I woke up this morning with a head full of project ideas - I'm really enjoying the embroidery and crocheting but need to make a birthday card for my friend Ruth and get it in the mail today. Saw a card on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ called a "side step card" that I really want to try, and one on my friend Laura's blog http://www.stamplaura.blogspot.com to make with a new bird punch picked up yesterday from Laura's house. Patterns for monograms to embroider showed up on the internet last night and I can't wait to try one of them. Oh well, the dog needs a walk and then off to work. The weekend is coming, the weekend is coming, the weekend is coming..... The little bird is finished and here's a picture of that. My closet is progressing - can't wait to show you.

A small Stampin' Up bird stamp inspired a little embroidery piece this morning...just stamped right onto fabric. I haven't finished embroidering the heart in his mouth, which of course has to be Valentine red. Thought I would put him on top of a heart which will hang on a gift I'm making for a special Valentine next month. The stamp is from a little hostess set from many years ago which included a word stamp: "Thinking of you is a nice thing to do" - how appropriate.

A day when you can make something you like can't be written off as a total loss, no matter what happens later. Maybe I should get up a little earlier in the morning.

Let the games begin.

A search for wallpaper at stores in the area yielded nothing. I guess wallpaper has gone out of style so much that lots of non-specialty stores just don't carry it anymore. I gathered scrapbook paper that appealed to me, and got started wallpapering the closet. Not sure how I feel about it yet; it certainly isn't just like Pam's, but then I knew it wouldn't be.

Altogether, though, it's a good start. More later . . .

Art closet

Welcome from Ginger to my first-ever official blog! I want to show you the project I'm working on - I got the idea from artist Pamela Garrison http://pamgarrison.typepad.com/pamgarrison/2008/02/so-does-that-ma.html who created a wonderful art closet. I'm hoping to do something similar to hold all my different hobby items, stamps, fabric, thread, yarn, paint, etc. in a way that will inspire me when I look at my things. I like to use what I have, and feel guilty having things that aren't being used, so my ultimate goal is to envision ideas for making things just by peeking into the closet.

I took a picture of my craft room closet in November so you can see the monster I'm trying to tackle:

I would say it looks worse than normal, but that would be a lie. It has looked like that pretty much for 10 years now.

I started on Saturday by emptying out the closet completely. Wow - it's really a nice closet!