Pretty & Practical Laundry Room Solutions

As you may know, I'm on a mission to "clean" our house - basically remodeling and reorganizing things to make them easier to use and easier to keep clean. I have grand plans for our pantry/mudroom/laundry, but 3 rooms in one requires a bit of money so I'm doing things in fits and starts. At any rate, I found myself requiring a laundry-type project when all of the outgrown shoes were brought to me at the end of the school year.  Even after a good laundering, a certain child's sneakers were still rather, shall we say, odious...

I had recently read an article about using coffee grounds to deodorize shoes, and I thought it was a great idea! No one in our house drinks coffee, and I had some for visitors in my pantry which had expired so this was a perfect use for part of it. (I hate to throw away anything usable!) Of course I couldn't just toss the grounds in the shoes, so in looking around for something to put them in, I remembered I had two of a 3-pack of muslin drawstring bags left in my craft room. (Hooray!)

Since they'll be hanging around when they're not stuck in some shoes, I wanted to make them pretty and match the future colors of the pantry/mudroom/laundry.  Since I may feel the need to wash them at some point, I made sure to use products that won't wash out: Staz-on ink for stamping and alcohol markers for the coloring.

I used Timber Brown Staz-on to stamp my images. I colored the bumblebee with a set of Honey alcohol markers.

And I used a set of Indian Corn Blue alcohol markers to color the dragonfly.  As you can probably see, alcohol inks flow further and more quickly than usual on fabric.  I worked as quickly and lightly as possible, so any halos around my images would be as light as possible.

After making my bags pretty, I just filled them with coffee grounds.  You could also use baking soda, but I thought the strong smell of the coffee would help compete with the sneaker stink!

Here they are all filled, tied up, and ready to do their job!

And here they are in action! I am happy to report that this expensive pair of shoes (that the child helped pay for by the way - I'm not crazy) are now de-stinkified and ready for some other lucky kid to wear!

These bags would also make beautiful sachets filled with your choice of herbs and/or essential oils. (What a cute addition to a bridal or baby shower gift!) If you'd like to reproduce them, here's a list of the supplies I used to make them:

• Muslin drawstring bags (set/3)
• Quick Cards - Dragonfly and Bumblebee stamps
• 3x3 My Acrylix Block
• Staz-On ink pad in Timber Brown
• Exclusive Inks markers in Honey and Indian Corn Blue

A Masculine Card with Mojo!

Hi there! Today was my turn to share a manly card on the Cutters Creek blog and I thought you'd like to see it here as well. I based my card on this week's Mojo Monday sketch 295. It's a round or square sketch this week, and I chose square. If you want to see all of the details on the card, you can visit the CC blog!

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks a Bunch! - June SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to another month of Stamp of the Month inspiration!  If you have arrived here from Adeline Brill's blog, or if you are just starting out, you are in the right place. This month we are featuring A Flowering Bunch, a set of 10 stamps suitable for any number of stamping techniques. When you're done checking out my ideas, be sure to hop ahead to Shirley Ross' blog for more.

I have lots of ideas spinning in my head for this stamp set, but as usual not enough time, so I limited myself to two of them for now.

The first card is made by embossing with white on black cardstock. Traditionally, you then color on top of the embossing with colored pencils.  I chose to go a different route and used our alcohol markers. (WARNING: using alcohol markers with this technique can damage the markers - the embossing powder transfers to the marker tips and dries in them, damaging them. So, if you choose to use this technique, you must work quickly and with a very light touch.  If you are unsure at all, just use the more traditional colored pencils.)

The individual flowers are popped up with 3-D foam adhesive, and I used the lightest green in the Blue & Green Epoxy Bubbles package.

For my second card, I used Claire papers.  I stamped the flower garden stamp multiple times on the lattice-look paper using Topiary ink, to create a border.  I then used alcohol markers to color in portions of the flowers.  I stamped the sentiment in Blush ink and matted it on Sunset cardstock.

Here's a list of supplies used on each card, all available from Close To My Heart.

Card 1:

• A Flowering Bunch, stamp of the month
• White card base, A2
• Exclusive Inks stamp pad, White Daisy
• Embossing Powder, White
• Alcohol Markers
• Black & White cardstock
• Green & Blue Epoxy Bubbles

 Card 2:

•  A Flowering Bunch, stamp of the month
• Colonial White card base, A2
• Exclusive Inks stamp pads, Topiary & Blush
• Alcohol Markers
• Claire paper pack
• Silver Shimmer Tape

I hope you enjoyed my cards today! I'd love to hear your comments. Now, let's head over to Shirley Ross' blog and see what ideas she has for us this month.

Last Chance for Dream Pop!

Still haven't taken advantage of May's Dream Pop promotion?  There is VERY little inventory left, so be sure to get your order in before midnight tonight! (If you missed the May 31 cutoff, just email me in the first 5 days of June and I can check and see if there are any remaining.)  Here's one of the cards you can make with the free PDF workshop available for the paper pack:

Mine has a slight variation, because the workshop shows this with the Pinwheel stamp of the month set, but I can't find mine at the moment. (Is that a sign of too much stuff?!)  So, I just cut the larger piece of my pinwheel from a pattern paper instead, and added a sentiment from the Hooray Bouquet stamp set.

Also, just a note: I noticed a small error in the directions for this card.  The smaller pinwheel shape should also be cut at 2 3/4" instead of 2". It's one of the sets on the cartridge that cuts the smaller pieces to fit the main piece at whatever size you select.

If you have any other questions, or prefer not to shop online, be sure to contact me ASAP!

Dream Pop for Pirate Day

I know, you might not associate the bright colors of the Dream Pop paper with pirates.  But I thought it was perfect for these pics of my daughter from Pirate Day at her preschool!

I thought making banners was a fun touch for this layout, reminding me of sails & flags.

I love that either page of this layout could stand on it's own if I want to display one for a while (or if you want to copy, and are a single-page maker).

I love the little phrases I used here - they are ALL from the zip strip on one of the papers in the Dream Pop pack, and they are lots of fun!

Don't forget that Dream Pop goes away May 31 or while supplies last! Be sure to get yours today if you want it - as of this morning there is only 11% of inventory remaining!

Celebrating with Trendy Dream Pop

I am just LOVING the trendy colors and patterns in the Dream Pop paper pack! I am kind of sad that this promotion is coming to an end in a few days.  If you haven't seen these fun papers yet, here's a shot of all of the designs:

The pretty tone on tone cardstock designs at the bottom are FABULOUS - they each have a different glossy design on them.  I added some plain cardstock to use as base pages, and here's one of the layouts I created:

You can use punches or Cricut cuts to make some cute flowers like this:

 

I just used various buttons and  adhesive Sparkles for my flower centers - SO cute!

I used the Cricut Artiste cartridge to make the "9" and my title, and popped the 9 up with 3-D foam tape.

If you want to get this paper pack, be sure to hurry! It's only available until the end of May, and I see that supplies are dwindling rapidly! How to purchase? Just shop on my website; once you've selected $35 of regular price merchandise, you can get this paper pack for only $10.  If your total purchases equal at least $50 (including the Dream Pop paper), you can also get the fun pinwheels Stamp of the Month for only $5. Need some ideas for what to make, or what to buy in addition to the paper pack?  Here's a document with complete instructions and additional supplies lists for making 2 two-page layouts, 3 cards, and a set of treat tubes with the paper. Choose your favorites or make them all!

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to stop by again tomorrow for another fun layout using this paper pack.

Thank You!

Today we remember those men and women who died while serving in the US armed forces. Let's also remember to say thank you to those who have served and those who continue to serve.

These 5x7 cards are easy to replicate quickly - take your choice of the vintage version on the left or a more "clean" version on the right.  The main panel is made by cutting cardstock stars in white or cream and adhering them to a blue panel in a regular pattern. Cut off any overhanging bits, then mat on a red panel. I used the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, as the star shape on that coordinates with the stamp I used.

I used the patterned star stamp from the American Celebration stamp set, and used the rock and roll technique to stamp it with yellow and red inks. I then stamped the sentiment on top in blue ink.  To embellish this card, I used silver Shimmer Tape as ribbon and also cut a star from silver glitter cardstock, which I used as a mat for my stamped star.

For the vintage look card, I did everything the same except used cream cardstock instead of white, and took the added step of ink distressing all of my pieces.  I also eliminated the bling of the glitter and instead colored a length of color-ready seam binding with a marker to match. I wrapped it around the card front and tied a piece of hemp around it to secure the ends.

For both cards, I adhered the large star to the front using foam adhesive tape.  I also stamp inside the cards using coordinating images from the same stamp set.

Now, while we are on the subject of thank you, I wanted to shared a brand new stamp from the unreleased Autumn/Winter Catalog that CTMH has decided to release early.  One hundred percent of profits from sales of this stamp set from May 23 to June 30 will be donated to the American Red Cross to aid tornado victims in Oklahoma. a 2"x2" acrylic block is recommended for this stamp. Cost is $2.95 and is available on my website here.

Supplies used for my cards today are all from CTMH.

Both Cards:

• Cardstock in Pacifica and Cranberry
• Exclusive Inks stamp pads in Sunflower, Cranberry, and Pacifica
• Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge
• American Celebration stamp set
• 3-D Foam Tape

"Clean" Card:

• White Cardstock
• Black & Grey Glitter Paper
• Silver Shimmer Trim

 Vintage Card:

• Colonial White Cardstock
• Sponge Daubers
• Exclusive Inks stamp pad in Champagne
• Color-Ready Seam Binding
• White Hemp

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my cards, and hope you have (or had) a fabulous Memorial Day!