Craft Room Clean Out Part Six

It’s part six of the craft room clean out, and this is the final part as I am pretty much done!

For my first project, it was time to tackle the dreaded brown desk:

I spent almost six hours cleaning off this desk.

And then I promptly forgot to take an after picture.

There is no way to take one now, because it was cleared off for less than a week before I removed it from the craft room altogether!

Oh well.

Then, we ended up going to IKEA for new furniture a few weeks ago. They actually had my KALLAX in stock, so we decided to make the long drive.

I got a 4×4 KALLAX unit, as well as a picture rail, and another ALEX drawer unit.

I also got six of these containers from scrapbook.com:

Yahoo!

I put all my regular-sized stamps in four of these containers (the larger ones don’t fit, so I am keeping the big ones in this container I already had:

Not quite as convenient as I like to keep manufacturers together, but it is right next to the others (behind the purple bin), so hopefully it will work.

The fifth container I am saving for my dies. I have a few bigger dies that don’t fit because of their packaging, but I plan on getting some storage envelopes sometime in the future, which will solve the problem. For now, they can stay in their purple bin because that works just fine.

The dies on the left are ones that go with stamp sets (by manufacturer) and the ones on the right are stand-alone dies by manufacturer. I put the really large ones in the back of the bin.

I used the last of the containers for some extra 6×6 paper pads that didn’t fit in my regular storage (I put them in sideways to make them fit.) I have a lot of Echo Park and Lawn Fawn papers. 🙂

I had always wanted to have a picture rail to display recent cards I made, or have received from others, so that got put up too.

It looks a little funny in this picture because I had to remove the card in the middle and cut off the end of the shelf to keep you from seeing some future design team cards!

I would have liked to have the shelf right above my work desk, but as that is concrete, and just to the right is not, we went with the right. Easier to install. 🙂

SO, we got the rest of the furniture built and set up, reconfigured the room a BUNCH of times, and finally got it the way I think it will work. We are going to try it for now anyway and I can always tweak it if needed.

I even have a dedicated sewing/kid crafting desk, which I really wanted to have in the space.

I think eventually a chair (if we can find a comfy one) will replace that desk, but for now, it works.

I got rid of SO many random containers, three Michaels white cube units (two of which were broken), three plastic drawer units, a brown desk, a large bookcase, and a yellow desk as well. Not to mention copious amounts of random papers!

I still have a lot of stuff I want to go through but have at least gotten rid of enough I can see what is there.

The goal really was to get everything up off the floor and desk spaces, put like things with like things, and have a home for everything. I can go back and go through small sections at a time now and continue to purge when I feel like it.

I really feel like all my original goals have been accomplished in this room.

I used my new set of ALEX drawers to sort out all my paper scraps by color family in the top three drawers, and have all my embellishments in one drawer, and stickers/rubons in another. All right next to where I craft, so I hope I will be reaching for those things more now that they are organized and in reach. Maybe I will do a challenge this summer to use some of that stuff up.

So, that’s it! It was a huge undertaking, I have done very little crafting the past few months, but the results are definitely worth it, and now I can just work on finishing touches and get back to making projects!

I am SO happy with the results of my craft room makeover! I never expected it to take so many hours of hard work (don’t know why-it was a disaster!) but I also didn’t expect to finish the whole project as early as March. Pretty amazing.

They say most people quit their New Year’s resolutions in the first month, so I am pretty happy to say that even with COVID in February, I managed to re-do my entire craft room, and I am also doing great on my weight loss goal-22 pounds down so far!

Anyway, this post is getting long, so for a final recap of where I started to where I am, enjoy these before and after pictures!

Before:

After:

The first desk to the right is my husband’s, so ignore the mess!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

The containers on the floor to the right of the desk are just empties I am not sure what I am doing with yet.

The box on the floor is also The Hubby’s. 🙂

Anyway, a pretty amazing change, huh? I am super excited to know where things are, and to have a home for everything.

I hope you enjoyed following my craft room clean out journey, and now I am off to craft!!!! 🙂

Book Review-The Miracle of You

The Miracle of You is a children’s book written by Cleere Cherry Reaves and illustrated by Alejandra Barajas.

The words in this little book serve as a gentle and beautiful reminder to kids of all ages that God made you and loves you.

There are rich and vivid illustrations as well, which will readily capture any reader’s imagination.

This book would make a great gift for a small child, and I can see it being a great bedtime read, as well as a wonderful discussion starter between caregiver and child.

I would like to thank Thomas Nelson Children’s for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you!

Craft Room Clean Out Part Five

Still working hard on the craft room clean out!

I was able to clean up all of the mess I made from bringing in the rest of my supplies I had stored in our exercise room (I talked about this in part four), and I cleared off my white desks, and also emptied these two:

For the next project, I decided to tackle the floor. I wanted to get everything else on the floor up and put away!

I started with The Hubby’s piles from work.

I cleared out my piles that were underneath his desk and piled all of his there instead. He still has access to everything, but the craft room floor is now clear.

It was mostly MORE papers underneath that desk, and I spent over four hours going through them all! It doesn’t look all that different because I replaced my stuff with The Hubby’s stuff but check out the difference on the floor!

Before:

After:

I also worked a bunch more on my brown bookcase and got rid of/consolidated supplies. And I went through my ink pads and gave a bunch of those to my kids.

The kids have been loving this clean out, because they have been getting a ton of supplies for themselves. They like the supplies, and I like getting rid of stuff. Win, win I say! 🙂

Next up is cleaning off the rest of the brown desk. I have started it, but there is a LONG way to go. I will share more about my progress next time!

Book Review-The Hot Cross Bunny

The Hot Cross Bunny is a children’s book written by Carys Bexington.

Steve is about to be in hot water. It’s time to harvest the chocolate eggs for Easter, only……he never grew any.

Can he take a shortcut and save the day, or will his experiment destroy the Easter Egg Hunt for everyone?

My Thoughts: This is a cute premise for a book. I like the twists and turns this book takes and think kids will get a kick out of the dragon that poops chocolate especially (even though that was a bit much for me!)

Overall, the story is clever (including the title), and an eggscellent read as well. 🙂

I didn’t totally love the artwork, but the story was a lot of fun.

I would like to thank Quarto Publishing Group for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you!

Book Review-Under Fire

Under Fire is a suspense novel written by Lynn H. Blackburn. It is book three in the Defend and Protect series, but it is not necessary to have read the previous books in order to read this one.

Summary: Special Agent Tessa Reed has a big job ahead of her. She and her team are preparing Raleigh for a visit from the president himself.

She is ready for the challenge and doesn’t mind the chance to get to work with her best friend USSS Special Agent Zane Thacker who recently transferred to the president’s detail.

But when she discovers someone’s got a target on her back, things start to get dicey.

It’s all coming down to the wire. Can Tessa keep the president safe-and stay alive doing it?

My Thoughts: I thought this book had a lot of great action and suspense, with a pretty healthy dose of romance as well.

I enjoyed the plot line, and I really liked how the characters had each others’ backs and were such great friends.

The ending felt a bit rushed and thrown together, but overall, it was a fun read and I enjoyed it.

I would like to thank Revell for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you!

Ally’s Angels March Challenge

It’s time for another challenge at Ally’s Angels!

Our theme for March is as always-Anything Goes.

For today’s card, I decided to make a simple Easter card:

Supplies: Card Stock: American Crafts; Stamp: Lawn Fawn; Dies: Lawn Fawn (stitched rectangle, Easter), Spellbinders (flowers)

That’s it for now, but I hope you find time to do something fun today, and feel free to join us for this month’s challenge. You have until April 9th, so there’s plenty of time!

February Books

Today I am sharing the books I read in February.

Here are my reading goals for 2023:
1. Read 250 books. This includes the books I read to the kids, audiobooks, and anything I read for myself. 48 DONE
2. Read twelve (new to me) classics/award-winners. 2 DONE
3. Read twelve self-help/education books. 2 DONE
4. Re-read thirty books. There are so many good books I have been meaning to re-read, so this is my goal to help with that! 6 DONE

A few formatting notes:
1. I have inserted pictures as well as Amazon links to the books I enjoyed most for the month so that it is easier to read more about each book if you are interested. Hopefully, your local library system will carry most of these.
2. If I completed a more detailed review of any of these books, I included a review link after my comments.
3. If a book is not available yet, you will see the publication date in parenthesis after my comments.
4. I have rated each book using a bold numbered star after each comment.

The rating system is as follows:
*5-This book was so good, I either bought it, or think it is worth buying. I am pretty picky about the books I buy, so this is as good as it gets!
*4-This book was worth reading, but not necessarily worth buying-look for these books at your local library
*3-This book was just OK. I wouldn’t need to read it again.
*2-Don’t bother
*1-There probably won’t be any of these, because if it was THIS bad, I wouldn’t finish it. 🙂

Well, COVID curtailed my reading plans this month, but The Hubby and I did get in some audiobooks at least and made some more progress on some Sherlock Holmes short stories as well as another How to Train Your Dragon book.

Here is what I read in February:

1. How to Decorate a Christmas Tree by Vikki VanSickle-cute children’s book *3 (10/10/23)
2. A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audiobook)-didn’t love this one *2
3. Blind Trust (The SNAP Agency #3) by Natalie Walters-pretty good *3 (4/11/23)
4. The Red-Headed League (Sherlock Holmes) by Arthur Conan Doyle (audiobook)-I liked this one-very clever! *4
5. Texas Ranch Target by Virginia Vaughan-tons of action, but a few holes in the story line *3 (4/25/23)
6. A Case of Identity (Sherlock Holmes) by Arthur Conan Doyle (audiobook)-terrible ending! *2

7. Memory Lane by Becky Wade-very good! *4
8. The Boscombe Valley Mystery (Sherlock Holmes) by Arthur Conan Doyle (audiobook)-OK *3
9. The Five Orange Pips (Sherlock Holmes) by Arthur Conan Doyle (audiobook)-LAME *2
10. The Man with the Twisted Lip (Sherlock Holmes) by Arthur Conan Doyle (audiobook)-pretty good *3
11. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (Sherlock Holmes) by Arthur Conan Doyle (audiobook)-pretty good *3
12. The Adventure of the Speckled Band (Sherlock Holmes) by Arthur Conan Doyle (audiobook)-kind of creepy *2

13. How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero (How to Train Your Dragon #11) by Cressida Cowell (audiobook)-relistening to these with Hubby-SO GOOD! *5
14. The Ever Storms (Wilderlore #3) by Amanda Foody (audiobook)-this was good! I liked it better than book two. It’s a fun series. *4
15. Fields of Fire (Matthew Redd #1) by Ryan Steck-TONS of action in this thriller, I liked it *4
16. Lethal Range (Matthew Redd #2) by Ryan Steck-lots of action, but more on the unbelievable side *3 (8/8/23)
17. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder-read this aloud to the kids, very good as always! *5
18. Sincerely, Emerson by Emerson Weber-cute one-time read *3
19. Arthur’s Great Big Valentine by Lillian Hoban-a favorite series from when I was a kid! *4
20. The Kremlin Conspiracy (Marcus Ryker #1) by Joel C. Rosenberg (audiobook)-this is a favorite series of mine I am re-reading before the next one comes out in May-SO good! *5

This month I read one book to the kids, and I read/listened to sixteen books just for me.  I also read three picture books to myself for review.

For the year, I have read four books to the kids and thirty-three books just for me. I’ve also read eleven picture books to myself for review.

That’s it for today. I will share my March books the first Tuesday in April!

Book Review-The Last Chance Cowboy

The Last Chance Cowboy is a western romance written by Jody Hedlund. It is book five in the Colorado Cowboys series, but it is not necessary to have read the previous books in order to read this one.

Summary: Catherine Remington has just delivered a baby boy. And then been witness to a murder.

She has promised the dying mother she would take the baby to his father out west, and now that one of Chicago’s biggest crime bosses is gunning for her, she decides she has no choice but to make a run for Colorado.

 Dylan McQuaid is finally living an upstanding life as sheriff of his small town. There are still those who think he isn’t up to the task, but he is determined to prove them wrong.

But when Catherine arrives with the baby, Dylan must make some quick decisions, or risk losing the respect he’s worked so hard to gain from the townsfolk.

Can he adjust to his new life as a dad? And where will Catherine go now that she’s delivered the baby and can’t return home to the danger she left behind?

My Thoughts: This book is a fun read. I liked the unique premise, and the author did a great job of setting up a nice romance in the story as well. I enjoyed it!

I would like to thank Bethany House for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you!

Book Review-Memory Lane

Memory Lane is a contemporary romance/mystery written by Becky Wade. It is book one in the Sons of Scandal series.

Summary: Remy Reed feels most comfortable all alone in her cabin-just her and her art.

But when she spies a man floating helplessly in the ocean not far from her home, she drops everything to rescue him.

The only problem is…he has no idea who he is.

As the man recovers from his wounds, Remy wants nothing more but to get him out of her house, and back to where he belongs.

Can she figure out the mystery behind the man? And why is she starting to feel a twinge of sadness that if she does solve all of the questions, she may never see him again?

My Thoughts: This book is great. It has a unique premise, lots of quirky and fun characters, a nice romance, and a good mystery besides.

This is a perfect easy read and would make a great addition to any library or as a gift for a friend. I definitely recommend it!

I would like to thank Victory Editing for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Thank you!

Mix It Up Challenge Blog Time!

It’s time for a new Mix It Up Blog challenge! Yay!

Our challenge this month is Anything Goes + Distressing (ink or tool)

I chose to distress my project with both ink and a tool.

Here is my card:

Supplies: Stamp: MFT; Die: Waffle Flower; Embossing Folder: Tim Holtz; Inks: Broken China Oxide, Prize Ribbon Oxide, Black Soot Distress; Other: Sandpaper (fine grit)

Here is how I made it:

First, I applied my inks to the background.

Then, I used an embossing folder to add dimension.

I used some sandpaper to remove some of the ink from the snowflakes.

Finally, I adhered my sentiments, and adhered the panel to a card base.

There you go-a card with distress ink, and distressing!

Well, that’s it from me today.

I hope this card inspires you to join us for this month’s challenge at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog!

Have a great day and I can’t wait to see what you create!