Ask a Crafter S3 E17

Hi friends! I’m not going to complain about the cold today but it was -3 at dog walking time and 50 in my studio today. Much to the disappointment of Hazel she did not get walked but a few steps outside and she is holding her paws in the air because it is too darn cold and I don’t think she would appreciate wearing booties if the hunting vest I had her wear this fall was any indication. I’m hoping for a heatwave (that would be 15-20) tomorrow so I can take her for her usual walk. Oh well, it really makes you appreciate summer! Only 6 more months 😀 I am hoping that I can film with Kathy and Lorraine next week, I am sure you miss them as much as I do. I don’t know what is keeping me so busy that we can’t get together (it isn’t the housework!) but something is using up my time, basketball season maybe? Poor time management? Distraction of cool CHA 2015 videos…ding ding ding! Nobody’s perfect:) And on that note, here is this weeks Ask a Crafter:

Thanks so much for stopping by! Leave your questions below and they may be on a future Ask a Crafter! (the jar is getting lower!) Have a great night and til next time happy crafting!

How To Store It: Ink Pads, Embossing Powder, Flocking and Reinkers!

Hi Friends! First let me apologize to those of you die-hard fans to stalk my YouTube channel on Tuesday nights waiting for a new Ask a Crafter. It is still uploading and will be up tomorrow because my massive paper storage video took a LOOOOOOOONGGG time to upload. That is up tonight in case you needed to see even more of the hoard I have amassed over the years LOL!  I have to say with every new storage and organization video I feel more and more like I need an intervention or a craft supply addicts group. If you know of any let me know. Wait, if this is crazy I don’t wanna be sane LOL! That is the thing about creating, you save things, collect things and invest in things that will enable you to make beautiful things! You must take care to organize them so you can find them and make sure they will last so that is why I wanted to do a video just on inkpads and other stamping consumables. These are the things you use up but could spill or go bad if they are not stored properly or worse you can forget you have them altogether. We bought these things to use them but we have to know where they are first! So, without further ado here is my inkpad storage video:

I also wanted to mention that I used to use an old wooden cassette tape organizer for my inkpads and it worked pretty well but it took up too much space for the storage it offered. When hubby built me the foam core holder using the pattern by The Rebel Inker (see her awesome free plans to make one here) I gave the cassette tape holder to the kids for their ink pad/ribbon storage. I hope this helps you store your inkpads and powders. If you have any cool ideas for craft storage please leave them in the comments! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

How to Store it: Rubber Stamps!

Hi Friends! Today I planned to shoot my paper storage video…that was a little more involved than I thought (I have an obscene amount of paper) so hopefully I can tackle that task tomorrow:) Tonight I will share how I store my stamps (another item I have an obscene amount of.) I hope you find some of these ideas useful and can incorporate them into your storage solutions.

It’s funny, each time I have gone to film one of the “How to store it” videos I come up with a better way to do something or I see something and I have these, “Why have I been storing this like that, it should be like this!” moments. You guys are keeping me honest! I plan on filming the paper video tomorrow but maybe I should tackle something less massive first, what do you think? Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

I Treated Myself! {New quilting fabric!}

Hi friends! I had so much fun making those 2 small quilts for my girls that I thought I would pick up some fabric to make a quilt for myself. It was hard to select the first few prints but then I thought “If you like it, get it!” I was pretty much on a roll after that! And to top it off most of the fabrics were on sale! I paid between .39 cents and $1.25 a quarter yard. I was in fabric heaven. Of course this is going to create a kink in my fabric storage solution, I’ll have to revamp that a bit, or add-on another crate, or sew it up quick! Have a look at what I bought. Don’t worry, I am not putting all of this on one quilt. What should I use first?

What I got and what I paid:

• 4 zippers at .25 cents each
• 4 10-yard-rolls of 1 1/2″ wide patterned grosgrain ribbon for $1.49 a roll (reg yardage price is $8.90 a roll!)
• 2 yards of precut batting for $3
• 2 yard cut of watercolor print for $4
• 1/2 yard of solid brown for $1.75
• 1/2 yard floral remnant for .80 cents
• 27 1/4 yards of cotton prints ranging in price from 39 cents to $1.25 each

Alright quilters, did I do good? My total for the whole shebang was $37 and that included tax. Being a beginner I know I will make mistakes and I will be nervous to cut into pricey material so this way I can play and not hoard…although looking back at the prices of some of these I was thinking “Why didn’t I get more?” I hope you had a crafty weekend! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

How to Store It Series! Today: Beads & Jewelry Making Supplies!

Hi Friends! I recently mentioned that I was going to do a craft/art room organization series with you in lieu of a craft room tour this year. I will have all of these videos (along with other storage videos and craft room tours) on this YouTube playlist. I decided to kick of the series with how I store my beads and jewelry making supplies. I might have a lot more, or a lot less than you have but I think this video will give you many options on how to store your stash:

Here is a list of some of the items I showed you:

• The red and clear cubes are by Ultamate Stacker
• The test tubes and holder are from Shot Wizard but I got the other ones in the basket from Sam’s Club, they often have them around valentines day for party favors, just empty the gumballs and use the containers for beads!
• The yellow box is from Harbor Freight.
• The clear tackle box I use for wire is by Martha Stewart but Plano make a similar one.
• The tic-tack boxes came filled with low quality beads from Joanns for about $6 but I have seen the boxes empty on Oriental Trading and Wal Mart for $4 empty.
• The white cardboard box that I have my findings in is by Making Memories but they are out of business, maybe you could use a jewelry box or chocolate box as a similar solution.
• The clear containers stacked up with paper beads and other odds and ends in are from the Dollar Tree, they are really durable and have useful sized compartments. They seem to always have them in stock too.

I have had many of the things I use for storage for years but if you are creative I’m sure you can find similar storage items around your home or you will hopefully have a good idea what you may want to purchase to make your storage dreams come true LOL! 😀 I know I don’t have the most elegant craft room (it’s a corner of my basement for goodness sake!) but I enjoy it so much because it is cheerful and organized. I hope to help you make a fun place to create too. Let me know if you have and questions and stay tuned for more craft storage and organization videos all month long! Oh, and for those of you wondering how I made out at jury duty I was only picked for 1 case and it should only take a few days in February. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Let’s paint an icy cold landscape!

Hi friends! This week has been so cold in Maine, we have had sub-zero temps every night this week and I have to say that I am looking forward to spring. Ah, well, if you can’t escape it then you might as well paint it! This project uses only 3 colors of paint, a 9″x12″ sheet of 140# watercolor paper and whatever brushes you like.

I used this photo by Robyn “Ro” Lovelock on Paint my Photo for a reference. Watch and see how easy it is to paint!

If you liked the lesson, you may also enjoy the Mixed Media Watercolor 101 course from Curious.com. And they are offering a special deal to my subscribers: If you buy the course, Curious will give you $5 towards future learning when you email support@curious.com and mention “thefrugalcrafter”. While you are there be sure to sign up for Curious to keep up to date with current specials and daily free classes! I hope you enjoyed today’s project, thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

 

 

 

My Quickest Classroom Valentine Ever!

Hi friends! Do you have kids in grade school? Valentines Day is just around the corner so it is the perfect time to whip up a batch of handmade Valentine treats! These come together so easily using a few supplies from our sponsor Papermart.

Now you have a good excuse to buy a box of large shipping tags or the beautiful washi tape you have been eyeing! Plus, if you have been following my blog, you know lots of other ways to put this versatile craft room staples to good use. Watch how quickly these favors come together:

I also used some 2 3/4″ wide organza ribbon to top it off. I hope you give this easy Valentines day craft a try. You can also save this idea and make it for other holidays by changing the colors and stamps (that big box of shipping tags just keeps looking better all the time right?) Thanks so much for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Flying solo for Ask a Crafter this week…

Hi friends! I am not going to whine today but I have to tell you the funniest thing. I went to pick up my kids from basketball last night and they asked me if I got picked for a jury and I said yes and they said “Mom! that is so exciting, we can see you on TV!” then I had to explain that Judge Judy was not presiding over these cases and tell them that The Peoples Court was not trial by jury, or even real. It took them a while to grasp that. They were very disappointed. It would be entertaining if the judge heard testimony and shouted “Baloney!” I love sassy TV judges…I wonder if they are really judges or just actors? Let’s get back on topic shall we? I shot my first craft storage video the other day on beads and jewelry making supplies and I plan on knocking out a few more tomorrow so if you have requests for storage videos let me know. I am going to try to show how to store all my crafty stuff but you will probably think of things I forgot. I have been a bit spacey lately so I’ll tale all the help I can get! The next couple AACs will likely be me solo (sorry bout that, I’ll try to be entertaining  or at least informative without the crafty ninjas at my side) due to unpredictable jury duty requirements. At lease doing these solo and the craft storage videos I can pretty much film them when I have a spare moment with little planning:) I hope you like them!

You can leave your questions below. Thanks so much for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Preserving Old Newspaper Clippings

Hi Friends! I had my fist day of Jury duty today, I got picked for a civil case in February but I have to report back on Friday to go back in the juror pool for potentially more cases. I am having some anxiety, I  don’t mind being on a civil case but I have a really hard time listing to crime, I can’t even watch crime shows, my stomach is in knots about it. And to add insult to injury they will not let you knit in the court room or bring in a cup of coffee. On the plus side I did make a new friend today, a fellow knitter who works at a yarn shop I didn’t know about. I might check out their Wednesday night knitting club. See, you gotta stay optimistic and look for the silver lining. On to more pleasant things I made my dad the perfect Christmas gift this year, a scrapbook of scanned newspaper articles about his side of the family:

I was a bit overwhelmed when I started this project but I printed out pages as I scanned them so I had something to show for my work, also that way if I did not get everything done at least I had something done but I did manage to scan all of the important stuff. I scanned the clippings at 600dpi and printed them larger so they would be easy to read. I used the curves/levels tool in Paint Shop Pro to reduce the yellow and increase the contrast making them look newer. If you do not have Paint Shop or Photoshop try GIMP it is free and works really well. That’s it for me tonight. The jury selection really tired me out (probably the stressing that I would be put on some horrible criminal case was most of it) so I am going to relax with some tea and TV. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!