I'm almost to the point where I can begin constructing pages for the mini-album. I shiver with a girlish nervousness simply thinking of sitting down and beginning the first page.
I own a fair collection of Cricut cartridges; like everyone else, there are the go-to favourites. There's still so much uncovered possibilities in these cartridges; options available that have only been skimmed. For instance, I tried to make a card and envelope from one of my cartridges, and the effort was a miserable failure. This was in the early days with the Cricut, when getting the image I selected was magical. A few more hours under the belt, and I'm looking at some of the functions best left alone until now.
In the upcoming (and future) project, there are dozens of tags and envelopes to make. Though willing, the thought of constructing all these by hand, with only a limited supply of "hard" dies was painful. I pulled a dozen or so cartridges out to look at again and found (duh) that there were literally thousands of possibilities with the Cricut. The amount whittled down to three primary and a couple more secondary cartridges to work with. More interesting to discover was that some of the cartridges contained complimentary images to others.
Martin, at the least bit of prompting, hung the six-foot wire rack today. The hope was to transfer all the punches from the the shoe bag to the new rack.. He had no sooner packed the electric drill before I began moving punches. The result? Ugly. This will never work for what I imagined. Never. Had it been in the closet I could have lived with a little bit of ugly, but this is front and center of the entry into the room. Aaack! Instead, I've began loading the rack with "pretty" items taking valuable closet space. Such as: tatting thread, glass jars with colourful contents, all the bright colours of glitter and stickles, Tattered Angel bottles, etc. That takes care of the short shelves, but the wider spaced shelves on the bottom half stay empty for the time being. In the meantime, most of the punches are scattered between the table and closet floor.
Decisions, decisions... The SSD Annex hosts another 75% sale Tuesday through Friday this week. The scope of the 75% off is rather limited, but 10 sheets of name brand, heavy weight paper for $1.00 is worth the trip. There's more, but won't know what until getting there. Now it gets tricky. TM also brings out a new line of products at 66% off this Tuesday. The problem is money. Martin generously offered $50 split between each sale, because I'd already spent my allowance. What he may or may not realize it how hard it is to walk out of either for less than $60. I could be extra sneaky and take him with me! He's worse than I when it comes to, "Oh, you could really use this. Right?" Yes, I think so is the only reasonable reply. Honestly, there's not much more in supplies I need for now, but the hunt is highly addictive.
Time to wrangle up the punches!
Showing posts with label punches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label punches. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
New Directions
I went to our "secret" scrapbooking shop today, who, by the way was supposed to have already moved, but hasn't, and was floored by how the inventory had shrank since our last visit. Plenty of stickers and one very sweet album kit begging to be bought! While pawing through what little inventory was available, I began speaking to a nice looking woman about scrapping in general. In one part of the conversation I mentioned that even though I'd been at the hobby for only one year, I still hadn't found anyone to share ideas, tips, and bond-ship with in this pursuit. That's taken care of now!!
She invited me to a small scrapbooking club her and about five other ladies put together. The next get-together is next week I think. Better yet, she talked about so many scrapbooking events around the area... largely unadvertised, but from the sounds of it: fun. Finally, she took a bold step and invited us to her church. Well! That was a heck of a deal. I'm thrilled beyond belief to finally hook up with other people with the same passions.
The store, in what I can only assume was a consolidation tactic, bound three to four sticker packs and sold the set as one. I would have gladly paid the asking price for any single set, but to get that many more at the same price was beyond temptation. I bought them all. There's plenty back in the stockroom, so this doesn't overly concern me; they'll pull out a bunch tomorrow. During the conversation, Crystal told me about this store being also in Fayetteville with a much larger show floor, and hence a larger selection of scrapbooking area. And it just so happens I'll be driving down there tomorrow.
I hoped over to HL (the two stores are in the same complex) and didn't hardly find anything. I did use the standard 40% coupon to buy a punch I've been watching for awhile. Mine, mine, mine!
The best part of all, predictably was the "chance" encounter with a scrapbooking enthusiast that will probably lead to meeting more people! God, truly is good.
She invited me to a small scrapbooking club her and about five other ladies put together. The next get-together is next week I think. Better yet, she talked about so many scrapbooking events around the area... largely unadvertised, but from the sounds of it: fun. Finally, she took a bold step and invited us to her church. Well! That was a heck of a deal. I'm thrilled beyond belief to finally hook up with other people with the same passions.
The store, in what I can only assume was a consolidation tactic, bound three to four sticker packs and sold the set as one. I would have gladly paid the asking price for any single set, but to get that many more at the same price was beyond temptation. I bought them all. There's plenty back in the stockroom, so this doesn't overly concern me; they'll pull out a bunch tomorrow. During the conversation, Crystal told me about this store being also in Fayetteville with a much larger show floor, and hence a larger selection of scrapbooking area. And it just so happens I'll be driving down there tomorrow.
I hoped over to HL (the two stores are in the same complex) and didn't hardly find anything. I did use the standard 40% coupon to buy a punch I've been watching for awhile. Mine, mine, mine!
The best part of all, predictably was the "chance" encounter with a scrapbooking enthusiast that will probably lead to meeting more people! God, truly is good.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Table, Organization & Tricky Deals
There's no comparison between my crafting table "during" the creation of a LO and the rare times when I'm not. One looks as if a slow motion explosion has taken place, and the other a nice orderly oasis of quiet. Without exception, and from a hard earned lesson, the table gets cleaned in between projects. I've said it a hundred times already, but I can't think with a disorganized mess in the line of site. I can't! In the future I'll have to make sure any haul mention will be during those times between projects. I want to start photographing/videoing them... for future reference. And that simply can't be done on a disorganized table.
I find that once again there are more scrap room organizational changes necessary. It's the paper! There's a small box sitting on the floor layered with colour coordinated long paper strips. There's no other place to file them neatly as they come in varying widths and lengths. I'm thinking the solution to this could involve using the shoe tree bag currently used for punches; but then, what with all the punches?
This, too, has become problematic lately since it's very difficult to find a particular punch within the current system. Punches don't file into neat categories, be that size or theme. The card ring with punched images is the only way of really knowing what I have available anymore. That's a real lifesaver. But most of the punches proper are heavy and restrict some options. Maybe....? We have a few open-wire baskets, primarily used with wire shelving systems out in the garage. (Always a treasure trove of storage possibilities!!!) I'm thinking using these at the back and hanging under of my craft table where they have both the weight and extra area to spread them out instead of riffling through small sleeves as required now. Each time I wanted a punch it would require bending over and crawling under the table; bothersome, but "do-able" until I come up with a better system, and to a certain extent, I'm already doing with the current system. The only other option would be to hang the other six-foot wire rack (the twin to the rack shown here) somewhere within the room. And, as these things go, doing so would require rearranging that area, also. Either way, something has to give somewhere.
The craft room was originally set up as the computer room. I hadn't actually began scrapping at that point. But, should we move again, the room would be set up specifically as a craft room, alleviating most of the organizational challenges dealt with over the past year. One thing for certain... that computer desk with hutch would never grace the room! I would certainly buy another crafting table instead. And paint the room in pink and lime green, if I want.
____________________________________________
I submitted the latest LO for the CSI challenge with only hours to spare, and then only after I decided to settle with the photography results on hand, which were all less than idealistic. Before this project, I never, in a million years, would have never considered the tricky problems with photographing a matte finished photo with a glossy. Well, I sure do now! I'm convinced that it can't be done. Oh, sure, hundreds of photographers would testify to the contrary. But not with MY skill set! I literally spent almost two hours, some with Martin's help, trying to capture a true page likeness. In every case it became a contest of shadows. Even though I had two different skies to work with - 1 sunny and 1 rainy - and an abundance of natural and artificial light sources, there was no coaxing out a single great photo. I guess the lesson taken from the experience is to consider this problem when thinking of using two different photo surfaces in the future.
All the myriad of talents learned thus far are about to be put to a functional use. My husband went on a new diabetic medication delivery program. It's not insulin, but he has to administer a shot within an hour of eating dinner, never after. He does well with the morning shot, but 9 times of 10, he forgets the evening dose. I'm about to put together a 6x6 or 8x8 cutely decorated page to remind him each evening. It will say something to the effect of: No pot before the shot, or some other silly thin. I can't wait to jump on this project. Just right after I pull together an awesomely adorable ocean themed LO. ;D
I find that once again there are more scrap room organizational changes necessary. It's the paper! There's a small box sitting on the floor layered with colour coordinated long paper strips. There's no other place to file them neatly as they come in varying widths and lengths. I'm thinking the solution to this could involve using the shoe tree bag currently used for punches; but then, what with all the punches?
 |
| Pink Shoe Bag, very weighted down |
This, too, has become problematic lately since it's very difficult to find a particular punch within the current system. Punches don't file into neat categories, be that size or theme. The card ring with punched images is the only way of really knowing what I have available anymore. That's a real lifesaver. But most of the punches proper are heavy and restrict some options. Maybe....? We have a few open-wire baskets, primarily used with wire shelving systems out in the garage. (Always a treasure trove of storage possibilities!!!) I'm thinking using these at the back and hanging under of my craft table where they have both the weight and extra area to spread them out instead of riffling through small sleeves as required now. Each time I wanted a punch it would require bending over and crawling under the table; bothersome, but "do-able" until I come up with a better system, and to a certain extent, I'm already doing with the current system. The only other option would be to hang the other six-foot wire rack (the twin to the rack shown here) somewhere within the room. And, as these things go, doing so would require rearranging that area, also. Either way, something has to give somewhere.
The craft room was originally set up as the computer room. I hadn't actually began scrapping at that point. But, should we move again, the room would be set up specifically as a craft room, alleviating most of the organizational challenges dealt with over the past year. One thing for certain... that computer desk with hutch would never grace the room! I would certainly buy another crafting table instead. And paint the room in pink and lime green, if I want.
____________________________________________
I submitted the latest LO for the CSI challenge with only hours to spare, and then only after I decided to settle with the photography results on hand, which were all less than idealistic. Before this project, I never, in a million years, would have never considered the tricky problems with photographing a matte finished photo with a glossy. Well, I sure do now! I'm convinced that it can't be done. Oh, sure, hundreds of photographers would testify to the contrary. But not with MY skill set! I literally spent almost two hours, some with Martin's help, trying to capture a true page likeness. In every case it became a contest of shadows. Even though I had two different skies to work with - 1 sunny and 1 rainy - and an abundance of natural and artificial light sources, there was no coaxing out a single great photo. I guess the lesson taken from the experience is to consider this problem when thinking of using two different photo surfaces in the future.
 |
| The problematic glossy photo! Urg! |
All the myriad of talents learned thus far are about to be put to a functional use. My husband went on a new diabetic medication delivery program. It's not insulin, but he has to administer a shot within an hour of eating dinner, never after. He does well with the morning shot, but 9 times of 10, he forgets the evening dose. I'm about to put together a 6x6 or 8x8 cutely decorated page to remind him each evening. It will say something to the effect of: No pot before the shot, or some other silly thin. I can't wait to jump on this project. Just right after I pull together an awesomely adorable ocean themed LO. ;D
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Not Really a Second Post for the Day
This isn't really the second post of the day. In my excitement over the hall yesterday, and not desiring to forget anything, I posted the blog previous to this in my Myspace blog. Today I transferred the post to here; a more appropriate setting.
I've spent nearly twelve hours re-organizing paper and paper scraps. To accommodate for a hefty but handy pre-sized paper cuts, some of the smaller dies had to be consolidated. So too with other tools, but it will be worth the effort in the end. Not administering enough organization torture, I labeled every bin and drawer. Needless to say, after only twelve hours into the project, the room looks as if a paper bomb went off. I really need to track how often I go through these two-to-three day organizational fits; it seems I do this at least every other month. But wait! There's more accomplished today...
For my coloured pencil collection, I saved an old coffee tin. Yes, it's totally filled, but this collection goes back at least twenty years. Back when the boys were kids, and I was a Camp Fire leader, I put all the crayons in a coffee bin and decorated it with a wallpaper scrap and crayon wrappers; the exterior decoration lasted virtually forever. Each "play" coffee can had a unique decoration so they could pull the can and know what was inside at a glance. The coloured pencil can has served well, but it was nothing to brag about. It really bothers me when a container I use is ugly. With some help for my great helper, we decorated the coloured pencil bucket with very pleasing results. I added a pencil sticker on the label after taking the picture, which adds that much more cuteness.
Sometime early last year I found a small plastic accordion folder in Hobby Lobby's clearance section. It originally sold for $10, but because it had a busted carrying strap, I picked it up for $2.00, I think. We buy cat litter in boxes that have sturdy plastic handles.... just about the size needed to repair the accordion folder. A match made in heaven! Better than that, the new handle is of better plastic quality than the original. All due credit goes to Martin that thought to marry the two. He's one smart cookie!
I picked up a black painted wood frame with a mysterious slot in one side for 50 cents while at SSD. Playing around with it, we discovered the slot perfectly accommodates a scrapbook page. Martin wants me to go back and pick up as many as ten, should they still be there. His idea is that we (yes, he likes to help scrap sometimes, too!) design decorative holiday pages to display for the various seasons. He also wants me to display a few scrapbook pages around the house instead of photographing them and throwing into an album. It will take an hour to make the round trip, so I hope it's worthwhile. Maybe call to find out before leaving the house? Nope, there might be new stuff on the floor tomorrow. As much as he thrills over this prospect, he has yet to see what scrapbookers are doing to deep-framed art canvases. I can put together a piece of art to hang on a wall for under $10 for what departments stores sell at $20-30, and can do a better job of it.
Probably not this year, but perhaps next, I take this hobby to the next notch and try to sell cards at the farmer's market. I've gotten very good with cards, but don't feel I'm up to the commercial level yet. I've always been crafty, but never considered ever making a profit from it. Who knows?
I've spent nearly twelve hours re-organizing paper and paper scraps. To accommodate for a hefty but handy pre-sized paper cuts, some of the smaller dies had to be consolidated. So too with other tools, but it will be worth the effort in the end. Not administering enough organization torture, I labeled every bin and drawer. Needless to say, after only twelve hours into the project, the room looks as if a paper bomb went off. I really need to track how often I go through these two-to-three day organizational fits; it seems I do this at least every other month. But wait! There's more accomplished today...
For my coloured pencil collection, I saved an old coffee tin. Yes, it's totally filled, but this collection goes back at least twenty years. Back when the boys were kids, and I was a Camp Fire leader, I put all the crayons in a coffee bin and decorated it with a wallpaper scrap and crayon wrappers; the exterior decoration lasted virtually forever. Each "play" coffee can had a unique decoration so they could pull the can and know what was inside at a glance. The coloured pencil can has served well, but it was nothing to brag about. It really bothers me when a container I use is ugly. With some help for my great helper, we decorated the coloured pencil bucket with very pleasing results. I added a pencil sticker on the label after taking the picture, which adds that much more cuteness.
Sometime early last year I found a small plastic accordion folder in Hobby Lobby's clearance section. It originally sold for $10, but because it had a busted carrying strap, I picked it up for $2.00, I think. We buy cat litter in boxes that have sturdy plastic handles.... just about the size needed to repair the accordion folder. A match made in heaven! Better than that, the new handle is of better plastic quality than the original. All due credit goes to Martin that thought to marry the two. He's one smart cookie!
I picked up a black painted wood frame with a mysterious slot in one side for 50 cents while at SSD. Playing around with it, we discovered the slot perfectly accommodates a scrapbook page. Martin wants me to go back and pick up as many as ten, should they still be there. His idea is that we (yes, he likes to help scrap sometimes, too!) design decorative holiday pages to display for the various seasons. He also wants me to display a few scrapbook pages around the house instead of photographing them and throwing into an album. It will take an hour to make the round trip, so I hope it's worthwhile. Maybe call to find out before leaving the house? Nope, there might be new stuff on the floor tomorrow. As much as he thrills over this prospect, he has yet to see what scrapbookers are doing to deep-framed art canvases. I can put together a piece of art to hang on a wall for under $10 for what departments stores sell at $20-30, and can do a better job of it.
Probably not this year, but perhaps next, I take this hobby to the next notch and try to sell cards at the farmer's market. I've gotten very good with cards, but don't feel I'm up to the commercial level yet. I've always been crafty, but never considered ever making a profit from it. Who knows?
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Punch Drunk
I went to JoAnn's this past Friday in small hopes of finding We R Memory Keepers brand new Lucky 8 punches. I hoped there might be just one. Foolish faith.
While over in their Fiskars punch area I happened to see a clearance tag on a small corner punch. Lacking a goodly supply of these, I snatched it up. The punch was originally listed at $12.00, but was marked down to $2.98. WOW! What a deal. Initially it appeared I'd come in too late in the sale to take advantage of other great deals after seeing so many of the arms with clearance tags empty. Undeterred, I began looking more closely at the clearance tags. They didn't hang on the front of the arm, but each was pushed against the back wall. The search was on!
In the end, I found: 1 regular shape punch, 2 small corner punches, 2 3-in-1 emboss plus punch, 1 4-in1 emboss and punch, 1 medium squeeze punch, and 3 different border and corner punch sets. Oh! And a Sizzix Original dye. Over $150.00 retail value, I spent less than $50! A 66% savings value!!!
In the past, I've hesitated over buying corner punches. They just seemed so dog-gone expensive. At the same time, I've also felt the loss of these tools, especially when matting photos. Small rounding and large rounding was to the largest extent of photo and matting ability before now. While nice, there's just so much creativity to be had. Between the newly acquired tools, and the couple of other punches I owned, I now have the ability to create no less than 18 corner designs. And that's before combining punches for extra depth.
And this is the way I've built a huge inventory in such a short time, by taking advantage of really great deals. They almost always come in bulk of one tool or element. If I buy one, and find others, I stock up.
There's still one of the WRMK Lucky 8 punches I really want, but the last purchase ate this month's remaining allowance.
Before ending the discussion of punches, I found posted somewhere a nifty tip about how to know whether a particular punch in the store is not already sitting in the closet, or punch bin, whichever applies.
For every punch bought, punch an index card with the new punch. Each card then gets a general round punch so each card as acquired can be added to a opening/closure ring. When heading out to a craft store, take the entire ring. Then, when wondering whether the punch on the shelf is something already owned, all it takes is pulling out the ringed set and flipping through the punched cards
I've taken this idea to a higher level and write the brand name and title of the demonstrated punch to make putting together the "supplies used" sheet easier to write up after the page or card creation.
(Sorry for the mess. Actual scrapbook page creation in progress)
While over in their Fiskars punch area I happened to see a clearance tag on a small corner punch. Lacking a goodly supply of these, I snatched it up. The punch was originally listed at $12.00, but was marked down to $2.98. WOW! What a deal. Initially it appeared I'd come in too late in the sale to take advantage of other great deals after seeing so many of the arms with clearance tags empty. Undeterred, I began looking more closely at the clearance tags. They didn't hang on the front of the arm, but each was pushed against the back wall. The search was on!
In the end, I found: 1 regular shape punch, 2 small corner punches, 2 3-in-1 emboss plus punch, 1 4-in1 emboss and punch, 1 medium squeeze punch, and 3 different border and corner punch sets. Oh! And a Sizzix Original dye. Over $150.00 retail value, I spent less than $50! A 66% savings value!!!
In the past, I've hesitated over buying corner punches. They just seemed so dog-gone expensive. At the same time, I've also felt the loss of these tools, especially when matting photos. Small rounding and large rounding was to the largest extent of photo and matting ability before now. While nice, there's just so much creativity to be had. Between the newly acquired tools, and the couple of other punches I owned, I now have the ability to create no less than 18 corner designs. And that's before combining punches for extra depth.
And this is the way I've built a huge inventory in such a short time, by taking advantage of really great deals. They almost always come in bulk of one tool or element. If I buy one, and find others, I stock up.
There's still one of the WRMK Lucky 8 punches I really want, but the last purchase ate this month's remaining allowance.
Before ending the discussion of punches, I found posted somewhere a nifty tip about how to know whether a particular punch in the store is not already sitting in the closet, or punch bin, whichever applies.
For every punch bought, punch an index card with the new punch. Each card then gets a general round punch so each card as acquired can be added to a opening/closure ring. When heading out to a craft store, take the entire ring. Then, when wondering whether the punch on the shelf is something already owned, all it takes is pulling out the ringed set and flipping through the punched cards
 |
| Punch Ring - Organization |
I've taken this idea to a higher level and write the brand name and title of the demonstrated punch to make putting together the "supplies used" sheet easier to write up after the page or card creation.
(Sorry for the mess. Actual scrapbook page creation in progress)
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