Piece of Cake

For an SU! event I attended a couple of weeks ago, I created a swap card. Check it out:

Lots of techniques on this card - distressing, clear block stamping & paper piecing. I love SU! Designer Series Paper (DSP) because it's double-sided and coordinates so beautifully. Makes paper piecing so easy!

You'd never know it, but I stamped the cake image on the back of the DSP I used (in the bottom corner) so that I could cut out the pieces I needed for the cake. I didn't have to waste any DSP this way and I hid it all with my top layer. ;)

If you'd like to purchase this card, you can do so here.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

RECIPE
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Birthday Basics DSP
Ink: Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Early Espresso
Stamps: Sketched Birthday, Petite Pairs
Tools: Distressing Tool, Spritzer
Accessories: Summer Starfruit Satin Stitched Ribbon, Jewels
Techniques: Clear Block Stamping, Distressing, Paper Piecing

Coral Floral for Sunday Stamps

I know, it's Monday and I'm late with my post! The truth is, I have come to realize that many of my photos were extremely dark. I spent yesterday retaking all my photos, and took several of this card. I was finally happy with it, but now dropping it into Blogger, it seems very off.

Paper: Pistachio Pudding, Naturals Ivory, Gold, Calypso Coral
Tools: Big Shot, Honeycomb TIEF, Blossom Punch, Boho Blossom Punch
Accessories: Pearls

Can I just say that I'm in love with Pistachio Pudding! Such a yummy colour, and I think that paired with Calypso Coral and Gold is a super sweet combination! I will definitely be using this one again.

This card is very simple. No stamping, just punching! I still had several flowers left over from a kit I had (that happened to be in Calypso Coral) and then all I did was pair some with some punches with the Blossom Punch. I punched one in the Pistachio Pudding layer to let the card base show through and then used the punched out flower for the inside of my card.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Design Team has created over at Sunday Stamps and I hope you love this colour combo as much as I do!

Until next time, stay crafty!


Steph

Holiday Napkins

Whether you're throwing a holiday party this season, or attending one, these napkins will be a hit!

Tools: Big Shot, Northern Flurry TIEF

Who would've thought to emboss napkins?! Well, someone did (I found it on Pinterest). I wish the post was linked to the creator, but it wasn't. I would love to give proper credit...

Anyway, these are so simple to make. All you need is your Big Shot and an embossing folder of your choice. They're perfect to use at your party, or package them up and give them as a gift at a party you're attending.

If you don't have the tools or the time to make these yourself, you can buy them from my online store here.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Drive's Me Crazy!

For all you crafters out there, doesn't it drive you crazy when you see something that's mass-produced that costs more than what you could probably make it for? For example, greeting cards. I have to laugh almost every time someone gives me a card because they almost always apologize to me (!) that it's not one of mine, it's not as beautiful, it's not...

Paper: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Whisper White
Ink: VersaMark, Melon Mambo
Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Patterned Occasions (SAB 2013)
Tools: Big Shot, Cloudy Day TIEF, Ornament Framelits, Heat Tool,
Embossing Powder: Pool Party & Pewter
Accessories: Jewels, Baker's Twine

I'm shocked sometimes what people pay for cards! Yes, I always turn a card over to look. :) I recently received one for my birthday that was $7.99 +tax! It was nice, but it got me thinking about taking cards like that and recreating them Hofkissed style. Hence, the card I'm showing you today.

The card I received had a hot air balloon carrying a cupcake, so that's what I wanted to do too. I didn't have a hot air balloon, so I used the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set and coordinating Framelits. It was meant to be! I heat embossed with Pool Party on Pool Party card stock for a tone-on-tone look. The small cupcake from the SAB 2013 set worked perfectly and instead of drawing the ropes on for the balloon, I used Baker's Twine.

I'm really happy with how it came out. I've toyed with the idea of adding more. Thought about adding strips of silver glimmer paper or zig zags in Crushed Curry. Perhaps I will, but I'm also loving the single punch of colour!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Genius!

Well, I thought this idea was anyway! Check it out:

I'm always on the hunt for ideas... whether it's cards, design, organization, you name it, I'm looking for it! The latest hunt was for ideas on displaying my cards and other product for sale. My upline & friend Leena Girsa showed me her idea for display by using newspaper racks to display her product. I thought that was genius. I immediately went out and bought some (did I mention I was impatient when it came to implementing new ideas?!). They display product beautifully - most recently, they displayed product for the vendor sale I participated in to sell off gently used or new product. People even commented on how organized my table was!

Anyway, after seeing Leena's idea and purchasing some for myself, I walked up and down the aisles at Solutions (a home organization store here in Canada). I mean EVERY aisle. Even ones that I thought wouldn't matter. There were a few possibilities, but then I saw the shoe racks. Even better, I saw the above shoe display (yes, that's what it's for) on clearance because it was the floor model. What did I care?! It was in excellent condition! I think the sales reps were shocked to see me buying it... little did they know what I was going to do with it.

This stand is AWESOME! Each "basket" is somewhat closed off so that I don't have to worry too much about items falling through. A few cheapy baskets I bought fit perfectly and house all my tags and little sale items nicely. The baskets even move up and down to accommodate larger items, and best of all, it sits on a table top AND has a carry handle! What more can a gal ask for?!

The point is that when you're looking for new ideas, think "outside the box". It's something that was drilled in my head when I took Graphic Design, and I think that's a huge part of why I think the way I do sometimes. You never know where an idea will come from!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

She Believed She Could...

I attended a Stampin' Up! workshop last weekend that was filled with business tools, techniques, projects & more. One of the projects was a canvas home decor piece. Check it out:

Ink: Blushing Bride, Soft Suede, Baked Brown Sugar, Primrose Petals
Stamps: Feel Goods
Tools: Big Shot, Gift Bow Bigz L Die, Oval Framelits,
Punches: Pansy, Bitty Butterfly
Accessories: Build a Banner Kit, Doilies, Buttons, Pearls

I'll admit that I wasn't too keen about this at first, but on second glance (and a little tweaking for the recipient of it), I started to get excited. Thank you Jamilla Ivits for creating this piece for the workshop because it's probably something that I wouldn't have otherwise thought about doing!

I hope I didn't offend by tweaking her design a bit. I don't know why, but I saw a plaid pattern when holding the stripe stencil in my hand (which is how Jamilla's banner was done). I'm thrilled with the way it came out! The plaid is really the major thing I changed. All the other elements are the same, I just moved them around a bit.

I surprised my daughter with this by hanging it in her room. She was so grateful and appreciative that I made this just for her. After seeing that, I was so happy that I gave project a chance!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Organization: Part 4

Today is my last post on my new craft space and organization. I'm sorry that I'm squeezing so many photos/ideas into one post, but I've got so many projects lined up that I'm eager to share!

 
Two of these units sit under my main desk and they are awesome! They hold many of my essential tools - scrubs, clear blocks, embossing, piercing, office supplies, etc. I also discovered that the deeper drawers (3 out of 5) house two cardboard photo boxes and therefore I can have different items in the same drawer, but keep like items together.

I wish IKEA still made these, but I'm glad that I at least have a couple. This one has six drawers of varying sizes that hold my larger adhesives (Dimensionals, Sticky Strip & Glue Dots) and larger embellishments like my pearls & jewels. The other unit has nine equals drawer units and houses all my extra adhesives. It's a great way to keep track of inventory!

These cubed units have been with me for years! They are stackable and some can be flipped so that you can use them two different ways. As you can see, they house the majority of my stash - all my paper (that are in plastic dividers, organized by colour family/type), ready-made cards, envelopes, dies, Framites, etc. I think I've finally figured out a configuration that works.

From all these pictures, the commonality is the labelling! From these and photos in the previous posts, you've probably noticed that I label everything. Do I have a labelling addiction? Well, perhaps, but it really does make my entire space more efficient. If something is hiding in a drawer, I don't have to open several to find what I'm looking for.

As I mentioned in my first post in this series, I like to see everything in my space. If I don't see it, I won't use it. It's impossible to physically see everything, labelling makes that happen! ;)

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

 

Organization: Part 3

Today I'm going to show you a shelving unit I designed and that my awesome husband made:

Isn't it sweet?! As I was researching organization ideas, I saw many versions of the stamp pad holders. I also wanted/needed something for my stamps because previously, they were in drawers and on top of my desk.

Now that SU! has the new & awesome wood-mount stamp cases, all the stamps naturally fit in the same space. Also, I strongly felt ink and stamps needed to be in the same space, as well as, my markers, sponges & reinkers. The shelf I designed accomplishes just that!

Here is the breakdown of how I've organized it:

• Reinkers - at the very top in a green basket (sorry, it's not very visible in the photo)
• Stamps - sit on the shelves (how do you organize your stamps? I'm not sure if I should do it in alpha order or by type). Each shelf can fit approximately 42 single cases. For my husbands' sake, I hope that's enough! ;)
• Sponges - I used the Decorative Label Punch to punch the card stock colour and stapled it to the corresponding sponge. These all sit together in a glass container from IKEA. I'm not a dauber person.
• Stampin' Write Markers - are in clear-mount stamp cases with labels designed by Kimberly Barker - she so generously shared these with all the Demos on our Demo-Only site.
• Inks - I prefer to organize them by colour, not by colour family as in the SU! Catalogue... but my shelving unit can accommodate that if I choose to organize them that way in the future.

I've got another post or two on organization, so make sure to come back!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Honeycomb for Sunday Stamps

It's Sunday and our bi-weekly challenge over at Sunday Stamps. This week is a sketch challenge (created by yours truly) and I hope you can play along with us!

Paper: Calypso Coral, Pistacio Pudding, Naturals Ivory
Tools: Big Shot, Honeycomb TIEF
Accessories: Pearls, This & That Washi Tape, Die Cut Flowers (retired)

I'll start by saying that I am really happy with this card - the 15+ pearls in the center of the flower and the pleated Washi Tape draws the eye, I think. But to be honest, I had been thinking for the past few weeks (since I created this card) that since it was my sketch and the challenge fell on my birthday, that I should create a birthday card with this sketch layout. I unfortunately never got around to it...

Well, maybe I'll create some belated birthday ones with this sketch. It's a simple & versatile one. So versatile, you should head on over to Sunday Stamps (if you haven't already) and check out how the rest of the design team used it & then play along! As always, they rocked it... and there are even a couple of birthday-themed ones too. :)

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Organization, Part 2

Today I'm sharing a few more ideas to keep my space organized & items accessible! Do you use you phone, laptop, Netbook, iPad or other device in your space? Then you'll probably be interested to know about these:

You may have seen these on my desk in the first picture of my entire space, found here. These two items are always on my desk and travel with me too. You can see from the picture above how easily they come apart and fold flat! They are holders for your devices - keeps them at a workable and viewable level and for laptops & the like, keeps them cool when you're using them.

If you're interested in purchasing the above products, contact me for more info, or you can purchase them directly from the manufacturer by emailing nupro@rogers.com

These are Canadian made, great quality, super light-weight (less than a pound!!), there are several products available in the product-line in black or white & you won't find anything else similar with all these characteristics for an affordable price (the basic laptop stand, for example, is approximately $20).

Oh, and did I mention that these were invented and created by my dad?! You may have noticed my customized laptop holder with the picture of my daughter on it. :)

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Organization, Part 1

As promised in my last post, I was going to share several of organization tips with you from my new craft space.

I'm the type of crafter that if I can't see it, I forget about it. So now that I've got all the wall space, I can display all my punches with the Bygel Rail System from IKEA that I've been drooling about since I spotted the ideas on Pinterest ages ago. What I never saw though is people taking advantage of the baskets or hooks that accompany this system.

The basket was perfect to hold all my border punches and smaller punches that either took up too much space on the rail, or didn't fit.

The plastic containers are perfect for all my hand-held punches & other accessories and the hooks, as you can see, are holding my punch templates, tools & my technique cards.

If this is something you'd like to do, I suggest running out to IKEA right now because they are discontinuing this product line!

Below are some previous posts on ways I have organized all my twine, Washi, ribbon & embellishments. Since I've previously blogged about them, I won't repeat it, but I loved these organizational methods so much, I had to incorporate them into my new space. They've worked out so well for me! You can probably see them in the picture in the last post.

Baker's Twine, Washi Tape, Ribbon Scraps Storage

Ribbon Storage

Embellishment Storage


Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

What's New?!

Tomorrow marks the two-week anniversary of when we moved into our new house. We're settling in. I'm proud to say that I had 90% of the boxes unpacked within the first week. After that, it's been countless hours of organizing and reorganizing, and organizing some more.

I was finally able to get my new craft space organized, and am happy to report that it is now almost complete! Prior to the move, I did a lot of research on organizational ideas and planning of my new space. Well, a space that is open to a space that the whole family can use (and see, so I better keep it clean!), plus an area where my kids can do some crafting and I can hold small-sized classes.

Over the next few posts, I want to share my new space with you. Not in a bragging way, but I'm proud of the organization of it! I gathered ideas from all over and I thought some might benefit you too!

Unlike my last space, I actually have wall space to use here! I kept the same basic layout as before, with my "must haves" all within close reach in front and beside me in drawers. The rest is still within reaching distance behind me in my storage cubes. With more wall space, I was able to free up a lot more table space, which I'm very happy about!

I will go into more detail on certain areas and organization over the next few posts, so stay tuned!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph