It's a Creative World

Spice it up!

I've been looking at some way of storing my Glimmer Mists and other various spray bottles as at the moment they're all on a shelf and tend to get knocked down every time I try to get something else!

I have a spice rack that's been up on my kitchen wall for at least 10 years but has always only held a few empty jars and not much else and after trying it out for size I found it would be perfect for my Mists.

I cleaned it thoroughly and left it to dry and then started painting. I used a tester pot of a lovely lilac matt emulsion which I applied using baby wipes. It took about 3 coats with drying time between each coat but in this warm weather it didn't take long.

 
I'm now waiting for my dear OH to fix it to the wall for me above my desk but in the mean time have it stood on top of my stamp storage rack.

 

I'm now wondering whether I really need the other 2 spice racks in my kitchen LOL!

Jo x

 

Earring Holder

Hi I wanted to make some small presents as a thank you for some friends.

I came up with these earring holders.

 

Take a picture frame (I used the 3 pack you can buy from IKEA

Cover the front of the frame with a patterned paper and trim to fit.

Paint the edges with acrylic paint, don't worry if some goes onto the paper, it will cover up any uneven bits.

Decorate to suit yours or your recipients taste.

The bird and branch are Maya Road bare chipboard.  The branch has been inked and embossed using dusty concord distress embossing powder.  The bird was stamped using a feather effect stamp.

The mesh is from a car accessories shop, is aluminium and comes in sheets slightly smaller than A4.  (It's for car body repairs, is much cheaper than the craft mesh and can be coloured with alcohol inks as well.)

Use the glass from the frame as a template to cut it to size, it's held in place by the frame catches.

Here are two more I've made.

Thanks for looking

Lynne x

Do you ever wish?

Hiya Claire here

So do you ever wish? I do usually as I'm drooling over stash in an online scrapbook store... Oooh I wish I had one of those... or in the case of Glimmer Mists.... Ooooh I wish I had all of those. So I vow to save for it, whilst still checking out various other items too, which I'm also saving for. The problem occurs when I have the saved up pennies & can't remember what I wanted, so I have a nose about & buy something else to then remember what I wanted & having no pennies so I came up with a plan... involving one of these...

 

this empty crateboard tin has been sat in my box of things to alter for ages, so its about time I used it.

I took the large C off the rope & sanded it down...

 
& sprayed it with Vintage Pink Glimmer Mist.

I covered the tin in some Bo Bunny paper...

And added some beaded edging ribbon from Dunelm Mill around the top...

Then I stamped my desired words onto some Blue Bo Bunny paper & attached it to the front of the tin.. 

 I stamped this little lady from Stampotique onto some canvas fabric...

then attached her to the tin...

finally I reattached the C..

And here it is my very own scrapbooking tools & stash wish jar...

The idea is that when I see something I want, I write it down on a piece of paper (with price & shop details) put it in the jar, then when I get the chance, I can pick one out & I can treat myself, not only that, come Christmas I'll be handing this around to the family, just so I don't get 14 bottles of bubble bath & some socks again (yep, that happened one year).

Thanks for stopping by & see you later on this month

Claire

xx

  

Altered things

Last month my friend and I organised a fund raising day for a local hospice, to raise some extra money I altered some plastic boxes and lids into something useful.

I often find that I use the same recipes over and over again, they are always in different cookbooks, and if DH cooks, the pages are splattered with his culinary achievements, (a failsafe way to spot a good recipe in our house). I decided to make a wipe clean recipe book for those recipes we use time and time again.

The covers are plastic, they came from a large lid cut down into the right size, but plastic file folders or dividers would work just as well. The inside pages are printed and then laminated.

The box that my recipe book goes in has been covered with paint dabbers, and then I used a phone directory and decopatch glue to stick strips randomly on the front. I used a lime green paint dabber and a baby wipe to make a colour wash all over the cover once the glue was dry, and added a couple of embellishments and the word recipes.

The ribbon boxes had a clear see through lid, a friend suggested punching holes and after decorating I think it makes a rather nice ribbon holder.

The mini book has yet to be decorated, I used two sheets of plastic with holes punched in for the front and back cover and then cut half a sheet into squares to use as tabs on each page. A really simple idea but a good way of recycling.

I hope you will be inspired to alter things you might otherwise throw in the bin.

Debbie x

By colour

A week or so ago I decided that my crafting corner (one end of our dining room) needed tidying and about 4 days later I re-emerged!!

I found so many embellishments still in packets and odds and ends I've collected over the years and forgotten about that I decided to take them all out of their packaging and sort them mainly by colour in the hope that I may use them more if they were easier to find.

I used a box each for green, blue, pink and purple and then another box for red, orange and yellow.

All metal things/ black and white/ naturals etc were put in more boxes (another 3 of them so far)!

I'm finding that I'm using more of my stuff now I've organized like this and would recommend it to anyone.

How about you? Do you organize by colour?

Jo x  

Hybrid Storage Tin

Hi Dolly here

 

By now you know I don’t throw things away. Not anything!

I have a whole heap of Maya Road tins and boxes and they are just way too pretty not to use.

 

 

 

 

The metal takes alcohol inks really well and so that was what I started off with. I coloured the tin in shades of rose and ochre and also used one of the metal inks … the copper …. Which gives a gorgeous rich effect.

 

 

I used digital kits from Weeds and Wildflowers called Vintage Comfort and Believing in You for the papers, embellishments and to help me make the picture insert for the lid.

 

I made a mini digital scrapbook page with a photo of the gorgeous Emily, some paper lace and stitching and printed this out, adding it inside the window of the tin.

 

 

 

I printed out more of the same paper and used strips to edge the box, cover the back and to line the inside of the lid.

 

I printed the elements and mounted them onto this card before adhering them to the box.

The tin was finished with lots of ribbons in the same subtle tones.

 

 

 

I intended to give the tin to Emily – I really did! But then I discovered that my small inks cubes fitted perfectly and … well the rest is history!

 

 

 

 

Have fun creating!  

 

Stamp storage - Part 2

Following on from my previous stamp storage post  where I showed my storage for clear stamps I thought I'd show you my solution for keeping all my red rubber stamps.

  

I bought a number of plastic box files from a local shop for the grand sum of 99 pence each and found that they hold 2 layers of stamps beautifully. All my stamps are mounted on E-Z Mount (or similar) and so "stick" to the plastic.

 

I store the files upright and have had no problems with any stamps coming unstuck from the plastic files. My only problem is that I have yet to "catalogue" them as per my clear stamps in the previous post on storage!!

How do you all store yours? Any better ideas out there? We'd love to hear them or see examples.

Jo xx

haPPy homeMAking

Do you find you always land up with far too many bottles of lotions and potions? I know I do and moving them to dust (I do occasionally dust ;) ) is a mission!

 

These little wicker baskets are just perfect for keeping all your spares neat and tidy and makes dusting a must easier task :)

I also have one in my shed for keeping seed packets tidy and use them in my scrap room too for embellishments, stamps, paints and blossoms.

Thanks for visiting!
Caz
xx

Stamp storage

I have "quite a few" clear and rubber stamps and having decided that they're not all being used to their full potential thought that I needed to do something about it.

 

I bought a cheap storage box from "Bewise" and a few sets of 6" x 4" index cards. I also bought a set of dividers and have marked these all in various stamp themes including birthday sentiments, birthday images, Christmas sentiments, flowers, kid themed, butterflies and baby images.

 I'm now in the process of going through each CD case of stamps and stamping an image from each stamp on to a card and filed under the appropriate heading. Each CD case of stamps is numbered and stamped images also numbered to make them easier to find.

 

I'm hoping that by having all the images in one place I'll be able to see at a glance which stamp I need and they'll get used more! My only problem is that so far I've only indexed up to CD case 38 ao I have at least another 100 to go LOL!

If you have any better ideas for stamp storage/cataloguing we'd love to hear them!

Jo x

 

Don't forget we want you to Scrap your Man. It's all to raise awareness for a great cause and there are prizes to be won! 

Ribbon Storage.

I am the first to admit im obsessive about being able to see everything i own in one go! Im talking, having all of my punches on display incase the one i want is the one ive forgotten i have. all of my papers out incase the one burried at the bottom of the shelf is the one i NEED right now...............this follows through onto my ribbons too!! How on earth people manage with them in jars i just dont know - i would be forever having to empty them all out and rummage -yes i know, i cant think of worse things too!! LOL

Here was my solution.

I placed 2 of the cupholder hooks either side of the top of my dresser and looped all of my reels of ribbon onto some strong twill.  I then tied the ends into small loops and fastened them over the hooks. 
The Stampin' Up! reels of ribbon, these were placed onto a dowel which is resting on 2 more cup hooks behind the pillars of the dresser. The length of wood can easily be moved if i need to add more ribbon and it means the reels have freedom to wheel around as they are used.

Hope this helps anyone else out there with this problem (surely i cant be the only one...........please??) lol

Hugs
Debbie
x