Celebrate

Happy Tuesday dear reader!  As I write this blog entry, I'm eating fresh Montmorency Cherries straight from our backyard.  I give credit to my DH for buying and taking care of this tree, as well as the other fruit trees he has planted.

Anyway, here's a quick card I made for today.  No stamping - I just cut the main piece with my Cricut.  I love how the die cut seems to float on the card.

Materials used:

cardstock/dp:  @theoffice, Paper House Productions, The Paper Co.

tools:  Cricut, Martha Stewart edge punch

embellishments:  rhinestone

adhesive:  Scotch, Zots, mounting tape

'Til next blog!

Forever Friends

Hello crafty friends!  It's almost a week since my last post.  There were lots of things going on outside my planet.  I was having so much fun that I set aside my play time for a while.  Can you believe I haven't been inside a craft store for weeks as well?  The last time I went to Joann's, I came out empty handed.  I'm pretty proud of myself.

Now that everything's slowing down a bit, I decided to make some cards today.  A few years ago, I received five of this from a group swap online:

I salvaged the F with embellies, and used them for my card fronts.  I'm glad I was able to find a stamp that could go with the letter F.  I stamped and heat embossed it on vellum so the flower can still be seen.

Since it's a card set, I wanted to put them together in some kind of packaging.  And then I remembered I bought a big bunch of paper bags from GFS during my first craft show.  The size is perfect for A2 cards, so I thought I can make it more interesting.  Using leftovers from the cards I made, I came up with this:

To cut the window, it will help if you have the smaller size cutting pads from Sizzix.  Then from the inside, I adhered a remnant from plastic packaging like that of Spellbinders'.  Now my altered paper bag houses 5 cards and envelopes.  For closure, I just used a paper clip so it can be sealed and reopened any time.

Materials used:

cardstock/dp:  DCWV, vellum, leftovers

image/sentiment:  Autumn Leaves

ink:  Tsukineko, Stampin' Up

tools:  Spellbinders, EK success edge punch, paper piercer, heat gun, flower punches

embellishments:  stamped and embellished monogram, rhinestone, spiral paper clip

adhesive:  Scotch, Zots, mounting tape

This project is similar to the Flower Cards I made last month.  Click here to see.

'Til next blog!

Happy Birthday

Hello everyone!  How was your 4th of July celebration?  Mine was super great with lots of awesome food, chitchat, bubbles with kids, a quad ride, 30-minute fireworks, sparklers, and a lot more.  ID4 is one of my favorite American holidays.  Even our dog loves it, except for the fireworks.

Today is DSIL's birthday, and I made this card for her.  What's different with this one is the use of Flower Soft.  I've had a bunch of them for years, but I haven't really touched them.  I should play with more often. 

Materials used:

cardstock/dp:  Nature Preserve, Making Memories, Wassau, leftovers

image/sentiment:  Flourishes, K & Co.

ink:  Copic, Tsukineko, Spica

tools:  Spellbinders

embellishments:  Flower Soft, flowers (Prima, Bazzil, Creative Co-Op, Stampin' Up), brads, rhinestones

adhesive:  Scotch, Zots, mounting tape

'Til next blog!

ID4 Cards

One of the American holidays that I look forward to is Independence Day.  I love how our small community gather at the park, young and old, and enjoy the festivities.  The volunteerism never fails to amaze me and the atmosphere is just wonderful and pleasant in our town during this time of the year.  In the evening, we all watch the fireworks, even those from nearby towns.  Our celebration may not be as grand as the big cities, but it has a more personal touch, which I like more.

Here is a card set I made for ID4.  I used the same dp and paper strips cut with the Tim Holtz Tattered Banners die.

Materials used:

cardstock/dp:  Wassau, Provo Craft, leftovers

image/sentiment:  Stampendous, Studio G, Unity

ink:  Stampin' Up, Copic, Tsukineko, Spica

tools:  Tim Holtz die, Creative Memories circle punch, Spellbinders, Crop-A-Dile, EK Success corner punch, Fiskars edge punch

embellishments:  brads, eyelets, sequins

adhesive:  Scotch, Zots, mounting tape

To see each card in detail, please click here.

Enjoy the 4th of July weekend, everyone!  And don't forget the main reason why this holiday is celebrated.

'Til next blog!

Organizing Clear and Unmounted Stamps

Crafters have their own ways of organizing their stash.  It's amazing how we all have different approaches in storing our craft supplies.  Take the Spellbinders dies for example.  Some like to store them in DVD cases, while others like to hang them on rails.  I put mine on metal sheets originally meant for roof shingles, which you can see here.

But for today, I would like to share with you my system in organizing my unmounted and clear stamps.  They are all in 3-ring binders which you can see below, with the black ones storing my clear stamps, and the white ones storing my unmounted stamps.

The blue binder holds the Christmas stamps.  The red one?  That's empty and I still haven't decided what to put in it.

When I learned about cataloging stamps in the message boards, I found it ridiculous at first.  But you know what?  I finally gave in and catalogued all my sentiment stamps.  It just makes searching stamps a lot easier!  I started with a big notebook, but that was not enough.  So I transfered the pages to another 3-ring binder:

It's categorized by theme, then by brand:

Another advantage of this is that if you are a Spellbinders dies user, it's easier to figure out which sentiment can go with a particular die.

Once I decide which stamp I'll be using, then I get it from the 3-ring binders.  For the clear stamps, I use Ultra-Pro pocket pages which I purchase from The2Buds.com.  They are arranged alphabetically by brand.

The three-pocket one is my favorite, because it holds the "standard" 4 x 6 size sets, like those of Inkadinkado, Creative Vision, etc.

The two-pocket ones can hold the bigger size sets:

The 9-pocket, which is originally meant for baseball cards, is perfect for the dollar stamps or smaller.

And the single pocket holds the really big sets like that of Cloud 9 Designs or Autumn Leaves.

For the unmounted stamps, I use the Stamp N' Stor Lightweight Storage Panels by Sunday International, arranged alphabetically by brand as well.

This system worked the best for me.  It saves me space and it makes it a lot easier for me to find stamps that I need.  In fact, I still have about five empty binders.  And when I need inspiration, I just go through each page.  This way, no stamps are buried and never used.

Want some more inspiration on craft organization?  You might want to check out Crafty Storage.  It is my number one go-to when I need ideas about craft storage and organizing.

'Til next blog!