I thought is would take much longer to out grow this, but as you can see it is already full.

I also had a chance to get some more copic markers. My current storage for them was just an old oval tin that originally had chocolate fingers in. This was great when I only had about 20 markers, but when I doubled that number it became problematic in more than one way. Firstly they only just fitted in the tin and I still had a couple more to come. Secondly finding the colours I needed for the blending resulted in having to empty out the tin all the time. Something had to be done.

Now like most crafters I would rather spend my budget on crafting toys than storage, so I need a good cheap workable option for both of these things. After searching the web I narrowed the options down to possibly adapting something from an office supplies store, or cutting down some down pipes.

The office supply holder looked so pretty and could work well with a few of them glued together, but was going to cost over $100. More than I wanted to part with on storage.

Standing in the hardware store, we were trying to work out which size downpipe we were going to buy and how we would stack them, when I turned around and found they had rectangle PVC down pipes. Now I am not a square corner girl but even I could see the logic in using this instead of the round pipes. So home it came and we cut and sanded and glued.

Ok so it is less than perfect but it works and is expandable. It looks a bit empty but over time I am sure that I will fill it more. Now while putting this one together I realised that this same concept could solve my punch storage problem.

Now one of the big problems with punches is the weight. I know many people hang them on a door in a shoe holder. The first problem for me here is I don””t actually have a door to hang it off. I think even if I did I wouldn””t think modern doors would stand up for long to all that extra weight. A punch is heavier than a shoe.

The hardware store had the downpipe in two sizes, so we did the same thing with the larger size pipe.

Cheap and expandable. I like my punches like this because it is no hassle to grab whichever one I want. I can see them all and the one I want does not have others stacked on top. The double layer of PVC is strong and since each on only has to hold up one punch, it should stay nice and sturdy.

Again I coloured it with my copics and cut out the man so that I could pop it up a bit. The background is done with Tim Holtz distress inks, Bundled Sage, Walnut Stain and Stormy Sky.

The little sign and the stamp at the bottom were both in the same set. On the inside I found a digi stamp with a funny saying about fishing, and used the same distress inks to colour it.

Very simple but it seems to work for me.

The first is Olivias she is turning 13 this month. Having invested in some more Copic markers I wanted to use them in her card. I found this Digi stamp that just fitted the girl nicely

I also managed to use the new/used background stamp in the blue background. I was very happy to find that one on Trade Me a couple of weeks ago.

With so many cards to do I do not know if I will get them all on the blog but we shall see what we can do.

The end result is this card

I just adore all the whimsical little houses so I have made this for a house warming card. Funny I have been noticing that although I don”t like green, I seem to use a lot of it in my cards.

The stamp sets have lots of little bits to them so you can build a scene with them to fill whatever occasion. They should get plenty of use.

I have been seeing people put Faux metal onto there cards for some time now and kept thinking how good it looked. Well while looking in the Stationary Warehouse I stumbled upon the very embossing folder to make my own. I then hunted down some foil paper and it all arrived just in time to make this card for Josephs Birthday on Sunday.

I am very happy with how this one turned out, the embossing folder is a cuttlebug one called Diamond Plate, which I used on Spellbinders foil paper in metal tones. The cogs are also cut out of the foil paper and are a combination of Tim Holtz mini cogs and Stampin Up cog punch.

The whole thing was mounted onto black cardstock, so I added silver cardstock with some black cogs to decorate. Unfortunately I have managed to take the photo upside down and I dont know how to flip it from here. But still you get the idea, you just need to stand on your head.

]]> http://www.dreamcrafts.co.nz/2012/04/26/boys-toys/feed/ 0 http://www.dreamcrafts.co.nz/2012/02/26/a-special-card-for-a-special-lady/ http://www.dreamcrafts.co.nz/2012/02/26/a-special-card-for-a-special-lady/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:21:19 +0000 admin http://www.dreamcrafts.co.nz/?p=182 Continue reading →]]> It is Caths Birthday again and I always feel the pressure to step up a bit with my card making for her. She does such beautiful work herself.

I came up with this little creation for her using my Tim Holtz Bird Die and a gate fold card with a belly band.

I love this colour combination, it reminds me of wedgewood. The card stock is Stampin Ups Ballet blue, which is delete so that is a shame. It is teamed up with a cream metallic cardstock and they just seem to go well together. The belly band holds the whole thing closed.

The bird cage shape is cut out of both sides of the gate fold and then another is added just to one side so that we have a gate fold with a whole birdcage. It was a bit tricky to cut the gate fold like this but after a few false starts I finally made it work.

The bird itself is on the inside of the card, but you can see it peeking through on the front. This bird is done with the Stampin Up bird punch, whereas the bird on the belly band is the one that comes with the bird cage.

I decided to make an effort and so I made a card for the day. I had an idea of cutting out a heart and having a key in it, so that is what I wanted to do. It took some thinking but I did manage to get the heart cut out. I used Stampin Up”s concord crush cardstock as the card was for my husband so I didn”t want to use any pink. I also like the purple with the red.

The card needed some balance on the inside so I added a few little touches to ensure that it would stand up nicely. When I first started I couldn”t get a nice key so only had a great big heavy on that I was struggling with. When I stumbled on this smaller key I knew it was the answer to my balance problem.

To keep the whole thing closed I added a body band with yet more hearts. Now this may have been a bit of overkill but it was only on for a short amount of time and so served its purpose.

So there it is, my card for my valentine.

]]> http://www.dreamcrafts.co.nz/2012/02/14/happy-valentines-day/feed/ 0 http://www.dreamcrafts.co.nz/2011/12/30/inspiration-has-struck/ http://www.dreamcrafts.co.nz/2011/12/30/inspiration-has-struck/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:06:16 +0000 admin http://www.dreamdolls.co.nz/?p=160 Continue reading →]]> The time between christmas and new years here is often a time to do little, eat a lot and recharge after the year. This year has been no exception to that.

While recharging I had every intention of getting out the sewing machine and continuing with some of those projects that have been pushed aside for other things.

That hasn””t happened, but instead I have been getting on to a few cards. Actually so far only 4 and two of those I haven””t even gotten around to taking photos of.

So this first one I copied this from Darlene Designs and I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I used Stampin Up French Filigree stamp, clear embossing powder and Tim Holts inks to create the background. The butterfly is from the Beautiful Wings Embosslits. It has no greeting because I am not sure what it will be used for as yet.

The second came out of my head so no reference here.

So I teamed up Concord Crush and Real Red Inks for this one and believe it or not these are the only inks on it. I love this Tulip Frame Embossing folder it can go with so many things.

My head is swimming with card ideas, but alas nothing for a card for my Daughters Birthday at the end of January so I will have to put my thinking cap on a bit more.

Sammie had wanted a stamp of santa in his sleigh with the reindeer last year, and I had managed to get one after christmas, so I tried out a card with it.

I began by stamping the image with black embossing powder which was coloured with a blender pen after all the background was coloured.

I used a mask to make the moon and inked the outside using Tim Holtz Weathered wood and Stormy Sky distress inks. This gave me just the right blend of blue grey for a night sky. The moon is inked in Stampin”” Up Barely Banana which is a retired colour, but again just the right shade.

After all the inking I sprayed the top with Dazzling Diamonds glimmer mist for a bit of sparkle, before assembling the whole thing.

This was the first card that I tried out, and we liked it so much that it was the one we used. Made trialing very easy as there was only one. I ended up having to make 50 of them this year, the inking of the background took the most time, but I think the results were worth it.

She did not want a baby shower so I am going to take her out for a girls day next weekend, while Richard and Bevan babysit and cook dinner for us.

Again my limited resources has effected what I do for a card, and my first attempt at this was too plain and boring. So this morning I pulled it all to bits and had another go.

The picture is not the best and I might have to replace it, but this version is so much better.

Richards birthday is the day before so I have made him a birthday card as well.

Yes there really is a line on the fishing pole, and I used my owl punch to make the fish as well. I also found a verse for the inside of the card.

I don not know if you can read it or not, and I cannot remember where I got it from. I have managed to find a list that gives you the ink colour setting for the Stampin Up inks so I managed to print it in the chocolate chip ink colour.