Friday, September 17, 2010

Frugal Fridays: $1.00 Dotted Fun Sentiments today only, sketch organization, and freebies.

Howdy,
 It's mid September and I think we are finally falling into a routine.  Yeah!  Both kids know that we need to catch the bus and with a few reminders they get ready and we haven't missed it yet.  Keeping our fingers crossed we don't miss it in the future.  I am a night owl and often stay up late to get my work done for the store while the kids are sleeping.  My body has faithfully woke me up every morning no matter how late I have gone to bed.  Isn't it amazing my body knows to do this!  I am always fascinated by the workings of the human body! 

For the Frugal Friday special today I am offering my dotted fun sentiments file for only $1.00.  Hurry though this price will expire at midnight EST 9/17/2010.  This font goes for just about any occasion so you'll get your money's worth by purchasing it.  Please click on the words above the preview to purchase but don't go yet as I have some awesome projects by my CDT to share.  I also will give you a peek into my sketch binder too and a freebie.

Dotted Fun Sentiments


CDT member Kelly Stone has made some awesome cards using these sentiments.  Please check them out below.

        Kelly also used my bracket fun file.  Click on the words above the preview to purchase them.

Bracket Fun
Click words above the preview if you'd like to purchase my Year Round Floral Shaped Card.

Year Round Floral Shaped Card
Click on the words above the previews to purchase the files Kelly used in this great card.

Playful Flowers, Leaves, and Branches

70's Beaded Borders

Whew!  Kelly sure was busy making some fabulous cards wasn't she?  Kelly wasn't the only one getting creative.  Aussie Caz joined in too with this great layout showcasing my hinged tabs and featuring her son Nicholas.   Caz is a pro at designing sketches and she is giving away the sketch  and KNK cutter file and layered PSD (digital scrappers)  for this layout on her blog today.  Scroll down to see the preview.   Thanks Caz!  Click here to get to her blog.  But don't leave yet I have a freebie for you too!  Oh and Caz is in Aussie Land so check back if her freebie isn't there yet...she may still be snoozing! 

Don't you just you love the photo of Nicholas from behind!?!  I absolutely love that perspective!   These hinged tabs are on sale the whole month of September.  They are sooo versatile as you can use them on cards, journals, and calendars.   It would be great to use them to hide hidden journaling or extra photos on a layout.  They actually fold over your items with a separate piece for the label that slips inside.  Click the words above the preview to purchase the tabs before they go off of sale. 

Hinged Tabs


I'd like to thank all of you who left wonderful comments about my scrappin' desk.  I thought it was a pretty cool space but it's great when others think so too.  I am not an organizational expert by any means but I am happy to share with you what works for me in hopes it will give you some inspiration in finding a system that works for you.  To continue with the organizational theme I will share with you the way I store my sketches below.

I fell in love with using sketches when designing my layouts when I first was introduced to them about 7 years ago I think.   I have been collecting them every since.  I soon needed a way to store them so I could find what I needed.,  I discovered it was easiest for me to sort my sketch by the number of photos so I developed a system based on that.  I will share my system with you as crude as it may be in hopes you might get some inspiration from it.

This is a photo of my sketch binder open.  I don't need to show you the front cover because I haven't decorated or marked it in any way.  I figured it's the only pink binder I have so there is no need to label it yet!  I took inexpensive sheets of white 8.5 x 11 pieces and covered them with scrapbooking patterned paper.  Then attached my hinged tabs on the sides in coordinating colors.  I used all the different shapes since I liked the variety.  I labeled each tab with the numbers 1-13+.  This represents how many photos the sketch is indented for.  I hand drew them in but you could use your pen tool before cutting.  Okay now to show you what is behind each divider.
Behind each tabbed divider is a colored sheet of copy paper.  I print out the PDF of  Becky Fleck's Page Maps.  (I just love this site they have the most awesome sketches and they are all FREE...thanks Becky for sharing your talent!) I cut the PDF apart sorting the layouts by the number of photos.  If you click on the photo you will see this page will go behind the 4 tab since each of these sketches are meant to work with 4 photos layouts.  I also like to write in the date the sketch was posted so I can give credit and refer people to the website so they can print it themselves.  I do occasionally put sketches by other authors on these pages but I make sure to note where I got the sketch from. 


My favorite magazines are Creating Keepsakes and Scrapbooks ETC because they provide an insert with sketches.  I simply rip out the page in the magazine that contains the layout I like then I snip the sketch and use plain paper paste to attach it to the magazine page.  I three hole punch these pages and they go into my binder after the appropriate tab.  This page is filed under my #5 tab.  Look they even tell you what size to cut some of the embellishments and papers in this great sketch! 

Okay so sometimes the layouts you like aren't going to fill the whole magazine page.  I simply cut out the layout and the sketch in the same manner but I glue it on the back of the magazine page still filed under the appropriate tab.  See on the back of some of the whole magazine pages you have filed will be ADs or layouts you don't like so I just cover these up.  I am careful to still make a note of the magazine issue these sketches came out of.

This isn't an exact science as I said it is crude.  But it works for me!  All I have to do is see how many photos I want to scrap and turn to that tab.  If you are bothered by the jagged torn edges when you rip the pages out you could use a paper trimmer to cut the edges.  You also don't have to use the back of magazines pages if you find it distracting you can just use copy paper for these sketches as well.   Sometimes you will run into a magazine page that has layouts on both sides you like...I am fortunate in that my printer also copies so I just copy the one side and file it away in the same manner.  Most of my pages in this binder have a sketch to go with them but not all of them do.  I file layouts that don't have sketches by counting the number of photos and filing it in the same manner too.  It really saves on thumbing through a million magazines and also there isn't a need to store countless magazines with this system either.  I have another binder for techniques I like some of which came from magazines so I very rarely save a magazine in tact!  So I hope this helps someone organize their layout ideas.  If you can think of any ideas on how I can improve my system I am all ears!

Wow!  Could this blog post be any longer?  Well thanks for hanging in there.  Your eyes must be sore after reading all that!  So to make it up to you I am giving away this freebie.  A lady from the Scal hints group needed something to go with a pedicure layout.  I remembered this file I created a long time ago and thought it would be perfect.  .  I dug it out and now it's better than ever.  I hope you enjoy it!


Click here to download.  Included in the zip are AI, GSD, KNK, SVG, and WPC format along with instructions. 

Oh and I  haven't forgotten about the blog candy I promised you.  I am attending a retreat next week and am trying to get ready for that.  I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to get any blog candy together.  I am hoping when I return from the retreat I will have some time to get new files into the store for you.  So.....when I reach 200 files (I'm currently at 185) I will give away a blog candy that I promise will be worth waiting for! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting with me today!  I hope you have a grand weekend!


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Friday, September 10, 2010

Frugal Fridays : Cutie Bee $1.00 today only and a peek of my new craft space

Hello!
The kids are in school and the weather is turning cooler!  You know what that means my favorite season of the year will be here soon.  I love picking pumpkins and looking at all the wonderful Fall foliage.  My son keeps talking about all the plans he has to play in the snow.  I'm definitely not ready for Winter and bundling up and such but I am loving the 60 to 70 degree temperatures we are enjoying now!

Even though the weather is cooler I have decided to put my Cutie Bee on special today only for $1.00.    Hurry and take advantage of this special because the price will disappear at midnight EST today...September 10, 2010.  Click on the words to have this cute little bee buzz into your home today.

Cutie Bee
Here is a great card CDT member Kelly Stone did with this little guy.  I just love it and it could work for just about any occasion from birthday to graduation.

As you may have read in previous posts we have transformed one room in our attic into a craft room for me/ play room for the kids.  I have been wanting to share with you a few photos of my new space but didn't want to make an extra long blog post.  Sorry I haven't a clue how to do video!  So when  a lady from the Scal hints grouped asked to see photos of my desk I figured that would be a good place to start.  I will share other parts of my room when I get chance (and when I get things organized!).


If you want to see any of the photos large simply click on them.  I did share a photo of the empty desk here along with the details of where I got it.   I really do love my desk!  I am a person who if it's packed away in a box I will not use it.  So for my scrap room I'm trying to leave stuff as visible as possible.  Also the closer things are to my desk the more likely I will use them.  I know I'm lazy!  I love how my cutter is just a chair swivel away from my workspace.  (I got a steal on that very comfy chair too...$10.00 at the Goodwill store)   It's soo convenient..sure beats my old setup where I had to stand on my tip toes to see the cutter screen.  Oh and my Mom made that wonderful cover for me.  It's prequilted fabric and is reversible with a less bold pattern on the other side!  Say "HI" to Adoree see her peaking in..told you she was a ham!  LOL! 


I also love that this desk is all open because that allows me to store all kinds of stuff underneath.  Above is the area right under my cutter.   I have all my solid colored scraps in these cheap plastic drawers (available at Wal-mart) labeled by color.  The smaller stackable snap together container  to the left  (from Snapware) I got at Lowe's and it holds all my small embellishments such as eyelets, brads, buttons also sorted by color.  (I lucked out on these too as I found about 6 of the divided compartments that fit inside these at the Goodwill too cheap!) Except for pink and green which are in the tackle type containers.  I know it's hard to see in the photo but I used the scallop from my card base 1 file to make the labels.  For the larger draws I actually wrote the name of the color in a matching marker.  For the little ones I stamped a butterfly in the matching color ink.  Sorry about the glare!  Oh and I almost forgot that wall paper seam roller is an essential tool for me as I use it to secure my paper to my sticky mat prior to cutting.  I roll over the paper in all directions until it is secure.  I find my mats don't have to be super sticky when I use this roller and also I don't need to use as much spray when restickifying my mat. 


I also love that the iron bars supporting the desk allows me to hang my mats.  I used my Crop a Dial to punch a hole at the top then used S hooks to suspend them from my desk.  They stay out of the way and yet they are still accessible when I need them.

This is the pie shaped corner of my L shaped desk.  I have not inherited my Mom's sewing abilities but I loved the look of stitching on cards.  So my parents bought me this little sewing machine.  It works great but only weighs about 5lbs.  I'm not sure I love it sitting where it is but I figured if I leave it near my work space I would use it more. I bought these Longaberger baskets several years ago and was very happy to put them to use in my scrap space.  I have one with material and sewing supplies.  The one on the small shelf  holds my external hard drives, paper pad, card sentiment book and my blades for my cutter. In front of it you can see the birthday organizer rolodex I made using my monthly rolodex file.  The silver pen is for my pen tablet.   You can also see my purple cow trimmer.  I love having this near my work area.  That way I can leave my layout or whatever I'm working on  in tact and just swivel a little to use the cutter.  You can also get a peak at the kids side..on the other side of my desk is their craft table with the silver touch lamp (I bought it several years ago before Adoree was born).  The kids aren't allowed on my side of the room so they keep out of my stuff! 

 

Here is the area below the pie shape corner.  The wire rack was yet another Good will find.  I have a few stamping supplies that I didn't know what to do with on it.  Eventually I may change this...not sure with what though..  Under the desk fits my crop in style tote.  I opened it and store my journaling markers in it.  I have stacked a file box, an old book and boxes under the flap so I can keep these pens on their sides as recommended.  This seems to work well and I will always have these pens ready when going to a crop.

The longer L part of the desk has a very cool smaller shelf.  I love this as it lets me put my laptop on top and still allows me to have a workspace.  This is great for when I'm using my cutter or if I'm trying to follow a tut.  Under the shelf there is space to keep my most used adhesives and my little Creative Memories trimmer.  I love this little guy for photos and I think it gives more accurate cuts on smaller pieces of paper.  Plus it has a drawer in it so I put my smaller homemade glue dots in there.  Look at what is on my workspace.  A layout!  Yes...I do scrap although not as often as I'd like.  I completed this layout at a crop but still have to figure out the date.   I will share this layout with you as soon as I figure out what date to put on it.  (I need to seriously spend some time organizing my photos...doing well with the photos I've taken this Summer but not soo good with anything previous to that!) 

This pink and brown basket/bag also sits on the little shelf.  It got it at Wal-mart.   It holds all my Copics, airbrush, and Copic journal.  The outside pockets hold all my most used tool such as Cricut spatula, Tim Holtz scissors, Undu, sanding block, bone folder, etc.  I'm always amazed at how much this bag holds.  It is great for crops too because markers and tools are ready for transport!


I can't give you a tour of my desk without sharing with you this cup holder/trash bag.   I won it at my Creative Memories consultant's crop which I attended several years ago.  I love it!  It screws onto the table and keeps your drink safe and prevents you from spilling it on your projects.  It also is perfect for paper garbage.  I do have a bigger wooden garbage can I need to clean up so I can put it into my craft space but this little guys works great for all the little pieces we end up with when we do paper crafting.   It's also great for crops.  I looked on the CM website and I can't find it so I don't think it's available any longer but you might have luck on Ebay.  Oh and the kids use empty tissue boxes for their garbage when crafting. 

Well that ends the tour of my desk.  I hope I didn't bore you!  Personally, I love seeing how others organize as I figure there is always room for improvement on my space.   I do have two more cute photos to share with you.  

I did the labels of my drawers yesterday.  Well I had left over circles and so I thought it might be nice to let Adoree play with them and try her hand at stamping.  She had a blast and impressed me a lot!  I even gave her a small piece of foam to put her stamp under for better stamping. 


I wish you could see her stamped circle in the photo above but sadly you can't.    She did soo well stamping the smaller circles were only about 1" but she managed to center the butterfly on them.  She did a few that looked as if an adult had stamped them..they were near perfect.  She even took the stamping a step further.  After she stamped all the butterflies on her circles then she stamped a matching butterfly on her purple paper and placed the circle on top of the matching one on the purple paper.  How smart is that!  I think that's pretty good for a 3 year old!   I know I'm gushing...but I'm one proud Momma!  I'm looking forward to her getting older and having scrappin' sessions together!  Not to mention going shopping for craft supplies together..how fun would that be!  LOL!  I can hear Daddy groaning.....his wallet will never be full!  Tyler loves to craft too! 

Okay this post is more than long enough....once again my stomach is growling and my daughter has been more than patient!  So I'll let you go!  Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a marvelous weekend!  Oh and I will have a freebie for you sometime time soon and I also haven't forgotten about the blog candy...look for that sometime next week hopefully!

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Tuesday, September 07, 2010

And the winner is............

Hi everyone,
    I'd like to thank all of you for participating in my little guessing game this past holiday weekend.  It was fun checking my e-mail and seeing your guesses.
So I know you are all dying to know what this interesting animal is.  The name the tour guide gave us is Zedonk.  It is a animals whose parents were a zebra and a donkey.  They are soo very insteresting.  Another name for them is Zonkey.   When I took this photo I was just a few feet away from them.   I will tell you more about this wonderful place we went to see all these great animals in another blog post but for now let's get on the winner of this contest!
My daughter is 3 and since she can not read I figured she would be the best one to do the drawing.
The winnner is ESTHER WOO BENJAMIN.  Congrats Esther..you get to choose 1 free file (no collections please) from my store.  Since soo many of you were soo close in your guess I have decided to save all your names and automatically enter you in a blog candy drawing.   That is as soon as I find some time to get one together.  I'm thinking maybe next week.  Check back you never know you may win!

Adoree was sick this weekend  with a cold and such.  So I stayed home with her while Tyler and Daddy went to Poe Valley State Park.  Tyler got to make some handmade paper.  His favorite colors are blue and green but they didn't have any blue so green it is!  He had a blast.  He liked it sooo much that he wants Daddy to make him a screen so we can make paper at home.  I'm pretty sure I saw kits for sale somewhere so this may be a good birthday gift.  If anyone has purchased a good paper making kit please let me know where you got it.  I would love to make my own paper too because that paper is wonderful for making handmade paper flowers.   Anyway, you can see some photos of his paper making adventures below.  He even got to use an iron..something Mommy never let him do!


Above is a scan of Tyler's paper but it looks much better in person.  Okay gotta run...as Adoree and I must go to help the ladies of the church make quilts. 

Have a great week...catch ya Friday for my Frugal Friday special!
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Friday, September 03, 2010

Labor Day sale 40% off all my designs and win a free file!

Happy Friday everyone!  Instead of a frugal Friday special I have decided to put my whole store on sale in honor of Labor Day.  Click here to go shopping see the Ad below for details. Before you go check out some great cards and get a chance to win one of my files...scroll down!

Deb Cole created some awesome cards using my Card Base 3 file.  The first one is an elegant Christmas card.  I love how Deb used her printer to print the  "NOEL" onto vellum and then added sparkle with gems and stickles.
Next up is a wonderful card featuring pretty blue and peach colors.  The sentiment is grand and fits perfectly in the center of the card.  If you can't read it click on the photo to enlarge it.  I love how classy this card looks!  Deb also debossed the dots of the border and embossed the flower.  A great little accent I think.  
  If you would like to make a card similar to Deb's please click the words below to purchase the card file
Card Base 3

Now for the contest I promised you.   Take a look at the photos below.  Can you guess what this animal is?


Well I got to meet these very strange but very interesting animals in person on a little field trip we took last weekend!  To get a chance to win one free file of your choice (no collections please) from my store simply e-mail me at shellys art @ verizon.net (no spaces) with your guess and I will pick a random winner from all entries.  Please do not post your guess here!  I will announce the winner on Tuesday.
Here is one more photo:  Goodluck!
Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!  We get to sleep in yeah! 
Thanks for stopping by!
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Wednesday, September 01, 2010

My son started 1st grade today and calendar pages.

Boo hoo...sniff sniff!  My son started 1st grade today.  I can't believe he is a 1st grader!  I miss him!  Shhhh do you hear that!  It's called no fighting!  I am amazed at how well Adoree is playing by herself...and she is being quiet!  I am totally astonished!  Right now she is sniffing play-doh!  No harm in that right?  Adoree is loving hanging out with me in the craft room/play room.  She doesn't have to share toys!  Yipeee!  Ohhh I hope this trend continues and I can get some new files in the store for you all!

I think it was on the Creating Keepsakes website that I saw photos fo the kids 1st day of school where they put letter stickers depicting the grade the child was entering on an apple.  I loved it and just had to try it!  This was a last minute thing as I should have probably used bigger letter stickers or cut some out but it's a cute idea and I think I'll do it every year that my kids let me!


I know I have a tut somewhere that tells me how to get rid of distracting background objects like hubby's truck...guess I'll have to find it! 

I also wanted to share with you some great calendar pages Sue did with my Jack-o-lantern card file.  This was one of the first files I ever put in my corner of the Paperthreads store but I still like it.  I guess it's a oldie but goodie huh!  It was brilliant of Sue to see this card as a Calendar page.  Don't ya think!

I am ready for Fall and am done with all this heat!  It's great to see the Fall colors in Sue's project.  I just love those colors and that time of year!  I'm ready to pick pumpkins!  Anyway, if you'd like to make a project just like Sue's you can purchase the file in my store by clicking the words above the preview.

Jack-O-Lantern Card

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great rest of the week!
Shelly
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