Northwest Stamper

Tag: filigree brads

  • Another card organization option – a year in a box!

    cardbox_wm1As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been slowly trying to get my crafting supplies, partial projects, and completed projects organized so I can actually find what I’m looking for in less than 20 minutes. 🙂  Well, when my mom was visiting last month, she brought with her the instructions for a great project.  Using the Forget-me-not keeper from Stampin Up!, we created a decorated box and inserts for storing all of the cards you need to send out in a year.  Now, first I don’t know how many of you out there had seen this box in the SU catalog and were like me and thought, ” that looks just like the photo boxes you get at Michaels only in plastic”.  Well, it took me ordering one to realize they are totally different, and the SU box is way cooler!  Turns out, the boxes you get at craft stores really are made for photos and so are not quite tall enough for your standard 5.5 x 4.25 cards to be placed inside and still have the lid close completely.  The SU box is made to fit cards perfectly, plus it comes with 12 plastic inserts to help you organize the cards you make.  In our case, we used those inserts for each month.   So, now I’m totally a convert to these boxes.  They pack flat and then go together in a jiffy and actually fit my cards.  

     

    cardbox_inserts_wmSo, we placed a piece of cardstock on the inside of the box behind the the front panel to add some color and then used designer paper and ribbon to decorate the frontside.  One note if you are going to decorate one of these boxes yourself.  Definately use the red sticky strip.  The plastic has a slight texture to it, and the sticky strip really locks the paper to the plastic.  For each of the inserts, we printed out a piece of paper with the month dates on it to fill out who needs a card and for why.  We used the So Many Scallops stamp set for all of the stamping in this project and the crop–a-dile made punching a hole in the tabs for the ribbon soo easy.  Really the thing that I think makes the crop-a-dile a must have is how it makes punching thick and hard materials like you were punching through paper.  I’ve punch metal and chipboard and now thick plastic. 

     

    Anyway, when we were all done with the box project, we made four matching cards.  Again, we used some patterns she brought and I was so glad she brought them.  I would never have thought to do some of these techniques like punching out all the cardstock circles and gluing them on a cardfront of the same color – but they all turned out super cute!  We spent most of the day making theses projects because we were chatting and sharing supplies (and cutting the paper, that I think was what took the longest).  I wish my mom lived closer than 5 hrs away so we could do projects like this more often because it is really fun to spend an afternoon crafting and then end in the evening with so much completed so show for it!   Though I guess this means next time she visits it is my turn to come up with the craft project. 🙂

     

    cardbox_cards1_wm    cardbox_cards2_wm 

     

    Box Recipe
    Stamps:
    So Many Scallops
    Inks: Baja Breeze
    Paper:  Windsor Knot DSP, Baja Breeze CS, Old Olive CS, Chocolate Chip CS, So Saffron CS, Whisper White CS
    Accessories:  Forget-me-not Keeper, Double Stitched chocolate chip ribbon,  Filigree Brads, Stampin’ Dimentionals, Sticky Strip, Scallop edge punch, Scallop Square punch, Crop-a-dile

    Card Recipe
    Stamps: 
    So Many Scallops
    Inks:  Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip
    Paper:  Windsor Knot DSP, Chocolate Chip CS, Old Olive CS, Baja Breeze CS, So Saffron CS, Whisper White CS
    Accessories:  Sage Shadow 1/4″ ribbon, Whisper White 1/4″ ribbon, Apricot Appeal 1/4″ ribbon, Chocolate Chip 5/8″ ribbon, filigree brads, glue dots, 1/2″ circle punch, Scallop edge punch, Scallop Square punch, Stampin’ Dimentionals, So Saffron marker, Chocolate chip marker, Sage Shadow marker, Old Olive marker

  • Is it possible to craft without making a mess?

    Well, I’m going to have to make this post quick, but I thought I would post the progress I’m making on a project since it seems to be taking me a while to complete it.  🙂

    So, on Sunday (or was it Monday?) I started trying to get things together for my open scrap day on Saturday.  I’m putting together some kits for folks who aren’t going to be bringing their own project.  One of the kits is going to be a two page 12×12 scrapbook layout.  I thought “one layout shouldn’t be so hard” but when I sat down with my papers, I realized that the only 12×12 paper that I had enough for everyone (if everyone got a kit) for the base pages was Glorious Green.  So I started from there. and it turned out to be a more challenging color base than I expected.  scrapbook_pgsI because obsessed with creating this layout to the point that I keep futzing with it instead of moving on to my other kits. 

    Finally last night, I found my groove and got the layout close enough to done (I need my BigShot that is in transit to finish it completely) that I’m going to move on to other projects tonight.

    Now, my “craft room” is also mine and my DH’s office and it is complete disaster – never got fully unpacked and now is a mess of half unpacked boxes and stacks of paper, books, and knick knacks.  So, until I get that straightened up, I’ve been taking over my dining room.  Last night, when I got home from work, I walked into my dining room and saw this:

    messy_desk

    I’ve now decided that I can’t work on a project and have my space by clean.  I also don’t know how some of you work on dresser tops and coffee tables.  🙂 My paper, scrap, and accessory piles are too big for that.  Does anyone craft and stay tidy at the same time?

    messy_bookcase
    The bookcase that was supposed to be for books and instead is my SU storage space.