When we bought our house nearly 3 years ago, one of the most important criteria was office space. Since my husband and I work from home, it was imperative that we both have offices we love. Over the years, I outgrew my space, especially as I became more involved in my crafting hobby.

I'm sure all of you know exactly what I mean when I say that my crafting supplies started spreading on the floor, against the walls, and all over my desk like weeds! I loved being surrounded by all those colors and textures, but finding anything in that mess was a real challenge.

And then hubby decided he'd had enough, and insisted it was time I had an office upgrade. Well, who am I to argue?

We spent all of last weekend putting together furniture... And this was the result:

I love challenges almost as much as I love swaps. Not only do I get to try new things and push my creativity to the limit, but I also get to see how other people interpret the same theme. Their end results are always so different than mine!

Today's Splitcoaststampers challenge required participants to use three colors, plus a neutral white or vanilla. The colors (using Stampin' Up names) were: Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, and Marina Mist. Furthermore, we were asked to use these rather non-traditional holiday colors to make a Christmas card, if possible.

Here's what I came up with:

I spent the entire day putting together a whole set of new furniture for my office/studio. I'll have pictures to share next week, once I have everything set up just the way I want it.

In the meantime, here's a quick, drive-by post showing off some new artist trading cards I've created. All of these were made for various swaps.

It's my dad's birthday on Monday. His present is a gift certificate, so I knew I wanted to create a card that also indicated the present was inside... even if it didn't double as a gift certificate holder.

And this was the result:

I take part in a lot of swaps. There's something about being given a particular theme and asked to create that brings out the best in my inner artist.

Today, I sat at my crafting desk with the intention of making an artist trading card for a swap. The theme was simple: glitter. I love glitter, and I knew I wanted to use it in a number of different ways.

So this was born:

I signed up for the fabulous Holiday Card Boot Camp, but life interfered and I didn't get a chance to start watching the videos until today. I'm giving myself a personal challenge of crafting one card for every instructional video I watch as part of the class, and here's Card #1.



It's quite a bit different from Kristina's example, but that's one of the things I really love about participating in these types of workshops. We can all be as creative as we want with the materials we have!

I used kraft cardstock, which I stamped with a Fiskars Layer Away Dots stamp using Versamark ink. Then I cut out two pieces of pattern paper from Basic Grey's Nordic Holiday collection, and used two different distress inks on them. The strip on the right is stained with Tim Holtz's Evergreen Bough Distress Ink, and the one on the left is stained with Tim Holtz's Iced Spruce Distress Ink. (These are both part of his limited edition holiday set.)

I added a sticker from the Reflections Dimensional Stickers Christmas Set, then punched a hole in the front of the card and tied a piece of SewEasy Fancy Floss from their Glitter Tertiary pack into a bow.

Finally, I punched another sheet of pattern paper from Basic Grey's Nordic Holiday collection, and stamped the sentiment using Colorbox Frost White ink. The stamp is from Inkadinkado's Christmas Characters stamp set.

And that's it for Card #1!

I love swaps, especially themed ones. Like challenges, they test my creativity and allow me to go outside my comfort zone. Very often, I'm surprised by what I create and usually very pleased. That was the case with this little gem: