Blog hop this week, and a bit of a confession.....

This is going to be an exciting week everyone!  Susana of "Susana's Custom Art and Card Design" asked me to be a guest designer for the release of the Sampler Edition #4 from Elizabeth Bell designed for SCADC and wait until you see these stamps! Remember that you can ONLY get the stamps from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, and you won't be able to order or see them until Friday, April 30th (trust me when I say you really are going to love these stamps.)

And you will also be able to win some blog candy, just go over to Susana's blog and enter to win, she has really outdone herself with all the goodies she is giving away.  The blog candy started on Sunday, so make sure to sign up today or later this week.

My post for the blog hop will be up at 4 am est, which is 1 am my time (I will schedule the post for that time because I will be in bed sleeping at that particular hour ; )  I am also going to give away some blog candy, just haven't figured out what yet, so make sure that you revisit AfterHoursStamper.com on Friday for the blog hop.

And now...my confession.  My stamp area is a disaster.  Not just a mess, but a disaster.  I have been making so many cards lately I just haven't had time to pare down the pile, and now I am working on a very small portion of my stamping area (and my stamping area is small to begin with).

Here is what I am talking about:

You see that littttttttllllle area with the new Tim Holtz Sizzix?  That is my entire work area right now, the pile on the bottom of the picture is taking up my should be free space...sigh.  So this week I am NOT making any more cards until I get that pile sorted (there is paper, stamps and lord knows what else in that pile...sigh). 

Now, I do try to be organized, here is how I store my nesties:

I have them to the right of where I sit, all on magnets so they don't get lost and they are easy for me to find and use.  Here is how I store my copics and triarts:

                                     

It works....for now anyway, but I really need to finish organizing my stamps and all my stuff.  I must have 50 ink pads that I never use, but won't part with...sigh.  Anyhow...onto other things.

I did manage to get the distress inks organized this week, woooo hoooo! I had the inks in open pallets, but given the lack of room in my area, I needed something that I could stack, and also I wanted to know what the color looked like on paper, so this is what I bought and did:

These are paint paletts from Jerry's Artarama (I looked everywhere and these were the best deal and best solution for me).  I printed out this chart from Ranger, and then put the colors in the pallets in the same order as the chart.   I used water color paper to make the samples of the colors (a must in order to know what you are doing and to be able to use certain combinations again.)  I am loving the pallets, and there are also extra paint areas left in case I want to mix and save a combination of distress ink! 

And I also have some other cool links for you as well, here you go:

Punch and Emboss tool:  These look very interesting, and I did order some from another company (which I love), but am also considering these.

And some videos!  First up one of Tim Holtz's videos on his new Sizzix die (and you can see that I purchased one already).  NOTE:  You can use these in your Cuttlebug, I used two B plates and make perfect cuts, no other plates, just the two B plates.  I love these flourishes (first used them when I bought a pack of his precut grunge board), and can see that I will be using this die many, many times. 

Here you go:

You can see the other two videos on Tim's blog, click here for the post.

And for anyone who wants to try to brayer a sunset, get a load of this video:

Time for Crafting has 18 other videos, click here to check out some of the other offerings she has for you. 

Alright everyone, that is it for today, check back here this Friday for the blog hop, until then be happy and don't forget to stamp : )