Art {Journaling} Psalm 4:8

Yesterday I had a tremendous headache. I had woken up in the middle of the night with a migraine. By morning, it was a really bad headache. I fought it most of the day, and I didn't really feel like doing much. So, I sat down and watched some class videos by Rae Missigman. In the video, she was painting a Dylusions Journal; however, I was not ready to do a journal cover so I decided to try some of her techniques on an art journaling page. It was so much fun, and it truly took my mind off of my terrible headache.

There were a few techniques that I was able to try on this page that I learned from Rae's videos. One fun thing I learned is that Gelli Arts makes a 3x5 Gelli Plate. I had no idea. I have a larger Gelli Plate but I do not use it too often because it is so large. This new 3x5 size I will use a lot. Rae puts it onto an acrylic block, and uses it like a stamp with acrylic paint. That is how I did most of the background on this page. I really love this new Gelli Plate! Dick Blick does sell the new 3x5 size. If you click the link in my product list below, you will be able to find it. I comes in many different sizes. I believe the 3x5 size is about $11.

On my page, I chose to use Psalm 4:8 because it was where God led me yesterday. I think partly because I did not sleep well the night before with my headache and because our family lost two people that are dear to us this week. We lost Dr. Susan Rouse to cancer on Monday. She was an amazing professor that loved my girls and appreciated their differences. As one of our girls would say "Mom she can peg us." She couldn't wait to teach them genetics, and we loved that she was their advisor, friend, and mentor. We also lost my dear friend to cancer on Monday—Sue Nagel of Stampin' Things. You may remember the benefit that I posted about for her on my blog. You can see that here. But this scripture shows us that He is our peace and in Him we dwell in safety. We pray that He will also cover the Rouse family and the Nagel family in His peace during this difficult time. Cancer is an ugly disease!

I hope you have enjoyed today's page. Now that I have tried this out on paper, I may try to duplicate it on a journal cover. I just love these happy colors, and it brightens a very sad week. Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed Friday!

Product List (click product tags for more info)

View blog post for supplies

Update on Sue of {Stampin' Things}

Hello sweet blog readers! I wanted to let you know that I just talked to Sue Nagel—my sweet friend of Stampin' Things. If you remember I posted about her cancer and a benefit for her back in April. You can read that blog post here as it contains a lot of information and an address for Sue. Anyway, Sue asked that I post and thank you all SO very much for the cards, love, and prayers for her and her family. She had a PET scan three weeks ago and the tumors are shrinking, and she is getting stronger. It is only by God's amazing healing that this is happening! Sue sounded good though she has days where she doesn't feel like doing much. Please continue to keep her in your prayers, and if you feel led, I am sure she would still love to receive a card. Click here for her address. Thank you all again for your continue love and prayers! Blessings,

Organizational {Friday} Paint Center

Many of you may remember the Ultimate Tray from Stampin' Things. I shared it with you and showed you how I stored my PL cards in the tray:

You can see that post with all of the details by clicking here. Well, I then ended up moving my cards to my Raskog cart, which you have also seen:

So, what was I going to do with the awesome Ultimate Tray that Sue made? Well, it is perfect for so many things. I decided to use it on my art journaling table, and it has become my little paint center. I LOVE looking at all of the color. Color just makes me happy!

Look at all of that color! Yum! The Ultimate Tray stands perfectly on end since the ends with the handles are about 7 1/2" deep! Look how much fun stuff I can keep on top:

That's a lot of great stuff! Then inside the cubbies, I keep:

• paint dabbers
• Claudine Hellmuth paints
• Crayons
• Neocolor crayons
• Box of oil pastels
• Squares of bubble wrap ready to use
• and other things I use on my art journaling pages

If you are interested in this tray, please click here. Also, remember the "Joy Through the Journey Benefit" is tomorrow to help Sue and her family as she battles cancer. You can read the complete details by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by, and have a blessed Friday!

***Note: Unfortunately, my dear friend Sue lost her battle with cancer so this tray is no longer available. There are several things on the market; however, that are similar.***

Scripture Lessons and Lyrics Challenge Update

Hello sweet blog readers! I wanted to let you know that I had to take an unexpected trip to South Carolina. Because of this trip, I have not been able to finish today's lesson. I will get it posted for you by Monday or Tuesday. So sorry for the delay. I pray you have a blessed night, and if you need to create something, remember you can always send a card to my sweet friend, Sue, of Stampin' Things that has cancer. To read the post about Sue, please scroll down to the next post or click here. Thanks for your understanding, and be back soon! Blessings,

A Heavy Heart and Benefit

Most of you have seen me post about Stampin' Things over the years. I have SO many of Sue's beautiful storage units, and they truly are my favorite storage pieces. They are made to last! Unfortunately, Sue was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in January 2013. The cancer has now spread through her bones. The family has also had to move losing their home of many, many years. I have spoken to Sue on the phone and her spirits have been high and always trusting in our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The family is holding a benefit in Stillwater, MN, on April 26th. You can read all of the information below. But please don't stop here. Please continue to read this post as there are several other ways to help!  

Now I am not sure if any of my blog readers even live in the area. But here are the other ways you can help:

*Attend the benefit if you are in the area. Please give Sue a HUGE hug from me if you are able to go!

*Send a card to Sue at:

Sue Nagel

12427 Square Lake Trail N. 

 Stillwater, MN 55082

*Make a donation to help with their financial hardship to:

Lake Elmo Bank

Sue Nagel Benefit Fund

11465 39th St. N.

Lake Elmo, MN 55042

*Prayers for Sue and her family however God leads you!

*Forward this post to friends, family, anyone that you think may be interested in helping Sue and her family!

*Continue to buy her amazing storage pieces. Sue's husband continues to get them out:

Visit Stampin' Things by clicking here. Here are just a few of the pieces I have:

This piece is actually a combination of 3 pieces—two Elite units and one Topper unit stacked on top of each other. I truly use this daily! It contains all of my stamp ink, reinkers, and Stickles. It has four sides for storage and turns beautifully and smooth!

This piece is great for Project Life cards and other cards, tools, and embellishments. 

Click here to see my post on this particular unit.

This is the Die Cuts and More storage piece. It also has four sides, turns, and has tons of storage for your die cuts, punches, embossing folders, and more!

Now, there are many more products on Sue's website. One of my favorites that I don't have yet is the Marker Mate. It looks awesome if you need storage for your markers of any type (even colored pencils). Be sure to look. Whatever you choose, you will NOT be disappointed! Thank you for stopping by and considering helping Sue in any way that you might be able to help! May you be blessed as you lift up another sister in Christ!

Organizational {Friday} Ink Swatches Revisited

Years ago I created a swatch book that kept all of my ink swatches. Click here to see that post. I love that swatch book and have used it well. The problem has become that I have gotten so many more inks and I could not easily move around color swatches to keep them in "color order" when adding a new ink. I also had swatch sheets for each manufacturer. I knew I needed something that I could easily add, move, compare, and remove swatches as needed. This all led me to today's "swatch re-do."

I love my embossing folder swatches so I thought this would be a great way to also organize my ink swatches. If you missed that post, click here. Using my embossing folder swatches as my example, here is what I came up with for my ink swatches.

Swatch Cards

I knew when creating the swatch cards that I wanted to use white cardstock so I would get accurate color swatches. I also didn't want to use my expensive cardstock so I went with the Neenah Bright White cardstock. I purchased a ream inexpensively at amazon.com here. I have had this ream of cardstock for a while, and I use it for many things.

I cut the cardstock into 2 1/4" x 2 7/8" pieces. I then grabbed my inks and began making swatches. First, I swiped the paper across the ink giving me a strip of color. I wasn't neat about it at all. I then used a stamp I purchased at Hobby Lobby to stamp the image. I like this stamp because it has both cursive and print. I thought it was a good representation of how the ink stamps. The stamp is made by Stampabilities and cost $3.99. I of course waited until Hobby Lobby had their stamps on sale then purchased it. I think I paid a little over $2 for it. Cute isn't it?

After stamping the image, I then wrote the manufacturer and color name on the bottom of the card. If I have the reinker, I also put a letter 'R' with a circle around it. Now it is very easy for me to tell if I have a reinker for my ink pads. Once the card was created, I put it in my container.

The Container

I had a 7Gypsies Mini ATC Library drawer in my studio that I was not using. I decided this would be perfect for the swatch cards. 

Here is what I store in each section:

Section 1: yellow, orange, pink, and red swatches

Section 2: green, teal, blue, and purple swatches

Section 3: brown, grey, and black swatches

Section 4: blank cards, a tag with the size of the cards typed out so it's easy to cut more, the "just because" stamp, and ink refresher.

I didn't put tabs identifying what was in each section because the colors look so pretty. I didn't want to cover up the color. It's also very easy to see the cards I want to grab and look through.

I put this tray on my art journaling table right next to where I store my inks—in the Stampin' Things units I have. Here is an older picture of my unit. The art journaling table is not in this photo. I couldn't get a new photo yesterday as we have had very dark, cloudy, and foggy days this week. I like having the swatch cards right next to the inks. It makes it all very simple to refer to and use.

Doing this project helped me rediscover some inks I have not used in a while. I know I will get much more use out of all of my inks now that I have swatches of them all in an easy-to-use format. I hope you have found this helpful. Enjoy!

Organizational {Friday} My Studio Video Tour

Yes, can you believe the title? My studio tour is finally here for you to see. It only took me a year after moving in to get it ready for you. LOL! I have not been happy with my room and have moved things around several times. I am finally really pleased with it. And I decided not to put up window treatments. I love all of the light I have and wanted to keep the windows "as is."

Now on with the tour. First, my room is not one of those white, clean rooms. I love different woods. I love "cozy," and my room is definitely that. I serves many purposes so you will see:

*A die cut area

*A sewing space

*An office space

*An art journaling table

*My Scrap 'n Cube for scrapping

I have room for 4 people to craft in here with me. Now to just find some local scrappy friends. LOL!

As you watch the video, I take you on an "overview" of the room. Below the video, you will see links to the posts that talk about specific parts of my room. If there are other things you would like me to post about, please be sure to leave a comment in the comment section here.

Now, here are some links to previous posts that go into detail about specific pieces you see in the video:

*6x6 paper storage unit

*Fabric storage

*Over-the-door unit for Simple Stories storage

*Plastic bins for flowers

*Rolodex Stamp Inventory

*Raskog Cart from IKEA

*Scrap 'n Cube Cart

*Scrap 'n Cube Mini Apothecary Cabinet

*Scrap 'n Cube Paper Tower

*Stratford Storage unit with baskets

*Ultimate Tray by Stampin' Things

*Other Stampin' Things posts (inks, etc.)

*Washi tape storage

*Wine rack pencil storage

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed my tour. If you are ever in the area, I would love to have you come by and craft with me! Blessings,

Update December 2015: Unfortunately my friend and owner of Stampin' Things passed away from breast cancer. Her products linked above are no longer available. Thank you for your understanding and prayers for Sue's family.

Organizational {Friday} Coming Soon From Stampin' Things!

Most of you remember my posts about the amazing products from Stampin' Things. If you want to see my post on their various units, please click here. You can also visit their website here.

The Ultimate Tray

Today I wanted to share a new product that Sue has developed. It's called The Ultimate Tray. It arrived this morning via FedEx, and my girls and I have been "oohing and aghing" over it ever since it arrived. Even my daughter that loves dollhouses felt she could use it for her dollhouse goodies. I wonder if that was a subtle hint that she wants my new tray. LOL! Anyway, here is a photo of the empty tray:

The dimensions are:

Height: 4" (not including handles)

Length: 18"

Depth: 16"

Number of Cubbies: 24

Large Cubby: 3 3/8" x 3"

Small Cubby: 3 3/8" x 2 1/4"

Note: Dividers can be removed to make cubbies into various sizes!

You can use this tray flat on a desk or table for horizontal storage, or you can stand it on end or on its side for vertical storage.

How Can You Use This Tray?

The possibilities are endless! You can fill the cubbies with embellishments, Project Life Cards, punches, adhesives, you name it! Let's look at some sample ideas.

First, you can use it to store your Project Life cards and other Project Life items. Here you can see I have numerous Project Life kits as well as washi tape, adhesive, punches, stapler, scissors, corner rounder, and room for more!

I also stood the unit on its side and put a few 4 oz. baby food jars in 3 of the cubbies.

Now you could probably find better jars. These jars were a bit small. I could push them back and still have a bit of room. A jar that is just a bit larger would get you even more storage space. Or if you are storing the tray horizontally, you would not even need jars. Just fill up those cubbies with embellishments, cards, etc.

How Many PL Kits?

To give you an idea of how a Project Life Core Kit fits in The Ultimate Tray, I put the entire Kraft Core Kit in just 3 cubbies. And as you can see, there is room to spare. I did remove one divider so that the 4x6 cards fit well. I also put the unit on its side so you can see that it can sit on a table that way for Project Life storage.

And if this photo is any indication, it looks like you should be able to fit 6-7 Project Life Core Kits in The Ultimate Tray. Wow! And if you are storing this horizontally, it is very easy to pick up and carry to various places around your home to work on your Project Life pages. So fun!

Also if you use cards other than Project Life, this piece is perfect because of the adjustable cubby size! Just remove a divider, and make this piece work for you!

Where to Buy?

This piece is coming soon! You are getting the first sneak peek of this new product! If you are interested in this beautiful storage piece, Sue will have it on the Stampin' Things site for ordering soon. I will post here on my blog with links when it is available. Go ahead and add it to your wish list and be one of the first to order as soon as it's available!

Note: This tray can now be ordered by clicking here! :)

I hope you are as excited about this tray as I have been. Sue really designs and makes stunning pieces! Feel free to leave her comments here on what you think of her newest design! Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed weekend!

Organizational {Friday} Paints!

Because of my new love of art journaling, I have been getting a few more products to use in my journals. I had some paints on hand but not all of the colors I want to play with. I did buy some more acrylic paints, and I chose the Adirondack Paint Dabbers. I love these because I can use the applicator top or I can remove the top and use the paint normally.

Of course, I wanted to get these organized and swatches made so that it is quick and easy to find what I need. I had previously kept my few paint dabbers in my Stampin Things RAK. Love this piece but I now have it full of more Tim Holtz goodies instead so I removed the paints. You can see how I had them in the unit before.

Here is what the entire unit looks like. The paints were on the back side in the small slots on the side. Worked GREAT, and I still use this just for other goodies. It is full now!! :)

I decided to put the paint dabbers in my old Sticker Stadium that sits on my desk. Here is a very old photo of my Sticker Stadium (underneath the drawers filled with old MM paints).

Before I put the paint dabbers in the Sticker Stadium, I needed to create swatches for the lids. I used the foam top of each dabber to first create a color swatch on white cardstock.

Aren't all of the colors pretty? :) I then punched out each swatch with my circle punch and adhered it to the lid of each paint dabber with my Glue Dots.

Oh yum!!! :) After that, I put them in color order in the back of my Sticker Stadium. The lid is pretty much the only part of the each paint dabber that shows so I really needed to have the color on top. This will work with any type of paint you have, and if you store your paints down in a bucket or drawer, the color swatches on top will work great for you too!

I decided not to put these swatches in my color swatch book since the paints are right in front of me with the swatches right there. This makes it so easy to grab the paint I want and to play. And remember, acrylic paints can be used on cards and scrapbook pages too. I have been using them lately again on my pages and love it! So, I challenge you to grab your paints and have some fun!

And if you remember, I did this same thing with my Glimmer Mists and other spray paints. I have about 35 of them now, and it has been VERY helpful. You can see that post here.  Thanks for stopping by, and happy Friday everyone!

Organizational {Friday} We Have a Winner!

First, thank you all so much for your amazing comments on the Stampin' Things units. I know Sue and I were both blessed by reading what you had to say! Now onto our winner:

Barbara B said...
Wow, what a give-away! I would love to have the Elite Ink Pad Organizer. It would be great to have my inkpads at my fingertips instead of tubs.

When I went to look at the link you provided I was amazed at the selection -- so many choices.

But I was most impressed with the 'God is Good!' verbiage at the botton of the page. I love it when a business owner is willing to show their Christian faith. May God bless StampinThings.com with great success.

NOVEMBER 29, 2010 4:43 PM

Barbara, first congratulations. You are going to have so much fun with your unit!!! Second, please e-mail me your address and the name of the unit you want so Sue can get it shipped to you. I know you mentioned the Elite but wanted to make sure you didn't change your mind between now and when your originally posted. :)

And again, thanks to the rest of you for joining in. And remember, Sue is also giving away a unit on her site. You have only through today, December 10th, to enter! Details are in the blue box on the main page here.

Well, enjoy your Friday everyone. Blessings!

Memory Box & Stampin' Things RAK!

Happy Monday everyone! Today I wanted to share some Memory Box creations with you, and then I wanted to be sure you that you don't forget to get entered for the Stampin' Things RAK! So, let's get started with today's fun! :)

Memory Box Fun
I haven't shared my Memory Box creations lately so I thought I would share a few here today. Also, for those of you in my area, my next Memory Box class will be January 15th, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. at Stamp Salado. You will be making fun creations with the new "What's in the Box 2011" release!! :) Be sure to get signed up before the class fills! :) Now onto some Memory Box creations:

Tiled Peace Collage
This card was fun to make. For step-by-step instructions, please see my Memory Box post here.
Messy Inspiration
To see how I used a mess on my desk to create this tag, please see my Memory Box post here.
Polar Bear Postage
I saw this fun technique on Splitcoaststampers and decided to try it out with the Fred P. Bear stamp. :) You can see more details here. Winterberry Wreath
And lastly another card using a fun frame technique from SCS. You can see more card details in this post here.
Stampin' Things Fun
Okay, now onto the reminder for the Stampin' Things RAK! Today is the last day to enter! You have until 11:59 p.m. CST tonight to get your entry in! To see the details of how to enter, please see this post here. You wouldn't want to miss your chance to win something like this:
Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the week ahead. Blessings,