Spring Has Sprung!

Hi, Everyone,
   As you know, tomorrow is the first day of spring, according to the calendar.  While some of you in the more northerly climes may still have snow on the ground, spring is in bloom down here in sunny south Alabama.  Maybe our blossoms and buds will cheer you until yours peek their little heads out of the barren landscape of their winter sleep.
   Here's one of the dormant Japanese magnolias in our back yard just about 3-4 weeks ago:


Barren, gray branches make the tree look lifeless.



Today, her delicate blooms look like an explosion of pink popcorn.



This sturdy old bay tree in our front yard will be loaded with traditional white magnolia blossoms soon.





This little dogwood struggles to grow beneath the towering long leaf pines in the back yard.

The neighbor's bridal wreath drips branches of lovely flowers.

This azalea in front of our house could use some pruning, but provides lovely flowers all the same.



Up close, these magical flowers are breathtaking.  All over town, masses of different colors and varieties of azaleas turn Brewton into a Southern wonderland.



Beside our front steps, a more delicate pink variety peeks out from behind other greenery.

Though not as brilliant as her pink and fuchsia sister, this white azalea is a beauty in her own right.

Here, a darker variety is covered in buds, ready to bloom any moment.



These graceful trees line the boardwalk downtown.  In the fall, they provide beautiful autumn foliage in colors from oranges to reds.  I think they're Japanese pears, but I'm not positive.





Another view of the parking lot across from the boardwalk.

   Each spring I drink in the gorgeous flowers and trees that clothe our town in glorious colors.  Wherever you are, I hope that the wonder of God's beautiful world never ceases to amaze you.  May the first day of spring bring you renewed hope, health and happiness.

Love'n stuff,

Sandy :)

Craft Room, the Sequel

Hi, Everyone!
   Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but sometimes life just takes over.  I showed you the front of my craft rack on wheels a while back, and I promised to show more later.  I guess it's time to reveal more.  Here's a view of the left side of the rack:



Embellishments, buttons, ribbon, brads, grommets, eyelets, a brayer, tags, cello bags, label maker tapes, ribbon setter punch, etc.



Rub-ons, hot glue sticks, small flowers, small ribbons, quotes on velum, assorted small paper in packs and in the large pink box.  The shelf below contains an empty sorting tray.

Next is my crafting/computer desk:

This was a shot from back in the days when the desk was new and clean!  LOL  There are two drawers below the top and vertical and horizontal paper storage slots underneath.  Here's the wall above the desk now:

   The masks are from a trip the granddaughters and I took to New Orleans over spring break last year.  We stayed at my daughter, Daphne's, and we had a great time.  The four of us wore our masks from the mask shop, to the ferry, and all the way home.  Hardly anyone even paid any attention to us!  I mounted two of the masks on coordinating place mats.  I made the ribbon and fabric bulletin board and spray-painted the plastic part of the clock to match the room colors.
   Speaking of room colors, these are not the colors of the rest of the house.  I just decided to have fun and make my craft room a fantasy room for me.  I have used mostly shades of pink, green, yellow and turquoise.  It's a happy place to be, and I love having my own "woman cave."  LOL!  I suppose you could say it looks more like a little girl's dress-up play room.  That's okay with me. :)
   Here are some other views of the room:



The top left shelf houses a doll I bought in Las Vegas as a souvenir; I made the flower arrangement at NDI on a  field trip when I was teaching 8th graders, and the hat boxes are currently empty storage.  The bookcase on the right has a mate on the left.

This shelf contains stamps mounted on wood in clear storage boxes which are labeled by categories.  The pink shoebox holds photos to be placed into albums, and the green one stores blank mini albums.  The upright container holds roller stamps, and additional rollers are stored in a clear cylinder behind the roller container.

This shelf holds more wooden stamps and a CD/tape player.

Albums and an odds and ends organizer are on this shelf, while large cookbooks are housed on the shelf below.  There are already too many in the kitchen!  The bottom shelf  (not pictured because it's too messy) holds a Xyron 900 sticker maker and various empty notebooks.

I found these colorful cubes at Walmart.  The top one holds a greeting card organizer and a take-out style decorative box.  The bottom one holds crafting books and magazines, and the bookend houses a glitter pen dispenser.

The space between the cubes holds a CD rack, my Martha Stewart Score Board and a box containing a scrapbook kit.  The photo on the wall features three of our ferrets at Christmas time in Santa and antler hats.




The top cube holds my Gypsy (portable electronic layout design tool used with a Cricut cutting machine) in its black and pink case, and the hatbox and bag are currently just for decoration but could be used for storage.
The bottom cube holds more craft books and a butterfly bookend.

  

This shelf contains an album , computer CDs in the pink box, assorted scrapbooking kits and empty storage containers.

Housed in the three shoe boxes on this shelf are ceramic tools (I took ceramics in college), paper crimpers, and beads and wire.  The black bag trimmed in pink is a tote for tools to take to a crop (scrapbooking event).  The house-shaped box came filled with a collection of greeting cards.

The adjustable rack on this shelf was designed to hold pot lids, but I'm using it to store labels, envelopes and various specialty printer products.  The orange drawer holds small pieces of cardstock, the blue box has glitter writers in it, and the yellow boxes contain 4"x 6" photo paper.  The shelf below that holds a literature sorter filled with different colors of 8 1/2" X 11" papers, labels and other assorted specialty printer supples.  The bottom shelf was appropriated by the ferrets.  Nothing is safe there. 

You can see part of the printer in the picture above this one.  This is to the left of the bookcase and to the right of my desk.  It sits on a paper storage container.  The container's four trays can adjust between letter and legal size paper.  It sits on top of a two-drawer filing cabinet filled with...stuff.

The top shelf holds a book binder that uses the comb-style fasteners.  The two yellow boxes hold die cuts, stamped images and embossed images, all in alphabetical order, indexed by categories and stored in individual cello bags.  I told you I like to organize things!  The adorable baby picture is of Tyler, my now 19-year-old grandson.   The blue and pink fabric-covered box you can see below stores Cricut supplies, and my Cricut Expression is in front of that on the desktop.

     Believe it or not, there's more to show.  I still have one wall and part of another, but you've seen most of it.  I'll get the room cleaned up one of these days and show you the rest!  LOL  Until then, hope you're having fun doing what you love to do!
Love'n stuff,
Sandy :)