An Update, New Stamps, and the Return of the Colouring Challenge!

Hello!  And welcome to what is becoming the quarterly blog update!  

I hope you are all well and enjoying the "fall" weather.  Here in Saskatchewan, we've already had a significant snowfall, and although it has melted now, it did stick around for a couple weeks.  We usually get at least one snowfall before Halloween, but this snow was starting to look like it wanted to stick around for the winter, and I was NOT ready for that!

Five days until Halloween, and most years I would be feverishly working away in the sewing room, stepping on pins and making Halloween costumes, but not this year.  I don't know if I've mentioned it here before, but I've been dealing with significant chronic back pain for a couple years now, and for about the past year I've not been able to sit at the sewing machine or craft table for very long at a time.  I still continue to work full time, and it's very difficult, and so there's not much of me left at the end of the day for my beloved crafty pursuits.  

HOWEVER, I am still able to dream and sketch and work on stamp designs, and the shop is slowly filling up!  I'm so blown away by all your kindness, support, and creativity, and I absolutely LOVE IT when someone tags me when they show off what they've done with a Three Room Studio stamp set.    

A *new* design will be available for purchase on Monday, October 31st.  (A hint: If you already own the "I Heart Books" stamp set, this one will coordinate well.)  

Some of the sentiments in this set are quite large, because in addition to cards, I designed this one to use for bookmarks, gift card holders, and to mark the inside of my books.  

In other news, it's nearly time again for The Daily Marker 30 Day Colouring Challenge!  Are you ready?  November 1st is the kick-off, and rest assured once again Kathy will have lots of inspiration to share -- and prizes, too!  

That's all for tonight, folks.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  Take care and speak to you soon!

New Stamps, Colouring Challenge, and a Giveaway!

Hello!  Whether you're a repeat visitor or arriving here from The Daily Marker for the giveaway, welcome to my little blog! 

I haven't given this site much love the past few months; I'm much more active on Instagram, so this is a bit like when you spontaneously invite friends over after a dinner out and you feel like you need to apologize for the state of the house.  There have already been quite a few visitors leaving comments, and just like the very closest of friends, no one has even mentioned the mess (like the fact that my last post was in February!). :)

Oh my goodness, I was so thrilled to wake up this morning and see Kathy Racoosin's video using my two stamp sets!  As usual, she completely blew my mind with what she did.  She used her coffee to watercolour paint?!  And the end result was so gorgeous, I can't stop looking at it!  And I also really want coffee!  :)

If you're looking for the stamp sets Kathy used, first of all, thank you so much!  I'm so happy people like them, and I have so many more designs to come.  I've been doing one set at a time so as not to bring financial ruin to the family, but I will certainly have more made if there is an interest.  ;)   

The "Moving Sentiments" set (which has the boxes, lamp, tape gun, etc.) is available now in my shop.  The "I Heart Books" set will be available there on August 3rd.

If you do follow me on Instagram, you may know that today is our 9th wedding anniversary, and I'm spending the day with my wonderful husband.  So, please consider this post a placeholder for a bit later.  I know you all understand. xo

Thank you so much for stopping by, and thank YOU, Kathy!  <3

Sandy

Colouring Challenge and Unprecedented YouTube Traffic

Well, I should really just change the name of this blog to "Sorry...Life Happened".  I sort of  just zipped right past Christmas, which is the high season of cardmaking.  But, in all honesty, Christmas did just kind of zip past this year.  Given the way the year ended, none of us were feeling particularly celebratory, and I've been having some continuing health issues, and so we sort of gritted our teeth and got through it, and vowed to jump back in next year.

Again, quite a lot has happened since my last post.  One thing in particular is that Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30-Day Coloring Challenge is back on for the month of February!  This is the third time for this challenge, and I love it as much as I did the first time.  Kathy herself is so generous, and her enthusiasm is contagious.  I haven't been able to participate as much as I'd like, but one of the many wonderful things about this challenge is that it is meant to be entirely stress-free, as much or as little time as you have to spare.

In fact, one of my cards was featured on Scrapbook and Cards Today blog last Thursday on their feature about Kathy and the challenge.  That kind of made my day. 

Oh, and crazy things are happening on my YouTube channel!  I noticed when uploading my last video, that the video I had posted 5 months prior had been viewed over 700 times.  I got excited when there were 20 people...this is mind-boggling.  

Speaking of which, this is quite late since it was for Valentine's Day, but this last video was kind of special to me, since it's the first time I used one of my own stamps in a video. 

New digital stamps are filling the shop.  For the time being, they are strictly digital.  The CAD/USD exchange rate remains dismal, but I remain hopeful that things will improve soon, and I am preparing images for when the time comes.  But today I gave the shop a little attention and listed this stamp set, called "Wherever You Go", and also sharing the image I made for my husband, who has had to travel for work all of the past three weeks.  Travel has not been going smoothly for him, and while he didn't get an actual card, I did send him a photo of the card front, and he put it on his watch face, which I thought was pretty clever.  Modern handmade cards!

I'm going to stop here for now. I hope you're having a fantastic day, and maybe taking some time to participate in Kathy's challenge. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking in!  

-- Sandy

So...Life Happened

Poor Blog! I do love you, you know; you're just a bit more labour-intensive than other things like Instagram and Periscope. Just popping on quickly today to say hello. I am actually writing this post in the car while waiting to pick my husband up.

So many things have happened since my last post, but mainly life happened.  We had a tough summer, starting with my mother-in-law being admitted to hospital in June, which led to her being admitted to a nursing home in August, and eventually passing away in October.  With my husband being the only sibling in town, much of what needed to be done fell on his shoulders. My own health hasn't been good either, so as you can imagine, we've been all over the place.  Time marches on, though, and slowly things are returning to "normal" (if there is such a thing), and we are beginning the business of catching up on all the things that we let slide during that crazy  time.  

And now here we are at the end of November, and I can't believe it's less than a month until Christmas! I have managed a fair few crafting-related things, most of which I have posted on Instagram, and have even done a couple Periscopes that were not complete and utter failures. 

Also, stamps are still happening! I have been working on a mix of digital download and clear stamps. I personally prefer using clear stamps because I like to do a lot of masking, and I also like being able to move things around and change my mind about image placement, etc. But I do also occasionally enjoy using digital stamps, especially when I need an image quickly and don't have time to (or don't want to!) wait for shipping. Digital also allows me to resize the images, which is a really nice option.  

So, be sure to check in on the shop, as new things are coming soon!  

In the meantime, you can always find me (@threeroomstudio) on Instagram and Periscope.  

Take care, and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

-- Sandy
   (Inconsistent Blogger)

Three Room Studio Stamps!

As usual, I've done this backwards again and posted on Instagram first (not once, but twice), completely neglecting the blog.  

So, the breaking news is that I have put a longtime dream into action and have had stamps manufactured!  It's been a few weeks in the making, and I have many details to sort out, but I can now say for certain these will be available in the Etsy shop on September 15th.  

So far there are two Christmas-themed designs, but I have so many more waiting in the wings, ready to be made, and so many ideas swirling around in my brain that I want to put into action.

If you know me at all, you know it is a bit odd for me to be thinking about Christmas in September, when there is Halloween around the corner.  Despite my best intentions, I am usually always preparing for Christmas...well...basically while Christmas is already happening around me, and sometimes even after.  But, everyone is not me, and many cardmakers are already starting their Christmas crafting.  


It feels a bit surreal sending these ladies out into the world, and I also find it more than a little unnerving putting my drawings out there and open to criticism.  But I am looking forward to seeing what becomes of them, and happy to be able to share them with others.   

Oh, and I also did not blog about another cardmaking video I  posted on my YouTube channel, using the Tim Holtz Crazy Birds stamp set and Distress Inks.  

"I'll Always Have Your Back" Card

I know I do these things backwards. 

I posted another video on YouTube yesterday, and am only just blogging about it now.  

For this card, I used the "You Make My Tail Wag" stamp set from My Favorite Things, and the rest was just drawing a few squares and rectangles and a few fridge items, and colouring with Copic markers. 

For the card base, I used Simon Says Stamp Smoke Fog cardstock, and Simon Says Stamp Slate cardstock to back the image.  I also trimmed the coloured image using the largest of the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle die set. The sentiment is just one I created and printed off my computer on white cardstock and trimmed down.

You can watch the video from here or from my You Tube channel.  It was challenging to edit, since I had about 3 hours of footage to trim down to 15 minutes, but again I learned some lessons for the next one.  

Today is a statutory holiday here, and (sadly) the last day of holidays for me.  I have really enjoyed having this time to be crafty and recharge my batteries.  It's a beautiful sunny  day, and I will be savouring the remaining hours of my freedom by doing all the laundry I did not do while I was playing in the craft room.  

TTFN!    

An Update

Oh, I have neglected my poor little blog!

A few noteworthy things have happened since my last post, and most of them have been playing out on Instagram and YouTube.  

First of all, one of my cards was "spotted" on the My Favorite Things "You've Been Spotted" feature of the MFT Challenge and Inspiration blog!  I was blown away by the recognition, and humbled to be included in the company of such incredibly talented ladies.

I made this card during The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge, using the MFT "Penguins in Paradise" stamp set and Copics and Glossy Accents.   

I have mentioned before, I love Kathy Racoosin's colouring challenge, and the latest one in June was no exception.  Again, I met so many talented, kind, and inspirational people.  And I would also add Kathy herself to this list.  She takes the time to look at and comment on each submission, as well as participating in the challenge herself, and also posting video tutorials.  Clearly it is a labour of love, since she must not sleep at all for those 30 days.  She has hinted there will be another one soon, so I am on the edge of my seat waiting for her to announce when it will be!

The other thing that has happened is that I have posted two more YouTube videos.  What makes them significant is that I am actually speaking in them.  Yikes!  That was tough, but I made it through, and though I won't be receiving multiple offers of voiceover work, I was proud of myself for stepping WAY outside of my comfort zone to try something new.

The first video is the making of a card I made for the winner of my 100 Instagram follower giveaway, depicting a laundry room scene, using Paper Smooches "Squeaky Clean" stamp set.  

The obvious question here is:  Why a laundry room?  Well, when Tracy contacted me with her email address, she said in her message that she had been busy doing laundry all morning, and was rewarding herself with some Instagram time when she found out she was the winner.  So this card idea seemed entirely appropriate and even necessary!  (By the way, Tracy turns out to be a really nice person, and you can see her own wonderful creations on her Instagram feed here, and maybe one day you could even be a lucky recipient of one of her beautiful, one-of-a-kind hand-drawn "Birthday Queen" cards.)  

The second video is the making of a card using an Art Impressions stamp set, "Goldie Golfer".  This is my third go at this image; the first time was my first attempt at no-line colouring, and it turned out alright, but I wasn't happy with my choice of colours for her outfit, since I wanted to put her on a golf course.  So I made another.  And a third for the video. 

I know...multiple videos in a matter of days!  What is going on here?  What is going on is holidays.  I am in the middle of two glorious weeks off work, and have actually had plenty of time to colour and make videos.  Sadly, the dream ends next Tuesday and I go back to work, but until then I am making the most of my time by doing as much creating as I please!

Well, that's it for now, folks.  I have whiled away a good part of the day already, and this post is already becoming quite long.  Thanks for stopping by!