Clothespin Magnets

Happy Monday All. Hope everyone is having a great start to the week. It is rather chilly and dreary here, but its actually a nice break from the heat wave we had for the last few weeks.

Today, I thought I'd share a quick project that I whipped up several weeks ago. I intended to put them up in my etsy shop, but I just haven't had the chance to do it yet. A few months ago, I picked up some really cheap embellishments on clearance at Michaels. Since I had a bunch of the same or very similar little fabric brads, I thought I would whip up a couple sets of clothespin magnets. 

For this project, I just used some clothespins from a 100 pack that I got at Walmart, some embellies from Michaels, a hot glue gun, some homemade modge podge, patterned paper, and a heavy duty magnet roll that I got a couple years ago at Ace Hardware (These rolls have lasted me quite a while. I'm  still on my first roll I think.).

Since I will be putting these up in my shop, I wanted to create a cute chipboard shape to package them with, so I ran a very thin sheet of chipboard through my Cuttlebug machine with a Spellbinders die and then cut it in half with my paper trimmer.

Hello Friends!

Wow, well it's been a few weeks. I've been a very bad blogger this year and especially this summer. There has been quite a bit going on. In June we went to Florida (Hubby had a business trip that I tagged along for) and then Michigan for my brother-in-law's wedding, then Georgia in July to say goodbye to my mom's best friend who died suddenly from cancer and who was like an Aunt to me and then to Erie last weekend for my brother's wedding. Oh, and I got a job that I started two weeks ago!It's been rough getting used to working on reduced medications, I've had some really bad days this summer with all of the things going on and I would greatly appreciate prayers. 

I haven't been doing much crafting, but I have done a little. I did several scrapbook layouts for our own albums. I shared several pictures of these on Facebook, but, since the layouts have pictures of friends and their children, I really don't want to share them in an open forum. I did however create a few notepad holders with a place for a pen/pencil.

I am really pleased with how much of my stash I have been able to use this year, between my mom's scrapbooks, my scrapbooks, and the various other projects I've done. I've used over 1/2 (probably closer to 2/3) of my stash of patterned papers. I found a couple of ladies on youtube who were always talking about how they just made themselves cut in to their papers and play with layouts and projects to combat their desire to just hold on to all the pretty paper and not do anything with it. Their videos gave me quite a bit encouragement to take that approach. Now, I just grab some coordinating papers and start cutting things down to size and layering until I find a design that works and it's really been working for me. Now I can look at the pretty papers in albums with memorabilia and pictures that are dear to me. :)

To make these holders, I simply measured the size of the the notepad and then marked off the paper where I wanted to score lines to be able to fold up the papers properly. I used my Martha Stewart score board to score the edges. I used an 8 1/2 x 11 paper for the base, and so I placed the paper on the score board so that the long edge was up against the top of the board. I then scored the paper at 3 1/2 inches, 4 inches, 4 1/2 inches, and then 8 inches. I then got out my paper trimmer and cut off the excess 3 inches of paper that I would not need. I then flipped the paper and measured the length of the paper pad and then cut off the excess width of the paper at 6 inches I believe (The measuresments will be different, depending on what size the notepads are. I always just get out my ruler and take the measurements of the notepads I am using and then add about 1/4 of an inch to each measurement because I've found that it looks nicer.) I then cut lines across the center between the 4 and 4 1/2 inch score lines and then after folding up the other score lines and adhering the card stock base together, popped out the two sections where I cut the lines to have something to slide a pen in with the notepad. 

(Those are really horrid directions, if anyone is interested, I could do a step-by-step with pictures of each step. You don't actually need a score board for this. It could be done by marking off with a ruler and then simply folding the paper at the lines and then use scissors to cut off the excess paper.)

For the first notepad holder, I used basic blue cardstock from Michaels, and layered it with a My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad. I believe that the flowers are old ones from Prima, and the gold pearl is from Queen & Co. The sentiment is made of Thickers and the pen is from a giant pack of Fiskars gel pens that my MIL bought me a couple of Christmases ago. The punched designs are from a EKSuccess border punch that I got at TJMaxx for like 4 dollars last summer. I really like how EKSuccess makes their punches. They are very durable, and the flatten out so that you can store multiple punches on top of one another.

For the second paper pad, I used primarily things from my stash. The pink woodgrain washi tape is from Darice and I also used thickets, as well as some old ribbon and patterned paper. The card stock is from a basic color card stock pack from Michaels. I used the same process to create all of these notepad holders. The washi tape is actually to make a mistake I made in cutting out the section to hold the pen. It doesn't look exactly what I intended, but I think that it still looks nice.

The last one is my very favorite. I absolutely love the stamp set (Studio G stamp set that was only $.75 at Michaels, score!). I stamped out the images and sentiment on basic card stock from Michaels with Bahama Breeze blue memento ink and some Studio G blue rhinestones and fussy cut the images. I used a 1 1/2 inch circle punch from Fiskars to punch out the sentiment. The patterned paper is from Crate Paper's "The Pier" 6x6 paper pad. I absolutely love that paper and can't wait to create something else with it. Right now though I like some of the papers so much that I don't actually want to cut in to it! :) In my experimenting with different ways to make these holders, I discovered that two cut outs on the side works much better than just the one, but I got the pen to stay with a little velcro. From now on though, I will be using the method I used from the above holders.

 

PS - Sorry for the novel. LOL. I need to get back into a schedule of posting instead of one ginormous post every few weeks!

And I am Done!

If you happen to be a friend of mine on Facebook, you probably know that I finally finished the scrapbooking project for my mom and few weeks ago. I gave them to her earlier this month and am so happy to be done with the project, especially now that I will be starting a new job in a week. I still want to do a process post, sharing how I organized everything and how I decided to separate the layouts into albums, but for now I thought I'd share a few more photos with you. Most of these layouts are pictures of my church family growing up.

In Georgia

Good Morning All from the state of Georgia. I am here with my parents visiting my mom's life long best friend. She's known me my entire life and is like family. She is very, very sick and if you could hold her, her family and my parents up in prayers during this difficult time, I am sure that they would greatly appreciate it.

I'm sitting in the breakfast area of our hotel right now while my parents sleep and I thought I'd share some of the scrapbook pictures of the various weddings my family has been to over the years. For the most part, I used supplies that either matched or coordinated with the colors of each wedding. In the first set of wedding pictures, I was a miniature bride (my brother was the miniature groom).... Let me tell you, that barrette/ fake veil I was wearing was not cool. I almost got in trouble because I wouldn't stop tearing it out of my hair, lol. :)

Enjoy!

My Sketchbook

Oh wow, I almost started typing "Happy Monday" when I realized that it was, in fact, Tuesday. This is probably because we got up at 4:30 yesterday morning to return home to VA after visiting MI for my  brother-in-law's wedding. I passed out on the plane and then again for about two hours when we finally got home, so all in all, yesterday was a bit of a blur!

Anyhow, I thought I would share with you how I capture ideas for all things creative, whether it be card layouts, scrapbook layouts, changes I want to make on the blog or things I want to do about the house. I bought a sketchbook from the Bargain aisle at Barnes & Noble and decorated it with some Dear Lizzy thickers and washi tape. In the sketchbook, I keep sketches ;) as well as printouts of scrapbook layouts that I printed out from the computer.

I don't really have any organization to the book; I kinda just doodle or tape ideas as they come or as I find them. (which is weird, as I am incredibly organized usually, but in this case, I found I could be more creative if I wasn't worried about making sure that I had everything sectioned out and organized in a system.) Now, an artist I am not, but I don't really worry about that. I just put the ideas down on paper, and even though the pictures are not perfect, I know what I meant when I drew it, so it works for me.

So, are there any ways that you keep your creative ideas? I'd love to hear about it!

More Layouts to Share

Hello All, I hope that you are all enjoying better weather than we have been having the last two days. Rain, rain, rain! Anyhoo, I just thought that I would post some more layouts for the scrapbook project I have been working on. I am finally seeing the end of the tunnel. Only one more vacation to scrapbook, pictures of our church family growing up, and a few miscellaneous pictures that slipped through the cracks when I originally organized all of the photos at the beginning of this project.

Vacation Layouts

Well, I just thought I would share a few more scrapbook layouts today. These are vacation layouts that I worked on several weeks ago. I still have a few more vacation trips to work on, but I would say that I am about 2/3 done with the vacation pictures.

For these layouts I used cardstock and patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket, DCWV, Tim Holtz and papers from the Target dollar aisle. I used some vellum sentiments from an 8x8 travel themed paper set, some orange American Crafts Lullaby Thickers and Cosmo Cricket MIni Alphas for the titles. The embellishments are from the dollar aisle at target as well as Making Memories.

The Great Scrapbook Escapade continued......

Hello all, I thought I would share some more pictures from the scrapbooking project I have been working on. So far I have two more layouts and I am finished with my brother's pictures, one more layout for my sister, a couple of my childhood pictures, and a number of layouts left to finish up my family's vacation pictures, extended family pictures, church family pictures and a few left of Christmas pictures. Below are a number of the Christmas layouts I finished up.

The Great Scrapbooking Escapade of 2013

As some of you know, I recently took on a project to scrapbook every picture my mother has printed out, to include large formal pictures and any other photos that were on the wall and in old albums, photo boxes, etc.... I've finished probably 150 layouts since mid-February and still have probably about 75 layouts to go, but I thought that I would share some photos of the layouts that I have already completed.  Below are some of the layouts  from photos of my brother and sister. Since my mom has much less space to keep things than she used to, I am trying to keep the layouts as flat as possible so that I can fit as many layouts as possible in each album.

And we move on to the office space.....

Good Morning All... It's Friday!!! Can I get a YIPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (Okay, so I'm excited it's almost the weekend if you couldn't tell!) Nothing is going on this weekend really, just really glad the week is over. It was a rough one.... But I digress, I thought I'd share some more pictures of our in-progress apartment.... the office space... The office is still a work in progress (we still need a filing cabinet and I am working on making the cardboard drawers in our storage cubes pretty with patterned paper, but it is functional for now ;) )

I wanted to spend as little as possible in my storage solutions for my crafting, and so far I've only had to spend like $8 dollars on a over the door shoe holder for all my ribbon and a few storage containers from Ikea for my buttons, the rest was pretty much re-purposed from elsewhere. Oh, and I spent $2 for little white dishes to hold our keys. Those will eventually get moved to a small table directly inside our door, but for now they are right beside our docking station for our phones. I also plan on covering the cork board with fabric and hanging it over the breaker box on the wall beside the furnace room door.

Anyhoo, the pictures....

 I put this shoe organizer on the inside of the furnace room door, making it right behind my desk if I need some ribbon, but hidden if we have anyone over.

Right now, we have all of our files/shipping/items waiting to be worked on for gifts/my Etsy shop in those two white boxes on the floor. Surprisingly, it's driving my  hubby battier having all of the files shoved in that box than it is me. :) But the biggest thing is that WE BOTH HAVE DESKS NOW!!!! I have a desk just for me to spread my crafting craziness across and he has his side with the PC on it. :) :) :) :) :) I have a craft space now that doesn't involve sitting on the floor at the coffee table. :)

I am working on getting my things more organized/making the storage solutions look a little prettier, but for now I am very thankful we have the space to keep all of my crafting items in close reach instead of needing to have them stored in a separate room from which I work...

I was able to bring in my storage for my crafts that had been in the spare room in the other apartment, and get extra storage for stuff that had been in our much bigger previous desk... and also fit some more of my crafting supplies. We were also able to get the printer up off the floor too. :)

 If you notice the wall behind the right desk. I was able to re-purpose some shelves to hold more crafting supplies. The top shelf holds my glitter supplies (given to me by an awesome friend who has given me so much to start my crafting hobby. I am so grateful for all her help and giving heart!) The bottom shelf holds all of the little containers for my buttons. I purchased 4 of them at Staples, but when I went back they didn't have any more round ones, so I re-purposed some containers from an Ikea Container set. I put them low enough so that I can easily grab whatever I need off of the shelves.

That basket is usually on the other side of the desk beside my lamp, but I had my craziness spread out on the desk and needed it moved over. :) That basket holds all of my in-progress projects (mainly Christmas oriented stuff right now), that way I can keep the craziness contained when I am not working on it. Behind it is another organizer that holds all of my markers, colored pencils, stamp markers, and also holds my coupon holder as well (making the most of the space :) )

On that back wall are all of mine and  hubby's diplomas and certificates. That wall to the right needs something, but I haven't decide what yet. :) I want to make the most of our space, but not make it feel cluttered.... We have a giant window between our desks, as well as the wrap around window wall that carries into the office from the living room which really help keep the space feeling opened.

God really was so good with this apartment. It has pretty much everything I wanted in a space. :) 

You may notice that we have a lot of black furniture - there is a rational for that... since we are mainly living in an apartment for the foreseeable future and each apartment is set up differently, I wanted to keep our furniture similar so that I could pull things into different rooms and not be driven crazy by the fact that they don't go together. ;)

Wow, this post was quite the mouthful :)