Monthly Archives: July 2022

Simply Succulents Sunday

I was recently in New Mexico, so this succulents stamp set (Simply Succulents #154480, pg 32 in the Annual Catalog) really resonated with me!  There is also a coordinating die set, Potted Succulents (#154330 pg 173 in the Annual Catalog).  The die set includes the background cutout as well as the floral shapes, flowerpot and several label shapes.  I cut the background die from some vintage shimmer paper, but you could achieve this look by inking silver shimmer paper with different ink colors or blenders.  I inked the agave and flowerpot die cuts with blenders, but left the succulent blank for contrast.  There are some other sentiments with the stamp set that I like as well, and will definitely use on some future cards!

To order the stamp and die sets, please use the link on the green heart!

What inspiration have you used for your cards?  Please leave a comment and let me know!

Tidy Tuesday!

Do you ever want to make a card and have to spend more time FINDING all the parts then it take to actually MAKE the card? That has happened to me WAY TOO many times! I have been devoting 2022 to eliminating that problem! Every Tuesday I spend some time ORGANIZING my stash. And after over 10 years with Stampin’ Up!, have I got a STASH!
I love color (I think I have mentioned that before…hehe), so I have EVERY SU color inkpad that has come out over that time, PLUS the re-inkers, markers, cardstock and blenders to match. OOF! Realistically, I use the current colors 99.9% of the time, so I have spent most of my time organizing my stamping area for easy access to those colors of paper, inkpads, etc. Recently, Stampin’ Up! has come out with some marker and Inkpad storage solutions, which I have purchased, and they help. But for other things, I have started accumulating Stamp-n-Storage products (www.stampnstorage.com). They are very well made, ship quickly, and customer service has been great!

My first purchase was 4 of the 8 1/2″ x 11″ cardstock storage cubes – a bit of an investment but SOOOOO much easier than digging through piles of cardstock packages! I could have organized these in a few ways, such as by the SU color groupings, or, as a lot of folks do, by color (rainbow, light to dark, etc.), but I chose alphabetical by name. It does mean that when the new colors come out each year, I will have to move some labels around, but it just makes more sense to my little mind – no time wasted guessing whether that “Blue” is “Night of Navy” or “Misty Moonlight”. I also realized I needed to restock some colors! Yikes! I chose the version with 15 slots per cube, so I can easily fit all 40 SU regular colors, the 10 colors that change every 2 years, the 3 basic colors (black, vanilla and white) and my absolute favorite paper, shimmery white, with a few left (maybe store my catalogs there for the year?)

Here’s where I was a few months ago as I started to fill up the cubbies with the paper in proper order at the time (I’ve since incorporated the 2022-2023 colors):

What are your favorite organizing tips? and…how would YOU organize your colors?