Craft Area Update / Upcycle / Recycle

   Hi all! If you have been following me for a while you know that I Craft in my unfinished basement. we make good use of our space down here. Hubby and I have a makeshift bedroom (walled off by heavy curtains. We have a gaming / TV area as well as laundry, wood stove and 3/4 bath.

  I have wanted to do something new with my craft storage wall for a while but did not really want to spend much money. I am hoping in the next few years to be able to move upstairs when my kids move out.

  So for the past 4 days I have been working my but off refurbishing a set of rusty, dirty shelves I grabbed free from the driveway of a neighbor. Here they are right after I got them home...

   Yup they are pretty grimy! After much scrubbing they looked a bit more like this...

   After lots of sanding and scraping I began Painting....

   I used flat white Rustoleum. After 3 cans of the spray and 1 quart of the paint (total supply cost was around $30.00) they looked like this...

   

  Yup I know there is a whole in the bottom of one but I'm not worried about it. 

   

   My boy helped me move them to our basement and I was ready to get started. My before looked a bit like this (I forgot to purposely get a good photo.

Now my space looks like this!

   I just LOVE it! I have a few more inches of room between this and my desk and it is much brighter. Also I can see everything better. Things are more spread out instead of being stacked behind and on top of each other! 

   Two of the shelves are anchored to the joists above but only with rope for now. Hubby Will help be do a proper job with steel strapping when I am sure this is working well. I did try to keep the heaviest items on the bottom or lower shelves and I do have blocks of wood (some are wood blocks from old wood mounted stamps!) under the corners by the legs for extra support. 

   I even finally got my desk clean!

My Storage wall is behind me as I sit here. With a busy family I like to be able to look out and see what is going on. I do not like looking at walls!

   Here is a super sped up video of my progress... 

   This project led to lots of shifting around the house. The piece I pulled out went to the opposite side of the basement to actually be used for its purpose... an Entertainment center and looks great. The cubes the basement TV was sitting on went up to the boys room to be the base for a desk. (Still working on that one... 

  If the weather had not worked out so perfectly admittedly I probably would not have pushed so fast to get this project completed. I am sooooooo glad I did!

I hope I have inspired you to try something new or repurpose items you have around you. I could have easily spent HUNDREDS of dollars on a similar project.

Thanks for stopping by!

How I make cold brew coffee at home

   I love Cold brew coffee... There I said it...
   I am a sucker for stopping in at Caribou or my local small town shop for a cup of icy heaven. I could easily spend $20+ a week if I got this as often as I wanted. Well I would rather spend my money on crafty items than on something consumable.
   A few weeks ago I searched the web for ideas on how to make my own at home and this is what I have come up with...



Supplies:
Your favorite coffee grounds (slightly coarse tends to work better)
Strainer
coffee filters
Water
Container to hold grounds and water while brewing
Container to hold finished brew
coffee flavorings of choice

Place 1/2 cup coffee in container (I used a Quart mason jar)
Add 3-4 cups of water (I fill the jar to the top)
let sit for 24 hours
Strain grounds
Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fathers Day Card for my Hubby...

Hi all... Today I finished up a card that was a really hard one for me in many ways. I am not great at scene building so it was really out of my comfort zone. I hope you agree it turned out pretty cute.

Here are the Riley Moose images I colored as part of The 30 day Color Challenge

Here are some of the supplies I used...

FYI this is larger than a standard A2 card. It actually came out a wonky size because I was not paying attention :) I think it is 5 1/2 x 6 1/2. I will need to make a custom envelope but that it easy.

If you have any questions about how I made the card let me know. It was basically all ink blending except the water which I used a water pen from Jane Davenport. Then covered with the Judikins Diamond Glaze.

Thanks for stopping by!

Conquering my fear!!!

  So I have posted many videos on my YouTube using my Brother Scan N Cut but for some silly reason I have been terrified to cut vinyl.... I don't know why... It has just been one of those things.
   This past weekend at the Stamp and Scrapbook expo there was a booth called Crafter Depot. They were selling tons of vinyl and accessories. I decided to invest in some Heat transfer vinyl and get some of the transfer tape needed for the sticky back kind (already had a bit of that.
  Today I finally put into use all I had learned from all the MANY you tube videos I have watched.
  
And...........

 

Success!!!

 I just love it! Now to try some more designs...  Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paulette AKA:  #b2bmomblog

Craft fair project.. Mini coffee cup holder

    Hi all, I have been working on a few projects for my first craft fair in a few weeks. If you follow my Instagram you have probably seen some of my goodies there. This weekend I got my order of mini coffee cups (a friend and I split 100) We ordered them here... Webrestaurantstore.com you can also find them on Amazon Mini coffee cups and lids.

 

      I made a template in my Scan N Cut  to wrap around the cup. for the holder I cut 1 piece of paper 2 3/4 x 7   and one 2 3/4 x 8 1/2 . score both from one short end at 1 7/8", then at 4 3/4" and at 6" on the longer piece also score at 7 1/2.
   For assembly glue together (on top of each other for a base) where you scored 1 7/8.  For the outside pocket on this one I do not remember the exact dimensions I just did it to fit the width of the card + 1/2 inch so I could fold in 1/4" on 3 sides to fold under and glue to the front.




 

 For this one I cut a slit along the fold on the back side leaving 1/4 inch on either side of the slit.

I'm hoping to make a video but I can't make any promises :) Life has been hectic and I have 12 dozen cookies due for a cookie exchange and I am hosting thanksgiving next week.... ahhhhh!!!!   LOL!

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of holiday tags with the Brother ScanNCut and some techie stuff

I have been working on creating lots of Holiday tags lately in an effort to build up supplies to hopefully do some local holiday fairs. I wanted to make some shaped tags so I went to my ScanNCut... After spending some time with the Canvas free online design program I had what I needed for a couple 2 layer tags and some tiny Holly leaves for embellishments.

I really love the flexibility with this machine! I used a piece of scrap paper and got a bunch of trees and a ton of leaves... see here...

 You can choose how many images to use depending on the space available and you can arrange them in a line, alternating or a jumble  depending on how you want the negative space to look if you will be using it or to best utilize your paper. If you are trying to fit as many as possible you still have the ability to manipulate each image individually. I was able to cut 15 backings foe my tree tags out of one piece of 8 1/2 x 11 craft cardstock.

Here you can see just how tiny those holly leaves are... I do have a punch but the smallest leaf is at least double the size and too big for what I want to use it for.

Here are 2 videos related to this Project :) 

I hope you find them helpful!

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Galaxy Inspiration, Cake and cards...

     Hi all! As I was racking my brain recently to figure out a theme / design for my girls sweet 16 birthday cake I was inspired to try a Galaxy theme. She loves the galaxy motif so I went to pinterest. I found a few samples that inspired me and I thought I had the basic process down since I had done the process on card stock, surely fondant could not be too much different... Hmmm... yeah...  Well turns out it isn't but it is... It took LOTS of kneading and LOTS of food coloring and LOTS of patience!  In the end here is how the cake turned out...

   I'm pretty happy with it! I found some edible shipper spray at Wal Mart and used it with a stencil I tore out of paper to create the wispy look. The grainy white "comet" in the upper right corner was how I fixed and "OOPS" I also added a few constellations I could remember from our Girl Scout Star gazing outing from years ago.

    Verdict.... She really liked it!

    Now how does this translate into cardmaking you may ask... Well I wanted to try this again for some card backgrounds so I could use some of my stamps to make some cards with the night sky in the background.


    Here is the video on how I made the backgrounds...

I still have to make the cards but at least this part is done!
Here is a basic list of the supplies I used

Heat gun
Ken Oliver Colorburst watercolors
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Stampin Up Night of Navy inkpad
Strathmore 140# watercolor Paper (Yellow pad)

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Please leave me a comment and let me know how you liked this post!

Shakopee Rubber Stamp Expo July 2017

Hi all!

  I had so much fun at the Rubber Stamp Expo last weekend. How lucky am I that I got to spend the day with 2 of my favorite people. My Sis in law Cathy and my amazing Daughter.

  Here are a few photos... There were many more vendors I just kept getting distracted by cool stuff so I did not get pictures of every booth :)

Me and my Sister-in-law :)

Taylored Expressions

Pricly Pear Designs

Stamp n Storage

Rubbernecker

 stranger who wandered into my photo...


fooled you...  it's actually my girl :)

We had so much fun braving the crowd (Most of the pics were later in the day when it had cleared out) We were such a team. My girl took lots of photos of samples for me and made lots of purchase suggestions :) Gotta love a family of enablers :)

Here is a video of everything I purchased and a shaky tour of the expo floor. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great day!

Joining the #CommentKindness Campaign!

Hi all, I ran across some content on social media yesterday that really spoke to me. It is called the #CommentKindness Campaign. It is exactly what it sounds like... If you are going to comment on someones social media... be kind... if you do not like their content... move on... no harm done. That's about it... More of my thoughts are in the Video below...

MayMay's video that started the Campaign

Melody Lanes video and playlist to see others who are participating,

Thanks for stopping by!

Get Well Shaker card...

    I had a lot of fun making this "Get Well" card for a Co Worker last week.  This person does so much for others and deserved a special card.

   

   I just love shaker cards and I have been experimenting with cutting out words with my Brother Scan n Cut so I made this frame out of white card stock with the words welded so it is all one piece. To make the white card stock stand out a bit more I coated it with Versamark and covered it with a holographic embossing powder. Then heated it to adhere and set the powder. I placed a piece of acetate behind the frame (I just re use packaging from other things I buy),doubled up some foam tape and cut it down the center to form narrow strips then lined the back of the frame. To cut the purple I used 2 frame dies then added the white window piece on top. I pulled an A2 card base out of my drawer (I like to have lots handy for when I'm feeling creative). I added Chunky glitter and sequins to the card base in the center then placed the window on top. I had to add the flower embellishments to fix a spot that got messed up. The Acetate got melted when I tried to fix a bit of embossing that had not set and was wiped off.  It worked out because I ended up liking the look.

Thanks! and have a great day!

Birthday spinner cards

I had fun recently making some super cute spinner cards. I purchased the stamps and dies last summer from an expo I attended with my sister in law (if you follow my YouTube channel you may have seen the haul video). The Brand of the Stamps and Dies is Art Impressions and this is their mini cake spinner set. I did use a sentiment from Close to my heart instead of what came with the set.

There is a bit of a learning curve to making these but once you get the hang of it they go pretty quick.. I colored the cake with my Copic Ciao markers. I am still a novice at coloring but I am having fun and get a bit better each time.

Here are the other 2 cards I made...

Thanks for stopping by!