Stashing Inspiration

Before Pinterest came along, I had my own way of collecting images that inspired me.  I would pick up a large scrapbook with plain paper pages at a garage sale to use.  Now I hit the local craft store and pick up an inexpensive sketch pad.  I picked this one up at A.C.Moore for $5.00.  Of course I need to scrap out the front cover.  I fill the books with clippings from magazines for house decorating ideas, organization inspiration, recipes, you name it.  Of course you can also print out your Pinterest snapshots.  I save all of my magazines for these projects.  And a little secret...I actually get my magazine subscriptions free from saving my Coke points.

Here is my latest old school Pinterest book, now ready to be stuffed full of new ideas and inspiration.  I pulled out an eksuccess binding punch that I hadn't used yet. I love how it plays into the whole 'office supply' theme.

 
I also dug through my old supplies and used Crate Paper Stickers, a Basic Grey office tab, Recollections Paper Cut outs and Washi Tape.

I wanted to stick with fun summer colors like pink, lime green, orange, & yellow with some black accents.    

For inside of the book I make some quick and simple page markers. I used large black and white paper clips and tied ribbon around the tops.  This isn't your typical scrapbook project, but I will keep these books with my others.  In several years it will be fun to look back on what styles and ideas inspired me.

I'm submitting this for the following challenge:
Use It Tuesday -- Diecuts, Punches and Cutouts!! (my most hoarded item on this project is card stock)

Thanks for stopping by! 

Not Your Traditional Christmas Tags

Use It Tuesday has a really fun challenge going on... I had to dig through and find stamps I've never used before in a project.  (I have far too many unused stamps!)  Couple the challenge with Christmas being just around the corner and this is what I came up with.

I thought it would be super fun to use non traditional colors on Christmas tags.  I decided to use some of the bracket stamps from Inkadinkado that I hadn't even opened up yet.  I'm going to be honest say the one thing I am least comfortable with with scrapping is using stamps.  I see these AMAZING stamping projects from so many people on blogs.  Its really an art.  So this challenge made me go outside of my comfort zone, but that's just fine with me.  Instead of stamping with ink, I wanted to use embossing powder to give some dimension and shine.

I dug through my older paper stacks and found a nice roughed up paper from My Mind's Eye Academy series.  This is actually a series of paper all about school days.  It was perfect for this project.  I cut out the tags and used a hole punch in the top of each.

Then I went through my big box of fun stickers and found a whole page of Crate Paper Christmas/Winter stickers in fun colors.  I also popped a Jenni Bolin star sticker on each tag to accent.  The embossing on the brackets for the 'joyful' tag was a little scattered, but I actually loved that way that looked and decided to keep it.

After embossing with the stamps and adding the stickers, I added in some thick brown thread and brown half pearls to add some more dimension and texture.  I topped it off with glitter ribbon for the top of the tag.  Viola!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day!
~K