DIY Dress Form Display & 50% Off!

Howdy folks! First up I want to let you know that Everything at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff is 50% off today only, yay!  Next up I want to share a dress from display I made:

Guess what, I made it from an empty dish soap bottle. When I saw this tutorial on Beansie Babbles blog I knew I had to try it! Of course with my housekeeping {or lack there-of} style I don’t empty a bottle of dish soap that often (everything, I mean EVERYTHING gets crammed in the dishwasher so I rarely use the wash-by-hand soap) but when I did happen to empty a bottle this week I had to try it!

I think if I make another one I will use a bottle of JOY or AJAX because the bottles are slimmer. My Nature’s Place all natural bottle is a bit full-figured…well, I guess the old adage about every piece of art being a self-portrait is true LOL!

After covering the bottle with tape I painted it:

I used up my matte decopague glue on my jewelry display board last week so all I had left was glossy Mod-Podge, I’m not crazy about the shine, I should have used watered down glue I think…

The decorating is the fun part, I used some papermart tulle and elastic to make a removable tu-tu, and added scraps of lace and plastic bead strands. I think I will use it on my craft fair table to hold a sign or hand jewelry off, I’m not sure.  I decided not to have a pedestal under it because I did not want it to be tipsy but I bet an old candle stick would work if you wanted one.

Tacky or classy? What do you think? Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

DIY Ring Display Box {Video Tutorial}

Howdy folks! Phew, the snowstorm we had last nigh only dropped about an inch of the white stuff so school is in session! I (as well as my kids) was pretty sure it would be cancelled today, boy, they will be bummed when they wake up. So this week, with my thoughts on spring I made this cheerful jewelry display box to use at craft fairs to showcase my handmade rings:

I upcycled a Ferrero Rocher chocolate box and made the inserts with fun foam. Here is a quick video to show how I made it:

And here is a photo to show how I made it. Tip: Use a heat gun to remove the labels on the box and some goo-gone for any leftover adhesive under the labels.

The center label would not come off, it seemed to be painted on underneath so I cut a cloud from felt and used some stickers to spell “rings” and hot glued it over the label. Works for me!

I am thinking of trying to sell my wares at a spring craft fair, I think some product are better suited to spring such as elaborate jewelry and watercolors. This colorful display would be perfect for spring/summer I think! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

It’s Hip To Be Square! {and Awesome Yarn Storage!}

Happy Saturday! Yesterday I was determined to learn how to crochet a granny square (boy, my ambition was just staggering this week, wasn’t it?) And I am happy to report that I succeeded!

I love these colors and the yarn was a dream to work with. I do not know the brand because I grabbed 3 skein packs at Mardens for $3.99! The content was Wool/Bamboo and it was made in Turkey which is known for its fabulous yarn. I bought a couple of packs and tried it and promptly went out and grabbed more. I bought enough pink to make a sweater but…well you might remember how that project turned out…if not you can find out here. So, anyway I wanted to share my new yarn storage, my librarian was going to throw away a paperback book spinner rack and she asked if I wanted it (crap about to be tossed, oh yeah, I’m in!) so I took it home, dusted it off and oiled the spinner part and it was as good as new!

I crammed all of the little wire baskets with my yarn, it was chock-a-block, stuffed to the max 2 weeks ago so you can see I have used some, yay! I can see what I have so I will actually use it. Full disclosure: I still have some yarn in a tote, in my bedroom closet and in a basket..OK 2 baskets…but it basically all fits in here. I’ll try not to buy any more yarn until all that I own can fit on this rack but if I come across $1 wool skeins at Mardens I make no promises! I am taking on another knitting group too so I’m sure I will knit through some of my stash with my students! Well that’s it for this Saturday, we have a pretty low-key weekend with basketball, cheering and a birthday party thrown in so there should be plenty of time for some more granny square making… any idea what I should make with my squares? BTW I have put the video that I watched to teach me this technique here, It is not me of course but it’s I great video! I think the “trebble” crochet she uses is what we call a double crochet in the states but don’t worry about the names, watch her and you can follow right along:) Til next time happy crafting!

Look What I Made with a Slim Jim Box!

No box is safe around here, LOL! When my kids finished up the box of Slim Jims (Yes, I know, not healthy) my son asked me if I wanted the box. I did! And here is what I made with it:

 

A party favor dispenser! I used YES! paste to adhere this lovely American Crafts paper (It is a couple of years old from the “Dear Lizzy” line) to the box. It was really easy. I did not cover the inside of the box or the little tabs that you can see when the door is open and I think it looks just fine. I stamped “party favors” using the Soda Pop large alpha from Pink Persimmon and the die cut mat is a leftover cutout window from mt Royal Whimsy SVG set.

 

Believe it or not I try to have a healthy household, that’s why for my daughters’ birthday I wanted to give out a party favor that was not candy OR cheap plastic toys that would fall apart before the kids even got them home. I found a box of foil wrapped packets containing a small coloring book, box of crayons and stickers. Eureka! The perfect party favor and it fits in my altered slim jim box!

 

This project took about 15 minutes and I can use it over and over again. I like to make party stuff that I can build on and use again year after year and this box is not too young-looking. One note, you might want to cover the box so you can fill it from the top. I did not think of that until I was done and I had to fill it from the bottom. This would be great done in more neutral colors and could be used to dispense packs of trading/baseball cards! Have a great Sunday and til next time happy crafting!

Inspired by a soda can and WOYWW!

I was grocery shopping yesterday and my son asked if he could get some iced tea, well I looked at the display and saw the most gorgeous box of Arizona green tea with ginseng (and it was diet!) so I said sure but I get to keep the cans! I made a card with the chipboard from the box:

And I have something else intended for the cans, I’ll share that project with you tomorrow but you can have a sneak peek since it is What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday and I happen to have a can in the works:

 

BTW the stamps on the card are from About Art Accents! Thanks for stopping by and till next time (when I reveal the finished soda can creation!) happy crafting!

Free Embellishment Storage!

This embellishment cube has 48 containers for beads and embellishments and the best thing is that I made it for free!

 

Let me clarify, I used a 5 cent glue stick. Also I used a craft knife I already had and some paper from an American Crafts pack a friend gave me, so nearly free My brother-in-law works at a paper mill and the electrical tape they use comes in these little round containers (pretty wasteful if you as me but not if you pass them along to a crafter!) I should have taken step-by-step photos as I made it but I thought of it too late. Below you can see the box the containers come in:

 

I took the box and cut one side off each then glued 4 of the cut boxes together. I turned each one so there would be an open row of containers on each side because I thought it looked nice but you can set it up however you like.

An adaptation…

I realize that you might not be able to get these awesome tape containers and boxes BUT you can still make something similar. You can buy a 10 pack of mini square or round food containers  at the dollar store. If you buy 4 packs that would give you 40 containers to put in your cardboard shelf (4 column of 10 containers.) You can make custom boxes from cardboard and tape, it is really sturdy and if you cover it with pattern paper it is beautiful. I’m telling you, most of my storage in my craft room is made from cardboard (or foamcore) tape and hot glue. It’s good stuff, not to mention nearly free!

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

French Country & Lots of FUN Techniques!

My apologies to all of my subscribers who had an unedited draft of this post emailed to them.

I love a card that uses a lot of techniques but doesn’t cost a fortune to make.

That is the case with this card. I was going to save it for Earth Day next month but I was afraid I would forget so you get it today instead!

Technique #1: Fabric flowers with homemade ”Gluebers”

What’s a glueber you might ask? Well, it is a really big glue dot and it is used to make fabric and twine flowers. It is also expensive so here is how you make your own gluebers and glue dots: You need a bottle of Aleens Tack It Over & Over glue (you can order it online line from joann or custom crops and most craft stores for about $3 a bottle-it lasts a LONG time!) Squirt out a circle of glue on waxed paper the size you want. For the flower my circle was about 2.5″ wide. Let the glue dry. After the glue is dry cover the sheet of dots with another sheet of waxed paper to save for later. Cut apart the large dots. To make the flower cut a 2″ wide strip of fabric (whatever kind you like and have on hand) and tie a knot close to the end. Press the knot in the center of the glue circle and twist the remaining fabric as you wrap it in a spiral around the knot pressing the fabric in the glue as you go.  Stick the fabric tail to the back and snip off any excess. I used about 24″ of fabric for this. It took all of 3 minutes. You can try low temp hot glue as well for this technique, just work on a silicone mat:)

Technique #2: Make Your Own Baker’s Twine

I did a post on that, you can read it here.

Technique #3: Make a yarn nest!

I love this technique and it is so easy, just wrap yarn around 3 fingers and scrunch up some in the middle and press into a gob or hot glue. EASY! then you can add little plastic eggs. FUN!

Technique 4: Raid your back yard!

When I needed a bit of organic goodness for my card I poked around in my back yard for twigs and pinecones. Free & fabulous!

Technique #5 (for those of you with Stampmakers) Stencil & Embosss!

I made a stencil with my TC Stampmaker and stenciled the background. I’m not sure I am in love with the stencil packs because I could cut a better stencil on my die cut machine. The stencil is thicker than it should be I think HOWEVER  I tried embossing with the stencil in my big shot die cutter and it worked beautifully. Also I made a woodgrain embossing plate with my stampmaker (see the kraft paper under the nest) and I quite enjoy that.

 So, there you have it! Lots of fun techniques you can try! Til next time happy crafting!

Brown Bags & Old Books & WOYWW

I don’t often do a WOYWW {what’s on your workdesk Wednesday} post, either my desk is tidy or I am too ashamed of he slovenly mess I have created to share. I decided to snap pick halfway through the project (you can see the pic at the end of this post) I am making with he kids at the library this month. The theme is valentines and old books…yeah baby, we are recycling!

 

I grabbed a .25 cent book from the library book sale table after making sure the librarian would not have a heart attack if I defaced the book in the name of crafting and she was cool with it (in fact she suggested a few other books she wouldn’t mind seeing altered   so yesterday I tore out a bunch of pages and painted them with watercolors and let them dry overnight. Then I die-cut a bunch of  hearts from the painted pages and set to work!

I love the fringed edges on the circles. I watched an episode of Heidi Swapp’s Create to Remember show on My Craft Channel (lots of great free shows-do not go there unless you have some time to kill LOL!) and she showed us how to make fun things with fringe scissors and I was so inspired I ran down to my craft room and played with my newly painted papers. I love the effect and since I already had the old book pages and fringe scissors it cost me nothing. Of course you can create fringe with regular scissors too, just cut slits ever 1/8 if an inch.

The brown background paper is brown grocery bags. I simply cut a grocery bag into panels (you get a ton from one bag!) to cover a card nd ran it through my BigShot with an embossing folder. I am going to emboss lots of panels with different textures for the kids to use for their cards tomorrow. I know the kids might not dig my vintage projects so I am going to have some stamped Robots and Aliens (You’re out of this World Valentine) and some animals (I’m wild about you, Valentine!) and I will emboss the bags to match. I will have my special “artist” colored pencils for them to use and if they want to highlight the embossed texture of the paper they can rub it with crayons. Oh the possibilities!

 

OK, now here is my desk, thrilling huh? Actually, I love seeing that pile of watercolor book page hearts!

 

If you want to see the tutorial on how to make the hanging heart pocket you can see it here. If you want to download my tutorial and sheet music freebie you can here.

 Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Another recycled craft supply!

Have you ever thought about dryer sheets? Beyond providing you with static-free goodness in your laundry they can also be useful in the craft room. Here I used a dryer sheet (used, thank you very much!) to make the cloud in the heavenly Christmas Card. The stamp used in this card is by Pink Persimmon.

Remember yesterday when I showed you the “Jolly” card that was published in the Winter Rubber Stamp Madness Magazine? Well, this one was submitted too but not picked. The call in the magazine was for holiday cards that had song lyrics in them. I thought of this song needed an angel, clouds, gold leaf and musical notes and rich jewel tones. I colored the angel with Promarkers then colored the wings and halo with a gold paint pen (Sharpie) and for the lyrics I printed them out on cardstock, trimmed them into strips and ran the pen around the outside, it’s really easy to edge paper in gold!

Now…on the the dryer sheets!

To make the clouds I used a glue stick to adhere a used dryer sheet to a scrap of white card stock. Then I spritzed it with metallic pearl shimmer spray and ran it through my die cut machine with a Fiskars texture plate (swirly design) then I simply freehand cut a cloud.

Other ideas for dryer sheets in the craftroom:

1. Used dryer sheets are great to wipe out glitter and embossing powder trays, they attract the static-y bits of stray glitter and powder.
2. Take a new dryer sheet in your favorite scent and cut it into 1″ squares and place one between layers when you are making a card. The recipient will have a lovely scented card in the mail. Make sure whoever you send the card too is not sensitive to scents
3. You can layer a used dryer sheet on a card the same way you would use mulberry paper. You can spritz it with spray ink to change its color too!
4. Die cut layered flowers from used dryer sheets.
5. Use them in paper piecing whenever you need a sheer fabric such as a wedding veil or curtain.
6. Place a new dryer sheet in your waste basket for a fresh scent!

You are probably thinking “Great Lindsay, now there’s one more thing I can’t throw away!”  but don’t worry or start hording, the thing about laundry is that there’s always more to do so you can save a used dryer sheet when you need it, no hoarding necessary

Thanks for stopping by and till next time happy crafting!

Let’s make candles! {and recycle too!}

Howdy folks! I am still gearing up for the craft fair this weekend and I wanted to share some candles I made:

I happen to be a “tin hoarder” I save tea tins, fruit cup tins, cookie tins, in fact I never met the tin I didn’t like! Hmmmm, mayde A&E should do a show about it LOL!

I know I am not alone in the craft hoarding. How can we in good conscious throw away something that can be used in our art? But I am here to help. Drag out all of the cute tins and jars you have been hord..er…I mean saving and let’s make candles!

 

Making candles is easier than you think but you need to keep a few things in mind:

1. Wax has a flash point, meaning it will not get hot and boil, it will get too hot and burst into flames (not good) so use a craft dedicated crock pot to met your wax in. You can get a used crock pot at a thrift shop for a couple of bucks. It takes a lot longer to melt it this way but no spontaneous combustion. Do not leave wax unattended, even in a crock-pot!
2. You can use canning jars, baby food jars and decorative tins to make your candles in. You can even make floating candles by pouring the wax in plastic applesauce cups. Just be sure to remove the candle from the plastic cups before use.
3. Make sure you have the right size wicking for your project. I buy mine by the spool. I keep two spools on hand: one for candles up to 2″ in diameter and one for candles up to 5″ diameter. Using a too small wick will increase the chances of the candle snuffing out all the time, the wick drowns in the wax. A too big wick will cause the candle to burn too fast. You might want to purchase small packs of pre-primed wicks if you are only making a few candles because the large rolls of wicking (while cheaper in the long run) are a bit pricey.
4. You can use paraffin, beeswax or soy way or even melt down old candles to make new candles from. If you are making a lot of candles find a wax wholesaler but be sure to account for shipping.

How to make candles:

I’m just going to explain how to make poured container candles.

1. Cover your work surface with wax paper.
2. Prepare your wick s by cutting them 2″ longer than you need and dipping them in the wax a few times to stiffen them.
3. Place your containers to fill on the wax-paper surface.
4. Wrap the end of a wick around a pencil or skewer and lay it across the mouth of your jar. Try and keep the wick in the center of the container.
5. Pour the wax into the jar. I use an old coffee mug with a handle to scoop the wax out of the crock pot.

Options!

• You can tint the wax with broken old crayons, just peel of the paper and pop them in the crock pot to melt.
• You can scent the candles with commercial candle scents or you can just but the inexpensive scented wax cubes (they are a dollar at AC Moore and smell great! They are designed to be used in wax melters) and melt them into your wax. Be aware that it will smell a lot stronger when you are making the candles than the finished candle will smell and all the smells might make you queezy after a while!

Everyone loves candles and they are fun and easy to make! Why not make a few for friends this holiday season? Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!