Mad Loves For Kiki - fundraising auction for a Scottie with cancer

Please indulge me while I talk about something other than crafting for a moment. 

My Scotties are my babies. I love them more than life itself. Last May we lost our little girl Jenna to cancer. It was fast and furious, only a week from the time we noticed her appetite had decreased till she passed. She had just turned 6 years old. Six years, what is that? It's nothing, it's the blink of an eye. I still can't talk about it, or even write about it without crying. That's Jenna in my profile picture. My beautiful baby.

In my grief, I turned to the online Scottie community on Facebook. Everybody says their dog breed is the best, but Scottish Terriers are one-of-a-kind, very special creatures. They are stubborn and independent. They only do things if it makes sense to them, but they are fiercely loyal to their family. And it takes very special people to love and understand them.

Scotties are 10x more prone to cancer than other dog breeds. Every breed has it's medical issues, and as I sadly learned, the big C is a big problem for Scotties. In my worldwide online Scottie community, it seems that a week doesn't go by without somebody losing their baby, or having him/her diagnosed with cancer. Even with pet insurance, the costs are astronomical. Dogs respond surprisingly well to chemotherapy if it is caught soon enough, but the problem is money. Who has $10,000 to drop just like that on cancer treatment for a dog? And the costs can go far beyond that.

If you're not a dog lover, you probably won't understand why anybody would spend that kind of money on an animal that will only live naturally between 10 to 15 years. And that's okay, I don't expect people to understand, just to be respectful of those who would give their lives for their fur babies. I'm one of those people. I would have traded my life in an instant for Jenna to live.

Anyhow, there are many dear dear people I have met online and come to cherish through our mutual love. Scottie owners are very giving and generous, especially when it comes to taking care of their big Scottie family. At least once a month, there is an auction or fundraiser for a particular Scottie with cancer. This month it is Kiki's turn. Her momma is one of the sweetest ladies ever. She is a very talented sewer, and she frequently donates her handcrafted cushions to any fundraiser that is going on, or sends one to a Scottie parent in need of moral support. Kiki has a rare form of mouth lymphoma, and if I recall correctly she was diagnosed perhaps a year ago and has been receiving treatment ever since.

So this project is for beautiful Kiki and her momma Teresa. I made a set of 8 tags that I am donating to the Mad Loves for Kiki auction.

You may recognize the primary colors from the last card I made. I guess I'm on a 'primary color kick', lol. I ran the Sizzix Originals Tags (Scallop Combo #2) die through my Fiskars Fuse and used the largest tag, which is about 4" tall.

I stamped Poochie from The Cat's Pajamas Official Grinch set, and the sentiment is from the Reindeer Kisses set onto each tag. It made me realize that I really should have bought a MISTI when I had Christmas money in January!!!

I then stamped the middle (sweater) section of the Poochie stamp on the argyle patterned paper from a retired Stampin Up! Prints pack. Then I had the joy of fussy cutting eight sweaters (did I mention I hate fussy cutting?). To be fair, I stole this idea from The Cat Pack during Sneaky Peek Week of their winter release. :) Lacking a better implement, I ran a sharpie along the edge of each sweater so that it is black when looking at it from the side. This is a tip I learned from Kristina Werner (she uses a better marker than a sharpie though!)

As you can see, I put a couple of pearl embellishments in the corner, dabbed some Glossy Effects on Poochie's nose, and tied up a bunch of bows out of grosgrain ribbon. I'm pleased with how they turned out, even though I admit I always struggle with 'taking it to the next level'. I'm a very plain and simple kind of gal, and I have to learn how and what to add to give it that extra bit of oomph without it being over the top. If you've endured with me this far, I welcome any comments or suggestions as to what I could have done differently. Bearing in mind that as a beginner I still have limited supplies, and have to make do with what I have on hand. :) I thought of distressing the edges of the tags, but I didn't quite have the right colors. If I'd had some black embossing powder, I might have embossed the sentiment. Shoulda, coulda, woulda right? Still, suggestions are good because it also gives me an idea of what is missing in my arsenal.

Houston, we have achieved Organized Chaos, mission is a-go!

I am so so proud of myself. I wish I had some before pictures to share with you so you could truly appreciate the depth of what I've accomplished. I spent the last couple of days, probably a good 20 hours or so, cleaning out my craft room. I lost track of the number of garbage bags hubby hauled away! I admit, there was a lot more recycling and reusing that should have happened, but sometimes you just have to plow through it and get it done. Every time I've attempted in the past to clean it out, I get so hung up on trying to decide what to do with stuff that it never gets finished. I even threw out some stuff that I'm mildly regretting, I could have taken them to my LSS's swap later this month, but truthfully the joy had being able to use my craft room again outweighs all of that.

There is still work to be done, but for the most part the room is useable. Here is a view of my worktable:

To the left I'm using storage cubes that you assemble in the configuration you like. I added some little hooks so that instead of making extra cubes, I could hang shelves instead. Funnily enough, the clip/hooks that I have and bought at Ikea two years ago are almost exactly like the carousel clips Tim Holtz is releasing at CHA 2015! Not to be mean Tim, but the Ikea ones are cheaper, only $3 for 24, and you get a set of 24 hooks as well. They're meant to be used as shower curtain hooks, isn't that funny?! When I was doing craft fairs a couple of years ago, I made my own carousel out of a cut down tomato cage and these clip/hooks to display the stretchy crochet hairbands for girls that have been the thing the past few years. I guess I should have launched my own line huh? ;) In any case there's a thrifty idea for y'all frugal folks!

Moving on... next to the storage cubes is my ribbon holder, aka a shoe rack with a soft canvas bottom. There's nothing to stop the regular size rolls from falling off the edge, so I just made sure to put bigger rolls that would be wedged against the side. The one I have is a little bit different from the one I linked (mine has four tiers) but it's the same idea. It works really well, I can see my ribbon at a glance, and it's tidy and out of the way. You probably can't see it, but I have an Offray ribbon carousel that I got on clearance at Walmart because one of the spindles was missing. The box also had a soap dish in it, but that's another story. 8( When I'm using any particular ribbon, I just stick it on there temporarily.

To the right, ignoring the bins which still need to be dealt with, you'll see a mostly empty wooden shelf unit which also needs to be organized properly. There's a funny white thing in the middle. That's a popup light box for taking photos. I'm still in the process of setting it up, and I need to figure out how to get the wrinkles out of the side panels. I've only taken a couple of pictures so far, without the lights set up. It's a hand-me-down from my sister who is a kickass photographer and outgrew her need for it. There are other models as well, including the updated version by the same company, American Recorder. I was also reading a craft blogger the other day (so sorry I can't remember who!!!) and she had just bought the Foldio version. I think your best bet price-wise seems to be this one by Square Perfect for less than $45 including shipping. Mine doesn't have the colored backdrops either, but I guess I can just get 'crafty' about that, right? ;) And if you want to get really crafty, you can make your own, I'm sure there are tutorials out there! Moving along...

This is a very old desk that has lived in about six different houses with me. In its latest incarnation, hubby took the L piece off because it was on its last legs. He also removed the keyboard tray because I broke it. Eep. It is currently cluttered with a lot of stuff that doesn't have a home elsewhere, but the primary purpose is going to be for my Fiskars Fuse which he bought me for Christmas 2013. It is so heavyduty, although it does fold up nicely. You know how you see people holding on to their Cuttlebug as if there life depended on it in YouTube videos? This thing is so rock solid that it ain't gonna me moving anywhere! After all, it weighs 26 pounds! I have the adapter plates as well, since none of my dies are from Fiskars. Those suckers are just way too expensive, although they do have some nice ones. And my nifty chart is hanging above so I know which plates to use. To the right, I finally have dedicated space for my Fiskars 12" rotary trimmer! I was stuck using smaller ones for lack of space to use my big one. It has a big footprint, so there is no balancing it on the corner of the table. Next stop...

Messy McMess area which still needs work. For one thin, you can't see my office chair shoved into the closet. It is just too big and bulky for crafting. Nice and comfy if you want to kickback on the computer though. Also, more bins which need to be dealt with. Then you have the three towers of doom. They are about semi-organized, but I'll save that for another day, since it feels like I've been writing for hours already. They're all mismatched because I got them at different times for different purposes. Oh well, make do with what you've got, right? Last craft room view...

I was pretty happy that hubby suggested moving the file cabinet out from under the desk, and putting the printer on top of it (which was on the desk previously). It's wireless, so he prints from his mancave and picks it up here. This way he doesn't have to bump around me as I'm doing stuff. :) Also, he can easily access the file cabinet which he has stuff in, without having to move whatever happens to be in front of it, which is usually bins... you would have never guessed that though right, cuz there aren't that many bins in there, right? ;)

Lest you think I'm mostly done, don't be fooled. Here is the leftover mess from the dining area which I still need to clean up:

That colorful wheely tray thinger needs to find a home too, it has more craft stuff in it. I just adore it, it's sturdy enough that I can easily move it around but still pretty lightweight too. And each of the drawers easily come out, so I can grab a tray and take it to where I'm working if need be.

The biggest thing left to do, in my opinion, is truly get everything sorted in the right place. I imagine that will take time. I don't know about you, but so many times I've organized a drawer, just to realize it doesn't really work for me.

So. Now that I've cleaned my craft room, and semi-organized it, I guess my blog has re-earned it's of 'Organized Craft Chaos'. Because it's always chaos in my world, but I know where everything is in that chaos. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your comments, especially if you have ideas for how I can set things up, or suggestions for making my blog posts shorter! ;)