Passing Notes

I think I sorta figured it out - the idea that was trying to happen yesterday.

So here's the story.

In high school, a particular friend and I would pass notes all the time. None of this texting stuff... we got out our fancy pens (usually purple or green ink, sometimes glittery) and wrote letters. Full notebook sheets of... well, that's the question, really.

Because we probably wrote each other hundreds of these in-class letters, folded into increasingly creative shapes. And I keep finding them. I graduated from high school 12 years ago, and I found one of her notes (football-folded) tucked into a folder when I was unpacking the house. They just turn up all the time. And I can hardly understand a word of them any more. I'm sure, to anyone happening to find a dropped one back when, they were complete gibberish - one inside joke after another. But they were cute! We were all about the decorations and doodles.

So I got inspired - if I was already so into "paper art" then, why not try to update that old tradition, and still keep the basics of it?



I folded a notebook-paper sheet into a heart, and made a whole decorated card front with a pocket to put it in.



The heart itself is decorated, too, of course - that's part of the fun!

I have a feeling someone's going to get this in their mailbox sometime soon.

Idea

Ever had an idea rattling around in your head, and you just can't shake it out? I've had one for two days that I just can't manage to get to materialize. Maybe it's time to work on something else and see if it sneaks up on me while I'm not paying attention.

"My Favorite" tag

Now that I'm mostly moved in to my study, I've been sorting through old magazines to clear out some shelf space. I've started an "inspiration file" of clippings, and once I pull out the best inspiration from a magazine, I can feel better about throwing it away. It's also nice to know that I have a whole file to dig through if I need a jumping-off point - I just look for something that strikes my fancy and put it up on the bulletin board to work on.

Today I found a cute library-pocket tag - the original had some aqua and red accents, and I've been seeing a lot of that color combination, so I pulled out some aqua and red cardstock. When I brought them back to my desk, I noticed that they worked really well with some chipboard accents that are pinned up on my bulletin board (see, that's why I have them pinned up there), and went and found the coordinating patterned paper.



I die-cut the pocket from patterned paper, and used the flip side for the main tag, then stamped the library pocket on Aqua Mist cardstock and cut out a background a little bit bigger (the width of the pocket - it's stuck down in it) from Pure Poppy.



The library pocket die and library card stamp (and You're My Favorite stamp) are all from Papertrey, and the cardstock and chipboard elements are from Sassafrass Lass.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's my dad's birthday!



I liked the cool greys and blues of this paper for my dad, and noticed that a clear overlay I picked up a few months ago is a nice echo of the argyle print on one of the papers (the behind-tag). The die is Papertrey's bookplate die, and the stamp is from one of Stampin' Up's office sets. Inside is a birthday message.

This is it!

Finally - the post I've been promising Lori for weeks. (And just a warning - this is going to be a long post with a LOT of pictures.)

So here's the deal - a little background:

When we first looked at this house, the room-that-would-eventually-be-my-study was a family room - very cozy, very comfortable. I really wanted to keep the comfortable, cozy feeling once we moved in, even though it would be a study (see, even the word "study" is much more cozy than "office"...). There were/are built-in bookshelves, so that was a great start - nothing cozier than being surrounded by all of my favorites.



But on the office side was a little... stark?



(Please ignore the blue butt print on the chair - that thing is like a jeans-dye magnet. I don't think I've ever worn new jeans in it, and I clean it off when I think of it, but it looks like this the next day. Tip of the day: No matter how chic it looks in the store, do NOT buy a white leather desk chair if you wear jeans to work, like, at all.)

My first idea was to put in a countertop running the whole length of the wall, but that was nixed once we priced out that much countertop. Fortunately, the same day, we saw a World Market ad with their new desk line in it - these great sawhorse/workbench-style desks. And they were just long enough that two of them would fit the wall and leave room for my lamp. All along in the process, though, I really wanted three workspaces - one for working:



(From left to right: My London Phone Box DVD rack, River Song print, OTT craft lamp, cute box from a Lush gift set that holds all my desk essentials, Mocha Coconut Frappucino, laptop, jar of the candy raspberries I'm addicted to, and secondary monitor. Anyone know a good solution all the cords under the desk? They bug me.)

One for paper crafts:



(From top to bottom: Giant bulletin board my parents got me for my birthday, where I put up inspiration photos and rub-ons and other small elements to have them easy to reach; desk with craft stuff.)

And one where I could leave my sewing machine up through a whole project without having to get it out of the way of other stuff (if not permanently).

Here's what I came up with all together:



That last desk on the right is the one I've been working on for weeks and building up to Lori. I'm so excited about it. Recognize it?



This was the "before":



And this is a close-up of the after:



I'm so excited - I've been loving the grey/yellow color combination I've been seeing everywhere, and I've seen the papered-back bookshelves in a few places and loved them. It's a great pop of color that I think really brightens up the room. It's going to be a great sewing table! First thing on the list: a present for Miss Molly McGee - with that name, she's pretty much guaranteed to be the most adorable baby ever, don't you think?

THANK YOU to my amazing dad! He cut the backs and helped me with all of the sanding and painting and paper-sticking and nailing. He's the best!

Y'all, I almost forgot the other important credit - check out Curbside Creations for some great furniture makeovers... she's where I got my inspiration for the desk. If I had space for a dozen nightstands, I'd buy them from her - for some reason I love every nightstand/side table she does!

Still not the promised post

We did get the paint issue resolved, but it's going to be another couple of days before I have time to finish the awesome (hopefully) project, so here's another card I made this weekend to tide you over.



This is kind of a fun one using elements from the Fancy Pants "it's the little things" set. I saw a rickrack flower in a magazine and thought I'd try it - turns out it doesn't work at all with newer, stiffer rickrack. I had to pull out some vintage stuff that I had in my ribbon stash. I think there has to be a better way to adhere it to the card front, but I'm not sure what that is.

This is not the post that I promised to Lori

This was supposed to be a different post, a very cool post about a very cool project. But due to some heat-related spray paint snafus, it's not done yet.

So instead, I'll give you a pretty card to look at.



This card is made with Basic Grey's new "Sweet Threads" paper, along with a flower I picked up somewhere, a rub-on from Stampin' Up, and leaf ribbon from Papertrey. Pretty simple, but I love how the flower mimics the flowers in the paper design.