Good Sunday Morning!

Well, at least it is in this neck of the woods. I woke up early this a.m. Thank you very much, Chaos! He woke me up with his head laying on my side of the bed next to me staring at me, LOL! He wasn't making a sound, just looking at me with those puppy dog eyes. I figure I must have been stirring around a bit to draw his attention. Anyways, its wonderful to wake up and have him there beside me. Raising my hand to pet him is like tugging on his heartstrings which is attached to his tail by the way. He wags his tail and his entire body begins swaying in the same rhythm, LOL! Deciding both of us should use the restroom, I put Chaos out on his lead and head to bathroom myself. I no sooner sit down and Chaos begins raising hell, barking and whining. I think to myself, its way too early for this, Christ the neighbors are asleep! I finish and go to see what is up with him only to discover he has a visitor, another white dog with one loopy black ear approximately the same size as Chaos, wandering around our yard. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not even trying to get him in all of his excitement back off the lead and into the house. If you've ever wrestled with a 1 1/2' tall, 70 lb. laborador retriever pup, you know exactly what I'm talking about! He could easily get away from me and in his excitement, I'm not taking any chances of me getting injured, so I try to shooo the other dog away. It works for a moment as he ventures into Shawn's yard and then off around his rear fence. Chaos at this point is frantic, barking and whining even louder than before, and I don't believe I've ever seen him move so fast --- okay, maybe once when he got loose from me and I had to run all over the neighborhood trying to catch up with him but we weren't going there today. No, thank you! So, I'm certain our neighbors are really loving him right about now since I finally managed to get him inside and back to sleep. All's well now...... except Don and Chaos are sleeping in peacefully and I'm still awake!

I consider slipping quietly out of the house and into my studio but I know Chaos will hear any little move I make and will whining and crying to come along which in turn means that Don will be awake soon. So, here I sit, a cup of coffee close by and spending some quiet time on the computer before the house starts stirring. Soon enough, we'll begin the hustle and bustle that begins our day, getting showers and dressed to go greet the world. We will going over to Mansfield today to visit the Antique Flea Market, I'm hopeful to be on the road by 10 a.m. Maybe a quick stop into Michael's and Barnes and Nobles..... we'll see. Of course that depends upon just how much I spend at the antique show. I'm thinking maybe we'll venture over to drop in on Mike and Becky.. I'd love to get together with her and her family before they make their big move to Atlanta. Gosh, I'm going to miss her. Maybe we can do lunch at the Crackle Barrel just up the road... I'd love to head into downtown Butler and the surrounding area to visit some antique shops but I really don't know if the are open on Sundays. I know a lot of the Amish areas are closed today.

Anyways, that the promises the day holds for us...... guess, I should go and begin getting ready. {warm fuzzies}

Another view in the acrylic holder......

Here are the finished file folders in the acrylic stand that will hold them. Behind them are some additional folders that I desire to alter soon. In front of them are two wooden birds that Don and I purchased on a recent trip to Wooster, OH and dinner at The Amish Door.

My submission folders...

Here is the entire pile of them. Each are stamped using Chalk inks in Lime Green and French Blue using Anna Griffin stamps to form a pattern on them. I even stamped the file label area and the label applied over them lining them up as I worked.

"She waited passionately" ATC

This ATC was created for a swap using an altered bobbin. Well, my bobbin isn't too altered, I felt it was definately different. I stamped the image with a vivid ink pad directly onto cardstock, used the lights in my studio to chose te placement of the bobbin after I ran them through my xyron, adhered it and trimmed.

Anyways, there is a story behind the story line that only the ATC swap participants and one other person, my granddaughter Alexxis will share. There is a secret as to where the letters are located that will only be on the ATC that Alexxis will one day receive. The resin covered stamp adorning each ATC was an original addressed on the letters I received. Each story is handwritten by me on the reverse side of the ATC in an accordian folded fashion upon parchment paper and I intend to use an ATC stamp on the front cover. The accordian will be folded and tied using the same thin jute.

The effort continues..

Who knew I'd be actually in an organizing frame of mind today! I am so happy that I made the effort to get my butt out here in the studio {I'm using the computer located within it now...LOL! just taking a quick break to refresh myself.} I've actually made quite a bit of progress, Horray! Horray! I've almost managed to clear off my bookbinding cabinet countertop {try saying that 10 times fast!} and have everything stored below on one of the shelves with some room to grow! Okay, maybe I need to actually use some of those supplies before I even think of purchasing more. And I have a pile to give to my dd, Amber to get those out of my way.

I got my journaling table completely clear with the exception of my cutting tools and my travel Cropper Hopper which is filled with even more tools that I'll desire to have close at hand. I believe I'll create a home for them on one of lifetime brand tables and leave those out, saving me time when creating and making cleaning up more of a breeze. And speaking of my lifetime tables, I have almost everything cleared off of them, just a bit of things left to sift through and that will fill only one of the three tables --- so I have some room to work. I also moved the table down on the wall so that I can put the shelving unit that I recently got back from loaning to Patty beside the journaling table. That will provide me with plenty of space for my markers, colored pencils - when I get enough veggie cans empty to separate them by color and blending, and my calligraphy supplies.

I had a container of ink refills and my alcohol inks out on the tables from where I'd previously moved some boxes out of the house and into the studio, so I worked on filling it up with refills that have been put back into my stamping cabinet. Figuring I'd went that far, I may as well organize my ink pad trays which are separated by Dyes, Chalks, Pigments. My VersaMark, StazOn, Distress inks, and embossing inks are kind of thrown in wherever there is room in the remaining trays. Something I can rectify later along with scraps of cardstock and paper.

Anyways, since I've some room to work, I've decided to start a project. A new project. Which also reminds me that I'll need to establish a place to keep other various works in process a home of their own. Anyways, I believe I'm going to stamp out some file folder labels for the submisison files. Pretty them up, so to speak. With any luck that will assist me to focus more on that this upcoming week.

My Submission Folders are done...

and if I must say they are beautiful! I used Anna Griffin's line of rubber stamps to create a wallpaper appearance on the folders using lime green and french blue to stamp one them. I have them spread out on my tables allowing them to dry a bit since the folders themselves have a coating that makes them a bit glossy. After cleaning up the mess and my stamps --- Yes! I cleaned up! I decided using my heat embossing tool would speed up the drying process a bit.
So, into the house I went to retrieve my heat tool when I realized what time it was..... 3:30 p.m. and I that I haven't had anything to eat all day.

By now you'd think I'd realize that this is a major no-no - skipping meals, so I decided to fix myself a grill cheese sandwich and eat some freshly sliced pinapple while my sandwich cooked. Grabbing a bottle of water along with whatever miscellaneous supplies I could squeeze into my hands, arms, you name it, I returned to the studio refreshed and rejuvenated.

I realize now that I do need a clock in the studio and maybe even an alarm clock. I could set it to remind me to take a break every so often, like every 2 or 3 hours. Taking some time out to play with the dog may keep him from having so much pent-up energy and I may even find some time to relax a bit inbetween making some time for other pursuits besides just grabbing a bite to eat.

Another thing that I realized is that I tend to work around Don's work schedule a lot. I think I may need to either help him discover a hobby for himself or just get him used to the idea that I need some time for my own pursuits. Definately more time management issues to be dealt with. I often dream of sneaking quietly out of bed some nights when I have trouble sleeping and escaping out here. Maybe soon.........

Oh, and on my next trip into the house, I'll grab the digital camera so I can upload some photographs of my pretties later. Until then.......

All play and no work...

isn't helping me to accomplish anything! I've spent the last hour {was it really an hour?} posting online and browsing some of my favorite blogs that I visit for inspiration. Well, the inspiration is definately here and unfortunately I cannot do too much about it since my studio tables are still in a bit of shambles from the recent sorting, plurging, reorganization efforts and strides I've recently made. But it was a sacrifice I desparately needed to make. Now, I've determined that this cycle will continue IF I don't do something about it, so I'm off to the studio to finish up some things. {My poor head is spinning with inspirations and ideas.........}

I believe I have the majority of re-organization tackled, now to get started on tying up those loose ends. I know that I will need to eventually clean out my stamp cabinet but I really hate to start yet another re-organizational project just now, especially since the ideas I have will require me to utilize some of my rubber anyways. Oh, it is a vicious cycle! LOL!

So I'm heading out to the studio to continue working on getting things put back into their proper places. If I can clear off the tables today, I'm thinking maybe I can utilize some delegation and possibly get Don involved in assisting me moving some supplies out of the house and into the studio either today when her returns home form work or when we return from thrifting at an antique flea market tommorow.

Urgent Update: {Okay?} Don just telephoned me and in our conversation he mentioned he has the opportunity to stay and work later if he so desires. I told him I really didn't mind if he chooses to. It is sort of one of those up-in-the-air subject to change at a moment's notice type of things but anyways I intend to take full advantage of the opportunity to get more accomplished. Another plus side is that we'll have a bit more money on hand for spending tomorrow, LOL! {I may just need to remind myself to be a bit more selective in my purchases.} Anyways, I'm hopeful that the weather will hold out so I {now we} can get this move accomplished.

So, I'm going to go and get back to tackling this once again. My biggest joy will be in getting it finally completed. Needless to say, I'm itching to get creating once again vs. talking about doing it! {*big smiles}