Last bit of “inside” crafting I’ve done lately

Well, I lasted about 21 days on my “March Craft a day” challenge I gave to myself. Anyone who crafts, understands the ‘organized chaos’ of a crafter’s work area. Right? Yeah, well try to explain that to my dh & my neighbor (both NON-crafters). Some how he talked her into helping me clean up & organize my craft room. So, since she hasn’t found a job yet, she has been doing it a little at a time.

She has  organized ALL my rubber stamps, and of course what was the most annoying question the dh asked me? “Do you KNOW how many rubber stamps you have?”  Apparently he doesn’t understand someone who has been involved with Stampin Up! I KNOW I surely don’t have as many stamps as a few of my Stampin Up! friends/upline has!  I really only like the word stamps nowadays.

She did get me moving on putting all my ribbon on the little chipboard to put in the drawers. That major project is done. So many things have been rearranged instead of 45 different places, and I’m appreciateive of  that. I’m sure it will take time for me to find some things. Good thing I gave her the label maker to use!

Oh, I did have her stay away from the beading section of my craft room since that stuff has valuable beads or wire that she doesn’t know.

So I’m sorry I didn’t keep my promise of a craft a day for March. I will keep up my April Stash bush (especially because my friend said she will help me keep to that promise for April &  for the future.)  Her 13-year-old daughter has been having a hay-day in my craft room. She made a bunch of cards for her friends, grandma and brother. This past Friday she wanted to make a necklace for her friend, so I gave her one of the baby food containers & told her to pick her beads she wanted to use & let me know when she was ready for me to help her get the necklace started. She did great for a beginner!  That’s about the only crafts that have actually been going on inside my house lately.

I did this necklace for the Clasp in the Front necklace with pendant swap on swap-bot. I really fell in love with the colors that my partner had listed and this piece just came flowing to me. She really liked it too.

clasp in front necklace Mar2011

DIY Bird feeder

We’ve had this book , The Backyard Bird Feeder’s Bible, for quite some time. I pick it up occassionally & look through it for ideas for feeders or recipes for suet to help attract different birds to our yard. We have a nature photography blog if you’d like to see what kind of birds I’m talking about.

So this weekend I finally got motivated to make this feeder for the Tufted Titmouse that keeps coming to our mealworm feeder (that we had out for the Bluebirds). Haven’t seen either of the two Titmouses visit my new feeder, but hopefully they will soon!  All supplies were stuff we had lying around the garage/yard. Cost= $0.00 –who wouldn’t like THAT??

 

Titmouse bird feeder DIY

Upcycled Leather Belt

I visit my local Goodwill store probably every other week. I usually check their watches, bags, belts & books. I’m not really into clothes there, unless its a neat fabric that I can cut apart for something else (like a pink flamingo shirt that I found at another local thrift store for $1.91 that I cut up for dotees and the buttons for paper crafts.)   I was into looking for leather belts with nice designs or embossing, when I found this belt:

Upcycle leather belt before

After seeing some interesting swaps on swap-bot.com for 1 inch bracelets or upcycled thrift store finds, I thought this belt had a future as something else. So after having it at home for a few weeks, my March creative inspiration hit me finally for this belt.   Took not even an hour to create 4 bracelets out of this 1 belt. My neighbors modeled the final creations (my wrists are all scratched up thanks to my kitty Delilah!)

UPCYCLE leather belt bracelet

UPCYCLE leather belt bracelet

UPCYCLE leather belt bracelet

DIY seed packets from Sizzix dies

I REALLY dislike hand cutting out things & even MORE can’t stand measuring. Thus the reason I LOVE my Sizzix Big Shot & clearance dies from Sizzix clearance shop.   I found a mini envelope die and the scallop envelope die (I think that might be through Stampin Up!) that have saved me from cutting out envelopes for seed packets. 

These were made with the mini envelope die & are just a perfect little size since most seed packets have such wasted space.

seed packets made with the Sizzix mini envelope die

Craft money saving hints #2

Ok, I found more items that I save $$$ on for crafts.

I was at Kohl’s (my FAVE) store the week of Valentine’s looking for clearance Valentine cups/mugs for my boss who makes arrangements for the holiday, and I think I went to Kohl’s 3x that week for her.  On the 3rd day, they (Kohl’s) moved the clearance rack to the back of the store where their other clearance stuff is.  And lo & behold, what did I find? A BUNCH of Christmas cards they still had there… marked 90% off. SO, good thing I took a ‘cart’ — I took EVERY BOX of Christmas cards they had there. The clearance prices ranged from $.79-$1.99 from 12-48 cards PER BOX…    ****JACKPOT****    Total price JUST for all those cards was : $52.39. I SAVED over $496.00 from the original sticker prices (per my receipt), oh yeah, AND I had a 30% off coupon for that too!!!    

CLEARANCE CHRISTMAS CARDS 2011

So during our “TV time” of American Idol and “Survivor” I opened all the boxes, separated the cards from the envelopes, flattened all the packaging (plastic tops & chipboard bottoms).

This is what I got:  706 Christmas cards & envelopes

Craft tips: 706 Christmas cards & envelopes

Another few days went by and I brought my Sizzix BIG SHOT down stairs with my Artist Trading Card die. I sat & cut out ALL the chipboard box bottoms & the plastic lids -uh yeah, lets just say I have A LOT of ATC backs now!  I also cut out the chipboard from the South Beach bars that we buy about 8 boxes a week. I have finally started seeing THOSE to be used for craft items -even though we would recycle them to the City Recycling Center with the rest of our recyclables.

I am willing to share the cards if anyone wants some for their craft projects. Sorry, envelopes are NOT going to be shared. I use them for my swaps (that kinda was the purpose of buying all the cards in the first place!)

Ever hear of those Power Balance Bracelets? What about Power Balance Slippers?

Not coming to a store near you — Power Balance Slippers…  Ok, its a joke -just like the bracelets are. Well, my mom and her friend got a pair of the bracelets off of ebay. Her friend claims that “it really works”. My mom wore hers & said that her bunion didn’t hurt ! My sister & I rolled our eyes at both of them!   WHATEVER!  SO, being the crafty, funny person that I am… I came up with an idea.

I had a friend  that was having a hysterectomy soon, so I asked her if she had any maxi-pads that she wouldn’t be needing anymore. Questionable glance at me, but yes she did have the 4 that I needed. GREAT! So, she brought them to me today. When I got home I went straight to crafting on them!   I made my mom a pair of POWER BALANCE SLIPPERS (from maxi-pads & magnets). She LOVES leopard print, so I had to make them ‘pretty’ for her. I think I’ll mail them to her this week -since I can’t wait until Mother’s Day!!

leopard maxi-pad POWER BALANCE slippers

Supplies needed: 4 maxi-pads (your choice of brand & absorbancy) I used the kind with wings & cut off the wings for the bases.
glue (I used the Aleenes in the gold bottle)
refrigerator magnets (I used 4 of the flat advertisement kind (two on each slipper) & 4 round magnets on each slipper also)
ribbon, fabric,  whatever you want to decorate them up with.

The April Stash Bust promise

Dollar Store Crafts had this challenge last year, but  I’m going to continue it again THIS year (for myself-but anyone is welcome to join me!)

Come on, you know WE ALL hoard craft supplies–if you don’t then you are in denial. I tend to hoard ribbon, paper, beads…. uhm… I think those are my 3 main items. Don’t get me wrong, I have TONS of other stuff, but nothing I seem to gravitate to wherever I go.

 I have a friend who hoards Cricut cartridges — she has EVERY ONE of them but probably 2.  I have a total of 12 carts, which I rarely use!!  I got to the point of borrowing hers if I was interested in 1 image from a cart.

I went through my stages of fabric (for dotees), organization items (see a previous post on that), Sizzix dies, Stampin Up! stamp sets, acrylic stamps, ….oh geeze… a lot of craft items…. cigar boxes is a new one.

 SO ANYWAYS, I promise to only use items in my CURRENT stash for ALL craft projects created in April (I also promised it for the March Craft Month pledge).  I know my card making will not be effected by any downtime. I probably could make 10 things a day out of paper for the month of April and it wouldn’t look like I made a dent in my paper stash. I want to try to use up all my old Stampin Up! DSP I just don’t use that anymore & they are ‘boring’ to me. If anyone wants to do a swap (on swap-bot) stuff for that paper — message me & I will get back to you.

Stash Bust Participant Badge 2011

March is NATIONAL CRAFT MONTH -my pledge-

I pledge allegiance to crafts, throughout this world. And to all the friends I meet through swap-bot,  meetup  and many other places. In this month of MARCH, I will promise to make a craft each day and to be an even a better crafter (instead of a hoarder), I will only use the supplies I have on hand (to get me ready for APRIL’s big challenge).   I will try to post a photo each day, however, it might be delayed by a day or so -so I can get my crafting in vs. blogging time.

WHO”S WITH ME ON THIS CHALLENGE????

I pledge to craft each day of March

Craft money saving hints

This was a GREAT idea for a swap! I guess I never thought of money-saving, until I stopped to look at what my tips are. Pretty much the main thing I believe is RECYCLE & REUSE seemed like my theme! Or as I call myself, “A Shiney SH*T Saver* -NOT a  “pack rat” — I USE my stuff (for the most part)! Of course I keep thinking of more ideas after I already sent the swap! Oh well…

Here are my tips with photos.

1.) I work at a family practice doctors’ office as my day job. There is so much waste & disregard for recycling, that I finally took action.

a.) The sign in sheets come in pads of 200, with chipboard backing on each pad. I asked the girls to NOT throw those out & please save them for me. Chipboard can get pricey & might as well save it for crafts or to send to partners for THEIR craft projects! So always look around especially in an office setting, there are chip board pieces that come in forms boxes (at least at my office they do).

chipboard

 

b.) Also a big + of working in a medical office, I noticed one day there were these AWESOME trays with about 30 little round spaces – 1 tray had deep ones & 1 tray had shallower ones. So I asked one of our nurses what those were from & she said that the Pap smear (female GYN test) tests came in those trays. OMG – those are AWESOME for sorting beads! So, from that point on, I’ve had the nurses save all those trays for me. I have exceeded MY personal limit of them, but I take them to my monthly craft group and they LOVE them –for paint trays, beads, glass pieces, etc.  So I stock them up each month! (If you’d like any PLEASE let me know – I have plenty – I’ll post a pic on my blog)

 

trays

c.)  Also working at the doctor’s office, on the exam tables are rolls of white paper that is changed between patients. Well, I have a parrot & since she loves foraging (searching) for treats, I make her foraging toys out of old paper towel tubes. Since we don’t go thru too many paper towels at home, but she can rip through the tube in seconds, I wasn’t able to keep up with her demand. So again, at work I asked the nurses to save the tubes from the table paper. The tubes are pretty much the length of wrapping paper, so I just cut them down smaller and stuff them with her treats & give her one tube each day.

 

tubes

d.)  During the flu season, I noticed a bunch of colored little button size plastic tops that came on each vial of the influenza bottles. *light bulb*  So, I asked the nurses (again) to save those & any other ones that they have from immunizations. I was not aware that other immunizations/vaccines had different color tops – BONUS for me! So, these are great replacements for buttons!!

2.)  I save & reuse EVERY little plastic bag that stickers, jewelry, you name it, comes in. The sticker size ones are great for punches that I’m working on a specific project. I also will use the bags to send swap stuff in. I think the BESTEST  invention EVER is the zip-top bag!!! I can NEVER have enough!

3.) I am a ribbon hoarder. I LOVE ribbon (especially when on clearance!) So besides buying Christmas ribbon @ 90% off, I swap the ribbon on swap-bot. I am in almost every ribbon swap! I love seeing the different ribbons people have!!!  Then I use small pieces to tie up swaps before sending them off. I believe each swap should be like getting a small present in the mail! I have my ribbons arranged by color.  I saw this blog and fell in LOVE with her method of storage for ribbon. For the most part, my ribbon is in those drawers, however any ribbon I have purchased or swapped since, oh, say, November, are in the purple baskets or white trays on top and still need to be sorted. OH, this is one of my uses for my chipboard I save in #1 – I cut the pieces down to appropriate size to fit. LOVE this storage method!

ribbon storage

 

ribbon drawer

4.) Spice bottles. I don’t go thru too many, but I do save the glass ones for my buttons. Good size doesn’t take up much room & looks great!

5.)  Make your own rubber stamp cleaner. I was first introduced to cleaning your rubber stamps by Stampin Up! Since I don’t want to buy another bottle from them, I found the recipe on Splitcoast Stampers & made a few bottles of my own. The stuff lasts a long time & smells great.  From that link, I used this recipe:     Recipe #2:  2 Cups Distilled water1 Tsp. Dawn dish soap5 drops of Glycerin

6.) Gerber plastic baby food containers. I have no kids but have LOTS of friends/coworkers that have had them. Those containers are SO awesome for saving beading projects, baby powder, glitter, and so many other things – they ARE NOT leak proof for liquids though, so be warned!  So find someone with a baby under a year old & ask them to save them for you!

 

Gerber baby food plastic containers

7.) Tissue paper from gifts. Yeah they make fun of me at work for saving the tissue paper from gift bags, but WHO do they come to when they need some for a gift? HMMMM? Yeah that’s right ME!  Whether its for another gift bag, or to cut it down smaller to wrap jewelry or just a small swap package, tissue paper is so universal! LOVE IT!

 

Hope yall start searching around your jobs, stores, and home for other ideas! Let me know if you have any!! 🙂