Storing Your Re-inkers

I know we are all looking for tips and tricks when it comes to storage ans organization, so I thought I would share how I store my re-inkers. My biggest problem when it comes to storing things is heat and sunlight. I am in a large bay window, which is great for natural light, but bad for storing. My wonderful hubby has re-done my desk for me to make it full of great storage, and lots and lots of drawers and shelves that slide. I put my re-inkers in one of these drawers, but I hated that I could only see the white tops, and not know what color was what. So I came up with a way to fix that.





If you have great storage for something please share it with us, and if you are looking for great storage ideas let me know and if I have a good idea I will share it here too.

Poppin' Pastels

I love the aged antique look you can give to cards by using the poppin' pastels technique. Very Vanilla is a great color, but you can add a lot of depth to it, simply by dirtying it up a bit with ink or chalks. I chose to use chalks for this look, and I love that the image from the jumbo wheel very vintage is just barely visible on the background vanilla cardstock. Looking at this card now, I should have put a light dusting of the chalk onto the blue flower, it looks a little too bright. I made the blue flower from the 5 petal flower punch by layering 5 of them on top of each other after I had scrunched them up.



Stamps: Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel, Perfect Punches
Inks: Early Espresso, Marina Mist
Paper: Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, DSP,
Misc: Jumbo Brads, Scallop Trim Punch, distressing tool (from the cutter kit), Curly Label Punch, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Stampin' Pastels, Sponges, Cotton Balls

I will *hopefully* have a great organizing tip video for you later tonight, if it edits nicely for me.

Tripod setup for filming tutorials

I have been asked several times how I set up my tripod, and last night on a message board I frequent a couple people were looking for a video on how to set tripods up for making tutorials. I said if they couldn't find one I would make one, so here we are.

This is a quick look at how I do it. I need to apologize for the shaky camera, I filmed this at about 3 am, and was quite tired when I did it. Also the lighting in the room is terrible, but I hope you can see well enough. My stamping room has the worst lighting.




The video camera I use is a Canon DC10, and my tripod is a Manfrotto 141RC, both are fairly old, but work great for me. I am also working on a couple of quick tip tutorials for you. Ihave filmed them, but have not had time to edit them yet.... soon I hope.

who doesn't love babies???

I love babies, all babies. They are so cute and little, and smell so good. My cousin is having her first and I made this card a while back when I found out. I wanted to make sure she received it before I posted it, and then I forgot to go back an post it. I am so excited for her and her hubby. I chose to stick to gender neutral colors since they don't know what they are having yet. Sadly for you all, everything on this card is retired since I made it that long ago. I also used MDS to create the greeting on the card, since I do not own Nursery Necessities, and I enlarged it to cover the bottom of the card front. I really love MDS, it makes my life so much easier!!! I colored the flowers using a re-inker and an aqua pen.




Stamps: Nursery Necessities (MDS)
Paper: Sweet Pea DSP, Lavender Lace, Whisper White
Inks: Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst
Misc: So Cool Rub Ons, Pretties Kit (flowers and pearls), Aqua Pen, So Saffron 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Horizontal Slot Punch

WOOHOO!!!! Another Tutorial!

I FINALLY!!! got this last tutorial edited and uploaded! I swear it took me 4 days to actually edit this 5 petal flower tutorial. I use Windows Movie Maker and normally I only have slight problems with the audio and video syncing up, but this time OMGoodness.... it was horrible. I had issue after issue and nothing wanted to work properly. I even tried Adobe Premiere, but it was a little beyond my skills. I have never been so frustrated before... I was seriously thinking about going back and re-doing the whole video, just so I had a new file to work with.

Several of you had asked how I made the 5 petal flower on the card a few days ago, so I made this for you. It is really easy to do, but a little time consuming.





Stamps: none
Inks: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
Paper: Cottage Wall DSP (retired), Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
Misc: 5 Petal Flower Punch, Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, Silver Brads, 3/8" Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Brights Designer Buttons, Hemp Twine, Sponges, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, SNAIL

Even after all the difficulty I had with this one, I am planning a few more in the coming days, and I sure hope they are easier to do.

beautiful butterflies

I think you all know by now that I love butterflies, and I love adding them to almost all of my projects. Stampin' Up! made that even easier for me to do when they made the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die for the Big Shot. I love this die, it embosses and cuts out 6 butterflies in a matter of seconds. This was a card we did in my last class distressing, and while the card looks pretty without the butterflies, it looks great with them added on. I don't actually have my card to show you today, I ended up giving it to my mom to use, so I borrowed one she still had left over from class to take pictures of. Sadly I had a migraine that day and didn't realize how washed out the butterflies were until just now.



Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Perfect Plum
Paper: Going Gray (retired), Whisper White, Perfect Plum DSP
Misc: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Movers and Shapers Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Manhattan Flower Folder, Sanding Block, Stampin Dimensionals

I am in the process of editing a video for you all, but unfortunately my regular editing program is not working right. It keeps adding video effects and skipping actual video and muting things. I am now trying to find another editing program to use, and I hope to have this sorted out by the end of the day tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Brayer Tutorial

I have had a lot of requests to do a video showing how to do the gradation technique and I finally got some free time that was also quiet. I really do love using my brayer and I hope this little tutorial will show you all how easy it is to use. I will make another soon that show the whole making of a card with a brayer, but I wanted to give you all the tips and basic know-how so you could start playing with yours.



Stamps: none
Inks: Marina Mist
Paper: Whisper White
Misc: Brayer, Medium Window Sheet

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment or email me and I will do my best to help you out.

Holiday Mini Sneak Peak

It's never too early to start your Christmas cards! I had a class this past weekend and we were doing distressing techniques, but I also wanted to show some of the lovely goodies from the upcoming holiday mini. This uses a brand new ornament stamp from the set Tags til Christmas and the jumbo wheel Jolly Jingles. I am loving these new jewels, and the pearls are just the perfect finishing touch on this card.


Stamps: Tags til Christmas, Jolly Jingles jumbo wheel, Delightful Decorations
Inks: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler
Papers: Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi, Jolly Holiday DSP (brand new!)
Misc: Basic Pearls, Sponges, Cutter Kit (distressing tool), Ornament Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Wheel Guide

I love wheels, but I especially love them when they are lined up like this and can be cut apart if you want to. This one in particular can be taken off the wheel and cut into about 12 different stamps!! That is great value, 12 stamps for 10.50!! When I come across wheels like this I have a tendency to order 2 of them, one to cut apart and one to leave on the wheel.

Parisian birthday

I know when I was 18 the idea of going to Paris was like a dream come true, so I tried to use that as the theme for this 18th birthday card for another niece. The paper used is Parisian Breeze DSP that is retired, but perfect for this card. I also don't normally sew on my cards, but I thought it kind of needed that extra touch. I chalked the edges of the 5 petal flowers with white craft ink, and layered a baja breeze button on the chocolate chip one.


Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Whisper White Craft, Baja Breeze
Papers: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Parisian Breeze DSP (retired)
Misc: Corduroy Buttons (retired), Organza Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Sponges, Sewing, 5 petal punch, Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die

I had a lot of fun teaching classes this past weekend and I will start showing you those cards tomorrow. We have had lots of busy days here, and hopefully I can start planning some more classes and club meetings. I have several planned for September, but am needing to get the dates set for October and November. If you are interested in coming to some classes or joining one of my clubs let me know, they are filling up fast.

mmmm cake......

I love cake but I really love making cakes, usually real cakes, but this card was sooo much fun to do. I have a couple nieces birthdays coming up so I was making birthday cards last week for them. I try really hard to make fun and special ones for the family that we don't see very often. I cased this one from Marie on SCS. I didn't have the stamps she used, but MDS does so I printed them out on whisper white cardstock and used dimensionals to add them to the card. I love MDS and love all the options it open up for me in my scrapbooking and card making.





Stamps: Party Hearty
Inks: Rose Red, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Whisper White, SAB DSP, Tempting Turquoise
Misc: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Tag Punch, Large Tag Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch, MDS, 1/4" Daffodil Delight Grosgrain Ribbon

it's the last one for a while....

... I swear!! If you are sick of brayer cards, this is the last one for a while. I have a few other cards to show you soon, but I wanted to make sure they would have arrived before I posted them on here. This is the last from my last brayer basics class. It is just a very simple card, but I love it for masculine birthday cards.



Stamps: Inspired by Nature
Inks: So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Basic Gray
Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, DSP (retired)
Misc: Horizontal Slot Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Brayer, Sponge Daubers

I am off to bed, I have to get up early to finish getting paper cut and ready for my classes this weekend. Then I have another meeting with the healthy homes people to do another home visit. I love this program, it really helps you to learn all the things you in your own home can do to help the environment and save money. The visit tomorrow is all about food and sustainable choices. I have learned a lot so far, and I really love all the new cleaning products that are 'green' and are also better cleaners.

If you are in the Calgary Area, I have one spot left for Monday night's class, it is from 6-9pm at my place, email me if you are interested.

I love my Brayer

I know I have been showing you all a lot of different brayer cards lately, but I really do love using my brayer. Whenever I need to make a quick card I grab my brayer. This is very similar to one we did for my brayer basics class. I had to make a card very last minute (I almost forgot a birthday and needed to mail it asap) so I grabbed my brayer and whipped this card up. It took me literally less than 8 minutes to make the whole card and get it signed and in the mail. This uses the gradation and masking techniques.


Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, Occasional Quotes (level 3 hostess set), Sanded
Inks: Not quite Navy, Basic Black
Paper: Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Basic Black, Night of Navy
Misc: 1" Circle Punch, Signo White Gel Pen

Remember the 80's??

I normally choose not to remember the 80's, but that is what this background technique reminds me of. I cased this from linda on SCS, but changed a little bit and added some extra details like the punched out stars. I also misted the DSP with some water and crumpled it a couple times, I wanted the paper to look quite distressed, and ripped. I then sponged the edges with basic gray ink. This is another card from my most recent Brayer Basics class. It is a lot of fun to make.


Stamps: Extreme Guitar, Starring You (retired)
Inks: Basic Gray, Sage Shadow (retired)
Paper: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Sage Shadow (retired) and Nouveau Chic DSP (retired)
Misc: Star Designer Brads (retired), Brayer, Star Punch (retired), Sponge Daubers, Stampin' Dimensionals,

Simple Butterfly

I LOVE my Brayer!! I really do, it is so easy to make quick and easy cards. This one is probably the fastest yet. It takes less than 5 minutes to do the whole card, and yet it looks like it took longer. This is another card from my Brayer Basics class, the first and easiest. If you are in the Calgary area and want to take this class, email me and I'll add you to my class mailing list.

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Almost Amethyst (retired)
Papers: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Sage Shadow (retired)
Misc: Organza Ribbon, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Elegant Bouquet Impressions Folder, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch