CRITTER CREW

My Taylored Expressions Critter Crew collection is filling in nicely.  I decided to make my own magnetic sheet since TE isn't planning to come out with anything.  

CRAFTERNOON KIT!

My Crafternoon kit arrived from THE Ohio State University.  I look forward to these kits every year.  I was excited to see six Diamond art bookmarks in the kit!  I'm going to get started on one this morning while watching basketball games!  

I separated the gems into small plastic containers to make it easier to pour them out and return them into the containers.  I'll report back after I finish one! 

 

TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS COLOR CATALOG

This was quite the project.  Taylored Expressions introduced a Color Catalog for all their colors. The catalog includes stamp, blend, card stock and marker colors. It was a good project for a cold, snowy weekend in the stamp room!  I don't have OLO markers so I included Copic markers for my marker match colors.  

PALETTE PLAYBOOK STORAGE

I'm always excited for a new organization project.  Taylored Expressions introduced this new Medium binder to accommodate all the Palette Playbook reference guides.  They will eventually have one for every color.  It is helpful when you need to figure out what colors go well together and shade sequence.  

SENTIMENTS WITH MATCHING DIES

I saw this idea online and thought it was genius!  I have several of this type of sentiment stamp sets with matching dies.   It can be hard to figure out which die goes with the words.  I used my label maker to make a label for each die. It isn't the complete word because there are longer sentiments but this will help me out when it comes time to die cut!  I'm sure I have many more sets like this so hopefully I can update them as well.  

FOIL IT CRAZY WOMAN!

Now that's a lot of Foil Its!  I had to do a reorganization of all my Foil Its (mostly Taylored Expressions).  I do have a few Gina K Designs Poly Glaze Foiling sheets as well.  I found the large container at Container Store.  It is called Craft & Media Shimo Organizer Box.  LINK HERE  It is BIG - 22"x14¼"x6⅛" but I'm really happy with being able to get them all in one place. Taylored Expressions sells the 4"x6" storage pockets.  LINK HERE Taylored Expression sells labels for many of the Foil Its.  I used my label maker if the label wasn't included in the label sets.  I separated the Foil Its into categories.  Stand Alone Patterns, Coordinating Products, Sentiments, Mini/Triple Slims, Insiders, TE Maps & Gina K.  I also have a slot for the larger 6x6 Foil Its.  The lid doesn't fit if I include these so we'll see if I keep them in this storage or find something else. So now after seeing all these Foil Its in one place, I'm heating up my Mini Minc and having a foiling day!!!!!!

EMPRESS MINI

Since I've been using the Empress Mini I have been so impressed with how I can easily use up every inch of card stock.  The magnetic plate is a game changer - no more taping down every little die.  It really is awesome and it makes cutting out those small pieces faster & easier!  

Here's my new little Empress Mini! When I'm crafting I use it all the time.  It sits on my main desk area.  I ordered the black swivel stand from Etsy.  It's very handy because it gives you easy access when the plates come through the back of the machine.  I also love the little built in shelf for my plates.  

NEW ADDITION!

A new addition to my craft room!  I had another shelf here for many years but this one is specifically made for stamp cases.  It was a chore to get the heavy box downstairs.  Putting it together was kinda fun!  I really like the quality and appearance of the new shelf.  I ordered from Stamp-n-Storage and this particular model is the Large Stamp Case Tower.  

SWATCHING

I swatched all my Taylored Expressions card stock a while back.  I used a die from My Favorite Things. Taylored Expressions sells the stickers with most of the card stocks in their line so the labeling was the easy part!

I refer to this quite often and love how it looks!

INK SWATCH PROJECT

My recent ink swatching project.  I saw how Carissa Wiley - Sprinkled with Glitter does her ink swatching.  I decided that since I have a big collection of Catherine Pooler inks that I would swatch them in this cool new way.  Stamping with the backside of the Essentials By Ellen Winterscapes solid stamp gives a paint chip effect, reminiscent of a Pantone swatch.  Besides being total eye candy, the other benefit of this style of swatch is that is allows you to put the colors right up next to each other, instead of having white space between them when looking at your palette. 

I used the Jennifer McGuire ink swatch template for this project.  It's nice to see all these pretty ink colors when you are trying to find the perfect color!

CUT & SCORED!

I saw this idea on FB and thought it would be nice to have card bases cut & scored.       This isn't a new concept but I liked the idea and the container!  I have always used my Neenah Classic Solar White 110# for white card bases, but I saw that Jennifer McGuire was recommending another heavy weight card stock for card bases.  If you aren't doing any coloring on the card base then why use your more expensive Neenah?  She recommended Accent Opaque White 120#.  You can buy 150 sheets of this heavy weight card stock on Amazon for $16.43 + tax.  As compared to the Neenah Solar White which is a little more expensive, this is a nice alternative for card bases.  I cut & scored the Accent card stock into 60 A2 Side fold card bases, 110 A2 Top Fold card bases, 20 A2 Top fold White Linen card bases and 70 Mini Slimline card bases (which I purchased from Taylored Expressions)  I'm so happy with this project and it didn't take me too long to get all the prep work done and I'll have card bases galore for quite a while!  The container is from Amazon called mDesign Stackable Storage Container.  There are several options for lid colors, but I chose the clear with white lid.  My white plastic dividers are also from Amazon & have used these for several projects in the stamp room for separating categories.  I did have to cut them to size but they are heavy plastic and are great for this type of project.  I love when an organizing project comes together!  👏

 

FACE PLANT HOLDER

I couldn't resist this cute little Face Plant Holder.  I'm using mine in my Stamp Studio to hold my glasses and various tools instead of a plant.   This makes me smile!  The box says you can draw on the container with a dry erase marker...that could be fun!  

STENCIL ORGANIZATION

I wanted to share how I organize my stencils.  I had a 6x8 album from my days as an Amuse Studio Consultant available for this project so I didn't even have to buy anything...Bonus! 

There were a few page protectors included with the album and I did pick up another pack at my local scrapbook/stamp store.  This is a nice to way to keep my stencils organized.  

It is easy to page thru my collection and I love having them all in one organized binder!

CHEERS TO FALL

So many Copic markers to color this November gal...

I've owned this stamp for a while and I wanted to be sure to get it out and use it.  Isn't she the cutest little Fall gal with all the pumpkins at her feet?  Cheers to Fall!  Something that I use in my stamping all.the.time is my Stamp Organization Binders.  I have binders organized by categories to keep track of all the stamps that I have in my inventory.  This was the perfect example that makes it worth all the time I spent to make this index of all my stamps and to keep it up to date --- see those words "cheers to fall" - I was searching for something to fit that space that would be just the right sentiment for the image.  I found this sentiment in a set from Amuse Studio called Turkey Day.  It saves me so much time & frustration looking for something like a small sentiment.  It was time well spent to put the binders together!!!

Products Used:

Stamps:  Unity Stamp November Girl, Amuse Studio Turkey Day (sentiment)

Card stock:  Neenah Solar White 110# for the white layer, Unknown Rust card base

Ink:  Onyx Versafine, Stampin' Up Espresso

Other:  Clear Embossing Powder, Copic Markers (see photo above), MFT Wonky Stitched Frames

Oh My Word...

First I wanted to share this great $1.00 download from The Ton stamps.  Here is a link to all their printable downloads.  I chose the Birthday Strips (Type Font) but there is another option in Modern Font.  You can also purchase Holiday Strips with two font choices and Thank You with two font choices as well.  You get a digital file that you can print out on an 8 ½" x 11 piece of card stock.  I printed mine out on 4 different neutral colors.  This is an awesome resource to have in your stash!  

The print out has tick marks to help line everything up to get straight cuts - super easy and great results!  I have them cut & ready to add to my cards.  

A bit of organizing...  I had some other words that I had already stamped so put them all together in one photo box container.  

Stamp|Stay|Color|Contain

I was excited to find these Rae Dunn trays at TJ Maxx!  They come in handy for small pieces and parts when I'm die cutting - but mostly they are just cute! 

Stamp, Stay, Color, Contain - yes please!

What stamp studio doesn't need these...am I right? 

I use the trays when I'm die cutting so that I don't lose any of the small pieces. 

CREATE

I picked up this cute Rae Dunn CREATE container to put on my desk in my stamp studio.  

Stamp Studio is Back!

My Stamp Studio is back!  I'm so glad to have my happy space back in order!  New paint & New carpet and I'm ready to get my stamp on!  The weather has been less than desirable (rain, rain & more rain) so I'll be spending some time in here later today!  

I got rid of my 8 ½ x 11 paper sorter that I had for over 20 years.  It was not in the best shape & it was just time.  

I'm loving this spinner cart for some of my cards.  I like being able to see of few of my creations on display & it holds a lot of cards, there are 24 open style pockets.  Here is the link to the one that I purchased  Displays to Go

Stamp Studio Update!

We are replacing carpet so I thought it was a good time to give my favorite room in the house a fresh coat of paint!  I was dreading moving everything out of this room as it is jammed packed.  My husband said, "you sure have a lot of "stuff" only he didn't say stuff"!   

I picked a gray color for the walls - it is sort of hard to tell in this photo.  

Here is a pano of my room.  The walls look a little more grey in this photo.  It is all freshly painted and tomorrow the new carpet will be installed.  Can't wait to get things put away and get back to stamping!

Stamp Studio Update

The stamp room is cleaner than ever!  I sorted thru every drawer, shelf, closet, box, container and found so many things.  Some treasures it was necessary to part with and others were fresh reminders of all the wonderful stuff that I need to use!  

My desk is in an L shape - I ordered it from Ballard Designs several years ago.  I'm still happy with it & I like the amount of work space that I have.  The only negative is the black shows dust.

The other side of the room is the wall of white!  I have had the white units on the right for many many years from Home Decorators catalog.  I store my wood stamp in those drawers.  I love the new Alex drawer from Ikea and it blends in nicely with my other drawers.  I sorted thru my clear stamps that I store in CD cases.  Look I only have one row left!  I also decided to use the shelf space in my cabinet for more full size inks rather than ribbon that I don't use that often.  It's nice to have the inks out for easy access.  

I still have some of the thinner ribbon on my shelf that I use on my cards.  

I keep my Amuse card stock in a filing cart with a cover on it.  The cover keeps the card stock from fading since I have the windows right there.  Each color is in a hanging folder.  I have a plastic sleeve in each folder for scraps.  This system has really worked well for me.  I recently bought a black three tier cart that I put my tools in (score board, Misti, paper cutter), keeps things off my desk but close by.  I plan to put new products in the cart so that I will use them before storing them. Ok, now that the stamp room is so tidy, maybe I should get back to stamping, huh?