Ask The Designers: Making Time To Craft

We all live such busy lives with kids, work, husband, home. We're pulled hither and yon throughout each day with no end in sight. Today's question is this: How do you find or make time to craft?

Patricia: When Susan posted this question my answer was simple, I don't sleep! LOL. Most of my fellow crafters know that I'm up all hours crafting and it works out pretty good seeing how I have made friends all over the world with this wonderful hobby.

I craft anytime that I'm not working. If I'm home you will find me in my craft room. I love making crafts so much I really wish it was my full time job. Usually after I get home from work I get dinner done and then I am in my craft room till about 1 or 2 am. When I am at work my brain never stops thinking about the current challenge or project I have to make. I do a lot of brain storming when I can't work on my stuff, I pretty much have it all laid out in my head before I start. 

Susan: Killam Creative (greeting cards) and Killam Creative/Studio (jewelry) are my "day job", so I'm in the studio all day, every day. Each and every project is time-intensive - whether it's designing the card (some times I take a day or two to figure something out... it really should be easier!) or creating intricate silver jewelry from raw wire. Some days I might just work on one thing for hours... *sigh*

I'm also taking time to learn the best ways to promote the business online, and right now I'm spending a lot of time on research and finding my audience.

I generally stop working when my husband comes home and head back to the studio after he goes to bed. I can't make as much noise with drills or heat guns, but it's just as good. Plus, late at night I know I have friends doing the same thing all over the world - it's comforting to know they're "out there" and fun to chat online as we're all gettin' our craft on. :)

Now friends, it's your turn - how do you find or make time to craft? Do you have little ones in the house? How are *your* juggling skills?


Thanks for your support - we love getting your questions! Please join in and Ask the Designers!

Cheers,
The Beary Scrappy Girls

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About Ask the Designers

Crafting is creativity - some of it comes from within and some is learned. We're here to help you learn techniques, make your crafting life easier with product experiences, give advice and generally inspire your inner muse.

We will collect emails and comment questions, and post answers each Sunday. You can ask general questions to the design team or specific ones to any of us. If you want more info about something you've see out there in blogland or any product the has you curious, email or leave a comment and we will share our experiences and opinions. We're not here to sell you specific products from The Beary Scrap online store, although we hope you will visit for your crafty needs. Our goal is to share our knowledge and experiences, with the hope that we can help make your crafty life easier.

A little birdy gave me a Great Sketch

I'm so happy to be working with another great sketch for the next two weeks. These are just so great to jump start my page planning and are open to a lot of possibilities! I hope you will take the challenge and join us by creating your own project based on this sketch:

Link up your project by 11:59 EST on Nov. 14th for your chance to win goodies from The Beary Scrap.

My take on the sketch uses Lost & Found Portobello Road papers from My Mind's Eye and some pictures taken of some of the girls in my family this summer-- I love the soft browns and blues in this line which are accented with silver glitter.


I flipped the sketch over completely and so my sentiment is in the bottom left corner and my flowers, which are both Prima and My Mind's Eye embellishments, are in the top:

To make the best use of this gorgeous paper from My Mind's Eye, I cut out around the birds in the lower right hand corner and then tucked my different layers of paper underneath the cut out edge.


Now it's your turn, show us what you can come up with, we can't wait to see your take on our sketch! Happy Scrapping!

Merry Little Christmas Angel Tilda

Hello fellow bloggers!  Happy Thursday to you all!  I hope you have been having a wonderful week thus far.  The weather here in PA has been mighty cold.  I'm beginning to think mother nature forget Autumn???  It's way to cold for me to be outside raking leaves.

Surprisingly I managed to make a card using Susan's awesome sketch for our BSC #13.  Even with all the chaos of moving the store back home and remodeling my studio to accommodate both me and the store, I did it.  I'm so darn proud of myself!  Never mind that I have 8 bins packed with my personal supplies - and that doesn't include all the paper I've managed to hoard over the years.  I left the essential within reach... like ink and stickles - LOL.

I used Bazzill Cardstock to mat my designer papers from Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses collection.  This is such a beautiful line of papers to work with for my designer papers.  My stamp is Angel  Tilda Magnolia from the new Merry Little Christmas Collection.  She is also available for pre-order in our store.  She's been colored in with Copics ( Dress R81, R83, R85;  Skin Tone E000, E00, E01, E11;  Wings BG0000 topped with Stickles;  Aura BG10 and Colorless Blender;  Hair YR23, Y23, E35)  The flower was handmade by me with lots of patience and love.  A spritz of Glimmer Mist in Pearl, a few dabs of fluid chalk, a dash of stickles and vuala!  Of course, I had to ink up the edges of the designer papers, add lots of Stardust Stickles and a few Kaisercraft pearls. 

I hope you've enjoyed my little creation.  There is still plenty of time to enter the sketch challenge.  If you have any questions, you can use our new "Ask the Designers" feature and we will all be happy to help you.

Join us on FACEBOOK!

♥ Hugs ♥

BSC #12 Winners!

Please scroll down for Patricia's excellent sketch challenge inspiration!

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Hello friends! We want to extend a huge "Thank You!" to everyone who played along with our misting challenge! We really enjoy visiting your blogs and definitely appreciate your support!

Our winner of the $20 gift voucher to The Beary Scrap is...

# 3: Katie Tate!

Congratulations, Katie! Please email Kimm and she'll set you up with a voucher to go shoppin'!

We would also like to congratulate our Beary Sweet Top 3:

#10 - Mindy
#7 - Lori
#6 - Glittery Katie

Ladies - thank you so much for joining us! Here's a fun badge to display on your blogs:

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Don't forget! Our Beary Sweet Challenge #13 -It's a Sketchy One! - is going on now through November 14th. You could win a $20 gift voucher just like Katie!

Cheers,
Susan, Gini, Patricia, Jamie and Kimm

Patricia's Merry Christmas Sketch

We have a really pretty sketch for you for this new challenge

Here is my card.

I used one the the new Magnoila Christmas 2010 Collection coming soon to The Beary Scrap Store
You can place your Pre-Orders --- HERE---

I colored her with Copics and cut the mat out with Spellbinders, I Inked the edges with Colorbox and added Stickles the edges.

I used some of the very pretty paper from My Mind's Eye from the Holly Jolly line. I added some mulberry flowers and lots of hand stitching. I have a pretty red Pearl in my Merry Christmas label. I used some ribbon from BoBunny and some from my stash.

Here is the sketch you have to follow.

When you make your card enter it --- HERE

Don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook

Thanks for looking.
~Patricia~

Remember to have fun!

Have you see our new sketch challenge ? This is such a beautiful sketch that Susan designed! We really hope that you will join us for a chance to win a $20 voucher to the Beary Scrap! And we have all kinds of new goodies that will be coming in, so I know you would not have any problems spending it!

Today, I wanted to show you what a cute card you can make in just a few minutes! I used My Mind's Eye - ALPHABET SOUP Boys Paper & Accessories Kit. It had all of the papers and diecuts - so it was a snap to put it together! I inked around all of my papers with Distress Ink to give the card a more finished look. I used the MME stamp set from Lost and Found - Union Square to stamp "Fun" on the ticket. The only thing else that I added that wasn't in the kit was the ribbon that I pleated by pulling the white stitching. Easy Peasy!

Beary Sweet Challenge #13: Sketch

Please scroll down for Susan's sketch sample!

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Welcome to our Beary Sweet Challenge #13

The design team sends out HUGE thanks to everyone who joined our BSC #12 - we are so thrilled to see each and every one of you! We'll announce winners on Wednesday, November 3rd. Thank you!

It's the 1st of the month, which means it's SKETCH Challenge time! Any of the elements can be moved, flipped or rotated, as long as they're all there in some form or another. See, we're easy!

This challenge runs through November 14th at 11:59pm EDT. The prize winner will be chosen by random.org and will be announced along with our "Beary Sweet Top 3" on November 17th.

The random winner will receive a $20 voucher for The Beary Scrap! Whoo hoo!

Here are the "rules" to play - PLEASE READ:

• Become a follower if you aren't already (don't forget this one - it's disqualified a few folks already!);
• Link your blog post (not your blog "home page") or your online gallery submission with our Inlinkz frog below.
• Link back to this posting on your blog; tag your online gallery post with BSC#11;
• Please, only one (1) entry per person. Links to projects/cards posted before November 1st will not be eligible for the prize draw.

Additional information:

• Feel free to combine with other challenges;
• All NEW project types are welcome as long as they follow this sketch challenge (cards, scrapbook layouts, etc.);
• International crafters can play, too!

Thanks for playing along with our challenges - we really appreciate you!

Cheers and smooches,

Susan, Gini, Patricia, Jamie and Kimm

Birthday Girl

Hello! Hope your weekend was great! We had a bit of a warm spell Sunday and got tons of yard work done. Yay! Sunday night we were entertained by trick-or-treaters. We saw some really fun costumes and absolutely adorable wee ones!

Here is my card based on the sketch challenge that starts today - it's made for a friends granddaughter.

Card Recipe

• Stamp: Kenny K
• Paper: Bazzill Mocha Divine and Guacamole; Basic Grey Kioshi
• Medium: Copic Sketch markers for skin tones; Stickles Lime Green, Crystal, Star Dust, Milled Lavender; Chestnut Zing! Embossing Powder; Prismacolor pencils
• Embellishments: Mulberry Roses; Lace, pins and ticket from stash
• Adhesives: Scor-Tape and Glue Dots

Thanks for visiting!

Cheers,
Susan

Ask The Designers: Organization

Are you organized? Can you find stuff when you need it? Today we answer your question about crafty organization.

Jamie: I really believe organization is a personal thing and there is not one system or type of containers, etc. that work for everybody-- the key is finding what works for you and then sticking with it! A few things that help me are:
 
• Organizing embellishments by color-- I have small round containers that stack and I keep one for each color with all types of things in it, brads, buttons, jewels, whatever!

• I keep a few open containers right on top of my workspace that I can just throw random extra things in that don't really have any other place. That way my space is cleaned up plus those things are right at hand so I can grab them when making a quick card and use them up. And, did I mention these containers are cute? They match the Americana decor of my craft room so even though they are full of random junk, they still look good.
 
• Sort out often! This way I actually remember what I have in my stash and then I am more likely to use it.
 
• Don't be afraid to throw a few things away-- I know this is so hard for crafters! We just want to hold on to everything because someday we might find the perfect use for it. But I have found it really helps me to cut down on the clutter by not keeping every tiny piece of paper, throwing away photographs I didn't scrap and getting rid of supplies I know I will never use (some great places to donate these supplies are elementary schools, day cares and assisted living centers-- I usually just give all mine old stuff to my kids' school and the teachers are delighted!)

Susan: I like to think of myself as the queen of organization... but the ideas seldom com out of my head and into "real life". I have succeeded a little bit and now there are a few things I couldn't live without these days. I am big on portability and easy access. If I have to dig for something I probably won't ever use it.

• Iris 12x12 plastic bins with hinged lids - I have them in the 6-pack holder/stand as well as individuals on shelves in the closet. What I really like about them is that they are stackable. I use them for metal and vintage embellishments, adhesives, punches, paints, inks, stamps... even 'life events' that still need to be scrapbook'd. *grin* Each one of those categories has it's own bin. Love them!

• Cropper Hopper 12x12 vertical storage for Bazzill card stock and non-design team papers. They are huge space savers and portable enough to carry to my work surface to match.

• Clip It Up base + upper tier - I love this! On it I have all my Prima packaged flowers and pearls; Magnolia, Gurlee Girl, Stampavie stamps; Tim Holtz embellies; The Beary Scrap DT embellies and more I can't think of at the moment. I REALLY want the floor model!

• Making Memories wall organizer. I retrofitted mine with a second ribbon dowel and added a third dowel on the bottom for lace. I use the plastic jars from Michaels for Stickles and ribbon bits.

• Brother P-Touch label maker. 'Nuff said.

I also use plastic Sterlite drawers for smaller things on my table top. Maybe one day I'll take photos - it's nothing special, but it's my space and I can close the door!

Patricia: As much as I think I'm well-organized I still seem to end up with messes but I find that these little tricks seem to help me.

1.) I like to keep as much of my goodies as I can in clear storage containers that I purchased from Walmart. I have a whole wall of them. In all different sizes.

2.) I like to label as much as I can. Most of my inks are labeled on the sides so I don't have to go digging thru all of them to find the color I want to use.

3.) Color charts, just as most of you have the Copic color chart I also have it for most of my inks so I can see the true color of them with out having to try them to get the color of them that I want. Another chart I like to use is for my rubber stamps I have them all stamped out on white card stock so I know what I have and don't buy more than one of the same one.

4.) I like to take advantage of open wall space. I have clear plexiglass hanging on my wall with velcro on it and I have velcro dots on all of my Stickles so they all just hang there ready to go.

5.) For my ribbon storage I have really thin curtain rods hanging with some of my most used ribbon hanging on them. I have two rods handing above my Stickles, plus it looks so pretty hanging there.

6.) I also use small clear draw units to hold all my small tools and pens. They come in real handy and fit really nice on my desk.

7.) For all the small pieces like brads and charms and other small goodies I keep them all in see thru fishing tackle boxes.

8.) I have a couple of different storages for my paper. I have a hanging file bin that has a lot of my plain card stock sorted by color. I also have the 12x12 Iris containers for my designer paper but also a lot of it just ends up on my shelves, its the one thing I really have to get better at storing. 

Gini: two pictures from my studio

Kimm: Organize??? What is that? I'm a MESS! I need help in this department. I guess I have an excuse... we are under construction and a major move. I would LOVE to hear some ideas from our followers on this one.

What a great idea, Kimm! C'mon readers, tell us your favorite organization tips. We love new ideas and Kimm needs 'em for The Beary Scrap's new space!


Thanks for your support - we love getting your questions! Please join in and Ask the Designers!

Cheers,
Susan, Gini, Patricia and Jamie

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About Ask the Designers

Crafting is creativity - some of it comes from within and some is learned. We're here to help you learn techniques, make your crafting life easier with product experiences, give advice and generally inspire your inner muse.

We will collect emails and comment questions, and post answers each Sunday. You can ask general questions to the design team or specific ones to any of us. If you want more info about something you've see out there in blogland or any product the has you curious, email or leave a comment and we will share our experiences and opinions. We're not here to sell you specific products from The Beary Scrap online store, although we hope you will visit for your crafty needs. Our goal is to share our knowledge and experiences, with the hope that we can help make your crafty life easier.