Storage solutions and a good rumage to boot!

Hi Everyone

Sue Here

I know it's not Thrifty Thursday but bear with me - today I'm showing you what I've done with all of my stamps.  They use to be on a shelf in files (as below) now they are in Really Useful Boxes coded and on A4 see through plates.

How did I come by this?  Well the other day I was looking at my stash and realised that some of my stamps had not seen the light of day of YEARS!  So I started to look at them, and the more I dug the more surprised I was and thought - I really must use that one and that one and that one.............  Some I am putting on EBay because my taste has changed but it was lovely to see some old favoriates and dare I say some which I have put away and never used!

I then looked up how much the storage panels were to put my stamps on. So after buying a few packets I thought I could make my own as it was getting quite expensive.

I got out my laminator out and purchased a box of 100 laminating pouches (250 microns, which means they are thick and strong to hold your heaviest stamps-search for cheapest quote - mine were from Amazon) and ran them through without anything in between.  I then punched holes in the left side just in case I wanted to put them into a folder again.

I then got some A4 iridescent polypropylene (again you could use laminating folders and a piece of coloured card inside) and wrote on these the different categories, to use as dividers in the boxes.  Any stamps that I had pictures and paper packaging for, I put together on a double sided piece of white copy paper, gluing the packaging onto it and ran it through the laminator when full, so that at a glance I know what stamp it is and what make. You can also, once your laminating pouch is full of stamps, ink the stamps up with distress ink and run a piece of thin card over it - voila an instant record of your stamp stash, then you can laminate this to use as a record of what you have or use it as the base for your stamps so that you can see what stamps you have missing before you put the storage panel away.

I have then put them into categories such as Christmas, Animals, Children, Tim Holtz,etc and written this on the front of the box for easy reference.  As you can see I have used 3 Really Useful Boxes (I'm addicted to these big time) all getting full with my stamps in.

Yes this has took me 3 days on and off but it now looks really good on my shelf.

Hope I've inspired you to have a look at your stash and have a sort out....take care....Sue

Thrifty Thursday - Silhouettes

Hi Everyone

Sue Here

This week myself and Natalie's theme is Floral Fantasy.

All over the craft magazines are the silhouette flower stamps under a flower line stamp.  So I thought - How can I make my own without costing a fortune?

So I hit on the idea of using my good old funky foam.  I'm sure you all have some stashed away wondering what to do with it!  So I firstly stamped the Heartfelt Creations Daisy Patch Flowers in Stazon onto the funky foam, then cut them out, making sure that I cut them out slightly bigger than the outline. I then used the packaging from my Spellbinders and glued the foam flowers onto squares of the plastic to give them a base.

I then used some bubble wrap and inked this up in two colours of Memento green.  I then used my brayer and rolled the inked bubble wrap over the white cardstock.

I then used memento inks in lady bug and cantaloupe and inked up the foam flowers and stamped them onto the white cardstock.  I then stamped the flower stamp over this in black Stazon.  The stalks and leaves I stamped from another set I had and added a bit of water to colour them in.

The sentiment is from the new Heartfelt Creations Pad backed with brown card and a Martha Stuart edge punch.  This is all double sided cardstock and is delicious! Treat yourself you won't be disappointed.  I then went around the edge of the card in memento peanut brittle.  Very simple and easy to adapt for any stamps you have.

Take care....Sue

 

Thrifty Thursday - Bottling it up!

Hi Everyone

Sue Here

This week myself and Nat are masking to our hearts content!  My version of masking is through stencils.  I have to say I L-O-V-E stencil masks and try to incorporate them in most of my projects.

They are usually around £3.99 for one but there are many uses for them- just go onto You Tube and see.

Today I have made a bottle cover out of  a cover from a glossy brochure. I Used a template from the house of Zandra but you can always use a piece of A4 cardstock and your hougie board.

My cover has 6 sides. I then cut 6 smaller pieces of card to use as toppers on each side of the cover.   Firstly I painted each strip with an acrylic light blue paint.  Then used a circle mask and dashes mask to put distress ink on the strips. I then took a butterfly mask and inked vintage photo distress stains through with a piece of cut and dry foam,  I then glued them onto the cover with Cosmic Shimmer Glue.

I then punched a hole in either side of the wrap around cover and used ribbon to tie them together.

Hope you enjoy using your masks this week and really have a play with them ....Sue

Thrifty Thursday - Landscape Views

Hi Everyone

Sue Here

This week we are delving into the world of Hobby Art.  I have to say I LOVE these stamps for versatility and how you can 'make a scene' without trying.  The end result always looks like you have drawn it yourself!

Here are 2 cards I have made incorporating 

Spellbinders and Marianne dies.

 

The first is a card using the Donna Salazar shadow flowers.  Throughout  the week I shall be using the  stamps above CS037D.

I firstly stamped the wording continuously down a piece of card with black memento ink then wet it and washed different coloured pink and yellow distress pens over the top.  I then die cut the large silhouette flower out and put a pink ribbon through the left side and I purchased a pair of bee earrings in the sale at Sainsbury's for £1 and glued one onto the card.

The next card is a Marianne twig die which was die cut from black card. On the top of this I stamped another Hobby Art leaf stamp with versamark and heat set with WOW white embossing powder.  I then took a piece of white cardstock and stamped in memento black ink one of the houses and trees and again used distress pens to colour the scene in. Like the left pictures shows I tried to fill the open space left by the die and as you can see it doesn't matter if things don't look right, they will once you put the cut die over the top.

I then die cut a foliage leaf from  the spellbinder foliage leaf die in white card.

As I am always on the look out for something free to use on my cards, I was with a friend in Starbucks the other day and got a napkin.  As we were talking I was fiddling about with it and folded it thinly into a strip then curled it up into a circle.  Voila a flower I thought!  I know someone else must have invented that on the world wide web somewhere.  I just haven't seen it yet!  I then glued the end to stop it unravelling then added some water to the top and brushed pink distress ink over the top.

Hope you find a freebie this week....Sue

Bags of shiness...

Hi Everyone

Sue here,

Today is the turn of Bildmalarna stamps Mimo Roses.  He's such a cute guy.

I firstly took a piece of card and put backing paper over it and distressed it with walnut stain distress ink. I then took a further piece of white cardstock and ran it through my big shot  with a button mask.  

The embossed outline I inked up with  tea dye and lettuce distress ink. I curled the edges for a distressed look. 

 I then took a piece from a paper bag which I got some craft goodies in and cut a piece from it, running it through the Spellbinder expandable patterns die - Botanical swirls.  I then inked this up with Tea dye ink.

The next layer was a piece of material with holes in it.  Again a little ink added to the edges.

The next layer is 3 dies. One being the Heartfelt Creations layered elegant swirl and two memory box dies. I then used a flower punch to cut out some little flowers for the branches.

 

I coloured the young chap in distress pens and die cut him with spellbinder label 14.  

Hope you have BAGS of energy for your crafting this week. Take care.

Sue  

A Window to the Weather

Hi Everyone

Sue Here

Today I am using the Heartfelt Creations Carnation Florals, Rye Grass and Large Elegant Word Background.

I purchased the double window from The Range for £1.99 and downloaded 2 Victorian pictures from a favouriate site of mine  http://freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.co.uk/. I then cut these out using an arch die from sizzix.The balsa wood windows were painted the white gesso then inked with Walnut Stain distress ink.  Then the word stamp was added with rusty hinge distress ink.  On the inside panel I added the rye stamps again in rusty hinge.

On the 2nd February is when the bottle cap was patented and the 5th is Weatherpersons Day, so I have tried to incorporate these into my project.  I have stamped. inked and cut out 2  flowers and glued them into the bottle caps with Glossy accents.  To the woman I added some lace behind the bottle top.   The other flowers I have stamped out, inked with Walnut Stain and put around the pictures.

 

I then stamped out a Tim Holtz umbrella and a few clouds and added these to the top of the windows. 

Hope the weather stays to your liking this next week.  If it doesn't I hope it gives you time to craft!

Sue x

A Strip of Resist

Hi Everyone

Sue here

Today I am combining a bit of thrift with a technique and using a Penny Black stamp of Flying Stars, together with Distress Stains in black soot, picket fence and vintage photo.

Firstly you take a piece of card and some masking tape.  Tear off strips of masking tape and put them on the card making sure that you cause ripples, folds and generally mess the tape on the card.  After you have filled the card, roll over it with a brayer or rolling pin type product to flatten the masking tape.

Then put your distress stains all over this in areas you wish. You can use distress inks or experiment with other coloured mediums.  Then cover the card with versamark and WOW clear embossing powder and heat set.

Take a piece of glossy cardstock and stamp onto this with versamark and WOW clear embossing powder and heat set.  Use dye based inks such as distress inks and go all over the card covering the stamped image.  The image should come out from the ink.  Once filled buff the cardstock with a piece of kitchen towel.  The ink will come off the stamped image.

Take the image and cut around parts of it.  In this case I have cut around 2 of the flowers and then matt this onto dark card.  The same dark card is used to matt the masking tape background.

So go raid your garage, home decor box and get that masking tape used!

Sue x    

A Jar of Life

Hi Everyone

Sue Here

Had a rest on Tuesday and combined technique with thrift today!

This year will see many changes in our household none more so than GCSE's, college and possibly work for my daughter.

I am putting together a thoughts and mementos jar (bought for £1 from the charity shop)so I will add to this each month with something I've learnt,experienced or a keepsake.  I am starting off with a thought.

FOR MY CHILD TO BE HAPPY AND FOR HER TO GIVE ME LESS GREY HAIR THROUGH WORRY!

Impossible I know, but worry will cover all sorts of stuff such as exams, college, love and life experiences themselves, to name a few.  

Start one off with me and we can reflect on the year in December.

Firstly take a tag and a piece of newspaper or old book and put PVA glue in a part on the tag and glue the paper onto it.  You will have to leave this overnight.  Then pull the paper off leaving what was stuck to the glue in place.  Ink this up around the edges.  I have used  salty ocean, and mowed lawn distress inks. Take a Ranger Acrylic Paint Picket Fence dabber or white acrylic paint and paint over the written paper and a little of the ink. 

Then take an embossing folder, and put one side of the tag in it and run through your big shot (or other die machine). This was a bark one from Sizzix.  Take it out and do the same with the other.  Then I inked the raised areas with picked rasberry distress ink. I then took a sanding block and roughed up the raised areas on the tag.

I then printed off my saying onto cardstock and stuck this to the front of the tag. 

The ribbons I died with the same distress inks.  The small bauble was from a Christmas Cracker!

May 2013 bring peace and happiness in your life and happy reflections on 2012. 

Sue.