Pebbles Inc. Home+Made Gold & Sparkly New Year Cards

I shared some New Year's cards over on Pebbles blog recently using the classy Home+Made Collection by Jen Hadfield and today I thought I would share them with all of you!  :)

My first card uses all the soft and pretty gold and ivory specialty papers and embellishments from the collection.  I punched a large snowflake from the gold foil cardstock and layered it a smaller snowflake in vellum to give it a softer fee.

For my next card I alternated 1-1/8" wide strips on a 9" x 3-3/4" card base.  I then stitched down each side of the patterned paper and adhered gold foil alpha stickers for a sentiment with big impact.  To complete my sentiment I typed my words on the computer using a text box in Microsoft Word, layering it with some of the gold glitter scalloped tape from the collection.  My finishing touch was a pair of black buttons which I topped with gold sequins.

My last card has a holiday bokeh effect or exploding confetti look.  I've included a little step-by-step tutorial over at Pebbles blog sharing how I created it.  :)

If you're like many of us, you may have run out of time when it came to making Christmas cards, but I hope I was able to inspire you to send out  New Year cards instead!  :)

Supplies Used: (available at Scrapbook.com) 

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My Creative Space with Organization Ideas- Part 2

Hello there!  Today I'm back with a continuation of my organizational post shared on Friday HERE.

As I continue to work myself around the room, we arrive to the area above my standing island.  I have installed a wall unit (similar to the one sold HERE).  Last year after getting tired of sifting through my flowers by brand I finally poured them all out on my floor and organized them by color.  While I don't find myself using these as much as I once did, I still love seeing the splash of color in my room and having them well organized when I do go to use them.  :)

I discovered Craft Mates containers about 10 years ago and I am a die-hard fan.  You can often find them in either the beading department or organizational products section at most major craft stores.  

I love them because they lock closed with individual lids to reduce spilling out (something I had to clean up in a giant messy pile one too many times at crops) and have nice rounded bottoms to make scooping out embellishments so much easier.  They come in two or three different sizes and are amazing for condensing down embellishments and shedding so many bulky packages that they come in.  I have four Craft Mate shoulder bags in two sizes which I store in the cabinet directly above my main work space to hold the majority of my embellishments and I love them!   :)

The larger 3XL size is perfect for bulkier embellishments like buttons and wood veneer pieces, while the smaller 2XL size is wonderful for brads, eyelets and sequins.  This picture shows the 3XL size...

This is a photo of the cabinet above my die-cutting machine.  I keep some of my older Sizzix dies in here as well as all my low profile metal dies sorted by theme and manufacturer.

I love We R Memory Keeper's (previously Quickutz/Lifestyle Crafts) magnetic storage books for my slim metal dies.  These are currently in short supply during the transition of companies, but by the looks of their website more are expected in the near future.  

I use my Brother P-Touch Label Maker with 6mm labels to mark what's inside each binder.  This makes my life so much easier.  For the longest time I couldn't find labels to work and I had to open each one to find what I was looking for, but I bought this label maker for myself for Christmas last year and now I'm a labeling fool. 

If you do get this Label Maker, definitely look up the instructions for using the "chain print" option to save valuable tape between labels.  ;)

Here's an example of two of the storage binders opened side by side to give you an idea of all you can fit inside.  They come with a magnetic flap (to the right of the photo) which closes over the top and keeps all the contents secure.  They are wonderful!  :)

For my inks and refills (and Stickles) I'm a huge fan of the PortaInk Best Craft Organizers.  I personally use the standard case version with the standard ink inserts (perfect adapter which you insert for smaller pads that would normally get pushed to the back).  They also make a swivel version that's double sided with a handle, but I don't travel with mine and I like being able to push the units flat against the wall.  I should note they also have the ability to be mounted to the wall or to be laid flat in a drawer if your counter space is in short supply.

For the longest time, I had my pads stacked in containers and had to go searching through cascading piles to find the one I was looking for, but these units make life so much easier.  Of course I put my label maker to good use again as well.  ;)

To wrangle my growing (out of control) collection of inks I made myself a paint chip so to speak of each ink color which I keep on binder rings.  I have two rings for my dye inks and one for my pigment and Stazon inks, all organized by color.  On the back I labeled each chip with the ink manufacturer and color name to make matching inks to my particular project and patterned papers a breeze.

For the little samples in the center, I cut tags from thin chipboard and pressed them into my VersaMark ink pad before heating them up with my different colored embossing powders.

These projects while a bit time consuming initially saves me so much time each time I stamp.  I used to have to spend 15 minutes testing out a multitude of inks with lots of wasted paper trying to guess which color would be just right.  Now I am able to select the perfect ink or powder every time.  

My last little organizer for today is simple, but for whatever reason I didn't purchase it until recently.  These trays sit in the drawer directly below my sewing machine and they too make my life so much easier.  It's wonderful being able to open it up and quickly find the color I need without them rolling all over the place.  It keeps them tidy and not in a snarly mess too.  I purchased mine HERE at The Container Store and another one for my bobbins HERE at Joann's.

Well, there you have it.  I have a couple more organizational projects that I finished this past summer and fall I will be back to share with you soon.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope I've inspired you to catch the organizational bug this month!  :)

Doodlebug Lovebugs Valentine's Day Layout

Hello there!  With Christmas behind us, I am excited to switch gears and prepare for Valentine's Day!  Doodlebug's newest Lovebugs collection was perfect for documenting photos of my girls from last year.

I wanted to find a way to show off some of my favorite prints from the collection and pick up the colors in my photos so I cut out five slightly different shaped hearts ranging in size from 1.25" to 1.5" from five sheets of 6x6 paper.

For the center I layered Doodlebug's sweet new red heart vellum and created my title with a mixture of lily white Chippers and Love Letters alphabet stickers.  When I was done I used the negative space of my vellum as a template along with my paper piercer to create holes for hand-stitching over the top.  My finishing touch was a layer of alternating buttons and flower stickers topped with glittery sprinkles.  :)

After struggling to find the perfect embellishment to balance out my page along the bottom, I had the idea to create a homemade bow from washi tape.  It was super easy to create and I have broken it down for you to make some of your own in a few easy steps.

Step 1:  Cut an 8-inch strip of washi tape and fold it in half onto itself, making sure to line up the polka-dots.  You should now have a 4-inch strip with no stickiness revealed.

Step 2:  Fold it again, overlapping the the loose ends on the center back.  Using a little bit of thread Tie several knots around the center to help scrunch it up.

Step 3:  Cut another small 2-inch piece of the tape and fold it lengthwise to form the center of bow.  Wrap it around the center of your bow several times and secured it on the back with a glue dot.

I hope I have inspired you to try your hand at making some washi tape bows of your own.  :)

Supplies Used (available at Scrapbook.com):

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Top Ten in 2014 Doodlebug Prize Winner

Thank you all for the amazing response to the Top Ten blog hop.  Each of your comments put a big smile on my face and completely warmed my heart!  :)

As promised I have a winner to announce for the Doodlebug prize package being given away on my blog so without further ado, Rafflecopter selected:

Cara G January 1, 2015 at 9:47 AM 

Such beautiful work Mendi...Happy New Year's!!!

I have emailed you.

Don't forget, you still have through tomorrow to be eligible to win the $75 Gift Card to Paper Issues by commenting on any of the 24 blogs.  The more blogs you visit, the more chances you have to win.

Thanks again.  :)

My Creative Space with Organization Ideas- Part 1

Hello and Happy New Year!  Today I am finally sharing a peek into my creative space which is way overdue.  I LOVE organizing and have been wanting to share for over a year now, but it just never seems to stay completely clean for very long.  LOL!  :)

It's far from the prettiest space out there, but it is extremely functional and I feel blessed to finally have it after so many years of work at a dining room table that spilled into every other room of our home.  

Here's an overall view of my different crafty corners within my room:

View #1: I made sure to install a sink which has been amazing.  It's actually just a basic utility sink, but I love being able to wash off my stamps and rinse out my cups there.  Since I'm in the basement next to our garage, we've also found it to be extremely helpful having it when doing things outside and coming in with dirty hands.  On the left side you can see a standing island which is on sliders. I wanted to be able to push it around my room as needed so I installed commercial carpeting in my room to make this possible.  

View #2:  On one side of my island (facing the sink) I have shallow shelves and on the other side I have (4) 12x12 hanging file drawers.  I use one to sort all my paper scraps by color.  Since doing this, I've found I actually use my paper scraps (amazing).  When I have older double sided patterned papers that I no longer love that come with a solid color on the back, I've started filing them in here and I've been amazed at how much I've used them up this way.  To the right is a counter height station for my die-cutting.  The cabinets above and below are filled with all my dies sorted by manufacturer.

View #3: This is looking from the other side of my island toward my computer and work space.  I generally create in the space in front of my keyboard and at my standing island.  I never realized how much I would love having a place to stand and work.  I actually have a tall bar stool hanging out on the other side of the island, but it rarely gets used.  It's padded though and it's my cat's favorite spot to curl up and take a nap.

View #4:  This corner is on the far right wall of my room.  It's where I keep my sewing machine and all my inks.  In the cabinets above the inks I store some of my clear stamps and all of my inky supplies like embossing powders, pens and such.

Up next... I have two closets with floor to ceiling shelves to the right of my door entering the room.  This is where I keep the bulk of my design team products stored by manufacturer and collection.  

Without a doubt my favorite investment for this space is my Elfa Pantry door storage unit which frequently goes on sale at The Container Store.  There are so many reasons I love this thing, but a few of my favorites is that it doesn't damage the door you are putting it on, it can move with you and can be 100% customized to fit your needs with the different baskets you purchase to go on it!

The Spice Rack Basket is perfect for holding twine and small jars of embellishments.  

The deep baskets are wonderful for holding wider jars.  I use these lightweight plastic jars to hold smaller spools of twine, packaged embellishments and my washi tape sorted by color.  I will actually be changing the way I store washi tape soon though which I will share when it's done.  ;)

One of my favorite ways to store small packaged embellishments, 6x6 paper pads and small stickers is using the clear Interdesign Linus containers.  You can pick these up at Amazon or by watching for them at your local Marshall's, TJMaxx and Home Goods stores.  

I love the ones with the dividers for keeping smaller packages tidy and easy to leaf through.  When I am working on a project I am able to bring the entire container to my workstation to find just what I'm looking for.

Below my shelves on the ground I have several of the inexpensive storage cubes.  My favorite is the 3-drawer unit which is the perfect depth for holding rolls of ribbon (don't judge me for all the duplicates--I picked them up for 75% off) and also just the right size for two stacks of thickers and other alphabet stickers which I have sorted by color.

I also keep the bulk of my clear 4x6 stamps in my closet in portable containers I picked up at an office store designed for lateral files.  I organize my stamps in 8.5 x 11 clear Fellowes binder sheets intended for CD storage and sort them by theme and/or brand in hanging file folders to leaf through.  With a little cardstock cut down to size, I can fit 4 sets in each sheet protector.  :)

This is an older photo I took of one of the binder sheets.  Several years ago I ordered a ream of this hot pink paper that turned out way more intense when I got it in person so now it's my go to paper for random uses like this.

Well, I'm going to break for today, but I will be back on Tuesday with the second half of my room.  Thanks so much for hanging with me .  :)