Domino and the Midnight Bath

Justin and I were painting the hallway last night. To do so we took off the return vent so that we could properly paint. Taking precaution, we placed paper over the hole so that the cats would not be interested in exploring the underbelly of the house. While we were watching some TV last night I could hear some odd noises above our seats but I thought nothing of it. Once the TV was off we then noticed that these were not really normal noises and investigated. Domino had sneaked into the hole and had indeed ventured under the floor and above the ceiling... the dirtiest place in my house.
Justin was able to extract his sorry self and I gave him kitty treats for being so easy to catch. It wasn't until later, when Justin and I were reading in bed, that we noticed how completely filthy he was! I couldn't even recognize him!
So yes... we bathed our poor pathetic cat at 11:30 last night. Not only that, we had to blow dry him because otherwise he would have been sopping wet until morning. It was awful! And even today, being dry and very clean, he is still not happy with me and avoids the bathroom at all costs.
Tomorrow.... Tulip!

The Scrap Room 2.0

Okay, so I have to design and plan for an entirely new scrapbook room. This gives me an interesting and rare opportunity to coordinate all the little things that go with it, including my furniture, magnet boards, and accessories. Being the thinker that I am, I thought about colors for a long time, took in what the shape of the room is and what kind of architectural details I have to work with. After a lot of sketches and even more rough drafts, I finally ended up with the picture you see above. With some interesting painted stripes, crown molding under the extended shelves that sit on the existing half walls, and the addition of my wonderful embellishment centers, the plan I've created is perfect. Flawless. Without a doubt, every single element of this room will be dripping with Caitlin creativity. (Yes, I drew that. And didn't ruin another kitchen table. I've learned my lesson. Sorry, Mom)
In the planning, I've started painting magnet boards, hanging items and a slough of other items getting ready for the color scheme. We haven't signed the papers yet, and after we do, it will be a hurricane of work. I won't have my craft room until June. In the meantime, I will do all that I can to be prepared.

Lovely rubber stamps... properly mounted

Unity Stamp Co is one of my favorite stamp companies (second to Stampin Up!). Though I love their products, their stamps are NOT mounted on wood blocks. There is nothing I love more than having a wall full of mounted stamps, happy and darling, winking their little designs. Not only that, but having to mount the stamp on an acrylic block, then stamping, cleaning the stamp and storing all the supplies afterword is a little too much work for me. And to add to the dislike, when stamps are not mounted and not out in the open, how on earth am I going to know what I have?!
I've joined in Unity's Kit of the Month. This is a great program to obtain their product at a great price and it's a fun surprise to see what the kit looks like at the beginning of the month. But again, I don't like that the stamps are not mounted on wood. For a purist like myself, I want the look of the mounted stamp but the designs from Unity. Being the smart woman that I am, I did some research and found a great company that will send you a box of wood blocks on which you can mount unmounted rubber stamps. I bought my first box and within a few days the heavy (10 lbs of little wood blocks!) box was waiting for me. I've spent a few evenings, matching, stamping, gluing and then covering the stamped image with contact paper to create a great looking stamp collection that was not originally intended to be mounted.
The overall project is a time consuming adventure but I enjoy the finished product... rows upon rows of wood mounted stamps, all pristine and divine, smiling down on me from my embellishment center. Now only if I had more room for all of them.....

Etsy- the ebay for handmade!

Etsy is a website that I had heard about a few times from people but I had never tried it out until this week. I was looking to purchase a new set of stamps and a seller on Etsy was the only one that was selling this particular set. I signed up, bought the product and then started browsing. There are so many cute things available from sellers all around the world, and most are handmade goods! I've been special ordering items, talking with sellers about custom pieces that they make and really enjoying the ride! If you haven't looked there, I would!

Caitlin's New Storage Find!

Over the last few weeks Justin and I have been to Lowe's and Home Depot almost everyday, if not more than once a day for each location. During our visits and the waiting in line I noticed something that looked interesting. Lowe's has these small tins with clear windows that you can put gift cards in. I see them and think... ooh! something to store scrap stuff in! And yes indeed... they hold all sorts of things!! They measure about 4 1/4 X 3". The little window is about the size of a visa or gift card so you can see what is in there without having to open it.

I've been using them for alphabet storage (die cut alphas, chipboard alphas, mini metal alphas)

All in all, great find at the most unexpected place!

Shopping slows down, death of a customer, and books to look at

Tulip sleeps on while I write...

For all the books that I own, I would daresay 80% of them were purchased from Amazon.com. Now, as my reading as slowed a little because of my busy life, the need to buy books is less than before. Occasionally I find books for my childrens collection while at work and buy them for very little but they are picture books and not novels. For example the titles that I have bought recently have been... "Swim, Little Wombat, Swim!" by Charles Fuge, "Down in the Woods at Sleepytime" by Carole Schaefer, and "Little by Little" by Amber Stewart. These are darling little stories that include helpful platypus friends, singing toadlets and a sea otter being nice to tiny frogs.
My UPS guy stopped by today. He dropped off some scrapbook supplies and asked how I was doing. Mind you, I had recently passed out at the gym a few hours before. Something about aligning my posture had liquified my innerds had caused a slight blackout. I looked chalky and pale and sickly... So my UPS guy asked how I was doing.
"You look sick. Have you been okay?"
"Eh. I'm okay," thinking, Yeah, I've been better. Busy morning.
"Haven't been here as much. Hope you get better."
It took me a few minutes to think about what he was talking about. Now instead of being the lady at the apartment who wears only blankets or towels, I'm the one who is dying. Honestly, UPS probably has a sheet with what is happening to their most frequent recipiants, and I'm on there... first as chick who owns no clothing to woman who is dying.
To top it off- We're moving. So yes, I'm pretty sure that UPS man will think that I've died in the next month or so.

The Scrap room... again?

After a few weeks of enjoying the new and improved scrap space, there is a sudden change in plans that soon takes it all away from me. Justin and I bought a house. And while this is exciting and the changes are welcome, the absence of such a peaceful place will be felt. Not only that, but now, after so much work and effort into making that room a haven, I have to leave it, repaint it and turn it back into any other room in any other apartment. This leaves me with a dilemma.
Do I keep the sunny yellow and the happy warmth? OR do I move onto bolder color choices, mixing the red furniture with something daring like blue and chocolate brown?
And through all of this... I desperately want a new desk. How can I ruin this one while still retaining an air of innocence?

The Smallest One~ who hates me

This is Jynx. She hates me. Since we were blessed with her, she has urinated on my clothing, mated with my bathmat, knocked over plants, eaten out of my cereal bowls, and ripped holes in all my favorite blankets. But this small kitten sized menace is too cute to hate! She's tiny and snuggles all night long, visits me in the scrap room, and plays with the laser pointer until she falls down. Despite all the awful things she does, she's darling and a part of the family.

Except the bathmat thing... I have to replace the bathmat now.

Domino: The Cat

Domino is my tom. This creature is regularly well dressed, though he is too shy to meet new people. He is also 14 pounds.

Domino often tries to find somewhere interesting to sleep. Mostly likes small places he can't really fit into, being that he is a larger animal. One day I tried to find him after hours of not seeing the dapper dude and found him in my scrap room, having sneaked into the little red drawers. Another time he had, and I don't know how, pulled his kitty bed from my scrap room into the guest bath and was snoozing away.

In is spare time, Domino likes to watch tv, chase and sneak after Tulip or Jynx, and sleep. Napping is important to both of us, but he is seriously training for the olympic team.

Why am I blogging this animal? One, because I am a crazy cat lady. And two, because he is darling, handsome and needs this kind of exposure.

I love him lots and lots, and I've lost my mind.

The Brain Child for All Scappers- THE BINDER

As my time and energy is wasted away in the scrap room, some evenings full of crafting and others just sitting and looking at the stuff to make things, the need to have a binder full of ideas arose. I had this black 1" that was covered in glue, had a few cut marks on the front and was falling apart. But now... TA DA! I invested in a green one, 2" and with the nifty D-ring that allows interesting movement with your pages. This purchase has now spawned a greater need to have ideas, cards, techniques and other information and pictures cataloged.
This afternoon was filled with gluing, making notes, writing out directions for certain techniques, and other things. I've also used paper clips to attatch some of my own hand made cards and tomorrow I will be making color copies of the cards.
Justin thinks I'm crazy... and I really am! But I can't help it... it's like an organization bug has settled in and more needs to be done.
If only I could apply this same kind of manic energy and attention to the rest of my house.....

The Scrap Room- Updated!

As time has gone by, married life only gets better and better. Today, Justin helped me hang the anti-sneaking-Justin device. Here is the situation.
I have this large, beautiful, red cabinet that I love in my scrap room. It was in a spot that wouldn't allow a small rolling drawer between it and the wall. I needed the cabinet to move an inch- AN INCH! So I removed all the things inside, including the glass shelves, and squashed myself between the wall and the cabinet. Pushing with all my strenght, and boobs, I was able to move the red piece the inch I wanted... while successfully gouging huge holes in my wall. There was a moment of confusion in which I had forgotten that said cabinet had been anchored into the wall!!! The doors flew open as it all tipped foreward and the backing ripped off from some freak something. And me, poor Caitlin was trapped!!!
It took some convincing but I was able to un-squash myself from the wall and get everything under control. The problem was that I had these huge holes. They bothered me but I figured I would get over them.
A few nights later, about two in the morning, I was sitting in the scrap room thinking about life and how happy I was and how much I wanted more space in the room so that Justin could sit and talk with me. It was then, that fateful hour, that I moved all the stuff (ALL OF IT!) out of the room and packed things away so that I could tape the room off. This was a Saturday night (technically a Sunday morning). Sunday afternoon I had collected supplies from my mom and dad, bought my paint, and taped off the room. The following morning I rose early and painted the room the happiest and cheeriest yellow!!! And by two o'clock that afternoon, the room was painted, I was clean and my hair was curled.
It was a wonderful Tuesday afternoon moving back in. And NOW> the lovliest and best scrap room is all moved in and perfectly perfect! Not only do I have the best supplies in darling coordinated storage, I have my mini fridge, my TV and DVD player, an easy chair, and the new electric tea kettle. Truely I am spoiled and most fortunate.

So the original problem has been fixed, the stacker has been placed where I had wanted it. My walls are happy and yellow, the embellishment centers have been mounting and are straight, and I have a wonderful, comfy place to stay.
And yes, the beaded curtain helps... Justin no longer sneaks up on me, but occasionally the cats play with the handing strands and it's annoying:P