Paper Whiskers

4.5x7 Embellishment Hideaway - Hacked

In my quest to get more organized, I found this Cropper Hopper storage box on clearance at TwoPeas:

 

I found no information on what the inside looked like, so went ahead and got it anyway, gambling that it would have the space I needed. It fits perfectly where I planned to put it, and I could easily stack another on top (which I may still do, since they are still on sale). But I was really hoping that it had no dividers at all.

As you can see, it does have dividers. Lots of them. By the time this came, I had decided to use it for stamp storage - the ones that I always forget to use because they are sorted into drawers. Those 3x3 slots weren't going to cut it.

So, I hacked it.

 

It's actually very easy to do, because it's made of chipboard, covered in fabric on the outside. I used an xacto knife to trim out the first divider and glued down the loosened pieces that came up when I pulled out the inner pieces. Then I picked out paper:

 

and started trimming liner pieces. I ended up using the left two papers (Fancy Pants Designs) and cut them to these measurements:

6.5 x 6 3/8 for the base (cut 1)
6.5 x 3 5/8 for the sides (cut 4)
6.5 x 1.5 for the scalloped strips to top the sides (cut 4)

I glued them in this order: base, scalloped strips, sides. I used fabri-tac for the scalloped strips, since they were being glued onto fabric, but I don't think it's entirely necessary. I think the Scotch Quick-Dry I used for the rest would have worked just as well. I used liquid glue, over red-line tape, for durability. Liquid glue bonds the paper with the chipboard, whereas red-line tape (strong as it is) just sits between the layers and doesn't have the same absorption property. But that's more information than anyone cares about, so moving on!

When I glued the scalloped strips in (and later the sides), I used clamps to keep pressure on the middle and corners, to help the bonding process along.

Once I had everything glued, I realized that I needed a better handle than the one that's on it. Luckily, there are two handy holes pre-drilled in the handle, so you can add ribbon or tags or whatever. Nice. I decided to use a fancy fabric brad from my vast collection of brads, that matched the insides perfectly:

 

Pretty!

And here's the final product, put to use:

 

The brad might get put back into the stash soon, because I'm not quite sure it's going to work as well as I'd thought. I may end up using ribbon after all.

:)

Labor Day Weekend Labors

I spent the weekend sorting, cleaning, organizing, and purging my scrap/craft/spare room. It's not done, but I have a clean worktable, more places to put things, two boxes of rummage sale-bound stuff, and more logical arrangement of key supplies. I'm still working on it, and have lots more paper to purge (mostly cardstock at this point). I also went through my stamps pretty ruthlessly, and for the first time, my Magenta stamp collection (ouch!).

I also pulled out a bathroom cabinet kit that I'd had kicking around way too long (because I discovered after opening it that it needs to be wall mounted) with the intention of putting it together. That's when I rediscovered the wall mount problem, not to mention that it was missing the hardware. And know why? Because the box it's in, isn't the box it came in. Weird. I've had it so long, I have no idea why. I'm sure it made sense at the time.  lol  So now I think I'm going to have to make a trip to the hardware store to find the screws, and doorknobs. I still have to figure out how to get around the wall-mounting, though.

There was one crafty thing I did this weekend. I finally catalogued my paint/Stickles glitter glue/alcohol ink bin. I used some cardboard pieces I was originally going to recycle, plus a stack of white cardstock tags that have been kicking around. I made them into tags, and hung them on a binder ring, which I then hung on the bin. The other tag booklet is one that I made at CKU a couple years ago, in a Tim Holtz class. It has instructions and examples for several alcohol techniques.

I have been wanting a way to be able to see these things in action, all in one place.

For the Stickles and alcohol inks I stamped an open circle with room to write in the color names. I figured this would be a good way to see them at a glance. The alcohol inks are actually applied to clear epoxy circles that take the color beautifully. I intentionally left spaces blank, for future acquisitions. ;)

 

Glitter Mists are another supply, like alcohol inks, that are impossible to really know what they look like without having a an sample. I used Eclipse masking paper to cover the tag as I was spraying each color, so they wouldn't get all mixed up.

 

And this photo shows the examples for Lil Davis Designs metallic paints and Ranger distress crackle paints.

So, I procrastinated a bit, by making this when I probably should have been working on something else, but I had a lot of fun and I did get lots of other stuff done, too. And now I have something that will help keep this stuff top of mind when I'm working on a project. I have so much stuff, that it's easy to overlook things that later on I realize would have been a good addition.

Happy Birthday Tag Book

This is the little tag book/gift card holder I made my sister, for her birthday this year. Her gift was a day out, lunch then fabric shopping, so I needed a way to make that into something tangible, not just a gift card. I used a bunch of Heather Bailey (also a fabric designer) scrapbooking products. Plus, it's cute!

Details are after each photo. To make it easier, consider all products to be from the Heather Bailey line, unless I note otherwise.

The little green hang tag is a KI Memories softie frame, backed with a scrap stamped with a PaperTrey Ink stamp. I added a pearl bead with a flower rubon. The cover is an acrylic frame (Page Frames, I think) that I added rubons to. The book is bound with a binder ring and held together with an elastic attached from the back cover.

The letter stickers are velvet (fuzzy!) from American Crafts.

I backed this peek-a-boo tag with shimmery white Bazzill ("Bling"), then added a rubon, stamped it with my favorite PaperTrey Ink letter stamps, added the three black rhinestones, and backed the whole thing with a giant paper flower (Prima).

I glued that to the back of the orange letterpress printed frame (Etsy find from Sycamore Street Press) on the left. I stamped it with a birthday sentiment from PaperTrey Ink. Perfect fit! The pink frame tag on the right is chipboard that I covered with leather paper (K&Co I think) and backed with a piece of clear acrylic. You can see the paper flowers (Jolees by You) I used on the other side in the last photo below.

This tag was fun to make, but took forever to work out properly. I needed a way to include the gift card and wanted to use these silk adhesive ribbon strips somehow. I started with a coin envelope that opens on the top, rather than the side. I wrapped the ribbon around, and trimmed the ends. But then I needed to attach it to the binder ring. This chipboard butterfly was perfect. It's KI Memories and is very sturdy.

In this last photo, you can see the chipboard piece I used as the back cover. I backed it with more of the white shimmery Bazzill and added my maker's mark.

This is the kind of fiddly stuff I love to make, and I'm really really wishing I was out at the scrapbook retreat playing, right now!

"Pick Me"

This is a layout I started last Fall and recently went back to. It needed the initial and I added some pierced flourishes. The puppy is the little one that my sister-in-law got for her birthday last summer. She's going to look lots bigger this summer! :D

Supply details: list stamp by Catslife Press; patterned papers by Basic Grey (the 6x6 pad) and so are the title stickers; the journaling pocket holds a tag with the story

Card - Baby Birthday

The main images were made by tracing a couple die cuts from a scrapbooking kit I picked up ages ago. The elephant is cut from suede paper and all the outlining was done with gel pens (the diamond paper was already glittered). The stamps used are from a cupcake set by Stampendous. The grass on the front? One of the cupcake liners. lol




A cute little card for a cute little baby

"Valentine"

(click on the photo for a closer look)

A bit of catching up. This is the valentine I made Eric last month. Does the brown banner look familiar? :) It's from the same rubon set (Hambly Screenprints) that the Easter centerpiece used. The wings are made by Hambly, as well. I applied them to thick vellum, then cut them out. The heart is a precut piece of chipboard, from the Bare Elements line by Creative Imaginations. It' part of a ring book, so I used the existing hole as the hanger and added the metal washer and ball chain. The main part of the heart was created with a red rose patterned paper, stamped with big black swirls and inked around the edges.

Then I added a coat of crackle glaze (made by Ranger) and let it dry overnight. See where the cracks are smaller and closer together on the right-hand side? Yeah, that's not on purpose. LOL  That's what happens when the glue holding the paper to the chipboard isn't completely dry, and curls up when the crackle glaze dries. That whole half was curled right up the next morning. Frustrating! But, I fixed it with redline tape, inked the heck out of that side, and glued the banner over the worst of the damage.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and Eric liked it, so in the end it was a successful project.

Easter Dinner Table Decorations

I made one of these for each place setting. I used painted wood eggs and mini grapevine wreaths I found at Michaels. Then I added moss (not much is showing on this one) and tucked scraps of embroidery floss and feathers, to make it look like a bird's nest. (I imagine the floss was stolen on the sly, from a cross-stitcher who likes to watch the birds while she stitches in the garden.) The ribbon is white Martha Stewart seam binding, colored with a Copic marker. It's pretty cool, because the marker ink stiffens up the ribbon, which made for an easy little banner. The names were stamped with Papertrey Ink's Simple Alphabet. I really really like this alphabet set. It's clear acrylic and designed so the letters automatically have that great spaced out look. Even better, it includes several duplicates of many of the letters, so I could do everyone's name in one go. I do wish the numbers had duplicates, because I'd love to be able to stamp dates with this set.

This was the centerpiece. The final result is almost exactly the same as the idea I first thought of, which almost never happens. I knew I wanted a bunny in a nest, to match the small bird's nests, but wasn't sure what kind. Then I saw these moss-covered ones at Michaels (and if you are thinking Chia Pet! like Mom did, I don't want to hear it LOL) and realized they'd be perfect, if I could duplicate the grapevine nest. I think it worked, although I would have preferred a slightly larger nest, I like the nest/pot combination. I added moss, feathers, and floss just like the small nests and then made the banner. I made the banner using a Hambly Screenprints rubon (I love these, and have almost run out of the sheet this is from), more stamping with the alphabet stamps and letter stickers I've had for years. I sandwiched the sticks with a blank piece of cardstock and stacked up the foam strips to make it sturdier, then shoved the whole thing into the floral foam (under the nest). Eric will tell you how excited I was when I finished. Perfect!! :D

This little sign was Dad's contribution to our Easter dinner. I got a call at work last week, requesting this little notice be added to the table. So, of course I had to make it match everything else! More lettering with alphabet stamps (yay for duplicate letters! especially for 'available') and the little chick stamp that I can't remember where it's from now. I've had it for years. The purple paper is half of an Arturo notecard that I like the texture of. It goes well with the brown textured piece behind it (which is another thing I've had for years and hadn't used yet). It's extremely thick and has different textures on each side. It's kind of an odd paper frankly, and I've been wondering how to use it ever since I got it. And now I've finally thought of something. :)

You may have noticed that the photos in this post aren't as clear as usual. The photos I took weren't perfect (I'm still playing with the settings on my new camera) and I just installed an update to Photoshop Elements and was playing around with it last night, when I realized that the photos looked like a magazine page. Cool. So, I duplicated the effect for all of them. I think they look like magazine clippings from an old issue of Better Homes and Gardens. That's a good thing. LOL

And as a bonus: one of my contributions to this year's family Easter egg collection. Ain't he cute? :D

"love you forever" card

One last card from the retreat. I'll post one of the layouts I did later tonight.

This card uses one of my new Magenta stamps. New, because I haven't used it since this summer, when I bought it. I wanted kind of a retro/thrown together look and I think I succeeded. Maybe. The more I look at it, the more I like it, but I think maybe the blue should be behind the notepaper piece. Anyway, it was fun to do.

The stamp in the upper right is from one of my Limited Edition circle sets. Love them. "love you" is my hand-writing.

Snowglobe Card Series

This set of cards were made with a set of stickers I found in the checkout line at Michaels. I thought they'd make cute, quick cards.

I punched the square at the top, but it was too close to the edge, so I turned it on it's side.

I mix-and-matched the squares and stamped the stitched circle (a PaperTrey Ink stamp), then mounted it to the inside of the card.

It looks neat when opened, with a nice space for a note on the left. The greeting on the front is a stamp by either Savvy or Impress. I can't remember which.

Cards - Winter

This card was an experiment with Glimmer Mist, a water-based metallic spray. It was windy behind the building where I sprayed these, and I got it too close. You can see the droplets where it pooled a bit. More experimenting is needed, to see exactly how far I need to be, to get just the light misting I was going for.

The background swirl stamp is by Magenta and the trees are punched out of my favorite Tim Coffey Christmas vellum.

This card came about because I had scraps from another card that I didn't want to go to waste. It was also really late. lol The stamp is by Denami and the swirl is Stampendous.

I like it, because it reminds me of old-fashioned Christmas hangings.

This is the card that produced the scraps. Simple, but I like the contrast between the satin bow and the paper bag brown card.

I really really like this card. The red flocked paper is much deeper red in person. And again, the contrast between that and the raw cardboard is striking. The greeting is a stamp by Catslife Press.

The folded wreath card is a Susan Branch gift card from a set I've had for ages. Years. I am now thinking I'll have to go back and look at the others and see how well they'd work in this style, too. The little satin heart is another find from Paper Valiese.

And last, but certainly not least, the Rudolph card. Complete with red nose. I played with masking on this one, to combine the two images, and Kelly gets the credit for the red circle placement. :)

The inside greeting is from PaperTrey Ink, Rudolph is Stampendous, and the reindeer list is Hero Arts.