Hello, Hugs & Thanks

Hello! Sorry I've been a little absent from the blog lately... we're currently renovating our kitchen and we have been working non-stop putting up drywall, mudding, painting and this past weekend we finally installed the new cupboards! Yay! 

I've had a lot less time lately to get crafty but I did create a few backgrounds last week and really wanted to turn them into cards... so I did! ;)

These cards all have distress inks on them along with a stenciled design using the Ranger Transparent Matte Texture Paste. This stuff is awesome!!! It goes on like regular texture paste, but when it dries, it's completely matte. Photos just don't show the amazing texture, dimension and feel that this paste creates... I am obsessed with it!

I started off by creating some backgrounds with various colours of distress inks (Abandoned Coral, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch) by using my ink blending tools and blending the colours together. 

Once I was happy with my backgrounds, I layered a stencil over top and added the Ranger Matte Texture paste on all of them. 

The wave stencil was perfect for the blue coloured background and it's probably my favourite out of the three backgrounds. This paste kinda reminds me of the look and feel ofsunda leather... it's just so fun! 

I cut the wave background apart and stamped a sentiment in the opening and then I also adhered the Thanks die directly onto the background. I wanted to keep the cards pretty simple to let the awesome backgrounds stand out.

I repeated the same process for the rest of the cards and I just changed the design and used different die cut sentiments. The green background it super bright and fun... I love the colour with the fun dot pattern on top.

To add a little more detail to the cards, I also added some black diecut hearts around the sentiments and a black strip above the green design to make the colour pop off the white card base.

For the last card, I used the Rhapsody stencil from Memory Box over the Abandoned Coral background and ended up with a gorgeous design that I love. I decided to just use a diecut sentiment with this one and added a few of the diecut hearts.

I love how you can combine and few of the same products and create such different, unique backgrounds. This texture paste is a definite new favourite for me! ;)

Winner

I also have to announce the winner of the September Simon Says Stamp card kit. 

Congrats to Sue Welper! Sue, please email me your contact info and I'll get your kit to you! 

Supplies

InLinkz.com

MFT | 5 Days to an Organized Crafty Stash: Stencils

Hello! This week, My Favorite Things is sharing all kinds of fun organizational tips and tricks for organizing your crafty stash including stamps, stencil, dies, cardstock and ink! Each day will feature a different product and will include ideas for storage, organization and keeping everything in a system that works for you!

The MFT Creative team will be taking part all week long, sharing what we use to organize and what works for us. Hopefully once the week is done, you'll have a lot if different ideas to help you get organized and ready to create!

Today's post is all about stencil storage! Stencils have become really popular over the last couple of years and come in all sizes. The most common size is 6x6 and that's the size that's shown in my storage today.

I use the same Sterilite mini crates that I shared yesterday in my stamp storage post. They are the perfect width for 6x6 stencils to fit in with a little room to move. I love how many you can get in one of these... since stencils are so thin, they don't take up a lot of space.

I store all of my stencils in clear plastic flap seal bags from Clearbags.com - I get the 6 7/16" x 6 1/4" size and then I just cut the flap off the top so my stencils can slide in. I cut down cardstock the same as I do for the stamp storage pockets and this keeps the pocket nice and sturdy to hold the stencil. These bags aren't as thick as the stamp pockets, but since the stencils are so thin and light, it works really well. I haven't had any problems with this system. ;)

Once I have the stencils in their sleeves, I use my label maker and create labels the same as I do with my stamps. I put the manufacturer name on the top and the stencil name on the bottom. Most stencils come with the name right on it, but I still like to label them so I can easily find what I'm looking for.

These sleeves don't have flaps on the top to close them (I cut the flap seal off before I add my stencils in) but that works out okay since they stencil is one piece and doesn't have any small parts. I haven't lost a stencil yet with this system! ;)

So that's a little peek into how I store my stencils. Make sure to head over to the My Favorite Things blog today (and all week long) for a lot of ideas, links to the other MFT Creative Teams blogs where they're sharing their storage ideas, and awesome amazing giveaways!! ;)

Supplies

InLinkz.com