. My studio is much more functional now and it looks better too

But you know, I sure would love to have about 4 milk crates. They would fit the narrow space perfectly and I could have more vertical storage....