Share Your Space: Allie Stewart

Hello there! Allie here today, and I am super excited to share my scrap space with you! I have a teeny tiny space in a teeny tiny room, and so I feel like I’ve become a pro at consolidating. I do store lesser used items like buttons, ribbon, etc. in another place so it doesn’t take up my valuable real estate! Without further adieu…

TAH-DAH!!! I use a banquet table from Target as my work space. It’s sturdy, cheap, and portable! I tend to be messy, so it’s great to have a surface that will survive a beating, and one that I won’t care too much about ruining!

On the edge of the table is my Cameo, a lamp, and my embellishment storage. These compartments are GENIUS. They are just tool compartment storage from Lowe’s (or Home Depot) that I spray painted. I keep them divided by embellishment and/or collection (depending on what it is). I love that I can just grab one drawer at a time and have it out with me while I’m working. They also hold SO much! Here’s a look at a few of them:

 

 

 

 I use this craft storage shelf thingy to store my mists, silhouette pens, journaling cards, 6″x 6″ paper pads, and a basket of various ephemera.

I store my journaling/Project Life cards in these photo cases:

The greenish organizer used to hold gift cards and CDs at the Starbucks store where I work. I painted it and rearranged it a bit to hold some embellishments and to have a place for my ink, tools, and photos. To the right, I keep all my chipboard and 12″x12″ sticker sheets standing up between the organizer and the paper holder.

 

I keep my most used papers in this paper organizer, with each slot designated for specific papers. I have it organized by: Misc. newer sheets, Crate Paper, Maggie Holmes, Teresa Collins/Echo Park/Webster’s Pages/MME, and American Crafts (including Studio Calico, Pink Paislee, etc.). This is what makes sense in my mind!

On top of the paper organizer, I keep a basket of my Thickers (and a few 6″x12″ sticker sheets). I limit myself to whatever Thickers fit into the basket. If I have too many, I purge before I purchase more. Thickers are a HUGE weakness of mine! I remove the outer packaging and place them into individual 6″x12″ bags. It is so much easier that way!

 My scrap area is in a room that also holds my vanity, a book shelf, my husband’s closet, and some storage. Not pictured in the main photo is clear Sterilite drawers that hold our office supplies. On top of these I keep 4 Iris containers that contain design team supplies, and Christmas paper. If I have a current kit box, it goes on top of this pile.

I have a bulletin board above my desk so I can constantly see things that inspire me and make me happy!

Underneath the table is a great place for storage too! The white bin is where I put the recycle, and the pink and black basket is where I keep my scraps. I keep tools, punches, and lesser used paper in the Sterilite drawers.

In the other two paper organizers, I keep lesser used (but still loved) paper like Sassafras (may it rest in peace), plain cardstock, and specialty papers. On top of the paper organizers I keep paper pads and bulk paper (such as the 25 sheet packages from Tuesday Morning), and white cardstock. I have another organizer for lesser used tools so I can grab them whenever needed. Teddy keeps a close watch (not really, cause he’s blind 🙂 ) on my supplies for me. You’ll ALWAYS find him in his bed right there if I’m in the room!

And that is my space! It is teeny tiny, but I love it and it works great for me! I’ve learned a lot about making such a small space work, and I have some tips I’d like to pass along.

• Think Outside the Box: Get creative with your storage! Home Depot is actually a great place to shop for scrap storage. Re-purpose anything you can that will help keep your organized! You don’t have to only use storage designed for crafts.

• Toss that Packaging: Unless you need the packaging to make it work for you, I highly recommend getting rid of any and all packaging. Packaging takes up valuable space, and adds clutter (plus it is time consuming if you’re often opening and closing it)! If you can get away with it, toss that packaging!

• Consolidate, consolidate, consolidate! If I have two half used sticker sheets, I combine them all onto one sheet. Repeatedly doing this will save so much space! I do this with stickers, enamel dots, chipboard sheets, and more! I often cut up sheets of dimensional embellishments so I am not limited in the way I store them.

• Space is Valuable: If you’re not using it often, store it somewhere else! It’s much easier to occasionally go and get something than to fight through clutter and chaos. If you’re never going to use it, PURGE!!I I often go through my supplies and donate what I’m not going to use. My style changes and it is more beneficial for me to not have supplies weighing me down!

Thanks for joining me today! I hope you found this helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions!

Geek Lab: Living the Dream

Hello everyone! Allie here today, and I’m sharing a fun page about my husband using the gorgeous May kit! I love all the fun and happy color, and I think the name “Carnival” is perfect. There are so many gorgeous paper and embellishments included, and I wanted to cram them all on every page! I restrained myself, but I did make lots of pages using as many paper as possible, including this one:

To create this layout, I used the exclusive May background cut file. I decided to manipulate the cut file to suit the design I had in mind, and I have a tutorial showing how you can do this too! Side note: I love this picture of my husband! He came to visit me at work and he ended up with three cups of Starbucks. I just had to take a picture because it was too funny!

First, open the cut file in Silhouette Studio.

Next, click on “Edit Points” button in the top right corner (the arrow with the dots).

Once the “Edit Points” button has been selected, click on the point in your cut file that you’d like to delete. It should look something like this:

Next, click “Delete Points” until you have the shape you want.

This is what I ended up with:

By deleting the points around the shapes, I was able to create a background.

After I cut it out using my Silhouette, I backed the circles with scraps from my kit.

I love manipulating cut files, and I hope you found the explanation helpful. I think it’s a great way to get more mileage out of your cut files!

Spring Card Kit Fun!

Hello! Allie here today, and I am excited to share a few more projects using the Clique Cards Spring kit!

I love the “Mint to Be” quote and thought it was so perfect for the colors in this kit! I will definitely be giving this card to my husband. The mint and gold look so pretty together!

For this fun card, I used the triangle motifs in the On Trend collection! Cutting triangles out of the patterned paper makes the card extra special.

For this card, I mixed the April Main Kit with the card kit! I love how the card kit is so versatile!

Have you made anything with your card kit yet? I think my favorite item is the stamps–I love the brush script! Thanks for joining me today!

Yearbook: You Mean the World to Me

Hello there! Allie here today sharing another fun way to use photo strips!

Having photobooths at weddings is becoming popular, and I’m totally on board with that! Between our own wedding and the last few wedding seasons, I’ve collected quite a few photo strips. Sometimes, however, the long, vertical, line of photos doesn’t work for my page. This was the case when I was using the May Carnival kit. I loved the colors and the sentiment on the journaling card, and I wanted to use the photobooth strip, but it just wasn’t working. I decided to do the unthinkable: I cut it up!! By taking scissors to my photo strip, I was able to have several smaller photos that were easier to work with than one long piece.

This is a great way to get more photos on your page, and to use the trendier smaller size photos. I also have a tutorial on how you can create your own photo strip here for easy printing if you’d like to try this at home!

For the rest of the layout, I used as many of the patterned papers from the kit as I could! I wanted it to coordinate with the beautiful rainbow map, ad to be fun and happy, like our photos. To add some texture, I bent the ends up at the bottom. Next, I added the fun washi strips on each corner, and the adorable puffy stickers!!

I hope you feel encouraged to cut into any photobooth pictures you might have lying around. If cutting them up scares you, you could scan them in, and cut into a printed copy instead of the original. Either way, it’s a fun and different way to use them up! Have a wonderful day!

Clique Cards Spring Kit

Hello friends! Allie here today, and I can’t even tell you how much I love the Clique Cards Spring Edition Kit! It packed with so many beautiful papers and embellishments that are perfect for cards, layouts, and any other projects. I created many, many projects with this fun kit, and today I have a few to share with you!

The gold elements in the kit add such a fun touch and are perfect for elegant cards!

I love using strips of patterned paper as a background. This technique is perfect for 6″x6″ paper pads or scraps! Aren’t the stamps so neat? I stamped “celebrate” onto patterned paper and hand cut it for a fun title!

All of the gem-themed items are so adorable!

I just had to make a layout with this collection. I love the colors so much!!

Another fantastic thing about this kit is how well it mixes and matches with other collections. Here is a card using the Spring Card kit and the April Main kit!

Thank you for joining me today! I hope you feel inspired to create some fun spring projects!

Locker Room: XOXO

Hello! Allie here, and today I’d like to share how to create this easy layout using the February Punxsutawney kit!

 

1. First I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out this giant heart from white cardstock. If you don’t have a die cutting machine, you can cut a giant heart and just do a striped look without the “XOs”. It would look just as neat!

2. Next, cut various strips from the patterned papers in the February kit to back the heart design with. They ended up being about 1 1/4″ inches tall, based on the size of heart I cut.

3. Use an adhesive runner, glue stick, or spray to cover the back of the heart. Place the strips to cover each line of XOXOs. Trim around the heart, then adhere to a white cardstock base.

4. On the lower left side, add a photo, paper scraps, ephemera, and flair to embellish. On the right side, use paper scraps and die cuts to balance out the page.

5. Next, use the bottom border strips from four sheets of paper to frame your layout. Add mist splatters, and you’re done!

I love how easy and simple this page is, yet it looks much more complex! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this technique!

Study Hall: Adventure

Hello there! I, Allie, am in love with all the colors and patterns in the February Punxsutawney kit! I wanted to use as many of the patterns as possible, so I created this fun layout.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the polka dot background, then punched out slightly larger circles with a circle punch. I backed the dots with the circles, make sure to alternate patterns and colors! Next, I used the piece of ephemera that said “Adventure” to build the title of my layout. I absolutely adore the multi-colored thickers!

The bright and fun colors in this layout make me so happy! I added some more ephemera as well as puffy stickers to balance out the title.

I love the cute pleather hearts from the add-ons–there are just too many cute items in this kit! Finally, I added a hefty dose of mist splatters to complete the layout. Super easy and fun! I love using bits of ephmera to build titles and focal points. They make creating layouts so easy!

What’s your favorite part of the kit so far? Mine is the thickers, and the ephemera, and the patterned paper, and the puffy stickers, and everything!

 

Yearbook: I Can and I Will

Hello! Allie with you today, and I’m here to talk about journaling! I’ve mentioned before that I rarely journal. I rely on long titles and quotes to communicate my thoughts and feelings. Quotes can be a great tool to inspire and jump start your pages! I often use quotes from Pinterest as a foundation for my layouts, but today I was inspired by a quote I heard while watching the Golden Globes! One of the winners, Gina Rodriguez, said something that stood out to me. She begins each morning with “Today is a good day, I can and I will”. I love that! I decided to use part of that quote to build a layout about myself.

I used the “dream” elements from the February Punxsutawney kit to tie in with the theme. Aren’t the glasses elements adorable? I normally wear glasses and I love that they’re included in this kit! I am so inspired by this quote, and I love that documenting it in this layout serves as a reminder to me.

Do you ever use quotes or phrases to inspire your projects and document your life?

Geek Lab: Teddy is Seven!

Hi everyone! Allie here, and I am excited to share an easy technique for printing multiple photos! I am a one-trick pony when it comes to using photos on my layouts. 4″x6″ is my friend, and I usually like to stick to just one at a time. I love the look of multiple photos on layouts, but I don’t like paying for specialty prints or messing with photoshop to get them printed. Luckily, I have a solution that I try to implement as often as possible in order to get out of my one-photo comfort zone! What is it you ask? Photosheet! I heard about Photosheet years and years ago. It’s super easy to use! Once downloaded, all you need to do is open it…

…select the “grid” size and layout you want to use (I use 6×4 and 1 image x 2 images for two pictures on a 4″x6″, or 2 images x 2 images for four pictures), and drag/drop your photos!

Once you hit “Start” it creates the photo for you in your selected folder, and you have a 4″x6″ photo ready to print! This is how I resize all my pictures for my Project Life pocket pages, or when I want o use multiple photos on a layout. Here is the layout I created using Photosheet and the February Punxsutawney Kit!

I used a shaped punch to create brightly colored stars scattered across the page, and added the sequins to make them extra special.

 

I love the doughnuts and the “Sweet Treat” flair. I bought a cupcake for my dog’s birthday (don’t judge me), because I wanted to get a picture of him with it. He normally shows no interest in human food, so I thought it would be perfectly fine. He ended up lunging at the cupcake and eating nearly all of it!! It was too funny and a perfect picture for the treat elements of the kit. The journaling cards in this kit are so pretty, and they make the best layering pieces!

Thank you for letting me share with you today! I hope you enjoyed my easy shortcut for printing multiple photos!

Locker Room: Creating a Pinterest Inspired Layout

Hello! Allie here today, and today I wanted to share a Pinterest inspired layout. Whenever I feel like I’m in a rut or have no creativity flowing, I turn to Pinterest. Some of my best ideas have come from a random image that I’ve stumbled across! When searching for inspiration, I personally like to look for images that are not scrapbooking related. It gives me that extra challenge to think outside the box! Here’s what I created and how I did it:

I pinned this image quite sometime ago, and I thought it would be perfect to use with the November Homecoming Kit!

In order to replicate the geometric background, I searched for a similar cut file in the Silhouette Store. I found this cut file, cut it out from white cardstock.

Mimicking the image, I backed random triangles with various patterned papers (and the gorgeous gold vellum) from the kit. I tried to place the patterned papers so that each design was spread evenly throughout the page and not next to itself. Then, I used my photo strip technique to print out multiple pictures of my pup. I added a few layers using the gorgeous Lemon Owl papers and the cute Freckled Fawn paper clip from the kit!

And with that, the layout was complete! I love using Pinterest to create layouts. Do you ever use Pinterest to jump start your creativity?