You know you wanna....

... be a guest DT.

Details coming soon!

Stamp Storage

I like to pride myself on being organized but when it comes to scrapbooking supplies, I'm often searching for a better system.

For instance, take my stamps.



Most of my acylic stamps are stored in a basked on my desk, with my block, ink pads, some wood mounted stamps, etc. Convenient and at my fingertips, yes. Easy to locate and take to crops, no.

I recently purchased two Making Memories stamps sets from the Shoppe and they came with their own clear folders. I also noticed that Marcy had some packages of extra folders for sale as well.



So, I decided to see if I could come up with a better storage solutions for my stamps.

I cut several sheets of white cardstock to 5.5x7.25" and slipped one behind each set of stamps. This way, I can see my stamps clearly in the folders and it lets me slip a second set in behind the first set, so I'm using both sides of the folder (the same way we would put two layouts in one page protector.

I decided to store my journaling stamps together, my word stamps together, my shapes together, Red Star Stamps from the MSS monthly kits together, etc.

The individual stamps also fit well in the binders (see Heidi Swapp stamps above.)

Now, how to put them all together....

Marcy had said that she could order in the Making Memories Clear Stamp Storage Binder in for me, but, with Christmas coming, I didn't want to purchase something like this quite yet.

My solution: use a leftover D-ring binder from our church (we'd used them for our church cookbook several years ago.) The storage folders fit well, although they do stick out the end a little.

And because I needed to cover up the front cover and side...

I made two labels using white cardstock and my printer.

Now, if I'm invited to a crop, I can pick up my binder and go, with all my stamps along.
And my basket on my desk now looks a lot neater, too. :)

Holiday Banner Tutorial

(*please excuse the color casts... I didn't have time to edit all of them)

Supplies needed:
- cardstock
- patterned paper
- ribbon
- sewing machine (optional)
- embellishments
- letters

Instructions:

1. Pull out several cardstock colors and patterned papers.
Trim your patterned papers to 5x6". Mark the center of the 5" side (for the bottom tip of your triangle pieces). Draw a line from that mark to each of the corners on the other side. Trim. Repeat for as many triangles as you'll need.
Adhere these to pieces of cardstock and trim around with decorative scissors.

2. Use letter stickers or die-cuts to decorate your banner. Consider "peace", "joy", "noel", "merry christmas" and more. I adhered mine with pop-dots.

3. Dig out some ribbon and machine stitch it to your paper triangles, adding a new piece as you go. If you don't have a sewing machine you can just as easily punch holes in either side of your triangles and tie them together with ribbon.

4. Embellish with stuff from your stash. It's not a great picture, but I sewed on buttons, used a Making Memories snowflake embellishment and a felt flower.

5. Hang over a doorway or window.

Thanks to Liz, Leigh, Barb and Val for participating in my 15 minute challenge.
Winner (by random draw)....
Val!

Thanks for playing!

Friday Sketch #4

I'm back again with another sketch!

and my layout (using the December kit!):

I hope you're inspired...

you know... those OTHER pictures...

A super cool idea from KI Memories...

I think it's a great idea for all those pictures from the past year that you printed and DIDN'T scrap!

Oh yes... I know there are some! ;)

star ornament

a quick and easy ornament.

also works for hearts for valentines.

weekly challenge

15 minutes.

It can be done.

I've learned, over the last little while, that in order for me to continue to love scrapbooking my process was going to have to speed up. I don't have the time that I used to... and I think scrapbooking is too important to NOT do. It's just not possible for me to dawdle over layouts anymore.

So, I put this challenge to you all.

Create a layout in 15 minutes or less. You can have the idea before... that's fine. But the creation of the page has to be done in under 15 minutes. Post your layout in the MSS gallery and link to it HERE (in the comment section).

I'll have a goodie bag of stuff ready for someone at the end of the week!

Here's mine...

don't forget...

... your scrapbooking supplies when wrapping your gifts this year!

I had all these marvelous plans with this tag, but my printer went on the fritz.... you get the idea though.
I used a Marvy Uchida 2 1/2" scalloped punch to punch the green piece, and a Fiskars 2" punch to punch the white circle. (The white circle was supposed to be filled with large printed text and the recipient's name, but... oh well)

Super fast and simple, just make a bunch at a time.

last week favs

Hi everyone.

It's my week hosting the MSS blog and I've got something planned for all my seven days, so hold on... here we go.

I'm starting by highlighting some layouts in our gallery. Some of these have been highlighted in the Featured section of our forum. If you haven't checked that out yet you should! I've long held that our members are some of the most talented scrappers out there!

And, so... here are some of my favorites from this last week...

(designed by Flo)

(designed by Marlo)

(designed by Leigh)

(designed by Jen K)

some more inspiration.

5 days in one.ouch.
now that i am somewhat better,
i have some more ideas for you.
first is pretty obvious.
Scraplift a layout you've seen and loved..
i loved this one by Jamie Waters..(link is below)
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/cg_display.asp?cmd=display&seed_id=28236
i really wanted to lift this, but not exactly,
so i envisioned it flipped and did my layout that way.



how about getting inspired by product???
in this next layout i used a Love elsie frame,
and built the layout around it..
i loved the colours, and how it fit the mood i was going for.



most of the time i get my inspiration from my photos.
in this next layout, the pink and blue are so bright,
you can't help but feel creative..



Being that i work in a video store, i see tons of ideas
everyday..have you ever stopped and looked around work??
in the next layout i used a similar font as the cover of the
game...(which by the way is very fun!)





i sometimes get ideas from the things people say,
songs i hear...
advertisements and flyers...
ideas are everywhere!!!


but thanks for being patient with me this week!!
later!!!
Jen

New

New in store and online

- Pink Paislee Tinsel Town and Sweet Cakes
- Basic Grey Bitsy Stamps (Flowers)
- Cosmo Cricket Oh, Joy
- some new Bazzill Dotted Swiss colors
- KI Memories Gel Candy School Words
- Making Memories Corduroy Albums (restocked)
- Crate Lemon Grass (restocked)
- Lil' Davis Chipboard Months and Days
- Narratives Journaling Cards
- American Crafts 6x6 Mini Albums (so cute!!)

Friday Sketch #3!

Here's the sketch for this week.

and here's my card:

I'm posting this on the message board too, so please post a link to your layout there!

New

New in store and online...

- Jenni Bowlin Christmas and Valentines embellishments
- Scenic Route Garland

The quantities of these items are all online. We will do our best to keep this accurate, but we're only human. It's totally possible, because we're open both online and in store at the same time, that items may be sold out before we get a chance to mark them out of stock.

A Week of Inspiration!

hey Everybody!!!

this week i am going to share with you some things that have inspired me.
Some of the layouts i'll show you aren't new, but were a great deal of help
for me. Today my layout is inspired by a CD cover..


This was a pretty blatant copy more than anything...
i just loved the colours and the motion in the artwork..
It was definitely a challenge to incorporate photos somewhere...and i thought B&W photos would be better w/such a busy background..


For this layout, i used a bit of bazzill cardstock, and the rest is pencil crayon...
i also have this particular layout hanging in my living room...

so maybe the next time you're stuck for ideas, turn to your stereo!!!
anyone up for a CD cover challenge???
if you decide to, please share in the gallery..
i love seeing inspired layouts.

see you tomorrow!!!
Jen

oh p.s....you should listen to the song "grace Kelly" on this
album...its so fun!

Weekly Gallery Highlights!

With the crop last weekend, Leigh posted some fantastic layouts, and I thought I'd highlight some from this week.

Love this one by Bronwyn:

and the pockets on this one by Leigh are so cool:

Love the apple paper background on this layout by Tanya:

Love the grid of pictures on this layout by Errlee!

November DT challenge!

Each month, we are issued a challenge and post our layout/project around the 15th. The challenge is also posted on the message board here, so you can see the rest of the layouts, and post yours when you finish!

Here's the November challenge:

Create a layout (or a mini-book) titled "my life, right now," using six "I" statements. Here are some examples:

I read
I watch
I love
I teach
I garden
I work
I preserve
I eat
I run

You could use some of these or choose different "I" statements. And then feel free to journal about each one.

Here's my layout:

November 14th Sketch!

Here's the sketch for this week:

Feel free to adjust the grid to work with your photo(s)/papers... I did! ;)

I hope you're inspired!

Colour...

How do you use colour on your layouts? Neutrals with a pop of colour, or lots of colours all together on one layout Do you choose colours from your pictures, or choose the colours first and find pictures to work with them? Do you have a favourite book/website/place you turn to for colour inspiration?

I usually choose colours to work with the colours in my pictures when I'm doing layouts. I usually have a few colours, plus a neutral (or two) mixed in. When I'm working on cards, I get to choose the colour combos, and I get into "ruts" of what I like and always use those combos.

I have a file on my computer labeled "Inspiration" where I'll save layouts, web pictures, colour challenges to refer to when I want to get out of a rut. I also have a few colour inspiration sites/blogs in my favourites:

Kristina Werner's blog - she posts a colour challenge each week

Sew, Mama, Sew - an online fabric store with fun, colourful fabrics

Anthropologie - online store (make sure you check out the jewelery, pillows and plates)

art.com - an online gallery... I love the vintage art and abstract sections...

I'd love it if you shared some of your favourite colour inspiration sources!