random.on purpose.

Washi Wrangling

Back before Christmas I made some kits for my granddaughters that required a variety of washi tape, so I ended up with a collection.  Like everything else in my crafty space, it needs a home that will keep it available and organized but not make me cranky.  My solution is simple, cheap and effective (hooray - three out of three!):

What you are looking at is the curtain rod that I installed to temporarily hold the Bygel cups onto the pegboard, and an additional curtain rod installed above it.  I need one more for the seasonal tapes...

I'm working on another project to resolve another aspect of my craft storage that's making me VERY cranky, so I'll share that when I'm done, as well.  Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Here She Comes Again...

Good thing that I don't blog for a living, isn't it?  I really should be at least a little more consistent, but I just never know what life is going to bring me at any given time.  My work schedule is "beck and call", my DH started a new job that has thrown both of us several curves, and my life in general lacks any kind of rhythm or consistency, so that gets reflected here, as well...

Be that as it may, I've noticed that a couple more of you folk out there have subscribed to my little corner of Blogland (thank you), so I'll at least try to post something worthwhile when I DO get around to it!  My latest venture was inspired by a couple of threads over on Splitcoast, having to do with organizing diecut samples and such.  One poster said that she cut every single die so she could see what did/didn't fit in or on it, and someone else mentioned that you could laminate pieces/parts and I percolated those tidbits with a few other things that came to mind, and this is what I've done:

What you are looking at is two different things for the same process.  The black cards are punched with various punches and laminated.  The others are similar to the templates provided with the old Creative Memories shape cutting system.  What I did was take a laminating pouch, open it up, slide one of the punched cards into place at the top, then trace a set of nesting dies in the spaces around it, using Micron pens.  I alternated red and blue to make it easier to differentiate between the dies.  I then wrote the name of the die set in black ink, closed up the pouch and ran it through the laminator.  Here's what one of the sheets looked like after that process:

After the laminating, I cut the templates apart and rounded the corners.  Here's why I did what I did:  I was not about to cut every single die - waste of time, money and cardstock, for starters.  Then I would have had to figure out where to put all of those diecut pieces - no thank you, please!  I traced around the dies on the INSIDE of the pouch so that the ink would be trapped between two sheets of plastic and not wear off over time.  I had to put the punched cardstock at the top of the pouch so I could feed that end into the printer.  Without it, the pouch just wraps around the rollers and you have to disassemble the laminator to get it out (ask me how I know).  One more thing to note:  on some dies (Nestabilities, for example) the traced area is not the cut line but the embossing line.  That's fine with me because I don't like  my image or sentiment to overlap the embossing, anyway, so it's more accurate for my purpose...

Now I have templates to use to see how different images or sentiments will fit and/or look with different punches or dies.  I'm going to store them in with whatever category of stamps they fit best in (frames, tickets and banners, flowers, whatever), so I don't forget about them.  I haven't done all of them yet, but you can see I've got a good start!  I think I'll put samples of all of my embossing folders in with the stamps, as well - I forget about those all the time, too!  I do have samples of all of these in a binder that I pull out periodically if/when I think I want something particular, but having them in with the stamp sets will probably remind me to use them MUCH more!

So - that's my story today!  Maybe it's a useful tidbit of information for you, or at least inspires a thought.  Happy Valentine's Day (or, as it's alternately referred to, "Happy Singles Awareness Day") and have a great week!  See you when I see you!

Snowed In

...or something like that!  We got dumped on yesterday (after enjoying near-50 degree temperatures the day before), and are experiencing wind chills nearly 20 below zero today - lucky us!  Here's what our front yard looks like AFTER Greg shoveled and plowed:

Yes, that pile of snow is, in fact, higher than his truck!  That barely-visible stick in the yard marks the sewer vent location, and is about six feet high, as well....

Even though, technically, I could conceivably get in my car and go somewhere, there's not a lot of motivation for any of that nonsense, ya know?  Besides - I have many, many projects in the works right now!

We're getting ready to put our house on the market in the next month or two, so I've been sprucing up and organizing and all of that.  I've reupholstered the other chair for my studio and made valances for the windows (finally!) and made new curtains for our bedroom and dealt with all of the "stuff" in the attic and the basement and purged and tossed and such.  I've also been consolidating and organizing in my studio.  Here's the latest project:

What you are looking at is the interior of one of the two closets in my studio.  This room is/was intended as a bedroom, but since Greg and I are the only inhabitants here and we actually enjoy sharing a room, this one is pretty handy for use as a studio!  The other closet is the original one and this one is the result of the bathroom renovation.  Greg bumped out the bathroom wall to annex some of this bedroom space, but didn't want to disturb the tub area, so the bumpout created a closet - perfect!  I've reconfigured it a few times, and this is the latest incarnation.

There's an outlet inside the closet, and a wireless router across the room, so I keep my laptop right there most of the time.  I have my cutting mats and gridded ruler hanging on a Command hook on the inside of the door.  On the shelf above the computer is my current ink pad storage solution.  I bought a couple of locker-looking "cabinets" at Hobby Lobby on clearance a while back.  I took the drawers out and put the ink pads in.  Two of the drawers are on top of a CD crate between the two cabinets, with a strip of wood spanning them to support more ink pads.

The shelf above the ink storage is my "new and improved" way to store embellishments.  I've previously done the "color drawer" thing, where everything of that particular color is in that particular drawer.  I've tweaked that idea slightly here.  I took photo storage cases and did this:

I have two cases (for the most part) for each color.  One has gems, eyelets, frames, brads, etc., in little baggies (in the jewelry department at most crafty stores) to contain them and for easy "digging through".  The other has glitter, embossing powder, flocking and Stickles.  I have them in ROYGBIV order, followed by neutrals and metallics, lined up on top of the CD crates.  Inside the crates are more drawers from the "cabinets".  They have larger jars of embossing powder and glitter that didn't fit in the photo cases.  In the CD box on the far left are a couple of the Really Useful Boxes with my DIY ink spots and room for more.

There is another shelf above the two visible in the photo (well, two more, actually), but they are still works in progress and not photo-worthy...  I still have ribbons and buttons in drawers, also by color, but I haven't taken any pictures of those yet.  I have some other tweaks to finish up and then I'll take pictures of the whole room and share what I've been up to.  Meanwhile, stay warm and have a great weekend!  (We're almost there, after all...)  

Good Day, Sunshine!

I'm still playing along with the Lovefest challenges on Splitcoast, and managed to squeeze in one of the daily challenges, as well!  Friday's challenges are "Free For All", and this past Friday's challenge was to "show a little sunshine".  One of the Lovefest challenges was to doodle on a card.  I made this:

The lettering is a throwback to my high school days ('70's, baby), and the rest is just to see if I could...  No stamps or anything (look Ma, no net!) - just markers and a Micron pen.  I was going to leave it as a one-layer card, but decided that it looks better with the orange behind it.

Another challenge was to share something about storage/organization (hmmm, do I ever do that?)  My latest fun find that I've re-purposed is one of these medicine shelf organizers.  It works really well for acrylic blocks, small scissors, piercers, tweezers, a Stamp-a-ma-jig, a Tiny Attacher, etc.:

Inside the drawer are the smallest blocks, refills for the attacher, erasers and pencil sharpeners:

Yes, I realize that my blocks are a mess.  That just means that I USE them - go, me!

Alrighty, then - I have LOTS of other projects waiting for my attention, so I'm off to see what I can accomplish before the day is completely gone!  Have a good one!

Ink Cube Storage

In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you up front that this was not the idea that I mentioned in my post about making your own "stampin' spots".  I planned to make a little "ink dresser", with drawers that fit ten cubes each and would sit nicely on a shelf or desk and look oh-so-cute.  I had the drawers figured out and a couple of them made, but hadn't started on the shell to slide them into.  A trip to the grocery store sidetracked that plan, and what I'm presenting here is the new idea...

I shop at Wegman's - a regional chain that carries a wide variety of items besides groceries, and brings in things from various places that you might not expect (one of my daughters lives in the wine country of California and was giddy when she spied her favorite craft beer from a small brewery there in our store all the way out here in central New York, for example).  But, I digress...

Wegman's is currently having a sale on storage/organizational-type items, and I spied these:

They are Really Useful Boxes - specifically Really Useful Pencil Boxes.  If you can't find them locally, I've got you covered ('cuz I'm cool like that).  Go HERE.  Lots and lots of other options available at that link (and it's good for US and UK), too...  One of the reasons I abandoned the earlier plan in favor of the new one is that - while the lids close fairly tightly - they are not "airtight", and I didn't want to risk having them drying out too quickly.  This new plan essentially locks them in a little more securely.

I bought a couple of the pencil boxes ($1.99 each) to test my plan.  The "drawers" that I made did, indeed fit inside the box as a second layer, so I can get twenty of the DIY spots in one of these little really, really useful boxes!  Lookee:

Yes, there is some wiggle room, but I'm totally fine with that, as I need to be able to get the little things out of the box without swearing - there's room for my fingers to get in there and grab ahold.  Ditto on the space around the "drawer", which is now - obviously - a "tray" instead.

I made the drawer/tray from matboard.  I bought a "value pack" at Hobby Lobby.  Here's a link for one similar:  Mat Board Value Pack.  The one I bought is 11" x 14", but you'll have less waste if you go with the 8" x 10", anyway...   Cut a piece 4" x 7 1/2" and score 1/2" all around.  To score mat board, you actually cut through several of the layers, while leaving some intact, so you can fold it up more easily.  Cut away the corners completely, so you have something that looks like this:

When you fold up the sides, the cuts are on the OUTSIDE, and the intact layers are on the INSIDE.  I just used Scotch tape to tape the corners (going for function here), but you could go all crazy with your washi tape if you wanted to up the cuteness factor...

A couple of things you need to know:  This plan will ONLY work if you use the smallest of the boxes that come in this set (of which there are only 16):

If you use the larger ones (which are still quite small, just not as) then you will need to scope the other Really Useful Boxes link above for a size that works, or - easiest solution - leave them in the case they came in!   I checked to see if Darice offered the mini boxes by themselves, but couldn't find any.   An alternative that looked promising were these:

You may not even need a case of any kind, as they appear to stack quite nicely.  If you go that route, or if you buy the uninked cubes or ready-made, already-inked "spots" (like the Hero Hues), there are a couple of other options;  Back when I had all of Stampin'Up!'s spots (which I gifted to a friend who was just starting out in the stamping thing), I had them in the little carrying case pictured above.  Here's a partially-filled one, so you can see, sort of:

They all just stack in there and the whole thing sits upright on a shelf like a little suitcase (It would work that way for the boxes that come in it, as well).  There are 24 spots in there now, so it obviously holds quite a few.  The most obvious downside is getting the little cubes in and out.  I found it kind of a nuisance, anyway...

Another option would be to re-purpose the clamshell cases that Stampin'Up!'s wood-mounted sets used to come in:

The one pictured above is the 6" x 9" size.  Twenty-four cubes fit in there just right!  (Any guesses as to which of the above cubes has seen the most use, lol?)  Just in case you were wondering about size comparisons, here's a visual for that:

I think I've just about covered the whole shebang on this topic, so I'm going to stop now!  If I've overlooked something or if you still have questions, shoot me an email!  Happy Valentine's Day, have a fabulous weekend, and thanks for stopping by!  (And if you're in an area buried under snow, my sincerest sympathies - we're digging out, too...)

Organized Chaos

As with many of my fellow crafters, I find the need to revamp the storage system for all of my supplies from time to time to better suit whatever my needs - or the abundance of "stuff" - have morphed into.  Such was the case recently, and the impending visit from my sister and her husband (which was brief but wonderful) made it a bit more imperative.

I'll show you pics of what I've changed and explain what you're looking at as we go along...

The sliver of doorway you see on the left in this picture is the doorway coming into the room from the landing at the top of the stairs.  My studio is the finished side of our attic.  This snippet of wall houses my papers and inks, and the beginnings of the stamp storage revamp.  I've cut all of my older patterned papers down to 8 1/2" x 11" so that they can be put into a regular old filing cabinet, which - obviously - is what I have.  It seemed to work well with my Stampin'Up! cardstock to only have that size, so I figured what the hey?  Said SU! cardstock is in there, as well.  I cut 3" squares of all of the papers and wrote the manufacturer on the back of the square and punched a hole in the corner of each and put them all on rings, organized by color/pattern (just like in the folders), like this:

The three-drawer plastic unit houses cardstock scraps:  top drawer is warm colors, middle drawer is cool colors, bottom drawer is neutrals.  The one-drawer unit has doilies, labels, pre-made cards, specialty paper-y things, etc.  The cart they're sitting on (intended for a television) has Cropper Hopper holders with Stampin'Up! paper packs, 12" paper stacks, and 12" papers from the ones I cut up that were a pattern that made no sense if it was cut (like a scene or border or something).  8" pads and mat stacks are on a shelf above the plastic units, and there is a wooden CD crate next to them that contains envelopes and such.  Two CD cases turned on their sides and a repurposed cassette tape holder house my ink pads.  My acrylic blocks are in a wooden pencil case and a teacup on the shelf, as well.  The large plastic pin (designed for files) is going to house all of my stamps eventually, but it's a work in progress right now.  I'll post what I'm doing there when I get it wrapped up.

This is the wall adjacent to the one we just viewed.  It is a knee wall (my ceilings are slanted - attic, remember?), so it's only about four feet high.  The two thin metal shelving units at each end were intended for DVDs, and they hold the DVD-style cases from Stampin'Up! that contain many of my stamps.  Many of them have already been integrated into the new system, as well.  I have four of the JetMax cubes (or something similar - totally not sure) between them that contain 12" cardstock from DCWV and Close to My Heart.  I plan to chop them up if/when I get another filing cabinet. 

The other drawers have hand-held punches and decorative-edge scissors and various other small tools and adhesives and such-like.  The stacks of small drawer units are "color drawers".  I know that I mentioned in a previous post that I loathed drawers, and that remains true for deep drawers.  I bought small drawer units on purpose so that I cold see the entire contents at a glance.  They are organized ROYGBIV-style on the two ends, and neutrals and metallics across the two center sections.  Here's what the drawers contain:

The first drawer for each color contains ribbons and twine.  I take them off of their spools and roll them like this to save space.  A bit of freezer tape keeps the end in place so they don't unroll.

The next drawer for that color has small embellishments separated by type and corralled in small boxes and/or ziplock bags.

The last drawer for each color contains buttons.  If there are quite a few that are all the same, I put them together in a small ziploc bag before putting them into the drawer (just in case I need to make some matchy-matchy stuff for a swap or something).

The two drawer units in the very center contain all of my thread except the spools that are too large (jumbo Gutermann spools and upholstery threads).  They're organized by color, too...

This is a shot of what's in the little baskets sitting on top of the drawer units - glitter, embossing powder and flocking, again organized by color.

The two mugs contain Stickles and other glitter glues and Liquid Pearls.  The small white three-drawer unit has specialty pens and the book rings of papers and the purple thing on top of it is a magnetic pin holder.  The wooden sewing box was my mother's and has sewing, crocheting and other similar-type tools.  The small basket has a variety of scissors in it - sewing and other - and Betty Boop is there just because she needs to keep me company.  Along the shelf (which still needs painting) are a box containing wire and fishing line and other similar things, and my Stampotique loverlies (which will remain mounted on wood and stay there to make me smile every day).  At the other end are paintbrushes and markers and colored pencils and such, and in between are these:

My sister-in-law gave me the little traveling case, and it houses various tags.  The little metal lunch pail is where I keep my BowEasy, my mat pack (for piercing and such), and some distressing tools from CTMH.  The hibiscus-print item is an eyeglass case and contains - yup, my reading glasses ('cuz I'm old(er) and require them for close work).  The other things are sentimental, and here's a better look:

The cherry tin was my mother's - and maybe her mother's before her, the spur was my grandmother's (yes, really - she lived in Indian territory for a good long time, and rode for real).  The cartridge is from the 21-gun salute from my father's memorial service, the elephant is from my mother's extensive collection, and the pansy thimble was a gift I gave her once upon a time.  Pansies were her favorite flower and the symbol of her sorority in college (she attended what has since become UTEP - University of Texas El Paso).  The other two tins are reproductions that I love.

Moving around the room, I have a small desk in the corner where the television sits, with a storage footstool that my grandfather made underneath it, which holds the DVD player and contains alterable items.  It's not picture-worthy, so I didn't take one.  The next wall is this:

The only window in the room (which still needs a curtain).  The sewing table is flanked by bookcases (duh!)  where I put books (obviously), some select magazines, and notebooks containing alphabet stamps and stencils and other similar stuff.  I also keep the Cuttlebug and the embossing folders and dies here, as well as a few sentimental stuffed friends and my flowers:

That little bear came with me when I closed up a gift shop I used to own.  The flowers are - again, sorted by color - in clamshell cases (courtesy of Stampin'Up!), and stacked up here.  Underneath the sewing table are my pink toolbox (with real tools like hammers, a hacksaw, measuring tapes, screwdrivers, drill bits, etc.), my sewing machine, and various sewing tools and notions (a roll of zipper chain, a drawer unit with snaps and hooks and buttons-to-cover and all the rest of it).

And that pretty much covers what's been done to date!  I still have the dresser-turned-shelves unit in the closet with all of the punches and such, and there's a stack of plastic drawers in there with stickers and chipboard and other things like that.  The built-in drawers have been cleaned and organized and have bulky items like paper trimmers and rolls of freezer paper, contact paper, tissue paper, etc.

The wall that previously had the punch storage and all is now BARE!  I butt my table up to it when I'm not cutting out fabric, and pull it out to the center of the room when I am (so I can walk all the way around, and so I can more easily unroll the large bolts I deal with).

Next up is improving the lighting and making curtains for the closet and the window, and other "prettifying" stuff!  I'll be sure to share when that happens, as well as when I finish the stamp storage re-do!  Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Consolidate, Celebrate! Part 2

So... I carried on with the stamp organizing, consolidating project today...  ALL of my Stampin'Up! stamps are now housed in their new DVD-style cases, with Sailor 2-in-1 glue on the back, ready to use on acrylic blocks.  Here's the really, really exciting part:

This is a picture of three shelves on a five-shelf DVD rack.  There are 27 DVD-style cases on it, and inside are twelve (12) background stamps, sixteen (16) jumbo wheels, twenty-six (26) standard wheels, and one hundred forty-one (141) stamp sets!  I may have missed one or two somewhere in there, but you get the idea!  All that red rubber bliss in 27 cases total!  Can you say "STOKED"?!  Don't believe me?  Here's my index:

Download Case Index

In other happy news, here's what I did with my new I {Love} Love jumbo wheels:

 

The top row is the intact wheel (although unmounted) that I intend to use for borders and backgrounds.  The bottom row is the second wheel cut into 19 separate stamps!  I now have 8 "Love" stamps, 2 "I love you" stamps, 1 "Hugs & Kisses", 1 "Love you lots", 1 "Heart to heart", 2 "xoxoxo", 2 rows of hearts and 2 individual hearts!  Since each wheel is only $8.50, I got a BARGAIN, I'm thinkin'!

Lastly, here's my little review/plug for Sailor 2-in-1 glue markers (select supplies>adhesives, then scroll down).  This is NOT Sailor:

I believe I tried out Zig 2-way glue to see if it would work, and this was the result, sadly.  The stamps that had this sad stuff on it got cleaned up (this just rolled right off with my thumb) and re-coated with Sailor, which leaves no residue on the carrier sheet, but sticks beautifully to it and/or the acrylic block for use and storage. 

And there you have it - my progress so far!  I ordered 32 cases, and already had 8, for a total of 40, and got 2 more with a couple of the new stamps sets I ordered, so I have enough to house my other unmounted rubber from other companies, too!  I'm still deciding if I'm going to do this with the photopolymer (clear) stamps, as well - they're already fairly compact...  I'll report back on that when I make up my other mind, k? 

Okey-dokey - gotta jet for now!  Thanks for stopping by, and maybe some of this is useful for you!  If you have any questions, just email me - I'd love to hear from you!  'Bye!