Showing posts with label projects. Show all posts

Whatever, is all I can say. I don't do scrapbooks. I do, however loooove the products, especially the paper. So, I can definitely appreciate the supplies some scrappers accumulate . I also tend to drool over meticulously organized studios , craft rooms, or any room for that matter, as mine is certainly not. So, I stumbled across these "scrap rooms" of some 2 peas members, a bit ago, and my jaw actually fell to the floor. These ladies have scrap rooms that put most of my favorite shops to shame, let alone any studio space I've ever seen. And these are just ladies who scrap as a hobby. They don't use these spaces for working, or making any kind of living. Like I said, WHATEVER.

Room 1 - filled with more supplies than any one person could possibly even consider using in 10 life times. And this is just a section of what she's got.




Room 2 - my favorite of them all. Almost as many supplies as the room above. But, the organization in this room just blows me away. She designed this room just for scrapping. Picking out the shelving units and everything else for every little supply, down to a drawer for each letter of the alphabet with chipboards, just chipboards. See the "K" drawer? And that cabinet full of paper, color coordinated, of course.




Room 3 - i love how colorful this room is. How can you not be inspired in a space like this?



I checked and all of these ladies are married. So they must have a magic spell they put their husbands under, that makes this all possible. Not to mention, a few extra bucks to support their habits. Another member of 2 peas mentioned how she was bookmarking one of these photos to show her husband any time he complained that she had too much stuff. Seriously, this is all a bit over the top, excessive, and even a bit absurd. But, I want one too. waaaaaahhh.

see more detailed photos of these rooms and others here.

I have been wanting to contribute to The Sampler, ever since I discovered it. If you don't know what The Sampler is yet, check it out. It's great. I finally get it together and just sent in my contribution for the December Holiday Sampler. I'm not sure how effective it is going to be, as far as getting people to my Etsy shop, we'll have to see. I'm pretty excited about receiving my sampler that I get for participating. When I first contacted them, letting them know I was interested in contributing, I was feeling a bit over confident, when I first starting putting my samples together. For some reason I thought I'd be able to get 200 of them done. I had almost a month to get it ready. Well, it didn't take long for me to realize that wasn't going to happen. I ended up getting 100 (108 actually) done. It still qualified me to contribute to the media only sampler, if I want to. I plan on doing that next month. So anyway, I decided to contribute a mix of items, magnets, push pins, gift tags, and a few pendants. It came out to about 75 gift tag sample packs, 25+ mini boxes of magnet sets or push pins, and 5 pendants.

Here are a few of the mini boxes of magnets and gift tags packs. I like the way the gift tag packs turned out. The mini boxes were something I learned from an Etsy tutorial from the Storque .


Here is everything all boxed up ready to send off.


I received an email from them today letting me know that my package arrived safely. I am so relieved it got there on time and intact. I'll update once I know how it goes.

Until I received my order in the mail, I assumed Stamp Francisco was actually in San Francisco. Apparently not! Not that it matters, much. Except that I had planned on visiting since I live in the Bay Area. It comes to find out that they are located in Washington and don't have a brick and mortar shop, anyhow. None of this matters, though because I was plenty pleased with what I discovered from their online shop. I am always on the lookout for good rubber stamps. I like to find new and original ones, as do most people, I am sure. This shop has just that. I spend ages browsing their stamp selection and ended up buying 4. And I will definitely be going back for more. They offer such a selection of great stamps, which most were new to me. You can buy mounted or unmounted in most of their stamps. The savings is considerable if you opt for the unmounted. It was tough deciding which to buy, but here is what I ended up with:










my favorite is the last one, the warning label. If your are into stamps, especially original ones, give Stamp Francisco a try, you'll like it.

So, I've been wanting a binding machine. I was looking through ebay auctions for a used one or something, as they were kind of expensive, for a good one anyway. I came across the Zutter. It's a pint sized little 3 pound binder that is adorable. However, I didn't want to fall for adorable and end up with something that binded maybe a journal or two and then take a shit on me. So, I looked into it. I searched for just one person that had something negative to say about their Zutter. But, all I found was nothing but rave reviews. So, I got one. It hasn't arrived yet, but I have a ton of projects in mind, all ready to go for when it does get here. Take a look at how cute it is. Read a little about it and you'll be hooked too.

I haven't learned all the ins and outs of it all out yet, but so far, ning seems to be pretty cool. I joined the "we love etsy" group as another way to promote my shop. There are quite a few fellow etsiens there. They have a bunch a fun tools to add to your page. Here's a slide show from the photos I uploaded so far:


Find more photos like this on We Love Etsy

It took all of 1 minute to create. Im sure flickr has something similar as do other places as well. Wherever it comes from, it sure is a nice little way to showcase your work.

So, I've been wanting to try my hand at bookbinding. It's one of those projects that I always see, and admire, wishing I knew how to make one too. So, I figure it out. A hand binded book is such a cool thing to have, and it's something I know I can get great use from, myself. And the best part is I get to choose a gorgeous paper to put on the cover of every one of them. Which gives me another reason to go paper shopping. I've found a few online tutorials that explain it pretty well, but I think it's one of those things that is much easier to do than to explain. I wish I knew someone that could sit with me and walk me through it. The coptic stitch, I believe it's called, is the first I'm trying. I like the look of this method, with the exposed binding, and I like that the book can be opened all the way and lie flat. I found a shop online that sells a lot of the supplies I need, and ordered some yesterday. Being it's a holiday today, I'm guessing I won't see the FedEx man until Wednesday at the earliest. In the meantime, I'll look for more instructions with pictures, to add to the ones I have. I'm thinking that between them all, I'll be binding in no time. Now get a move on Mr FedEx man.
If any of my 5 readers happens to know anything about bookbinding, please feel free to share any bits of widsom with this newbie. Thanks a bunch.

well, just about forever. i just got a new computer yesterday, and in it was a packed of silica gel. this reminded me of a show i watched a few years back about a lady that offered flower arrangements that lasted months if not longer. i think her business was in n.y., and i wish i could remember the name of it to share her work here. she showed the process she used to preserve beautiful fresh flowers that would last a very long time. i was so impressed with the way they looked. it was like they were frozen in time right at the peak of their beauty. to preserved them she used silica gel. she had shelves full of tupperware containers full of silica gel and the loveliest flowers. the method is simple:

1. pick flowers at their peak, and cut off the stem, leaving about an inch
2. fill an air tight container with and inch or two of silica gel
3. gently lay the flowers, face up, inside, spaced apart so they don't touch each other
4. gently and slowly pour more silica gel over the flowers, covering them completely, trying not to crush them
5. seal the container and set aside for 48 hours to a week
6. check the flowers to see if they are dry. if not, recover and let them sit longer
7. once they are dry you can place a wire stem wrapped in floral tape around them and arrange them

flowers that work well: roses, carnations, hydrangeas, gardenias, dendrobium, calla lilies
flowers that are harder to preserve: tulips, irises, daffodils

you can find silica gel here.

more detailed instructions can be found here

I found a great website that offers arrangements that are preserved in this way, Guirnaldas.
check out what they offer, they are gorgeous: