Summer Picnics

Coming up for us this weekend is the B.C. Day holiday. The weather is pretty nice, very warm though. Most people are going to want to be outdoors in the summer sun and enjoying their long weekend. One thing that we think of when we think of  summertime outdoors are picnics, so this week we are going to give you some tips and ideas to help you create and plan for a perfect summer picnic. Enjoy!

1.      Mason Jar Straw Lids – As we all know, I’m not a fan of bugs. I’m definitely not a fan of bugs getting into my food. I always cover up my drinks with some sort of cover and I inspect my food when I have left it outdoors. I found this cool idea to protect your drinks from bugs on That’s What {Che} Said...

http://www.thatswhatchesaid.net/2013/mason-jar-straw-lids/

2.      Make Your Own Picnic Basket - Everyone needs a basket to pack their picnic lunch in, so here is a very neat and cute idea. You can make your very own picnic basket from an wooden apple basket.

 

http://www.stylemepretty.com/living/2012/10/14/smp-at-home-diy-picnic-baskets/

3.      Mason Jar Meals – Here’s another way to use a mason jar. This is a very clean and easy way to prepare a meal to go. You can practically choose any type of meal and come up with a mason jar dish to create. Check out some ideas that they have on Buzzfeed.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/candacelowry/incredible-meals-you-can-make-in-a-mason-jar#.vqYEQA1kL

 

4.      All in One Picnic Blanket – Another staple from a picnic is the picnic blanket. If you’re a sewer than you can give this one a try that I found on Craftbuds. It is a tote that turns into a blanket. How cool and efficient is that?

http://www.craftbuds.com/all-in-one-picnic-blanket-tote/

5.      Paper Picnic Baskets – Here’s another different picnic basket idea. These are super cute and can be a simple of as elaborate as you want.

 http://ohhappyday.com/2012/04/styled-eats-diy-picnic-baskets-and-free-printable/

6.      Picnic Caddies – Need a way to carry around all your picnic utencils? Try these hand sewn caddies.

http://snowybliss.blogspot.ca/2011/04/picnic-easter-baskets.html

7.      Bowl Cover Strap – Here is the food protectant version of the mason jar straw lids. These are hand sewn bowl cover straps that you can reuse to cover all that yummy picnic food.

http://mayamade.blogspot.ca/2010/05/pinic-bowl-cover-strap-how-to.html

8.      Laminated Table Cover – If you opt to use a picnic table instead of a blanket, then here is an easy to clean table cloth that you can try to make.

http://www.sewcando.com/2011/06/craftshare-laminated-tabletop-tutorial.html

9.      Kubb Game – If you’re adventurous and super crafty, give this Swedish game a try. You can make it at home from these instructions and it will be a fun way to stretch your legs after sitting during your picnic lunch.

http://www.designsponge.com/2011/08/diy-project-kubb-%E2%80%93-the-swedish-lawn-game.html

10.  Camp Stools – So if you don’t like sitting on the ground for so long you can try making yourself one of these cool little stools. Here are the instructions from Design Sponge. 

http://www.designsponge.com/2011/06/diy-project-tripod-camping-stool.html

DIY Postcard

From the game Pay Day

It’s the weekend! This week Nicole has been away at camp, so I have been doing some Paperwhite business stuff on the computer on my own. A cool idea that we came up with before she left was to make your own postcard. You can make a bunch of them and take them with you on whatever trip that you may be taking. Even if it is just a small trip, make some of these homemade postcards and send them to friends and loved ones just because. If your kids are going away to camp you can set up a craft day before they leave and create a bunch of homemade postcards for them to take along with them and send out. Or even cooler, you can send out postcards to people who live far away even if you don’t go anywhere, I’m sure they’ll get a kick out of getting a “Wish You Were Here” postcard from you. 

So here is a little tutorial for you. You can make your postcards any way that you’d like. We decided to keep it simple and bright and cheery, but you can go all out and use embellishments, draw pictures, use photos, or do whatever you’d like. Make it as simple or as elaborate as your heart desires; it should be unique and match your personality. If you’re going on a big trip to somewhere specific it may be cool to theme your postcard from where you’ll be going. 

Our supplies: We used a bright green piece of cardstock measuring 6 ¾ x 4 ¾ inches, dark green ink and clear embossing powder, a fine waterproof Uni-ball pen, a ruler, a star punch and bright orange cardstock, some glue, and a clear “Thinking of You” stamp.

The process: The steps to complete this DIY postcard are pretty simple and straightforward. First you cut the card down to size, stamp the words in the centre and emboss, punch out six stars, glue on the stars, and draw “postcard” lines on the back of your card. So simple!

Cleaning and Caring for your Ink Pads

In keeping with the cleaning theme, this week we are going to talk about cleaning your ink pads. Like stamps, they receive a lot of rough love from being used all of the time. Colours get contaminated or they go dry and they sometimes just need a little love. I never knew that you could properly clean your ink pads or how to take care of them until I looked up about how to clean your stamps. This is a really useful thing to learn about if you’re a crafter and especially if you’re a crafter who sells your crafts and has to make lots of them. 

Ok, so here is some ink care tips and how to clean them.

Caring for Your Ink Pads

1.      Always always always put a lid on your ink pad. Even if you are stepping away for just a second you should put the lid on just in case you get distracted or something spills on it. 

2.      You can clean your ink pad if colours get contaminated by “tapping it off with a paper towel” or if it still doesn’t clean use an “ammonia-free window cleaner” and spray the ink pad with it lightly and then let it sit for a few seconds before wiping it away. You can also dampen some paper towels and put them over the ink pad and press on them lightly to get the colour out. 

3.      Re-ink your pads if they dry out. This is up to you. It may be easier to just buy a new ink pad if it completely dries out but if it’s a colour that you like, re-inking may be the way to go. We have never tried it with our ink yet, so I’m not sure if it’s worthwhile thing to do. 

4.      This is something that I found so interesting to do and did it almost right away after reading about it. Store your ink pads upside down to keep the ink on the surface; we’ll see if this makes our stamps more inky.

5.      I’ve never done an ink pad repair but I read about them while researching for this post. So if you’re pad gets unattached from the base which I read is a very common thing to have happen, you should put a few drops of super glue on the spot where it has come loose and let it completely dry before using the ink pad again. 

I’ve learned some pretty cool things about ink pads this week and I’m going to give ours a clean and for sure store them upside down from now on. Off to clean the ink pads. Happy Friday!

http://www.paperwishes.com/stamping101/articles/about-ink-pads.html

http://www.atlasquest.com/tutorials/stamping/maintenance/

How to Wash Your Wooden and Clear Crafting Stamps

Happy Friday to everyone!

I’m just going to jump right into things. Ok, so I was looking through our crafting drawers and doing a bit of clean up and I came to our stamps and they looked so sad. You can tell that they have gone through lots of fun times stamping that’s for sure because they have lots of ink residue left over on them and they just look so worn, not like the clear beautiful brand new looking stamps that they once were. I’ve decided to give our stamps a little TLC and give them all baths, well at least the really dirty looking ones. I want to do this the right way and not have any stamps fall apart so I did a little investigating online...

I did a little research about dirty stamps and how to clean them and you’re gonna be fascinated with what I found out, I kinda was excited and learned new stuff. 

Dirty stamp facts:

         - A dirty stamp that is clogged with ink can make your stamped images look unclear or make them look like something completely different. 

          - Stamps like everything get dusty and need to be cleaned or dusted because of this.

         -There’s a difference between a stamp that is stained and a stamp that is dirty. If you have a stained stamp, don’t scrub it because that can cause surface damage.

How to clean your stamps

I’ve seen various ways to clean stamps so here are some cool tips and ways to clean up those dirty stamps of yours. 

       - Don’t soak wooden stamps! Apparently this loosens them and that would be a sad way for one of your favourite stamps to meet its end. 

       - Don’t use alcohol to clean stamps because this will crack the rubber part of the stamp. 

         - Here’s something I think I’ll try, tap your stamp on a tissue or paper towel after you use it to get rid of excess ink before you wash it. 

         - Steer clear of cleaning your stamps with anything that has bleach, acetone, or oil.

         - Remember to clean your stamping blocks as well. If they get too much build up on them, that can get on the paper and cause a smudgy looking mess.

Methods to clean stamps:

         - Use a special stamp cleaner made to clean rubber stamps. Here are a few that I’ve read about that I’d try. 

Two Sided Stamp Cleaner by Hot Off the Press INC

http://www.paperwishes.com/products/4001023

Memories Spritz Stamp Cleaner

http://www.stampin.com/stamp-supplies/memories-spritz-stamp-cleaner/

Recollections Stamp Cleaner

http://www.michaels.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-MichaelsCanada-Site/default/Home-Show

Ranger Inkssentials Rub-It Scrub-It Rubber Stamp Cleaning Pad, 6-Inch Square

http://www.amazon.ca/Ranger-Inkssentials-Rub-It-Scrub-It-Cleaning/dp/B000WWMH2K

         - You can use alcohol free baby wipes to wipe away the ink. This is good if you have to clean your stamps quickly and you don’t want to wait for them to dry.

        -  Soap and water is good if you want to take time and give your stamps a good bath. Just make sure that you don’t submerge the stamps. You can use an old tooth brush to get into any hard to get places.

       -  Rub your stamps over the surface of a damp sponge.

    - Make your own homemade stamp cleaning pad. Here’s a link to a website with a cool DIY Ink Stamp Cleaning Pad.  http://www.housecleaningcentral.com/en/cleaning-tips/tip/how-to-clean-ink-stamps.html

Hope this stamp cleaning info has helped you all out. I’m going to go clean all of our stamps now. 

Happy weekend!

Other links

http://rubberstamping.about.com/od/techniquesandtutorials/a/cleaningstamps.htm

http://www.paperwishes.com/stamping101/articles/cleaning-your-stamps.html

http://www.stampin.com/tips/clean.htm