Shut the front door... for a tour!

Welcome to the 'art room' as we like to call it here. It's MY happy place, my getaway, my BIG purple and green room. I've been working since the first of the year to get it just so, take pictures and share it with you, so I can go and mess it up again!

I'll give you a heads up, my art consists of mostly paper crafts, so scrapbooking and card making are my favorites. But I'm getting into sewing. And my heart has always loved sketching, painting, drawing, paper mache' and well anything that involves glitter and glue! So on with the show!

SO next to the door is this. It's an old desk my dad put up on little box like crates. 1. So it's up off the floor (BTW this room is in the basement, so everything is at least 6 inches incase the ol' sump pump stops working!) AND so we could fit the mini fridge under there! 

The shelves have plastic bins. Each labeled for the kids stuff. Works great. They work with a bin, and put it away before another comes out. The old CPU cabinet (with pom pom on it) is for the kids papers, coloring books and slippers)

I call this the 'Color Station' filled with, colored pencils (see my precious Prismacolors there on the left, my art teacher, Mrs Henize taught me about them!) watercolor paint, and pencils, glitter pens... and speaking of glitter...

THIS is a shelf from Archivers (serious sale price too) I keep my glitter, stickles, Tattered Angels spray, paints, Smooch paints, more glitter, some paints, flock and pastel crayons! Seriously just the array of color is enough to get you going!

Next is the 'Cardstock table' 

This is where all my solid card stock is, either 8 /12x11 or 12x12 size, up above is my stencils and Bazzil stictch mats. Oh and the black cart with the drawers underneath is more kids stuff, stamps, paper, and play dough. The green cabinet houses ALL my ink pads, right around 100 of them. Mostly Stampin' Up! ones. And at least 20 of them are a shade of some sort of blue! 

My Cricut lives below there, snug as a bug, and the cartridges are all above the cabinet.

So we turn the corner for the BIG storage in the corner. That blue bottom drawer tips open for ALL my organized 12x12 scrapbook paper. It's in Cropper Hopper files, by type, color, or theme. (So for example I have some labeled... cat, dog, Ed, Zoo, Birthday, some are exact like P!nk concert, or Disney.)

The 12x12 paper rack is for my two favorite companies, BoBunny, and Cosmo Cricket, and some Stampin' Up! too. 

The Big Shot die cut machine (yes I have BOTH the Cricut and Big Shot and like my children I love them equally) Dies, folders, are all there too,

BELOW is a rolling tote on the right, full of BIG files for 12x12 paper. So Mia and Alex each have a HUGE one. And my Christmas and Halloween too. (yet I have Neither holiday scrapbooked at all!!) photo boxes, and another purple bin for some odds and ends.

Sewing corner!

This is where I sew. My machine is hiding under the 'Happy Bunny' maternity shirt, and sitting on the desk that my husband once sat in, in grade school. Under the desks I store patterns, instructions for my machine, and stuff I am working on. 

Turn the corner again... (yes wall to wall counters!) and we are to the original counter. From Hobo store, it's a hardware store that is SUPER discounted, and you get what they got kinda store. Anyway cabinets and counter top are from them. Awesome bar stools cut down from my creative friend Michele.

SO this is the only counter that is 'counter' height. This corner is my 'Accessories' area. ALL my buttons, brads, charms, and well... accessories for any project are here. You see the black bars with all the black shape punches on the wall (bar is from IKEA's kitchen department) the drawer is more punches, and the cabinet is currently empty. The shelf below is for my scrapbook albums, and below that is bins with 3D projects in them, and a cat nap house.

Middle is more punches, pens, pencils, tools, devil horn headband... drawer 1. is Adhesive. Any kind of a glue, tape, glue dot, wet, dry, permant, or temporary you need. Drawer 2 is chipboard pieces in bags by type. And drawer 3. is ribbon. In bags by color. Oh and above are IKEA boxes, I coverd and labeled for more storage. Things I don't use every day.

AND the other end of the counter is my 'desk' my laptop goes here, or I sit with my creative magazines or books, sketch idea's, take notes, and sip coffee here. Drawer is my 'office drawer' with stapler, tape, chapstick (well chapstick you can find in almost every drawer!) post-its, cough drops, and iPod charger. Cabinet is for memory stuff. OMG that cabinet is a zoo! Below my feet is Stampin' Up! catalogs (since 2000)  and my empty scrapbook albums. Below that is my foam stamps and notebooks.
Oh see to the left is a wire mailbox file. I keep some fun black chipboard there, and on the key hooks is where I store my letter chipboard in the fun original containers. Also fun is the clock above. It was a wedding present from a very artsy and good friend of mine. We don't keep in touch any more, but I think of him often with my clock.

To the center of the room is my cart! I once had it in my kitchen, but it cluttered the room, so it works awesome down here! THIS is fantastic, the tall stand on the left is my 'Clip it Up' by Renee OMG, LOVE this thing. Two levels of clips. Hundreds of little clips for all your stickers, and fun things! (bought my mom one for  her last birthday!) 

Then we have my journaling tablets, and MORE stuff that didn't fit on the Clip it Up tree. Below is my photo storage (LOVE those things too. At JoAnne fabrics!) And even more photo books, two encyclopedia's and a bin with a project I'm working on. 

Let me explain the encyclopedia's. The new trend or in 'vintage' scrapbooking is the look of encyclopedia paper. So why buy it when I had a very inspiring friend give me these two books?!

Next we have 'THE table' which is a 6 foot by 3 foot table in the center of my room, my dad built it IN the room, I asked for the boards below, since I am short and need to put my feet up (since they don't touch the floor!) plus it's obviously great for storage!) Currently a work in progress with my buttons all over. 

At the end of the table is this massive file cabinet. It's a travel agent file cabinet, from my fabulous friend Piper. Both my mom and I got one. I keep my fabric in here by color.

Behind the curtain is the... washer and dryer... ewww... BUT it's like free counter space when the rest of the room is a mess! Yes I rigged that lamp on top of the dryer with that shelf thingy. It works! I didn't take a picture, but to my right in this picture is the laundry bins, and a 6 foot storage unit from IKEA, two doors. One for snacks, and one for supplies, like garbage backs, sandwich bags, floor cleaner, and plastic bags.

'The Art Office"

THIS room, or space is where it all began. It's a 5x5 square room, right below my 1/2 bath above. It was where I was going to have my little art room... HAHAHAH!!!

Either way it's now the office. I paper journal in here, sit and think, brush the cats, and store things. Above is all my Creating Keepsakes, and Scrapbook Etc. magazines. The clear boxes are all hand made greeting cards, and to the right of that is my notebook fetish!

The shelves go up to the ceiling, for more photo storage, and some odds and ends art stuff. And my drawing stuff at the very top.

The other wall is my 'Stamp Wall' these mini shelves really were intended for my little knick knacks that I didn't want around the house, but meant a lot to me. Now all my stamps are in cases here. 

The white cabinet is a box of me. Filling the 3 shelves are random photos, trinkets, and things from my life that make me happy. 

I didn't take a picture of the chair. But it was my Grandma Alice's. When she died, I played rock, paper, scissors with my cousin Kristi for it. I LUV it.

My room is full of things that are colorful, and inspiring to me. These quotes I read to get going or just remember to 'Trust your Crazy Ideas'. I keep a picture of each of my kids here...

Alex was just 2 here, sitting on my counter, playing with my stuff. I love this one.

And Mia was SO happy in this one, with her Darby doll. She was 3 here.

And what art room is complete with out some of my Chloe, and my

Jordan. Oh, they have a HUGE carpet tower, in the middle of the room, placed there in the winter because it's about 3 feet below the heat vent! They LOVE it.

So whatever your space is, be it a half a basement, a corner of a room, a closet, or just a cabinet in your kitchen, make it YOURS. Make it you. Make it special. Mine too 8 years of tweeking, moving, sorting and arranging to get it where I love it. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour. Ask questions if you have any on my space. If anything leave me a comment that you stopped by! Happy creating!

JCat

What do we see here?

What do we see here? Dirty stained too small clothes? I can't sell them, can't consign them to a shop, and love to hoard all things  hate throwing things away... SO what do you see now...

Exactly... no? Still don't see it? If your a scrapbooker, crafter or a sewer you should see some pretty cool tags to add to any project!! So now that Alex has seriously worn out his welcome in his clothes.

I can use them for a cute reindeer, a best friends tag, "Mommy's Little KING" tag, and a "lil sport" tag. So start chopping up those old clothes... don't forget to check the tags on outfits, kids have some WAY cute tags, buttons too...

Hope this inspired you to look beyond the expensive 3D items in the store, and look around your closet for some great items! OUTSIDE the box people!

Happy Creating!

JCat McGack

Pool time, poop time and hot peppers up your nose

Hello! I have to share a few pages I just finished up over the weekend.

I got this awesome glitterly, shiney paper (glitter gets no justice in pictures!!) and I thought it would look better if it was sideways!!

We celebrated the 4th of July at our house this year, having everyone over for nummy food, and some pool time. I still have one more page still being finished to add to this lay out.

But here's some other ones that I did too...

Click to zoom, and if you look at my dad's nose, he has two hot pepper stuck up there!! He thought it was funny, to bad it burned like hell when he took them out!

So this page is mostly information, but it's like a crime report. Don't mind the red paper strips, that is covering our address and phone number (a bit too much info to give out)

So the crime report was on the repeat offender, Alexander. And his poo vandalism!

(sorry bout the flash on his forhead!)

Hope you enjoyed the pages, as much as I did creating!

Jacki

Scan this puppies!!

EEEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEeeee!!

Alright SO I am a BIT excited. I installed, and set up the new printer to go with the laptop. Yeah I know, it's been done before, BUT let me tell you using a 9 year old computer, and a printer that HAD a scanner copier on it, but it didn't work didn't allow me the proper love that I now share for this one.

It's a HP Photosmart C4795, nothing fancy, when we got the laptop it was a deal tossed in, normally $100, we paid $40. Let's just say I feel quite the fancy pants right now. It's not the copy/scan/print that has me all excited, well maybe, but the scan part is something I haven't done in for.ev.er, plus the new touch screen is pretty wicked cool.

And now that I'm scrapbooking I can scan in my layouts, note that my 8x8 size pages will scan in nice and pretty... not sure how the 12x12's will work... anyway till then, enjoy my cute dog book above, and some layouts I did for my boxers, Maggie and Sophie.

(be prepared to say "aww")

(note you can click on the photos to see them bigger)
This is a comic that SO explains me and my girls to a T! They are known for destroying everything, especially Sophie!!

This one may be hard to read but this is where Sophie spend her time when I'm in the kitchen, right under my feet. She doesn't always beg, she just hangs out there. So when Ed and the kids are off playing, while I cook, this is my assistant.

When it's cold Sophie goes under the blanket, does the famous dog circles, and sticks her little face out. Awww....

Oh some one was in BIG BIG trouble. Now Sophie will destroy any TOY or NON food item, Maggie on the other hand is the food bandit.

I was SO mad because this was ALL the rice cereal I had left for Alex, till I was going shopping again. So what do I do? Grab my camera!

She had such a white beard from it all too!

And she knew she was busted, because she went right to her kennel (which is NOT used for punishment, but her safe spot and her bed) and wouldn't even look at me! Bad Maggie!! (but SO cute!)

Hope you enjoyed some of my fun pages. Next is the cat book!

JCat McGack

Let's start with my first Stupid Sock Monster, I was reading a magazine and found a kit you can buy in stores, so I went a hunting one day on a coffee buzz kid free afternoon.

I came across just what I wanted. John Murphy's Stupid Creatures. I bought it and quickly took it home to play.

The box, which is a great box. Seriously, it's a flip top kinda box, so I can keep it forever, store Stupid Creature parts in it, and what nots.

The box includes a very detailed book, with different Stupid Creature patterns, stuffing, socks, needles, buttons... maybe some other stuff too... can't remember.

But I like that ugly is key. So the jacked up strings, two different sized ears, and such are ok... I made the above guy 13 months ago. For my son, Alex's first birthday.

Sadly I haven't really sewn much since, but I had to go to birthday party last weekend, and so since I am broke, I made another for Gavin's 2nd Birthday...

It took a bit of this and that, LOTS of notes in the book, some socks, ribbon and buttons, but these guys are fun, and getting better as I go.

This mess was supposed to be Gavin's going with the whole 4th of July feeling, but his crotch ended up in his neck... and well I moved on... (he will always have a home in my art room though)

Here is my sewing station, with my other creatures nearby for help, my stacking boxes full of sewing notions and tools.

I had help from my assistant Chloe, she loved the red ribbon

And these two are for future projects, they are $1 socks I bought at Jewel Foods, last winter. I did play with the pink and purple one for my 4 year old daughter Mia, I will post a picture soon. I think the orange one will be for me!

Happy sewing everyone!

JCat McGack

The begining...

Once apon a time I was a wee little girl. And since the begining of my time on this planet, I remember an art/craft/sewing room in any house I've lived in.

My mom always made it a point to have me involved in projects, to sew our clothes, to make our toys.

I've dabbled in sewing, painting, anything crafty or that requires a glue gun, glue stick, modge podge.

I took all 4 years of H.S. art class from basics, to the simple art for the LD kids.

I draw, sketch and paint in my spare time. I also did paper mache' masks for a while. Well I did till I found rubber stamping.

Paper crafts have taken over my world of art, I found rubber stamps with my mom when we were visiting St. Augustine Florida. From there we bought and loved to stamp, but it wasn't until I found Stampin' Up that I truely fell in love.

From there I found scrapbooking. And mind you I held back. I tried, and often said "Oh I am in BIG trouble if I get into this scrapbooking thing. I just know it" well trouble found me, and I have been addicted ever since.

I joined Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator 6 years ago this September. I love the company they have the best stamps, and their quality and prices can't be beat.

As of now, I am in the mood to move on. I want to be my own company. I want to share me, my ideas and my crafts. So today is the day that "JCat McGack's" is born...