Colors at a Glance

If you're anything like me, you spend just as much time trying to organize your crafting supplies as you do actually use those same supplies.  It never fails, every time I go to stamp something, I end up having to stamp a sample on some scratch paper. I have over 30 stamp pads and even though they have a representation of the color on the lid, it doesn't seem to actually be the true color. So I developed a plan after fussing with them while trying to find just the right color of blue.  I'm sure I'm not the first one to come up with this idea.  I do recall seeing a ton of pins on Pinterest where people have made paint chips of the colors in their home to take with them, so I figured the same would work for my stamp pad arsenal as well. It was super simple to do and took me maybe an hour to do. 

I punched about 75 circles with my 3/4" circle punch. I had to make two batches, because my sister and I share our stamp pads and I thought I might as well make her one while I was at it. I gathered all my stamp pads and stamped an image on the circles for each color, stamping two for each color as well. After stamping the image I wrote the name of the color as well as the brand. After I had them all stamped, I put an eyelet on each circle so that it would not tear off the string.  My initial plan was to put them on a binder ring, but my eyelets had a smaller hole than would fit on the ring. I wasn't too happy about that, but I wasn't about to start all over. So I'm here to help you avoid that mistake, use the bigger eyelets! Overall, it will serve it's purpose really well I think.  No more color testing! Woohoo!

I keep my swatches right next to my craft table so I can grab it easily and pick the perfect color for any project.

Until next time...........

Sweet Mini

Having a mobil store definitely has it's perks. One of them being, having access to all these great products and getting to create with them.  We've had a sticker sheet from the Echo Park Sweet Girl collection in our store along with a couple coordinating papers. It's this great combination of pretty much every color. There is red, pink, turquoise, yellow, orange, green, you name it, it's in there.  It would probably go with just about any photo, but since it's name is Sweet Girl and it has a floral motif, to me, it screamed mini or brag book material. This mini was a breeze to make.  Just a simple card stock background, one other 3x12 inch strip from a coordinating card stock and half of the coordinating hexagon patterned paper.  I used only part of the sticker sheet, so essentially you could get two or more out of the sticker sheet.  On a few of the stickers I used dimensional adhesives to make it look like they popped off the paper. It really was a quick project and could be adapted to any collection or occasion. 

Until next time.......

Backpack I.D. Tag

I don't know how things are in your neck of the woods, but it's becoming more and more apparent that the first day of school is just around the corner. My oldest is going to be a junior in high school this year (insert horrible realization that I'm only getting older here).  My youngest however is embarking on a new horizon and going to be a kindergartener.  This too brings about it's own sense of sadness and excitement all at the same time.  We already have all her school supplies purchased and loaded up in her brand new backpack. Then it occurred to me that she needed a way to label her bag. I'm not big of monogramming my little one's name on her bag simply because everyone can see it, even the people you don't want to see it. Billie and I were also tossing around ideas for a craft for kids to do at our local community event we had signed up to participate in.  So I came up with an idea to suit both dilemmas, a backpack I.D. of sorts. I also came up with a way to incorporate a little bit of daily encouragement. On one side I stamped a short message of inspiration and on the other side I will stamp her name and my cell phone number in case the backpack were to get misplaced.  I bought the name badge at our local Hobby Lobby. I believe there were 4 in the package for 2.99. I chose to use the new Stampin Up 2013 In Color collection. I love all the new colors and the DSP pack that they have for the colors are perfect. There's polka dots, chevron and even a sort of quatrefoil design to pick from.  The colors are very soft and subdued and kinda remind me of the colors of sherbet. I attached the 3D embellishment with a couple of glue dots, which may not stay attached forever but glue dots are usually pretty good at staying put.  Anyhoo....... here is how it turned out.  

Until next time.........

Explosion Box

For a while now I've been dying to make an explosion box. Basically, an explosion box looks like a simple box from the outside, but when you lift up the lid, it's way more than what you expected. It's like a layered gift. With each layer and each side you can embellish and take an opportunity to give the recipient a little something special. While working on some samples for our mobile store I came across this die cut sheet from Teresa Collins' Stationary Noted line. It's full of beautiful postal themed papers and embellishments. I really liked the color combination as well. It's a great mixture of blue, red, white and some tan thrown in. I also found this awesome red chevron burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby and thought it would look fabulous together. 

Until next time.....

Chicken Wire Lighting

When Billie and I were putting our heads together on the lighting options for the Craft Coach we weren't thrilled about any of the options. We knew we wanted something different and also knew that we were limited on space. After some collaboration we came up with little something. We weren't sure if this idea was going to work, but we're pretty pleased with how it turned out.

It may just look like a bunch of fabric scraps lining a wall, but it's more than that. It's a light fixture of our own design.  With just a few supplies, we created a truly unique way of lighting a small space. 

First we measured the length of the trailer.  Next we cut our chicken wire into more manageable pieces and folded it lengthwise in order to make it double strength.  The LED rope lights were heavy and we needed it to support the lights. We stapled the chicken wire along the top of the trailer and curled up the chicken wire to create a "channel" of sorts to place the rope lights in. 

We placed the rope lights in and stapled the other edge of the chicken wire along the top of the trailer. Now I know you might be thinking why bother with the chicken wire? The answer is: we didn't like the look of the rope lights by themselves and wanted a simple way to cover them up, but not completely conceal them in order to still have light. We then proceeded to tear a ton of fabric strips and tie them to the chicken wire. 

 It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it gives just enough ambient light. We also have the rope lights along the shelves on the left side. 

The Craft Coach is a constantly changing space. It makes for a fantastic backdrop for all our creative musings. We're always coming up with new ways to display as well as making her a more functional mobile store. It's a small space, but we strive to make every inch count.