Weekend Wrap-Up + CPS #186

Whew, what a weekend! I didn't really have any set plans when I left work on Friday, but it turned out to be a busy-bee 2 days. Let's review:

Yard sale finds: It's been in the back of my mind to get better organized with my paper crafting items. I've been putting things in cardboard boxes, which works fine, but I don't like the way it looks. On the other hand, I don't want to spend a ton of money to make things look nice and it's not super important to me that everything matches. Thankfully, I was able to find a happy medium with the yard sales this weekend (see picture below).

Organization + rainy weather: Rainy weather always puts me in a cleaning/organizing mood. Trash this, recycle that, consolidate these things, put those things in their rightful place, etc. By the end of a good 1.5 hours, let me show you the result. A part of me would have liked to have taken some before and after pictures, but a) I didn't think of it until halfway through the process and b) I'd be too embarrassed by the clutter.

1. $2 cat statue (yard sale find). I figured it was cute and pink and could go on my craft show display table if there was room. I found a smaller blue version of it, but its expression was weird.
2. $3 3-drawer thing for ribbon, die-cutting related items, and Fiskars border punches (yard sale find)
3. Tool box that my mom gave me last Christmas to put my embellishments in. It used to sit on the floor to the right of the tower. Now it's closer to my work space.
4. 50-cent plastic container for clear stamps (yard sale find). I put most of my scraps either in the last drawer of the white tower or right next to the clear stamp container in old file folders.
5. I was able to organize my cardstock better and move it into the apple box. More room on this shelf means that I could move my paper cutter off the floor.

Now that I had the items in the shelf well organized, I decided to tackle my desk (see second picture). It was still raining at the time, so it's not like I could have gone for a run outside or anything. The pencil holder on my desk ran out of space so I started just leaving stuff out on the surface. Result: clutter. No good. Solution: I grabbed a mug from high school prom that had been sitting on the top shelf of my desk, collecting dust, wiped it down, and this became my paper crafting cup: 1 pencil, Prismacolor colored pencils, scissors, ultra fine Sharpie markers, white gel pen, and corner chomper (1). I KNEW I'd find a use for that mug...almost 10 years later. Hah. I also organized my box of random stuff so that they'd be easier to get to: adhesives and smaller scraps of paper (2). (3) Random thought: what is the point of the corner chomper carrier? Well, I understand what the point is, but I just don't have a use for it because it's not like I'm carrying it anywhere. It came with the tool when I bought it off Ebay. Maybe I can use it to put embellishments in or something.

With all this organizing this weekend...(pause for thought)...crap, I'm turning into my mother. (insert of wail of despair).

Here's my attempt at CPS sketch #186. I'm a little on the fence of this card. I like how the elements fit together, but I don't necessarily like the color scheme that I picked out. I might try this card again in the future, but using a light blue cardstock instead of black when die-cutting the smaller flowers.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in French Blue. StazOn in Jet Black
Stamps: Fiskars- Friendly Flowers (sentiment), Hot Off The Press- Delicate Patterns (text)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart- Classic Butterfly
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8, Sizzix- Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Flowers (flower), Cuttlebug- Flowers
Paper: Basic Grey
Brad: Making Memories- Fresh Anthology
Foam adhesive: EK Success
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)

Hope y'all have a good start to the work week! :)