Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Organizing the Small Stuff

Thought I'd share the way I organize all those small pieces that we use so much of in our crafting. I'm talking about those eyelets, brads, snaps, chains, metal labels and all manner of things we use for our scrapbooking, cardmaking and such. In an effort to keep organized in my beading, I came across the perfect storage container for all those small items we use in crafting as well.


You can find these bead cases in the jewelry section of Michaels, ACmoore, Wal-Mart and I think also Hobby Lobby. It has two large compartments for those items that are a bit larger and two different sizes of the small square compartments. Since these close up like a suitcase they will store laying down and stacking or standing side by side. As you can see, each compartment is clear enough to view it's contents easily.





One container is for eyelets and snaps, one for brads and two more for miscellaneous and overflow of the other containers. Yes, I have a lot of small pieces to organize and this method has proven to be the best.



This is the container as shown in the store. It has 52 compartments and retails for $10 to $12 in most of the stores. On my last visit to Michaels, the store was carrying a different brand but it was the same container. These small containers hold so much, it will amaze you . . . . .

Brenda

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Memories Tag Book

Ah, finally . . . . . . I've been trying my hand at making a video for the blog and it's been quite a project in itself. Although I've been learning a lot about what not to do, it's also been interesting learning about the Windows Movie Maker while trying to put this video together for the blog. My big lesson learned is . . . .  LIGHTING! Yep, you'll see in the video that I need to work on getting better lighting if nothing else. I also was not happy with the way I was presenting the book or the dogs barking in the background so you'll get some nice quiet music for the first video attempt instead. I'll work on my presentation as well for future videos. In addition to the video I will post photos of certain pages and close up views below.

The book is made using Laura Denison's "One Flip, Two Flip Mini Album" instructions and the K & Company Flora & Fauna paper pad. If you'd like to see the video Laura did for this book, go to her blog and click the UStream link there for her videos. There are so many tags and places for photos in this book that I just had to make one. Thanks for the book idea Laura, hope you like what I did wth it.



The cover is made of cardboard with paper overlayed onto it and two binding rings are incorporated into the cardboard to hold all the pages.Very easy to do once you know how.



Inside the front cover is a pocket to include a CD/DVD of all the photographs included inside the book.



This photo mat has the most beautiful velvet ribbon at the bottom. This picture does not do it justice. I found this ribbon at Wal-mart of all places. It's a beautiful dark sage green.



I saw Tim Holtz make this type of flower using his Tissue Tape and I had to try it. It was very easy and looks so much better in person. Then I embellished it with a button center and some acrylic leaves.



This photo mat was made using a portion of one of the papers in the pad. I thought this section was perfect to show off on one side of the photo mat.



Using one of Tim Holtz Journaling Tags, it is hidden behind a three section fold up book that can be used for additional photos or journaling.



This tag is covered using a vellum page that was included in the paper pad. It is secured at top with score tape so that the remaining vellum can be lifted to include journaling or a photo underneath it. The printed vellum paper in the Flora & Fauna paper pad is SO pretty.



This bird is an embellishment card I had in my stash, not sure where it came from but it fit perfectly in this book. It is matted onto some textured cardstock and then matted onto some crumpled Glassine Paper. If you haven't tried the Glassine paper yet, you don't know what you're missing. Love it!



That's the highlights. Be sure to let me know if you have any tricks you've learned regarding videos or photography that you'd like to share. Always looking for ways to improve and since I'm just beginning this blog stuff - I have a lot to learn. All comments are welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

Brenda