Storage Solutions: Stamps

Oh ladies! Do you know I had this post done up months ago and then just forgot to post it?! Like seriously... in January I took these photos! But I guess things like this never age, so I thought I'd post it now regardless. It's a bit of an insight into how I store my different types of stamps because like many of you, I have quite the stash of stamps!

First up, it's my collection of rubber stamps. Now I'm not discriminative enough to say that I prefer rubber stamps over acrylic. I'm sure there are many places you can go to find out the pros and cons of each. All I know is that I was lucky enough to have accumulated a reasonably large collection of rubber stamps when I was on the Evalicious Design Team and I store them all in a fish-bowl I picked up at a discount shop.

I decided to have them all loose and individual stamps, so even when I received actual packets of stamps I simply just emptied them into the bowl. And yes, I also store my StazOn Ink, an acrylic block and a notebook in the same bowl. I figured it was easiest to have everything I needed for using the stamps all in the one spot.

And what's in the notebook you're probably wondering? Well in order to keep a record of which stamps I owned, and what they were called I stamped each of them in the book and labelled them first before I popped them in the bowl.

I also found that this was a great way of finishing my scrapbook pages too. Whenever I'm getting close to done with a layout I'll flip through the book to see which stamp might finish it off nicely. I find that's easier than searching through the actual stamp collection.

Alternatively I also find that if I browse through the book it often inspires a page right from the beginning. As you can see, many of the stamps are great journaling prompts. I'm not sure if this video will work, but it shows me flipping though each page for you....

When it comes to my clear or acrylic stamps I've got a different storage solution.

In this ring folder (nothing special.... can't even remember where I got it, but it certainly isn't scrap-specific) I keep all my Studio Calico, Kellie Stamps and other random acrylic stamp sets all in the one place. They're all mounted on Storage Panels which I bought from here.

Now acrylic stamps sets come in a few different 'configurations' as you know. It's hard to see in this picture, but if the set comes mounted on clear plastic with a printed black image then I'll trim off the backing and excess plastic (if it's attached, or simply pull off the backing plastic if it's not) and then simply stick the set as a whole, down onto the storage panel. The acrylic stamps themselves are what cling to the plastic of the panels.

But sometimes the sets come mounted just on clear plastic, and as the stamps themselves are clear it can be very difficult to see what the image is. Just like my notebook for the rubber stamps, when I'm scrapping I want to be able to quickly browse through the folder to find what might work on the page. I don't want to be squinting and holding my head sideways to first work out what the stamp even is! So for these ones I first give them all a test-stamp with black Staz-On Ink which leaves them all 'stained' black.

I'm not fussy about the idea that the stamps might be somehow ruined by this process. In fact, I read once that it's actually quite an accepted practice for priming your acrylic stamps so they stamp clearer images in the future. So I figure it serves two purposes!

Once these stamps are arranged on the Storage Panels I take a permanent marker and write a note about the name of each set/stamp so I'll know for future reference.

So that's my method of stamp storage, and it works for me. But I'm sure there are lots of different options, and I'd love to hear about what you do. One person who has quite a lot of insight into how you can organise your Workspace is Marcy Penner. Which is why she's the perfect candidate to be teaching the upcoming Studio Calico Class of the same name ;-) (did you like that segway? hee hee!)

I got really excited watching her video promo explaining what she's going to teach. It's all about having a system of organisation that works for you. Preferably one that's both beautiful but more importantly, functional. Check it out HERE.

And if you're thinking of signing up for the class, then you might want to take advantage of the corresponding shop offer for 10% off class supplies. It includes the stamp Storage Panels I was talking about earlier amongst other things. So I personally can't wait to take this class. Maybe I'll see you there!

Page Drafts Christmas Sketch Release

The Christmas scrapping continues here as I whip myself up into a festive frenzy! I really love this time of year!

Today is the release of the new bunch of Christmas sketches from Page Drafts, and to celebrate we've put together a sleigh-ful of inspiration from a bunch of designers around the world.

Em makes such wonderful sketches that really drive me to create, so I couldn't help but play along and I chose this particular sketch below to inspire my page.

I struggle a little with the concept of round photos so I scrapped with my usual square Instagram pic, but apart from that I tried to stick to the sketch as closely as possible. With so much detail included in the sketches it's really not hard to find direction, and you don't have to do a lot of thinking for yourself! Especially useful in this busy season where creative time is commonly in short supply ;-)

So I added some clusters of October Afternoon banners top and bottom, plenty of bling and sparkle of course (how fabulous is that American Crafts gold glitter corrugated cardstock I mounted the layout on?!) and a fair sprinkling of Studio Calico paper and Evalicious tags.

The layout tells the story of our family Christmas last year. For the first time ever we stayed put and celebrated at home just the 4 of us for Christmas Day. Usually we are travelling to the country to spend it with family as I have been blessed with many years of not having to work the Christmas week. Unfortunately that wasn't the case last year, and it won't be the case this year either :-(

However, I have to admit that in some small way it was nice to be able to just relax at home and not be worried about getting to the next location on time. It was also lovely to be able to watch the kids open their presents from underneath our own tree for the first time too. And it didn't mean that we skimped on all the 'essentials'... we still had a proper roast turkey and all the trimmings for lunch as this photo proves!

Now this is only one of the fabulous Page Drafts sketches that have just been released. You ought to see what the other designers have created based on the other designs. Check out all the details on the Page Drafts blog here, and get inspired to do a little Christmas scrapping for yourself today!

The Story of the Home Alone Christmas

It's time again for another round of the latest challenge at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration where I'm a Special Deputy this month. The common theme linking all the challenges for December is Christmas (not that you have to follow the theme of course) but I do have a bunch of last year's photos still waiting to be scrapped.

Case File #101 looks like this:

Love the cool colour scheme we had to work with, although I found it a little difficult to get the right tone of green unfortunately. I think this would look particularly awesome if you have White Christmas photos in your collection. Here in Australia though Christmas is generally a boiling hot day spent in your t-shirt and shorts around a BBQ perhaps, so I didn't have any photos of snow!!

The evidence I incorporated into my layout (the embellishments) included: numbers, silver accents, something shiny, circles and Christmas accents. And perhaps frames if you count all those square Ali Edwards stamps I used in the top half of my page as 'frames'. But perhaps not ;-)

And for my testimony I stuck with the rather obvious prompt to 'journal about the holidays'. I wrote all my journaling on a tag hidden behind the photo, not because it's anything private, but more just for space issues. I thought originally it might fit underneath the 25 but after I painted in a few stars for their pop of colour I decided I didn't want to crowd it in beside them. 

I wrote about spending Christmas at home last year just as our own little family of 4 (rather than on the road visiting with all the extended relatives) which was quite a different experience for us. A bit more relaxing I have to say, but certainly misses out on lots of positives too. More on that in my next blog post. Stay tuned ;-)

The Story of the Strawberry Milkshake

I woke up to some extraordinary scrappy news today. The kind that brings a little squeal of excitement. But of course, I can't share it yet. Sorry! What I can tell you is that I'm also very excited about having another opportunity to be a Guest Designer for Scrap Friends' November Colour Challenge. Here's what I created...

Man was this colour challenge a little out of my comfort zone!! All those dark colours? Eeek! I tend to be either a brights or a pastels type of girl! I have to admit I had a mini-breakdown when I saw the colour palette because my mind just went blank as to what to do with it.

After I gathered myself I did what I always do with colour challenges and that's to start going through my stash and pulling out bits and pieces that match the colours. I don't think about collections, or what's going to match with what. I just want the right colours.

Often I find some real gems of forgotten products that probably wouldn't have seen the light of day otherwise. Like these Cosmo Cricket peacock feather stickers that have been in my collection for well over a year now (possible even 2) waiting for the perfect project. Today was their lucky day! They ended up becoming the real star of this layout don't you think?

I mixed in a few new products too, like the transparent Basic Grey die-cuts and Evalicious Stickers. And do you see that there on my page? Yes folks.... that's a flower! I did it! I managed to use a flower on my layout. So proud of myself!

The photo choice almost came last as I needed something that would match all these dark colours. This one of Miss M sipping on a strawberry milkshake suited perfectly. The fact that her polka-dot dress coordinated with the dark polka-dot paper actually came as a bit of a coincidence but I definitely embraced it :-) I used the photo to then prompt my title and journaling direction and made it into a list of her favourite foods right now. Nothing world-shattering but still a snapshot in time that will be worthwhile remembering later.

If you want to play along with the challenge there's a store voucher up for grabs for the winner. Find all the details on the Scrap Friends blog here.

The Story of the Busy Christmas

Did you know Jennifer also has 4 challenges going on (with fabulous prizes involved!) as part of her Frosty Festivities? Be quick though because they close on the 17th ;-)

I've been able to whip up this card for the "Embrace the Busy" challenge which is all about creating something with a busy photo, or busy patterned papers, or lots of busy embellishments. I'm personally a bit prone to the crafting symptom of not knowing when to stop so I figured this was the challenge for me! If I'm not quite happy with how something is looking I just keep on adding things hoping that will solve the problem. I very rarely ever take anything away ;-)

And that's what happened here. I began with a basic design of a couple of Evalicious tags over some lovely October Afternoon paper. That was obviously not going to be enough.
So I added the stamped sentiment (which is from Evalicious' new Dear Santa stamp set) and that was ok, but it still needed more. And that's where is started to go pear-shaped.
You see, I also tried to stamp onto the red tag but it was the wrong colour and it didn't stamp properly anyway. So I covered it up with the blue paper and stuck the birds over it to try and hide it all!!

Then came the snowflakes just because they were left-over from my last Christmas project. And the pearls and rhinestones to finish it all off because all cards need a bit of bling surely?!

So yeah... I think this card qualifies for the challenge "Embrace the Busy" don't you?

The Story of My Confessions....

.... and the winner of the Evalicious giveaway will be posted below too!

Working as a doctor I get to do my fair share of night-shift stints. In fact, in some of my rotations I spend as much as 1/3 of my time rostered onto it. It's quite a different world, and it takes some getting used to. Anyone who does it will tell you their own little tricks for coping. My main staples include lots of coffee, plenty of carbohydrates and some fast-paced comedy entertainment (love 30 Rock!!)

Whilst that sounds like a bit of fun actually, there's also a down-side. It's socially isolating, patients (and even other staff) are more aggressive, I question myself constantly and worry more, I'm perpetually tired and often fall sick. However, I also tend to build better relationships with the other staff when we get the time to sit around and chat because we're much more honest with each other! And it's quite satisfying when everything goes well and you know you've played a vital role in that.

In making this layout I started off with a sheet of Flea Market Jenna paper. You know how I always like to have a border of contrasting colour around my layout? Well this paper already has one built-in! Then I chose some of the chalkboard elements from the Chipboard Stickers and Heirloom paper because I liked the idea of the black representing the 'dark side' of what I was journaling about, and it contrasts nicely against the other pastel colours.

On the other hand, I used the Vellum Gold Doily behind my photo to represent the sun coming up. After all, when you're on night duty that's what you're hanging out for. Seeing the sun rise is the promise that you're soon about to knock off and be able to crawl into your own bed! It's a mini victory every single morning!

I had a lot of comments on this layout that I shared when posting about the Evalicious Giveaway. Specifically, a lot of you were asking about the paper I used, or whether or not I had added the paint splashes/stiches/rubons in the background. The answer is no! All the white that you see is just part of the paper... fabulous isn't it? Makes it look like I had done a whole lot of work when I really hadn't!! It's by a (?French) company called ICC and whilst I can no longer find the exact one I've used here I can see only this one from the same collection that you can buy in Australia.  

Now onto the winner!! Sorry to keep you waiting!

So by random draw the winner is......
LEANNE!
Leanne, send me an email with your postal address and I'll get your prize off to you ASAP :-)

Have a good long-weekend Melbournians!

The Story of the Wild Thing (and a giveaway)

The SC/APOCD Blog Hop is still going on. For your chance to win a 6-month subscription to Scrapbook Creations and a bunch of loveliness from A Piece of Cake Designs then scroll down to my previous post. 

When I posted the new collection of Puffy Stickers from Evalicious on my Instagram account the crowd went wild! And I can't blame them. I just love this new product from Evalicious and I was sooo lucky to be able to play with them. And if you read to the bottom of this post you might just have a chance to WIN some too!

 

But first... my project. Having gone a little card-crazy lately I needed to return to making layouts, and boy was I a little rusty. I must have shuffled things around on this for hours. Probably because I was trying to fit so many of the new delicious Evalicious products in, and sometimes I need to remind myself that 'less is more'. I'm not very good at that ;-)

I picked out some of the mint-green, pink and woodgrain colours from the Everyday collection and layered in lots of cute tags, tabs and stickers. I even cut into one of the Large Tags and made it into a photo frame. The Puffy Stickers came last because they were the perfect finishing touch.

I'd like to think my girls are basically good at heart. In fact, I know they are. But they're young and in their growing, exploring, seeking, striving and stretching they will always push the boundaries. The tantrums that can come of their little bodies is quite incredible. Arms flapping, legs kicking, high-pitched screaming. Yep, sometimes they delve 'into the wild'.
And then I overhear a conversation that reminds me of their true character ....

My eldest takes hold of her sister's shoulders and says, "listen to me now. You're special no matter what. You don't need any fancy clothes, you're special because you're you."

So with that joy in my heart I offer you this little GIVEAWAY!!

Want to win some of your own Evalicious Puffy Stickers and Badge Buttons? Simply leave me a comment here telling me something about your own 'wild things' (interpret that as you wish!) Open internationally, I'll draw a winner Saturday 2nd. Good luck!


Evalicious Supplies:

Evalicious Everyday Snipsnip Large Tags Evalicious Everyday Miscellany Stickers Evalicious Everyday Snipsnip Labels Evalicious Everyday Snipsnip Page Tabs Evalicious Puffy Stickers: Miscellany Shapes Evalicious Puffy Stickers: Itinery V2

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