Mini Stamp Storage

Well if you are anything like me, you love those dollar mini stamps that they have at Michael's and Joann's. Even companies like Scenic Route and Pink Paislee have come out with their "singles" stamps. Organizing them can somtimes be a little messy. I have put all my acrylic stamps in a binder and they look something like this.

 

This is a basic page protector and on the other side of this sheet is a transparency that the stamp sheets are glued to. I recently stamped all of the images onto a white piece of paper so I could clearly see what stamp is where. I also have them organized acording to journaling, flourishes, flowers, etc. Makes it a little easier for me to find things.

Now for those small little stamps I finally found something that keeps them all in one place...baseball card protectors! The last time I was at the dollar store I say them and didn't know what I would do with them - but KNEW they would be good for something - so I bought 2 packs.


Turns out those little singles stamps fit PERFECTLY in there.


Here is what I did:


For the stamps that I had previously attatched to a transparency, I took them off and stamped the image onto a piece of white cardstock that I could slide right in front of the stamp. This is what they look like:
 

 

You can see that the Secnic Route Stamps have the original packaging -- they fit perfectly! Just remember to keep them and not toss them like I did!

Here is another page:

 

I hope this helped a little bit and will help to keep you organized -- I know it does for me!

Paper Piecing with Stamps

An easy way to get the paper piecing look without too much work is to put those stamps to work. I started by picking my stamp and the colors that I would need to "paper piece". Since I picked a candy corn stamp - I picked white, orange, and yellow cardstock.

I then stamped the image on each sheet of cardstock with the same black ink. I then chose for my " base" to be the white cardstock paper. So I cut out the orange and yellow secions of the cady corn. After I simply adhered them to the white paper - leaving the whit tip the same. I then cut all the images out (this step can be skipped - it just depends on your design) and adhered them with pop dots on a little tag that I made to add to a Halloween gift. This is really easy and simple and allows you to use your stamps a little differently -- hope you enjoyed it!

*Here is a layout where I simply added to the strip of stammped images -- the only cutting was the layering that I did!

So You Want to Submit?

I am by no means an expert on the subject of being published - but I am an organizer.  I did this artice for the Simply Obsessed October Newsletter.  Enjoy!

There are so many talented scrappers here at Simply Obsessed and not enough of you are submitting to the magazine calls!  I thought I would share with you how I (try) to stay organized so if and when I want to submit a project, my life is a bit easier!

 

  Most magazine calls ask for a supply list of all the products you used on your page/project.  Well I don't know about you, but sometimes I forget who made specific products, especially when the layout is more than a few months old.  So, instead of writing all of the products on the back of the layouts, I created a system.  Please note that it took some doing and trial and error to come to this system that has been the most helpful to me and hopefully will be for you too!

 

 I had originally been listing all products in a composition book.  I would list the title, products and any other details that I thought I may need.  Well when the composition book was practically full I had to think of a new way to file away the lists.  You see I write the products down even if the layout is not my favorite.  I do this because you never know what the magazines will like and you gotta give it a shot right?  Well while cleaning out my stash I found some oversized Heidi Swapp cards that got used - but not all 52 of them.  So I cut them in half, punched holes in the top left corner and put alpha tabs on the edges.  I knew the halved cards were the perfect size for my index cards so I punched holes in a bunch of index cards that I just have on hand.  I added the alpha tage so that I could quickly find the supply list for a layout by the title. 

 

It is a fairly simple system and you can adapt it to anything you have available.  And I do not keep ALL the layouts I ever created in there -- I do go through my galleries online and take out the titles that are retired from trying to be published.  I also highlight any that have been picked up and where. 

 

As you can see from my index card I even have if it is posted or not - because honestly I forget!  And if you post them in more than one place it is good to write where, so that if you ever get a request you know where you need to take them down from.

 

I hope that was helpful. And please share if you do make one of these, I would love to see!

How to stitch on a layout

Here is a article I dod for Treasured Scrapbooking --- enjoy!

 

 

How to create a fabric flower

 

 

 

How to create a banner in PSE

Here it is, my tutorial for making a banner.  I use PSE4.0 so some things may vary in your own photo program - but most things should be the same.  And the way I am showing you is my way and by no means the only way.  I have learned through trial and error  - and what onces was a pain to do is actually pretty fun to create!  I hope you enjoy it and if you have any questions - please feel free to ask:)

Step1

  You first need to figure out the size of your banner typepad and blogger banners are a bit different - but you might just need to play to get it right.

*Open a new blank file and once you have decided on the size make sure that the resolution is 300 so that it is nice and clear when you post it on the internet.

*For this tutorial I will be using a kit I purchased from Shabby Miss Jen's it is the Egg Hunting time kit -- so pretty -- just like all her kits -- anyways...

The next step is to load all of the components of the kit into PSE - it takes a bit of time but I find it easier to choose my paper, embellies this way.

After you have copied the pattern paper - you simply click back to the blank banner that we created at the beginning, thengo to file and paste -- your paper should pop right up.  It will be a lot larger than your banner so you will need to resize it -- you can use the little corners to adjust the background -- and make sure to press the shift key so your picture does not get distorted.

**And if you only want part of the pattern paper on the banner -- just fix it to where you want it and press the check mark at the top right and it will take the rest away. 

You have now finished one layer --

I always make changes as I go so things are never permanent - you can go back and undo a layer -- and f.y.i. I am real lazy and don't always add new layers I just add them on top of eachother --- but you should:)

The techniques for adding more paper and designs is the same as above -- so I will now show you how I add my picture to my banner.

In this screenshot I have pasted both the frame and the picture I want to use. And as you can see the frame needs to be resized.  The first step that needs to be completed it sending the picture layer behind the frame - to do that I  just drag the picture frame layer on top of the picture and they will switch places 

You can now resize the frame to fit onto the picture.  When you are satisfied with the size make sure to merge down the 2 layers -- this will "lock" them together and allow you to move them to another area on your banner --- if you merge visible you will "lock" all layers and not be able to move anything so be careful!

You can continue to do this with all the rest of the layers and mergeing them when you finish with something you know you want to keep - or you can wait and do it at the end.

I know that is the short version and if you have any specific questions -- please ask -- I might be better at doing that -- and if you think you would like me to adda step her so you can visually "see" then let me know too!

Hope this helps somewhat -- I will look it over and let you know when I update again!