Unloading in the Cottage

The funniest part of my day today was Stephan calling me and telling me that if I have a thought to bring something else to New Mexico, don't.  LOL   I think he is trying to nicely tell me I have too much crap and he is probably right!  He made a super human effort on Friday to zip away from work and drive the 6 hours to Gilbert to rent a trailer to bring my studio up to NM.  

Not only did he do a major turn around: Get to Gilbert on Friday night, load on Saturday and head back to NM at 6am Sunday morning, he had to unload the entire trailer by himself!!  If I ever dare to even question if he loves me, I think I need to look back at these pictures!

The real crazy part about all of this is this IS my studio stuff.  Every box is part of my craft room, all my stamps, inks, paper, cutters, you name it, THIS is Gooseberry Cottage.  Dare I tell him that I have another U-Haul full of stuff coming on Thursday?  Ooops!

I will admit that I am super excited to tackle the mass amounts of boxes and put together my little sanctuary!  The best part is my mom and daughter are coming up with me so we get to work on it together!!!  Woo hoo!

Next post...after I get all settled!

Happy Stamping because I sure can't right now!  =)

Suzanne

Simple Birthday Cupcake - Purple

And so we come to an end!  The Cupcake Retreat Cards are all up and posted EXCEPT perhaps a special surprise that MAY make it to Payson.  But that will just have to wait!

Now it's time for me to the final stages of packing, take a much needed break and get ready to start all over again in New Mexico!

Happy Stamping,
Suzanne

Simple Cupcake Birthday - Pink

I am just loving the pink and green combo and I know Jordyn is beyond tickled that I have fallen in love with her favorite color of green.  She isn't too thrilled with pink, but you can't please them all!  =)

Simple Birthday Cupcake - Blue

The simple blue birthday cupcake starts another color series for cupcake cards.  Not as cute as the cupcake shop, but what can I say?  =) 

Glittery Cupcake

This card was so super fun to make and the picture just doesn't do it justice...yes, I will be getting better!  I sure as heck can't get any worse, right?

I just couldn't help but glitter the heck out of this one too.  I think the hotel we are going to be using may be a little upset with all of the glitter I am bringing into their place!  Ooops!  But it's all for a good cause, right?

Tower of Cupcakes

THIS card is actually going to be a "Bling It" Card!   The ladies are going to be able to either make it very simple OR they can bring their own embellishments to jazz this baby up!  I actually went and bought some nifty little doo-dads to throw onto a new card!  I am talking feathers, sparklies and ruffled ribbon!  Oh ya, baby!  I will be posting pictures as soon as I get those bad boys up and running!

Cupcake Shop - Green

The LAST of the Cupcake Shop series!  Not the last of the cupcake cards, but the last one of the shop.  So loving the awning and the polka dot ribbon is just perfect!

Father's Day and Guy Birthday Cards

Today was the last card class with me living in Arizona.  Even though I know I am coming back and doing card classes with my ladies every month, it was still an important little day for me.  Plus we had a good time doing it!

We invaded my mother's house for the class since my place is a wreck and it was a good trial run for when I come down from NM to do classes.  I only forgot two stamp sets, tape and...one other thing I can't remember!    BUT we improvised and we made a good card even better!  Woo hoo!

Cupcake Shop - Blue

Yes, I am so loving this design and it just works so well with so many different colors!  How can I NOT be excited?!

Cupcake Shop - Pink

One of the things I like to do with my cards is name them and when I was first doing up these cards I couldn't help but think of my little niece Kennedy, so these cards are named just for her!

Cupcake Shop - Purple

I LOVE this design and I did a series of 4 with these cards.  This is my favorite because quite frankly, I love purple!  You can't really tell on the pictures, but the little frosting has glitter on them!  Too cute!

Cupcake Lineup

I totally remember who inspired this card!  Robin Merriman at Trinity Designs.  I love all of her designs and this one was just too perfect to not CASE!

Cupcake Fun!

Coming up in August a slew of us ladies are heading up to the cool mountains of Payson, AZ and totally having a Cupcake Retreat!  We will be making 22 cupcake cards, eating yummy cupcakes, and having loads of laughs!

I know it is two months away, but I can't wait for August and the festivities.  Plus, since I am packing up my studio today and I won't be making any more new fun projects, I figured I would just do a whole series on all of the cards we will be putting together at the Cupcake Retreat!

You will have to pardon my lack of picture taking skills on some of these, I promise to get better when I have some more time!!!

Totally loving the Lucky Limeade and Pretty in Pink combo!

Happy Stamping!

Suzanne

Happy Retirement

I am totally loving this card!  I did CASE this from someone else in the big vast universe and since I am horrible at writing down where I find all of my inspiration pieces I couldn't for the life of me tell you from who.  But I just think it is the best thing since sliced bread!

Debby, from my card class, needed a retirement card whipped up for a friend of hers and she wanted some pink.  Well, how can you have a pink card without Pretty in Pink?

Stamps:  Fabulous Florets, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Regal Rose, Garden Green, Versa Mark
Papers:  Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Punches: Label Punch, Window Punch
Misc: White Embossing Powder, Sponge dauber, Pretty in Pink Polka Dot Scalloped Ribbon, 

Organizing Supplies

Little flashes of brilliance pop into my head at the weirdest moments and this little idea is no different!  I only get to see Stephan once a week and if we are lucky it is a for a whole whopping 12 - 14 hours and we have to sleep somewhere in that time frame so you are looking at maybe 5 hours we actually get to spend together.  So what am I thinking about in the wee hours of the morning???

Organizing my stamping supplies, of course!  (Sorry, sweetie!!!  I couldn't help it, you were still snoozing!)

Right now I have all of my inks together and they are all grouped in the color family.  Which is super wonderful!

Then I have a place for all of my reinkers, again organized by color family.  Then of course are the brads, buttons, ribbons, adornments, etc.  They all have a home of their own and between them all, they take up about 3 tables of space.

Since I am moving into Gooseberry Cottage in two and a half weeks, I am going to have to really be strategic on where I put things.  I went from having a GINORMOUS studio, to this little box of a room and now I will be moving to a bit bigger of space.  Quite frankly I am tired of being squished!

Stephan and I already figured out how to condense 4 shelving units of stamps to 2 and now I think I have figured out how to eliminate the need for all of those extra tables!

I found these little white baskets at Wal-Mart for $1.36 for 2 baskets and I am going to put everything associated with that color in the basket; ink, re-inker, ribbons, brads, buttons, sponge, extra markers, punched out labels that I didn't use, but don't want to waste, etc.  When I have a project I am working on, I can just grab the bucket and I can see everything I have so I can boost the old creative juices to use some coordinating accessories!

Plus, I think I can get a couple more Billy Bookcases from Ikea that would work out perfectly and open up my studio like you would not believe!  Plus it means a shopping trip to Ikea!!!!  How can I NOT check it out?

Mom and I are going to put the theory to test on that Saturday after I move in so I will keep you posted!!!!

Fingers crossed!

Suzanne

Gooseberry Cottage is Ready and Waiting

Gooseberry Cottage is FINISHED!!!!   My hubby busted his hump and got it all finished just in time for our May 31st move in date!  Talk about my very own Superman and if that isn't enough, he has already started in on the courtyard!  I am beyond spoiled and loved, that's for damn sure!

I just need to get a couple of cute little things to adorn the outside of the cottage.  I am dying to get a cute little mailbox to put little notes in for the family, a Gooseberry Cottage sign and a couple of cutesy flags to hang outside the window.  Plus a cute frog or two for the patio!  (Yes, I have a thing for frogs and my mom still buys me cute froggy jammies every now and again.)

As soon as I get up to New Mexico I will be sure and take more pictures with all of the goodies!!!

In case you missed it, let's take a quick tour of Gooseberry Cottage and her transformation!

The Outside

The back wall where G's room and bathroom will be

Installing the Drywall

The front of the cottage

Garrett's bedroom!

The front of the cottage with the lights and drywall up

Bathroom

Framing in Garrett's room and bathroom

Getting Ready to Pack

I have to say I am LOVING all of the new designs for Duct Tape out there.  Not only is it stinking cute it helps me organize my move!  The cute cupcake Duct Tape will be decking out all of the boxes I use for my card studio.  This way when I get to the end of my 400 mile move I know just where all of the boxes that will be living in the Gooseberry Cottage are!

Last time I moved...6 months ago, I used this colored duct tape method and it worked out GREAT!  The movers put all of the color coded boxes in the right room and I didn't have to move a single box upstairs!  Oh thank HEAVEN!

Tomorrow after our Mother's Day lunch my mom is coming over to help me pack up my studio, kitchen and any other room that may be a potential "target".  Yes, we have GREAT plans for Mother's Day in my house!  I think my mom REALLY loves me!!  Love ya, mom!

Of course, all of these thoughts on organizing has got my brain working in over drive so wait until you see what else I have up my sleeve to help me organize Gooseberry Cottage next month!!!

Happy Stamping!

Suzanne

Little Girl Graduating

My little girl is graduating in a couple of weeks and I still can't believe it!  Didn't I JUST graduate a couple of years ago?  I mean, really, there is NO way I am old enough to have a daughter graduating.  I mean, I still have to check in with my mom when I drive out of town!  Alas, it is true, Jorgy is off to college in the Fall and I am pushing 40.  :o)

One of the best parts of this year was when Jordyn asked if we could make her graduation announcements. I honestly thought she would prefer the traditional picture announcements you get in bulk when you get your senior photos and I was totally shocked when she preferred hand made ones instead.

So this weekend after watching the Avengers we came home and Jordyn designed, embossed and stamped her own invites!!!  I am beyond proud of her as a young woman and as a novice stamper!!!!

Love you, Jorgy!!!