Work Desk Wednesday.....

Hi!

Got super secret Create 10 class stuff going on on my desk at the mo which I can't share much of, just a ickle bit of a peek.......

So I thought I'd share peeks of storage stuff instead. This is how I store my scrapbooking stuff, it took me a while to figure out a good way of organizing it because I have to fit other stuff in here too and it doesn't always stay organized but I've found if you have a sort out around every month it keeps neat and organized otherwise it just tends to grow out of it's space! So if you're working in a small space that's defo a top tip to keep it manageable.

OK so this is a long tall unit, I got in in a sale in Tesco I think it was about £19. It was just the right size to fit in the space I had for it.

Top shelf, scraps of fabric and photos ready to scrap...

Next shelf, papers and cardstock. I try and only keep a small amount at a time. The sweetie jar is just there as a quirky 'book end' they don't actually get eaten!

Then there's the space for other organised bits and pieces and my current scrapbook album. It's almost full this one so it'll be moving soon.

Then finally there's a shelf for ribbons and other bits. The basket was packaging for a prezzie I got, it just fit in that space so I could re-use it.

So how do you keep organised in a small space? Maybe you've got a top tip to share?

Peek at more 'workspaces' today on Juila's blog here.

xx Leo

'Office Tabs' Tutorial

I've noticed this fun little office style stationary is eeking through into ready made scrapbook embellishments just recently.

I think they're really cute but my mission since this May has been to use things I have already so I took a good look at some 'office tab' embellishments and worked a way to make some from leftovers.
All I used was paper and card leftovers, a corner rounder and my paper trimmer......

Cut a piece from the scrap paper that measures 3x2.5 inches. Score and fold it in half along the longest length.

Cut off two corners from the folded edge.

Round off the top corners with your corner rounder.
 

Tada, really simple right? You can then have fun decorating them up......
 

I've given it a texture with an embossing folder then cut a shape from more card and cut a tiny heart from a tiny leftover piece of American Crafts Dear Lizzy fabric paper. The stamp is from a Banana Frog set called 'Documenting'. Everything I had hanging around on my desk. I've recently been rediscovering my dies and punches. I never really used them enough before. It's fun to dig into your tools to see what you can make from scratch.
Here's another one.....

Same stamp set and a flower that's been hanging around my desk for ages!
 
It's a fun creative thing to try anyway.
xx Leo

Work Desk Wednesday

My desk today...............

Looking fairly tidy for me! Mostly due to the fact I've not been using it much. When it's amazing weather it makes you so much more thankful for WiFi!
I've got a pile of papery leftover bits with card blanks and a photo ready to be played with. These camera necklaces I've just been photographing and adding in my Etsy shop, (here if you want to have a look). These were really fun to make and a nice break from making paper things. I'm going to make a fun initial one for myself. I love having a nosy on Etsy so if you have a shop leave a link in your comment and I can come and peek!
More desks to nosy at on Juilia's blog here.
I'm supposed to be posting more boys cards but I've totally lost them, looked everywhere. I think what I've done is put them in a 'safe place' but crikey knows where that is! It can't be just me that does that. I'll keep looking and they'll probably turn up.

OK edited to add a close up photo, they're made of layers of felt with seed beads and lots of tiny hand stitching :) xx Leo

Man Wrap

Man wrap comes in one colour 'manilla' because basics will do just fine, is easy to use and comes with minimal decoration.

Actually joking aside this is one of my favorite ways to wrap up prezzies with brown paper and bakers twine. I got my dad an extra prezzie, a book about one of his heroes David 'Bumble' Lloyd. He's the 'off his head' one on the Sky cricket commentary team. He is rather funny actually, I'll be tuning in to hear his shenanigans on Tuesday when England play Australia. Hopefully the England cricket team will put in a better performance that the football team!

Another 'man' card to share

A fathers day card for this year.

Used Tim Holtz 'Woodgrain' texture fade for the background edged with an edger punch. The stars were cut on my Cuttlebug and then inked to colour them in silver and brown. Some of the stars have patterned paper in the middles of them. To finish the title has been added using American Crafts chipboard Thickers.

xx Leo

Work Desk Wednesday & birthday card

Here's what's on my 'work' desk this Wednesday :)

I'm working on a project with one of my Quirky Kits, this one's already gone and sold out so I need to hurry up and get going working on some ideas. It's basically just scrapbook pages I'm making but mini ones in 3x3 size and then popping them along side each other in a page protector. The embellies I made looked all squashed inside the page protector so I decided to stick them over the top instead. Anyway it's a work in progress.
Check out more workdesks on Julia's blog right here.

I've also made another 'boy' card. I'll upload the one I've done for fathers day tomorrow when I can get 5mins and I've got a couple more men/boy card ideas to share. With this one I finally made use of those candy canes! It's for my bro's birthday. I thought I'd go for fun bright circus colours and picked out colours of the candy cane. It's not your typical 'mens' card but I figure it's a birthday card - it should be fun and bright!

It's a mix of Basic Grey, (papers) October Afternoon, (papers and alphabet stickers) and Cosmo Cricket, (tag and alphabet stickers) goodies. Candy canes from my local newsagent, ribbon from Ribbon Oasis.

xx Leo

Let's hear it for the boys week #1

These next few weeks I have quite a lot of 'boy' occasions to make cards for. I bet my card draw isn't the only one lacking in suitable cards for men so I figured why not devote a week, {or at least 3 or 4 days worth of a week} to cards/gifts suitable for those funny bloke folk.

Today to share I've got a prezzie I've made for Dad for fathers day. I made him one as a Christmas gift a couple of Christmas's ago and he really liked it so he's got another one......

It's a minibook for music and lyrics. I made it from old denim jeans and stitched paper and other fabric strips on top then grunged it all up with paint and spritzed ink.

Because it's made of fabric it also folds up so it can be stuffed in a pocket, something I think that's much appreciated by the bloke folk since they don't tend to use handbags....

Next project to do - cards, one for a birthday on Sunday and another to go with this gift. Hmmm.....

xx Leo

Just a note

I've been making more note cards this week. I'm still limiting myself to using what I have already but it's actually a much easier way to craft because there's less time thinking about what to pick out. I'm also reusing packaging to make the note card bases and I've got a pile of off cuts for the purpose too. I love the nice dark kraft colour of this packaging though too. For inspiration I turned to this weeks challenge on the American Crafts blog. This week the challenge is to pick something inspirational from the American Crafts blog and scraplift it. That's not much of a challenge really as the blog is full of yum stuff, check it out here, http://www.americancrafts.typepad.com/
I picked out this project and this project and here's what I came up with.....

I used lots of lovely American Crafts papers from my stash leftovers a piece of the lovely Dear Lizzie Fabric too and Thickers. There's also a fun Cosmo Cricket tag, I think it's from the Girl Friday line and I think it works with the American Crafts Dear Lizzy and Letterbox lines really well? After that I made two more...

Used some Flair and some miniMarks on the one on the left and another one of those Cosmo tags mixed with more American Crafts papers.