Oklahoma Tornado Relief Campaign

Today I joined my son to watch his "Catch of the Week" presentation at school. He shyly pointed to his big fish poster filled with baby pictures and favorite things lists, then blushed and whispered "thank you" through a compliment circle as all his classmates took turns saying something nice about him. His smile at the end was radiant. Then I rushed home to get back to working on my Extravaganza projects. Right now I can hear the little boys downstairs giggling with the babysitter.

In Oklahoma, the funerals are beginning. As Rachel from Finding Joy wrote, it's a Mile of Perspective for sure. Her essays always touch my heart. This time I was in tears before I even read her words. I bought her book. It's amazing.

CTMH is making this stamp set from the upcoming Autumn/Winter 2013 Idea Book available for early purchase. One hundred percent of profits from sales of this stamp set from May 23 to June 30 will be donated to the American Red Cross to aid tornado victims in Oklahoma. It's $3. I'm going to buy a bunch to bundle with 2x2 blocks to have on hand for teacher gifts and friendly thank yous for the many wonderful folks who touch our lives.It's one small thing I can do. I opened a party for OK Relief orders on my website. My full commission from those orders will be donated to the Red Cross efforts as the orders come in. It's another small thing I can do.

Stay safe. Hug your littles (and your bigs). Be grateful. Enjoy life.

Practical Scrappers Practical Storage

Today over at Practical Scrappers we are doing a feature on crafty storage. I'm focusing on my Ribbon Cube. This was originally a shoe storage cube, but I re-purposed it into ribbon storage using clear plastic jars. The quart jars hold small ribbon rolls, scraps, trims, and pre-made bows sorted by color. 

Behind the jars I stack bigger/full rolls of ribbons and trims, also sorted by color. I will probably hoard that roll of CTMH black gingham ribbon for eternity...

On top of the ribbon cube I have a lazy susan from IKEA. I topped it with spice jars. These I filled with buttons sorted again by color. I'm moving all my storage over to ROYGBIV. Dontcha love that I needed an extra jar just for Rhinestone Buttons? In the middle of the jars I stack 3-D foam tape rolls, glue dots, and other special adhesives. 

And for you inquiring minds, the little three drawer desktop organizer on top of the ribbon box is filled with Glitter Glitz, Stickles, and my spray pens. And lest you think my counter-top in front is always that clean...I just shoved all the projects in progress to one side so it would look tidy for the photograph. I am truly an organized disaster. You're welcome.

I'm a Practical Scrapper!

I'm so excited about today's post - my first ever post for Practical Scrappers! I've been watching these clever ladies scrap and paper craft for a long time, and I'm so honored to be a part of the team now. I'll be working on the Ten Things team, which is my FAVORITE feature. Woo!

For today's Ten Thing feature we are focused on Titles. Make sure you pop out to Practical Scrappers to see all the other fabulous title ideas! For my page I cut CS letters on the Cricut with my Artiste Cartridge  then stitched over them with a double length of sewing thread. I popped up the second part of the title on a little Dream Pop 1/2" banner I cut on my trimmer and popped that with a bit of washi tape I found at the Paper Issues store. That banner cluster at the top is cut out of the Dream Pop B&T base for my page, flipped over and I covered the "BEAUTIFUL" sentiment with one of the quotes from the zip strip.

I also used the Practical Scrappers May Sketch for my layout inspiration. I chose the hexagon resist CS from the Dream Pop paper packet, but I inked Outdoor Denim Ink to bring out the pattern and bring down the brightness level of these cheerful papers. I'm still working my way through my pile of Printsagram prints, and I love scrapping these random square photos of cute things the boys have done. 

I {heart}Instagram! I'm posting under Stamping Rules...Leave your Instagram name in the comments so I can follow you too!

Thanks a bunch!

Hi, Stampin' Friends! I'm in crafty hibernation with my big box of goodies from CTMH to work on my Extravaganza projects, so you won't be seeing a lot form me over the next couple weeks.  I do have some fun projects lined up to share though, starting with this June SOTM card for my Team Lunch next week! Since I can't have the girls over as my Stamp Pad is covered with all kinds of top secret, we're meeting up for a team lunch and card swap. I {heart} my team!

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for my card design. Then I went looking for color inspiration, which I found at the Play Date Cafe. I didn't have anything in that yummy Jade Color, so I used Juniper CS stamped with polka dots and sanded down within an inch of it's life to lighten the color. I spent a lot of time pondering how to fill that space above my watercolored flowers...I wanted it empty, but no SO empty... Then I got my new email from Paper Issues about their die cut Linky Party and I thought, "Of course! Die Cut clouds!". So there they are.

Congrats to our Friday Favorite Things Winner, Jill Davis! Your stamps will be on the way!

Claire Pages for June's Club Kit

Ah, flowers. I totally {HEART] flowers on scrapbook pages. I have three boys, and they get flowery scrapbook pages too, at least for now while they are still young. When I was working on the pages for the Monthly Memories Clair kit for June I was also following along with the Big Picture Classes NSD online challenges, so this page is going to hold the pics of some of my favorite things, since I'm often left out of these scrapbooks I'm creating. 

These flower corners are a combo of the Claire Assortment flowers and some paper flowers I crafted using shapes from Art Philosophy. I topped them off with some chunky Artisan Studs. And I'm linking up to the Heart 2 Heart May Flowers Challenge.

I did some combo action on the title on this page, trimming apart the Claire Canvas Complements and adding in a bit of the Kraft Keyboard Alpha stickers. I especially loved the stitched word tabs, which I notched with banner tips. while I haven't gotten my pics printed quite yet, you'll note it's already journaled, as this page will hold pics from our Beach Blast Beach Retreat last February. I cannot wait to go again next year - registration is now open!!

These final two pages for our June Claire kit I was inspired by this fabulous Dream Pop layout by Pamela O'Connor. The SOTM this month are these adorable pinwheels, which my kiddos just L.O.V.E., so I know I'll get great pics to add here. There are two 5x7 photo wells, but I'll probably be adding four 3.5x5 photos instead...or maybe even a mini booklet of 4x6's using Flip Flaps. I like lots of pics! Now I'm all ready for my Scrappin' Ladies to come over to play in June!

P.S. Want to join in on the Claire Monthly Memories Club Kit? Check out general info here, or contact me for questions or to RSVP!