NC Blog Hop - All About Storage!

Welcome to the NC Demos monthly blog hop.  I think you will like the topic this month!!  I am hoping to get some tips from my fellow NC demos!

Storage .... everyone's dilemma I think!  My daughter will tell you that I'm constantly rearranging and figuring out the best way to store all my stuff (and believe me, I have a lot! )  As crafters, we seem to accumulate soooo much!  And if you are like me, you don't want to part with anything!  Who knows when it will come into fashion again!  My craft room is made up of furniture that I have obtained from a variety of places!  My crafting desk is a wire basket system that my daughter had when she was in high school.  When she went away to college, my son inherited it.  When they were both gone, it came into my possession and has served me well over the years.  Along the back of the desk, I have a couple of plastic storage pieces that I recently got when our local craft store went out of business.  It holds my black and versa mark inks, blendabilities (in stamp boxes), and various items I use on a daily basis.

Next to my craft desk is my computer table which is a 5 foot long table that my husband had in his office before he retired.  It is usually pretty covered up with bits of paper, catalogs, cards, etc.  That is where my computer sits.  Underneath this table I have a couple of Iris carts with drawers holding watercolor paper, glimmer paper, catalogs, 12 x 12 paper, etc.  On top of the table, at the back, is my pride and joy - my stamp pad holder.  My husband made this for me about 12 years or more ago and it is great.  There is a place for all my ink pads (current) with the reinkers right next to them.  I have them arranged in color families - In Colors, Brights, Regals, Subtles and Neutrals. There is one section left that I have retired ink pads in - unfortunately, I need more space for them!

But I have a solution!  My husband got a drawer from the hardware store, notched the sides and glued thin wood into the notches so they would hold ink pads.  He also made a cover that would slide thus closing the drawer.  So, if you needed to take your inks with you to a crop, etc. this would make it easy.   I use it now just for my retired inks.

Next is storage for stamps and dies!  I have a shelving unit that I use to store my stamp cases.  Right now, I have more retired stamps than current!!  I usually keep the retired stamps (that I haven't sold) on the right side of the unit and the current stamps on the left.  I have to make more room on the right side now though!  I just stand them up so I can read the titles and put them in alphabetical order. I store matching dies/thinlits inside the matching stamp set.  I put a stickered circle on the outside of the stamp case if they have thinlits or dies that match the stamp and how many thinlits are in the case.

My punches (current and retired) are kept on Ikea rods.  I have run out of room and not sure what I will do next!

I have been using my Paper Pumpkin boxes for organization too and they work great!  I just turn them inside out and I am able to write on the outside of the box the contents in each box.  I was accumulating so many of the boxes I didn't know what to do so I was really excited to do this.  I have boxes of reinkers; the small uninked ink pads; sheets cut for the inside of my cards; pearls, rhinestones; etc.

My newest storage hack has just happened.  I have been a Paper Pumpkin subscriber for several years and found I was not using the stamps that came in the kits because I didn't know what they were.  I had been throwing them in one of the Paper Pumpkin boxes that I showed you above but not labeling them.  Well for the past few weeks, I took care of that.  I researched to find the month, year and name of each Paper Pumpkin stamp set.  (I called Stampin' Up for this info and found that they could only give me the previous year.)  Yes, I know the info is on the little sheet that comes with the kits, but I only started saving those sheets last year and I have kits from 2014!  I cut cardstock 4" x 5 1/4" and put that inside one of the clear envelopes that SU sells.  Then I slid the stamp set in and using my Dymo Labeler, I labeled each of the stamp sets.  I had a basket that I wasn't using and they fit nicely in it!  Now when I get my Paper Pumpkin, if I am not ready to make the projects, I just put it in the basket until I have time to do it.  In organizing these stamps, I realized how far the Paper Pumpkin kits have come.  I had a few sets from 2014 and 2015 and they were pretty basic.  I am so glad SU has stepped up the Paper Pumpkin kits.  I love getting that little surprise each month and sitting down and figuring out what alternative projects I can make with it.  And when I travel to Hawaii to visit my daughter, these are so handy to take along and work on them on the plane or at her house while she is at work.

I just completed one of my favorite Paper Pumpkin sets, Wildflower Wishes from this past February.  If I hadn't organized them, I wouldn't be able to tell you the name of the kit or the month and year!!

I hope I have given you a little help toward organizing your stamp room.  Seems we all can use just a few good ideas for storage!  Thank you for joining me this month.  Now, hop on over to the next blog and get more storage ideas!!

Toni Campana -

 

Jo Anne Hewins -

 

Tracie Evans Langley -

 

Sharon Maranich - You are here!

Frances Wagner

 

May Stamp Club

I held Stamp Club this past Thursday and ended up with 7 ladies - 2 new ladies and 5 club members.  It was a little chaotic but I think everyone had a good time.  I tried to concentrate the cards on retiring products this month.

The DSP varied in colors and they had the option to use this side with the script or the other polka dotted side.  The retiring stamp set is Garden In Bloom.  I used the Scalloped Tag Punch on this card.  I will miss this stamp.

  

For this card, I used Oh So Eclectic (yay!  it's NOT retiring.)  I cut the flowers out with the matching dies to this set in Soft Sky and Peekaboo Peach (both retiring as is the seam binding I used.)

This was a fun card!  The retiring items on it are the raindrops and the sentiment - both from Sprinkles of Life.  The umbrella and girl are from Beautiful You - definitely NOT retiring!  Another choice for rain is a diagonal line stamp from the retired Gorgeous Grunge.

Instructions:

Ø  Position the long white panel onto the white layer and temporarily hold it in place with washi tape.

Ø  Stamp the image of the lady across the narrow panel with black ink so the top of the umbrella and her ankles are stamped on the larger white panel and the rest of her is on the narrow white piece.

Ø  Lightly stamp rain.

Ø  Stamp umbrella onto DSP.

Ø  Stamp sentiment at bottom right.

Ø  Color the girl with Blendabilities or Watercolor pencils.

Ø  Adhere bottom of umbrella onto narrow panel and the top of the umbrella on to the card.

Ø  Mat the narrow piece onto black cardstock carefully positioning it so umbrella & legs line up.

Ø  Adhere to white cardstock with dimensionals.

The retiring item on this card is the Color Theory DSP.  I have used this paper a lot!  The stamp set is one that was in the retiring Occasions Catalog but will be in the new Annual Catalog called A Good Day.  The Layering Circles framelits makes it a super easy card.  I used Blendabilities to color the images.

I probably won't be blogging much in the next couple of weeks.  I am taking my Mom to Hawaii to visit Ashley.  Ashley surprised Mom with a ticket to Hawaii for Christmas and Mom has been counting down the days.  She is so excited.  Wish me luck on this venture with my almost 90 year old legally blind mother!!  I borrowed a wheel chair from a friend so that should make it a little better.  Luckily, Ashley is very patient with her and will be a great help.

I have my two latest Paper Pumpkin kits that I have not opened yet.  I am planning on taking them on the plane to work on them during the long flight.  We fly from Charlotte to Phoenix (4 1/2) hours and from Phoenix to Honolulu (6 hours).

2018 COLOR REVAMP

 Variety is the spice of life, especially in the world of color.  Stampin' Up makes a point to keep up with trends in the market.  They decided this year it was time to give our color collections a make-over.

There are still 4 core color collections - Brights, Neutrals, Subtles, and Regals.  

Changes by Core Collection:

Neutrals

• Whisper White, Basic Black and Very Vanilla have moved to the new Basics Collection.
• Chocolate Chip is retiring.
• Night of Navy has moved here from the Regals Collection.
• Mossy Meadow (an old favorite) is returning and is part of the Neutrals collection.
• Merry Merlot and Gray Granite are brand new colors.

Brights

• Real Red, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Pumpkin Pie are all moving to the Regals Collection.
• Tangerine Tango and Tempting Turquoise are retiring.
• Returning favorites are Poppy Parade, Flirty Flamingo and Coastal Cabana.
• Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green and Gorgeous Grape are new colors.

Subtles

• Marina Mist, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder are all retiring.
• Mint Macaron is returning.
• Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, Balmy Blue and Highland Heather are all brand new.

Regals

• Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, Island Indigo, Perfect Plum and Rose Red are all retiring.
• Blackberry Bliss is returning.
• Shaded Spruce is new.

The In Color Collections will still operate in the same way.  A new In Color Color Collection will debut every year while the oldest collection will retire.  This year 2016-18 Color Collection is retiring to make room for 2018-2020.

Aren't these colors great?!

If you need some ideas of how to mix and match these colors, look no further!  Stampin' Up has created a free on-line Color Coach demonstrating coordinating colors for the new and returning colors.  Use the links below and downline your own color coach.

CLICK HERE FOR THE CORE COLOR COLLECTION COLOR COACH

CLICK HERE FOR THE IN-COLOR COLLECTION COLOR COACH.

Wildflower Wishes

I think the Wildflower Wishes Paper Pumpkin (February) was my favorite one so far.  It came with sentiments that you could punch out and adhere over DSP.  I did that on a few but I also used the negative space to create my sentiments.

This card is made following the kit instructions.

But on this card, I temporarily adhered the letters (which are sticky on the back) and sponged around them.

For this card, I used the letters that were punched out and adhered them to the banner.  So many choices with this kit!

On this card and the one below, my new Stamparatus came to my rescue.  I was able to just move the top plate (with the sentiment stuck to it) down a notch and stamped "celebrate" in Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise.

I used Brusho to create the background of this card.

It took a while to get all the flowers arranged above but it was worth the effort!

The leaves on this card are vellum.  I just sponged the green ink over them.  I didn't think they showed up as well with the clear vellum.

Life's Celebrations

Things are really busy for my nephew, Derek and his girlfriend.  They bought a house shortly after Christmas and have been busy fixing it up.  And ....well, she is not a girlfriend now - she is his fiance!  Derek surprised her and proposed to Morgan Easter weekend.  They were on their way up to the mountains to join Marianne and Greg on their camping trip.  Derek pulled over somewhere on the Blue Ridge Parkway and they hiked to a romantic spot and he popped the question.  None of us were too terribly surprised!  They will be getting married next year.  Below is the card I made for them.  I used Sunshine Wishes (which is retiring) and used a retired small flower punch for the flowers.  The card is gold so I embossed the bottom part of the "congrats" with gold embossing powder.

This was the inside:

In the midst of all that, Morgan has been working hard on getting her Masters (MBA) at Queens University while working at her job (and fixing up their house).  This past Saturday, she graduated!  We are all proud of her.  They had a party at their house Saturday to celebrate graduation, new home, and the upcoming nuptials!

This was my house warming gift to them.  I kinda copied it from one my daughter in law made!  It was easy to make with supplies from Hobby Lobby and my trusty hot glue gun.

This is the card I made for Morgan for her graduation.  I used bits and pieces of an old Paper Pumpkin kit.  A little card and gift card are in the little envelope on the front.

PAPER PUMPKIN DEALS FOR EVERYONE!!

You have seen the Paper Pumpkin kits that I love.  Well, now is your chance to try them out cheap!! 
Starting today - WHILE SUPPLIES LAST - enjoy up to 75% off the Stampin' Up Paper Pumpkin crafting kits and refills listed below.

This sale is for everyone - even if you are not a Paper Pumpkin subscriber.

As of May 9, these kits will be permanently deleted.

CLICK HERE to see all the bargains!

Not sure what Paper Pumpkin is all about?  Click HERE for a video explaining it.

Click HERE to see the actual kits and to shop for them.  But, remember to refer to the chart above for pricing!!  I want you to get the best deal!

More ..... Paper Pumpkin from March

I've made several more cards using bits and pieces from the March Paper Pumpkin.  I honestly have to say that I am sick of this kit now!  I've made 20+ cards using the kit.  Now, I am going on to other things .... maybe the April Paper Pumpkin!  You'll have to check back to see.

Last week Sonny and his Texas friend, Graham, joined a few of the Lake Norman Golden Boys for their annual spring trip shooting skeet in South Carolina.  Normally, Graham's wife, Margaret, stays with me while they are gone but she was in England this time taking care of her mother so I was on my own.  You know, sometimes that's not so bad!  I had Stamp Club on Tuesday and Thursday which kept me busy.  But, it was nice to eat when and what I wanted for dinner and just do whatever I wanted!  But it was good to welcome Sonny back home on Thursday. 

I had a nice surprise yesterday.  My half-brother and his wife contacted me that they were coming to NC for a quick visit.  They have been on the road for 2 weeks from Texas, where they live, visiting family in the Pennsylvania area and seeing sights along the way.  We met them for dinner last night and my NC family joined us.  My sister, Angela, met my brother for the first time!  My mom and other sister, Marianne, had met him in the past on their visits to Texas when we lived there.  It was so fun!

OK - now to the cards I made with Paper Pumpkin.  I'm not going to add a lot of commentary on these cards because I think they are pretty self explanatory.

For the sentiment, I used the Tailored Tag Punch from the Occasions catalog (and will be in the new annual catalog!)

The Crumb Cake scallop comes from one of the envelopes included in the kit.

I used the Circles dies for the Crumb Cake scalloped circle.  The Fresh Fig half scallop is the flap cut off from one of the envelopes in the kit.

The wooden flower is one of the elements that Stampin' Up included in the Paper Pumpkin as a thank you gift.  I used a dauber to color it with Fresh Fig ink.

April Stamp Club Cards

We had fun this week at Stamp Club.  I used some retiring items on the cards.

This card was the favorite by everyone.   Actually, most things on this card will be in the new catalog coming out in June .... except for Marina Mist ink that I used for the water in the Wetlands stamp and the Leaflets die which I will really miss.

We all need sympathy cards in our stash and hope we don't have to use them.  This card uses Heartfelt Sympathy and Work of Art (boo hoo) stamp set and Perfect Plum which are all retiring.   

Another retiring stamp set - Painters Palette and ink - Tempting Turquoise.  I love bright colors so this was a favorite card of mine and super easy.  I'll miss Tempting Turquoise ink.  It used to be "go to" ink but I don't think  I have used it much lately.

This retirement stamp set was a shocker to me.  It was so popular and only around for a year.  It's one I will hang onto because it makes such cute cards.  The happy birthday is embossed in white.  The black and white striped ribbon is on sale now for $2 in Clearance!!  The tiled floor is 1/2" white squares that are glued onto the black cardstock.

Don't forget to check out the Clearance section as well as the retiring items.  Just click above - Shop and Clearance to check out the deals.

Paper Pumpkin, March - Part 2

Are you tired of the "May Good Things Grow" Paper Pumpkin kit yet?  I'm telling you, this is a great kit!!  I can't wait to see April's kit.  If you want to have a kit delivered to you each month, look at the great deal that is being offered now (until May 10.)

This is one of the envelopes that I cut apart.  The green striped semi-circle is the flap from the envelope.  

Another gorgeous envelope!  There is no stamping on this card - how easy is that?  The decorative edge at the top and bottom is die cut from the Flourishing Phrases thinlit.

Another envelope ... this time I cut it down so just the flowers were highlighted.  I added a piece of ribbon to the bottom.  I'm so excited to see brads included in this kit.  (and in the new annual catalog!)

This is probably my least favorite!  I decided to sponge a little Fresh Fig ink on the edges of the flowers.  It does look a little better in person!

Paper Pumpkin, March - Part III

I am having so much fun with this Paper Pumpkin.  I have made so many cards (22 to date!) by just adding a few pieces of cardstock to the rest of the elements in the kit.  Most of the cards in this post are using the directions that came with the Paper Pumpkin kit.

This is one of the cards that you get the instructions for in the kit.

This card is the same as the one below (which you get the instructions for) - only I just added an extra flower and changed the twine to some pink that I had in my stash.

This is the front of one of the envelopes that came in the kit.  Too pretty to be an envelope, huh?  I cut the other envelopes apart and made cards with them.

This is the back of the envelope.  There is patterned paper inside.

Another one of the envelopes that I didn't cut apart.