Easter Basket Card

 Stash or cash?  I made this Easter card using all items in the stash and saved my cash....

Recently reorganized the whole craft room and must say this new arrangement is making things so much easier to find products I have on hand..... For this card I used pink card stock as the base cut and scored at the top. I wanted a background that would compliment the basket with eggs so I looked through my cover plate dies and found the "Frilly Frames Eyelet Lace" die set from Sunny Studios:

This die set can be used as I used it for this card giving you a background eyelet piece. But with it being a two piece die set you can also cut out the solid piece without the eyelet die insert and it gives you a solid background scalloped piece:

I die cut the eyelet background piece out and used liquid glue to put that onto the pink card stock base front. Set this aside. For the basket I used the Easter Basket die set from Divinity Designs:

I die cut the basket/handle pieces using a lighter kraft card stock and I used a darker kraft card stock for the woven pieces across the front of the basket. Once the basket was assembled I used a brown ink and I sponged the edges of the basket and handle pieces. Looked through my Easter dies and I found the "Mini Eggs Die" die set from Waffle Flower for my eggs:

This die set cuts out four eggs at a time so I have eggs for this basket and others or other projects from just one pass through the die cutting machine using different coloured card stocks... I also used the Divinity Designs "Grass Lawn" die set for my grass for my basket. Once the eggs were cut out I sponged the edges of those. The grass die cuts a long enough piece that I could cut that in half and put the two pieces of grass in the basket to make the grass look fuller. I stacked the eggs behind the grasses in the basket. 

For the sentiment on the front of the basket I used the Pretty Pink Posh "Sentiment Strips - Easter Stamp Set" and I stamped the sentiment on scrap white card stock in pink and used a Divinity Design sentiment banner die set to cut that out:

For the pink glittered card stock bow I cut out a bow from this older bow die set:

The above photo shows the bow die set I used as well as and older sentiment stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs that I stamped for the inside of the card:

I used a small oval Marvy punch and punched out mini eggs for the inside of the card using the same card stocks I used for the larger eggs in the basket on the card front. Again I sponged the edges of the mini eggs.  Happy to use all items from the craft room stash -- or the 'warehouse' as DH calls it.....

Road trip to Ikea - - -

Drove the 3 hour trip to Charlotte last week to make a trip to Ikea. Since we were going to Charlotte anyways I made a stop at the recycle craft store there, Upcycle Arts.  As with any of these recycle crafts store their donations are their stock and each time you visit you never know what you will find. This trip I was happy to pick up the LawnFawn Shutter Card die set. It was marked $38.00 which is the price it sells for on the LawnFawn web site but I paid $3.00:

I also picked up some orange card stock for Halloween projects and some other card stock. Spent less than $10.00 but happy I made the stop for the shutter card die set alone..... Here is a card I made using this die set:

Closed with the belly band:

Belly band off and card is partly opened revealing the tiny stamped heart in the sentiment window:

Open all the way:

Not having used this die set before I watched a couple of videos on YouTube for tips, tricks, and assembly. This is a very easy die set to put together but I did find out that LawnFawn offers an add-on die set for their Shutter Card die set. This add-on set has the die piece that on my card is the black and white hearts card stock with the circle window cut out in the center. But having only spent the $3.00 for this die set I did not want to spend more for the add-on die set and then shipping on top of that so all I did was measure how wide and long I would need to cut my center piece for the window and then be done with that. If you buy both sets from LawnFawn it is approx $53.00 but Pink&Main also have a shutter die set and their total set includes everything and that is approx $28.00 for theirs. 

For my card base, shutter pieces, belly band I used black card stock. For the front and inside red panels I used card stock from the stash. Also the black and white hearts card stock is from the stash. For the sentiment I used the old MFT Lollipop Additional Love add-on stamp in my stash for their lollipop die set:

I stamped the circle "Happy Valentine's Day" in black ink on white card stock and used the small heart in the stamp set and stamped that in the center of the circle using red ink. Set that aside to dry. I wanted the shutter window over the sentiment to have a 'lens' so I used a clear window sheet behind the die cut circle in the center of my black and white hearts piece:

Such an easy die set to work with for this shutter card. Belly band is also the black card stock and I die cut that out with the die in the set for that. For my red glittered heart I used a heart die from the stash from Divinity Designs (Our Daily Bread):

To cut this heart out I used a scrap piece of red card stock and cut out a heart and then cut out the same heart die from glittered foam sheets from my stash. Put the foam heart and card stock heart together using liquid glue. The card stock will help the foam heart keep it's shape:

This shutter card closed measures 4 7/8" high by 3 1/2" wide. OPEN it measures 4 7/8" high by 7" when it is open and flat. Fun die set to work with and happy I picked it up to add to my stash and that it was so cheap!

Nice plan Stan...... but ..... then ....

We all do this.... after the holidays we spend time reassembling the craft rooms.... putting products back where they belong.... or maybe moving things around and reorganizing.... and so it goes....  Well.... my PIC (stamping Partner In Crime) and I sold some of our destashed craft room items at a sale earlier in the Fall. My plan for this sale was if I sold enough items and made enough money my main purchase for my craft room would be the new Sizzix Big Shot machine. That was mainly all I had planned to buy as I was not sure how much $$ I would make at this sale.... Happy to say I did make enough money to buy my new Sizzix die cutting machine and here it is:

Very happy to have this machine in the craft room and it has gotten quite the work out with all the holiday projects I made for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas this past year.... I LOVE this machine! And I am happy to say I made more money at the sale than I thought I would so my second purchase was made.... 

Stopping this story here - Right after this sale I was on vacation from work.... Hubby attended a yearly swap meet he attends every year during this time and he is usually gone for that for a few days.... PERFECT timing I thought.... I can do my major overhaul in the craft room while he is gone with no interruptions so I can start this project and complete it and be done all BEFORE the holidays...... so before he left for his trip I had started moving things around in the craft room and re-using storage items that I no longer used for whatever.... I already had 2 of the IRIS rolling carts that hold 6 of their removable bins. I measured an area I wanted to move these to and decided I could use 2 more of the rolling carts for this space.... off to the internet to find the carts and at a good price..... Walmart came up with a cheaper price but I would have to wait for shipping and that could be another week.... wanting to keep this motivation going, and knowing I had one more week only of vacation, off to Amazon I went and happy me they were in stock, at a good price, and I would have them in 2 days.... great..... so hubby is gone and I am tearing things apart in the craft room and so it goes..... 

I took the items off the shelf I wanted to put the old and new Iris carts on and I took the wheels off the carts I already had and put these two carts on the shelf I wanted them on. So they are in place and next to them is the space for the two new rolling carts...... I am moving this here, that there, and making a list of all the things I want to move and re-organize once my two new rolling carts w bins arrive..... hubby arrives home late Saturday night from his trip.... it was not long before I knew we had problems -- I gave him a choice -- either he rides in the car for the trip to the hospital OR he can have an ambulance ride..... his choice... so off we go to the hospital in my car and long story - but all is well now -- right now he is on his riding mower while I am posting this -- anyways.... he was admitted through the ER to the hospital and he ended up in ICU for 7 days followed by 5 more days in another room..... needless to say I missed a few more weeks of work and all craft room projects were forgotten..... 

My two new Iris rolling carts arrived right after he went into the hospital and they spent some time by the front door as that is as far as I got them in the house when they came but at least they were here..... things settled down and I went back to work and after work and weekends I worked on holiday projects here and there and the holidays arrived..... of course spent a lot of time crafting in the craft room that was still pulled apart from last October but knew after Christmas I would be home from work on another vacation so plans in place to work on everything.... so all is good and hubby is fine and the holidays are over so before I go back to work.... it was now or never..... again...

Happy I was able to put the new Iris rolling carts (with no wheels on them) on the shelf I wanted them for and I am about half way or so through sorting and moving things into these bins. Here is a photo to show the 2 new Iris rolling bins I moved onto my shelf unit next to the two I already had:

With the four Iris carts in place I asked hubby to cut me a piece of plywood to put across the top of these four units. On top of this wood/carts I put four of the Sterlite 3 drawer organizers I already had in the craft room in another area holding other supplies. Right now on top of those is one extra Iris bin but not sure I will need them there for storage but for now that is where those are. I have labeled some of the bins that are filled and with the Iris 12 x 12 bins I can move those around on the cart/holder if I want but to start the first side I have card stock sorted and labeled:

I will keep the card stock on this end of these bin storage units as that is the best place for it for me to grab and use but everything else I have moved and labeled may not stay right where they are now but I am happy to say I can walk in the craft you with out having to step over everything that was waiting for their new homes in these bins..... As you can see in each bin there is a piece of manila folder in the front of each of the bins . . . there is two reasons for this - #1  I have pot lights in the craft room and a window and I do not want any of the cardstock to fade and #2  to me it looks more uniform to see the piece of manila folder in the front of the bins than to see all the different stuff in each bin. Before I started this reorganizing project back in the Fall I had gone to a thrift store (ScrapExchange in Durham) and I picked up a big stack of new legal sized manila folders. I used them for the strips in front of all the bins and drawers and I also planned to make dividers for my second big project I had planned..... 

I have a metal shelf in the craft room and it holds a lot of things but it never looked like it was used for the best of organization of craft room products. I took everything off of that and with me moving things around in the craft room I had empty white plastic baskets from Hobby Lobby that I had stamp sets in, die sets in, trims in, etc.... once I had done my destash for the sale last Fall and with moving things around I had enough of these baskets to jump into my next project.... GOAL??? Being able to find things easily from the same manufacturer..... This was esp important since some of the companies I bought from are no longer around -- Impression Obession and MFT - My Favorite Things..... but again NOT wanting to spend more $$ to do this than I already have having bought the two new Iris rolling carts with bins..... so recycling/reusing storage items was the key....

Here is a photo of my almost completed metal shelf now:

Some of the companies I have on this shelf I only have a few products from like PixiDust or Gina K or Kristina Werner. To start the first bin I did was Impression Obsession / IO Stamps:

Used an empty fridge bin from destashed products for this company and it is filled with dies. Here is a better photo of this sorted bin:

When I did the destashing for the Fall sale I sold items at I had bought small plastic bags from Amazon to put items in and I used the extra bags for this project as these bags zip closed so I do not have to use magnet sheets. This makes sorting items cheaper and certainly much lighter by skipping the magnet sheets. For my dividers I used the We R Memory Keepers Tab Punch Board and some of the manila folders I picked up at the thrift store and my label maker. SOOOO happy to have this done... and motivation was high once this was done so over three days I kept it going.... did all the tabs and organizing for Taylored Expressions, PixiDust, SimonSaysStamp, Jaded Blossom, and so on:

I had started doing this with a few of these companies before I moved everything to the same shelf so the biggest ones I had to do was IO Stamps/Taylored Expressions/HoneyBee Stamps. Happy to use the white baskets again and all baskets are labeled and that label is held in place using a binder clip. Below these white baskets are my Christmas dies and also background stamps. Those were already sorted and dividers had been made for them long ago so I just had to move them all to this shelf unit and this is a long time coming in finishing that project but certainly glad I did get it done!!

As usual with a craft room things always are in the wrong place until you reorganize and move them to their new place which soon can become the wrong place again .... but I will say this is all such an improvement and it is all falling into place now so that is a good thing for this craft room for sure and I am happy I have had time off to finish this all since it was started so long ago.... 

Still putting things away in their new homes but certainly a vast improvement having things finished that were started in the Fall and things put together with other like things.... ALWAYS nice to be able to find the products we bought and could not wait until they arrived!! not to mention being able to walk in the craft room again -- hahaha.....