When I started my new blog, I mentioned that I would be doing some sponsorships. However, these sponsors are very unique as they are by invitation only. By doing this, you can feel confident knowing that if I have invited a sponsor it is because I have respect for them and their products. I only want to promote products I truly love and would select to use myself. I am sure you will recognize these companies and their products as I have been using them here for ages. Having sponsors makes it possible for me to do more giveaways and offer more upcoming perks to my readers. Please be sure to visit the websites of these generous sponsors. I know you will love them, too.

Today I would like to introduce you to one of my sponsors, Ellen Hutson. Ellen Hutson is an online store offering fabulous stamping and crafting products. I have been shopping there for quite some time now.  Why do I love the Ellen Hutson site? Well, here are 10 handy reasons…

(10.) Ellen Hutson has “the CLASSroom” – a blog focused on education and ideas. Ellen’s design team shares how-to’s on some really great projects. Here are a few of my favorites: Faber-Castell post, cool Copic technique post, and Copic coloring post.

(9.) Ellen Hutson brought Copics to the crafting world. Yes – she is to blame for that addiction! Her site is definitely a must-see and go-to for anything Copic. (To learn about Copics and which colors I like, click HERE.)

(8.) Ellen sells Neenah paper, my favorite white cardstock and the only one I use. You find it HERE and it is a great deal.

(7.) Ellen also has a blog where she shares lots of step photos for very interesting techniques HERE.

(6.) The Ellen Hutson design team has some truly amazing artists.

(5.) Ellen Hutson sells a lot of stamps. A lot. Including Hero Arts.

(4.) Who doesn’t love a free goodie now and then in their order?

(3.) Ellen often has guest designers that are fabulous. I loved when Tami Hartley was a guest HERE.

(2.) I really enjoy the products in the “Essentials from Ellen” line – fun products only Ellen Hutson carries. More on this below…

(1.) Ellen Hutson herself is a class act and is known for taking care of people in the industry. I love that.

Now you see why I love Ellen Hutson so much. I hope you will consider visiting her site as a thank you for supporting this blog.

How about a quick organization tip? I am constantly trying out new ways to store my craft goodies in a way that is “put away” but also “quickly available” to use. And I LOVE this next system.

I struggled for a long time on how to store my thin dies… and my collection is growing fast. (My favorite thin dies? My Favorite Things and PaperTrey Ink. Oh, and this works great for Spellbinders dies, too.) I had the idea to tape sheets of magnetic paper on the inside of my stamp cabinet doors. Just stick the dies on it and close the door. And it works beautifully and they do stay put…

I used Essentials by Ellen Art Magnetic Masking Material… which is basically very thin sheets of magnetic paper. Since it is lightweight, I just used a few mini glue dots to hold it to my doors. Perfection! If you don’t have doors to do this, you can also put them on a wall or in a notebook with page protectors. I just love how easily you can get to them and see them all. And, the price for the magnetic paper HERE is really good to other places I found.

Off to rest. Have a great night!

I have been promising to show my Ink Blending Tool Spinner Rack.  I am in love…

Sorry for the bad photos…

You can get a spinner rack HERE (they aren't easy to find) and the inking tools HERE.  I have four of them on top of each other and adore it – they just piece together with no trouble.  Even Tim says this is kinda nutso, but I love having one inking tool per ink.  I created my own labels for them, but you can download a pdf HERE to print.

Just a quick post for tonight.  Although today was PERFECT as far as temperature and weather, my allergies are getting the best of me.  So, good night!

Many people are emailing me asking about my Copic storage.  I took a new photo that is slightly better so you can see how it works in my workspace.  Now that it is part of my room, I am even more thrilled with it.

Even if you aren't into Copics (yet – ha), you can store pencils, other markers, etc in these.  I am likely going to get two more for that purpose.  I am in love with these – they work so well.  If you are interested in this storage, click HERE.  (Nope, I am not being paid – just like them.

I remember when I was young, I looked at the colors of the world in DMC color numbers.  Then it was Bazzill names.  Then ink names.  Now – Copic numbers.  Delightful.

One more thing – you gotta check this out.  My sweet friend Kristina is giving out the most adorable set of word art for free on her blog.  I plan to print this on white for quick Valentines for teachers, etc.  Click HERE to get your free goodies.

Off to snuggle with the pup.  Night!

I am really excited about today’s post.  A few weeks ago, Ali Edwards asked me to be the first special guest in a new series she is doing.  I love my Ali, so I was happy to play along.  (Note: Before you continue reading, go read her post first HERE, in case you haven’t already.  Then continue reading this post, as it contains added information.)

I told Ali about how I scrapbook.  I actually have two ways of scrapbooking: the “practical way” and the “playful way.”  First up?  The “practical…”

Yep, this is how I scrapbook my events and basic memories.  Here is my “practical” process:

• At the end of the month, I edit/crop my photos to 5×7 (mostly) and/or 4×6.  I order doubles online at Costco.  I prefer larger photos and never crop these smaller than 4×6.  Why?  Because when I look at my mom’s awesome scrapbooks from when she was little, the photos are so tiny.  I want to make sure people can really enjoy these in the days to come.
• I adhere photos on 12×12 black cardstock. I then type up my journaling on the computer and print it on white cardstock.  This is the only other thing added to the pages.  No title.  No embellishing.  Fast and easy, and the kids can help.  And the focus is 100% on the photos and the memories. 
• I store these pages in order in 12×12, 3-ring binders.  All the family members pages are mixed together.  Afterall, we are family.
• I keep the doubles of the photos.  I use favorite ones for my “playful scrapbooking” and send the extras to family or friends.  Sometimes I give some to Colin to play with.  He loves to carry them around and show the whole world.

Easy, fast and no pressure.  And that is exactly why I started doing this.  My memories are recorded, checking off a big to-do on my life’s list.  This frees my mind and heart to have some fun with my hobby. 

This brings us to my “playful” side of scrapbooking.  Ah, yes, this is my favorite.  This is where I focus having fun and enjoying the hobby.  For me, this means:

• I use my favorite photos, often enlarged.  I often will throw in extra photos, sometimes even tiny ones.
• I love love love to play with new techniques.  That is where almost all of my joy lies.  On almost every page, I include at least one technique, often with stamping.
• I also like to use up product in creative ways.  For me, product is a big part of the fun of scrapbooking.

So, on Ali’s site, I shared an example of some pages from a “playful” album I recently started.  It features favorite quotes from my son – which he is known for.   This is the perfect example of “playful” scrapbooking for me.  Since I am not really good at design, I decided to keep the basic design the same on all the pages.  And since I am not great at writing, I kept the journaling simple.  But since I love techniques, I made sure that there is at least one area on each page where I can try something new.

Here are my example pages and video.  (For a closer look, just click on them.  For supplies, visit Ali’s blog.)

Now, I know this wouldn’t work for everyone.  But this is what is best for me.  Maybe this will inspire some of you to find a way to make scrapbooking 100% fun and 0% stressful.

Moving on…

I also thought I would mention that I have a HUGE class coming up at twopeasinabucket.com starting on June 15th called Thinking Inking.  It is 9 weeks long, with three projects and videos a week.  Yep - 27 videos in all.  I will be teaching countless techniques for stamping, inking and painting.  It will be such fun.  And, of course – lots of prizes.  If you are interested, be sure to keep a look out here for  links, or over at the 2peas education board.

Thanks for stopping by.  I will be back tomorrow with some more shares.  Have a good one.

[ETA: If you are interested in more of my videos, please click HERE.  This will give you links to the three places I create videos for: 2Peas, Hero Arts and JenniferMcGuireInk.  You can easily subscribe and be notified anytime a video is added.

Also, if you are interested in a Hero Arts giveaway, check out Jana's blog HERE.  Many of you know this is a favorite stamp of mine!  Good luck.]

Great tip on purging: "my tip would be to purge the old as you bring in the new… i held on to so much for so long – stuff i knew i would never use and it just took up too much space. i now remove some old and give to my daughters to use in their scrapbooks, give to friends who like the old, or donate to my daughters teachers – they love the paper! " - lisa d

I do the same – I purge often.  At least once a month and give a lot to schools, too.  Teachers do love it!

Great tip on clear stamp storage: "I'm not an organizing guru but…I also store my clear stamps in a binder just like yours. I can't afford to go out and buy page protectors that have different sized inner compartments. I made mine with the sewing machine. I sew a zizag stitch either splitting the plain old 8 1/2 X 11 page protector in 1/2 or in 1/4. Then I use a pair of sharp scissors to open up the lower compartments. It works great." – Jess

Great idea.  I originally did mine with staples to divide them up.  It worked!

Great tip on punch storage: "My favorite storage item is a shoe holder on the back of my door that holds all my punches. Easy to see them and keep them organized in an otherwise unused space." - Terry

This system is great.  Jana does this and it works well.  I would have done it, but I don't have a door.  (Although I have since figured I could have nailed it to the wall instead!)

Great tip on pencil storage: "My favorite organizational tip at the moment involves Prismacolor Pencil storage. I keep mine in an old-fashioned straw holder where you just pull the top and all the pencils come out in an organized way. This system works great for me! Thanks for the chance to win a treat! Have a great day." – Samantha Welch

How clever!  I am going to do this with the girls' pencils.

Great tip on planning:  "Mine would be to think long term needs not short term because otherwise you waste a lot of money and your husband will roll his eyes at you." – Tara Piper

This is the best tip of all.  I usually get one of something before I commit to getting lots.  That way you can make sure you like it.  (For example, I bought one paper shelf thing from Target.  Once I knew I liked it, I bought more.  Slowly.   And it does keep the husband happy. Hee…

Great tip for stamps: "Loved your room. My best tip is for stampers who keep their wood stamps in the 3 drawer units {mine are from Sterlite}. I stamp each stamp onto a sheet of copy paper and lay it in the top on the stamps in that drawer when they are two layers deep and I have more than one drawer of that category, like my sentiments. Then I just look in each drawer and check the sheet or sheets to see if it is in that drawer or another one." - Nan

This sounds like a great system for stamps!

THANK YOU for sharing these great ideas.  You all rock.

And… just a quick share before heading over to do some shopping on Amazon.  Christmas is coming so fast!

This is another example of adding color to stamped white images on transparency.  You can see a video on it HERE.  This didn't photograph well – sorry.  But this background is my new favorite. I use it so often.

Supplies:
Hero Arts stamps (background, greeting)
Hero Arts clear card, flowers, gems and pearls
White Staz-On ink
Permanent pens

Have a great night.

For details on the room, please go to THIS post.  Everything is there.  I will combine the two posts together and put it in the sidebar later this week.

After the video, I’ll have a GREAT giveaway!

So… a lot of you have mentioned that you like the vinyl wall art I have in my room from Once Upon A Design.  Well, the sweet girls there have given me one to give away to one of you.  I am so excited!  Please go check out their site HERE.  Email them if you have questions.  These are sweet girls with big hearts – I would love to see them get some more business. And they make great holiday gifts!  So, if you want to win a vinyl wall art, just leave a comment on this post by Wednesday at 11:59pmEDT telling me your best craft-space organization tip.  I will then pick a winner of a small version of the “do something creative everyday” quote… like the one I have here…

My tip? It doesn’t cost that much more to get the sturdy stuff for your craft space (thanks to Ikea and Target)… and it is worth every penny.  I used to have tons of plastic drawers, but they didn’t hold up.  Not a good investment. 

Have a great week.  I will actually be back with another giveaway tomorrow.

I have some scraproom answers, a video and a giveaway.

Thanks for all the nice comments about my scraproom.  I do love it down there.  And I am so thankful the kids like to be down there as much as me.  A few answers to questions:

• I got the buttons on the wall from Pottery Barn when they went on super clearance.  I bet you can find them on ebay.  The scissors are from Hobby Lobby.
• My room isn’t always that clean.   I get a lot of shipments of products (this is my job) so it is hard to keep up with putting things away.  But I really try.  The kids are very helpful.
• The little white drawers from Ikea – yes, they don’t have labels.  I move things around so much that I decided not to put any labels on them.  But I remember where everything is – it is that engineer mind of mine. 
• Those little white drawers were first sanded, then primed, then painted with semi-gloss white trim paint.
• I haven’t measured the room, but Ken guesses it is 15′ x 25′.
• The punches hang on the pegboard with little metal shelves and hooks.  You can get all kinds of different ones at Home Depot for super cheap. 
• I do have a lot of stamps, but keep in mind that I work for Hero Arts, so I have all of their stamps. I could never have paid for them all!   (And this is another reason I give a lot away – I like to pay it forward.)

Now it’s time for a video!  I am leading the fourth week of Stamp Camp over on 2peas.  Click HERE for information and close-ups and HERE for a thread about the camp.  And if you play along, you could win a great prize!  Here is the video and projects…

(c) twopeasinabucket.com

Now… a giveaway!  Fiskars is so generous… and they sent me two of a stamp set.  So… one could be yours.  Just leave a comment on this post by 11:59pmEDT on Thursday telling me what your first stamp you got was (if you remember!).  I will then pick a winner of this great Heidi Grace set…

BTW… my first stamp was a Hero Arts flower.  Funny, huh?  I remember when I first started scrapbooking, I told my brother and Ken that I would NEVER buy stamps… “why would anyone want to buy a stamp when you could print clip art for free?”  Boy, did I eat my words, huh?  Now I can’t imagine creating without a stamp.  Hee…

OK… have a great night!

I am finally doing it… finally sharing my scraproom.  Sorry it took so long!

This is Part 1 of 2.  I will share Part 2 later this week, along with a cool giveaway that is something from my room. ☺ 

First, here is the first video showing my room.  Please go HERE and then click on the “watch in high quality” under the video – it makes a huge difference in quality.

Here are some photos to go along with it.  I added some text saying what things are.

Here are some notes about my room.  I go into a lot of detail… feel free to skip it all. ☺ 

My room is in my basement.  I like this because the other half of the basement is where my husband has his hobby and storage is nearby.  Also, I didn’t feel pressured to make it “fit” into the look of the rest of my house. Instead, “anything goes.”  Also, this is my job.  Therefore, I like that my work is somewhat separate from the rest of my life.  Somewhat… ☺ 

• I like things closed up, but easy to get to, so use a lot of boxes, drawers and cabinets.
• This room is used as much by the kids, so I have a ton of counterspace to share.  The girls work across from me and share my supplies. 
• I haven’t measured the room, but Ken guesses it is 15′ x 25′.
• My room isn’t always that clean.   I get a lot of shipments of products (this is my job) so it is hard to keep up with putting things away.  But I really try.  The kids are very helpful.

I used the most inexpensive of everything…

• The carpet is inexpensive burber (didn’t want to worry too much about it) and I keep a small rechargeable vacuum under the counter.  I have mats down under my rolling chairs.
• The countertops were stock from Home Depot.  I wanted something that wouldn’t show ink stains and I got the type with the backsplash to prevent things from sliding off the back.  Love that.
• The large white drawers and cabinets support the countertops along with a few other simple supports.  Got this white furniture at Organized Living years ago. It wasn’t expensive, and since it was meant for office use, it was MUCH more practical and open than kitchen cabinets.
• The paper racks are from Target.  I then use the Cropper Hopper paper holders to slide into the racks – a perfect fit.  I love this system.  I sort patterned paper by color, and also have holders for stripes, dots, etc.
• The many little white drawers are from Ikea.  They come unpainted and unassembled.  I LOVE THESE.  They are great.  If you get them, be sure to sand them well before painting.  My dear parents sanded and painted all of this as a gift long ago.  (I told you I had the best parents.)  ☺
• The jars are all from Hobby Lobby and were very inexpensive.  They are filled with buttons and flowers and a few other embellishments.  I love the colors showing.
• The tall white cabinets are from the closet organization area of Lowes.  They are inexpensive and wonderful.  On the shelves, I use plastic spice shelves.
• The white shelves that look like large squares are from Ikea – the famous Expedit.  I wanted a clean look, so I filled them with red boxes from Ikea and am really liking this system. 
• The wall quotes are from onceuponadesign.typepad.com.  I can’t recommend them enough.  I encourage you to check them out.  These are two nice girls who are working hard and are good people – I love to support that.  Their prices are great and their designs aren’t “stuffy” like many are from other companies.  I love them.  I have other designs in my house, too.  My favorite thing of theirs is the large heart.  It is perfect for putting a favorite photo in.
• I have all of my punches hanging on a pegboard on the wall… very hidden in a corner.  This system is fantastic – I love it.  Inexpensive and very effective.  You can get pegboard hooks and shelves at Home Depot.
• The big buttons are from Pottery Barn – got them on mega clearance. I bet you could get them on ebay.  The big scissors are from Hobby Lobby.

At my workspace:

• My dad had a piece of tempered glass cut to fit my workspace – a wonderful Christmas gift from him.  I adore having this.  When it gets yucky, I just spray it with cleaner and scrape it clean with a razor.  So easy.  Cost about $80 and is tempered with smooth edges.
• Under my workspace are lots of 12” wide drawers.  Here, I have scraps sorted by colors.
• In the drawers closest to my workspace, I have all the tools I need often within reach: wipes, acrylic mounts, blank notecards, adhesives, scissors,etc.
• I also have a large drawer where I put things when I am done using them.  Once a week or so, I empty out this drawer.  That way I don’t have to do it every time I work.
• The “Today I will be happier than a bird with a french fry” is from THIS seller on etsy.com

At my computer area:

• I have all my computer stuff together in one side of the room.  This includes my Mac laptop and large flat screen monitor (it is an inexpensive but really good one from Gateway), printers (both are wide format – one is old and is just used for quick printing), scanner, Quickutz Silhouette, Epson Picturemate, etc.
• I keep my idea books and work papers on a narrow shelf nearby.

In my tall white cabinets:

• In the tall white cabinets, I have my stamps on spice shelves.  This works great so that I can see the stamps, as they all stand up.  This is a great way to save on space, too.  The stamps are sorted by theme.  (I do have a lot of stamps, but keep in mind that is my job – I work for a stamp company.  I would never been able to buy all those!)
• I also have my ribbon in bins in the cabinets.  The ribbons are wrapped around clothes pins, safety pinned closed and sorted by color.  (Thanks, Jana!)
• My clear stamps are stored in large binders inside these cabinets.  (Click HERE for a video on clear stamp storage.)
• In between my my tall cabinets are some more paper racks from Target.  This is my cardstock.  I purged this often and donate to schools.

In my Expedit (white square shelves):

• The red boxes on my Expedit store rub-ons, stickers, chipboard and more.  I like that everything can stand up in here, making it easy to flip through. (I used to use drawers and things got buried so easily.) 
• On top, I have black 3-ring binders for my scrapbook pages.  They aren’t all in there yet, but I hope to have that done soon.

In the small white Ikea drawers:

• In my small white Ikea drawers, I have inks, brads, embellishments and more. 
• Inks are sorted by colors. This works much better for me than sorting by ink types.
• Little embellishments are divided into watchmaker tins within the drawers.
• Several drawers hold various letters.  One drawer has A, B and C, another has D, E and F, etc.  This is a great way to keep old letters organized and easy to find.
• If you get these drawers, be sure to sand them and prime them before painting.  (Mine are painted with a semi-gloss white trim paint.)
• The little white drawers from Ikea – yes, they don’t have labels.  I move things around so much that I decided not to put any labels on them.  But I remember where everything is – it is that engineer mind of mine. 

Other tips:

• I think long and hard before committing to a storage change.  I usually try out one and see if I like it before buying it all.
• I purge often – once a month.  Things I know I won’t use get donated to my son’s school, fundraisers or are given away on my blog.
• Many of my things are from Ikea.  I didn’t have an Ikea until recently.  So, even if you don’t have one, you can get these things.  I bought all the white embellishment drawers new on ebay (30 of them!) and the rest were from ikea.com.

If you have questions, just leave a comment on this post.  I will keep checking it and will edit to add my answers to the actual post.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Let's see…

You still have time to enter to win that great BasicGrey stamp set – look HERE.

And random.org said #4 was the winner of the Autumn Leaves stamp set – that's Jenny!  I will email you. 

I got a few emails asking if I was still going to share my scraproom.  Yes, I am.  Sorry.  It is just a big project to get that video and all the pictures together – but I am almost done.  I really hope to finish and share this week.  Here is a little peek into one corner of my room…

(ETA: I will share details on the cabinets, boxes, etc. when I share the video and more photos.)

How about a share, too.  This is an oldie that I did for Autumn Leaves, but it wasn't used.  Thought I should do something with it.   It is a box covered with ribbon and rub-ons – to keep my color swatch ideas in.  (I am really bad at color combos.  Oh, and do you like how Roxie put her ball in the picture?  Stinker.)

BTW… if you struggle with colors like me, this is a great site: Kuler.  Leslie Lightfoot (who is incredible with color) introduced me to it long ago and I lovey it.   It is really fun to use.  I was wondering – do any of you have other great sources for color ideas?

So, I will have another giveaway tomorrow – a fun stamp set.  Gonna head out now – my fabulous in-laws are here and we have lots to catch up on! 

Hugs!

I get a lot of questions about how I store my clear stamps.  So I finally did a video!

Actually, I didn’t do a video.  Kay did.  My 13-year old step-daughter (who rocks big time) created it.  Yesterday morning, she attended a free and incredibly awesome Camp at the Apple Store on creating iMovies.  She came home all excited and wanted to create a video for me.  She is the best, I tell you.  The best.

So… she taped it.  And edited it.  And added the text.  And exported it.  She did it all.  And didn’t she do great!?  And here it is…

(TO WATCH IN HIGH QUALITY CLICK HERE.  Or, just watch on YouTube below…)

Video by Kay McGuire

Well, I am at CHA in the hotel room.  So good to start seeing friends here.  Have a good night!