I'm SO excited about how the cardmaking station came together. And I'm especially excited that it's no longer in the living room! Check it out--the plastic drawers on the right are filled with paper, punches, and coloring things--chalks, colored pencils, etc. The rolling cart under the table holds metal containers (free at the office surplus supply giveaway/sale) filled with rubber stamps. The drafting table and stool were purchased from a neighbor's garage sale several years back and have served me well. I love having it as a work area.

A few weekends ago, I framed out the pegboard and added support bars to the back. It's not perfect, and I didn't get the trim painted, and the mitered corners don't match, but it's turned out to be SO useful. Lots of ribbon, scissors, glues and tapes, and other stuff fill the board, and there are, in fact, still some empty containers, believe it or not. After I had it all arranged on the pegboard, I realized I needed to do more than just lean it against the wall. I took a bunch of it down, moved it to the floor, secured the back slats in place with screws and added big ole' OOK hooks along the top and on the wall so it was secured in place. With plaster walls, those OOK hooks are fabulous.

Valentine's weekend, I "won" a metal board with magnetic containers at the Camp Shaw fundraiser. Some of the containers are filled, some are empty, but again, that gives me room to get better organized. The colored containers hold eyelets; the little plastic containers were getting to be too much to handle and they kept opening at inopportune times. I did mix the colors, which seemed like it would be okay, since I was cautious about it and put very different colors/shapes in each container. The multicolored tins came from American Science and Surplus this week. I had to add magnets, also from American Science and Surplus, but that worked fine, because I was able to glue them to the back of some plastic containers I had around (see the top right corner). They hold eyelet setting tools and some extra stamped bits.

In all, I think this station will be great to work at, once I get the rest of the room all cleaned up! I'm looking forward to making some great stuff in this room!

As I said, I have a weakness for demos. And Judi Watanabe does amazing demos. She was demo-ing how to use their Mica Gloss inks on glossy cardstock--both white and black, and using the brayer and stamps to create patterns. I was watching her demo and several others were watching as well. One woman who was also watching the demos actually admitted that she brought her hubby along so that, between the two of them, they might remember how some of these products were used once they got them home. Judi said the magic words. "We have videos online, in case you forget." SOLD! As you can see, the brayer, the papers, the inks, and even a sample as a reminder found their way back to Wisconsin with me. Nothing like a good demo to sell a great product!

Another great deal I found at the massive crop was ribbon. If I had been thinking, I would have unrolled it from the spools so it would take up less space in my luggage, but I didn't think of that until now. Can you tell I have a thing right now for stripes? I can't wait to start working this into cards!

I got some GREAT deals on some very cool items at the CHA SuperShow crop event. The crop benefited the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation. I got to do the introductions at the event and had a blast hanging out with the amazing and energetic women from Scrapbook Royalty. I tried to win some of the raffle items, but I wasn't that lucky. But I did find some great deals, like these cards, ribbons, and embellishments from Kaiser. Can't wait to have some cardmaking playtime!

Blame it on the codeine in that cough medicine, but I really messed up this month and missed Ornament Thursday completely. But not one to be totally absent, I'm going to share a card that I made a while ago in celedon and also share the links of those who did get it together this month. So there's the card--to your right. And here are the links from my OT pals.

Celadon Dreamer
Michelle Zimmeman creates a dreamer box from one of her molds and Helen Bradley grabs another for her jewelry project.

Embellished Ear Wires
Lynn Kvigne of Beading Help Web shows you how to create these embellished ear wires in spring colors (like Celedon!)

OT Goes Celadon
Lisa finds calm in the color "Celadon"

Strands of Beads
Melissa creates a simple necklace from a slab of chrysoprase

Since the last photo, I finished the two aqua fan rows, two tan fan rows, three brown fan rows, and one more tan fan row. It measures almost 20" long and 46" wide; the desired size is 60"-66" long and 46" wide. So I'm about a third of the way done, and it's been moving along so nicely! I don't know what has taken me so long to get working on this project, but I'm really enjoying the process and the finished product as well. It's predictable since it's a four-row pattern repeat, so it's great for working on in the carpool, in the office at lunch, and while I'm watching old movies. Last night, it was The King & I; tonight it's Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire.

Either Mom's not checking in on my blog or she doesn't know how to leave a comment yet, but I haven't heard boo from her about the fact that I'm working on her afghan. I hope to finish it by mid-March. Now if I could only figure out a way to crochet while I'm walking on the treadmill or riding the exercise bike at the gym, I'd be VERY happy.

As for the rest of the day, I did make it to the gym for a double workout (twice the cardio time and four sets of the weight circuit instead of two) after mass, and I did get the cards completed for my One World, One Heart winner (copies of some of the cards I made in December). And I did obtain a new laptop. As I've complained here before (or complained somewhere before), my six-year-old computer has not been very cooperative with the drills I've been putting it through in the last several months--blogging, photo editing, Facebook, etc. Unfortunately, I haven't finished the laundry, but there's always tomorrow night.

It's Ornament Thursday and my first official Ornament Thursday on my own blog. The overall theme this year is colors, which is a great way to play creatively, as there are some colors on this list that I don't work with much so I'll be expanding my horizons.

Wow, it's just one electronic mountain being conquered after another. The blog is working, and now, after several invitation from friends, I've joined Facebook. So if you're on there, you can friend me.

Meanwhile, in the health department, I finally went to the Dr. and got something for this cough. Hoping it kicks in fast, because I'm on a plane to the CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) Show less than a week from now. I can't wait; I get to see everything new and fabulous in the craft industry and all of the wonderful people that also work in the creative industry. And after the show, I get to spend a few days with my friend Vicki in Long Beach and my sister Alice in Phoenix. So I want to be healthy for all of that.

But before I go, I have to get my project done for the Ornament Thursday group. As I look at the stack of cardmaking supplies across the room, I think it might have to be a card.

Meanwhile, there's beef stew underway in the crock pot, so I better go check that.

The cabinet is in the living room, thanks to a very good friend with muscles, a truck, and flexible daytime hours. And the folks at Chattel Changers were great about figuring out which piece of furniture I was talking about on the phone, taking my payment over the phone, and helping my friend carry it out.

I still have to clean up the wiring situation and all that (as evidenced by the wires below the cabinet) and figure out the best use of the storage space. There are three drawers behind the two panels on the left side--each hold 30 video tapes quite neatly, amazingly enough. On the right side (the center panel and the two right ones), there's a removeable shelf. Right now, two clear plastic containers fit nicely on the top shelf--both are currently filled with video tapes and DVDs. I'm starting to think I have too many videos if all three drawers and one shelf are pretty full.

So that's the new piece of furniture. Now that I've got it in place, I can finish tidying up the rest of the room and organize the stamping corner. (And making good on my 2009 goal of getting to the gym more often.) Then it's on to sprucing up the dining room. And finally, I'll be going through my closet and dressers and getting rid of the clothes that I no longer wear or need. Only THEN is it on to creative endeavors again--cardmaking, quilting, beading, etc. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted when I regain my creative time. Meanwhile, I'll let you know how the clean-up goes.

The exciting news for me today is that I'm NOT at the office for the next five days. It's possible the last time I had this many days off in a row (that wasn't a vacation) was when I left my previous job to take this job (six years ago January 2, actually). That break, though longer, involved traveling for the holidays, a few days driving around town looking for a place to live, and other busyness that was neither relaxing nor productive. And boy-oh-boy do I have relaxing and productive plans for THIS break! I hit the grocery store Tuesday night and got enough food to feed me for a month. And I went home and made the list of all the things I wanted to get done. So I'll keep you posted on my progress as the days pass. A lot of the plans revolve around the sewing room. I have to go through every single thing in there and make some space for my new quilting machine, so I really need to get organized. And I need to transform some raw materials into finished projects so they're not in the sewing room any more, taking up what has suddenly become very valuable space!

Once I get the sewing room together (optimistically within the first three days), I've got some crafty projects to make, food to cook and freeze for later, a Christmas letter to write and cards to send, and maybe, if there's time left at the end of the five days, I'll put away some of the Christmas decorations and make some cookies to take to work to celebrate my six year anniversary at my job!

On my Friday off, I made a bunch of cards (not enough, but a bunch). I wanted to make more, but after the clock passed midnight, I had to stop. I'd watched several Christmas classics while I worked on them, and always find something amusing that I hadn't noticed before in those movies (more later).

About the card inspiration: I went to a stamping party a week ago and got so excited about making cards that I decided to make cards for some of my friends. I used some decorative papers, figured out how to use my Fiskars Shape Boss Ultimate Embossing System, played with some stamps, and mixed some paper colors. I'm all about making multiples this time of year, so I made about a dozen of each card, swapping out colors as I went along. I've got more to make, and I'll be experimenting more in the coming week.

As for the old movies, I was watching Miracle on 34th Street and at the end, Susan runs into the house and her mother says something like "Susan, you know you shouldn't run in other people's house." Seriously, if the kid opened the door of a stranger's house and walked or ran in, wouldn't you think that there'd be more important things to discipline her for than for running in the house? Yes, it was late at that point, but really, I couldn't stop giggling over the idea that that was what the kid was getting in trouble for. And that's when I realized it was time to get some sleep.

And though I didn't get some of the other projects done, my high-school buddies who gathered for lunch on Saturday were pleased that I made some cards. After all, doesn't everyone need some all-occasion cards for those last minute "thinking of you" cards?

No, my Christmas tree still isn't decorated, but the house is clean. Unfortunately, the sewing room got a little cluttered in the picking-up process. My plan for New Years Eve, Day, and the next weekend is a total re-org of the sewing room. I might even take that Friday off and have 4-1/2 days to do a full-blown drag-everything-out-and-get-rid-of-some-things weekend. I know, it's a fabulous life of glamour that I lead, isn't it?