More is More

What a productive day!  After over a year  on my to-do list I finally tackled the chore of cleaning out my clothes closet today.  I have to thank several of my friends over at Splitcoast who cheered me on and assured me I could do it.  That was just the push I needed to finally get started and it actually took less time than I anticipated.  I had clothes in 4 sizes and the few clothes that I can currently wear would not fit into the closet making it a constant struggle to get dressed – especially on the days I work.  The hallway is now lined with neat piles of folded clothes all sorted by type and size.  I’m getting rid of a ton of stuff!  I still have lots more sorting to do – drawers, shoes, the other closet where my dresses are – but I am so happy to have all the hanging stuff in this closet finally cleaned out!

Just before I started this morning I happened to read a very relevant litle blurb in the Editor’s intro in the new Fall 2007 issue of Renovation magazine.  In part it read

“It’s not the letting go that hurts, it’s the holding on. I’ve learned that ‘letting go’ often refers to the guilt of expensive purchases I shouldn’t have made or of projects I’ll never get done.  Holding on only creates a bigger clutter pile of unfinished business.  Now I simply take a deep breath and rate clutter items on a scale of 1-10.  Anything that gets a value of 8 or higher stays.  Anything lower goes.  It’s a little exercise that rewards me with all the breathing room I need.”  -Luann Brandsen

That was the perfect message to get me in just the right frame of mind.  Out out out it goes!!!  Try it!  It’s very freeing!  My advice – if you are over 15 pounds away from your “skinny clothes” and it’s been more than a year since you’ve worn them…get rid of them!  They will be hopelessly out of style when you get back to them and besides, once you get skinny it will be FUN to shop!  Let ’em go!

After dinner I rewarded myself with some stamping time.  I wanted to try another one of the Dirty Dozen challenges so I decided to try working with some Kraft cardstock and I ended up making 2 cards with a lot of the same tools and elements.  Both cards have a Kraft base and use Wintergreen designer paper along with Artichoke and Soft Sky.  I cut a 4 1/8″ square of Soft Sky and a 4″ square of Wintergreen and cut both in half on the diagnol to form triangles.  Both cards also utilized my brand new photo corner punch and round rhinestone brads.  Each is stamped with a different motif from True Friend using white craft ink for the background.

For the first card I stamped the flower from True Friend on a vanilla panel and overstamped it with the Linen BG in Banana ink.  I used a blue rhinestone brad for the flower center.  The main panel is popped up on foam tape.  The sentiment is stamped in Artichoke craft ink and embossed with Irridescent Ice ep.

For the second card I used the left over triangle pieces of dp and Soft Sky, but went a different direction with the design.

I decided to use a verse from Elegant Inspirations as my focal point – it is stamped in Artichoke craft ink and embossed with clear ep.  The little jewels in the corners are Adorn It jewels from eclectic Paperie.  There are little grosgrain ribbon loops in Artichoke and Celery and the finishing touch is one of the little snowflakes from Snowburst embossed with Artichoke craft ink and clear ep on white cs and punched with a 5/8″ punch from EK Success.  That is layered onto a 1″ circle of Soft Sky and in the center is a celery Rhinestone brad.  That whole piece is up on foam tape.  I wasn’t sure what I thought of this color combo at first, but the subtle look of it is growing on me.

Speaking of color combos – Emily used my Rust True Friend card for the Color Combo this week – Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and River Rock.  I’m so excited.  I hope you’ll play!  Click here for details.

We’ve lost power twice while I’ve been typing this post!  The second time was long enough for us to find and light a bunch of candles.  I’m going to to get to bed and hope the power stays on at least until I get there.  Thanks for stopping by.