Anjali's Blog

Frugal Friday – All Stacked Up

Hema — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:44:37 +0000

As you saw in a previous post, my craft nook was a mess. I came up with this project as a way to oganize my ever growing collection of stamps, stamp pads, and other small supplies. I needed a system that would arrange all these items and allow for easy identification.

My solution - modular CD storage units. I purchased metal, cube shaped units that were sold in sets of 4 at the local wholesale club for about $9.00/set. However, once I assembled the units and started storing things, I realized that small containers would not sit upright in these cubes.

So, I make a flat base for each cube by measuring and cutting out thick cardstock. Each piece was stamped to add interest and look nice in my craft nook.

Using double stick tape the stamped pieces were positioned on the base of each cube to form a solid surface.

Voila!

More about what’s stored in this shelf in my next post.

Have a nice weekend.

“Frugality without creativity is just deprivation.” – Amy Dacyczyn.

This, That, & the Other Thursday – Craft Nook Chaos

Hema — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:54:31 +0000

After a house remodel a couple of years ago I was lucky enough to carve out a craft area for myself in our new attic. Unfortunately, organizing the boxes and boxes of supplies and still creating a usable work area has been a challenge. In addition the creative process I go through leaves by craft nook in a state of total chaos! How can you make a scrapbook page or greeting card unless you pull out every piece of patterned paper you own? You HAVE to paw through every box of jewelry findings to spot that perfect element!

Craft Area - Before Picture

I reached a point last holiday season where I simply had so much stuff scattered everywhere that I couldn’t find anything. It lead to duplicate purchases and countless hours of wasted time trying to locate a particular sticker or a particular color of ribbon.

My goal this year has been to fix this mess!!!

I will share some of the organization solutions that I have come up with in future posts.

Signed up for Technorati

Hema — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:07:59 +0000

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What’s Growing Wednesday – Disappointed Golden

Hema — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:00:54 +0000

With the strange weather pattern in the Northeast, this year my vegetable garden has been a bust.

Sad looking tomatoes

Compare this to last year’s yield.

Beefsteak Tomatoes from 2008

Cherry Tomatoes 2008

Probably, the biggest disappointment has been for my dog.

Tomato Incident

Oh well, there’s always next year.

Can’t wait for the next batch of seed catalogues!

“The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.” ~George Bernard Shaw

Technique Tuesday – Marble Inlay

Hema — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:00:17 +0000

Today’s technique continues with the theme from Monday’s post: Over the Top Bling. This project involved designing a title page for a scrapbook about my trip to the Taj Mahal. However, I could not find a piece of patterned paper that conveyed the “look” I was going for.

Taj Mahal - Title Page

My solution was to make my own patterned paper by designing a background that resembled marble inlay. I started with a picture that I had taken of the inlay work.

Marble Inlay

Using a lightbox I traced the design onto a piece of paper. After scanning the tracing and ”tweaking it” with a vector graphics program it was printed onto gray marble patterned paper. The effect was complete when metallic gel pens were used to color in the details.

Faux Marble Inlay

“The world speaks to me in colours, my soul answers in music.” – Rabindranath Tagore

Make it Monday – Over the Top Bling.

Hema — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:45:19 +0000

Welcome to my first post.

During a trip to India I had the good fortune of visiting the Taj Mahal. It was the most incredible, magnificent, fantastic, breathtaking, “blinged” out monument that I had ever seen. It was constructed by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife, Mumtaz, who died in childbirth. Using a workforce of over 20,000 laborers and 1,000 elephants the building was finished in 1653, taking 22 years to complete. The Taj is built of white marble and inlaid gemstones brought from as far away places as Persia, Turkey, and Assam.

When it came time to make a scrapbook of my visit to the Taj, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to bring this structure to life on my page. I decided that the grandeur of the theme just begged for a heaping dose of “bling.”

Taj Mahal - Title Page

The background was created by layering solid colored cardstock that had been cut with decorative scissors. The border was decorated with small dots drawn by hand with a gold metallic pen. The frame for this title piece was further enhanced by adhering flatback swarovski crystals and gold foil filigree.

Border embellished with Sworovski crystals

Detailed view of border

Check in tomorrow for details on how the background marble inlay was designed.

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau