Some money saving tips

I love to repurpose things and save some money at the same time! :)  One item I found at the Dollar Store was these large yellow sponges in the car washing section.

I cut the large sponge into small pieces and have quite a few small sponges to use with my different stamping inks to distress the edges. MUCH cheaper than buying the yellow round sponges and cutting them up into only 4 pieces. All these sponges pictured below (24 pieces) were from one large sponge.

To use the sponges, just pinch the sponge together on one end and dip it into your inkpad and flick or sponge the color along the edges of your image or cardstock. You can't beat 24 sponges for only $1!

Another idea is to use wood stamp blocks to create your own ink blending tools. I have two Ranger blending tools made by Tim Holtz and love them, but wanted a few more so I could use multiple colors at one time without having to stop and change the foam pieces out all the time. The blue side of the foam is what sticks to the velcro on the block. These tools can also be used with the Ranger felt pieces with alcohol inks.

So I used some blocks that left over from when I unmounted my wood stamps and stapled the scratchy side of some velcro to the bottom of the blocks.

I'm not too worried if the block isn't the same size as the foam pads, they still work fine. And I don't use the handle part of the Ranger tool, so this made sense to me to just use the stamp blocks without creating a handle. The velcro was sticky backed, and I just used the staples from the staple gun to reinforce the velcro on the block. And to not waste any of the velcro, I actually pieced it together on a few of the blocks.

Works great and is a neat way to repurpose the blocks I was no longer needing. The cost for this project was just one pack of the industrial strength sticky velcro for $3.29 regular price at my local Hobby Lobby (and I used a 40% off coupon, so I saved even more).

Hope you can use these ideas to repurpose and reuse your supplies around the house!

Frugal Friday tip: Custom Colored Gems and Pearls

Do you ever run out of the right color of gems or pearls when working on a project? I have and one of my favorite tips is to just buy the clear gemstones and white pearls and then custom color them with permanent markers.

Sharpie makes quite a variety of colors to choose from, and the Bic Mark It brand has the bonus of being acid free!

 

To begin, you just color a number of gems while they are on the storage sheet. To get in between the gems or pearls, you can bend the sheet or cut the amount of gems you'll need for your project off the backer sheet and color them separately.These gems and pearls have a line of adhesive underneath them, so you just make sure you cut through the adhesive layer too, so they are easy to stick to your project later.

To use the gems individually, just cut between two gems with an exacto knife, making sure your cut goes all the way through the adhesive layer. Then you can use the exacto knife to pick up the gem and place it down onto your project. When you have the gem in place, use your finger to press it down firmly and gently remove the exacto knife at the same time with your other hand.

Now that you know how to color and place your gems and pearls, let's back up a step. To create your stamped image for this card, ink the stamp in Pine Needles Distress Ink, then flip your stamp over so you see the rubber image side.

Now take a black marker and use the brush tip to color over the green ink by following the outline along the outer edge.

When you stamp the image, it will have two tones--black and green. Cut around the stamped image leaving a small white border. We'll add the "berries" to the image next with the red gems.

 

 

To add a little 3-D gloss to the leaves, use some Glossy Accents from Ranger and liberally coat the leaves with the glue. When this liquid goes on the image initially it will appear slightly milky in color, but it dries completely clear and with a cool glassy raised effect.

 

Now we'll add some color to the edges with a sponge and a brown inkpad (Brushed Corduroy). Just dip the sponge into the ink and flick the edges of the stamped image. The more you go over an area, the darker it will be.

This is what it should look like when you are done with this step:

To complete the 3x3 card, stamp your "Merry Christmas" sentiment on the brown cardstock with black ink. This layer will be glued to the bottom of the card, then add some matching pattern paper along the top. Both of these layers have been sponged with black ink along the edges.

 

The holly berry image is adhered to the card with foam tape, and a layer of stickles glitter glue is added around the border just inside the black outline. Stickles were also added to the black line under the saying along with a red gem.  These little 3x3 cards are the perfect size for gift tags or quick notes.

You don't have to stick with one color of gemstones or pearls on your project. For this next card, I used several colors (yellow, green, red) for my gemstones.

The stamped image was colored with colored pencils, then blended with gamsol (odorless mineral spirits) and a paper blending stump. I added the gemstones in the centers of the images or where a dot would have been in the image. The other areas were also highlighted with some stickles glitter glue for more sparkle.

 

I cut around the stamped image, layered it onto a black piece of cardstock, then punched the bottom edge with a border punch, and rounded the top edge with my corner rounder. The red ribbon was tied around the black cardstock layer along the top, then that whole layer was attached to the white card base with foam tape. "Merry Christmas" saying was stamped underneath this layer and a red gem was added to the center of the line. The bottom edges of the white card base were also rounded with my corner rounder.

The last card uses the same concept, but instead of using gemstones, I used pearls in two sizes and colored them in red and green and also used some as plain white.

 

This card was also pretty easy to create. The reindeer stamp was stamped with brown chalk ink, then I added my colored pearls to the image and cut around the image closely. I used foam tape to adhere the reindeer to the green layer of cardstock, then drew faux stitch marks with a white pen. I also used the same border punch to create a frame for the top and bottom of the mounted image, and added a row of stickles glitter at the intersection of the green and red paper layers. Stickles were also added at various places on the main stamped image for extra glitter.

I hope you will enjoy creating your own custom colored bling!

Honorary Texan layout

The December challenge over at Scrap Our Stash is to use your scraps. I created a layout for the challenge and wanted to share the pictures here. This was such a fun layout to create because I just sifted through my paper scrap drawers and pulled a variety of patterns.

Then I cut the scraps into smaller pieces of varying width and length using my paper trimmer. These pieces were trimmed with scissors on one end to create a "v" to simulate ribbon.

I used a piece of white cardstock that had been stamped on one side. The stamping wasn't something I was going to use on a project, so I turned the paper over and used the white side to create the photo layer and the strip that the pattern papers are adhered to.

 

To adhere the strips to the white piece, I just added adhesive on the back of the white piece, then randomly placed the papers on the adhesive, making sure the ends were staggered.
 

I didn't worry about the overlap to the right of the white strip. I ended up cutting off those ends when I was done lining the papers up.

Then I was able to take this strip of papers and I sewed them down to my layout with black thread to create some texture and to make sure all the patterns stayed in place. For some more 3d texture, I included some gold and silver star shaped sequins that were added in three places and attached with black brads.

For my title, I stamped a frame onto another piece of the white scrap paper, colored it with markers, then stamped the word "honorary" inside the frame with mini alphabet stamps. The frame was cut out and attached to the layout with 3d foam squares. The rest of the title was created with some white chipboard letters.

This is a fun way to use up quite a mix of pattern papers. Some of these wouldn't have been good to use with this layout in a full piece, like the black bird paper, but when they were cut into small strips, you see mainly the colors and not the actual pattern on the paper.

I have a few more projects to share with more of these scraps, but I will wait and post those separately.

I can't wait to see how you use up your scraps! Once you have completed your project ,email a picture and a brief description to scrappinpsycho@live.com and it will be posted on the Scrap Our Stash blog for everyone to see. Your entry must be received by midnight on December 31st. A winner will be chosen and announced on January 1st. The winner will be offered the opportunity to be a Guest Designer for the month of February.

Yeah for Dec 1st!

I can't believe it's already Dec 1st....yikes!! :) This year sure is moving by quickly. We had a great Thanksgiving with family who drove several days to visit and I've been under the weather since they left, so I'll keep this short and sweet.  I did want to let everyone know that the Scrap Our Stash blog has posted the December challenge: to create a project with your scraps. If you create any project with at least 50% scraps, then be sure to submit it to the blog and participate along! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

"Identify Our Stash" Contest

The other design team members and myself took pictures of items in our scrapbooking stash and we are hosting a contest over at Scrap Our Stash Blog to see who can correctly match the name of each design team member with the photo of their stash.

Each of the design team members has also placed a clue on their blog as to what is in their stash. A stash prize will be given to the person who gets the most right answers first. To submit your answer - send an email to scrappinpsycho@msn.com by midnight central time on November 30th. You can email one answer at a time or all 7 at once. You can answer as many time as you'd like. Good luck to everyone! :)

My clue is that I like to store items by type in my scrapbook room and I sort by color. I didn't take a picture of my obvious favorite stash item (stamps) but chose something that I love to use on my layouts and cards to tie everything together.

Little Stinker

I needed a creative break from my crazy schedule last night, so I took one! :) I was putting away some papers and came across this little skunk paper from Die Cuts With A View, so I decided to do a quick layout (it really only took me less than 30 minutes). I also just grabbed a leftover photo of my son and used it for this page. I actually dug through my stash and used supplies I haven't touched yet, although they have been stored in my room for awhile.

My son got a kick from reading the journaling and loved the word stickers on the layout. I couldn't quit laughing at his face when he saw the layout...he's a true boy!

 I stamped a swirl and embossed it in white under the skunk's tail, punched the edge of the striped paper with the binding edge punch, and added word stickers around the page. I also stamped the words "scratch & sniff" by the skunk. The title is made from alphabet stickers.

 Journaling reads: "Well, what can I say except that you are all boy! Someone told you that if you hold in your toots, that you will get sick and you really took that statement to heart. I do have to give you kudos--at least they are *mostly* silent, but they sure are deadly! The worst is when we are riding in the car and we all get a whiff...so we've told you to just roll down the window and let it air out. You don't even tell us anymore--we just hear the window go down and we know to hold our breath. It's actually kind of funny now. I do have to say that you have a flavor all your own--you little stinker!

 Supplies used:
DCWV: Skunk paper and stripe (from Green Stack)
Gartner Studios (Michaels): White journal stickers w/red borders
Doodlebug Design: Mini Just My Type alphabet stickers
EK Success: Binding Edge Punch, Image Tree Antique Typewriter alphabet stamps
7 Gypsies: 97% complete stickers (Congrats/Felicitations)
Autumn Leaves: Rhonna Farrer swirl stamp
Tsukineko: Versamark Inkpad, VersaFine Black inkpad
American Crafts: Zing White Embossing Powder
CTMH Heat Tool

Scrap Our Stash

I am so excited to announce that I was chosen to be part of the design team for a new challenge blog, Scrap Our Stash, which focuses on using up items from your own supply of scrapbook items. The first challenge will be announced on Dec 1st...so be sure to participate! I'm looking forward to working creatively with the goodies I already have on hand.

This was my layout I created for the design team call....we had to create a project using items from our stash.

 

Here's some detail shots from the layout:

I used some Rusty Pickle Stickers (boy and girl sets) that I had been saving...ok, hoarding for a while now. I inked the edges of the stickers and added crystal stickles over the words to make them pop. Then the stickers were mounted to the layout using 3D foam tape. The words I chose from the sets were "Eww! Girl cooties!", "Eww! Boy cooties!" and the title sticker says "Bricks and mortar make a house but the laughter of children makes a home". The last accent I added were some buttons from my large button collection.

I wanted to challenge myself to use white cardstock for my layout base, so I added some distress ink to the page edges with the ink blending tool and stamped them with a formerly unused Fancy Pants flourish stamp and some tan chalk ink. The small bits of pattern on the layout are actually some Basic Grey die cut tags that I had been collecting, and they added a great touch to the layout without using pattern paper. I inked the edges of these also, and layered them onto the page in groupings near my word stickers.

Journaling reads:

Your laughter and encouragement of each other is so inspiring. You are both so different, but get along well and accept the differences between you. You make me proud. I pray your relationship as brother and sister will only continue to grow over the years. Always know you each hold a special place in my heart.


Be sure to visit the challenge blog, Scrap Our Stash, to see the other design team layouts as each new member is revealed.