Spray Ink Swatch Book

I love to be organized. It just makes me happy...and less stressed. (Just ask my family!) Keeping up with all this organization, and reorganization is tough though, especially when it seems like stuff around here multiplies like rabbits...especially my scrappy stuff. ;-) Not that I'm complaining, mind you. And so, I've been on an organization kick as of late, and yesterday I finished organizing my spray ink. I'm super happy with the results and thought I'd share with my lovely blog readers in case you're looking for ways to organize your own spray inks. 

I decided to first make a swatch book of all my inks - to make it quicker and easier to find the right color when working on a project. I cut up small rectangles of white cardstock to spray each of my ink colors on. By the way, I LOVE this Color Catcher box by Clearsnap. It's not real big so I also have a large plain cardboard box for spraying larger items, but this box from Clearsnap is great for small projects! I hang this little one up on a wall hook in the closet when I'm not using it.

Here are some of my swatches drying. As you can see I have lots of different brands of spray ink, and I love them all!

This next step isn't really part of creating the swatch book, but it will make it a lot easier to find the color I'm looking for at a glance. I simply punched a small circle from each of my color swatches and added them to the tops of my ink bottles with strong adhesive.

I created my swatch cards using a drawing program, printed them, and then cut them into approximately 2" x 3" rectangles.

I used a square punch to cut squares from each of my color swatches and added them to my little cards just below the color and brand name of each ink. The square overlapped the edge of the card and I trimmed the excess away.

My completed swatch book with plenty of room on the ring to add to it. ;-)

I mounted the color samples flush with the edge of my swatch book pages to make it easier to match my ink with my other project supplies.

Finally I placed all my ink bottles into a bucket along with my swatch book. I can easily pull this bucket off the shelf where it's stored and bring it right to my desk when working. I know, I know, this bucket is already packed to capacity. I think I'll start looking for a bigger bucket. :)

Happy organizing!

and the winner is...

The winner of Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks: Fabulous Flowers is...

Congratulations Savannah! I will email you shortly to get your mailing address. If for some reason you don't receive my email, just click the "email me" button to the right and send me your address information and Creating Keepsakes will get your prize in the mail!

Family Trivia Kit

Hi everyone! I hope you're weekend is off to a great start! I just wanted to let you know I have a post up on the Creating Keepsakes blog with a giveaway for this mini album kit! Go check it out and enter (by commenting on my post on the CK blog) for your chance to win!

Happy weekend!

Fabulous Flowers

I have another fun special issue from Creating Keepsakes to share with you! This issue is all about scrapbooking with flowers! It includes ideas to use premade flowers as well as ideas and steps to create your own - plus a whole lot more!















And here is one of the layouts that I created for this special issue featuring some flowers that I made. You'll find the steps to make these paper blooms inside the Fabulous Flowers issue. :-)

How about a bigger peek inside?

Open publication - Free publishing - More flowers

Looks pretty awesome doesn't it?! You can order this issue from Creating Keepsakes online store and use the code FLOWERBB  for free shipping in the USA for orders over $25 (expires June 3rd).

Creating Keepsakes has generously offered to give away one copy of Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks: Fabulous Flowers on my blog. Just leave a comment on this post, along with your email address (so I can contact you if you're the winner) for your chance to win, and I will randomly select one winner to receive this awesome special issue!

Only one entry per person please. You have until Saturday, May 21st at midnight EST to enter. I will randomly draw one winner for this issue and post their name here by Monday, May 23rd. Don't forget to include your email address with your comment and I'll contact you if you're the winner. 

Good luck and have an awesome week!

creative spaces winner!

Congratulations Nitasha! I will email you shortly to get your mailing address. If for some reason you don't receive my email, just click the "email me" button to the right and send me your address information and Creating Keepsakes will get your prize in the mail!

Happy weekend all!

ck creative spaces & giveaway

I have to be honest here, I love, love, LOVE room ideas - make that creative rooms, and my heart is all aflutter! This new special issue from Creating Keepsakes - hitting the newsstands tomorrow - is chock full of inspiring rooms, organization ideas and cool projects to decorate your space with! And there are ideas for ALL room sizes - even shared spaces like mine. For those of you who don't already know, my craft space is in our master bedroom and it happens to be one of those featured in this fun new issue!

Wanna peek inside? Here you go!

Open publication - Free publishing - More craftroom

You totally want this special issue now don't you? I have a special coupon code for the Scrap & Paper Shop which just happens to sell the Creative Spaces issue. Use code: SPACESBB - good until 5/27/11 for free shipping in the United States.

I also thought I'd share a tiny little change I made to my scrap space on Saturday. My room has places for all of my scrappy supplies, but all those papers and notes I need to deal with, new magazines I want to read, etc. - I've never come up with a good place for those items, so they end up on my desk right next to my computer. Not the best spot, and trust me, this photo is not the full ugly truth - this pile gets much bigger and messier!

I started looking for some sort of hanging file/paper organizers a while ago to move this pile of stuff to. I finally found the perfect system at Target from their Real Simple collection.

I hung them on the wall at the end of my desk so they will be within view and reach when I'm at my computer. Hopefully these babies will keep my desk clean, and I'm thinking I'll be forced to get through these items more quickly so I don't overload the organizers. We'll see. ;-) These cute little organizers would also make the perfect home for paper scraps or your newest scrappy supplies that you want to use right away.

Okay, I know, I know, I promised a giveaway. Creating Keepsakes has generously offered to give away one copy of Creative Spaces on my blog. Just leave a comment on this post, along with your email address (so I can contact you if you're the winner) for your chance to win, and I will randomly select one winner to receive this awesome special issue!

Only one entry per person please. You have until Friday, May 13th at midnight EST to enter. I will randomly draw one winner for this issue and post their name here on Saturday, May 14th. Don't forget to include your email address with your comment and I'll contact you if you're the winner. 

Good luck and have an awesome week!

p.s. Be sure to stop by the Creating Keepsakes blog - they are throwing a week long Creative Spaces party!

Pebbles swap week

This has been Pebbles Swap week on the American Crafts blog and today I have a layout up over there using AC and Pebbles products together. Here's just a peek - head over to the AC Studio blog to see the entire page and lots of other AC/Pebbles inspiration!

Happy weekend!

technique time

I'm sharing a technique over on the Creating Keepsakes blog today using these supplies. Go check it out! There's a giveaway over there, plus some free downloads too!

Happy Wednesday!