Wednesday, February 17, 2010

oh yeah, there was a tag, too

dangling from the back of riley's giftbag...because i suddenly realized i didn't have anywhere to write a personal greeting and sign our names!

(tag: heidi grace; patterned paper: prima, scenic route, love elsie; diecut border: sassafras; happy day tag: cosmo cricket; lace paper: ki; chip & bling hearts + bling flourish: mambi; flowers: prima; pearls: kaiser; brad: doodlebug)

luckily all the stuff i used was still sitting in a pile, waiting to be put away. for those of you who'd enjoy a (SCARY!) little glimpse into my "process"...here is a photo of the ingredients i used for the riley giftset of banner, bag, and tag:


ok, so obviously, these are the leftovers...and it was admittedly a fairly elaborate project, but i am sorry to tell you that it's not particularly unusual for me to "pull" this much stuff at the start of something new. since i don't have a dedicated workspace, i like to start by getting everything out which might fit my theme--otherwise i'd spend half my time running back and forth between the dining room (where most of the crafty stuff lives) and the living room (where i generally set up my card table in front of the telly).

in the picture you see the entire photo file which houses my diecuts and pre-cut shapes, (flowers, hearts, birds, etc--there are some baggies to the right which live in this file) the bling drawer which sat next to me for the entire project, (and now has a few less packets in it!) a stack of patterned paper, (of which i really only used 5 or 6 types, but again, i like to pull ALL the options in my color scheme; it saves me shuffling thru paper files multiple times) and then there are packs of stickers & diecuts, a box of miscellaneous chipboard tags & assorted flowers, gluedots & decorative scissors...a little bit of EVERYTHING, really!

so how do YOU work? are you a "get it all out and play with it" type, as well? or do you compose in your head, and only access selected items you know you'll use? tell, tell!

10 comments:

  1. Well obviously I am most selective kind of chick and so only get out what I reeeeeaaaaaaaaallllllllly need for each item I am working on however .... given that at any one time I may be 'working' on a painting, stitching, knitting or sleeping it is necessary at all times to have everything to hand. this is why I constantly move surrounded by whole passel* of pillows, threads, knitting sticks, needles and yarn.



    (*huh, huh, did you like 'passel'?)

    btw have I mentioned in the past how Riley has THE best name? Even if she does spell it wrongly?!?!

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  2. hello lovie!
    the tag is a wonderful accent - did you give her the gift already? did she FREAK OUT? i'm sure she did, or will! it's all just funnerwool!

    i'm a neat crafter, as i craft on the dining room table, where we three sit down to eat dinner every day. (yep, we managed to preserve this one tradition, and i love it!) i have my boxes and folders of things at hand, and i scour through to find the PERFECT item that will go with the project. there is always a handful of scraps out, as i pick away at those throughout the week (adding and subtracting as i go along), but as a general rule, only the stuff i'm actually using is out of its home.

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  3. fabulous tag!! Your piles are MUCH neater than mine. I start with an idea in mind, but usually end up playing around with it some. I definitely wouldn't want to take a photo of my piles! Yikes! Ok, I'm off to clean my scrap area.

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  4. Fabulous-o, as usual! I only have a few comments:

    1. That's ALL you have out?
    2. A PHOTO FILE of die cuts? Not a DRAWER or a CLOSET or a ROOM?
    3. A DRAWER of bling? Not a CLOSET?

    Amateur.

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  5. That tag is too cool. Yep I know if you hadn't added that they would be perplexed on who in the world gave that present??? lol.

    I usually get out a ton of things I think I'll use in a project. But as I'm at a tough spot or feel like I'm missing something half way through I'll go digging through my stuff again to see if something would work that I would not have thought about the first time around. Thats how I work. :)

    On my kitchen counter with a billion things all over.

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  6. You keep pumping them out.
    Talented and creative you.
    x

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  7. Thankfully I have a dedicated space. Everything is (mostly) within reach - and it often looks like a major tornado hit the area when I'm in create mode. Compose in my head? HAH! It's all in the flow baby! :)

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  8. that tag is gorgeous and perfect for your amazing bag. (Did you see i featured it on the ST Facebook page??)

    i am ROTFLMAO about Leslie's comment! amateur! love it!!!

    my starting point is always either the pictures or the paper and then i formulate a basic idea from there and pull "the basics" that i think i **might** use (which usually amounts to at least 10 dif paper choices, 20 embellies, etc). then as i build i pull MORE. at the end i've piled about 1/2 my stash next to my feet where it will live for days or weeks (or ~gulp~ months) and then i'll step and trip over it (just too easy to pick it up) and rage later when i can't find something. Yeah, I'm a bit mental. lol

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  9. Oh sweetie, that's not scary. If you want to see scary you should come over to my house! For someone who generally creates clean and graphic style cards my process is anything but! I THINK I pre-plan, but then I end up filling up an entire table with things I MIGHT use.

    As for your tag, it is absolutely gorgeous and just perfect to accompany that masterpiece of a birthday gift!

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  10. Beautiful tag Lauren. Love the bling hearth.
    My working metod???? Most of the time I have everything around med in their own place and I pull them out and try out different thing before I decide on what to use during the project...

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