I’m always on the lookout for journaling goodies. It’s hard for me to find that thing that will get me the “most bang for my buck”. The other day, I saw something at papertreyink that I loved. A spiral notebook page die and a library pocket die! Oh yes!
Then I remembered…how silly to have a DIE to cut a rectangle. HELLO? Got a paper cutter?
I set out to see if I could re-create without the DIE and with my FRNs intact. (FRN – Federal Reserve Notes). 😉
First up…spiral paper. I grabbed a couple sheets of Whisper White cardstock & started cutting.
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| Dimensions for the faux spiral notebook paper. |
I originally planned to use SU!’s Spiral Punch…but it just didn’t look right. Then I got to looking at that die again…and the holes are circular. Hmmmm….how do I do this?
That’ll work. Now to punch ’em out!
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| Here’s a comparison of the circular holes vs the SU! Spiral Punch. |
Ok. I was feeling cheap…this is not looking “perfect”. WHOA! Back up the train here! Perfect…it’s not supposed to be perfect! Each item is not supposed to match exactly. It’s hand crafted…granted…it’s not TACKY, but the whole purpose of creating is to create, right? OK. I keep chugging along here…still sorta pining away for that die…I’m not giving up yet.
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| It’s gotta look like it was ripped out. |
Oh yeah…the die has perforations. I know…that “handy dandy” SU! Cutter Tool.
Ahem…now, this was a frustrating experiment. That “handy dandy” SU! Cutter Tool, among other things, has a perforation tool. Now, I could NOT get it to go straight, even againt a ruler. And I chugged and I chugged…I mean, I tried and tried. Then, I got frustrated. Bah!
I looked at the die, again…wait a minute…is that a row of round dots? Uh, huh. I grabbed the stitching template and the paper piercer and poked holes. That was fun! It’s right up there with popping bubble wrap! 😀 Poking holes in cardstock with a paper piercer! Fun!
Lined notebook paper needs lines. I don’t need a stamp for lines either. I used a ruler, Bashful Blue marker and the grid on the mat from the mat stack. And NOPE, the lines are not perfectly spaced on each one of them. That’s ok. They still look good.
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| Pile of hand designed spiral notebook paper. |
These will make awesome journaling cards…they are unique and they have light lines for journaling.
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| Supplies. |
I had fun with this…now I need a pocket…I’m drooling for a pocket die. I no longer want the spiral paper die. Now that I know how to make my own faux spiral notebook paper, I have no desire to purchase the die nor the stamp when I have the supplies, right here, on hand.
I’ll show ya the pocket I created tomorrow!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day.
Remember when I went nuts with the PTI Onsie Die?
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| PTI Onsie Die Cut Outs |
I’m making progress…all the onsies now have “snaps”. I was going to use brushed silver brads; but as I got started, I found I liked the colored and white better. Each onsie has a sticky note that tells the DSP name and the coordinating colors. I wanted to use “basic” brads.
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| Marked & punched holes for the brads. |
I used eyelets on a few onsies.
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| Eyelet onsie “snaps” |
Most of them were decorated wtih brads.
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| Brad onsie “snaps” |
Quite a few years ago, I particpated in a brad & eyelet share. I received all the current SU! colors in brads & eyelets, including that year’s “in-colors”. I remember it was the first year SU! had “in-colors”. The brad & eyelet share arrived in bags and unlabeled. OMGosh! What a pain. I had to match up and label the brads & eyelets with the corresponding SU! color. I stored them in these:
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| Brad & eyelet storage for SU! basic brads |
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| Brad & eyelet storage – bird’s eye view |
Remember, these are just the “standard” brads & eyelets, in solid SU! colors. I used a sharpie marker to label each compartment and each box. I store these in a labeled photo box.
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| Black photo box for storage of brad & eyelet cases |
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| Brad & eyelet cases, in alpha order by the OLD SU! color families |
I did not change the color families when SU! did the color renovation. First, because I won’t have all the colors; second, I can recite the old color families in my sleep; third, too many retired. Oh heck…it’s just easier! LOL. I do have my stamp pads and card stock by the new color families.
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| Brad & eyelet cases, in alpha order by the OLD SU! color families |
Hope you enjoyed viewing the progress on the Onsie project AND the peek into my stamp room at one of my storage solutions.
Thanks for stopping by! Have moo’valous day!
Today is Dad’s birthday.
He should be getting happy mail today. I love this card, inspired by a CAS challenge to create a card inspired by America the Beautiful. How about those amber waves of grain?
Look at the dimension shown in the sticker.
I even decorated the envelope.
Here’s the inside.
America the Beautiful reminds me of Vacation Bible School. We always sang America the Beautiful after we pledged to the American Flag.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day!
I’m sick.
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| 35 composition books from Target at @40 cents each. |
Seriously, I do feel bad today….my throat hurts, my forehead hurts…stop ripping off the tape! Ugh. And yeah…there’s that composition book fever. 35 from Target at 40 cents a piece. I love composition books. My goodness! I never thought I would ever say that. I finally altered or covered my first one!
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| Budgets book. |
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| For good financial health, create and USE a budget. |
Budget – tell your money where to go!
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| Budgets are the key to financial success. |
Budgets are a self check system. It has to balance. You should not spend more than you can bring in. Include your savings in your spending plan.
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| If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. |
Budgets are not meant to be set in stone either. So if you don’t succeed at first, keep trying.
All crafting supplies were found in my stash…I learned a few things, too.
Next time, I won’t cover the binding of the book. I like to fold the cover back and with the binding covered, I’m not even going to attempt to fold the cover back. For my first altered composition book cover, I’m pleased. I like my budget…I like telling my money where to go…I don’t like it slipping off somewhere. It does not have to be complicated…just make a list of what’s coming in and what you have to pay out and viola, you have a budget. Good luck on your budgeting journey!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day!
Yippee! My SU! order arrived tonight…included was the new grid line templates to add to the clear blocks.
My initial thought was how heck do I get these on the block STRAIGHT?! Oh boy.
Then it hit me…SU! grid line paper! Line the block up in the corner…
Peel off the…whatcha call it…well…cling vinyl. Line up one line on the vinyl with a line you can see through the block. You gotta stand up…and hover over the block. Then just lay the vinyl over the block…it smoothes right out. Use the same technique you use to stamp clear stamps using clear blocks. The cling vinyl grid line template doesn’t have to be perfectly in the center of the block; but it should be straight in relation to the edge of the block. I had some overlap in the larger clear block, but the cling vinyl clings really well and it smoothes right over. I cleaned the side of the block I was adding the vinyl to and I will use the other side for stamps.
I only did two blocks – I use these two most at the moment. The others, I will add if I must have a need for grid lines on a different sized block. Not a big deal because I thought it was really simple & quick to add the grid line templates. They remove cleanly and go right back on the sheet (for storage). They come in a zip top bag with a piece of sturdy cardboard. I’m impressed. I like them because I can remove them if I don’t need them; put them back on quickly if I do.
Well, that was just one thing…I have some other things in the order…things for my son’s baby book and for those…ahem…onesies.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day!
I call ’em cow pies…but uh…same thing. This is a different sort of cow pile. Ain’t they CUTE?
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| a pile of COW PILES! LOL. |
This was a SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive – FlyLady term) story in embossing. sheesh. Not just ANY embossing powder…BLACK embossing powder. I know embossing powder don’t get old. Better location lighting wise would help…but anyhoo…stamped TWELVE…cow piles…stamp two in black craft, dump on black powder, stamp two more…and then I heated them with the heat gun. First off…lighting in here is not the best to see the embossing powder gloss “spread” as it heats up…and I ain’t doing it over the powder pal tray sitting on my desk, ‘k. No way. Six of ’em didn’t heat up properly & I learned the gritty way. Ick.
I fussy cut the remaining SIX and almost cut the tail off one…MOOOOOO! eek. Oh! That brings back a memory. And no, I didn’t cut off a real cow tail.
Several years back, we had a little stear…bought him from Dad…we bottle fed him. Somehow, he managed to lose his tail. Oh boy. We didn’t find the tail…and worried about flies and pink eye as he got older because they use their tails to flick the flies off. The worry was unfounded as he learned to adapt. We named him…Bobby Tail. LOL. OK. Back to the paper cow tail…I sewed it back on…I mean taped it on the back & continued trimming. She’s gonna be glued down, so she’ll be O.K.
Ain’t they cute?
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day!
I believe this is the first wedding card I’ve ever made. LOL.
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My first wedding card.
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It was inspired by the CAS July 4 Holiday challenges on SCS – this one was TEA. So I decided to do some tea staining…the SU! way. Although, I do have some coffee stained workpapers at work…hmmmm…
This was steppy…and yep…had a craft-splosion. Bigger than yesterday’s…and nope…didn’t take a picture.
I break out the Bella Toile and the SU! markers. Color the stamp…tap on versarmak…and STAMP!
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| Supplies. |
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| Pretty. |
Grab the powder pal tray…dump on clear EP…hit it – the card (wink) – with the heat gun…and viola!
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| After embossing, before tea staining. |
Not sure this is my style…but I’ll carry on. Out comes the SU! Distressing Essentials….and I found the cube of Tea Stain. tee hee.
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| After tea staining. |
WOW. I was approaching shock territory. I had to take a break. I went to fix some supper. Ham & cheese calzones, with a rabbit salad…I’m tired of salad…I’m growing long front teeth or somethin’. :-p
After supper, I finish up my card.
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| Love the elegant popped up sentiment. |
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| Sentiment inside. |
I love the simplicity of the sentiment and the look of the inside after the business of the outside.
This card is going to work today…it’s for a co-worker that got married over the holiday weekend. SURPRISE! Indeed.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day!
Nope…so far…no. I’m still playing around with the CAS – Clean And Simple – July 4 holiday challenges over on SCS. They continue on until July 8th. This particular challenge was to make a monochromatic card – there were three choices – I chose the white and two or more shades of blue.
This is a Rubbernecker stamp; I colored the sentiment with four different shades of SU! blue markers. Huffed on it and stamped!
Here is the original inside:
Hmmmm…sure it cute. And mollymoo colored, too!
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| So pretty & colorful! |
But there’s something about floating washing machines…
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| Floating washing machine? |
So…I decided to wallpaper & put in a new floor. 😀 Apparently the hard way. But, at the monent, I was so proud of myself.
Then it dawned on me! Well, DUH! Melissa. I put in the washing machine; then decided to wallpaper & floor around it! Sheesh. I won’t be able to moo’ve my washing machine…I’ll have this “hole” where the machine was! LOL. Wait, this is a card.
But, there IS an easier way…plan…put your DSP in…stamp your image on another piece of CS and then cut it out. But I didn’t plan. How do I know that? Well, for one…put in the washing machine then wallpapered & floored around it. Secondly, look at the mess. OMGoodness!
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| Mess to the right. |
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| Mess to the left. |
eeeeek! I think it was worth it, tho. What do you think?
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| All wallpapered & floored. |
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| Aren’t these colors just so rich & pretty. |
Sometimes the best things come on the fly! So, make a mess. Just clean it up when you get done!
I think I’m giving this to my boss…she’s had a few days like this. She can even name the mouse…as long as it’s not Melissa.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day!
Yesterday in the SCS Challenge Forum, the CAS gals had a whole day of challenges! Whoo hoo! CAS is Clean And Simple. It also means Quick And Easy. LOL.
Check this out:
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| The design was inspired by the Alsaka State Flag. |
The challenge was to be inspired by flags…flags of any country or any state in the USA. The Alaska flag has has the big dipper and the North Star in yellow on a navy background. It’s so striking and uncomplicated. Back to my card, the front has a whimsical feel…the inside:
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| Inside the card. |
…there’s a newspaper / information feel. What do you think of the combination?
I hope to share some more CAS cards in the next few days. I’ve had lots of fun experimenting. You can always pop into my SCS gallery. But just for you, I’ll have extras & specials…more pictures & descriptions!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day!
Remember the scrap pile from my last post:
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| SU! punched pieces…soon to be embellishments for my SMASH book! |
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| Die Cut pieces from PTI’s It’s A Jungle Out There die. |
I punched the TAR out of the scraps. LOL. NOW…big thing here…is use them! 😉 For time being…I have stashed the SU! punched shapes here:
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Punched shapes in small tin.
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I think I had purchased these tins from the SU! Clearance Rack a while back. I just simply shopped in my craft closet…ahem…hall closet for a storage solution. It’s portable…thin…space saving…and I can leave it right there and it won’t be in the way…but I know I have some neato embellishments…ok…they are still plain right now…but not for long…neato embellishments right at hand for my smash book. YES!
I have:
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| Arrows. |
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| Large & small stars. |
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| Modern labels. |
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| Photo corners. |
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| Small hearts. |
All tucked away in here.
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| All tucked away. |
I will be sharing the Decorative Labels all dolled up…and y’all thought I was gonna leave ’em all white?!? LOL. 😉
Thanks for stopping by! Have a moo’valous day!
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