just a little hint or two

I know.  Every time I offer a hint or a tip, you cringe and say, "Aren't you the person who, until even a year ago, thought the line in SILENT NIGHT was 'ROUND YOUNG VIRGIN'???" or "Aren't you the person who swears a half a bottle of vodka and snorting a crushed diet pill can cure a cold?"

Well, I'm not always right and some of my tips aren't for everybody.  But these are pretty good.

If you're anything like me,  you put off changing the blade in your paper trimmer for as long as you can...

It isn't that they're outrageously expensive- they just aren't any fun to buy.

Also, it can turn into one of those things that you just FORGET about-  you know what I mean.   You're busy and you cut a strip and think, 'time ta change that blade!'  Then, you turn back to what you're working on and forget all about it...

What I do, to make a raggedy cut look just as crisp as with a brand new sharp blade, is to just pick up my handy Tim Holtz sanding block and lightly drag it across the edge of the paper.  Not really ANY pressure beyond the weight of the paper pushing agains the block

Yeahp, it's as easy as that...

Now, say you're laying out your photos- and you notice something.  DAMMIT THERE'S A GLARE IN AN EYE!

Yeah- you went through all the trouble of standing around the photo printing computer at Wal-Mart for an entire hour, and never thought to check for any glares to correct.

Pick up one of your INCREDLIBLE brand new Tim Holtz Distress Markers (I grabbed Walnut Stain) and color the glare!

See?  That's it, in the upper left.  Same photo.  NO GLARE.  Not even noticeable.  I know, I know.  I've been singing the praises of these markers.  And I've only got ten of them so far.  They really can do it ALL.

As Brini Maxwell always said,  'Now, why didn't YOU think of that?'

-kory

Gettin' down 'n dirty at the Dollar Tree Party!

Where do you go, when you're supposedly living paycheck to paycheck, struggling and living the hard life, just so you can 'buy a little goody' when it's FINALLY payday?  For those of you who frequent the forum at Scrapbook.com, you'll know what that's about.   Hahaha.  Seriously, tho, the 'buy a little goody' is what cracked me up.   I've pimp-slapped people for saying things half as stupid as that- but, I digress.

Many of you already know that the Dollar Tree is one of my favorite places to shop.  It's one of the happiest places on earth.  Happiest because everything costs one dollar, not because you have to fight the dirty and/or crazy people who are pushing past you to get to the frozen food section.  I try to throw up my hands and say, "I'm not here for the paper thin dollar steaks!"  But they never ever listen.

Yes, you have to look past all the crap- but there are many surprising nice or useful things within that mass of humanity!

Tonight, I'd like to show you some of the most useful finds from the Dee-Tee, as I call it.

First, the flexible chopping mats.  These are terrific.  Two of these little dears in one package.  That makes them fifty cents each.  Before I got my non-stick craft sheet, I was using these with my Distress Inks.  And also as a cutting board, when I used my Exacto knife.  I still keep these on my table- they're just the right size, and you don't worry if you screw them up-  so they're also great to have around in case you have a few guests who want to play, too.  Each person gets a cutting/gluing/inking mat!

And see?  They must've known what I had in mind, too- even the packaging says 'Crafts.'  Useful!

Next up is another one of my favorite Dee-Tee crafting supplies!  The twine!

This twine is incredible- it's soft, it's off-white, it's a dollar.  You can use it to add a great vintage touch to something- as an accent or to tie on a few charms.  You can also make a little pool of Distress Stain on your mat, mist the twine with a little water- and rub the twine in it- and SURPRISE!  Custom colored twine!  420 feet of twine.  That's 128m, for you people who live in those classy places.  Glad it's printed in big-ass letters on the package, or my metric-challenged trailer park soul couldn't have told you.

There's more in the way of supplies at the Dee-Tee, but there's also great, cheap storage options, too!  For the next few options, I had to push eight of a woman's ten kids out of the way- they were lined up and blocking the entire damn aisle.

First up, these nicely plain glass vases- perfect for a slowly expanding collection of paper tapes!

Pretty, too, huh?

Now this next thing- I must also credit the Scrapbooks Etc magazine out right now- which featured this same damn thing.  But, they didn't mention that you could buy these retro sugar jars at the Dollar Tree- and I've been using these jars to stash stuff in, ever since one walked out of the Waffle House with me. For real.  It just followed me home on its own two feet.

Here, it holds a big handful of orphaned ribbon.  By that, I mean scraps or ribbons without spools.  This is their little support group.  They meet in a sugar jar and wait to be used.

Here's an empty (except for one string I put in, to demonstrate) jar that I'm going to fill with twine- as I'm always using it, and it'll be nice to have it right on my worktable but out of harm's way.  The Scrapbooks Etc. magazine shows these filled with Baker's Twine.  What will be the next hot thing once this Baker's Twine craze winds down a little bit?

The last thing I have to show you tonight is this great little easel- perfect to display a nifty card or rather thin mini-book!

Not good at using your imagination?  What kind of crafter are you?  Why are you HERE?  Alright, alright, here- I'll put that card I made last week on it, so you can get the full effect.

That's sexy, isn't it?

So, there you have it- the very first DOWN WITH THE DEE-TEE ROUND UP at The Kory K. SCRAPiVERSE.  There'll be more.  Cuz you can't keep my ass out of that place.  DOLLAR POWER!  Okay, Daddy gonna take a Benadryl and call it a night.  Sleep tight, my hookahs!

Lazy Lazy Sunday

I don't want to start sounding like a broken record-

BUT.

My plan for Sunday morning was similar to my plan for Saturday morning.   I planned/hoped/wanted to wake up and be ready for the day early in the morning.  I wanted to have a  full, productive day.  Did that happen?  Nope.  Not even close.

I didn't get to bed until a little after 6AM.

Was I running wild, barhopping and falling in love?  No.  I never left the house.  I was drinking wine, playing with stamps, playing with/learning iMovie on my new MacBook, and watching random stuff on Netflix Instant on the Wii.

What?  Kory?  You have a Wii?!  I didn't think you would play video games!

Well, I don't.  I use it to watch the Netflixes.

I do have one game for it-  Super Mario.  I've loved Super Mario since the 6th grade.  It's a love that shall never die.

So, thanks to Netflix, I didn't get to bed until 6AM.  I slept until about Noon.  The day was ruined.

I did finally sit down and play with some stuff.  Here's what I've got for you!

Yeahp, that's my brand new sexy Octagon Spellbinders set!  Yeah- I had my heart set on HEXAGONS- but everyone is doing hexagons and I want to BE ORIGINAL- oh, who am I trying to impress?  They only had the octagons at Jo-Ann, and the set was marked down at 14.97.  

I didn't have any plan in mind-  I arranged the dies as I did in the above photo, thinking that I would use the negative as a misting template, or maybe as a frame-

But then I saw all those cute little shapes laying there:

I  sanded and roughed them up a bit with my new distressing tool (more about that new wonder, first thing tomorrow morning!!!).  Then, I inked the edges with some Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks, stacked the pieces up, largest to smallest- using some foam tabs, for a little dimension...  (I found these boxes of foam tabs at Tuesday Morning for .99 each!)

AAAAAAAAND SURPRISE!!!  A flower!   A more abstract, clean looking flower, actually.  I like it.  

I didn't have any plans for where to go from here-  I made a flower.  Now what?  Well, I needed lotion and soap, so I went to the grocery store.  But my brain must've misfired, because I forgot the lotion and bought cookies and ice cream.  So I had to go back out to buy the lotion- and yes, it was a matter of life and death to get this lotion.   I was out.  Like, sticking my finger into the empty bottle, hoping for a just a drop to take the dryness away.  My skin is sensitive.  It has to be non-scented, sensitive skin lotion.  I was drying up and looking my age.  I HAD TO GET LOTION!  And, since I was going right back out, why not stop in at the nearest Michaels, just in case there was something on clearance?  Well, there was.  Do I have instinct or what?  I found some nice packages of plain 12X12 chipboard marked down to 2.49 per package.  Score!  I love chipboard.  Almost as much as I love lotion.  I was also tricked into buying more Smashbook accessories.  I love that entire line.  More than I love lotion.

I came home, drank my Kool-Aid (yes, I still drink, and love, Kool-Aid) and made this:

Is it a card?  A cover for a mini-book?  A big page accent?  I don't know yet.  But I love it.  Yeahp, I'm still pushing the OCTOBER AFTERNOON doily stamp from the FARMHOUSE line.  And I just bought that nifty Martha Stewart 'Monarch Butterfly' punch.  Don't they look great?  The flourish was cut with my Cricut Expression 2.   

I hope everyone had a great weekend- and come back tomorrow morning, to see what it is that has changed my life for a better!

-kory

Paint Chip Party!

WHO doesn't love paint chips?  I understand you might not love them as much as I do- but I'm sure there's a part of your little black heart that loves them even a tiny ounce.  They're COLORFUL.  They're FREE.  What's not to love?  Yes, there have been a few paint-chip-craft related bickering about the ethical concerns with using these 'free' paint chips.  I do not feel it is stealing.  Why?  Because I've asked the people at Home Depot.  That's all you have to do for paint chip crafting with a conscience.  The Home Depot conversation went something like this:

Kory:  Hey, is it okay if I take a few of each color of these ones?
Home Depot Guy:  Yeah, sure.  Take all you want.  I might have a box of some that we picked up on the floor that you could have, if you want.
Kory: Why thank you, you're too kind.  You're going to go far in life!

Yeah, so that isn't verbatim.  But you get the idea of how it went down.

So, again- what's not to love?

Oh, I can think of ONE thing!  The tiny printing that labels the paint chip with it's descriptive information.  But you can get rid of that!  Yes!  An answer to prays!  So what is this little miracle worker? Yeah, it's an eraser.  A 'plastic eraser.'  A WHITE, plastic eraser.  It can be found nearly 'anywhere fine art products are sold.'  (Doesn't that sound like a commercial?  Love it!)  And it's cheap. 

I cannot claim to be the sole originator of this technique.  But there doesn't seem to be much about it, out there- and in a way, I came up with it one my own.  How?  Well, I was sitting at my craft table, thinking.  As I was thinking, I was rubbing my pencil with my thumb.  No, sickos.  'Pencil,' as used in this sentence, is alluding to nothing but an old fashioned No.2 PENCIL.  I glanced down, and saw that I'd rubbed whatever advertising was written on the pencil.  I began thinking, as one does, and wondered if I could somehow 'rub' off the text on a paint chip.  I'm often heartbroken when I find a nice, big, perfectly colored paint chip which I hafta cut up to remove the paint name and product number. 

So, I try a couple of erasers that I had in my craft arsenal.  And it works.  Crazily elated, I dream up all kinds of ideas and feel on top of the world- then I think- I'm not THAT original.  Someone has surely come up with this idea BEFORE.  SURELY, there's plenty of PAINT CHIP PIONEERS who've come up with a way to do this- so I google.  Yeah, it's happened- but not as much coverage as I'd thought.  So here ya go- and check back soon- I'll be sharing some exciting Paint Chip Valentine Crafts!