Annual Rubber Stamp Show

I almost forgot to tell you that I went to our local Rubber Stamp Show this weekend with my girlfriend Kim.  This was her first show and she was like a kid in a candy store.  She was only use to the rubber stamps and the stamping supplies that you see in the local craft stores.

I’m not sure what’s going on with this wonderful craft, but boy did this show get smaller then it was in previous years and to boot they are only have one show this year not two.

I did notice that one vendor in particular was busy.  They were selling Copic markers.  It seems like people are just finding or hearing about these markers, hey you know that I love them.   Anyway, I found just a few things this year that I needed (we all need some new stamps right?).  One was a cute stamp set that has just four stamps but it is of the four seasons which I thought was cute and also a stamp of my two favorite things a cat holding a cup of coffee.  I also got some good deals on ink pads and embossing paste, other than that Kim got the rest. She bought so many different kinds of things that she’s going to have to show me how they turn out.  For instance, blank domino (no dots) that she is going to stamp on with her new butterfly stamps, she also got some chip board blocks to stamp on, lots of brass stencils, and I better stop telling you all the cool stuff she got just in case her hubby is reading this post  ~ LOL.

Check out rubber stamp events online to see if they will be in your area, and if they are go check out the different kind of things that you just don’t find in your local craft store.

Make it a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Tags: rubber stamp show, rubber stamping supplies, rubber stamps

Ways To Store Your Rubber Stamping Supplies With Your Rubber Stampede, Magenta Stamps or Other

All you need to make your own personalized greeting card or scrapbook page is a rubber stamp and a few rubber stamping supplies.  Sure you can personalize with your computer but is that really personal?  Not for me.  I love to make everything hand-made.  It is the personal touch that I really like.

Some basic rubber stamping supplies that you will need are of course a rubber stamp, ink pad and some paper.  But with all the really cool rubber stamping supplies on the market today, who can just use those three things?  Not me.

Your possibilities are endless when it comes to rubber stamping supplies.  They can be anything from an embellishment that you add to your card or scrapbook page, to the place where your embellishments are stored and organized.

I keep all of my rubber stamping supplies in labeled containers.  Since I am not that good in remembering which manufacturer of stamps make my favorite stamps like the Magenta stamp, Rubber Stampede, Hero Arts, Outline Rubber Stamp, Stampendous and the list can go on an on,  (because they are all my favorites), I organize them by theme or by holiday.

When I just listed some of the stamp manufacturers, I just remembered that I bought the cutest self cling Magenta stamp of two cats when I was at the stamp convention.  It reminded me of my two cats when they sit in our window looking like book ends.  Another Magenta stamp that I have is a wood block stamp with the image of a kitten in a field of flowers.  Wow, I almost forgot about that stamp.  I want to make some note cards with that one.

Besides Magenta stamp, Magenta also makes really cute Metallic, self adhesive embellishments that are really great for scrapbook pages, cards and even picture frames.  My favorite is a package that they have with four of my favorite words.  Create, Imagine, Believe and Dream.  I also have a really good video from Magenta “The Art of Stamping Magenta Style” that shows you how to use your Magenta stamp to its fullest.

Another great summer time stamp is from Rubber Stampede.  It is a fun border stamp of cocktails.  You can use this stamp for a border or you can make an invitation for a cocktail party.  Rubber Stampede has fun stamps.  I also was on a “kick” of all oriental themed stamps, and Rubber Stampede really had some great looking stamps that I used a lot.  I can go on and on about how great Magenta and Rubber Stampede stamps are and for that matter each manufacturer of rubber stamps.  Maybe I will one day but not today.

I also keep some of my rubber stamping supplies in a spice rack.  That’s right a spice rack, I think of it as spicing up my crafts.  This is a great place for brads, eyelets, buttons, rhinestones and anything else that will fit in these small jars.

Rubber stamping supplies can also be housed in recycled containers.  Since I use a lot of embossing powder one great container that I use is a plastic grated cheese container.  It has the holes on one side to shake out slowly and the other side is one big opening that I use to put back the un-used powder back into the container with my funnel dish.

If you have some decorative metal tins, that is also a great place for rubber stamping supplies.  I have this really cure tin that stores my mini spot ink pads.

I remember shopping in a kitchen gadget store.  They had silver tins for recipes and I guess cooking supplies.  Well of course I bought them and now they are the new home for all of my brads that I have accumulated over the years along with some of metal picture corners that I have from Making Memories to pewter charms and Metallic embellishments from Magenta Stamps.

Another great place for your rubber stamping supplies is photo boxes.  They are inexpensive and a great size to hold small paper packs, envelopes, packages of dimensional adhesives and even for cards that you have made for safe keeping.

For some of those big bulky foam stamps that you might have, a great place to store those and other odd shaped rubber stamping supplies are in a plastic clear shoe box.

The most important thing that I can say is LABEL all your rubber stamping supplies.  There is nothing worse than being in the middle of a project and wanting something to add to your piece of art and not knowing where to find it.

Make it a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Tags: magenta stamp, rubber stampede, Rubber Stamping, rubber stamping supplies

Exciting Re-Design of Joans Craft World is Now Complete

Joans Craft World has undergone a face-lift so to speak. We’ve chosen a new layout to improve our expression (making it brighter and more airy) and there is still our awesome content here for your enjoyment. We’re looking to share many more tidbits with you about what we all love – getting lost in the world of making our crafts!     In that regard, keep an eye out for our shopping suggestions as we have provided you with some great short-cuts to the stuff you deserve to have to use in your creations. Here are some quick menu selections:

Rubber Stamping Stuff

Scrapbooking Stuff

Make it a Great day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Tags: craft supplies, Rubber Stamping, rubber stamping craft supplies, rubber stamping supplies, rubber stamps, scrapbook

ORGANIZING YOUR CRAFT SUPPLIES – Part 2 of 3

Continued From Yesterday:

** Storage Containers. Do a little bit of research and purchase a Scrapbooking and/or Rubber Stamp organizer, which will hold papers, rubber stamps, supplies, etc. There are many products on the market that can help you keep it all together. Many office supply stores carry six-drawer organization stations. They’re vertical and have 6 see-through drawers of equal size. Each drawer can be designated for a different purpose -papers, templates/die-cuts, stickers, etc. Plus, they have wheels, which make them very easy to transport from one room to another. Or, if you often bring your Scrapbooking or Rubber Stamping supplies outside of your home when attending a crop party or to a friend’s house, use a portable system that isn’t too heavy and comes with a handle and wheels for easy transport. Again my favorite is Crop-In-Style Navigator. It holds everything that you need for a night out or weekend scrapping event. If you are a Stamper, Crop-In-Style also has a tote that has drawers inside to hold your rubber stamps and supplies called the Stamp Store that works really well.

** Try a kitchen gadget caddy. If you always Scrapbook and make Handmade Greeting Cards at home, use a kitchen utensil caddy with a number of divided compartments, like those you normally keep tall kitchen spoons, ladles, and spatulas in. They hold your markers and embossing powders in them perfectly. The ones that spin will you’re your most used supplies at your fingertips.

** Hang it up. If you’re lucky enough to have a Craft Room specifically for you Scrapbooking and/or making Handmade Greeting Card, hang a large pegboard above your work area. You can then attach scissors, templates, crimpers, rulers, stencils and more, all within easy sight and reach. In addition, you might hang a small ledge or shelf nearby, to store all of your corner punches, paper trimmers, embossing powders, and so on. If you prefer everything out in the open, this system will work like a charm. Check out the new Rack system by Lisa & Becky.

** Save stickers and shapes. Stickers and punched shapes can be kept in acid-free sheet protectors, plastic baseball card sheets, business card sheets. Each sheet should be categorized and labeled by theme: birthday, Christmas, Halloween, wedding, springtime, etc. Insert these sheets into a 3-ring binder. If you have a large number of stickers and shapes, you may want to purchase a sticker binder designed just for stickers. My favorite is from Crop-In-Style sticker binder.

** Minimize and organize magazines. Are your bookcase/shelves full of Scrapbooking magazines and or Handmade Greeting Card magazines? You can go through your magazines, find the articles you wish to keep and organize them into file folders by category, or in a 3-ring binder. In other words, keep the articles, toss the magazines. There are many Special Edition Magazines that I store in a large 3 ring binder all in tact.

** Choose a designated work area. Scrapbooking is more fun and less of a chore when everything is in one place. If possible designate a room, or a portion of a room, in your home for this activity .Organize your work area for increased productivity. Make sure it’s well lit. Find a comfortable chair to sit on and keep your supplies and tools within arm’s reach.

Organizing your craft supplies Part 1

Organize Scrapbooking Room Part 3

Tags: craft room, Handmade Greeting Cards, organizing craft supplies, rubber stamping supplies, rubber stamps, Scrapbooking

ORGANIZING YOUR CRAFT SUPPLIES – Part 1 of 3

Organizing Your Craft Supplies:

Find the system that works for you. Different personalities require different organization systems. Just get a system that works for you and the space that you work in. Also get a system that will allow you to grow as your supplies grow. You don’t want to keep changing your system all that does is confuse you and then you have no idea where you put things (I know, it’s happened to me).

If you find things easier when they’re alphabetized, then use that type of system. Perhaps you’re better at finding things by color, or maybe you prefer to organize by manufacturer. It’s all about finding the style that makes you most productive.

** Storing photographs. Once your photos are developed (or printed), you need to store them safely until you’re ready to put them in your scrapbook. Keep them separated by year or event. There are so many different products out on the market to store your photos in, just make sure that they are acid free and archival safe. Don’t forget to Label the outside this will save you time later when looking for a specific photo or event.

** Store embellishments and other items. Sometimes, for the purpose of creatively decorating your scrapbook, you may wish to keep tickets, brochures, maps and postcards, golfing score cards that are related to a particular trip or event. Use manila file folders, and label them so you know what is inside. File them away until they’re ready to be used. Once you want to add these articles to you scrapbook page, a good idea will be to spray them with an acid free, archival quality protective coating. Again there are many different kinds on the market. I use a spray from Rogers Craft Source called Scrapbook Protectant Spray.

** Organize paper. Where do you keep all of that cool paper until you’re ready to use it? Many Scrapbookers use paper racks to organize their paper. Vertical paper storage also is a great alternative this is my choice for storing paper. It is easy to pick out your favorite colored or pattern paper quickly. You can get a plastic, portable filing container just make sure that it is archival safe. There are also hanging file folders available. Label the hanging files by theme or color. If you don’t have room for all of these racks and filing cabinets, Crop-In-Style has a portable Paper Taker tote that also works fantastic for all size papers.

You may also want to buy acid free photo boxes to hold blank Greeting Cards and Envelopes for your handmade card. You can label the outside of the box with the size of the cards and also the color of the cardstock. This helps when looking for a specific size/color blank card.

** Storing Rubber Stamps. Shallow, plastic containers work best. You shouldn’t stack rubber stamps; the reason is that it will be easier to see the top of the stamp that shows your design. In my case I have thousands of stamps so I do have some that are stacked but I also have then in plastic containers that are labeled with the theme of the stamps inside.

** Store tiny stuff. For very tiny die-cuts and other small items such as brads or eyelets, check out storage containers at your local craft store or even hardware store. They have great items for organizing. Baby food jars or any clear containers serve the same purpose.

** Keep it together. Already have a pretty good idea of stickers and die-cuts you’re planning to use with a particular set of photographs? Keep them in the same storage product that you have chosen for your photos until you’re ready to put them into your scrapbook. This way, everything will be in one place and ready to use.

Have a Great Day and don’t forget to leave time to Craft!

Organize Craft Supplies Part 2

Organize Scrapbooking Room Part 3

Tags: craft room, embellishments, Handmade Greeting Cards, organizing craft supplies, rubber stamping supplies, rubber stamps, Scrapbooking