New Distress Ink, My little ritual

Most people I know who collect craft supplies such as Distress Inks have their own little ritual for cataloguing and organising them. As I've purchased quite a few lately I've been thinking a lot about how I go through the same routine every time I get a new Ink - so much so that I've got it down to military precision (well, almost).

You may have already seen my colour chart that doubles as storage for my blending pads posts and it's really filling up now, so each new ink has to it's own place. I also have colour charts in both my A5 folder and pocket Filofax - not to mention the task of labelling of the ink pad itself.
 

 

Firstly, I open up all the new inks that need cataloguing (I usually buy 3 at a time on offer so it pays to be methodical) in this case I'm using the example of the 'Spring' limited edition seasonal inks. Each ink gets new blending foam pad from inkssentials at ranger. And I start by filling in the large colour chart. To limit the ink colour to the correct square I use post-its to mask all 4 edges. This is always my first proper taste of what the colour will actually look like so its quite exciting. Once dry I pop a square of sticky-backed Velcro in the centre (which will grip to the back of the foam pad once I've finished).

 

Next I take some scrap paper (here I used 3 unused pages from an old Filofax) and ink once in each colour. From this I cut 3 pieces: a 5cm by 1cm rectangle, a 1 inch butterfly punch, and a 1.5 cm bow punch.

 

The Butterfly fits perfectly in my resized A5 (sadly the seasonal inks have to go on the back for this sheet as I didn't originally allow for these). The bow fits into the boxes on my pocket filofax sheet (with extra boxes added here for the seasonal inks).

 

The 5cm by 1 cm strip goes on the side of each ink - this way I can see the colour easily when they are stacked, and quickly compare colours when using them together. I also take a silver pen from my papermania metallic bullet tip set and write the name on the side so they are easy to identify and there is no accidentally 'getting the wrong lid on the wrong ink' situation.

And that's my little ritual ... I feel much better for having shared, lol. This post also marks on official halt on Distress Ink purchasing still Christmas :( But apparently people need present ideas. That said when I started looking into Halloween cards and craft I have realised how I am seriously lacking I am in Oranges... [must controll buying impulses, must controll buying impulses]

What's in your filofax Friday #3

See, and you thought this feature wouldn't be back again ;) As the last post was so popular I couldn't resist sharing a filofax project I've whipped up.

 

 

 

This is my Mum's filofax. It's a black A5 Domino organiser from .... well, probably the dark ages. I think you'll agree it has seen better days (despite the fact that for this photo I hid 3 inches of loose elastic) and is probably in need of a nice cosy retirement on some bookshelf somewhere, but while a replacement is no-where to be seen I decided to help 'spruce it up a bit' starting with some dividers (similar to the ones you may have seen in filofax week #3).

 

Firstly I must state that I'm not condoning purchasing 'faux' filofax products, but if you did want to personalise yours with a bit of D.I.Y crafting then funky dividers are a quick and simple way to go.

 

You can basically use any card for this: wallpaper samples, scrapbook card, standard coloured card - you can even use stamps, inks and embellishments to make something totally unique (I'd advise trying to keep your creations as flat as possible so that your filofax actually closes, but there are lots of possibilities to choice from).

 

 

 

Materials used:

Paisley monochrome A4 card

A set of old dividers (as a template)

A single hole punch - or use an official filofax punch

Scissors

Pencil

 

 

 

The formula is pretty obvious:

Draw around template/s & mark hole sites > Cut out > Punch holes > Put it to use

 

If you have a full set of dividers simply draw around those, or as in my case where I'd borrowed one divider you can space them yourself or even cut straight rectangle dividers and make your own tabs (dies such as sizzix Tim Holz Alterations 'tiny tabs 'might work well for this).

 

 

I also added a couple of beads and a knot to tighten the loose elastic around the domino - I admit it's not the neatest job, but will hopefully suffice as a quick fix and certainly looks better than all that loose elastic.

 

It would be really nice to see a range of official filofax dividers, other than the basics, maybe themed to co-ordinate with colours in the range or perhaps limited editions designed by guest designers (I'm sure there is a market for Louis Vuitton or Gucci dividers) but until then we have scrapbook papers and wallpaper samples - the makers of FIlofax please take note ;)

Distress Ink colour chart: The start of an obcession

Last month I finally dove head first into the wonderful world of Tim Holtz's 'Distress inks' from Ranger. I have to admit I previously I thought they were just over priced ink colours and never gave them a second thought, then I discovered the series of Tim Holtz videos on YouTube and I knew I had to start collecting them. Perfect for the aged effects I've spent years attempting with good old fashioned tea bags (lol!) and that's not beginning to mention the blending and water blotting techniques.

 

 

 

As an avid collector and list maker I was pleased to find that the ranger website offer a free A4 pdf colour chart. I love the idea of checking the colours off as I collect them. I've already printed one for my folder and resized one for my filofax (see this Friday's filofax update).

While looking at ways to store my new inks I discovered Britta's series on 'No-Stress Distress Inks' and I instantly adopted her method for labelling the sides of the inks  with the titles and colour as its so much easier to keep track of them once stacked. I also liked her method of storing the foam pads on Velcro on a large version of the ranger colour chart, but wanted to use a bigger foam board - so I ended up printing her enlarged version, cutting the grid out, covering the board in brown paper and stencilling the title in sharpie marker and adding addition sets of boxes for each of the 'limited edition' seasonal colours (the titles are stamped on).

So far I have: Brushed Corduroy, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Broken China, Black Soot, Victorian Velvet, Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen, and Walnut Stain. I already have my eye on the next 3 ;)

What's in your Filofax Friday?

OK, probably not going to become a regular feature, lol, but I have finally resorected my filofax ... my 2005 'Popi' pocket sized organiser - which to be honest has seen some better days (see below right for the massive fissure in the vinyl) - but fingers crossed if it gets used religiously I may get a replacement for Christmas this year .... and Mr S if you're reading this the Malden Pocket Organiser in Vintage Pink is really rather nice ;)

After throwing away the old very outdated diary pages and buying the 2012-2013 academic refill I started adding all important dates and appointments along with the usual colour coded dots from my family organiser/calender at home (blue for birthdays, red for holidays/bank holidays, yellow for doctors, orange for dentists, green for clubs, pink for parties etc). I hole punched a sheet of stickers for the back too so I always have them handy (below, top). And I added some sticky tabs to mark important dates like the kids birthdays and the next hospital appointment to make them easy to flip to.

Then I started to print my own customised pages using a plain template I found at Philofaxy - a great resource for free filofax printable whatever size organiser you use.
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I made an inside cover (1st photo, top right), breakdown information sheet, emergency information sheet (2nd photo, middle right).
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I also discovered that I could print any PDF file in filofax size by changing the page size selected on page setup, so for my pocket sized organiser I selected 3.5 x 5inch and (assuming there wasn't much information near the left margin) this printed out perfectly proportioned. So I've been on the lookout for useful PDF resources like conversion tables, my son's school term dates and local pool swimming times (2nd image, middle left).
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To mark weeks of school holidays I used a blending tool and some red distress ink and stained the inside of each holiday week red (2nd photo, bottom right) and used some themed stamps to mark some important dates like Valentines day and Christmas.



A place of everything and everything in its place.

Today I thought I'd share a little obsession with you - although, I'm not always the tidiest person, I am a complete sucker for organisation and compartmentalisation. I'm the kind of person who would have a drawer for spoons, one for knifes, another for forks and one just for egg timers ... not to mentioning my childhood compulsion for putting my coloured pencils in rainbow order, lol.

The kids arts'n'crafts cupboard was a mess so recently it got a make-over, albeit just with cheap tupperware pots and printed out labels. Not only do these keep everything neat, but the kids know where to find everything - although the finger paint might need keeping under lock and key ;)

And for balance here is a selection of my crafting boxes including ribbon cut offs, loose buttons, A4 papers, scrapbook papers, and my glue guns. I love these clear boxes, as they are so neat and they fit perfectly into my drawers.