Tuesday, June 05, 2018

It's "Allwhite", it's a MEGAPOST

I have a white-on-white card today... something I do very rarely, mainly because I find them so HARD, lol.  Also, after the card I thought I'd share what's been taking a huge chunk of my crafting time recently... I've been working on sorting my craft room (fine tuning the storage really) and I've been working of my dies storge... lots of white card involved there too!  Sooo, this is a very picture-heavy post.  First the card
I made this sympathy card for our friend Gerald on the loss of his lovely wife Thelma... she was such a sweet lady and is sorely missed by us all.
The background paper is a tissue like paper with solid white dots on (hard to see in the pic), I've had some of this paper for years, I have it with white dots and with multicoloured dots on... I only use it on "special" cards, but I do take it out regularly to stroke it - it's very tactile :-)
I cut the oval aperture with a Spellbinders Standard Ovals die, the frame is Spellbinders Floral Ovals die using white card that I ran through a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder first.
The foliage is a Cheery Lynn die... Fanciful Flourish I think, the butterfly is Memory Box (Vivienne Butterfly?) with some clear rhinestones added to it's body.  Some more of the rhinestones added to the swirls on the flourish
I gave the inside much the same treatment as the outside, with the standard oval sentiment matt being placed on top of the Floral Ovals one instead of going to all the trouble of cutting a frame as for the front.  The sentiment was made on the computer, I printed it in dark grey instead of black so that it doesn't look as harsh.  I did finish the inside of the aperture with a frame like the front, it didn't NEED it, but it does make it look a lot more "finished".  That's it for the card, I'd like to enter in the following challenges:
Cuttlebug Mania Butterflies and/or Birds
Monochrome Magic Monochrome, Opt: No Patterned Paper
Now... you thought THAT was photo heavy, nooo, that part of the post is coming now :-)
I have been slowly doing "the sorting" of my craft room that I promised myself I would do when we stripped the room out and started from scratch...when we did the "new" kitchen - FIVE years ago!!  I am very nearly done now, yay! I'm going to take pics of the room and storage "options" and make a new page for my blog... today we have "Dies Storage 101", lol
I had some of my dies already in CD cases, I have kept my nested sets in CD cases and have now put all my other dies into DVD cases. I've put kraft paper in the covers and cut one of each die to add to that cover. Magnetic paper inside each case keeps the dies secure. 
A Dymo label on the edge lets me see what's what when they are stacked in the CD holder unit I have them in... which is attached to the end of my set of Ikea Billy units as seen above,  Phew!
I used LOADS of my white snippets getting all these dies cut, so I'm going to enter THIS project in Di's challenge over at Pixies Snippets Playground, hope it counts
I had to work out how to get the whole of my big alphabet die sets into one DVD case... I came up with a sort of stacked pocket system for the inside of the case... really works well, though it took several evenings of frustration!
I have a few more dies coming in the mail, but essentially I am DONE, yeehaw! I also have a few oversized ones that I have to work out a suitable system for, but that's a problem for another day.  
I thought, while I'm here, I'd show a few pics of how I keep multiple letters or words in line: First I line the letters up (my trimmer isn't dirty, I covered this one with clear contact as I was sick of the white measurements wearing off!) then I put clear low tack tape over them to pick them up.
Next I add glue (in this case a Zig pen) place them where I want them - rub to adhere, remove low tack tape, voila!  Not rocket science but someone may find it useful.  I cut my script words with double-sided tape on the back, but still get them "straight" on the low tack tape before taking the tape backing off... it stops the fine cuts from "stretching" when you take the backing off too, so bonus
If you've made it this far..... CONGRATULATIONS on your stamina, and thanks for your interest :-)).
I am working now on my clear stamps (in the bottom of my skinny cabinet).  My lace, ribbon, buttons, twines and embellies including every bead I own HAVE been sorted into suitable containers, I just have to tweak the labelling of those... again I'm very happy to be on this side of the sorting process, lol.  I will add pics of all those to my Craft Room Page... when I have pics and page :-)
That's it for today (Do I hear a "Thank Goodness for that"? lol) 
Until next time, Happy Crafting, Donna

17 comments:

Di said...

What a stunning card Donna - one of the loveliest white on white cards I've ever seen. So beautiful and obviously made with care and a lot of love.

Some really great ideas too about storage as well as lining up sentiments and letters - my Achilles tendon so thanks very much for that!

I sent you an email earlier BTW.

Hugs

Di xx

Anna-Karin said...

Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for playing along with us at Crafty Creations. Anna-Karin DT

Leanne said...

Donna this is elegant love the embossing and those dies are so pretty, great card, and love the craft room.
Thanks for playing our challenge at 4 Crafty Chicks.

Leanne DT/4CC

Kim Hamilton said...

Really beautiful card! Thanks so much for joining us at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge :)

Andrea said...

I'm late to the party this week but thanks for joining us in our Anything Goes Challenge at Polkadoodles

Gina said...

Beautiful white card ! And what a luxurious craft room ! Thank you for joining our Catch the Bug Saturday Challenge! Creative regards, Gina (DT)

Lisa J said...

Beautiful White on White card. Thanks for playing along with me this month. Lisa Monochrome Magic

Margaret said...

Stunning card. Thanks for joining us at Creatalicious Challenge. Good luck. Maggie, DT

Lisa Lynn said...

Beautiful card for a difficult situation. Love the white on white. Thanks for joining in the Catch the Bug Challenge, Lisa Lynn DT.

Cathy said...

Beautiful white on white card, I'm sure this will be treasured by your friend. Great storage tips too, your craft room looks lovely and so weel organized, Cathy x

Sarn said...

Very inspiring post on storage. Thanks.
Absolutely stunning w.o.w card too.
Popped over from Snippets Playground to say Hi. Congratulations on your GD spot x

Jane said...

Hello Donna, I have popped over from the Playground to say hi. Wow how organised you are, this all looks fab.I also loved your gorgeous pop up card you made for your GD spot, thanks so much for sharing your talents! Hugs xx

Aquarius said...

Love the white on white card, very elegant. What a lovely long post detailing how you've organised your dies - brilliant and so tidy (unlike my 'system' which isn't really a system at all). I'd say organised chaos would be a better description.

Cath Wilson said...

Gosh, you are seriously organised! I'm so impressed...

LOVE the card - it's so elegant and so simple but looks absolutely gorgeous!

Cath x

Alice (scrAPpamondo) said...

Big congrats for your organization!! It seems very useful (and beautiful, too!)

Darnell said...

I've come straight from Di's to read about your organization which I think is nothing short of brilliant, Donna! Thank you for sharing! I also want to say that your W-O-W card is spectacular and to thank you for being the Pixie Guest Designer this time!! Hugs, Darnell

Melanie said...

A lovely card!
Thank you soo much for taking part in our "anything goes with photo inspiration” challenge over at Creatalicious & good luck in the draw.
Hope to see you again in our new challenge as well…

Hugs,
Melanie
(DT-Coordinator Creatalicious Challenges)

(DT Crafty Friends)

(DT The Sketchy Challenges)


PS: Sorry for the late comment, life had been very busy these past weeks…