MFT Color Challenge #109

Hello, cafe friends!

Today's Brew features colors inspired by the color challenge at My Favorite Things!

I'm loving the new Friends At First Sip stamp set and dies. So fun! I colored my coffee lady with Prismacolor markers. If you look closely, you can see the scalloped "grass" that the coffee cart is sitting on. That's actually part of the scalloped awning from the new Die-namics die set called "Boutique".

And if you look really really closely, you can just make out where I wrote the word "cafe" on the little chalkboard with a gel pen.

{Today's Brew: Friends at First Sip stamps and dies (MFT), MFT blueprints die (for sentiment), Boutique die-namics (MFT), MFT clouds stencil, Lawn Fawn Inside Out Scalloped rectangle die, Prisma markers, white ink}

You've always bean there for me, coffee! Let's be friends forever!

Where Paper Crafting and Home Decor Collide

Curse you, Target Dollar Spot! I am weak to your powers! Seriously, I cannot pass by without looking to see what cute cheap things have been stocked. And yesterday...jackpot! They had a big section of Valentine stuff, of course, but also a section of coffee-related things! I had to buy a few.

Do you see that little polka dot white and black banner? It was only a dollar, and I knew I could add a little something for the season.

  I used the Limitless Layers Hearts dies from Papertrey Ink in Sweet Blush and Americana card stock, attaching each one with a glue dot.

And I made another heart to hang from the boxwood wreath.

Just a little something to say "Christmas is over, but let's hold on to the Winter Hygge Love!"

Thanks for visiting the cafe today!

Lawn Fawn Lawnfawnatics Challenge # 43: Wonderful Winter

I'm participating in the Lawn Fawnatics challenge #43: Wonderful Winter today! Don't you love this soft color palette? It reminds me of some of the beautiful sunsets I've been seeing here in Michigan this winter.

I used Strathmore watercolor paper with inks and blending tools to give the sunset effect.

{Today's Brew: Frosty Friends stamps and dies (Lawn Fawn), LF Stitched Hillside dies, LF stitched snowflakes dies, LF Birch Tree dies, watercolor paper, glitter card stock}

Thanks for visiting the cafe today!

MFT Sketch Challenge #418

Today's Brew was crafted for this week's  My Favorite Things sketch challenge! I've been wanting to play with this new Birdie Brown coffee stamp set since I got it last month! This latte lady looks a lot like me...she's wearing Bean boots, an over-sized sweater to cover the Christmas pounds, and she has a few of God's highlights sparkling in her hair. But as long as she has coffee, she's ready to take on the day!

{Today's Brew: BB Friends at First Sip (MFT), MFT Blueprints dienamics, MFT Tea Cup die, lace doily, enamel dots, COPIC markers}

Thanks for visiting the cafe today!

A New Year, A New Blog for 2019

It's a New Year, cafe friends!

And it's a new world of blogging since I started way back in 2007.

Over the years, I have shared little snapshots of my crazy life of raising a family and relocating my family from state to state.

Five states, five houses over a twelve year period. A lot of ups and downs.

I wrote about everything...raising sons, growing a garden, remodeling and house flipping, recipes, with a lot of craft projects thrown into the mix.

And it was fun.

But the world of blogging has become a lot more laser-focused in its content.

I have decided to do the same.

Mary Rose's Cafe will now be devoted solely to cards and paper-crafting projects, especially those related to blog hops and challenges.

If I get ambitious in 2019, I may add a monthly newsletter filled with the other stuff. But for now, the cafe is only serving up my home-brewed crafty creations.

Thank you for visiting the cafe! Your support has meant the world to me over the years. Bless you, cafe friend!

Gratitude for 2019

I had been waiting for a "word" for 2019 to come to me this month.

And then I found this coffee mug, on clearance at Hallmark. It was a sign.

Gratitude is the word for 2019!

And I really do have so much to be grateful for, just in 2018 alone!

It was a crazy busy filled-to-the-top year.

I continued to write and publish, and I love this little side job from home.

We took a family trip to Florida and saw a satellite launch, which was cool.

We remodeled a laundry room and painted nearly every space upstairs in the cottage.

Sam took a class trip to Washington DC.

Sam had his confirmation at church in the spring.

We had a relaxing trip up north in the summer.

My fledgling vegetable garden produced great results that I shared with all my neighbors.

God gave us opportunities to serve in church and the community.

Sam and Ed had a fun father-son trip to Toronto.

We had skylights installed in the cottage. Light!

Ed and I had a nice anniversary in New England.

My husband's beloved Red Sox won the World Series (woo hoo!) and he found a sister he never knew he had (more on that in the future!).

We got to spend a lot of time with our extended families, which is always a blessing.

I even made a lot of my craft resolutions this year! Craft retreats, watercolor painting, linocut and print-making, scrapbooking, and the big one: mailing those hand-crafted cards!

I made a gratitude journal yesterday, using a Moleskin journal from Costco and some papers and stickers from Simple Stories. I think this will help in the year ahead.

This verse from Colossians was part of our church service yesterday. It seemed to encompass everything I hoped for in 2019.

Do you have an inspirational word you hope to meditate on in 2019?

Grateful for all of you, my cafe friends! Happy New Year!

Craft Room-Inspired

Hello, cafe friends!

I've been having some post-holiday fun in the craft room this week. After cleaning and sorting, it was time to get busy creating.

This card was inspired by my clean craft room! I used the same color combination of orange, lime green and turquoise on this card that you will see in my space.

This stamp set from Concord and 9th is so much fun! You can get as simple or as detailed as you like. Dies or no dies, shadow stamps or detail stamps. It's really versatile!

And here's the room that started it all:

When the room looks this clean, it's time to take photos of it...for posterity. LOL!

On the wall opposite the counter, there are three tall IKEA shelves and cabinets.  In the middle cabinet, there was a big empty space. This is where I have the turquoise and green file boxes.

I never really knew what to put in there, so I used to throw in 6 x 6 paper pads. It wasn't a very practical system.

But then I had a great idea this week. Why not use those to sort out all of the scraps of card stock? And so that's what I did! I went through all my scraps, threw away the useless stuff, and sorted everything else by color. Blues, greens, browns and neutrals, reds and pinks, purples, yellows and oranges, white and ivory, and patterned paper pieces.

I've been using this system for a few days, and already it is working so well! When I'm starting a project, I can reach in and grab what I need easily. And when I'm cleaning up, I can put scraps away in an instant.

This spot used to have piles of papers.

And this spot used to have piles of papers, too!

This spot was usually full of dirty stamps waiting to be cleaned, as well as papers.

And this spot usually had papers covered in a fine layer of powder and glitter.

Sometimes, I even managed to stash a few papers up there!

Don't you love that poster? It was a gift from the Subaru dealer this summer. Looks just like Jemma!

Basement craft studios may not be ideal for everyone, but I am loving this one! I like to have the mess tucked away from the usual day to day areas of the house. This room gives me plenty of space to spread out, and the colors make me happy.

Blessings, cafe friends!