Thursday, March 27, 2014

Cutting Guide for Ink Pad & Reinker Storage Unit

Hi everyone!

I have finally been able to grab some time to type up the cutting guide for the Ink Pad & Reinker Storage Unit (IPRISU) and you can click HERE to view it and download it. It is in a pdf format and there is only ONE graphic in the document LOL.

When I finish editing the videos of Justin's Spinning Desk Organiser I will get to editing the IPRISU videos.

So, an update on the progress of the video of my creating Justin's Spinning Desk Organiser - it's still in the early stages, sorry. I had so many "measurement errors" - yes ME the measuring queen, that it is taking longer than it should - and the fact that I have to sort through what is RIGHT and what is WRONG in order to get it together. There are many many hours involved in putting this one together

Don't forget the S T I C K L E S Spinner Storage Unit Cutting Guide - click here!

OK, now to await the decision on the 30 finalists for the Graphic 45 Design Team Audition.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Card Inspired by Jess

Hi everyone!

I can't believe how productive I've been lately! Making lots of cards, thanks for the inspiration Jess, and making storage units, updating my blog, organising my YouTube videos into playlists, and not to mention the endless editing process of my storage unit videos, which I hope to upload soon, along with cutting guides!

Anyway, this card I made yesterday was so fun to make! It was inspired by Jess (Paperstudio13) who makes awesome cards! I had recently made a "dots" stencil from acetate and the 3 "boing boing" eyelet setters and a half inch circle punch. I used this on the background of this card and I just LOVE the effect!

I also made some "half-backed pearls" using my glue gun and some Pan Pastels as I didn't have the colours I wanted for this card.

The card is plain and simplistic, and not really at all my "style" but I am loving it!





You can watch the process here on my YouTube channel.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to craft :)

Ink & Reinker Storage Unit

Yup! Another storage unit. This time it holds most (well, a few) of my non-distress ink pads such as Ranger Archival, VersaFine, Memento, StazOn, ColorBox and India Ink.

Not only the ink pads but I have two boxes, each holding 25 re-inkers, sitting on top of the "spinning" unit! The top box can be removed by lifting with the handle, to reveal another box underneath.

I have been wanting to make this one for a while now, but it has only been recently that it became an URGENT to-do project as my ink pad drawers were overflowing and very difficult to close LOL.

The "shelves" of the ink pad modules are made in the same way that the S T I C K L E S Spinning Storage Unit was made, with "ledges" that the "shelves" slot into. Creating it this way used less chipboard (I think) and made for a much "cleaner" look.

I used Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante paper to cover and embellish it. The shelves and reinker sections were sprayed with Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays. And of course the piece de resistance is the Lazy Susan spinner underneath!

I will be adding a Cutting Guide here as soon as I can as well as a link to the YouTube video on the making of it (when I get around to editing the video), so keep an eye out for that! The height (without the spinner) is 17 3/4" to the top of the top re-inker box, the width is 8" (with the ink pads). If you wanted to make this and was wondering about the "spinner" size, I used a 4" round spinner, however the base area of the unit measures 6 1/4"x6 1/4".

Below are some photos of the unit.













On to the next project!

Smiles
Jen

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Card Series-Thinking of You #2

Trying to categorise the types of cards we make is not as easy as you might think! The following card I have just made could be included in the "For You" or the "Thinking of You" or even have a category of its own!

So I have decided to include it in the "Thinking of You" category, given that the sentiment on the front says "Sometimes you just don't need a reason", someone has been thought of LOL.

Anyway, instead of telling you how I made it, I uploaded a video to YouTube (click here) on the making of this card, however the materials used are listed below:

  • Recollections Kraft Cardstock (card base)
  • Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock - Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Shattered Collection
  • Vintage Timeless paper by KaiserCraft
  • Corrugated cardboard
  • Gesso
  • Circle Lace stamp by Hero Arts
  • Chipboard (hand cut into a heart shape)
  • Gilders Paste in "Gold" and "African Bronze"
  • Swiss Dots embossing folder by Provo Craft
  • White cardstock
  • "Beautiful Wishes" stamp set by Creative Expressions
  • "Too Kind" stamp set by Stampin' Up!
  • Distress Inks in Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain
  • VersaMark embossing ink
  • Ranger Embossing Powder "Seafoam White"
  • Natural twine, Scor-tape, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Gesso, Tim Holtz Distress Tool




Graphic 45 Design Team 2014 Audition

I can't believe I'm actually auditioning for the Graphic 45 Design Team 2014! Li'l old me from the upside down Land Down Under! I can only try I guess. Would be an amazing experience don't you think!

So...I have to provide at least 6 different projects which I have made. Hmmmm...which ones??? I guess because my design strength leans more toward building and construction of storage items, I have decided to include a couple of these items for which I used other paper lines.

The first project is one of which I am very proud - the Distress Ink Storage Unit. This one used a LOT of chipboard and glue (most of my projects do LOL) and very little paper! I designed it myself and the making of this was recorded live on Ustream. Click HERE to view the recording. I added a Lazy Susan spinner for the base and created a label sheet to print onto copy paper which prints the label on all four sides of the ink pads.

Distress Ink Storage Unit

"spinner" attached

Labels


My next project is Valentine's Day themed. I say themed because I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day and all the red, so the perfect paper to use on this project was Graphic 45's Le Romantique! My daughter, Mandy wanted me to make her a box to hold sentiment cards as a gift to her husband, Tod for Valentine's Day. The cards were titled "I love the fact that..." and Mandy filled in each card with things she likes about Tod. I designed this box also. It is just a box, but I made a mistake or two so I "hid" the "mistakes" with some strips of chipboard around the edge of the top, and it looked so good I added to the bottom also/ I thought this inclusion actually made the project "pop", as well as being practical as the bottom pieces stopped the lid from slipping all the way down to the bottom of the box which would have made it difficult to open.


The caption on the paper here was made for this project!




I have not been bitten by the Project Life bug - yet - however Mandy (yes, Mandy again) needed a storage box to hold all her PL cards, so I set sail again and designed a storage unit for Project Life cards. I have since made another Project Life Storage Unit (PLSU) - again for Mandy as she wanted to fill a 23"x8" space on her desk. I must digress here as I thought this was kind of a funny story as to why I built a bigger PLSU.

So....Mandy's husband Tod was so impressed by the first PLSU I made for Mandy that he asked if I could make him one to use as a "remote boat" (storage for his many remotes - TV, X-box, stereo, etc). So I built him one - no big deal. THEN Mandy cleans her craft work area and decides Tod's "remote boat" and her original PLSU fit "almost" perfectly in this 23"x8" space on her desk. Well, I was told that I could either make Tod another Remote Boat OR I could make one BIG PLSU for Mandy so Tod could have his original "Remote Boat" back. Yes, you guessed it, I made the mambo jambo PLSU for Mandy LOL.

Original PLSU (I use it for a desk organiser)

Version 3 (Mandy's) Empty

Version 3 Filled with Project Life Cards
And the next project is my latest "spinning" storage unit. This one was made for my grandson, Justin. I had just finished a spinning desk organiser for his sister, Amelia, but Justin had to have one also LOL. I didn't have any paper that would suit a boy in my stash (yeah, go figure!) but what I did find suited Justin perfectly! Justin LOVES the circus, so guess what paper line I used - that's right, Graphic 45's Le Cirque!!! I love how this one turned out, and so did Justin! All sides contain at least one drawer, the fourth side I built a vertical paper rack. To complete this spinning organiser I decided to add a circus tent on the top level. Justin LOVED the circus tent!!! Nan did good! LOL

Justin's "spinning" desk organiser
The side with the letter rack




 

 
The circus tent
I thought I should add a card to this submission as I do love making cards. The one I chose to include was a "New Baby" card using Graphic 45's Little Darlings paper. What I set out to do with this card was to use up some of the bits and pieces left over from another project (mini album). I also used a chipboard die-cut piece from the Little Darlings Tags 2 die-cut collection, as well as the "Love" stamp from the Little Darlings stamp set. This is what I came up with.



I think I'll have to add just one more project to the list here. For some unknown reason I decided to make a log cabin. Sooooo....after countless strips of 5/8" chipboard pieces, a LOT of adhesive, a LOT of paint, and a LOT of water to get the curve of a true log shape, I came up with this:

This side shows the chimney

The front shows the flower boxes on the windows and the verandah


Close-up of the front door - hinges were made from paper!

The side door is the spine of the enclosed mini album


Oh my! Choosing which projects to include here in the Graphic 45 Design Team 2014 Audition was much harder than I thought! Hopefully the selection shows my style and how I make use of the papers. Thanks for the opportunity to submit my audition and for all the support from my crafty friends, without whom I would never have considered I was good enough to at least try for it!

Smiles
Jen

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Card Series-New Baby #1

Hi everyone!

I'm on the card kick again and this time it's a New Baby card! What better way to start off a new card series, a new baby card series, than creating one using Graphic 45's "Little Darlings" paper collection!

Other supplies I used were: 
  •     The 'love' stamp from the Little Darlings stamp set
  •     NEW ARRIVAL chipboard piece from the Little Darlings Tags 2 die-cut set
  •     Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla cardstock for the card base
  •     Large scalloped punch by Stampin' Up!
  •     Mini doily stamp from the Vintage Labels stamp set by Stampin' Up!
  •     Tim Holtz distress tool
  •     Scor-tape
  •     Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue
  •     3 half-back pearls
I wanted to use up some of the bits and pieces of paper left over from other projects, so that's what I did! I made a beautiful card using the leftovers!

Below is a pic of the completed card, but if you would like to view more photos and/or watch the making of the card, I have uploaded a start-to-finish video up on YouTube and you can view it here at the bottom of this post, or click HERE to watch it on YouTube.






Saturday, March 1, 2014

Justin's Spinning Desk Organiser

G'day everyone!

Well, it is FINALLY finished! this one had me second guessing myself so many times it was getting so frustrating. I would say time and time again that I would put it away for a few days and come back to it with a fresh mindset. Well, that didn't work for long as it kept eating away at me that I was 'losing' it!

Many of you who know me, know that I 'love' working out measurements for things I'm making, heck I measure EVERYTHING lol. So when things were NOT fitting into their spaces I was shaking my head and wondering what the heck I was doing! This rarely happens to me, so I'm of the opinion that my mind is starting to feel the effects of old age OR I really need to get back out into the workforce! I'm hoping it's the latter lol!

Having three grandsons you would think I would have had some paper suitable for boys that would be perfect - WRONG! What I did find (and might I say it was the PERFECT choice) was a complete paper pad of Le Cirque by Graphic 45. Justin LOVES the circus, so it just had to be!

Anyway, I finally finished Justin's "spinner" and while I did film most of the making of it I'm not sure whether I will try and edit all those videos and upload to YouTube or whether I should just put up a 'bloopers' video of it - the verdict is still out on that one, but will let you all know.

I have put a slideshow together and uploaded it to YouTube to show you up close how it all looks, until I decide on a start-to-finish video. Below is the slideshow and beneath that is the video of Justin's reaction to seeing his "spinner" for the first time.