ink pads

Hi friends.  I thought I'd let you know what I've been working on this past week.  I've been storing my distress ink pads in one of those clear plastic shoe boxes, and every time I wanted one, I had to dig for it.  A long time ago, I decided to make a holder to fit all of them.  I was using cereal box chipboard, gluing five layers together to make it really sturdy.  The only problem was that it was taking way too long and other things took priority.  Anyway, the other day I pulled out what I had done and started working on it again.  Again, I realized that I was making way too much work for myself.  So I ditched the original idea and started over.  Nothing like changing course midstream. 


This time I chose to make a rectangular tube (again from cereal box chipboard) that would fit around each ink pad.  I cut each piece 8"x2-3/4" and scored at 3", 4", and 7", gluing a piece of paper over the corner where the ends meet after folding.  Then I glued them together in stacks of 12 and wrapped another piece of chipboard around the back and glued to the sides.  I put paper over the open edges at the top and bottom.  Then all four stacks were glued together, and I added extra layers on the top and bottom to reinforce them. This first picture is after I put all the pieces together, but had not decorated it yet.  The ink pads fit snugly, but not too tight.  I have labels on all four sides of the ink pads, so it makes no difference which way they go into the shelves.  And I prefer storing them alphabetically.  It's so much easier to find them that way. 

I used torn old book pages to cover the outsides and painted the front edges white.  If you peek inside, you can see the print from the cereal boxes, but I'm not going to worry about that.  Notice the difference the white paint on the front makes. 

Now it's all loaded up with my ink pads and I'm happy with it.  It's relatively sturdy, so I think it will be sufficient.  Hopefully, Tim won't add more colors anytime soon.  If I were starting over, the one thing I would change would be to add some sort of notch at the front of the shelves beneath the ink pads to make it easier to pull them out. 

 

 

This last picture shows a bit of the outside - not fancy - just practical.  The only other thing I need to do is add a color swatch to the labels. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

patchwork

Hi friends.  Friday's mix-ability challenge on SCS was to make some patchwork.  As a quilter, how can I resist such a challenge.  This is a mixed media challenge and requires that at least two different mediums are used. 

I pulled out a bunch of scraps and leftovers from other projects.  Then I used a square punch to make the blocks.  I used some corrugated cardboard, burlap ribbon, some inked and embossed pieces, stamped cardstock, some prints from my gelli plate, and some melted crayon that was just an experiment. 

After gluing all the blocks on my card, I added faux stitching. 

The flower was already stamped and colored.  I just needed to cut it out.  I attached it with dimensional foam tape. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

technique class cards

Hi friends.  As promised, here are the cards from today's technique class. 

The first technique is a ribbon frame.  I just never get tired of this stamp set - natural beauty.  The background is from Cornish Heritage Farms.  I colored the image with Derwent Inktense pencils and a blender pen. 

 

The second technique is paper embroidery.  I found this idea here.   The flower stamp is a new one I picked up last weekend at Endless Creations. 

The third technique is frosted embossed acetate.   It was impossible to get a decent picture on this one, since the acetate reflects the light, and because of the frosted technique, you can't see through the acetate clearly.   However, I can assure you that, in reality, the card is pretty awesome.  The lace and sentiment is from Rubbernecker and the flowers are from roses in winter, another SU set I won't get rid of. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

class cards

Hi friends.  Well, I didn't win the card contest at the rubber stamp event, but I did have a great time and did manage to acquire some more stamps and other items.  One of the things I bought is the new tool 'n one from Spellbinders.  I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I'm sure it will be useful. 

But I promised to show you the cards from last week's cuttlebug class.  So here they are.  This first card is actually white, but my camera does weird things when there is any reflection, so the shimmery paper managed to make everything look gray. 

  

 

Today was my technique class, so once again, I will show you those cards when I get photos taken. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

a contest card

Hi friends.  I taught my cuttlebug class today.  We had a lot of fun.  I will post pictures of the cards, but I haven't yet taken photos, so that will have to wait.  I do, however, have a picture of the card I entered in the contest for the Rubber Stamp Event on Saturday in West Bend, Wisconsin.

The category of Saturday's contest is Cinderella, so I pulled out one of my newest Prima mixed media doll stamps, Aurora, and used her on my card.  Now Aurora is one of the largest doll stamps by Julie Nutting, so I knew that she was not going to completely fit on the card, which had to be an A2 size.  So I made made some adjustments. 

I stamped her a few times on different papers and did some paper piecing.  The background and both papers used on her dress are from the same paper stack, which was a birthday gift from my daughter.

I colored her hair with markers and then added some gold glitter on her crown and on her gown.

The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly.  On the inside, it reads, 'dream big'.

If you happen to be at the stamp show on Saturday, I would appreciate if you would vote for my card. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

garden trellis

Hi friends.  My sister was having our dad's cousin over today and asked me if I wanted to come for lunch, so I said 'sure'.  I'm a person who likes to keep my hands busy, so I grabbed a pack of white cardstock, a few stamp sets, a couple of inks, watercolor pencils and my basic tool kit.  My intention was to just stamp and color images.  I also grabbed a crochet project in case I needed a diversion. 

I did color a few images, but that isn't much fun if you don't have a specific project to put them on.  So I checked out the inspiration challenge on SCS.  Most of the samples given and even pictures on the selected site just didn't do anything for me.  So I went back to the samples.  I chose the fifth sample and took my inspiration from the trellis in the background. 

Since I only had white cardstock, I swiped my vintage photo distress ink pad down the paper to color it brown.  Then I cut thin strips from the colored cardstock to build a trellis. 

I stamped leaves and flowers from peaceful petals (SU).  The flowers were colored with inktense pencils and water brush, and the leaves were colored using a blender pen dipped into my vintage photo ink pad.  Then I fussy cut them out... yeah, I cut around all those tiny stems.  I don't do that often, but I really wanted the trellis to show behind the flowers. 

The sentiment is from the same set. 

I then punched some 1/8" circles from the same brown cardstock to make some faux brads. 

I sponged vintage photo ink along the edges of the card and the trellis panel. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

harmony

Hi friends.  Yesterday, my sister and I went to a stamp/craft rummage/estate sale.  I managed to spend all of my cash, but I was pleased with all the goodies I got.  I bought a bunch of loose stamps (all different manufacturers), which were sold by the pound.  I bought a few stamp sets from different companies as well.  And then there were punches and patterned paper and wrapping paper.

My friend, Sarah, who is a SU demonstrator and was running the sale, gave a card kit to everyone who made a purchase, with the challenge to use it to make a card and post it on her facebook page.  My card kit was already glued together, so that left me with some limitations.  I used stamps and a punch that I had purchased at the sale.

The main image is mixed flowers from Impression Obsession.  I stamped it with tuxedo black memento ink and colored it with copic markers.  The sentiment has no company name on it. 

I used the daisy chain edger punch from EK Success to punch a strip to go across the bottom of the card.

Thanks so much for stopping by.