Mama's got a new TOY!!!!

OMG I could not be more in LOVE!!!!! My Husband spoiled me this last week and bought me the Silhouette Cameo! I have been begging for a die cutting machine for he past couple years. We just could not wrap our minds around the cost of the cartridges for the cricket and even the die cuts for the cuttle bug can get pricey. Not only that but really how often are you really going to cut that image out.

As some of you might know the Silhouette allows you to create your own images and cut then out using there software and the designers deluxe upgrade. This is well worth the money. I am just amazed at how many awesome things you can do with this thing. I highly suggest that if you are in the market for a paper die cut machine that you look into the Silhouette. They have some great deals on amazon where you can get a bundle package. Sometimes you can be lucky and get an even bigger discount if its one of amazons dented box sales. I always look for those.

Anyway I wanted to share some of my very first designs. I created these using some of my brushes in photoshop and then put everything together.



















I can't wait to see where my imagination will take me.

Happy Crafting
Stephanie

Stamps, Stamps and MORE Stamps

First I would like to say how sorry Crystal and I are for not being around the past couple months. We both had a lot come up and had to take care of things. During our time off we came up with new ideas and projects to share with you. Anyway we are back and are ready to craft!!!!

In my household there is no hiding that I have a stamp fetish. Yes I love stamps. I have never been a scrap booker really, but I use stamps for many projects. Since we are a one income family I often feel guilty when I ask the hubby for money for my crafting materials. However I was lucky enough to marry a man that understands my passion and when he can he will pick me up something to surprise me or give me a little money to get something for myself. Keeping in mind that I am always looking for a sale, the Studio G stamps are amazingly cheap and every season they bring out a new collection.

I try to get as many as I can out of each collection because I personally think they are really cute stamps. So over the last couple years I have been collecting and I have also had a couple VERY generous donations of different stamps. I am now totally over 650 stamps between my traditional wooden block rubber stamps and  the acrylic clear stamps. 

Lately I have been finding it difficult to remember what stamps I have and the sizes. There are just so many that I sometimes find myself forgetting that I had a certain stamp or some just get overlooked because of its size. 

Well my days of forgetting what stamps I have is OVER!!!!!! I found a system that works for me and I would like to share it with you. I wish I could say that I saw this on Pinterest or something so I could give some credit to someone but to be honest this was just something that my hubby and I were talking about and  it worked out very nicely. 

So first let me say that for the stamps that I use the most or that I just think are show worthy I put in an open shadow box that hangs on the wall above my work station. I know lots of people that do this. It really is very handy. 

However so that I can see all my stamps at one time in a small area I took some plain white computer paper, my black stamp pad, clear paper binder protectors, and ALL your stamps. 

Then I started stamping each stamp on the paper using a different sheet of paper for each category. I split mine up by holidays, text, and then misc for the rest. So come Halloween time here all I have to do is open to the Halloween page and the text pages. put it together in my head then after I am finished looking to see what I have, then  I can go find those individual stamps that I want to use. 

As for storing my stamps that are not in the shadow box I have them categorized in containers or baggies so that I don't have to go through all 650 stamps to find one. This also keeps my stamps from becoming cluttered, ruined, and less messy. 

There are many other ways that you can organize your stamps. 

CD Jewel Cases (clear acrylic stamps)

Photo Storage Containers (rubber stamps)

We always love to hear from our readers. What do you do to keep your stamps organized and easy to find?

Happy Crafting!

Stephanie