Fun With My New Distrezz It All

Today has been a GREAT day! Why? Because this morning Mr. FedEx arrived with my recent amazon.com order which included my new Distrezz It All and my one inch Antique Brass owires. Fifteen minutes later Mr. UPS arrived with my recent joann.com order which was loaded with chipboard, 7 Gypsies book boards and some round paper punches (I wanted better nesting options for various projects)! So yes... a wonderful day indeed! And of course I was ready to get playing with my new "toy"... I had already cut my paper to the right size for my new book boards so I whipped out my new distrezzer and.... HOLY TOLEDO!! That thing has some serious kick! I about had a heart attack with the way that thing grabbed onto my first set of papers. After that though, it was super easy and I am soooooo, soooooo deeply in love with it!! So here's my first project utilizing the Distrezz It All, a long with the Bind It All and my new 7 Gypsies book boards... Enjoy!

I filled the book with 30 pages of Kraft card stock. Doesn't it just look so lush and wonderful?

I really love the character the Distrezz It All adds. It really pulls together the vintage inspired aesthetic. Plus, it distresses at a rapid speed. I couldn't believe how quickly I finished this project. So yeah... I am in love with Zutter products... the soul mate kind of love.

As always

Angela

Where The Magic Happens...

I absolutely love taking a peek into other people's crafty spaces. Too fun! So now I'm going to give a little peek into my own... I have pretty much taken over most of part of one of our home's common rooms as the place for all my crafting-- where the magic happens! Lately the magic has been getting less magical as things have become cluttered and crowded. I recently went through all my lovely supplies (can you say hoarder!?) and put things I no longer needed or wanted into a yard sale. Luckily, pretty much all of it sold right away! I decided to use my earnings on a couple new crafting items...the Zutter Kutter, the DreamKuts, and the Distrezz It All. Soooo... of course with all of these magnificent items on the way I REALLY needed to do some cleaning and de-cluttering. I decided to go ahead and get that done tonight since my orders should be rolling in sometime next week!

So here's the before...

And now the lovely after...

My lovely work surface... (If you look closely you can see my new paper trimmer! I decided to upgrade now that I'm going to be making a lot of books and journals. I wanted to be able to cut at least 6 inches without having to pull out the measurement arm).

This is where my photographic magic happens... in my little home made light box! This is an entertainment center I have completely re-purposed for my craft storage needs.

The whole she-bang...

Thanks for checking things out-- I look forward to sharing many up-coming projects with you as I settle into my newly cleaned and organized work space!

As always

Angela

Have Bind-It-All... Will Create!

I finally received my Bind It All order in the mail! (I hate waiting for online orders... bleh). It came yesterday and I was so excited to rip into, but once I had it open I sort of had a creative freeze. For the past couple of weeks all I've been able to do is think of ALLLL the amazing things I would make with my BIA, but there it was- right in my hands- and I was terrified! All I could think of was messing up everything I tried to make. My BIA sat on my work surface all day long... garnering passing glances from me. I felt we were sort of sizing eachother up. By the time my evening freedom (known as putting the kids to bed) rolled around I was ready to give show my BIA who's boss. So here it is... my very first BIA project! And wonder of all wonders... I didn't mess up a single time! Perhaps it was a case of beginners luck, but I'm not here to split hairs.

I created this to be an Envelope Ephemera Book (for holding ephemera and various paper bits) for someone on swapbot who is currently organzing her craft space. The cover image is what I am most proud of because she likes images of animals holding umbrellas and I had this from a card I had received and just cut off the front to use on something in the future. I knew it would be perfect for her!

The only thing I wasn't 100% pleased with was my binding job... it was just ever-so-slightly wonky. I'm sure it's just a matter of practicing!

I placed a total of 6 envelopes inside. I figured that would be enough space for breaking down ephemera into cattegories if she wants.

So there you have it! I don't mean to toot my own horn (ok, yes I do...), but I'm really happy with how it turned out. I hope it will make the recipient very happy!

As always

Angela

Where, Oh Where Have I Been?

I've been a little MIA lately... not just on my blog, but my etsy shop as well. So where have I been and what have I been up to? Well, I've been down the crafting rabbit hole. Let me explain... I am part of an online community called Swap Bot. This is a forum for joining in on public or private swaps with people from all over the world (or just your own region if you prefer) for almost ANYTHING your heart desires to swap. A few months ago an incredible group was started called the Tim Holtz Addicts group which I was invited to become a member of and was then made an officer. I was in craft heaven! As a lover of the Tim Holtz aesthetic I had finally found my "home" and proceeded to host and join in on many swaps. Since then most of my crafting time has been consumed with creating items for these swaps. I am also now a co-founder of the group which has been great! Needless to say my etsy shop and my blog naturally fell to the way-side. Hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things. As a start, let me share some of the things I have made in the past couple months for various swaps. And believe me, this is just a very small sampling. Ok, enough of my chit chat (or should I call it "type tap"?).

This is a charm bracelet I created for a swap I hosted. It now has a loving home in Switzerland!
These guys are images from the Tim Holtz Steampunk stamp set from Stampers Anonymous. I used them to create these little bottle cap magnets.

And here they are again (can you tell I love this stamp?)! These were made for a Tim Holtz Fragments swap.

This tag is made from all recycled materials and the use of Distress Inks and alcohol inks (both from Ranger). The wing of the bird moves!

Here is my second matchbox (which is also now in Switzerland with the same proud owner of the charm bracelet). I had sooo much fun making this and finding all the tiny elements for the inside. These are addictive to make!

Well, like I said-- that is just a small sampling of what I have been up to. You can view so much more on my Flickr Photostream. I hope you'll be inspired to fall down your own crafting rabbit hole!

As always

Angela