One Stamptastic Weekend!

What did you do this weekend?  Did you have nice weather?  Our weather was pretty yucky, which made for the perfect weekend for some stamping!  Saturday morning I hosted a Stamp A Stack at my home.  My summer group is generally quite a bit smaller than the rest of the year - but this particular group was a lovely one and we had great fun. 

Mariah and Heather are a mother and daughter stamping team (below left).  I swear that Mariah (age 12) is a future demonstrator.  She takes my card ideas and comes up with creative twists for them!  Alison (below right) stamped with us for the first time, and she's pretty much a pro already!  She won the door prize - the "Of the Earth" stamp set.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with with it!

Janet (in yellow) has been stamping for 15 years (or more!) but was new to my Stamp A Stack's Saturday.  She was so much fun and we just loved having her!

Since the new catalog comes out in just a couple of weeks I did some major organizing and cleaning out on Sunday.  I purchased these totes for 50% at JoAnn's (came out to $4 each!) and labeled them for each of the SU color families.  And yes - there's my kitty Mizzy in the background!

What an attention hog!  : )  Anyways, I organized my cardstock and my scraps into the new color families and arranged it in the totes.  I REALLY hope I can keep it organized like this!

I've told you before that Mizzy is my crafting kitty, right?  She LOVES some cardstock and ink!

I put together a lot of cardstock that I'm getting rid of.  All of the 81/2x11 cardstock below is up for grabs because these colors are retiring.  At my new catalog party in July I'll be selling this for 5 sheets for a dollar!

I also put together a bunch of scrap packs - of pre-folded cards, designer series paper, and cardstock - all in retiring colors and designs.  These are up for grabs for $1 a bag as well.  You can see all of them on my Facebook page by clicking HERE.  Want me reserve some for you?  Live out of town but want to buy some and have me mail them to you?  Just drop me a line at joanneroehm@yahoo.com

And finally, I did some actual crafting myself!  I put together these invitations for my aforementioned New Catalog party...

I miscalculated (by a lot!) and ran out of ribbon about half way through.  I think I actually like the ones WITHOUT ribbon the best - you can see the beautiful paper better!

All in all, pretty productive eh?  Let's hoping I'm setting the tone for a productive WEEK this week!  Happy Monday, everyone!

Guest Post Series: A Knitter's Bag of Tricks

I constantly find myself in awe of the wonderfully talented people I encounter daily - especially here in the land of blogging.  I share links to some of the fabulous projects I come across each weekend in my Week in Review posts, and now on (most) Wednesday's... at least for a awhile... I'm going to be going a step further and inviting one of those creative folks to guest blog here at Ready, Set, Craft!  For my first post in this Wednesday series, I'm thrilled to welcome Marie-Jolie of Permission to Unwind... enjoy!

I'm a bag lady, I can't deny it.  A passionate knitter has to have her bases covered, and my knitting bag keeps me sane in the midst of life's detours.  Waiting in line?  No problem.  The kids' soccer game went into overtime?  No big deal.  Trapped in an elevator for six hours?  Piece of cake.

Every knitter has her/his own idea of what constitutes portable knitting sanity, but here's a sneak peak into my bag of tricks.  After seeing my secrets, I think you'll agree that I'm the next best thing to a Boy Scout in an emergency.

It’s hard to believe this all fits into that little bag, isn’t it? I’ve been at this bag thing since I was a child, so I have it down to a science. (Whether this wins me bragging rights or merely serves as further proof that I need to join a support group is of some debate among my friends and readers.) If you want to create your own portable knitting treasury, I recommend starting with a bag that you absolutely love.  I have about twenty bags (gasp!) that I use for various reasons (most of them knitting-related), but the Dick & Jane bag is my mainstay. 

A closer look at what's inside...

I like to keep ample reading with me... A book or two of knitting inspiration, and a basic portable knitting stitch dictionary (in case I feel like being extra creative).  In my opinion every knitter's bag should include good reading material on the off chance that you sprain your hand, run our of yarn, or simply lose your mojo.

I keep a little zipper pencil case for spare needles, a yarn needle (to weave in ends), cable needles, and a crochet hook or two (sometimes helpful in a knitting emergency).

In a little plastic tote I keep a calculator, measuring tape, tissues, a notepad, sticky notes, spare stitch markers, rubber bands, an a drinking straw (cut into two pieces).  Here's the what and why:

Calculator:  It's inevitable that I will end up having to calculate a stitch count, calculate gauge, or figure out a different size for the project I am working on.

Measuring tape:  I've discovered that guessing the number of inches you've completed is not nearly as foolproof as one might hope.

Tissues:  Everyone needs tissues.  Knitter or not.

Notepad:  This is where I write down new ideas for designs, adjustments I'm making to a pattern, or grocery lists.

Sticky notes:  These are great for little notes that I want to post on the side bar of a book or pattern...or when I want to pass notes in the line at the post office.

Stitch markers:  I have a tendency to lost stitch markers, so I try to always keep extras with me.

Rubber bands:  These are great for binding needles together so that they don't stab into other things in my bag or poke a hole through the bottom (ask me how I know that this can happen...)  They can also double as a point protector or turn a double point needle into a single point needle by wrapping tightly arund one end of the needle to create a barrier to the stitches don't fall off.

Plastic drinking straw:  No, I'm not pulling your leg.  I keep a straw or two with me on the off chance that I lose ALL of my stitch markers.  I can use scissors to snip off little rings from the straw and have extra markers whenever I need them (a little trick I learned from my grandmother).  This also comes in handy if you buy a drink at a restaurant dive through and they forget to give you a straw.

MP3 Player:  Books on CD, music, you name it.  With this little gizmo on hand I can simultaneously knit fabulous things and brush up on my french.

I also keep a homemade sewing kit (with scissors).  You never know when a needle, thread and scissors will be required.  (Like, for example, if you are stranded on an island and have to perform an emergency procedure to close a wound.  I'm just saying...)
 

This little drawstring pouch (a gift from a friend) is perfect to keep track of my current small project.  I always bring a spare ball of yarn (on the chance that I magically knit through the one ball in record time... I'm nothing if not optimistic).  This rests nicely inside the knitting bag and protects my work from wonkiness.

Last but not least, in case I need to bring more than one project with me, I slip my entire Dick & Jane bag into a larger bag.  This behavior embarrasses my husband, but I do it anyway.

Stop snickering.


Head over to Marie-Jolie's blog, Permission to Unwind, to read more about her knitting projects and adventures!

Magazine Decoupage Sketch Book

I like to keep organized, but sometimes I find that my craft projects and supplies take on lives of their own!  It's so hard to keep everything straight!

I was inspired by Lolly to start keeping a sketch book.  I'm using it as a place to pull together all of my ideas and brainstorming for some of my bigger projects like the bug birthday party, and a baby shower I'm working on (more on that, later!)

This sketch book isn't for my day to day projects, just the ones that require several weeks (or more!) of planning.  That way, I can cut and paste pictures and ideas I find online and in magazines along with swatches of paper and fabric I'm using and so on.

I wanted to spruce up the front of the sketchbook, and decided to kick it old school.  Since I have stacks of these sitting around...

 

 I busted out my scissors and mod podge to turn this...

Into this...

 

I can't even begin to count the number of middle school journals and notebooks I covered this way when I was younger... although the images I used back then were straight out of teeny bopper mags and goodness knows what else.  This is more of a grown up take on teeny bopper I guess... and I use the term "grown up" lightly!

Anyone else see the irony in me making a project out of the book that I'm supposed to be organizing my projects in??  Yup, that's how I roll people!

PS)  I'm guest blogging over at Making Lemonade today... head HERE to check it out.  And be sure to check out Carrie's wonderful blog while you're there - she has everything from baby stories (one adorable gal and a new little one on the way!) to recipes and crafty stuff to home makeover projects and more!

Craftypod Project Keepers

 

I see lots and lots of projects on blogs that I "file away for later" because they are such wonderful ideas.  Some of them I know I'll never try, but I save them anyway.  Some I have every intention of trying, but for one reason or another I never do.  And then rarely, very rarely, there comes a project that I feel like I must drop everything I'm doing and try it right now!

When I saw Diane at Craftypod's post and tutorial on Project Keepers (I first posted about it HERE) I knew it was a must-do-now type of project.  After all, I had had some oil cloth in my stash for at least six months just waiting to be put to use!

  

I didn't make the tags like she did... I was in a bit of a hurry.  I used sticky labels to close my keepers... but when I have more time I am going to add some velcro I think.  Here's to keeping me at least a little bit more organized!  Yippee!