Organizing for the New Year: Computer Files! And Links : )

Hope 2009 is going well for you all, we are sort of getting back into the routine after the holidays, but still not quite there yet. All of the Christmas stuff is finally put away (well, almost all of it, the tree still needs to go in the shed and there are a few outdoor things on the floor in the garage which need to go up in the rafters) and we can now move about the house without knocking some Christmas decoration over : )

So, today I thought it might be a good time to look at organizing, specifically, your computer files. I have a folder for stamping called "1StampingStuff," putting the 1 there means that my stamping folder is always at the top of my folders list (and since it is the one that gets the most use, it is always easy to find). Inside that folder I have numerous files, broken down in these categories:

Card Sketches
Designer Paper (free downloads)
Sheetload Magazine
Storage Ideas
Tutorials
Templates
Techniques
Product Charts
Projects

So far the above list seems to hold everything I need, but I am sure there will be some new thing that will need to get added at some point.

Everything else is bookmarked in my Google bookmarks, and I now categorize my links by date. The dates make it easy for me to find specific links to things as I tend to remember I saw and bookmarked something last week rather then specifically what the thing was. My "regular" stamping bookmarks were getting out of hand, well over 100 various categories with many, many links in each one.

Hope the above helps you better organize your "virtual" stamping supplies : )

Now onto some links I have gathered up for the last few weeks. Oh, and before I forget, early next week I am going to have a really cute Valentine's Day Project, and a neat technique that I played with last week.

Ok, here are some great links for you, many with ideas for Valentine's Day:

Origami for Valentine's Day: What a GREAT site this is, and not only are there written directions, but actual animation of how to fold these amazing hearts for Valentines day! These are really cute and would be fun to add to your cards and scrapbook pages.

Valetine's Day Quotes: These are just a few quotes you can use on the outside or inside of your cards/scrapbook pages. I will be posting more quotes in later posts as well.

Valentine's Day Projects: There are all sorts of cute ideas here, and remember that you can always personalize or change a project to suit your own needs. Sometimes projects you find sort of get you in a creative mood to come up with changes that can really add to what you started with. The link above also has some neat things for teachers to print out.

Freebies : ) : ScrapSupply has two pages of freebies; templates, fonts, design kits, just a whole bunch of fun stuff. I especially liked this planner which would make a cool gift for someone (it is a larger one then the little pocket planner I posted).

That is it for now, but stay tuned for the technique and project early next week! Until then have a GRAND day.

Friday Freebies, and some other stuff : )

Happy FINALLY Friday! I had the day off and got a few things done today, including getting the basket of clothes folded and put away. Also fooled around and made a card, played with some water color paper and unmounted a few more stamp sets.

In playing with the water color paper I can state without any bias that the better the water color paper, the better your results. Look for a comparison here soon, but the bottom line is that blending your colors on 140 lb paper gives you very good results, and 90 lb gives you ok results. Anyhow, that will be another day.

On with the Friday Freebies! I have one "freebie" for you that isn't a link, but it is something you can do when you are out running errands. If you happen by a hardware or home improvement store, stop in and grab some of their paint chips to use on your cards. Paint chips now come in very large sized squares, and the colors are amazing! You can stamp on the paint chip, but you have to either heat dry or emboss, depending on what ink you use.

I grabbed a whole lot of them from two stores yesterday (my daughter shook her head), because I wanted to experiment with them and report the results to you later. So far they are very easy to work with, but do have their limitations, however they are a GREAT freebie right under your nose.

Ok, now, on to the links:

• Printable Minis: This is actually a site for dollhouses, however, many of the downloads can easily be used with your cardmaking, such as the pirates map. Lots and lots of really cut minis here for you to download and use as embellishments.

• Package Tech: Great templates for boxes, including directions! There is also a whole bunch of seals for you to print on sticker paper.

• Digital Women: A whole bunch of planning pages to print out, lists and more. Print them out, cut them up and use the various parts on your cards.

• Textile Designs: Print these out to use on your cards, check out Mel Stampz for the directions on how to create some lovely cards ( and thanks to Mel because that is where I found the link to the designs).

• Joseph Wu's Origami Website: Wow! Bookmark this site for sure, it has EVERYTHING, including a directory for all the symbols used in origami directions, a link to Origami basics, just a wonderful website to learn the art of Origami, which, as we all know, can be incorporated nicely in our rubber stamped cards.

Hope the list keeps you busy for a while tonight. Enjoy the rest of the evening and do something fun tomorrow!

Friday Freebies and some thoughts on card making

Happy FINALLY Friday all! I love Fridays, tomorrow we are going (as a family) to the Obon Festival here in San Jose's Japan Town. Specifically we want to see the Taiko drummers, amazing group, and my son (who is a regular drummer) doesn't know it yet, but we have him signed up for one of their workshops in August. Since he doesn't read my blog, I don''t have to worry about him finding out before we tell him : )

Now how about some freebies? Ready? Here we go!

• Designer Paper: FREE! 12 different designs you can print out on card stock, and all of these coordinate and are summer themed. You are going to love this! Make sure to save a copy on your computer. Make sure to click here and save this page as it has ALL sorts of DP to download, I have to go back after this is posted and download some more : ) They have a template page of shapes that you are not going to believe, and if, like me, you do not have the nestibilities, the shape templates are going to be a must have.

• Free Paper Piecing Design Paper: You are going to love this site. Use the designs to make Designer Paper (DP) by using other papers to piece it together, or print these patterns out on card stock and color them in. The possibilities are endless. Although these are quilt designs, but you will see the possibilities for card making and rubber stamping.

• Templates, templates, templates: From the Paper Mill Store, a great assortment of templates for bookmarks, envelopes, invitations, announcements, all sorts of things that you can print out on card stock and then stamp away.

• Box Templates: Another amazing site, all sorts of free box templates you can print from your computer, you are going to love this site as well.

• Pixel Paint Papers: More free DP here, make sure to go through all the pages, lots and lots of paper to print out. If you print the paper make sure to print on higher quality.
  

How is that for a set of Friday Freebies? After you finish printing all these DP's out you will need to get some ink for your printer!

Hope you enjoyed tonights list of freebies. Have a great night, and relax this weekend!

Update: Sigh, I forgot the thoughts on card making, because I got so excited about all the DP downloads, so I will discuss that tomorrow...sigh

Contest Winner! Friday Freebies, Sales and Happy Fourth

And the winner is.....(remember the contest last Friday to guess how much I spent on the supplies in the pictures? )

NICOLE! She guessed $14, and my cost was $13 (those scrap sets were $2 each, a HUGE bargain), the black and white stamps came in a set of two for $1, and everything else was $1.

I will email you Nicole to get your address so I can mail your prize.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Friday Freebies:

• Victorine Originals: Some really nice free card patterns here, I especially liked the bird house one.

• Bear Bookmark: PDF link to the directions, really cute card/bookmark!

• Butterfly 3D Card: You are going to love this card! I can't wait to try it, have a whole box of butterfly stamps waiting to go : )

• Dancing Flower Card: Free pattern and direction to make this adorable card, and imagine how cute it would be with ..... snowflakes ; )
  

Sales

Check around the internet this weekend, LOTS of rubber stamp companies and craft stores are having sales, for instance:

• JoAnns: WARNING: do NOT click unless you have a few dollars because you won't be able to hold back, the sale is only until the 6th. Unbelievable 40 percent off clear stamps, NO SHIPPING charges on ANY order, Designer Paper Pads for $9.99, , mmmmmm, do I dare?

• Jerry's Artarama: Some really good deals on Prisma markers and colored pencil sets.

• I Brake For Stamps: Surf around for some great savings on stamps and supplies. Use this coupon code: INKYFUN for an additional 20 percent off your purchase.

• In Joy Rubber Stamps: How about some 99 cent specials, eyelets, clips, all sorts of things, surf around as they have other things on sale as well.

• Stamp Smith: 8 1/2 x 11 inch SHEETS filled with rubber stamped images for $15.50! I loved the Sunday Evening Tea Set.

Ok, that about does it for today, we are off to the ballgame and then to watch fireworks!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July everyone.

A bit of this and that, including a contest, and of course, some Friday Freebies : )

I have a few pictures to post tonight, a neat technique, a few cards, and a small contest! Yes, I EVEN have a small prize (a brass template for piercing). So, where should I start? How about with a picture of "Brutus" who is now back with his original owner (see the post from yesterday).



And we were very close to having three cats, Brutus is adorable!

Ok, on to the next topic, here is the card I made for my hubby for our 26th Anniversary, cased from this SCS card:



And here is an angle where you can sort of see the mica paint:



I used alcohol inks and a bunch of other ink pads for the background, then stamped a word stamp, then for the pear I painted with some watercolors, waited for them to dry, then went over them with the mica paints, really neat effect.

And I have this picture for you, not a card, but loved the way the chalking came out (yes, it will become a card very soon):



This is a double pop it chalk method. First you lightly chalk your background (don't add versamark or anything else yet), then stamp an image with versamark, and then add more chalk, and you get that cool effect and the chalking just "pops." I LOVE it, and can't wait to try it some more. Also, cotton balls work really well with this method, and they are cheap : ) You do have to seal the chalk with this method, otherwise the chalk will rub off.

Moving along, here are the pictures of the project from the other night, same as what Dannie had on her blog, and this is the one I made at the class. Dannie had most everything cut (we scored and had to do some minor cutting), a few things stamped, all the ribbon pre-cut so the hard part was just putting it all together. Wonderful project, and if you are inclined you might still be able to order them for $30, go to Dannie's blog and send her an email.


Alright, now on to some bargain hunting (and almost to the contest).

I went to Longs today to pick up a few things (they had some great sales on food) and found a package of foam makeup wedges (32 to a package) and some eyeshadow applicators (20 to a package) , the wedges were $1.99 and the applicators were on sale for $1.27.

I use the applicators for chalking, and am working with the wedges as a replacement for daubers (which are really expensive). So far the wedges have worked fairly well, will go further into that in a later post.

Here is what I bought:



The wedges left a nice layer of ink, but there are a bit different then the daubers and will take some getting used to. I also want to see if I can wash and reuse them.

Contest time! (Finally)

I went to Michaels the other day and found some GREAT deals on things, especially three sets of scrapbook kits, complete with cardstock, designer papers, die cuts, stickers, frames, letters, just a whole assortment of things. Here are the three I bought:


The one above was called Friends and is perfect for summer, and as I don't really scrap all that much, everything will be put into cards.

Here is set two:



This one has lots and lots of glitter, paper and a ton of die cuts and frames, and it is just perfect to get ready for the fall season!

Here is set three:



Again, has over six sheets of designer 12 by 12 paper, die cuts, stickers, frames, just adorable.

Then I also rounded out my shopping with these items:



Now, for the contest. You must guess how much I spent on all these things. Enter your guess in the comments section by Friday, 12 pm. I will announce the winner on my Friday evening post, so make sure and check back to see if you won.

Who ever guesses the exact amount will win! You may guess only once, and if more then one person guesses correctly, your names will go into a bowl and we will do a random drawing.

As mentioned above, the prize is a brass piercing template, which I will mail to you.

Last, but never least, Friday Freebies:

• Black and White Scrapbook Embellishments: These can be used for cards as well, and they are really, really neat! You can easily print them out on your computer and use them for some fantastic cards.

• Raggedy Scrappin Templates: Here are some recipe templates, a book mark template and a few others, some are colored for you, some you will need to color, all are adorable.
  

Sorry this post was so long, hope you were able to get through all of it : )

Enjoy what is left of Friday and do something new and exciting Saturday.