Storage Ideas!

If you're like me, you're always looking for new, creative, organization solutions and clever ways to store all your arts & crafts goodies. Well here's another place to get ideas - a blog dedicated to creative storage ideas! Crafty Storage

p.s. Thanks to Patty for passing along this great blog find.

Jewelry in June ...

Decided to go for something different for June's stamp class: Jewelry! Here are some samples ...

These pieces use rub-ons, designer paper and build-a-brads ... a fun way to turn your stamp supplies into wearable accessories!

Class Kits ...

May's stamp class ended up being
'virtual' due to the class date falling during the week of our road re-paving (and road closure). So - class to the form of a kit! Finished putting together a few more kits for shipping to friend in Austin & elsewhere this weekend.

Birthday Greetings!

I decided to make a card using one of the sketch challenge layouts from Splitcoast Stampers. This card uses the layout for SC177.

Stamps: SU! Canvas background, 'Happy Birthday' from Hot Potatoes
Cardstock: Old Olive, Cameo Coral and designer paper from SU!
Inks: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

To accent the image, I used a versmarker to highlight parts of the cupcake and then embossed with clear (cupcake wrapper), vanilla (cupcake frosting), and iridescent ice (candle flame).

Scallop Notes ...

I bought some scallop note awhile back and finally got around to creating a couple cards with them. The notes come in a pack of 3 colors (Very Vanilla, Soft Sky and Kraft) and, being a fan of little notes, I think I'll be using these more. They'll be cute mounted on to the front of larger cards, too.

They're a bit tricky to photograph since when they stand up, you can't see that the front scallop edge is a bit shorter than the back - so here's a "reclining card" to show the front/back difference.

Soft Sky Scallop Notecard
The card front is stamped on a 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and mounted on a piece of Groovy Guava that's just a smidge bigger.


Stamps: Live Your Dreams (SU)
Colors: Groovy Guava, Creamy Caramel
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky (a dot created by punching with an 1/8" circle punch)
Tip: The smaller flowers in the lower right were stamped off once (Creamy Caramel) before stamping the card.

Kraft Scallop Notecard
To make the edges pop a bit more, I sponged a bit of color (for this card, I used Perfect Plum). For this card, I also used a rub-on greeting in black from the Eastern Elegance rub-on set.


Stamps: Friendly Flowers (SU)
Colors: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Pretty in Pink
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Pretty In Pink (a dot created by punching with an 1/8" circle punch)
Tip: The smaller flower image in the upper right was stamped off once (Perfect Plum) before stamping the card. The Friend saying was stamped in Perfect Plum at full-strength.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Art Journals ...

On reason I haven't had much time for stamping cards n' such lately (besides work) is that I was weeks behind on completing a spread for an art journal project I'm participating in. I was stumped on how to finish the front and then it hit me - chipboard!


I used chipboard letters from Stampin' Up!'s "On Board Lots of Letters" to spell out Mexico (nice that the chipboard is 25% off this month). I covered each letter with tissue paper from some papel picado using matte gel medium and aged the tissue with a color wash of acrylic paint.

I finished the journal spread last weekend (you can see read more about the journal and see more pics here) and it's now on its way to the next artist!

More 3x3 Notes ...

I decided to snap a few more pics of the Totes n' Notes project. I'm completely hooked on the lil' 3x3 notecards. They're such a great size for gift enclosures and a quick "Thanks" ... Plus, as one of my blog readers commented, they're ther perfect way to use up scraps! Hope you enjoy the extra photos.

First, I wanted to show a bit more detail on the Tote. These embellishments are self-adhesive die-cut images. They stack beautifully and add dimension to the project.



These 3x3 notecards use textured cardstock in Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red and Bashful Blue. Each one is also embellished with a combination of self-adhesive die-cuts, small scraps of designer paper and rub-on greetings.






I'm looking forward to the 3-day weekend ... finally some big blocks of stamp time! If I stamp enough projects, I might just give some away on the blog next week.

Have a wonderful weekend!