Tips & Tricks - die storage

Sooooo, I was supposed to have a card to share with you today. On Wednesday evening I printed my digi image from Bugaboo Stamps, colored it 3 different times (because I wasn't happy with the first two attempts) then left it sit on the coffee table where I had colored it because I was being lazy and thinking I'd get to it on Thursday evening and make the actual card. Well, Thursday morning when I woke up there was a slight problem!! One of my kittys, who rarely ever do anything wrong, had done something very wrong! They never get on the table but my Valentine flowers proved too much of a draw so on the table he went...we all know where this is leading...what a mess!! I had colored a cute watering can filled with flowers but seriously, they didn't need actual watering...good grief!!

Well, all this means I don't have a card to post. I'll have to recolor my image then make a card for it. At least I have the colors I wan't to use now (thanks to already coloring it 3 times, lol) and a layout kind of figured out. Darn cats, sigh!! I haven't posted in a while since I was a bit under the weather and didn't want to NOT post something today so I thought I'd do a little segment that I haven't done in ages and share a little storage tip with you.

Have you ever bought a die that has multiple pieces? They all come in those thin "re-closable" bags that stop re-closing after the 3rd time because the sticky isn't sticky any longer and the sides rip out...yeah, what a pain!! Well, For quite some time now I've had a partial solution and now I finally have the whole issue figured out thanks to one of my students in the mini Christmas album class I taught at my local stamping shop! 

I've used the Avery Elle envelopes for my stamps and dies for a long time now and LOVE them. Heavy duty, plenty of room...perfect. However, when you have dies that have multiple pieces and/or stack you still end up with a mess like this...

Someone asked about a certain die I was using for the book and I pulled out my Avery Elle envelope with my Taylored Expressions Postage Stamp Stacklet die set (that was all loose and jumbled in the bottom of the envelope) to show her. The gal next to her said she had a perfect trick to keep my dies organized. Sometimes you get lucky and a die will come on a little magnetic sheet (woo-hoo, right?) but I never thought to go to my local big box home improvement store and BUY magnetic sheets that can be cut to any size I want! Vent covers!!! DUH!! For $4 & change I got this 3 pack of 8" X 15" sheets. They can be found hanging right next to the floor vent replacements. These magnetic sheets are a little sturdier than the ones that some dies come with so I'm going to eventually replace those as well. 

I measured out the size I wanted and cut it with a regular pair of scissors. The underside is white so I easily measured and made pencil marks so that my cutting lines were straight.

Now all of my dies are not only in nice little envelopes but aren't banging around and all jumbled up either!

Well that's it for me today. I hope you enjoyed this little trick that I came across! I'll see ya on Monday with a card...promise ;)

The Shabby tea Room - challenge #246

Hi everyone, sorry that I've been MIA, just feeling a bit under the weather lately but I'm feeling much better (woo-hoo for meds!) now. This past Monday we started a brand new challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room so I thought I'd share it with you even though I haven't made my card yet...but it's coming ;)

Week #246 - February 16, 2015

Hello shabby friends and welcome to another fun week of inspiration and creativity here in the Tea Room!  This week our challenge is called Mason Jar Love!  Please create a card/project INSPIRED BY THE PHOTO!

FOR YOUR SUBMISSION TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE WEEKLY PRIZE AND HONORS: Because we are sponsored weekly by wonderful businesses who have graciously donated products and in the interest of fairness to all participants, any entries that do not follow our simple challenge rules will remain in the gallery but will not be eligible for the weekly prizes and top honors. Thanks for your understanding and participation!

And now for some more beautiful inspiration from the Shabby Girls (please click on each designer's blog link to view additional photos of their projects) ...

 Debbie Marcinkiewicz -  Paper Sweeties
{Creator}

Diane Hover - Nellie's Nest
Bugaboo Stamps:  Flower Pot 4

Lenet Mos - To Scrap or not to Scrap, that is the Question
Bugaboo Stamps: Chicken Duo

Rebecca Deeprose - Paper Primrose
Bugaboo Stamps:   Balloon Bundle

Tina Milbourn - Confessions of a DeNami Addict
Bugaboo Stamps:




 Tracey Kelly - Trace Elementz

Bugaboo Stamps : Butterfly bubbles tag

Now, hop on over to our Shabby Girl individual blogs to see lots more creative and beautiful inspiration, additional pictures and instructions for these projects!

 The Shabby Girls are pleased to welcome our sponsor - Bugaboo Stamps!

As if raising five children in the frozen land of the North was not enough of a challenge, Jodie Mackrell decided to dip her cold little Canadian toes into the world of paper crafting by opening an online store full of her illustrations. That was two years ago. Today Bugaboo Stamps is one of the leading companies in digital images, and we're still growing!  From seriously snarky to sugary sweet to sublimely soulful all the way over to the other side of the super sexy spectrum, you're bound to find all that you need and more to create your paper projects.  Jodie works very hard to provide New Releases and Freebies every week!

If your taste runs to rubber (and you know who you are), you can find Bugaboo Stamps stamps at Totally Stampalicious. And finally, join the Bugaboo Stamps DT  for weekly challenges at Catch the Bug.

Our links are:
Store : http://www.bugaboostamps.com/
Catch the bug Challenge blog:  http://catchthebugblog.blogspot.com/

 

Please link your creations at The Shabby Tea Room by Sunday, March 1st to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, March 2nd. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 2nd as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

I like you "a latte"

Hi everyone, did you have a good weekend?Mine was busy as usual, I worked all weekend at The Stamp Pad and taught a class - we made 10 pages in a 6X6 scrapbook. Can you believe we are well into February already...my gosh!

Today I want to share a card that is part of my next class. I named it "Oops, I almost forgot". It will have a friend, birthday, belated birthday & wedding/anniversary card. here's the "friend" card.

The stamps are by Impression Obsession. I stamped the cup on my panel then stamped it again on computer paper to make a mask. After placing the mask on the cup I stamped the coffee ring then stamped the steam twine (in 2 colors). I set that aside and made a kraft card base by cutting the 8 1/2 X 11 piece ling ways. I added a piece of Doodlebug double dot Caribbean then added a piece of ribbon around the card and tied it into a knot. I cut a mat for my focal panel and attached them together then popped it up on the card using foam tape. I added a little twine to the knot and after I took this picture I decided to add 4 teal nail heads coming down the right hand side at the top. Super easy layout for a larger stamp or smaller put together ones like I've done here.

Valentine Treats

Hi everyone! Are y'all ready for Valentines Day? I made a couple of treat boxes for hubby, now my only issue is to try not to eat the yummy chocolaty goodness before I give them to him, lol!

I started off with 2 different boxes from the Boutique Box section at DeNami - CB200 2-1/4 X 2-1/4 X 1 and CB500 4-1/2 X 1-1/2 X 1.

For this box I simply added a strip of Washi around the top and bottom edges. I die cut a little panel that leaves a small embossed edge. I colored the edge to make it look like it was layered then randomly stamped the little hearts in a pale pink. Using the sentiments from the Monster Love set I stamped two in a hot pink and the kisses in red and then colored it in so it would stand out more. I added a bit of twine and two little punched hearts to finish it all off then attached it to the upper corner of the box with my tape runner. 

This box was made pretty much like the other one. I started with a strip of washi around the center of the box. I Die cut a panel and colored the edge then stamped the little hearts randomly in a pale pink. I decided to go with an image this time around instead of just a sentiment. After stamping and coloring the owl special delivery I simply attached it to the box using my tape runner....easy peasy, right?

The Shabby Tea Room challenge #245

Ohh my goodness, what a few days I've had!! I was just too worn out to write up today's blog post last night and thought I'd do it first thing this morning...then life happened again!! Jeeze! Sorry I'm so late!


Today we have a brand new challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room AND a brand new sponsor! I'd like to give a warm welcome to My Artistic Adventures Etsy!! She has a full line of papers and focal images for ANY occasion!! Let's get started shall we?

Hello shabby friends and welcome to another fun week of inspiration and creativity here in the Tea Room!  This week our challenge is called 'I {heart} You'!  Please create a card/project INSPIRED BY THE PHOTO!

FOR YOUR SUBMISSION TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE WEEKLY PRIZE AND HONORS: Because we are sponsored weekly by wonderful businesses who have graciously donated products and in the interest of fairness to all participants, any entries that do not follow our simple challenge rules will remain in the gallery but will not be eligible for the weekly prizes and top honors. Thanks for your understanding and participation!

Ready to see what I made? I couldn't resist this darling bingo card I found on My Artistic Adventures site, it was too darling!!

Items Used:

Victorian Vintage Valentine's Day Shabby Pink Aqua Red Cream Chocolate Hearts Digital Paper Pack Collection Collage sheet Printable, AND

Prim Primitive Folk Art Valentine's Red Clown Bingo Card Focals ATC Digital Collage sheet Printable

My Artistic Adventures Etsy has been meeting the designing needs of artists who like to use unique, vintage-inspired digital images in their creations.  The images have been used to create cards, layouts, tags, altered art, Christmas ornaments and other art pieces since May 2012.  My Artistic Adventures' selection of Digital Collage Sheets will help you with your Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Floral and other creations that you would like to create with a Vintage Shabby Chic feel.  Easy online shopping, affordable prices and fast delivery of purchases by instant download are available through the shop.

10% discount for the Tea Room followers this week: SHABBYTEAROOM10 

Challenges the 2nd & 16th of each month on the My Artistic Adventures Challenge Blog

My Artistic Adventures You Tube Channel 

Heather’s Blog 

This week's lucky winner will receive $18 of Digital Collage Sheets
This week's Tea Time Top Threes will each receive $6.00 of Digital Collage Sheets

 

Please link your creations at The Shabby Tea Room by Sunday, February 15th to play along. Winner and Tea Time Terrific Top Three will be announced Monday, February 16th. We will have an all-new challenge for you to play along with on the 16th as well, so please come back and visit with us again for another chance to win!

My Mind TRULY DOES wander!!

Hi everyone and happy Monday to you! I hope you had a good and restful weekend :)

 I was cleaning up the back area at The Stamp Pad where I work weekends and teach and came across this random sentiment stamp by Deep Red and immediately fell in love with it and wanted to make a card and since we need some new store samples it was a win-win so I checked to make sure it was still available and got right down to playing! ;)  The card turned out so cute that I've held it back to be one of the cards for my February class...oops, lol! 

I thought this sentiment describes me perfectly on a daily basis, lol! It also called for a belated birthday sentiment on the inside - story of my life, I'm such a bad card maker these days ;)

What I really like about the sentiment too is that it is color-able so you can really make it match your card by coloring it a complementary color like I've done for this card or make something funky by coloring all the letters in different colors for a fun and bright card.

Thinking Of You

Hi everyone!! Have you ever found yourself in need of a card and have about 5 minutes to get one done? Well, recently I was in that position and managed to throw something together. It's not the prettiest card in the world it's still a nice card and worked out just as I had hoped. 

While I have a ton of dry embossing folders, I never use them as a main focal point. I normally use them to add a touch of dimension as a panel mostly hidden under my focal point. However, for this card I used a new folder that I recently purchased that's meant to be the focal point....

DeNami recently put all of their folders on sale for $3/each AND I was lacking a couple of dollars to qualify for free shipping so I added the Scrolls embossing folder to my order. Like I mentioned before, I would normally not use this type of folder but at the time of purchase I was thinking that I just needed to try something new and here was a great opportunity.

I started with a navy A2 sized card base. I cut a light blue panel and ran it through my Vagabond with the embossing folder. Then I took a scrap of white cardstock and ran that through the embossing folder too. All I wanted was the center so using a scrap was just perfect. I cut out the center panel and stamped the sentiment from the new Heartfelt Blessings clear stamp set in the center. It looked like it needed a little something so I stamped one of the little "extras" from the set at the bottom of the panel. I attached the light blue panel to the card base then using foam tape attached the white sentiment panel. To finish it all off I added a navy grosgrain ribbon/bow and some cupped flower sequins from Paper Sweeties with a little Stickles in the center.

Like I said...super easy card that took about 5 minutes and I was able to rush out the door on time! I'm thinking I could get to like using dry embossing folders as a main focal point! ;)