Stampin Up Homemade Notepad

This afternoon I made a notepad with Stampin Up supplies. I covered two pieces of chipboard with Ginger Blossom paper to make the covers. Inside I put white and Certainly Celery cardstock sheets. I stamped the cover and some of the inside sheets with the Embrace Life stamp set. I attached everything with a metal ring, which I put ribbon on.

Rubber Stamp Ink Storage

The best way I know of to store rubber stamp inks, of which I have a ton, is with Mother Rubber Ink Pad Palaces. They're smartly designed, don't take up much space, and are very reasonably priced. Most ink storage is very expensive. But these cost soooooo much less and are very sturdy. They hold loads of ink pads so I can easily see them and sort them by color families. I use three and can always find exactly the right ink pad when I need it.

You can also store stamps and various goodies in them. She also has drawers that you can put in them, which are nice for storing little stamps that I use a lot.

The latest price on them is $11.49. She offers discounts when you buy more than one. This saves on shipping, too.

Marker Storage

To keep my markers from drying out, I store double-ended markers on their sides. This prevents the ink from flowing down into just one end. I store most of my markers that write on one end only upside down to keep the flow of ink moving toward the tip.

My favorite markers are from Stampin Up, because the colors are very vibrant and the ink flows really well.

My Craft Desk

IN PROGRESS... So this is the latest state of affairs on my craft desk in the midst of beginning a scrapbook page. I like to keep the desk more clear so I do that as much as possible before I start and after I finish. I find that I avoid the desk if it's a big mess. There's already so much going on in the room that I'm more inspired to work when I have a clean space!

TIDY VS. ON DISPLAY... So honestly, I prefer the look of everything being nicely tucked away when I see other people's super tidy spaces. But practically speaking, I find it more helpful for me to see my supplies when I'm working. Otherwise I forget what I have and then forget to use it.

SHOPPING AND CULLING MY STASH... Every so often I go through just about everything and cull out what I haven't used it. This is great, because I get rid of what I don't need and I'm reminded of the great stuff that I forgot I had so, in a sense, it's like going shopping each time I purge.

INSPIRATION ON HAND... Before I start every project, I look at other projects that I like to help me get inspired. I get stumped when I just look at a blank sheet of paper. Anytime I see something I like, I cut it out or print it. I find that it's useful to keep copies of projects that use stamps that I have with the stamps so I'm instantly reminded of the nice ways that other people have used the supplies I already have.

Homemade Notepad

I made this notepad with American Crafts paper on the covers and Club Scrap flower-textured paper (from the Nature's Wonder kit) for the inside paper. I covered sheets of chipboard with the American Crafts paper. I held it together with a metal ring and embellished the front with flowers from a Stampin Up multi-flower punch, Hero Arts flower-shaped jewels, and Heidi Swapp jewels.

Book of Me: Sonja

I've been experimenting with a style of scrapbooking that is more "free form" or bohemian than a lot of what I make. This is a photo of me when I was about a year and a half old. This page is for my book of me.

The flowery paper (which I hand cut), photo mat, swirl transparency (top left), jewels, and rub on (blue swirl on bottom right) are from the Bohemia line. White flower on top of the flower paper is Prima. The background paper on the bottom half is Lil' Davis Designs. Laser cuts at top left corner and that I used as photo corners are Karen Marie's (Plaid).

Cards for Chinese Students

A crafter friend is going to China to visit her son, who teaches university students there (mostly young women). She is taking several cards as homemade gifts from the U.S. These are some of the cards I created. I made most of them with bright, cheerful colors since those are very popular among young women in Asia.

Cupcake Card

Cupcakes have become amazingly popular. There are so many stamps out there now. This is a Hero Arts stamp (the cupcake and the phrase). I cut out the cupcake and mounted it to the card with a dimensional foam adhesive square. The card base (with the starbursts) is by A Muse.

Give a mile, take an inchie

"Inchies" are the hot new craze sweeping the scrapbooking world! There are so many people making them.

Never heard of 'em? Here's what they are... wee little, inch-sized canvases. Many people use heavy watercolor paper -- 140 lb. paper is the popular choice. And basically, you just do whatever you want and decorate as much as you can in this tiny space. Then people use them to decorate cards, frame them, whatever. Right now I'm participating in a swap of them so I should have gobs of them soon from friends. I plan to frame them and use some as magnets. Will be fun to see what people do.

This is a set that I made over the weekend for an online inchies class hosted by Lifetime Moments.

Two More for NSD

Here are two more scrapbook pages that I made over the weekend for National Scrapbooking Day (gosh, I wonder how much scrapbooking stuff is sold over this weekend -- must be like "black Friday" before Christmas!). For these I pulled out my Club Scrap supplies.

For "Handy," I used the CS Workbench kit papers, a CS big & tall alphabet stamp set, and some Phillips screw-style brads. For "Cooking," I used CS Fossils paper for the background, CS Painted Desert font for the title, CS Culinary stamps, CS Farmer's Market cardstock (the green print), and some Italian veggie papers, random red and cream twill tape.

Shell Earrings

This is a pair of dangly earrings that I made with shell beads and sterling silver chain. I've got them listed on Etsy right now. I've sold some jewelry there and hope to sell some more!

Shell Earrings

This is a pair of earrings I made. I love to make jewelry, particularly earrings. I generally work with sterling silver and most frequently with shell. In San Francisco, we have some wonderful bead shops all over town. But I mainly go to two that are geared more to professional jewelry makers, because they have better selections and prices. Both are in SOMA: Beyond Beads and General Bead.

I've also been selling my wares on Etsy. It's an amazing site where people who make their own stuff can sell at very reasonable prices and reach a gigantic audience, because it's so popular. Here's my shop. Right now I'm selling a bunch of beads and supplies, because I'm doings some spring cleaning. :)