"When our eyes see our hands doing the works of out hearts, the circle of creation is completed inside us, the doors of our soul flies open and love steps forth to heal everything in signt"

-- Michael Bridge

Monday, January 2, 2012

What to do with those thin DIES - I have an idea!!

Hi there! Happy 2012 everyone! I've know I've been M.I.A. lately but I'm happy to be back and crafting again! I rung in the new year right: making 20 corner bookmarks (as gifts for my mom's bible study group), 13 cards, and this:

It's a binder to house my dies!!! I got the idea from the binder that I made to house all of my Lawn Fawn Stamps - you can check it out HERE. I literally use that binder ALL the time, and recently purchased a Cuttlebug and have started a little collection of dies. The problem is that I had dies sitting all over my craft space - which is essentially my kitchen table ;). And since we do need to eat on it at least twice a day, I never leave it untidy. So, I was stacking them up and shuffling through them every time I needed one.

I decided it'd be fun to TRY to make a binder to keep all of them in. I went to Michaels and got 2 rolls of magnetic "paper" (it's actually for, like, childrens' art work - so you can cut it out and stick it to your fridge or whatever). Then I went to Office Depot and grabbed a Kraft binder and index tabbed dividers. When I got home, I used Glossy Accents to glue the Magnetic Paper to the Dividers. This didn't work out brilliantly - they aren't "perfect", but they'll do. I covered the back of the Divider (they were 8 1/2 X 11) using various pages from various Crate Paper Collections, and then did the same with the covers of the book. The Chipboard Stickers on the cover are from the Neighborhood Collection (Crate Paper). Here is a look at how the pages came out - and a look at my die collection ;)





As you can see, in the back of the book, I used a pocket/page protector to keep instructions for the various dies/embossing tools, and embossing folders in. works out pretty well. This magnetic paper isn't the strongest, but it does work. I just have to be careful at how I turn the pages; if I turn them to rough or bend them too much the dies fall off the page - hee hee, I told you it wasn't perfect - but it is functional ;).

Anyway, thanks for peeking. Hope it inspires you ;). Again, I wish you a happy healthy 2012. catch ya tomorrow.

4 comments:

  1. I never mentioned that I created a binder for my Skipping Stones Design Stamps after seeing yours. It works like a charm and thanks so much for sharing it. Now, I think I might have to use this idea too. Hope things are good, looking forward to seeing more projects!

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  2. What a great idea, Heather! I might have to think about doing something like this.

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  3. Great Idea, I really need to do something like this, all my nesting dies are still in their packages and I find it annoying! So glad you are back to crafting!!! :) Missed you!

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  4. Howdy! I came over using the link you left on the "Tool Talk" post on the "Create" blog. Thanks! I wonder if it would work better to use chipboard as a backing for the magnetic paper? It would not bend as much. When I say "chipboard," I really mean cereal and cracker boxes cut down to size. Hee hee! I have only 2 Spellbinder die sets, but I love them! I have lots of Sizzix and Quickutz though, and this binder idea is great for some of the Quickutz dies! Thanks again for sharing! Super cute idea!

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