Breaking Down a Collection

Is there ever enough space to store all of your crafts supplies???

I remember when we first moved into our house, I had more cabinets than I had stuff.  I mentioned this to my now husband and he mentioned my comment to a female friend.  She got a good laugh out of it and assured him that eventually the stuff would grow to fit the space.  Now I always seem to be cleaning out a cabinet, or closet or a space under the bed to store more stuff!

The craft room continually goes through changes as I use product, buy new things and change my interests.  A couple of years ago, I moved some of my sewing stuff up the the craft room that had previously been only papercrafts.  Now I need about half the space for sewing which means a lot less papercrafting storage.  I'm spending more and more of my time sewing again so I need the space to fit the function.  I'll have more on this change in an upcoming video.

In the meantime, I'm working through collections and emptying drawers. In this video, I share my process for breaking down a collection.  I still save a lot of stuff but not in a drawer devoted to one waning collection.

Video: 



How do you break down your collections or kits?  Do you move items to other areas, donate supplies, throw out what you haven't used?

Thanks for watching today!

I think I can!

There are bicycle paths all over Hilton Head Island. This one stretch though you biked by the road until just a few years ago when they added paths through the trees. The only catch is there is a fairly steep hill to get over.  I cut over to the roadside and bike around it.  DH bikes over that hill every time he can.  He really has to get a running start.

The page also captures some photos on the beach and a good one of the two of us together.

Here's the process video.


Thanks for visiting today!

"Reading" while crafting

My husband has always loved books on tape. That's how far back it goes.  He started listening to books when they were actually on cassette tapes!  Then Cd's and now he listens to audiobooks.

I have taken a lot longer to come around to this type of information and entertainment. I read traditional paper books until about 2 years ago when I bought a tablet.  I still like to read a book and I think it engages the mind in a different way than an audiobook.

However, an audiobook does engage my mind.  I can see now why he wears his headset everywhere listening to books on the go, while working, or walking.  I haven't gone that far but I have found one place I particularly love to have a good novel being read to me or listen to an author share their non-fiction book and that is my craft room.

When I'm cardmaking or cutting fabric or even practicing free motion quilting, I can listen at the same time and I love it.

We download books through our local library system; however, sometimes the wait is long and the selection more limited in audiobooks than ebooks so I went looking for another option.

I've been using Scribd for about a month now and I like it a lot. (see link below)  Books aren't unlimited as it does hold back some popular titles for another month; however, I found the book I most wanted to read.  Our next book club choice was Educated and the library wait was too long. I've listened to another non-fiction book, a popular novel and am now starting another book club selection that had a long library wait time.  Another advantage of Scribd is that you can download the book or you can just stream. I've streamed a few to decide whether I wanted to continue or not.  Mostly I download so I can listen from anywhere.

The main reason I like audiobooks now when I didn't like CD's before is that I can adjust the speed.  I often speed up the speaker to 1.2x and that little extra can make all the difference.  Some books have both male and female voices so it is more like listening to a play.

Now when I'm cutting quilt fabric or making cards, I'm usually 'reading' as well.  It's fun and informative.

If you like audiobooks or would like to give them a try, here is my Scribd link for 2 free months. Full disclosure, I get one additional free month for anyone who signs up. You can cancel at any time so you don't have to continue past the first 2 months if it isn't for you.  At $8.95 per month it is much cheaper than Audible.com and gives you far more books per month.

Scribd Free 2 Month Trial

Hope you are having a crafty fall!

Working with a collection

I've been cleaning out my craft room again.  This time it is to make way for more sewing things which means some papercrafting product must go.  This collection by Crate Paper is one of those that I loved the idea of it more than the practical application. I figured it had one more scrapbook page in there, so I found a photo of my cousins, my mom and me and did a page commemorating a day we spent together when one cousin traveled to NC for a visit.  The journaling captures snippets of our day together and provides memory triggers that I hope will still be working for me in years to come.  If I can't remember everything, I can always call my cousins. Good memory is a family trait.

The process video is here:


After completing this page, I did about 2 more cards and then put the rest in my donate bag.  It's cute stuff but I just couldn't make it work for most of my cards and scrapbooking.  It's hard for me to part with pretty paper but I have to realize I can only use so much.

Thanks for visiting today.

Cute Little Umbrellas and 10,000!

To celebrate with friends, I made some pina colada cupcakes (minus the rum) and I wanted them to be a little more festive.  What these cuties needed were those little umbrellas you find in drinks.  I didn't have any and live in a small town with few shopping options so I decided to make my own.

I'm using a scallop punch, toothpicks, paper and glue.  Here's the video:



The cupcakes spelled Congratuations with takes a remarkable amount of table space to display.  Next time I might try just Congrats.  :-)  The cupcakes are coconut flavored with a pineapple filling and then buttercream frosting and a sprinkle of coconut. 

Oh and I'm celebrating too.  My YouTube channel at LisaEDesign now has 10,000 subscribers!!!
Thanks for visiting!

Flipping a Sketch

Have you ever trained a cat?

Are you laughing at me right now?  Yes, you can train a cat as long as the cat gets the best end of the deal.

Our kitty has a certain routine he uses to get doors opened and to get fed.  He puts his paw up in the window when he wanted dinner and we put our hand up to meet his.  Once that occurs, he hops down knowing his order is in place.  The best trick is the sunroom one that is talked about in the early part of the video.

This layout uses one of my old sketches.  The sketchbooks are still available for purchase through my Etsy shop:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/LovelyLayersArt

Here's the video:



Pet pages are always fun to do.  Thanks for watching!

Two videos

I posted this first one on YouTube a couple of weeks ago but failed to get it here on the blog.  The next one is new.

The multi-photo spread is of a visit to the uptown Mint Museum in Charlotte.  My Mind's Eye chalkboard themed paper with little frames makes up the background with cardstock to separate it from the photos.  Keeping all the background in neutral colors allows the colorful photos and gelliprint embellishments to show up.  For a change of pace, my journaling is handwritten.  I dislike my handwriting so you will seldom see it on my pages.

The most recent layout is a mixed media page for a 5x7 photo of my husband walking on the beach.

I used mists and bookpaper to create a more masculine background.  The embellishments are wood, metal and ribbons, many items of texture.  There is no designer paper at all on this page.

2 Pager process video:



5x7 Photo process video:



So this catches me up for awhile. Hope you enjoy the videos!

Altering Designer Paper

Sometimes the perfect pattern isn't the perfect color.  I'm continuing our trip to Charleston from last spring.  As I was looking at the photos for inspiration, I thought that a brick background stamp or paper would be perfect to accentuate the lovely architecture of the town and that we were on a garden tour which are often behind the brick walls of private residences.  Unfortunately, I did not really have a brick stamp.  I knew I had a brick paper; it just took me a long time to find.

When I did the brick were very red.  A good color for brick but not for my photos of Charleston.  So I decided to distress the brick with some white paint.  I didn't quite get the true effect yet it toned down the red enough to make the paper work with my photos.

Here is the video:



Thanks for watching!  I try to monitor comments and get back to you with answers to question.  I am close to 10,000 subscribers which amazes me.  Thanks for following me, liking the videos and adding comments.  It is very motivational.