studio clothesline

Folks that visit the house that do not stamp, always ask why I have a clothesline in my studio window. Only you guys would understand. :) I use this to dry anything that gets wet - whether I misted it with water, Ranger Adirondack sprays, Glimmer Mist, and so forth. It is just white cotton twine (like what you're supposed to use to tie up turkey legs but I have yet to use it for that - lol) strung between two 3M plastic clips (Wal-Mart!). The clips come with adhesive strips that come off cleanly when you want to take them off. The round ornament is a glass ball that I covered with polymer clay cane slices. The square ornament I made from a box template using Serendipity letters (N, O, E, L) and their stamps. Thank you for stopping by and hope you have a wonderful week!

altered clothespin

This clothespin lives on my kitchen desk - it sits upright just like in the photo - and it holds coupons that I or my dear husband might use - like Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks gift cards, and so forth. I put them in here so I can find them quickly if my desk is piled with papers. :) I covered the clothespin with the patterned paper cut to size, and adhered with Mod Podge. Sanded the edges with a sanding block then swiped a Distress pad in Vintage Photo along the edges, then blended. All elements were securely fastened with E-6000. Since the photo (mounted on a black cardstock mat) can be changed out at a whim, one could also insert a poem or favorite verse in the silver binder clip. Teeny heart inside silver mini frame was hand cut and tied to the skeleton key above. The silver frame unit is stabilized with a dimensional. Thank you for stopping by!! 4-3/4" high wooden clothespin; 7gypsies Somme Blanc script paper; silver frame; silver binder clip; E-6000 industrial cement (Michaels); brown linen twine, skeleton key, pearl droplet, Vintage Photo Distress pad, Mod Podge, sanding block, blending tool, dimensional.

organizing Crackle Paint

Crackle Paint - it is the latest craze (sorry for the pun...) from Tim Holtz and the fabulous folks at Ranger. Paint once and when it dries...it produces a wonderful crackle effect. From the side, individual colors are fairly easy to identify, and very easy if you are familiar enough with the Crackle Paint colors Ranger offers (there are 24 colors). They are also labeled on the side as to the color. However, from the top, which is how I store these (in sterlite drawers from Wal-Mart), they are black and unidentifiable. Not good. If I am to use something I must be able to find what I am looking for...and quickly. One morning in the shower (A.K.A...idea central) I came up with this idea. Got the kids on the bus and did this: Circle printing link how-to is here (please scroll down to Bob Buckland's post to 'B. for your circular text'), but a MS Word document with circle printing all done for you is here. After circle printing all 24 colors onto one sheet of white cardstock, I punched them out with a 1-1/4" circle punch. Adhered to respective paint containers with Glue Dots. I opened each container and dabbed a tiny bit of paint onto my finger, then swiped it onto the center of the punched circle. Easy to find what I'm a-lookin' for now...!

Brad organization

Finding what I need quickly makes me more efficient. When I am efficient I don't get frustrated, which makes me happy - so being efficient makes me happy - :) I love brads. Period. I don't know quite what it is but something about brads on a card makes me swoon...wierd, eh? :-D Some brad colors I use a ton of and as a result maintain a large stockpile: silver, gold, white, brown, etc. I store these large-quantity brads in glass-lidded tin containers called watchmaker tins, found at www.leevalleytools.com. The ones pictured here are about 2" in diameter. The see-through drawer I store these nice tins in is above eye level (when seated - I sit when I stamp), so the nice glass lids do me little good. So one day, out of frustration from reaching up and grabbing the wrong color....yet again...., I took a 1/16" hand-held hole punch, and punched four holes equidistant from each other (north, south, east and west on the tin) and inserted brads along the tin sides. Now I can see from the top and sides what color and size brad is in each container. I also punched the new 7gypsies brad tins too with this method.

Cuttlebug die storage

If I am to use a product, it must be easily accessible.

I had my CB (Cuttlebug) dies in a drawer on my desk. It was difficult to find what I was looking for, and I really want to use these! So I copied the images of each set I owned (and the ones that are on their way - LOL) from the Provo Craft site, and adjusted their sizes to 3/4" in width. Then, I printed the color images on a sheet of white cardstock, and used a 3/4" square punch to punch them all out. Adhered punched images to cardstock units high enough so the printed area would peek out perfectly. I then trimmed these units so they would lay like file folders in thirds.

Silver mesh 3"x9" tray is from Wal-Mart.

It now takes a mere second to locate and retrieve what I am looking for.

edited to add: the small embossing folders fit too - they are in the back; the dividers must be cut taller to compensate for their increased height compared to the steel dies.