PaperFections

Spring Tulips

Finally -- a chance to stamp something this week (and fight with my failing computer to get a photo downloaded and posted -- ugh!). I guess I was in a red mood (maybe because I got a brand new shiny red SUV this week!) and wanted to watercolor, so this is what happened! I stamped the Print Pattern red harlequin background on pink, then faux stitched it with white gel pen (the things we'll do to avoid dragging out the sewing machine, LOL!). If you are new to faux stitching/sewing, check out my faux stitching tutorial link over on the left side of the blog under the "Visit My . . ." links. The tulips were stamped with black StazOn on shimmer white paper and watercolored first with pink dye reinkers, then highlighted and filled in with red. I find this an easy way to get some great shading in your watercoloring. I did a little more faux stitching at the bottom of the flower stems. The sentiment was stamped with black on pink and punched out with a large oval punch and the piece sponged with red to give it dimension. It is bent around the card front on... Read more →

And the winner is . . .

Sorry I'm a bit late in announcing the winner today but I had computer problems that I hope are fixed or at least patched enough for me to be able to post something new this weekend. If not, it may be the first of next week -- thanks for hanging in there. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions -- you've all given me great fuel for some future posts! I can't believe how many of you want ideas for Lumiere . . . since I've barely used it, that will be a nice challenge for me! And Pearl Ex -- ahh, all that sparkle is definitely up my alley (yay)! The online random number generator picked #72, Stephanie -- congratulations! Stephanie, if you'll email me your mailing address, I'll get this copy of The Joy of Card Making in the mail to you! Enjoy your weekend and check back -- I should be able to post something a little later. Read more →

Another Giveaway!

I wanted to thank you all once again for keeping up with my blog and marking the 30,000th visit -- WOW! So I'd like to give away this copy of the Joy of Card Making, A Second Helping (volume 2). It has tons of great samples and card sketches. Just leave a comment below telling me what kind of technique you'd like to see me share (or attempt!) and I'll be working on those in upcoming posts. While I'm still furiously working on that stamping deadline that's due this week, I promise to have something stamped to share with you by Friday. I'll let the online random number program pick a winner from all the comments on Friday morning, March 30th at noon CST, so I'll stop the commenting at 11am CST. Good luck and thanks in advance for your suggestions! Read more →

Happy Friday - Tip

With today's tip I thought I'd also include a photo of some beautiful flowers that hubby came back from a St. Patrick's Day banquet with. The roses were yellow, tipped in a deep rose -- just gorgeous! Can you tell I'm a sucker for flowers? :) Today's tip comes from most crafters' love of using anything they can get their hands on and not throwing anything away -- right? Please say I'm not the only one who does this! I ordered some new Stampin' Scrub refill pads (rubber stamp cleaners) and after I replaced the old ones, I thought "These are worn but certainly there is still some use for them". So today while stamping with craft ink, I had the idea to use one of the extra pads to clean up my messy craft ink-encrusted stamps and that would still leave my new scrubber clean and ready to use. Just toss the crafty mess pad in the sink to soak and keep on stamping! I love using craft ink but the clean up was always a problem for me. I used to take the stamps to the sink to scrub off the ink but I think this new way... Read more →

Photo Cropper

Ever have a problem getting multiple photos all the same size for scrapbook page? Or if you've ever cut off too much of someone's head and ruined your whole photo, this tool is for you! I found this easy way to size photos . . . just take an 8" x 8" square of cardstock and cut 1" in from each side, so that you cut a 6" square out of the middle. Then cut it in half diagonally so you have two separate triangles. Next, take a ruler and mark 1/2" and 1" increments up to 5", starting at the corner and working your way outward. To size a photo, just overlap the two pieces to form a square or rectangle the size you'd like. Now you'll be able to position the correct size just where you want it, and never chop off a head again . . . Enjoy! Read more →

Long Tags

Here's the photo I promised, showing how to create a longer tag with a tag punch (see 2nd post below entitled "Another Thanks" -- the faux stitched "fence"). Just slip the strip of paper into the punch from the front and then pull the strip up thru the hole, toward you. Now you can make any length of tag you'd like! I have another cool trick I discovered to share with you tomorrow, so check back in! Read more →

Swirly Butterflies

I wasn't supposed to be doing any "extracurricular" stamping this week, as I have a deadline to meet but when this set arrived in my mail today, I had to take a break and play . . . who could resist these beautiful new butterflies from PaperTrey Ink?!! A friend (thanks, Lori!) made me realize I haven't used my gorgeous Pearlescent Brilliance ink pads lately, so I used the Peacock tri-color pad to stamp these beautiful swirly butterflies. It contains blue, peacock (teal) & light lime which matched very well with the May Arts shimmery iridescent pale blue ribbon edged in celery. I stamped them on a 4.75" square Fabriano notecard I got from StarLitStudio. The sentiment is one of two included with this set and after stamping it, I cut it into a little tag, edged the tag in the peacock ink and also colored the brad with the same ink (it required a quick heat setting). It is popped up on dimensionals. A scattering of tiny flowers finishes off this flight of butterflies. Okay, back to deadline stamping, so you may not see much more of me this week unless I decide I need another break! ;) Read more →

Another Thanks!

Another thanks to all my blog readers with this spring time bunch of lilacs growing on a fence. At least that's what I was thinking when I stamped this and I hope it resembles a fence, LOL! And it has a little bit of green in it, so happy St. Patty's Day as well! My children have been walking around all day trying to pinch anyone who wasn't wearing green . . . thank goodness most everyone has been pretty understanding and adorable smiling faces helped ease their attacks! To get this look I stamped the blossoms, then evenly trimmed the stamped piece into a rectangle. Then I cut the piece into equal thirds. Each strip just so happened to almost exactly fit the width of Stampin' Up's large tag punch (needed a little more trimming). I slipped each strip into the punch from the top and trimmed it into the tag shape (I'll try to get a photo of this posted for you all tomorrow on how to make a longer tag shape). I adhered the three strips back together onto the plum cardstock and faux stitched each "fence" picket, then carefully hand-trimmed around the fence pieces to create... Read more →

Get Organized Week - Part 4

I finally got my new ink pad storage all filled up! The left unit holds all my classic ink pads, reinkers & markers. The right side holds my craft inks & reinkers (still spots for more markers). On top of the 5" shelf, I have petal-point chalk inks, Distress ink, StazOn, Brilliance ink pads and cleaners. I love that all my inks are in one spot now and in the right corner of my stamping space within arm's reach. These finely hand-crafted units are from Storage Units, Ink. They can be ordered unfinished (like mine) so you can paint them to match your room, or you can order them stained. The owner, Denise, is a wonderful stamper herself and designed these holders for her husband to make! And for this weekend, they are giving all my blog readers a special 10% discount on anything at their site . . . how nice is that?!! So run on over before the end of Sunday, March 18 to take a look at all the different types of storage systems they have and place your order! Just mention "PaperFections" as your password discount code. I keep my quartered stampin' sponges and daubers grouped... Read more →

Get Organized Week - Part 3

Ribbon -- who doesn't love it . . . but how to store it? Again, here's where the Store-in-Style cubes by Crop-in-Style were a lifesaver. These two drawers make up one of the cubes and are within arm's reach. Each is about 7.5" tall -- perfect for all sizes of larger ribbon rolls. The next drawer holds more spools and cello packages of ribbon card collections, fibers, cords, twill and hemp. This Cropper Hopper box holds smaller amounts of ribbon yardage (2-3 yds) in each Mini Square (1-5/8") container. These four individual ribbon boxes were found on clearance around the holidays about 2 years ago at Target. They were in the gift wrap section but I haven't seen them again since that time. I had purchased them before Stampin' Up came out with their ribbon roll storage, which is very similar if you are looking for something like these. The above five ribbon boxes are normally stored in the cube below my ribbon roll drawers: Snips of scrap ribbon are stored in this apothecary-type jar I found at a craft store. I try to check this jar for a match before I cut any new pieces. Get Organized Week -... Read more →

Get Organized Week - Part 2

This tower of embellishments sits on top of my cardstock cubes. They are the smaller drawers of this type Iris rolling cart/chest. Office Depot is the only place I can find them any more and it doesn't appear they are carrying these exact ones online but try the actual store front. The last ones I found were a tower of 6 of the smaller drawers and were gray. I like that you can see thru the plastic drawers to what's inside. Edited to add: Drawers hold adhesive, buttons, brads, eyelets, metal tags, glitter, pastels, watercolor crayons & pencils, embossing powders, small glitter glue bottles, pearl ex & twinkling H2O jars, charms, sanding blocks. paper trimmer blades and any other kind of small embellishment you can think of! Punches are also stored in the above Iris cart drawers. For now it works well and I like that they are within handy reach but I have overflowed and hope to find a better storage solution after I move again: Prima bottles are also stored in the same type Iris cart as above, by color family/seasons: Tools: Scissors, rulers, paint brushes & glue pens/sticks, knives, bone folder are kept handy in The Pampered... Read more →

Get Organized Week - Part 1

A few of you mentioned that you would like to see more storage/organization ideas for your craft room, so I thought I would share some of my solutions this week. I don't like chaos and like having a place for everything, so I know exactly where things are when I need them . . . are any of you the same? So let's start off with Cards . . . I use two of these French memo boards . . . one to hold cards I'm working on for contests, pub calls, etc. or just current work that I really like. And the other board holds cards other people have sent me. The crossed ribbon makes it easy to slide a card in and doesn't damage it. I've found them at Michael's and Target. When the boards get full, I rotate the older cards into clear plastic shoebox containers to save for future reference or personal card-sending. Cardstock . . . I'm loving these Store-in-Style cubes by Crop-in-Style. These four on the far left of my craft area (see other photos in My Stampin' Space album over on the right side of the blog) hold all of my 12" x... Read more →

Color Combos

I found this fun, online tool to use in selecting Stampin' Up color combinations, so I thought I'd share. It's great to be able to see what the colors will look like together before you cut into your precious cardstock or you put in the colors you have or want to work with and it will suggest complimentary colors. Have fun with some of the wacky combos it comes up with! SU Color Combo Generator Read more →

And at the winner is . . .

Thank you all SO much for your visits and comments this weekend. I really enjoyed reading each of your suggestions and you've given me great ideas for future posts! Dear husband found me this online random number generator so I wouldn't feel guilty about any of us being biased on the number we chose! So the winner of the Marvy Giga Scalloped Square punch is . . . #104 -- "I love your cards so more are always good for me. I think your blog is great and enjoy reading it everyday! Lee-Ann Walsh" Posted by: Lee-Ann Walsh | March 10, 2007 at 10:58 AM So, Lee-Ann, if you will email me your snail address, I'll get your punch in the mail to you. Congratulations and thanks so much for visiting! New gadget -- I just added a search box to the blog. You'll find it over on the right column under my Archives & Categories (but I reserve the right to change its location!). So if you remember seeing something here, now hopefully you'll be able to find it faster/easier. It's Spring Break around here and unfortunately, that means you may not see many posts from me this week.... Read more →

Blog Thanks Giveaway!

It looks like we'll be hitting the 20,000th visit on my blog sometime this weekend, so I'd like to thank you all for visiting in my first few weeks of blogging and hope you'll return often. To celebrate, I'm going to give away this very-hard-to-find Marvy Giga Scalloped Square punch (the largest, it's about 2-1/8" square)! Sorry the flowers aren't included! ;) So please post a comment below and tell me what kinds of things you'd like to see me share here on my blog -- more cards, more scrapbook pages, tutorials, techniques, cooking recipes -- whatever! I'll take comments all weekend until Sunday (March 11) at midnight CST, then draw a winner Monday morning and post it back here. Again, thanks for visiting! And on another note . . . I just found out about Google Reader and fianally got all my blog subscriptions set up, so if you see me unsubscribing from your blog feed, it's just because I've switched. Check it out -- it's a fantastic, easy way to keep up with all your internet subscriptions/blogs! Read more →