Copic Marker Storage

Edited:  For more detailed directions regarding my foam board projects, please see my post here.  It gives some general tips for cutting, etc.  If you want to see all my posts regarding foam board projects, click on the "foam board" label on the left sidebar of my blog.  Thanks!

After I posted my last entry, I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself, and was trying to think of something I could do to make myself feel better.  Then I remembered Patter's post last Friday about her new Copic storage that she purchased from Studio 3 Solutions.  I love her organizational ideas, and thought this would be a great foam board project for me to make.

I have been using a photo box that I put cardboard dividers in to store my Copic markers.  It was inexpensive, and works pretty well, but every time I want to use a marker, I have to drag the whole box down off the shelf, find a place to put it on my work table (which is next to impossible), then put it back when I am done.  I almost always find a stray marker after I'm done and have to get the box down and put it back again.

My cheap storage wasn't working for me any more, and was in need of a makeover.

Foam board to the rescue!!!

After making my ink pad holder, I had a better idea of what I was doing, and this project only took a couple of hours.  I angled the shelves down toward the back so the markers would stay in place.  Like before, I made channels for the shelves to fit into.

I hot glued the shelves to one side, then put hot glue in all the channels of the second side and quickly attached it to the shelves that were already in place.  I added top and back pieces, and my project was finished.

Doesn't this look much better?  I love how all my markers will be at my finger tips instead of lugging that box off the shelf every time.  And when I reorganize my room, I can stack them vertically if I want.

I have 26 markers in one of the shelves, and could possibly fit one more in there if I needed to.  These two cubbies could hold over 300 sketch markers.  I doubt I will ever have that many, but I still have a lot of room to grow.

Patter's storage cubbies cost $16.95 each.  I was able to use some of the left over foam board from my ink pad storage, plus most of a whole new 20" x 30" piece.  I figured mine cost less than $2.00 for both cubbies since I bought the foam board when it was 50% off.  That is a savings of  $31.90 plus S&H.

I'll add that to my piggy bank for the Scrap 'n Cube storage I am pining for!

I'm not feeling so bad about losing my mojo after all!

K

I Lost My Mojo

Just like the ebb and flow of almost everything in life, my mojo has decided to ebb.  I was feeling really creative a couple of weeks ago, and ideas flowed faster than I could execute them.  All that has come to a screaching halt, and now I can't think of a thing to make!

I know my mojo will come back, I just have to give it a little space.  Hopefully it won't take an extended leave of absence.  I might have to reorganize my craft room if it does!  (And that might be expensive if I do what I want.)

Hope you're having a great holiday weekend!

K

Quest For Simplification

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about reorganizing my craft room and simplifying the card making process.  I say thinking, because there has been very little action.  That is only because I am a perfectionist, and it has to be perfect when I finally do it.  And I can't decide what I want.  It's kind of like shopping for toothpaste.  Why can't you buy regular toothpaste anymore?  It worked just fine for me during my childhood.  Plain ol' Crest or Colgate in a tube.  Why did they have to stop making it and come up with all this other anti-plaque, cavity fighting, whitening, breath freshening, blah, blah, blah?  Isn't that what toothpaste is supposed to do?  Sorry for my digression.  But I feel better now.

A few weeks ago while 'thinking' about my room and supplies, I had a "Duh!" moment.  I decided to cut a whole bunch of card bases so they would always be ready when I wanted to make a card.  Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this simplifies the process.  I am just wondering why it took me so long to think of doing it.  Especially since the paper I use for my card bases is the only thing I use that particular paper for.  It's just common sense.  Something I pride myself for having a good amount of.  It's embarassing to think it took me so long to figure it out.

So now I have a neat little stack of card bases sitting on my work table, and it is so nice to have them at the ready.

I just have to figure out where I am going to store them!

~K

Mmmm, Chocolate OLW

It's Wednesday, and that means it's time for Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge.  This week, the challenge is to overlap an image and a sentiment.   I had several ideas come to mind, but this is the one I ended up completing.

The sentiment says "Man cannot live on chocolate alone, but woman sure can. - author unknown".  Now isn't that the truth!

I have not been able to find a chocolate kiss stamp that I like, so I made my own.  I traced around a real Hershey's kiss, then cut the shape out of a piece of scrap rubber.  At least I'm using some of the rubber I've been hoarding since I first started buying SU! stamps over 14 years ago!!   heehee!

Once again I used my SAMJ for placement of the sentiment and image.  I off-stamped the kiss one time so it wasn't so dark.

Supplies used:
Stamps - hand cut chocolate kiss, amuse sentiment
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - chocolate chip, black marker
Accessories - SAMJ

Have a happy day!

K

Penned Border

Here is another great idea I got from reading Susan's Simplicity blog.  (I'm sure it was on her blog, but I couldn't find the post to link it here.  :{  I penned frames around my daisy cards a couple weeks ago, but this is a little different in that it is a border frame.  I made a template out of a piece of GKD 120# cardstock with 1/2" borders, then penned away.

The inside says "your ears are hairier than you head".  A perfect card for an 'older' gentleman!

Penning a border is a great way to tie an image and a sentiment together as you can see on this card.  It is a great technique for a one layer card.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Rubbernecker Stamp Company "Murry Rubbing Head", GKD you know you're old when...
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - Memento black
Accessories - self-made 1/2" border template, Zig writer, SAMJ, Copics

Here is another penned border card I made for my husband for his birthday.

Very simple, but gets the point across nicely.  This is a great look for masculine cards.  No frills or embellishments needed.

If you look closely, you can see why it is of utmost importance that you let your ink dry completely before erasing the pencil guideline.  In my haste, I smeared birthday when I erased too soon.  I thought Memento dried fast, but apparently not that fast!  From now on, I will give it a blast with my heat gun if I'm in a hurry.

Supplies used:
Stamps - CHF golf backgrounder
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - Memento black
Accessories - 1/2" border template, Zig writer, SAMJ, Copics

Hope you enjoyed this technique.  It can give a simple card a little WOW!

K

A Battle Not Worth Fighting

If you know me at all, or even if you don't, you may have guessed that I am a control freak.  There.  I said it.  I.  Am.  A.  Control.  Freak.  I will be the first to admit it, because I have to deal with myself every day.  I am working on it, and I'm trying to give things up that just don't matter to anyone else but me.

Take shoes, for instance.  I have given up my control of shoe shopping for the kids, and let my husband handle it.  The kids love shoe shopping with him because they get whatever they want.  They know there is no way I would let them come home with some of their selections.  They come home with shoes 3 sizes too big, or one size too small, but I have to remind myself that I gave up that control.

There have been several occasions where I would have persuaded my daughter to choose a different syle of shoe.  She is 99.99% tomboy, but when it comes to shoes, she picks the gaudiest girly shoes she can find.  I don't understand her thought process.  But it works for her.

These are the shoes she came home with yesterday...

Vinyl high tops?  For summer?  What was she thinking?  What was my husband thinking?  These shoes never would have made it out of their box if I had been there.

Don't they look like clown shoes?  Especially since they are about 3 sizes too big.  Her toes barely make it past the bottom of the tongue.

But she likes them and thinks they are the coolest shoes she has ever owned.

And that's all that matters.

K

OLW5 Faux Ribbon

I have been going straight to bed after the kids are tucked in most of the week trying to get some much needed rest.  My nasty cold is finally going away, and I got some time to stamp this morning.

I love Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenges, and have had this idea brewing since I saw this week's challenge.  I'm glad I woke up at 5:00 so I could finally get it on paper!

This also fits the CC271 from SCS this week - Dusty Razzleberry Saffrons.  Betty is right, these colors look great together!

At first, I didn't think I had any faux embellishment stamps, and I was going to make a button out of a solid circle stamp. But then I came across this ribbon stamp by Hero Arts, and I knew just what I wanted to do with it.

This card would not have been possible without the use of a Stamp-a-ma-jig.  The ribbon had to be stamped 3 times to cover the full length (width?) of the card.  Since the stamp starts and ends with two dots, I used a white gel pen to add the center dot to make it look like one long piece of ribbon.

I really like how this turned out, and I never would have thought of it had it not been for Susan's challenge.  Thanks, Susan, for making me think outside the box!

Suppies used:
Stamps - Hero Arts ribbon, PTI mixed messages
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - rich razzleberry, so saffron, dusty Durango
Accessories - Prima flowers, half pearls, SAMJ, white gel pen

Have a fabulous weekend!

K

It Doesn't Pay to Go to Bed Early

I have been fighting a nasty cold for well over a week, and have been burning my candle at both ends as usual.  I was so exhausted after I got the kids to bed last night, I went to bed, too.  I was in bed before 9:00.  That never happens.  Ever.

I was hoping to get a good 8-10 hours of sleep.  My body could definitely use it.  So I was a little peeved when I woke up at 2:00am, ready to go for the day.  After all, I had gotten my usual 5 hours of sleep.  Who needs more than that?  Apparently not me.

As I tried to go back to sleep, I heard a faint cry coming from my craft room.  I tried to ignore it, but it wouldn't stop.  It was saying something about an unfinished project waiting for me.  Tossing and turning wouldn't get my card finished, so I got up and came to my cave.

Here is what I finished.

I know this looks familiar, because I cased myself.  I got so many nice comments on my other butterfly card, I decided to change it up a bit with this one.

I used the Twinkling H2Os technique that Susan (LateBlossom) posted on her blog.  If you haven't tried this yet, I highly encourage you to try it.  It is so easy, and you can use it for so many things.  I used cold press watercolor paper, so there was a lot of texture before I ran it through the Cuttlebug.

The CB pretty much flattenend the texture, but you can still see a little variation in the color.  To add some distressing, I lightly sanded the embossed area.  I love SU! paper, and use their colors exclusively, but if you want to have a white core show through when distressing, this is a great technique to use.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Teeny tiny wishes (this has quickly become my go-to sentiment set)
Paper - GKD PL white, cold press watercolor paper
Ink - Memento black
Accessories - Twinkling H2Os, paintbrush, butterfly embosslits die, sanding block, half pearls, dimensionals, ribbon, SAMJ

I hope you enjoyed Susan's Twinkling H2Os technique.  I know I will be using it for many things.

K

Black and White with a Splash of Color

Here are some cards I made tonight that are primarily black and white. I added just a touch of color, and next to the B&W, it really makes the color pop. I love how black can have that effect.

I got this stamp in a huge lot of stamps I bought on ebay just for one other stamp in the box.  There were a lot of great stamps in there, and I think this one is a classic.  I'm not sure this needs a sentiment, but if I add one, it will be on the right side under the ribbon.  After I uploaded this picture, I decided the cherries needed something, so I embossed them using a Versamark pen and clear EP.  It looks a lot better.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Cherries, checks, & posies
Paper - GKD PL white, basic black
Ink - real red, wild wasabi
Accessories - 1 1/2" circle punch, scallop circle punch, gingham ribbon, dimensionals

I can't get my printer to print on the 120# cardstock I always use for my base, so I had to hand write the sentiment.  No matter how much I practice, when it comes to writing on the card, I always mess up!  Guess that's why they call it hand made!

I made my own shadow stamp by punching out a piece of excess rubber with the oval punch.  I almost had to make another one tonight because I couldn't find this one that I had made long ago.  Now it has it's own home!

Supplies used:
Stamps - Michael's $ stamp, hand made shadow stamp
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - Memento black, wild wasabi
Accessories - Zig writer, SAMJ, post-it note for masking his skinny legs - that was fun!

I found this set recently at Michael's in the $ bin, and since my daughter loves penguins, I figured I had to get it.  Someday if I'm feeling particularly creative, I'll draw an iceberg for him to stand on.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Studio G (Michael's $ bin)
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - Memento black
Accessories - Copics, SAMJ

Thanks for stopping by, and make it a great day!

K

Stampin', Stampin', Stampin'!

Yea! I finally got some time to stamp! There were some really good challenges out there this week, so I had a lot of motivation. Now that my ink pad holder is finished, I deserved some time to play.

This is for Susan's (LateBlossom) OLW blog challenge to use ribbon on a one layer card with no other embellishments if you can help it. It was difficult for me, but I was able to get by without using anything else but the ribbon.

I added some highlights to the flower with my Sakura white gel pen.  SU!'s vanilla ribbon is a pretty good match for so saffron ink.

Supplies used:
Stamps - The art of life, Hero Arts sentiment
Paper - GKD PL white
Ink - so saffron, Memento black
Accessories - grosgrain ribbon, white gel pen, SAMJ


For my next card, I combined three challenges from SCS; CAS66 was an inspiration challenge based on a sketch by Kelly (kmahany), CC270 Mambo suede with a wood grain dessert option, and WT270 edge distressing.  Isn't this little stinker cute?

Not only does the image have wood grain, but I made my own by dragging the soft suede ink pad down a strip of suede cardstock.  The image was watercolored with an aquapainter and reinkers.

Supplies used:
Stamps - Hambo Stamps
Paper - GKD PL white, soft suede, kraft
Ink - soft suede
Accessories - soft suede, melon mambo and creamy caramel reinkers, aquapainter, HS edge distressing tool, dauber, mini pop dots, SAMJ


Here's one more super quick card I made tonight.

This was for a challenge to myself to use any new toys before they gather dust!  I finally received my butterfly embosslits die after it was on backorder, and tried it out tonight.  I love it!!!  I ran the butterfly through my Cuttlebug first, then stamped it with the butterfly accent stamp inked in riding hood red.  It gives the butterfly a lot more dimension with the embossing.  Add a few half pearls and some ribbon, and you have a 10 minute card!

Supplies used:
Stamps - butterfly accent, teeny tiny wishes
Paper - GKD PL white, riding hood red
Ink - Memento black, riding hood red
Accessories - butterfly embosslits die, Cuttlebug, half pearls, ribbon, dimensionals, SAMJ

Thanks for stopping by.  Make it a great day!

K