Paper is taking over the world.

Hi friends just a quick update on some of my storage solutions. After all the mothers day cards I made I had a bunch of housework and rest to get caught up on. I have to admit I was sort of tired of all things crafty for a a week or so. There was paper pieces every where. Ever walk through the house and then realize you have little tiny pieces of paper scraps stuck to the bottom of you feet? What a mess. It's all organized now and back to somewhat normal. This is what I did.
Part of putting it all away took some doing. With all the cards being made recently I had scraps galore. And everyone knows that even the smallest scrap can be used, besides I'm cheap like that. So whats a crafter to do? Make a scrap box of course.

 For the smaller scraps I have them organized by color and by shapes. When I cut out designs I often make mistakes,  have extra pieces, to big to small, or just doesn't look right. For the small scraps, like under 8 inches, I put them in a box. There used to be just a big pile of a mess. Now there are tabs for each color. There are also separate tabs for things like squares, circles, hearts etc. I find that I can grab them easily when I just need a small piece of a certain color. Then I put all the tabs into a photo box. It still needs decorating, but that's for another day. The box sits on my craft table, which is way to messy for me to show you.
Each tab was cut using my silhouette. Then the coordinating color inserted into the tab. It would have been a lot easier to just do some print and cuts. But not as fun!

My larger pieces are stored by color in 12 x 12 scrapbook page protectors.  Not so sure this method is going to work for the long run, but it's alright for now. I then put them into a magazine style box, more on that below.

Much better then the big pile of messy paper I had going on. This one still needs covered. 

So that's what I do with the scraps. But your asking, Tracie what do you do with the unused sheets. Well those are in my homemade magazine file boxes. I got some free flat rate shipping boxes from the USPS.  Gotta love me some free stuff. 

 I cut them into magazine style holders and then covered. I tried a few methods of covering them. All pink of course. Painting them was tedious and I needed several coats to cover up the printed boxes. The paint also weakened the integrity of the box, surprise cardboard doesn't like getting wet. But this worked the best. Sure wish I had thought of using spray paint.

 So I began covering them with pink wrapping paper. That so did not work.

The paper was easier, but I foresee them ripping in the future. The wrapping paper also bubbled heavily with the glue. Could have been that it's the cheap dollar store paper, or that I put to much glue.  Who knows. Needless to say I did not use this method for the rest of my boxes. They all need a label made for the colors they hold, but they are the basics- red, blue green, multi-colored etc.
They are all on my little book shelf for easy access. I liked them on the top shelf so I could just pull the paper out from the top without having to remove the entire box.

The bottom shelf holds my other photo boxes that I store things like glitter, glue, paint etc. For now they have little hand written labels. so much to do, so little time!

I have several friends with Birthdays this week, so I have been making a lot of cards. I can't post them yet because then it will ruin their surprise. However as soon as I give them out I'll share them here. I am using a few of the new designs. Some that I came up with, and some just regular shapes.







I Link up Here: Not just a Housewife, Clean and Scentsible,  Skip to my Lou, I Heart Nap Time, Blooming Homestead,  Alderberry Hill, Tatortots & Jello, A Night Owl, Craft-O-Maniac,  Thats whate Che Said, Crafts Ala Mode, Say Not Sweet Anne, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Mad in Crafts

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Better Late then Never?

I was off work for the last few days and got some major cards designed. Mothers Day is coming up soon so I wanted to get started. My designs are done, I just need to put them together. I also decided to finally paint my living room. Boy did it need it. I'll take some pictures as soon as I get everything put back to where it belongs.   Be sure to subscribe by email, Blog Lovin' or Facebook to see the updates. In the meantime I used my resting between coats to make some home decor.

Better late then never, or so they say. I am not to sure of that. If you know me at all you know that I am ALWAYS late. I do not do it on purpose, and it really stresses me, (and my bosses at work) out. No matter what kind of planning I do it seems something always comes up that makes me 3-5 minutes late for everything. Not just work, but EVERYTHING. Believe me I have tried to make myself better. Setting the clocks ahead,  getting ready ahead of time, alarms, calendars, nothing has worked. This may not help with the clock situation, but at least I will know what day it is.
I am just a little late in the game, (surprise) but I made an adorable super easy calendar this week. I cut with my cameo of course. Maybe someday I will get over the fascination with this machine and show you some non Silhouette stuff. Don't count on it anytime soon, I haven't even scratched the surface !

Pay no attention to the date there, I sure didn't before I took the pictures. 

To change the date I just need to turn the little blocks for the month and date.

I used the 3d box calendar by Lori Whitlock for the cut files and added my own colors to match my family room.
For my sanity as well as all the people I affect lets hope my tardiness improves. Sad when I think I deserve a brownie button for getting somewhere when I am supposed to.









I Link up Here: Not just a Housewife, Clean and Scentsible,  Skip to my Lou, I Heart Nap Time, Blooming Homestead,  Alderberry Hill, Tatortots & Jello, A Night Owl, Craft-O-Maniac,  Thats whate Che Said, Crafts Ala Mode, SayNotSweetAnne, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

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Exploding Tealight Box

Birthdays were made for crafts

A very sweet friend of mine celebrated her Birthday this week, so whats a crafty girl to do? Make a gift of course. I knew I wanted to make something on my Silhouette Cameo. What is a Silhouette Cameo you ask? Only the best invention since sliced bread. Basically it is like a printer that you hook up to your computer, however, instead of just printing it cuts. For the most part I have just been working on simply cards and Holiday decorations. The Cameo also cuts vinyl, can you say wall art, tumblers, and rhinestone shirts! The possibilities are endless.

For my friends Birthday I played around with a couple card designs, but I wanted to take my Silhouette Cameo skills to the next level. Enter the exploding box! Don't be afraid, this isn't a Macgyver post. I modified the Scalloped Exploding Box from the Silhouette Online Store. I love all the 3 D shapes they have. This one is by Snapdragon Snippets LLC. They have some great designs, but I wish they would make it easier to find out how to put them together. Please forgive some of my blurry photos. I may have had just a bit to much coffee before taking the pictures. I won't keep you in suspense any longer, here it is.

It started off as just the box with the individuale pages inside that I thought I could add a few of her pictures to.

But I thought well now I have to figure out something to put in the box. Hmmm... a cute animal cutout, candy, jewelry, oh no my friends every Birthday needs a cake. I then made a adorable 3D cake for it. Along with some cute little balloons and presents floating in mid air (with the help from a little wire).

It needed something more though. Whats a cake without candles? BORING. My cake and box are made out of paper and card stock though, in comes the flame-less tea light candle.

And here she is. I can see many more of these being made in my crafting future. I hope my friend enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.
Stay tuned, tomorrow is vinyl day! Yippy

Tracie

Linked up at: The DIY Showoff

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