Sometimes... Bigger really IS Better!

Hi there and happy Wednesday to you from Rhonda!

I'm so excited today, I get to share with you the biggest most exciting thing to hit my scrappy room ever... are you ready?

It's the Simply Renee Clip-It-Up Floor Model!

When this beautiful piece of organizational wonderment arrived in my home, I have to honestly tell you I did a total happy dance!  That night I put it together and it was so easy and I found myself looking at this in about 35 minutes.  This product has completely altered my workspace and made my creative time so much more efficient. You know what they say though, a picture is worth a thousand words... so here we go!

I'll give you a little Floor Model tour-o-rama, *grin*. 

(Be sure to read all the way to the bottom to find out how you can win one!!!)

First of all, here is my scrappy corner of heaven. I create at this desk, and am right handed, so it just worked perfectly to place this on the right side of my desk. You will see that there are four tiers on my floor model. I added an additional one so I could maximize the space that I have. The cool thing about the Floor Model is that just like the other models, you can turn the tiers. Things that I need are really easy to look for and find.

For the first tier of my floor model, I decided to tackle my alpha's collection and my bling collection. My alpha's used to be in plastic shoe boxes and some of them were in kits, still in their respective bags. Still others were in my little rolling cart. I now have them all in one place and that is so much nicer! I can now also see how many duplicates that I have or if I am lacking in a color.

I did the same process for my bling and arranged by height. I had my bling stored in a few different areas of my workspace as well and it was frustrating when I needed to find something that I knew I had! This actually inspired part of my project that I'm going to share with you after the tour.

For the second tier, you will find my Spellbinders and some collections of MME rub-ons, die cuts and some binding materials. I have my die cut station just to the right of my floor model, so I hung up all of my Spellbinder's so they are all within easy reach and visibility. I can't tell you how much I love this!!!

For the third tier, you will find my favorite papers, my design team papers and other special projects. I also really fell in love with my Clip It Up Zip Bags! I have both the small and the large and for some collections, it is so nice to place your matching embellies in the bag and hang with the papers. I don't have to wonder where those coordinating items are, they are handy and I can quickly look to see what I need. If you haven't tried those with your Clip-It-Up, I highly recommend getting a few. You'll love them!

Now it's bonus time, my fourth tier that I added to my Floor Model! I decided that I was going to use this tier for keeping my fabric projects. Recently my 3 year old little guy has become thoroughly enamored with Toy Story 3. I found some theme fabric and plan to make him a quilt with it. He is going to be so excited to get a Buzz and Woody blanket!

Well, I hope you're still with me, thank you for taking my "Floor Model" tour today! Remember when I said that my organization of my bling prompted a project? It truly did! I forgot that I had this really pretty sepia toned bling and when I found this photo, I knew that they belonged together! I had also picked up this artists tray by 7 Gypsies and was having a hard time deciding what to do with it. I finally just sat down with some super yummy Graphic 45 and 7 Gypsies papers and of course, the ever fabulous Ranger embellishments by Tim Holtz. This is what I came up with:

I cut apart the bling and placed some on the tray and the other pieces flow into the compartments. It's kind of hard to see in the photos but I have used foam dots for dimension in several of the compartments. These trays and shadowboxes are all the rage right now and so much fun!

Thank you for spending a few moments here today. Make sure and tell Santa if you need a Floor Model at your home!!!  pssst...   Don't forget to comment over on the Simply Renee Blog for your chance to WIN a Floor Model!!!

Have yourself a super scrappity day!!!

Simply Renee: 'Penny For Your Thoughts...'

I'm so excited to share with you my first project post as part of the new Simply Renee Design Team!

My project is all about upcycling which is very much on trend today.  I finished up this chai latte mix last week and could not bear to part with this cute container!  Perhaps it is the feel of nostalgia, but I just loved how sturdy it is and overall, the cuteness factor won me over.  Am I alone here?

One of my crafty commitments in 2010 is to try to journal more often and meaningfully.  I decided that I wanted to alter my little container to become a new 'home' for my journaling pens.  I really need to have my pens organized in a single place of honor in my studio.

Here is my 'before' photo so you can see where I started:

Here is what it looks like now... Penny for Your Thoughts...













I couldn't resist the sentiment and decided that this project 'needed' a wheat penny.  I added just a smudge of liquid pearls to it to soften which created just the feel that I wanted.  You will notice that I didn't just stop with the container!  I had to create just a little more eye candy for my desk.

Here are the extra details including the fun little hat that I made by flipping over that little lid:

To create the ruffled paper ribbon on the botton, I set my sewing machine stitch length to long and stitched in the middle of the double scallop punched trim. I then got the paper slightly damp and gathered it to create paper "ribbon". To disguise my stitching I applied some trim over the top.

Here are my little creations in action at my desk next to my Clip-It-Up Mini. I just love how perfectly the Mini works for storing my bling and embellishment collections. It's just the perfect size to help organize your array of embellishment goodies.

I hope that you take a look at some of the things that you recycle from time to time and see how you can re-purpose or upcycle to help you organize your craft space. Please share your fun projects, I would love to see them!

Ingredients: 
My Mind's Eye, 'So Sophie' *
Zva Creative Pearls *
Prima Say it In Crystals
Kaiser Pearls
Cricut Expression and Summer In Paris cartridge * for 3D dress form
Martha Stewart butterfly punches and scallop punch 
Spellbinders Labels Ten * and Shapeabilities Fleur De Lis
Paper Flower *
Dried flowers, thread, trims, feathers and velvet flower from stash. 
* These items from Thoughts 2 Paper

Thank you so much for stopping on over today, have a super fabulous rest of your day!

The Biggest Simple Scrappiest Announcement!!!

I am so completely thrilled and honored to announce that I have been selected for the 2010/2011 Design Team for Simply Renee!

Words can not express to you my total excitement for these products and how happy I am to get to work with such a fabulous company.

The Design Team members are:

Design Teams for July 2010-January 2011

Project Design Team

Aphra Bolyer

Rhonda Van Ginkel

Tina McDonald

Lesley Langdon

Jenifer Cowles

Danielle Wycough

Organization Design Team

Bree Tetz

Carol Sheetz

Joan Liddle

Thank you so much for stopping by and letting me share my very exciting scrappity news with you!