Distressed Ink Holder

Well, it's been almost 2 months since my last post.  I've been busy!!  As my dad used to say, "You have too many irons in the fire."  Or "far" as he would say :)

Anyway this week I made this totally cool, spinning distressed ink pad holder!  I am so pumped at how great it turned out.  I didn't come up with any of it myself.  My sister-in-law actually pinned it on Pinterest and I repinned it and couldn't stop thinking about it so I started on it Tuesday night and finished it the next night.  I would say that all in all it probably took about 6 hours to build and cover with paper.

Here is the link to the original poster - Jens Joint.  There you can find a PDF with all the measurements, a PDF for the labels she created for the ink pads themselves and a link to her Ustream video where she is making it.  The video is an hour long and she mostly talks with people that had joined her for the live stream but I found it helpful to see the type of cardstock she was using and how to hinge each of the boxes.

I built it just as she did except I covered it with my decorative paper after I completed building it.  As I looked in her pictures I think she wrapped the side panels and the top pieces before adhering them to the unit-not sure.  I waited to wrap mine so I could wrap the paper from the side panels into each slot as to make them a bit stronger. My side panel pieces are cut at 5" wide x 12" tall.  I glued the paper to the side panel, laid the unit on it's side and used an Exacto knife to cut slits so they would wrap into the shelves. I also cut pieces of the black polka dot at 3 2/8 x 1 1/2 so that I could cover each little shelf.  I didn't like being able to see the chipboard layers and I thought this would also strengthen it more.  It is super strong!

I added a ribbon handle to the top so I could easily pick it up if needed.  I used a 6 1/2" square layered with a 6" square to make it stronger.  I used my Cropadile to punch holes through both layers and ran the ribbon through and glued it underneath then used LOTS of Aileens tacky glue to adhere the top securely.

The coolest part of this is that it will spin!!  But I can't show you that part because I had to order the spinner from Scrapadabadoo.com.  It was $8.50 for the plastic spinner.  I can't wait for it to arrive!

After completing the unit I printed off the PDF for the labels from Jen's blog.  They are cool because they wrap around all 4 sides of the ink pad case.  I cut them into strips and then inked each one with the matching color.  After inking, I ran them through my 9" Xyron using the one sided lamination and permanent adhesive them cut then into strips again.  Here is a little tip.  The strips will not wrap smoothly around the ink pad as the side edge of the ink pads are not flat, they are ever so slightly angled so the top is a bit smaller than the bottom.  Because of this, I cut a slit on each corner so the strip would overlap and line up straight around each edge.

You can see the tiny slit on the corner.  I then burnished it down and it stuck well.  I also wanted to add that the words didn't come out centered on each of the 4 sides of the pad and that made me a bit buggy but by the time I realized it I wasn't about to start again.

You will also notice I stuck them on upside down.  Storing them this way keeps the surface on the ink pad nice and juicy.

Another helpful hint: I use velcro stickies to adhere my inking pads to the back of each ink pad to keep them organized.  I didn't come up with this either :)

So now I am pondering a cover of sorts so that I can take my ink pad unit with me when I go to crops.  I am quite the traveling scrapbooker and crafter.  Stay tuned.  I will post the cover and directions when I am finished along with the unit on the spinner!

May you be blessed with many days filled with stress-free crafting,

Jana