Baker's Twine Holders

  Good morning! 

  Today I'm sharing some Baker's Twine holders that I made for my two hostess club hostesses last month.  One of the perks of signing up to be a hostess is you get a little surprise something from me on your month.  I saw these a while ago on some blog (of course I can't remember where since it's been so long!) and thought this was a great thing to make using up the empty embellishment containers that I had been saving!  I guess I do share some of my parents and grandparents pack rat mentality!  Try as I might to fight it I guess my weakness is craft supplies!

  These are really easy to make! I just used the Circles #2 die to get a perfect sized circle (the largest) to cover the top of the lid and then the next largest to make a base for the roll of twine to sit on in the container.  I used the center spool from an empty roll of ribbon to wrap the twine around and then just adhered it to the circle base using sticky strip.  The cardstock circle that the spool is attached to is loose inside the container so as you pull the twine is spins.  This also makes it super easy to add more twine in the future.

  I used the Crop-a-dile to punch a hole through the side of the container and used it again to set the silver eyelet (retired) so the twine would have a nice finished hole to go through.

  For the top I embellished it with some First Edition DSP flowers punched with the large scallop circle and then crumpled and flattened for dimension.  I added a little flower center punched with the Triple Layer flower punch and an In Color Designer brad for the center.

  Aren't these little holders so much cuter than the way the bakers twine comes packaged?  We might as well surround ourselves with pretty AND useful things right?

  Don't forget....Sale-a-bration is in full swing.  Now is the perfect time to stock up and get freebies!  Give me a shout if you have any questions!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?


Stamps: None


Ink: None


Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Island Indigo, First Ed. DSP

Accessories: empty embellishment containers, empty ribbons spools, Scallop Circle punch, Triple layer flower punch, Designer brad, eyelet (retired), Crop-a-dile, Circles #2 die, sticky strip

My New Stamp Room! A.K.A Why I Haven't Stamped Much Lately!

  I've been bugging my husband for a while that I wanted to spruce up my stamp room and make it more organized and pretty.  The paint was still the yucky builder's grade off white that it was when we moved in more than 3 years ago.  The "desk" was my parents old kitchen table and all the storage was just a hodge podge of plastic rolling bins, and random containers to hold all of my stuff.  My poor Big Shot and paper trimmer were on the floor just waiting to be abused by my boys.  About the only part of the room that was organized was my ink pad holder that my husband built for me last Christmas.

  So for my Christmas present this year Matt painted the walls and the ceiling...

This is the corner where my desk goes

 And then put up crown molding....

Look at all those punches!!

And then he built me a desk.....

All wood will turn into a desk...I promise!

The corner desk top

Cardstock file cabinet on the left Small drawer storage on the right

 After we moved the pieces upstairs to the stamp room I had to work on a few projects so I couldn't wait for the desk to be completely finished.  I was so paranoid that I was going to dent the top or drop an ink pad face down on it!  Matt kept reminding me to be careful with it and wait until we got the glass top for it...It's definitely his baby!

In the Stamp Room with paint, waiting for drawer hardware

Drawer fronts and Cup Pulls with label holders

Just waiting for the glass top

  We've since gotten the glass and I've proceeded to fill the drawers and cover the top with all my piles which I'm slowly starting to find new homes for.  You can barely see the top now but I LOVE all the extra room I have.  My husband is so talented!!  I showed him a desk that I had seen on built-it-yourself website, Ana White (formerly know as Knock Off Wood) and told him I wanted file cabinets on one side for my cardstock and smaller shallow drawers on the other for tools, accessories etc.  He took a look at the plans and altered them for the changes I wanted and Voila!  Well maybe not that fast, all in all the whole room painting, molding, desk building took a few weeks throughout the Christmas holiday.

  I still had the old kitchen table that I was using as my desk and it was looking pretty beat and tired.  My parents used it for many many years when we were growing up and I'm sure it wasn't new then as my mom is a great yard sale hunter so it was probably already second or third hand at this point.  I thought it would be great as a Big Shot, paper trimmer & sewing machine table.  The random cut out piece is so I can set my sewing machine down in it so it is flush with the table making it easier to use. When I'm not using the sewing machine the cut out piece of wood fits back in so there isn't a gaping hole.  My dad did that part when they gave me the table.

Ready for a new look

Side View...the carved details on the legs were hard to sand!

  We took it outside and sanded it down...

Now it looks even more sad!

A good healthy coat of Kilz...

I can't decide if it's looking better or worse!

 And 3 coats of semi-gloss, and 2 coats of poly...

Look at that good looking table.  The Big Shot is excited to have a real home!

 And here is the table with all the gear on it as well as this hutch thing I got when my father-in-law closed down his office which I had been using the same way before the room redo but it made the table kind of shallow and I couldn't spread out much.  I want to paint it to match the rest of the furniture but it's that weird laminate particle board stuff....sturdy enough but I just don't know how to paint it.  Any suggestions welcome!  My husband says he can just build me a set of shelves to mount on the wall so we'll probably do that someday.  For now this works for some extra storage and display space.

The work table

  See those long tall things leaning against the wall...well those are the supplies for my curtains; fabric, liner and rod.  I'm not much of a sewer and don't enjoy it nearly as much as stamping.  I think it's such a long process to sew curtains as opposed to knocking out a few cards which is much more immediate gratification at the end.  So my mom is going to help me out when I go visit them next month, she's the sewer in the family.  The plastic bins are the same ones that I've been using for years to store my stamp sets.  I really need to sort them all out between, current, retired, hostess etc. but that's a project for another day.  The small little wire cart over on the right has odds and ends and is where I store my 12X12 paper.  Ultimately I'd like to clean out the closet enough to fit that in and then have a book shelf in that corner.

  I'm now on the hunt for an old picture frame to paint and hang up above my desk so I can have an idea board with all my scraps of paper and pictures ripped from magazines.  Right now they are all stacked up on the desk or shoved in a binder which isn't very inspirational.  I'm also trying to figure out the lighting for the desk.  There is a spot already set for a ceiling fixture but I'm afraid that since it is behind me it would just cause a shadow from my head right on my work surface.  Right now I have a short table lamp that's OK but I think a taller one would be better.  The OTT lights on the hutch above the work table are sufficient for that space for now.

 If you've made it this far....WOW!  Thanks for taking a look at my new and improved stamp room.  I'll be back to posting cards soon now that I have the organization almost finished and I have to finish designing the projects for my January stamp club!  I'll try to remember to post any other changes so you can see how it's going.

  Here are some of the room details in case you're wondering.

Wall Paint: Valspar Coffee n' Cream (satin)
Primer: Kilz
Molding, Desk & Table: Valspar White (semi-gloss)
Corner Desktop Plans
Base Unit Plans altered as needed
Punch Organization: Over the door shoe organizers from Target
Ink Pad Storage

Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping (or building or organizing!)

Card Display Garland

  Last year as I was taking down my Christmas card holder (just a wire form in the shape of an angel) I felt that there had to be a better way to display the hand stamped cards that I had received throughout Christmas.  They were all tucked into the wire angel with the other greeting & photo cards and no one could see them well enough to appreciated the time and talent that went into making them.  They kind of got lost in the Christmas greeting mess that is my card holder.  Since I send out a good number of hand stamped cards every Christmas I know that it takes time to design, stamp, write out and mail all those cards.  I wanted a way to showcase those little works of art that stamping friends have taken the time to make and mail to me.  So last January I ordered a roll of the wide striped Old Olive grosgrain ribbon and a pack of the library clips (they retired in July but you can still buy them from the Clearance Rack) to see what I could come up with for a better card display.  They have been sitting in my stamp room waiting to be called into action ever since.

 

  I finally found time this afternoon to put my plan into action!  This old leaded glass frame is in my front entry way above an old church pew.  See the Decor Element behind it?  Anyway I decided to make a card display garland so all the beautiful hand stamped cards are on display for all to enjoy.  It is also up high enough that I think my grubby handed little boys won't mess with it.  Aren't these cards great?  I've got great stamping friends!  I get a big smile on my face every time I walk through the entry way to get to the stairs!

  All I did was use thumbtacks to hold my ribbon in place and draped it across the frame.  I have a tack on each corner and then one in the middle.  Then I got out my EZ bow maker (non-Stampin' Up) to make the bow in the center.  I used floral wire to hold the bow together and to wrap around the center tack to keep it in place.

  So now onto to the clips to hold the cards on the garland.  I pulled out all the white clips (I still have a lot of Old Olive & Chocolate Chip clips if I end up needing more) and my Cherry Cobbler seam binding.  I thought some cute little fork bows would do the trick.  See my Fork Bow tutorial for a how to!  It took no time at all to make 8 bows.

  Now I had to adhere the the bow to the clip.  This is where I ran into a little bump....At first I thought a glue dot would do the trick...Nope.  The glue dot would not stick to the clip.  Then I decided to try a little piece of Sticky Strip....Nope.  The Sticky Strip wouldn't stick either.  Huh.  Sticky Strip always sticks to everything, even things you don't want it to stick to. 

  On to the big guns...Glue Gun that is!  That didn't work either if you can believe it!  I finally decided that the clips had such a smooth finish the adhesives had nothing to grip to.  Out to the garage for some sandpaper.  I roughed up the finish a little and the glue gun worked perfectly after that.

  All in all, even with the adhesive problems this project only took me about 30 minuted to complete.  I'm thinking that this would look really cute around a wide doorway (if you didn't have grubby handed little boys like me!)--maybe someday I can shoot for that!

  Thanks for looking!  Happy Decorating!

Supplies: Old Olive 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain ribbon,  1/2" Library Clips (still available on the Clearance Rack!), Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, glue gun, thumb tacks

Ink Pad Storage Measurement Correction

I have had a ton of responses regarding the ink pad storage post from Sunday.  I just wanted to let everyone know that one of the measurements listed was incorrect.  I have edited the original post but wanted to make sure that everyone saw it.

The middle piece should be 18.5 (18 1/2) inches and  NOT 18 1/5.  So sorry for the typo!

If you build an ink pad storage using these directions my husband and I would love to see a picture of your finished version.  Just send an e-mail or post back to this link.

Thanks!
Amanda & Matthew