Rambling

Craft Space Makeover!

August 18, 2017August 18, 2017 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

I’ve mentioned this post a couple of times and I’ve finally carved out the time to get it together.

Since I started this card making adventure in March, I’ve tried to be somewhat financially responsible and use the items at have as much as possible. But, it quickly became obvious to me that I would not be able to stick it out with my old computer desk. I have a bad back, and I tend to craft standing up, leaving me bent over all day long. Not good!

I had my computer desk in an area I like to refer to as the “nerd den.” It’s officially the dinning room of my apartment, but we made it the office space when we moved in, and parked the family computer (our only computer at the time) in this area. Since the computer was mainly used for gaming, we might have decorated the area to match our main pursuit (the nerd den…).

Almost two years ago I got a computer for myself, leaving the family computer on it’s desk. At least until summer time. Once school ended for the year, the family computer disappeared into my son’s room. It made sense, as the family computer was right outside of my bedroom, and he would keep me up playing video games.

So, when I started crafting, using the empty desk in the nerd den made sense too. But, my back can’t handle being hunched over, and I started coveting counter height craft tables on Pintrest. How was I going to find someone to make me one of these glorious tables? I started looking at already made alternatives, but they were so expensive.

About a month ago I came into a little bit of money. And I started looking a little bit harder at alternatives to the custom tables. I found a bar height table at Target for $95. Perfect! But my old desk had a lot of storage in it. If I was going to go with a plain table, I would have to find some more storage. Then the IKEA Gods smiled on me and the Kallak units went on sale! I got a two by four cubby unit for $50! I drove down to Fort Lauderdale to save myself $150 in shopping, and grabbed a couple of accessories while there. The last piece to the finish off my space was a bar stool. One day after work I wandered through TJ Maxx and found a gorgeous seat on clearance for $50 (originally $129).

Ok here is the original “Nerd Den.”

How many people have a map of Middle Earth in their “Dinning room?” And the Legos? They are Harry Potter and Lord of the Ring’s sets. You can see I already had the white shelves from Target, and I had started to creep into them with my stash. I had one Raskog cart and the other was an old shoe rack.

Here is the new space:

I’m using the photo shelf from IKEA for my Nuvo Drops and Mica Sprays. The bar and baskets was a way to keep favorite tools in reach without sacrificing table space.

These next couple of pictures were taken before the space was finished (my ink rack wasn’t here yet). But you get a good shot of my $50 bar stool! Which, really isn’t a bar stool, it’s a cat perch!

This is the “finished” look. I may make some adjustments in the future, but I’m pretty happy with it. I have to move my Copic markers to the desk when I color, but thats not a big deal. I don’t have so many that it’s cumbersome.

That Kallak unit was more then enough storage! The top row left side has my 8 1/2″ x 11″ cardstock, stored in Job Ticket holders placed in magazine holders from IKEA. Next to that is my Organize More ink rack, which I had ordered before I redid my space and it finally arrived last week! The bigger wire baskets on the next shelf hold my glue guns and punches in one, and all my adhesives in the other. Under my ink rack I have my Distress tins full of my ink cubes, my acrylic blocks, paint brushes, alcohol wipes and mini misters. Next row down holds my 12″ x 12″ paper pads and next to it are wire baskets with my finished cards, envelopes and cellophane sleeves. The bottom of the Kallak unit has two drawers from IKEA. One has stamp and die storage supplies (magnetic paper, storage envelopes and cheap cardstock for the envelopes) and spare items like Wink of Stella shimmer markers. The other has fun foam cut down, stamp cleaning suppies and little used tools.

My dies are in the mini binders (I used to keep them on my Raskog cart under my Spellbinder Platinum 6 but I moved them when I freed up the room), and my Copic markers are next to them. Underneath are wooden crates that hold my stamps. Below that are plastic bins with stickers and embellishments, with my sequins and jewels in the next cubby, in the plastic storage tray. The gray cloth drawers have empty boxes and other miscellaneous items.

I have my original Raskog cart, which has my die cut machine on the top basket (it’s installed upside down to serve as a shelf, and you can see this in the picture with both cats and the chair). Below that are spare cutting plates, embossing plates and embossing folders. On the bottom shelf I have paper towels and a wooden board.

I did get a second Raskog cart, but it may have been over kill. In the top I have my trimmers, baby wipes, stamp scrubbing pad and a microfiber cloth. The second basket has my embossing powders and other heat embossing items. The bottom shelf has coloring tools like gel pens, colored pencils, Distress Markers, and my watercolor paints.

I also have a my fuse tool, accessories and craft mat stashed in one of the cabinets with doors from the original shelves.

I’m probably going to have to order another ink rack soon. I just ordered three more Distress Oxide inks! But I think I can move my pigment inks to the self below, or to the cart with my embossing items and it won’t be that bad.

When I’m done crafting for the weekend, I tuck the two carts in between my desk and the shelves and it tidies up the space a lot!

Whew! That’s my craft space make over! I’m really happy with how it turned out! And my back is very happy! I don’t get to sit much in that gorgeous chair, but I don’t seem to need too. And it means Fireball doesn’t sit on my projects anymore, since she’s usually sleeping in the chair…

Thanks for stopping by and sticking with me through all that!

Nicole

My Monthly Hero August Kit Unboxing

August 16, 2017 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

Oh happy day! My August Hero Arts kit arrived today!!! Let’s get right to it!

This month’s kit includes the following:

6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set

► 11 Coordinating Frame Cuts

► 1 Fancy Window Cut Die

► 1.5 oz Celestial Sequins

► 1 Metallic Blueberry Mist

► 1 Gold Shimmer Mist

► 1 Stencil 5.25″ x 6.5″

► 3 5″ x 7″ Assorted Patterned Celestial Paper

I am so excited for this kit! I loved every single bit of it! Even the tissue paper is a beautiful color!

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This is how it comes out of the box. I saw a sneak peak of the ribbon on Instagram and fell in love with the color! I wish they had cardstock in that shade! The stamps and dies are on the left, and the paper, sequins, spray and stencil are on the right. I took pictures of the items as well.

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The 6″ x 8″ stamp set. These sentiments are great!

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The coordinating dies, and the fancy window die (love it)!

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The gorgeous patterned papers!

Stars and Moon stencil.

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The ink sprays and sequins! I can’t wait to play with those sprays.

This release was so cool, I couldn’t resist some of the add-on items!

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I grabbed the Dream Big 4″ x 6″ stamps and coordinating dies (my daughter loves space and the planets). Again, I love the sentiments. I also purchased my first true background stamp, the Pretty Moon Spiral Bold Prints. I love the poem or verse it contains, and the design.

I can’t wait to get to work on these. This week is also MFT’s second session of Camp Create, so I’m not sure if I will get to these this weekend. I skipped the first Camp Create session, so I want to take a crack at this one. But I’m sure I’ll find a way to fit these in! I will most definitely write a post about those sprays, once I see what they can do.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great rest of your week.

Nicole

New to Me · Uncategorized

Baby Cards!

August 16, 2017August 12, 2017 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

My co-workers seem to be procreating at an alarming rate, so I’ve been busy making “newborn,” cards.

I only had one set of stamps that could be used for baby cards. It just so happened to be one of my favorite sets, but since not everyone is into fantasy creatures, I thought I should get some more “traditional,” baby themed stamps and dies.

Here are my previous baby cards:

I love those baby dragons!!!

Back to traditional. It seems almost every stamp manufacturer has a stamp set that features baby onesies. I settled on MFT’s LLD Bundle of Baby Clothes dies because they have more than just the onesie shape, and you have more flexibility using patterned papers. I stayed with MFT for sentiments with LLD Welcome Baby. I liked the cute messages.

I started out with some baby girl cards, since the first baby due is a girl.

The sentiments on the front of the second card are from Concord and 9th’s Hooray Ribbon.

Then I decided to make a shaker card with MFT’s new shaker balloon window and frame.

The “For Baby!” is from the Hooray Ribbon set. Aren’t those sentiments from MFT adorable!

My last card with the MFT items was for a baby boy, and went back to my Acetate card roots!

There isn’t a lot of room to write inside, but I love the uniqueness. And that gorgeous blue color (Gina K Blue Raspberry cardstock and MFT Lush Lagoon ink)!

And then I went back to my baby dragons for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge last week. I can’t stay away from these little guys!

I had a ton of fun making these baby cards. I really like the baby clothes die kit. It also has a little tee shirt and a romper in it, and comes with the dies to make a laundry line to hang the clothes from. There is a lot more opportunity then just a onesie shape. I can’t wait to play some more!

Thanks for stopping by!

Nicole

Challenges · New to Me

Simon Says Stamps Challenge – For a Child and Neat and Tangled

August 14, 2017August 13, 2017 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

This week, the Wednesday challenge from Simon Says Stamps was to make a card for a child, featuring Neat and Tangled products if you have them.

I just so happen to have recently received a great stamp set from Neat and Tangled called “Bloom.” It features a beautiful, large flower image and a couple of great sentiments. I ended up not using the large flower image on this card, but I did use it on a card I made a few weeks ago, which I will share at the end.

Here is my card for the challenge.

I used a background made with Distress Oxide inks. I stamped the sentiment in Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Ink and heat embossed with clear powder on a piece of vellum I die cut with MFT’s Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangles. I used vellum so you could still see that gorgeous background!

I had planed on using the lovely flower image, but I didn’t want to make the same card I had made before, so I tired cutting the image up. Then I had the flower images with all this white space, which looked odd on the vellum. So I decided to use the smaller flower images from the set, and to heat emboss them in white. This way the sentiment is the focal point.

I accented the card with Pretty Pink Posh Clear droplets in 6mm and 4mm, and Nuvo Purple Rain glitter drops (they aren’t completely dry in this picture).

I made a card base from MFT’s Boysenberry Cardstock (it goes really well with the Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink).

I think this would be a great card for a child starting a new school! I would love to give it to my daughter, but she’s starting college, so not quiet a “kid.”

Here is the card I made a few weeks ago. This one turned out exactly how I pictured it!

I used the special cold pressed watercolor paper that came with the My Monthly Hero July kit. I used Broken China Distress ink to make a light wash on the paper and let it dry overnight.

I stamped the large floral image and some of the smaller flower images from the Neat and Tangled set and colored them with Copic markers. I used bolder colors instead of pastels as this card was meant for someone with a strong personality. The sentiment was stamped in Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink on vellum and heat embossed in clear. The ink did that great oxidizing effect all on its on (I’m kinda bummed it didn’t happen on the new card too).

The floral images were adhered with foam tape, and I added some Wink of Stella to the flowers. Lucy’s Cards Pool Jewels finished off the card. The card base is MFT’s Sno Cone cardstock.

This card was a special request for a woman at work that was leaving her job with no new job or plan, just needed a change. I thought the sentiment was perfect, and I had just received this set in the mail.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nicole

Challenges · Rambling

MFT Sketch Challenge 345

August 11, 2017August 11, 2017 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

I have to confess I sorta forced myself to make this card. I wanted to write a blog post tonight so I would have one ready to post in the morning, but I’m really tired. It’s been such a long week at work!

The only quick post I could think of was to make a card for the MFT Sketch Challenge. The other post I have in mind is about my craft space makeover and that will not be quick…Half way through the card I realized my heart wasn’t in it and I really wasn’t happy with it. But of course I had to see it through.

It stinks too, because I was really excited when I saw this week’s sketch! I thought it was right up my alley. But I didn’t give myself time to play around with it.

See! Who couldn’t work with a sketch like that?! Dead tired me apparently!

I had stamped on vellum and colored some of the images from MFT’s Pretty Posies this past weekend (this set was recently retired). I was thinking about making another card like this one:

However I never got around to it. So I thought I would use the images today. I also decided to use kraft cardstock again.

I cut a circle frame out of white cardstock and adhered it to the kraft cardstock with foam squares, a little off center like the sketch. Then I cut a strip of patterned cardstock and layered it on the left side.

Next I started layering on my Pretty Posies images, shoring them up with clear “foam” tape where they hung off the frame.

This is when I realized I needed a sentiment, but I had already adhered the circle frame. I used a sentiment from MFT’s Rainbows, but it didn’t stamp very well on the left side as the circle frame caused problems in my stamp tool. Sigh. I heat embossed it with white embossing powder and finished the card with silver confetti sequins.
I’m really bummed the card didn’t come out better! I thought for sure I was going to kill this sketch. But I’m so tired, it killed me instead! All this so that I could avoid having to write a long blog post. I guess I’ve learned my lesson! Either put off the post another day, or make sure to write them all over the weekend so I don’t run into this problem!

Making Cards · Techniques

Using Die Cut Negatives

August 9, 2017 curlesuecards1 Comment

Hey all! I just a quick post to show some ways I’ve used my die cut negatives, or what you are left with once you remove your die cut shapes. In this case, what I did with what was left from the two of the three negatives from this card.

As you can see, I used one of the three negatives on this card. Afterwards I was left with a white panel and a silver glitter panel. The silver glitter panel was actually only a partial panel. I knew I wasn’t going to need all of the butterflies for the card above, so I only used a scrap of the glitter cardstock.

Let’s start off with the white panel as it’s the most straightforward.

I laid the white panel over some more glitter cardstock and added a simple fishtail banner (MFT) with a silver heat embossed sentiment (Simon Says Stamps’ Floral Bliss). I tucked a small vellum piece under the banner with a supporting sentiment (also from SSS Floral Bliss). I adhered the negative to the silver cardstock with foam dots, to give it dimension.

On my second card, I had to think of a way to use partial pieces of the negative space, since I didn’t have a full panel. It was also tricky because of all the holes.

I cut a large heart using Hero Arts Nesting Hearts and layered it over a red heart of the same size, using foam dots to adhere it.

I heat embossed the sentiment in silver and stamped “Happy Anniversary,” inside the card. Both stamps are from Altenew’s 365 stamp set. I finished it off with Lucy’s Cards jewels.

I was able to cut a couple of circles from what remained of the silver glitter panel, using Spellbinder’s Circle Dies.

I used the same circle dies to cut matching circles from black cardstock and inlaid the silver glitter circles. Then I used foam tape to adhere more black cardstock behind it.

I used Concord and 9th’s Sunshine Dies to cut out the black circle and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment from their Sunshine Turnabout set in silver. I finished off this card with silver confetti sequins.

When I was die cutting the heart and circles from the intricate negative I was careful to line up the shapes so that I would be left with as many full butterflies as I could. I either centered a butterfly or squeezed in what I could.

I tend to be a pack rat and save every tiny scrap from my projects. I save the centers of all the little frames I cut out… Even after making theses cards, I still have tiny pieces of the silver glitter panel left.

Do you keep all the bits and pieces from your projects? I’d love to hear from my fellow pack rats!

Thanks for stopping by!

Nicole

Challenges · Making Cards

Simon Says Stamp’s Wednesday Challenge, 8/2

August 7, 2017August 6, 2017 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

Hello! Hope your weekend went well!

This week, Wednesday challenge from Simon Says Stamps was “Splatter it,” and featuring Ranger products. A perfect opportunity to play with those lovely Mica Sprays!

I had those lovely backgrounds I made with the Concord and 9th Sunshine Turnabout. I picked the one with the Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio and Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide inks, and I sprayed it with the Crushed Grapes Vibrant Turquoise and Brushed Pewter Mica Spray.

I die cut a cloud from Hero Arts Nesting Clouds, and adhered the two dragon image from Clearly Besotted’s Hot Stuff, which I had previously colored and cut out. I used foam tape on the dragons and to adhere the cloud to the background. I used MFT’s Sno Cone cardstock as the card base. I finished the card off with Pool jewels from Lucy’s Cards.

I stamped “double trouble,” inside the card.

Some close up shots of the mica spray.

Those baby dragons are so cute!

Thanks for stopping by!

Nicole