Mini Ink Pad Storage

Long time no see!  Today I am going to show you the adorable mini ink pad storage unit I made for the Tim Holtz Distressed Mini Ink Pads.  I decided to make this to travel with instead of carrying all the big ones in the larger storage tower that I built.  You can see it HERE.  I also made a cool cover for it HERE, as to make it easier to travel with and even later I added onto the top so that all of the 48 colors would fit in one tower.

Ok, back to the subject at hand, the mini storage unit/chest.  I can't take any credit for the design of this because just as before with the tower, I used Jenny Potter's instructions and pattern.  She is from Jen's Joint, or Ozegran.blogspot.com.  You can find all the resources you need to make this little dandy yourself on her blog right HERE. Not only does she have a PDF of all the supplies and instructions you will need, she also has links to her YouTube videos that show you exactly how to make it.  I found the videos invaluable in making this because the directions are more of a list instead of detailed how to's.  She does a GREAT job.  Thanks Jenny!!!

Before the pictures, I would like to say it is intense in the measuring and cutting department, but I seem to be a glutton for punishment so I loved it!  I think it's super cool to take a stack of chipboard and glue and end up with something like this!  Enjoy!

Here you go!

Here is a view of one side with the doors closed.  I got my little closure/latches at Hobby Lobby, they are from the "Spare Parts" embellishment section.  I got the drawer pulls from there as well.  You can see them farther down the post.

This is a double sided chest.  There are a set of doors on each side.  If you decide to build one, when you look at the supply list, Jen uses something called Kraft-Tex that she likes a lot for the door hinges.  I was too impatient to order some online so while I was at Hobby Lobby, I picked up some fabric tape that worked really well.  I was able to spray paint it with the primer and cover it with paper.

This is a top view with only one side open.  It also shows the leather handle that I made.  I cut it from regular leather, sprayed it with primer (which peeled off when it dried) so then I used some new permanent sprays I got for Christmas from my awesome SIL.  They are DecoArt Media sprays and they worked great!

Here is a view with both sets of doors open.  Pretty cool!

 Now for the good part!  Each center section holds 24 of the mini ink pads.  The very top row isn't big enough to put more up there.  The way Jen designed it, the doors were to store the inking handles that you put the foam pads on.  She created this cool way to hang them from the inside/top of the doors with magnets.  You will have to watch her videos to see what I am talking about because I made a change that you can see below.

 Since there will be at least 12 new colors coming out and possibly more next year, I decided to prepare for the future.  As you can see, above the drawer in each door, I added shelves for 6 more ink pads.  That gives room for 24 more pads in the future!  I just used the same measurements as for the center part but just did 3 shelves instead of 6.

 Here you can see that I created a pull out panel (that part with the paisley paper) so that when I travel with this, the ink pads in the doors will not fall out.  There are shelves behind that little panel.

Here is a picture with the panel pulled out and sitting next to the door.

In two of the doors drawers I store extra blending pads.  With the mini ink pads, the 1" round pads fit perfectly in the bottom of the ink pad and store nicely when you put them in the shelf upside down.  You can see this in the bottom right corner where you can barely see the round blender on top of the ink pad.  I store a blending handle on each side of the chest in the other two drawers.

The paper that I used to cover it with is Kloe Lane by Paper Studio also from Hobby Lobby. 

 I got all the chipboard that I used to build it from Blick art supplies (dickblick.com).  It is the crescent chipboard that comes in a 40 pack.  I also plan to add a spinner on the bottom so you can just spin it from one side to the other without picking it up.  I will get the spinner in any day now.  It will be ordered from Scrapadabadoo.com.  Be sure and let me know if you have any questions and I would love to know of any brave souls that take on this project.  I had fun making it!

Good luck and blessings to you!

My New Website!!! Bright and Merry Designs

Hello all!
I am so excited to announce that I FINALLY have a website!  I have been wanting to do something like this for a VERY long time but just have not had the confidence to go for it.  Well, I WENT for it and Bright and Merry Designs was born!

You can visit me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BrightMerryDesignsByJanaBailey and also on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/janambailey/bright-and-merry-designs/.  I hope you would be kind enough to "like" my Facebook page and to pin some of my Pinterest pins to help me get the word out.

Some of the fun things you will find on my website currently are card sets that are prints made from my original art.  Last year I made the set below at the encouragement of my sweet husband after making small paintings for 5 of my girlfriends that I sing in an ensemble with.  Well, they were a big hit and sold really well.  My friends encouraged me to create more cards this year and boy did I!  I now have a total of 3 Christmas card sets and a Birthday card set.

 This set is called Christmas Portraits.  I imagined what it might be like if Christmas characters had to sit down for school portraits!  The thought kind of cracked me up :)

 This set is called Christmas Whimsy - more portraits really but I threw in a Christmas tree!

This set is my favorite, it is called Christmas Nativity.  I used words from Christmas songs and one of my favorites of all time is "Mary Did You Know?"  Just the thought of how Mary would have felt if she only knew what all Jesus would do and what all He would go through just for us.

Then there is my cheerful Birthday set.  I love this one!  It makes me smile. :)

Eventually I will be offering small prints of each of these little gems on the website also.  Some other things I will be offering are 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 prints from some of my larger original paintings.  Here are just a few, you can see more on the website.

 Beatitudes - This was inspired by my pastor who recently preached a whole series on the Beatitudes out of Matthew 5.  All of the qualities God wants us to possess are in white with all the blessings you will receive written in the background.

 Bless This House - just a little fun and funky painting to help us remember God's grace and that He wants us to seek His blessings.

 Me and My House - Joshua 24:15 - One of my all time favorite verses.  We have had this verse in our home in one form another for most of our 24 years of marriage.

Have Faith in How You Serve - this one was inspired by my dear daughters.  They are volleyball players but God's faithful followers first and I wanted it to be a reminder to them that they are to be a light for Jesus in all they do.

Thanks for checking in, I hope you will share my post, Facebook page and do some pinning for me.  I would feel blessed to be able to make someone smile with my art!

Many blessings to YOU!

Jana

Happy Birthday Cake Box!

Hello everyone!  Looks like I am becoming a once a month blogger. :(  I need to work on posting more often as I am actually creating more often!  I will try to do better!

Today I bring you a project that I am most proud of.  The cut file comes from MyScrapChick.com.  I purchased this months ago knowing it would take a while to put together along with many other projects I have on going.  My wonderful oldest daughter turned 16 last week and I wanted to make it special.  Don't misunderstand, we are not the "My Sweet 16" reality TV kinda folk.  No-No!  She invited 3 friends over, we went to see Monsters University (a must see if you like Monsters Inc.) then came home and went moonlight swimming, had cake and ice cream and then they watched TV til they couldn't keep their eyes open.  So, the paper cake was a special treat for my girl!

There are 20 boxes that make up the cake.  I printed the papers on my Imagine machine from the Blast Off cartridge and the Mr. Frosty cartridge.  I used paper by Colorbok from Walmart.  It cuts really nice.

 Each layer was very unstable so I tied each one up with some cute bakers twine and it made it nice and round.  One warning, slip a cardboard square under the entire cake to pick it up and move it, if not the pieces slip down and the lids come off easy and after you have tied the twine around them it is hard to get the lids back on.  Just an FYI!

 What would a sweet 16 cake be with out a bit of sparkle?  So I used my go to Stickles, Fruit Punch, Diamond and Yellow to add a bit of sugary sweetness.

She is a real girly girl, so in each box she found bracelets, fingernail polish, lip gloss, chewing gum (she is a bit gum crazy) earrings, etc.  Anything that would fit.  You could add gift cards, money, special notes from friends and family, etc.  THEN...her daddy came home, AFTER I had it all stuffed and tied up, with a very special present.  So it got wrapped in the tiny box below.

A very sweet pair of white 14K gold diamond earrings.  Her first "real" diamonds were from her daddy.  That's the way it should be. :)

So to add it to the gift cake, I wrapped it in matching paper and tucked it under the cake topper.  It made a real nice surprise.  Sorry for the blurry picture but I realized I never photographed the little box ON the cake so I found this one from the party.

I try to teach my children that although gifts are nice and can be really special, there is no gift better than the gift of eternal life they have received from their Holy Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ.  That is the best gift any person can ever be offered.  All you have to do is pray to receive it and it will NEVER be taken away.

Many blessings,

Jana

Happy Father's Day!

Hello!
Long time-no see!  I have been busy as a bee with end of school activities, going to the Great American Scrapbook Convention and now preparing for my yearly scrapbooking retreat that I host every June with 19 of my closest friends and family.
Today I wanted to show you the card that I made for my dad for Father's Day.  I got this precious file from Treasure Box Designs.  It is so stinkin' cute and went together pretty easy.

I used my Make the Cut software and did the whole thing, except the green base by doing a print and cut.  Luckily, the designer colors each piece the color she wants them to be so all I did was set it up as a print and cut, put textured white cardstock in my printer, printed out the pieces and then I put the paper in my Zing and it cut it all out!  I was so excited to be able to do this instead of putting 10 different pieces of cardstock on the mat for all of the pieces. It was very reminiscent of what the Cricut Imagine is SUPPOSED to do but quit doing after I ran an update on it.  With the Zing and MTC you aren't tied to cartridges!!!  FREEDOM!!!!

So all the tiny pieces that you see, including the little letters spelling "dad" and the # we printed on my printer, then cut on my Zing!  I even imported the red and white gingham paper into MTC, applied it to the panels and then print and cut them also!  I love MTC and the amaZing Zing!!!

Here are a few up close views of the card.  My dad really loved it.  My mom makes cards all the time so he can appreciate my efforts :)

My prayer for you is that God has blessed you with a wonderful father.  Not everyone is so fortunate.  When I was growing up I dreamed of meeting a man like my father to marry and God gave me my wonderful husband of 24 years at a time in my life when I needed him most.  Our heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be happy with the men we choose, so I always say, be careful, take your time and choose wisely because God has put that person in our path, we just need to be patient until we run into him.

A Late Happy Mother's Day

(I wrote this post ON Mother's Day, saved it to add pictures, then just plain ole forgot to post it!  So, here is a belated post!)

Happy Mother's Day to all my wonderful followers and any visitors that have popped in!  Today I wanted to share with you the two cards that I made for my mother and my mother-in-law.  I could go on and on about how wonderful both of these women are but I won't.  I will say that I have been blessed beyond measure with having both of them in my life to guide me, love me and help me be a better mother to my own children. Blessed beyond belief!
The cards I made are not my own design, at all, not even the decision to what paper to use! :)  I just love the files from SVGCuts.com.  Mary does such a great job and I just love her taste in design and papers that I decided to keep it simple and just copy what she had created.  I even ordered the paper kit she used because I loved it so much.  So the kit from SVGCuts.com is called "Cards for Moms" and can be found by clicking on the image below.

The paper kit that she and I both used was called "Farm Girl" from October afternoon and I got mine from Scrapbook.com, I think.  You can google it and find it in many forms, kits, papers, embellishments, 8x8 and 12 x 12.  I got the 12 x 12 kit below.

There were many cards to choose from in Mary's kit so I decided to make the "I Love Mom - See through card" and the "Love You Mom Card".  The kit didn't come with all of the embellishments that Mary used so I change them up a bit.  Here is the card I made for MY mom:

 I LOVE buttons!  So I included them just like Mary.  Mary, Mary, Mary, I sound a bit obsessed????

 The cardstock stickers on the front came with the kit and I had the red buttons in my stash.  One thing I love about the svg kit that Mary created is that she has a cut for an insert for the interior of the card which is nice when using double sided paper.  That way you can stamp a sentiment inside and write a message also.

This is the card I made for my sweet mother-in-law:

LOVE the double wedding ring paper!!

Can you use too many pop dots??  I think NOT!!!  you can never have too much dimension, unless you are going to mail it, then I have to reluctantly back off on the popping but I am hand delivering this one!  Late, as usual.  I preferred a red shadow for my letters over the soft pink in the sample, I think it ties it in with the background paper and makes the letters pop more.

I didn't have the cute bottle cap like in the sample so I just used one of the cardstock stickers from the paper kit and then used my diamond glaze to make it look like an epoxy embellishment then added a bow from my stash.  Easy peasy, both cards.  Of course, I have to ink the edges of everything so I used the Vintage Photo ink pad from Tim Holtz.  I hope you like my creations and that you will stop by SVGCuts.com and check out all of Mary's wonderful files.

Oh! and Mary also included envelopes in the files to fit each card so I had to cute them up a bit with the stickers from the paper kit :)

I also wanted to add before leaving, I have changed the way my comments work so that if you ask me a question, I can hit the reply button and answer your question.  I hope it works :)

So I leave you with this verse, something I have pondered upon much this past year.  What is it God wants from me as a mother?  Many blessings to all the mothers out there!

Who can find a virtuous woman? She is far more precious than jewels... 
Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the time to come. 
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue. 
She watches over the activities of her household and is never idle. 
Her sons rise up and call her blessed. 
He husband also praises her: 
Many women are capable, but you surpass them all! 
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised. 
~Proverbs 31:10, 25-30

Water Bottle Drink Mix Holder

OK, I know this is not new to everyone but I think these little doo-dads are so clever.  My cousin's wife gave me one as a gift on a retreat a few years ago and so I am going to give my version of one this year for retreat gifts.  But I want you to know that I did not come up with this particular pattern.  I found it on this cute blog called "Blue Eyed Blessings".  I did tweak it a little bit and personalized it with an initial like my cousin did.  Also I created a Make the Cut file for it and will also post it as an SVG file at the bottom of the post. If you do not have a cutting machine for MTC or SVG files then feel free to hop over to Blue Eyed Blessings for the cutting dimension.  She just used circle punches to make the embellishments.

Oh yea!  I almost forgot to mention that on the second page of the MTC file I also shared the cute alphabet letters that I used.  It is a font from 2peas that I cleaned up for cutting.  It is not included in the SVG file, sorry.

 One of the things I like about this is the only thing that will need gluing is the scalloped collar around the bottle neck and the patterned paper.  The rest is the two brads.  You could just glue around the pocket if you wanted to.

After gluing the initial on I just used my doodle pen to dress it up a bit :)
So, here are the links to the files I created.  Here is the MTC file:
Water Bottle Drink Mix Holder MTC
Here is a MTC file for making multiple holders.  The files is set up so you can cut 20 of them and save as much paper as possible.
Water Bottle Drink Mix Holder Mulitple MTC
Here is the SVG file for a single holder.  I haven't learned yet to convert an entire file to SVG for the multiple holders file, sorry!
Water Bottle Drink Mix Holder SVG
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the little project!

Giving Smooth Cardstock a Texture

I am SO excited about this post.  It may be nothing new because I came up with this on my own but never Googled it, so who knows.
I have lately discovered that when using my cutter that the Recollections smooth cardstock from Michael's is the BEST for cutting tiny and very detailed pieces.  I have also been using Bazzil Basics also but like the Recollections better.  I purchased a TON of it when the packs went on sale 4 for $10.  I began making paper piecings and discovered that although the cuts were wonderful, I missed the texture found in other cardstocks and began to worry that I had a LOT of paper I wasn't going to use.  Well, that wasn't OK with me so I began to think how I could make that smooth cardstock textured. Let me clarify - textured, NOT embossed.
My hubby and I had just finished a building project and we bought some course sandpaper and I woke in the middle of the night with the idea that it would be cool if I could use that sandpaper to texturize my smooth cardstock.
Flash forward 4 very busy weeks.  I tried it this morning and I really like the results.  So here is a picture description of how I did it.

Here is the sandpaper I used.  I really like the no slip grip because it doesn't move around in my Cuttlebug.  The 60 course works really well, I think any number higher wouldn't give you any texture.

Here is what it looks like on the rough side.

This is the crazy sandwich used, from the bottom up:

1. A plate (the thick white one)

2. a rubber embossing pad (the squishy one used with Spellbinders dies and such)

3. the paper you want to texturize.

4.  Sandpaper

5. B plate

6. Shim - I used 3 pieces of cardstock (more or less determines the depth of the texture)

7. B plate

Then you just run the whole sandwich through your Cuttlebug (or which ever machine you have) and here is what the paper looks like when it comes out!  If you use another machine you will need to experiment with your sandwich making.

The left side is the textured side and the right side is the smooth side.  The back side offers even a bit different texture.

This is a title shadow that I had already cut and really wanted it to have texture so I sent it through the Cuttlebug and now it looks GREAT!  I am thinking that I will texturize the pieces AFTER cutting them, so it does not compromise the machine's ability to get really clean cuts.

Now my brain wouldn't stop thinking of other things I could use to get texture.  I am a mixed media artist so I have a drawer FULL of things I use to create texture on canvases.  Here are a few other items I found to send through the Cuttlebug.

From left to right - some kind of metal mesh, it is super thin, I got it at the hardware store years ago (don't remember why??), then the next piece is the stuff you use when taping seams on drywall (it is sticky on one side, make sure that side isn't next to your paper).  The blue piece is called "Magic Mesh" I got it at scrapbook convention - Google it, and lastly the gold piece is punchonella (sp), it is the waste left from making sequins.  You will notice most of the pieces have paint on them, that did affect the texture, so if I wanted a clean look I would want to use a clean piece.  Here is the result on the paper.

I know it is a bit difficult to see but the idea is that it looks textured, not embossed.  This isn't as deep as embossing.  I also realized that I switched the seem tape with the magic mesh in the photos.

Take a look around the house, you might find something cool to give your paper texture!

I hope this will be useful to you.  I love the fact that the Recollections papers are nice and crispy for cutting, come in MANY wonderful shades and it goes on sale often!  It comes in many sizes also.  Let me know your thoughts on the process and if you have something you think will work better.  As I said before, this was born from my own brain so there may be something better and easier.  I know, just purchasing textured paper solves the problem BUT it just doesn't cut as clean :)
Have a blessed day!

EDITING TO ADD!!!
I just kept digging around my house for more texture ideas and found a package of Shade-Tex texture plates and tried them.  They are GREAT!  I purchased these online from an art supply source.  Can't remember which but it was probably either United Arts, Dick Blick or Sax.  Anyway here is what they look like:

And here is what a couple of the papers looked like after using the texture plates.  LOVE IT!!!!!

OK I'll quit tearing my house apart for textures but what do you think about window screening ????? ;)