May 2009 ~ A Paper Buffet

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Change of A Dress

4:03 PM Steph 6 comments

One of my best friends asked me to make some change of address cards for her Nana. I thought it was perfect to use my ‘little black dress’ stamp. I swear I bought the “change of a dress” sentiment with the dress stamp, however, I couldn’t find it. So I used the computer for the sentiment.

I went back to the classic Black and White for this card, I just think that dress is so cute in black!

I used my nesties and added some white satin ribbon tags and some bling of course! DP is Me and My Big Ideas.

I’m a busy little bee today, the balcony garden is almost done, I have to finish the inside of the cards with Nana’s new address and I’m making spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight!

Happy Sunday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: custom order,Etsy,A Paper Buffet,handmade cards

Foto Friday 16: The Berlin Wall

7:46 AM Steph 1 comment

Happy Friday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: Friday,Foto Friday,Berlin,Berlin Wall,Germany

And the Winner is…

6:00 PM Steph 1 comment

#6- Joyce! Joyce, email me your addy (apaperbuffet@rogers.com) and I’ll order your gift card on Michaels.com to be sent to you.

Thank you to all the comments, I’m going back to comment on them later this evening (had a long day driving for work today, need a little rest).

I also wanted to give a big Thank you! to Jen at {iheart2stamp}. I won her SFYTT on May 2nd with

<-----this card

I was totally shocked that I had won, and today I opened my mailbox and found a little present waiting for me :)

I had to take the photo on my chair in my office because my photo box wasn’t big enough!

There’s some gorgeous paper, tonnes of ribbon, buttons, dew drops flowers, brads, a bottle cap! (totally psyched to use that somehow) chipboard and some more goodies. Thanks Jen!

Happy Thursday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: blog candy,iheart2stamp

TTIC # 33 Quotes from New Moon

7:44 PM Steph 13 comments

Rub your eyes. Blink. Blink again. It’s true. I’m back in the TTIC challenges! whohoo!

It’s been a very long time, but here we go!

Before we begin, I must admit a few things… Beth asked us to pick our favourite quote to inspire us. I didn’t pick my favourite quote because a friend borrowed my copy of New Moon and I went to a Twilight series quote website instead. It’s not my favourite, but it’s the one that inspired me.

“Sorry about this Bella. We couldn’t rein Alice in” -Carlisle Cullen Ch.1 pg 26.

Carlisle is speaking about her birthday party and the Alice-extravaganza. I’ll make Bella another birthday card. Perfect. I wanted this card to be pink and over the top, but still tasteful, because Alice doesn’t do anything tacky.

While looking for some pink and girly paper, I found a package of Japanese silk screened paper I bought in Vancouver two years ago (Twilight connection- New Moon is currently being filmed in Vancouver…I should get extra points for that). I knew I wanted to use the paper, but knew it would hurt to cut it. So I made my first ever long and skinny card, 3 x 8.

I had so many ideas, but whatever I did, it just wasn’t right. The paper had to be the main part of the card, so a simple design won me over. I used SU Birthday Whimsy to stamp “happy birthday'’ on the right hand side and heat embossed in gold.

If you click on the picture to enlarge, you can see the fibers of the silk up close.

I did something I normally never do and decorated the inside of the card:

(please excuse the picture, the card wouldn’t stand up to save my life)

So there it is, a card very distantly inspired by a random (not my favourite) quote from New Moon (with a Twilight connection because the paper was bought in Vancouver) :)

Don’t forget to:

1) go check out all the other lovely submissions at twilighttuesday.com

2) enter my blog candy contest by clicking HERE! Winner is picked at random tomorrow night at 6pm; contest is open to all U.S. and Canadian blog friends!

Happy Tuesday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: Twilighttuesday.com,blog candy,birthday cards,Japanese silk screened paper,New Moon,Twilight

Candy and Lemonade

3:17 PM Steph 1 comment

Two weeks ago I was blessed by my bloggy friends Dani and Margie with my first blog award!

Here’s what it means:

The rules of the award (To pick up the Lemonade Stand Award) Comment on this blog. Save the award logo to your own computer and use it in your own blog.- Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.- Link to your nominees within your blog post. Comment on their blogs to let them know they’ve
received the award.- Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

I first want to apologize to both of them for taking so long to put this up, but with the office renovation done taking over my life, now I have the time to fully say:

“THANK YOU DANI AND MARGIE!”

Now for my nominees…

1. Maureen of My Purhple Purse: Maureen shares her wonderful photographs of her friends and family, has introduced me to new music and tells me when to record great theatre on PBS. Check out her blog now so you can sing along to a song I KNOW you all remember.

2. Natasha at Thursday Sweet Treat: Natasha has created a place to inspire the artist in everyone. Each Friday she provides a theme and we have 1 week to do anything we want, without fear of judgement and she showcases every entry. Although I’ve missed the past 5 weeks, I can’t wait to get back into this again. I’m amazed and inspired by the talent every week and in awe of the wonderful work and effort Natasha puts into this compilation and celebration of art.

3. Sara at Arts Afire: Sara is a very! talented artist with two! Etsy stores! Her blog is wonderful to read, and I love seeing all her new creations!

4. Joyce at Happy Cloud Moments: Joyce takes THE most incredible photographs, both of her gorgeous jewelry and of events in her life.

5. I’m going to go out on a limb for my next nominee: TwilightTuesday. I’m grateful for this site and forum because I have met so many wonderful people here, including Dani and Margie, among others. I think this entire site practices great attitude and has used a pop culture book to launch discussions, laughter, prayers, tears, and created many friendships.

Thank you to Dani and Margie of course, but also to Maureen, Natasha, Sara, Joyce and all the creators of TwilightTuesday.com. Please go check out there blogs and see what I’m raving about!

Also, don’t forget to enter my blog candy contest, found HERE.

Thank you to all that have entered, I’m dying to leave comments, but I don’t want to screw up the numbers, so I will comment after the contest is closed :)

Happy Monday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: blog award,lemonade stand,My Purhple Purse,Thursday Sweet Treat,Arts Afire,Happy Cloud Moments,twilighttuesday.com,blog candy

Don’t forget Dad! A Father’s day card

3:30 PM Steph 2 comments

Father’s day is just around the corner, can you believe it!?

I first made this card 2 years ago, here is the original:

It’s a bit scary looking at your old cards, isn’t it?

This was when I first started making cards, and as you can see, before I learned how to take pictures! This is in my living room up against the kitchen door. At this point, I was just taking pictures of my cards so I would remember what I made.

I updated my design and went from a pocket card to a traditional opening card:

I used black grosgrain ribbon for the tie and Me and My Big Ideas designer paper, metallic pinstripe.

This card is available now in my Etsy store.

Don’t forget to enter my blog candy contest: go to THIS post and enter!

Technorati Tags: Father's day,Father's day card,Etsy,blog candy

Where did all my stamps and Nestibilities go?

1:53 PM Steph No comments

Don’t forget to enter my blog candy giveaway on THIS post!

While renovating my office, I had an opportunity to re-organize my supplies and find a better way to make it work for me. My clear stamps were out of control, being held in an accordion file. It was difficult to see the stamps, and I had to rely on memory of what company made the stamp I wanted to use.

I went up to ScrappinGreatDeals and was trying to figure out a better way. One of the ladies there was lovely to help and showed me how she stores her stamps and thought it might work for me, and it does!

I bought some ‘sticky sheets’ that fit in a regular 3 ring binder, and voila! All the stamps are nicely organized, I just have to make labels for the tabs. This is a great way to store the un mounted stamps while still allowing you to see all of them. It was suggested to stamp all the images and then put them in a page protector, but I cheated and used the inserts from the stamp packages themselves, or the backings to the clear stamps in clear page protectors.

I decided this might be a way for me to store my Nestibilities as well. I had previously kept my Nesties on a magnetic sheet, but my collection was growing and I was afraid I was losing track of the dies. So I purchased some plastic binder dividers from Staples ($1.99 for a pack of 5)

I would recommend using the plastic ones, since the next step is going to make the divider heavy and paper ones may rip.

I bought some photo magnet sheets at the dollar store. Since it’s made to turn photos into magnets, one side is sticky and it’s perfect. Adhere the sticky side of the magnetic sheet to the divider and then…

You can keep an entire set of Nesties all together on one page! I used two magnetic sheets per page, and I did have to trip them a bit to fit the divider, but it works perfectly! This takes up much less space and now I know where everything is.

Have any storage tips? How about a craft room secret? Be sure to enter my blog candy contest by going to THIS post and leaving me a comment :)

Happy Thursday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: unmounted stamp storage,nestibilities,nestibilities storage,magnetic sheets,binders,blog candy,organizing stamps

Phase 7: The Reveal!! and BIG news: Blog Candy!!

2:40 PM Steph 9 comments

It’s done!! Well, I still have a few little things to move back in, but I didn’t want to delay this post anymore than I already have. See the results and be sure to scroll down for some Blog Candy!

I did have to go to plan B for my craft area shelves; the concrete/plaster wall was too much and the shelves fell out last night leaving my wall looking like it was an extra in the epic shoot out scene from the DeNiro/Pacino/Kilmer movie HEAT.

Here are the very embarassing before pictures:

What can I say? Creativity requires chaos. But it was a little out of control

Home Computer

Work computer

Paper storage

Everything else storage.

AND NOW!:

Work and home computer now sit perpendicular to each other

And my stamping area is completely separate

Stamps, paper and accessories are all stored in the closet so I can close the doors and keep it tidy!

And now for the BIG news; my first ever Blog Candy!

In honour of my office renovation, I’m offering some blog candy;

10$ gift card to Michaels craft store

Here are the Rules:

1) Leave me a comment on this post telling me your craft room secret…not a trade secret of your craft, but here’s mine:

I had to use my Cuttlebug on the floor because I had no room on my table!

2) Number your comment in chronological order to that above you, so I can use Random.org to pick the winner

3) Link to my blog on your blog and get a second entry! (I’ll publish all second entries on the last day of the contest to keep the numbering easy)

4) Blog candy contest will be open for 1 week, and winner will be picked at 6pm EST Wednesday May 27th!

If the winner resides in the U.S., I will order the gift card from Michaels.com and have it sent to you as a ‘gift’ so the currency will be in U.S. Funds.

If the winner resides in Canada, I will send you an actual gift card.

Sorry my global friends, I will work on something else for the next blog candy.

So c’mon…tell me a secret!!

Happy Wednesday!

Ciao for now,

Technorati Tags: office renovation,blog candy,craft room,craft secret,Michaels gift card

Phase 6: Move stuff back in and get ready for the BIG reveal!

12:27 PM Steph No comments

Just a quick post today- the majority of the office is back in place and after one more shelving installation tonight, it will be complete!

Make sure to come back tomorrow to see the final result and a BIG announcement!

Happy Tuesday!

Ciao for now,

Phase 5: Make sure you have the right drill bit

5:32 PM Steph No comments

I thought it was too good to be true. Everything was coming together quite nicely.
Apparently, it was too good to be true.

I have had trouble in the past drilling into some of the walls in my apartment.

First, was the outside wall in my bedroom, while putting up curtains. I tried everything, including paying $35 for that "As Seen on TV: Mighty Putty", which did not hold and took the paint off the wall. In teeny tiny fine print it says
"do not adhere to paint".
I eventually got the curtains up using a shorter plug and screw.

Second, was the shelf in the living room behind the couch, so it looks like a sofa-table. The wall is an inside wall, but separates mine from the apartment next to me. I finally got the shelf up, however do not put anything heavier than tea lights and Christmas cards on it.

I'm positive it was during the 'sofa-table-looking-shelf' incident, I bought a concrete drill bit. For this office renovation, I was sure to buy the anchors and screws that could be used in a multitude of building materials, including concrete and brick.

The shelves on the outside walls went up with no problems. I decided to take a break and ran a few errands.

I came back and wanted to finish putting up the last two, and largest shelves, and a rail system. I started with the rail system: and couldn't drill more than 1" into the wall. I tried backing off, and drilling a bit more slowly, and nothing. I checked with the stud finder again and it wasn't picking anything where I was drilling.

A phone call home to my Millwright/Heavy Machinist Mechanic father six hours away. He thinks I must not be using a concrete drill bit, or I'm hitting a steel support bar and to move the drilling 1" to the right or left. I tried drilling a hole along the same wall, but in the closet,...no go. I must not have a concrete drill bit like I thought.

It's 5:30pm. On a Sunday. On a long weekend.

Looks like the big reveal will be delayed until the hardware stores open again on Tuesday and I can pick up a concrete drill bit. If that doesn't work, we'll have to go to plan B.

What is plan B? I haven't a clue.

Happy Sunday!

Ciao for now,

Phase 4: Paint

4:40 PM Steph No comments

andwhilethepaintisdryinggobuyeverythingyouneedtofinishtheroom

*my apologies for the messiness of this post. I had to use Blogger instead of my Live Writer and well, this is what happens*
I had every intention on sharing the paint colours with you, but it's a very overcast day here and none of the pictures turned out...the colours don't look true. So I guess you'll have to wait. I can give you their names though:

Green Thumb

Slate Fireplace

Intrigued? you should be :) I must say it looks pretty darn good, I'm just waiting for the first coat of Slate Fireplace to dry before putting the 2nd coat on tonight. If all goes well, I'll be putting up the shelves tomorrow...that will be the hard part.

So, while the paint was drying, I headed out and bought all the stuff I'm going to need to put the room together:

a new level:

screws and plugs:

L brackets and shelves:

and a stud finder {insert raunchy, but always funny joke here}

I also went to the Scrappin Great Deals to look for some storage solutions for my clear stamps. I have them in an accordian file and it's just not working. After a few different options, I settled on these 'sticky sheets' that you can hold in a 3-ring binder. Of course, I donated 8 3-ring binders to Goodwill last weekend. Oh well, Murphy's Law.

Stay tuned, the makeover is 50% done!

Happy Saturday!

Ciao for now,

Phase 3: Primed

8:18 AM Steph 4 comments

Phase 3: Prime the walls.

Duration of priming: 2.0 hours while listening to the first 1.5 hours of the season finale of Grey's Anatomy.

Why do I always forget that painting is only fun for the first 5 minutes?

What's next?
Phase 4: Colour. Two colours to be exact. Will you get a sneak peak? I haven't decided yet ;)

Happy Friday!

Ciao for now,

Phase 2: Clear out and unplug

6:09 PM Steph 6 comments

clack CLACK clack CLACK clack CLACK

The keys echo off the empty walls as I type.

The walls have been cleared, only a couple shelves left to remove, and a few nails where pictures and evidence of academic accomplishments once hanged.

The furniture has been removed, yet some will stay and be moved for obvious reasons …I am but one girl.