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I mass produced these cards for our office Christmas party.  Since we are a designer-ish company, I thought these were fitting.  I remembered Tim Holtz (I just love that my Samsung galaxy note recommends Holtz as the next word after I Swype "Tim") talked about liking distress stain for quickly laying down color, so that's what I did.  The first part I cut was the holly so that I could get the Stickles berries drying.  I used mowed grass stainon white card stock and then stamped with black archival ink.  All the stamping was done with same archival by the way.  Then I got to cutting out 10.  I had stamped just the hat portion all aroud the sheet, so with the help of the magnetic platform it was a snap going back and forth through the vagabond.  Wash, rinse repeat, with the nose (spiced marmalade),  hat (used vintage photo and weathered wood - liked both), scarf (festive berries) and arms (well, gathered twigs of course)  Then, cut 10 tags from manila cardstock using the Tim Holtz sixxiz tag die and cut a bunch of grommets using same die and metal tape from the hardware store.  I stamped the entire image on the tag and then assembled, mostly using mounting tape.  The arms were glued on.  My only tip would be to keep an eye on all your bits, especially the noses.  If you craft like I do, you sometimes have a hard time finding little bits.  I kept a tin next to the vagabond while I was cutting.  Anyway, it,was fairly simple and easy enough to do quite a few

Stashing the stash - small stash hanging above the Vagabond

I picked this up at Restore for $1.  I think it was meant for VHS tapes??

Anyway, the top fits 6" pads.  The bottom 2 fit Tim Holtz 4.5 x 5.5 kraft-core, grunge board, Kraft glassine, Vintage Market note cards, Ranger gloss finish paper and other smallish things.  You can see I have my Tim Holtz stencils and Vagabond key guage hanging on the side. Pretty handy for a buck.

Stashing the stash Continued

The big question, when relocated the Craft Cupboard was which cabinets to start with.  We looked first at Ikea, because that is always our go to place.  We looked at Alex cabinets and altough we ended up with a couple later one, we decided against them for our main storage.  We opted instead for this line from Michaels.  The material is decidedly flimsier, but we felt it was strong enough to stand up to our supplies.  The drawers aren't on runners, but we considered that a plus.  While we are crafting, we can pull out the entire drawer, which is certainly convenient.  The other big deciding factor, was a typical craft room miracle.  The storage system was on sale for 40% off and we we had a 20% off entire purchase encluding sale items.  So.....there you go.  The next decision was which ones.  We bought some of each available, and again ened up with another craft room miracle.  It was amazing how well our stash fit into the various configurations.  The one above has 3 drawers.  They are perfect for TH on the edge dies, and decorative strips,  We also use them for the various cutting pads.  

See, perfect height for Tim Holtz on the edge and the decorative stips sit along side

The black box that you see on top hold this:

I've got daubers and crackle paints stored upside down, stickles, alcohol inks and a couple of the Ranger refillable pens.  Along side are my TH markers - stored horizontally as recommended.  The AI and stickles are in plastic containers (you can see 2 spares laying on their side under the markers).  I got them from blitsy.com.  If I can ever figure out who makes them, I'll update this post

This next one is absolutely perfect for sizzix bigz dies.  This is a stack of 2 cubes.

2 fit Bigz Dies side by side and there are dividers that hold 2 deep, so 4 per divider.  The long dies, like the TH tag die fit long ways , so 2 per divider.  I keep my dies in the plastic cover, but cut the top tabs off for easy access.

This next configuration we fudged by combining 2 different cubes, but we wanted the trays to rest on shelves so that they could be pulled out easier.

The trays are perfect for dis stainstress.  Stored like this, the right color is easy to grab.

Also perfect for Distress reinkers.  Also easy to spot the right color

The deepest one is great for heat embossing.  Embossing pads, reinkers, small jar of UTEE and all the other embossing powders.

The drawers underneath are great for the "this and that".    Again, it's great that when you're working on something, you can pull out the whole drawer, rummage, and stick it back in.  

The next stack has bin type drawers that that have hande cut outs on either side.  Top one holds adhesives of all types, The second has several electrical tools.  You can see the heat gun cord sticking out.  It's plugged into a power strip on the next to this stack.  This is located where I can just turn in my stool and grab the gun.  The third bin down holds different mediums....some dylusions sprays, gessos, muli-medium, VerDay.  The bottom bin is all things metal.  Rolls of metal tape, sheets of metal.  Metal hammer, and stamping alphabets.

For a pix of how these look in the room here's a photo

Here's some more shots of my die frames.  Some have galvanized steel sheets for movers and shapers.  Some have magnetic sheets to hold thin dies, like TH Framelits.  (Check my previous post for a tutorial of how I did a frame with magetic sheets.). 

 I've added some vintage tins, for small storage and to add some decor.  I attached them by just placing one of these thin basic grey magnetic snaps on the inside.   Holds like a dream.  You can see in the corner a tin holding some texture fades.

More to come.........

Creative chemistry 102

Okay so I'm really behind.  So I've decided to sit back, relax and enjoy the experience.  There is so much packed into these classes.  I am amazed at the number of people who kept up the pace.  If you're on the fence, don't be.  There's plenty to get out of these courses and nothing is lost by not taking them "live".  So check out timholtz.com and sign up.

Here's one of the techniques I've mastered so far.  Very quick and easy.  It's from day one.

Our ugly house - the day before High School

What does every teen age girl need on her very first day of high school?   Her own well appointed bath room off course!

One of the buying features of our ugly house is that it had 2 1/2 baths.  When the 2 bedrooms were added on, the one large bath was split into 2 smaller baths, and probably bumped out some with the addition.  Also at one point the downstairs hall closet had been converted into a powder room. We can't do without a powder room, but the hall closet solution devised is not idea.  I hope to blog on our solution to that sometime soon.  In the meantime, back upstairs to the monkey's cramped bath.

For some reason, we didn't take a picture of her old vanity.  It was as ugly as this one only dark dark grey.

Her vanity just fit behind the door.  This was the only storage (no linen closet) and so not nearly enough for her.  Add to that a what was probably a first generation automatic faucet.  It wasn't hard wired but plugged into the wall and only turned on when you didn't want it to.  (ie wave your hands all you want, you cannot wash them.  However, accidently drop somehting in the sink, it gets wet.)

Well, the people who always have the ecomomical solution for lots of storage in small space is Ikea.

IKEA Godmorgon Series

Their vanity is narrow in depth and packed with storage solutions.  

What you see here is the vanity without the bottom drawer installed.  Brian needed one more part, but the hardware store was closed.  Good thing too, because he needed to be on a plane to CA before dawn, and probably would have stayed up all night finishing up.

here's the very lovely tall cabinet next to her vanity.  It's shallow depth, but fits 

Skubb boxes very nicely.  She picked turqouise and labelled them for her bits and bobs.  IKEA Skubb boxes

How fabulous are these drawer dividers

The center is a Skubb box that she can pull out to do her hair.  On other side are the Godmorgon trays that lock into the drawer sides.  One each side of the Skubb box, there's 2  bottom trays, side by side and one on the top that slides back and forth

Godmorgon drawer trays

One great feature of the Godmorgon wall cabinets is that they are mirrored on the inside.  Once the shelves are all in, we'll arrange shorter items on the bottom shelf so that the monkey can get a panorama view of her hair.

The turquoise helps to brighten things up.  She still has the ugly brass shower door and she stills hates the Alfonse Mucha mural.

Here's her preferred take on Alfonse Mucha:

Stashing the Stash

There's lots of buzz right now in the crafting world about all the new releases at CHA this week.  We drooled over the sneak peaks and now all off our favorite craft celebraties are back from the show and sharing their pics and videos.  Here's just a few:

Tim Holtz
Shelly Hickox
Paula Cheney
Richelle Christensen
Tammy Tutterow


Crafters love the process, not just the crafting.  That includes questing for new stash, sales, coupons, where to find the best on line selection with the lowest shipping. Added to that joy, is the sorting, organization and storing of said stash.

Last weekend I celebrated CHA Summer 2013. by using craft stuff, to create some craft stuff, to store new craft stuff.  HURRAY.   New seasonal intros usually means new TH movers and shapers, sixxlets, and there's some Memory Box Christmas dies that I have my eye on.

Step one:  Score a cheap and ugly frame from a flea market

Rip the paper off the back, pull out the tacks and remove the ugly print

Slather on Tim Holtz Crackle Paint

Then, walk Away - Seriously - For me that means find something else to do and come back in a few hours or I will mess it up. Same goes for Tim Holtz distress stickles and anything coated with Glossy Accents.  Just walk away

Okay, good girl.  Now come back and dry brush with Tim Holtz distress paint. Once that's dry - for this step, no worries,  you can use the heat tool - then use your fingers to smear some TH gathered twigs and black soot paint in the general vicinity of the corners.

Admire the messiness.  Now tape magnetic paper to the ugly print.  I buy the sheets meant for printers from Staples or whereever handy.  I tape it on first, then trim any excess.  I needed 2 pieces for this frame.  The join line won't end up showing.

The black side is the magnetic side, so this side is the top.  Wrap Tim Holtz tissue wrap over the magnet paper and tape to the back.

Flip it over, and ink the Tissue wrap  - the black shows through, but it looks perfectly fine.

Reassemble the frame and hang on the wall  Now it's all ready for your new Tim Holtz Sizzlets dies with stamps...

Christmas Tim Holtz Sizzlets Here

Halloween Tun Holtz Sizzlets Here

Here it is on the wall.  Next to it you can see something similar where I used sheet metal instead of magnet paper to store movers and shapers.  Underneath you can see my Distress Ink pad storage.  The one on the left is an old sewing machine drawer.  The rest are ancient wooden cheese boxes salvaged years ago.

If you are stopping by, leave me a comment and if you know of any great storage ideas, I'd be really greatful if you'd leave me a link.  I'd love to see it.

Back Yard bliss - just before the clouds rolled in!

So here it is - finished just before the clouds rolled in Sunday night.  The sanding and staining will have to wait until next weekend.

Backyard bliss - some assembly required

First - Find simple deck plans on Lowes.com: easy deck. Pergola comes later = next year maybe
Go to lowes and place your order for lots of stuff for tomorrow pick up

Day one- Go to lowes and pick up lots of stuff, unload it in your yard and get busy

Kraftman finally got to use his christmas present

This will probably be recorded as the hottest weekend of the summer = drink 15 bottles of water

Day two - things are coming along

Day three - repurpose rubble from front yard make over

Day four - has to get finished today.  It's looking good

TA DA! After.

And now - we're just waiting for grass to grow in some of the dug up spots that aren't to be replanted.  Jeff from Krishner's in Newtown was awsome through the whole thing.  We are thrilled with the outcome - Now, on to the back shed then the side hedgerow.

Our ugly house - curb appeal - still before

Still before - could it have gotten worse?  The new walkway is in.  The beds get bigger as more sod is removed.  Our driveway is full of soil, rock and mulch.  Very stinky mulch.  The good kind.  I see light at the end of the tunnel.

12 tags of 2013 April

So here it is just under the wire.  I followed Tim's instructions here timholtz.com/12-tags-of-2013-april/.

He's right, the effect is amazing.  I love distress paint.   Dabbing ig on the metal bits with your finger works great.  I smeared a bit of black on the edges to give a bit of definition.  I didn't have the same stamp so i substituted the butterfly from the SA spring sprung set.  I used some leftover packaging for the overlay using Stazon.  The stamp along the side is from one of the TH sets at Michael's.

Just when I think that ranger/Tim Holtz can't possibly come out with another product that I will need to have.....  distress paint is truly unique and the results are really lovely. 

Our ugly house, curb appeal

As you have read, craft cupboard under the stairs was very happy to move into a new house and become bigger on the inside.  And we are also very happy that there will be much scrapping of popcorn ceiling and wall paper and picking our new things.

As Spring has arrived, we now begin to focus on some curb appeal.  Here was original front view

What you may not see from this photo is that the multitude of evergreens shown here are very overgrown and much dead underneath.  Perhaps you can see that they appear to be either attacking the house or at least making it impenetrable.  Very foreboding and not at all friendly.  What you also do not see is the tons of rocks underneath that required shoveling in order to clear out the space.

Here's how things look today

All ready to go!  My wonderful sister-in-law scoped out a fabulous local landscaper and gifted us a certificate toward landscaping for Christmas.  We met with said landscaper and are overjoyed with the plan he created.  My dearest Kraftman will provide all the labor and our landscape artist will lay everything out and will not let us make a mistake.  Check out my Pinterest board, titled same as this blog, to see our planting selections.  Stay tuned.

http://pinterest.com/kdeem3/our-ugly-house-curb-appeal/

Tissues and Tatters

We buy tissues in bulk, and have boxes all over the house.  Yep, allergies.  I rarely find tissue boxes or covers that I like. So here's what I did. This is the easiest and fastest craft ever. 

Center your mini baroque mover and shaper on a 6"x 6" piece of cardstock.  Using your Tim Holtz craft ruler to find center makes it super easy. I taped it in place with masking tape.   Use your base tray and run It through your vagabond. 

Score each edge @ 5/8" and taper each tab

Ink the edge of the cut out.  For uneven edges like the baroque die cutout, I use the side of a distress marker tip.

Cut 2 pieces of cardstock 5" x 10 3/4".  Score at 1 3/4" and again at 6"

Taper the end tab.  Ink the cut edges.  Fold on the score lines.  Apply adhesive to the patterned side of the tabs   Assemble into box shape.  

Apply adhesive to the patterned side of the tabs on the box top. Attach to the inside edge of the box.  Voila.  

Now glam up with embellishments of your choice.  I am using tattered florals.