BEATES WEEKEND SKETCH CHALLENGE AND MY NEW CRAFT ROOM!

Happy Hump Day all!!! I am actually home from work today since Kayla is not feeling well so I am playing in my craft room - kind of a nice little break during the week although I wish she was not sick! So, I thought I would share another one of my Christmas cards - this one is actually Beate's weekend sketch challenge this week and I really enjoyed having the time to play along! And, sketches are good for me when I am trying to get my stampin groove back, LOL! I had fun with this one although I may have gotten carried away with the glitter *wink* I used my embossing folder Finial Press because it reminds me of Poinsettias. I then added some Ruby Red accents to the flowers and added some green glitter to the leaves - such fun! The flowers across the top are made with my punches and then I added a brad to the center. Of course I had to add some ribbon so I used Sleigh Bells ribbon from the Holiday Mini (can only get this until the end of the month so if you need it, you better order it!) as it had all the colors I wanted on this card. The Santa face with all the Dazzling Diamonds is from the Heritage Holiday stamp set and the sentiment is from the Delightful Decorations stamp set. I really had fun with this one and I hope it shows in the result, which I am quite happy with! My first bunch of Christmas cards are going into the mail tomorrow and I have LOTS more to show you, WHOOHOO!!! Many of you have expressed an interest in seeing my new creative space so I thought I would share a few pics - I adore my new room and expect that there will be many a happy time creating way in it!

These first pic shows a partial view of my room from the door - hard to get the whole effect but you get the idea. The second pic shows my new work space for all my fun tools such as my sizzix, Cricut, BIA, and other things - one of the doors was broken so we are waiting for the replacement but I really love having all that dedicated work space. This third one shows you all the fabulous storage I now have for all the fun things I have accumulated - and now I can see all that I have and it is easy to locate! This fourth one is a close-up of my new Sizzix play area, I am just thrilled about it!! I can see all my dies, easily reach for them, and just have a ball!! The next one shows the storage above my new counter space and this is where I store all my SU! product and of course all those fabulous stamps! All of my non-SU! stamps are stored separately so everything is now really easy to put my hands on. I also have this fabulous storage with all these shelves that contain my chipboard, all my Cricut cartridges, and many embellies by subject - scary, I know but I am so happy to know where everything is now. It was getting so

that I was spending more time hunting for things than I was creating, which really made me not want to create at all! But, not anymore - just check out my new workspace where I do all my creating! I love the big work area and with so many things right at my fingertips, I can really do everything I need without getting up unless I need to die cut something which is fun to do anyway. And, of course no creative space is complete without the computer so I now I have a shiny new laptop in my space that is all mine and I don't have to share with the kids or the husband - just all mine!! They are also happy as they have the desktop for homework and whatever else teens do on the computer (not too much since I have it all locked down with parental controls, LOL!!) This last pic is to show you just how sweet my husband is - he surprised me with some beautiful flowers for my new craft room! I walked in and there they were, so bright and cheery...I just love that man!! So, there you have it, my new little piece of paradise, all set up and ready to go! I am having a ball in this room - I may never want to come out again!! And, for those of you who stuck with me through this long post, thanks so much! I am sure you are not nearly as excited as I am, but I wanted to share :-) Have a wonderful day and I will be back tomorrow with some more Christmas cards to share!!!