Of Implants, Geometry, and Steel Die Storage

Posted on August 24, 2014September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

I know that I have been MIA for a few days, and I do apologize. But I was having work on my implants. There, I said it. I am not ashamed.

But YOU should be, for going there. I’m talking about dental implants, Silly, not the ones that you were probably imagining. Last Saturday I had the third of three jaw implants for titanium roots, and hopefully, in a few months (sigh) I will at long last have all of the teeth any normal person should have on my top left. For those of you in the trade, that would be numbers 14 and 15. I have to wait for everything to heal, then they cut you open again, this time to put a little screw into the implant, then everything has to heal again, and then I go to the dentists where they will make two crowns and I will wait a month or so, and then FINALLY have the crowns inserted and then I can go back to being a carnivore once more. It is a very lengthy process, and very expensive. And all I can think of the whole time is, boy, I could have bought a LOT of crafting supplies if I had had better dental care in my youth! Seriously!

And now you may be wondering how geometry fits into this story. Well, seeing as how I was existing for a few days in a drug induced state, I really didn’t trust myself with a pair of scissors. Good thinking on my part, believe me. So I decided to play with one of the new items from the upcoming Holiday Catalog, the Gift Box Punch Board. With said board you can make a gift box up to 4″ x 4″ x 2.5″ and I tried, and failed, to make one that was 4.25″ x 4.25″ x 1.75.” Blame it on the Bossanova, I guess. You know that saying, you can’t fit a round hole into a square peg? Well, that’s where I landed. Please don’t misunderstand, I can certainly make a box out of paper with those dimensions, no problem. But I was trying to fool that darn board into making a slightly larger size, thinking that the manufacturer just didn’t have room on the front panel showing all the dimensions possible. I even enlisted the help of my engineer husband, but he just couldn’t fathom why I wanted to make a box using a board with such limited dimensions, and even volunteered to make the size I wanted while I waited. Yes, Dear, I appreciate your help, but you see, I’m trying to figure out how to do it by just using…oh, never mind. So, Dear Reader, you will eventually see how I made a 4″ x 4″ box with the new board, and indeed, one not a smidge bigger than that.

DIY Steel Die Storage

One thing that I did manage to attempt and complete was a method of steel die storage for all the Stampin’ Up! framelits and thinlits I have. This idea is not my own, but I saw a similar version online and figured I could pretty much make the same thing and do it cheaper. Here’s what I did:

I started with a few sheets of 12″ x 12″ chipboard I had been saving for…um, just this reason, yeah! I cut it into 6″ squares with my awesome trimmer. I purchased a few rolls of adhesive-backed magnetic sheets from Amazon (click here to view), which came in 12″ x 24″ rolls.

(It make take a little effort to straighten it out a bit, but if you reverse roll it somewhat it’ll work just fine).

I cut the magnet sheeting (do NOT use your trimmer to cut these; you’ll need heavy duty scissors!!) into 6″ squares also, peeled off the backing, and adhered the magnet to my pre-cut chipboard squares. I also wrote down the name of the framelit on the back, with the order code number and the sizes of the various pieces.

And voilà, just like that, a flat place to store my dies, and in a size for which I am reasonably sure I can find a handled container of some sort.

I have the new magnetic squares temporarily housed in an old stamp storage box, along with all my Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. All my Big Shot stuff, all in one place, in a grab-and-go box. So not a wasted week after all! At least, what I remember of it…

Stamp Storage for Clear Mount Stamps

Posted on July 11, 2014September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Stamp storage got you down? Here’s a little help!

Perhaps you’re like me and you craft in a room about as big as a shoebox, and I mean the kind of box that little kids’ shoes come in… I am so envious of those lucky ducks who have a whole room dedicated to pursue their crafting dreams. Can you imagine? Nah, me neither. So I find myself faced with the unenviable task of trying to figure out different ways to control the hoarding, I mean careful selection of the stamps and supplies that I purchase. (I mean, seriously, I have nowhere near as many as some people I know [um, not personally]).

Okay, back to my stamp storage. I usually buy clear mount stamp sets because, obviously, they take up less room than the wood mounted ones. Not to mention that no trees had to die to feed my obsession. For me personally I find very little difference between clear and wood mount, provided you are using the right size block for the stamp. It’s the same deep etched rubber on both kinds. So in order to conserve space I put two sets of stamps into just one of the clear DVD style cases that the clear mount stamps are packaged in. Here’s what I mean:

These are the two sets I’m going to combine, Gorgeous Grunge and What’s Up. I start by taking the paper insert out of one of the cases – I don’t need to take them both out, but I took them out to be able to show you what they look like side by side. I take my scissors and I cut one of the inserts just below the name of the set, but only as far as the crease. Then I fold the rest of the insert under so that all that’s going to show on the spine are the names of each set.

Then I slip the folded insert back into the case and line up the inserts so the labels on the spine are even. If you look at the case from the inside, now, you will see that one of the inserts is upside down. But that’s intentional. Here’s a look without the case:

Here’s the inside of the case with both sets of stamps:

(P.S.I know you’re probably looking at my pictures and wondering why I don’t have the transparent stamp images on my clear mount. Well, it’s a personal preference. I find the clear mount stamps cling way better without that transparent plastic on them. And if I need to be really precise with the placement of the stamp, I just use the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig).

And when the plastic case is closed, it looks like this:

And here are my stamp cases, all nice and neat in my storage box:

Now before I close, I want to tell you about the most amazing perk that comes with my stamp storage system, and it is this:

My husband has no idea that I actually have almost twice as many stamps as it looks like I have. Score!!

Pinterest Cleanup (and tracking image sources)

Posted on July 8, 2014September 25, 2020 by Craft Carnivore

Time for a Pinterest Cleanup!

I have recently discovered that my Pinterest boards are starting to look a lot like my crafting space: overcrowded! It’s starting to look a bit messy in there. The number of pins I have may be small compared to other Pinners, but the very thought of looking through over 3000 Pins is a bit overwhelming. I mean, am I ever going to do anything besides collect these Pins? (Although I have, to be fair, made some of the recipes I saved to my “Yummies” Board. But that’s about it). Below you will find my current plan for cleaning up my Boards. (So they’re neat as a …? Okay, couldn’t resist)! Come on, let’s do a Pinterest cleanup!

My first step is to edit: do I still like this Pin? Does it still inspire or awe me? Perhaps my tastes have changed. Is it a duplicate? Is it pinned to the correct board? (Gotta admit, that’s a pet peeve. There is nothing more distracting that looking at someone’s Birthday Card Board, for example, and seeing an ab workout or a recipe). So if the answer to any of the above questions is a NO, I delete that Pin.

— By the way, when I’m looking at Pinterest I want to be sure that the Pins I save have an actual source. I am trying not to blindly pin uncredited images. That’s a no-no for me. I’ve seen images pinned from Stampin’ Connection, Ning, occasionally from SplitcoastStampers, and Two Peas that do not properly give credit to the artist. I will either avoid re-pinning them, or I will track the source if it’s really something I want to save. (In my attempt to corral all my pins I am going to go back to each Board and every Pin to see if I have followed my own directive). 😉

Finally, I want to be sure that my Pins are sourced correctly. In other words, I want to be sure that if I click on a Pin that it’s linked correctly. Or I might click on a Pin and get a message that the link for it has been reported as containing questionable content. But if I really want that image and I want to avoid pinning one with a link to something that might be yucky, what then? Well, there IS a way to check.

Here’s an example of a Pin I had where I couldn’t easily find the source . I found a pin on my “For Scrapbooking” Board, and the Pin that got my attention had Ning in the source. So I clicked on the Pin and this is where it took me ( pinterest.com/source/scrapthat.ning.com/.

I clicked on the Pin again to get to the source, and got to the Ning homepage. Well, that didn’t help. I don’t want to join! Now what? Well, you have two options: you can open a new window and go to Google.com and click on “Images” at the top of the page, drag and drop the picture into Google’s search box and hit Search, or you can install a bookmark that automatically links to Google and will look at all the images on your screen, placing black question marks over them, which enables you to just click and search. Here’s the info:

Category: Storage and Organization