Working Tidy

Hello, Natalie here.

In the Feb 08 Issue of Creating Keepsakes, Becky Higgins office is in the ‘how we create’ section, titled “begin with the end”. On page 54 you can see where Becky has a hole in her desk, under which lives her garbage! She just slides her scrappy trimmings to the hole, and –bye bye…scraps land in the bin!

I love the idea of keeping my work surface clean as I work. Heck, anything that helps me be clean I love! I recently built myself a large L shaped desk, and in the corner section that I designed to scrap in, I drilled my garbage hole!

(this photo is poor, taken just now with the sun on this side of the house. You can see I've got a tall bin under there.)

I used a 4” circular bit in my drill to cut a hole in the door. (I used doors for the desk top. Click on my name to go to my blog if you want to read more about the construction of my desk.)

Now, remember these doors are hollow, so I also cut the hole in a piece of mdf that was the same thickness as the hollow space in the door.


Cardboard is the only filler between hollow core dores, so I moved the pieces in my way, dry fit the piece of wood, and took it out again. I put glue in the hollow door and onto the wood, slid it into place, and clamped it down. I also used masking tape to make sure it stuck and stayed right where I wanted it.

When the glue was dry, I removed the clapms and tape and proceded to finish my desk by painting and varnishing it.

On my new desk, where I make jewelry, I don't need a large garbage can because scraps from jewelry making are so small. So my solution here is to just put a cute bowl on my desk top to act as garbage can, and this I just empty on occasion. ;)

(Look at that cute metal bowl on the right of my red bowl. I should have included it better in the photo here. I use it to keep my jewelry tools in, and because of all of the circles, I can hang earrings on it as I make them. he he.)

TFL!

Chipboard Letter Fun

Hi :)
Dee here!

I just wanted to post a quick idea for putting all those chipboard letters you have hoarded to good (and cute) use.

Just pick up a shadowbox frame at your local craft store...

cut a piece of patterned paper to fit the background...

then...choose a name or word and spell it out with chipboard letters!

Decorate as desired (I added a few flowers here)...and you have a quick and easy gift or decoration for your child's room...etc.

You can make it fancy and 'grown up' and use words like 'love', 'laugh', 'live', 'dream', 'family' etc and have a nice wall plaque for your family room.

Make one for your scrapbooking or craft room that says 'create' or 'art'.

Names are GREAT for this project... use the name of your friend's newest little one for a keepsake gift. Or, use your little boy's name with fun star stickers or rocket ships and make a cute name plaque for his room...

so many ideas...and a great way to use up those chipboard letters!

Inspiration: A Messy Desk

Hi y'all!

Teri here today.

I am always on the hunt for interesting color combos. I scour through the magazines, check out the stores and, even, watch TV for color combos that just strike my fancy.

Yesterday, I found an unusual inspiration source - my messy desk.

I had a little pile growing on the desk of scraps and leftovers from other projects. I was cleaning it up when I pulled at a small piece of pink twill tape and a lemon cream felt button.

"Oh la la," I thought.

So, I stopped cleaning up and instead got to work on this card, using the colors of the twill tape and button as my inspiration. Much more fun, you know. ;)

The stamps I used are from Technique Tuesday's new Cute as a Button set. It's part of their Summer 2008 release.

I used pens from Copic to color in the images.

The white letter stickers are from Doodlebug.

Have a great day!

Add dimension!

Hey there! Kristy here. I don't know why but me and the "pop dots" have been having quite the love affair lately! I can't get enough of adding a little dimension to my projects.

I recently made this layout for my sweet sister in law as a gift. I dug up all sorts of product from my stash, including my Fancy Pants chipboard flourishes that I've had for, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....forever!

I wanted to use more than just the one swoosh, so I decided to bust out my pop dots and stack another flourish on top. I had lots of room to play with dimension, as I actually framed this layout in a shadow box frame from IKEA to give to her.

Oh and the journaling is blurry only because it's a bunch of sappy, schmoopy, "sister" stuff.

So if you haven't busted out your foam pop dots recently, go for it! They can be fun!

Altered Journal

Jen here! Seeing Robyn's awesome journal got my creative juices flowing today. I just had to create a journal too. I had this wonderful sketch book laying in a drawer just begging to be altered. Would you believe some student just threw it in the trash at the end of the school year? There wasn't even a single page of it used. I grabbed it and knew I could give it a better home! I was also dying to use those metal wings. I'd found those at a flea market. I got 3 of these brass wings (which I painted here for my use) in a bag for 20 cents. Love those kinds of deals.

Beading is FUN!!

Hi all! Dee here!

I know it's been a while since I posted, so I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about a new love of mine... BEADING!

I really love looking at beads...
looking at jewelry ideas...
shopping for beads...
and, of course, creating earrings, bracelets and necklaces!

Beading has become really popular recently...and I can see why...it's addicting, relaxing and FUN!

There are so many talented jewelry designers and artists...and with the internet, there are so many ideas and so much inspiration, that you quickly realize that there ISN'T ENOUGH TIME IN A DAY!

I love to poke around at Beading Daily and Etsy (the jewelry section, of course) for 'ooohs and aaahs' and loads of great ideas.

A couple of magazines that I have found inspiring and fun are Stringing, Bead Trends and Bead Style.
I know a couple OTF gals (Nat and Teri) have had a few of their pieces published in Bead Trends...and I was pretty excited when they requested a few pieces of mine for their upcoming Sept/Oct and Nov/Dec issues.

I think beading is such a relaxing and fun hobby. Great for gift giving! And it's REALLY REALLY REALLY fun to shop for beads and supplies!

Here are a few places to start:

Lima Beads

Fire Mountain Gems

Jewelry Supply

I hope you enjoyed looking at a few of my pieces...you can see more of my jewelry designs at Rockology3.

Every Day Counts Journal

Hey everyone! This is Robyn with something that's gonna help me reach my weight loss goals. It's my Every Day Counts Journal!

When I'm trying to lose weight I need lots of motivation, a solid plan, and tons of prayer!(LOL!) My family and friends are supplying plenty of motivation and prayer, but I still have to plan well and organize myself for success. This is where my friend Ana comes in. She's helped me understand the importance of keeping track of my meals, exercise, and journaling every day for optimum success. Thanks Ana!

It has a section for me to write down my meals, track my exercise, journal my thoughts and feelings, and to write down any notes or important information, like nutritional websites like Dottie's Weight Loss Zone .

I used a tabbed journal by Kaiser Craft that you can purchase HERE, along with patterned paper, felt butterflies and flowers, lots of bling, a white paint pen,4 metal rings, stamps, rub-ons, and Mod Podge. I also added several motivational quotes on each page to help me stay on track. Hey, every little bit helps! Take care and Be Blessed!