Organizing December Daily, Desk Maid system review, AND A GIVEAWAY!

Published on by Taniesa10 Comments

Happy Friday!!!

I don’t know about all of you but I am SOOOO ready for the weekend!

Today I am reviewing the Desk Maid system from Totally Tiffany. I recently moved and the new home had a bonus room that was a perfect craft studio. I did have the challenge of limited wall space and a bunch of built-in shelving nooks. I have always had a lot of success organizing with shelves on my wall but this would be a bit different. I was searching for ideas on the internet and came across the new Desk Maid system. Intrigued by it I talked to the kind folks at Totally Tiffany and they graciously sent me a 4 piece set to try out as well as their clip and create rotating board.

I am also showing my December Daily organization at the bottom of the post…. It’s a long post day, friends… but fill of good stuff and a giveaway! Read on!

Here is the Desk Maid collection…

This is the 4 piece set full of supplies. (as shown on the Totally Tiffany website)

Totally Tiffany Desk Maid system

After receiving the full Desk Maid set I knew that this was going to be a fantastic solution for my built-in shelving issue. I loved the product SO Much that I turned around the next day and ordered 6 more 4-piece sets!

I am still in process of organizing my room but I got a big chunk done, and thanks to the Desk Maid system I was able to condense what was in three of these built-in shelving units to ONE! Seriously… it was crazy how much space this saved! Take a look!

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

 

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

It’s like candy for my eyes!  I love seeing my supplies, it helps me remember to use them. I love having my coloring supplies and tools right at hand. And while it is stored in this shelving unit, I can easily take whichever Desk Maid unit(s) back to my work table when needed. It keeps it nice and tidy and when I am done I just put the Desk Maid organizer back on the shelf and my work table stays uncluttered.

These pieces have a ton of versatility. You don’t JUST have to organize your craft supplies (think kitchen organization, makeup, office supplies, and more). You can even use them for specific project organization. You will see how I used the Pen & Ink Palace, Tool Caddy, and the Clip & Create Rotating Design Board to organize my December Daily supplies for this year further down in my post.

The Pen and Ink Palace holds all 80 colors of Zig Real Brush markers with room for your watercolor safe ink pad, an acrylic block, swatch chart, and more room at the top, I have a opalescent watercolor set in the top of mine.

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

On that same shelf you will see 5 Tool Towers all lined up in a pretty little row. This houses like items together of pens, paintbrushes, ink blending brushes, water brushes, markers, blending stumps and gamsol, chalk pastel pencils, watercolor pencils, and various tools. Easy to see what I have, easy to grab, and easy to put away!

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

The next shelf down holds my Gelatos, Distress crayons, PITT Markers in one Pen & Ink Palace, A tool caddy sits to the right of that with some specific project tools that I am working with now, and to the right of that is three Pencil Perches holding all of my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils.

Remember that I had said these shelving units are deep? they get deeper as you go lower because of the wall angels. Because I had so much space behind these units, I placed product behind that I don’t necessarily grab all the time.

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

Behind the Pen & Ink Palace I have two Stadium Arrangers filled with embossing powders, reinkers, and mists.

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

In the center and to the left (behind the pencils) is another two stadium arrangers that I am still working on filling. The back is currently holding washi tape and the one more in the front has some empty 5×7 Iris cases that I am planning on using for some kit organization. In the middle of these 4 stadium arrangers I have placed a lazy susan and several ink tins from Tim Holtz. These hold my Distress ink cubes, Altenew Crisp Ink cubes and Some hero arts and Simon Says Stamp ink cubes.

Organizing with Desk Maid | Totally Tiffany Desk Maid review by Taniesa Vlasak

I can spin the ink around to find what I am looking for if needed. I mostly use these smaller ones for traveling and my large ink pads at home but they are easily accessible if I need them.

totally-tiffany-org-1The Crafty Pickle Organizes!

On the last shelf you will see a Pen and Ink Palace that I am using for my December Daily Project on top of the Clip & Create Rotating Board. Beside that I have a plastic box for my acrylic blocks and then an acrylic nail polish rack I picked up from Amazon to hold all my Nuvo Drops and Enamel accents (some are missing because they are in my December Daily supply stash)

In the very back of that shelf is extra organizers I have not used yet and empty containers. I am thinking about using this for back stock of supplies like cardstock, adhesive, etc in the future.  I still need to paint these shelving cubbies, they were unfinished when we purchased the home. I am painting them white which will help the colors and supplies stand out even more.

I think that the Desk Maid system is fantastic for organizing your craft supplies no matter if you keep them on your desk, In your Ikea Kallax, on a shelf, or whatever setup you have. The 4 piece set comes packed so well too! Surrounded by cushion and boxed separately to minimize the risk of damage. I was really impressed by that as well as the quality of the items. I like them white but you could easily paint these lightweight wood organizers any color you wish.

Here is a quick video review I did on the Desk Maid system.

I decided to use two of the pieces of the desk maid system for my december daily organization. Take a look at the quick video where I show you what supplies that I have gathered and organized for my December memory keeping!

I LOVE that this system holds so much and takes up so little space on my desk!

I am super excited because the kind folks at Totally Tiffany have generously donated a 4 piece Desk Maid set for one of you! To enter the giveaway just click the link HERE and you will be taken to a sign up form, That’s it! Easy peasy. Winner will be announced on 11/23 at 6:30 pm Pacific standard time so be sure to check back. I will update the top of this post with the winners name.

I have listed the items that I have shown in today’s post below with links as well. I believe there is a black friday special going on where you get a free glue gun holder with a 4 piece Desk Maid set purchase!

4 piece Desk Maid set

Clip & Create rotating design board

Thank you for stopping by for today’s review and December Daily organization. I have more ideas coming for these great organization pieces so be sure to subscribe to my blog and youtube channel so you don’t miss any organization inspiration!

Have a great and crafty weekend!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

 

Essentials by Ellen and Honey Bee Stamps!

Published on by Taniesa24 Comments

Hi Friends!

Today I am combining some of my favorite stamps and dies from Honey Bee Stamps and Ellen Hutson!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

I might have gone on a bit of a crafting spree lately, I was having so much fun with the new releases from both companies (and some of their older releases as well) and, well, tis the season for crafting!

The first project I have for you today is a fun card using Chibitronics lights! This card features the Merry and Bright stamp set from Honey Bee Stamps as well as the Essentials by Ellen Fat Pants stamp and dies (ornaments), Poinsettia and pine dies(Pine branch), Mistletoe and Holly stamp set(pine branch), Merry and bright stamp set (lightbulb), and the Bokeh dots stamp set for the background. (All products linked at the end of the post)

Here is the card with the lights off:

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

and the card with the lights on (you just remove the little paper that says “pull” and they turn on)

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

Using the Chibitronics was a lot easier than I had expected and it was so much fun making a card that lit up!

Next I have a couple of DIY Gifts that would be great for your holiday gift giving.

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

These were both SO simple and so quick to make. For the wine basket I purchased the decorative basket from Michael’s craft store for under $5. I heat embossed the Essentials by Ellen Fat Pants sentiment from the Fat Pants stamp set and tied the tag around the top of the basket with some red twine. Popped in a bottle of wine with some tissue and now its all set for a quick holiday gift.

Know someone with a sweet tooth? Try filling a mason jar with candy like I did with my snowman jar here. I just took a piece of cardstock and did some simple ink blending around some snowy hills. I stamped some snowflakes from the Honey Bee Stamps Flakey Friends stamp set. From the same stamp set I stamped out the snowman and die cut him with the coordinating dies. For the tag I heat embossed the sentiment from the Essentials by Ellen Holly Jolly stamp set and tied the tag around the jar with some Doodlebug twine. I think this would make a great gift for a teacher or coworker.

Next up is a fun way to present a coffee gift card. This cute little bear is from the Essentials by Ellen All inside stamp set (and matching die). I gave him a big cup of coffee from the Oh Frappe set and popped him on an action wobbler so he bounces inside the MFT decorative circle cut out. I stamped the background with the same stamp set and the sentiment is a combination from this stamp set and the new Honey Bee Stamps Sending You sentiments.

Here is the outside and the inside of the card:

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

For the inside, I stamped the”just for you” and hearts from the Sending you stamp set and heat embossed with WOW rich pale gold embossing powder. I cut the largest heart from the Essentials by Ellen Folk heart die set and put a bit of temporary adhesive on the gift card and stuck it to the stamped heart. I Glued that to the back of the card and with adhesive on either ends of the strip I laid that over the gift card. I think these are great to have on hand, especially around the holidays for quick gifts!

Another great thing to have on hand is some gift bags. I Love the WRMK Gift bag punch board and I thought that the Essentials by Ellen leaping deer die would make the perfect window for a gift bag.

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

This was another very easy to make project. I cut the bag according to the punch board directions and before I adhered anything I die cut the front of the bag with the leaping deer die. I stamped and heat embossed the JOY sentiment from the Honey Bee Stamps Merry and Joy sentiment builder stamp set. I took a piece of vellum and glued it to the inside of the bag, creating a little window. I finished off the bag with some sequins and that ribbon you see was a gift in my last Ellen Hutson order! They are just so sweet!

I made about 20 versions of the card you will see below. Normally I would shy away from making cards that need masking for a mass-produced card but I discovered a great way to make masks last which made the whole project easy peasy! Want to learn more about this tip and how I made this card? Check out the post in the Ellen Hutson Classroom HERE

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

I also created a fun die cut inlay card with the new Honey Bee Stamps Thanks and giving die set. You can see that card and more on the Honey Bee Stamps blog HERE, but below is a sneak peek!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

Whew! That was a lot of projects to share! I am so glad you kept on reading because one lucky reader is going to win a $50 gift certificate to EllenHutson.com! How do you win? Easy Peasy! Leave a comment here, then pop on over to the Ellen Hutson classroom and leave a comment there too and another stop to HoneyBeeStamps.com and leave a comment there and you are entered to win!

eh-store-credit-graphic

Supplies used are found below. (affiliate links provided where available).

To shop the Honey Bee Stamps store, visit this link: HERE

 

Thank you all so much for stopping by!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

 

 

It’s *NEW* Release day at Honey Bee Stamps!

Published on by Taniesa65 Comments

Welcome to the Honey Bee Stamps November Release Honey Hop!!!

All this week we have been showing you little sneaks of our awesome new embellishments, stamp sets and dies! Well, here they all are! Everything will be available for purchase today in our shop HERE.

Honey Bee Stamps New Release for November!

 For my project today I am using the “Little Pickup” stamp set and the “Sending You” Sentiment set along with their coordinating die sets.

I just love this cute little truck! I knew that I wanted this cute stamp to be center stage so I gathered some scene building dies (Mountain range & stitched hills) and started assembling!

sending-you-card-3

You might have seen this lil sneak on instagram when I was putting my “Little Pickup” together.

Honey Bee Stamps Little Pickup | Taniesa Vlasak www.thecraftypickle.com

Now you don’t have to cut out all the pieces you see in this photo but it sure makes it fun. I love that the die set includes the tires and the window dies so you can make layered and interactive cards with this set. I fussy cut the fenders and popped them up with a bit of foam tape. I covered the wheels in glossy accents after die cutting them from another truck stamped image.

sending-you-card-8

I had this Daniel Smith watercolor I have been wanting to use for a long time called Autumn Mystery Duochrome. I thought it gave the truck a rusty type of look while still looking oh so sparkly and pretty, The color changes slightly depending on the angle you are looking at it from.

sending-you-card-7

Neat, Huh?!?!

After I got my truck assembled I glued the tree to the bed of the truck and added just a bit of the new Honey Bee Stamps exclusive glitter glass. I thought it gave the perfect icy-snowy texture. I also added the same glitter glass to the top of the mountains, and all the snowy hills. I used some Ranger Multi Medium in the Matte finish to glue on the glitter and gently pushed the glitter into the glue so it would stick very well. Once it was all dry I dusted off the excess.

I attached the truck to my scene with some foam tape. I stamped and die cut the sentiment on the front hill and attached that below the truck with a double layer of foam tape.

sending-you-card-6

To finish it off I added some dots of glue and sprinkled on some glitter glass that I hand-dyed a soft blue color. *Video Coming Soon on embellishment dyeing process*

Sending you ... Little Pickup Christmas Card| Created for Honey Bee Stamps by Taniesa Vlasak

This was SO much fun to piece together. You all are going to love playing with this stamp set and all of the wonderful new releases from Honey Bee Stamps.

What’s a Honey Hop without some sweet prizes, right? One winner will win a gift certificate to purchase new goodies in the Honey Bee Stamps Store.
All you have to do to win is comment here (on my blog), on the Honey Bee Stamps blog, and again at each one of our designer’s blog by Sunday, November 13th. Winner will be announced on Monday, November 14th at Noon PST.

I am the last stop on this blog hop… but if you started with me you can just hop to the beginning, which starts with the lovely and Oh-So-Stinkin’ Talented Laura Bassin right       —>HERE <—

Thank you so much for Honey Hoppin’ to my blog! I hope I inspired you to buzz on over to your crafty workspace and create something sweet! Check back on Tuesday when I will have some AH-MAZE-ING inspiration using Honey Bee Stamps with Essentials By Ellen products!

Have a BEEutiful day!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

A winter card with Kat Scrappiness and Hero Arts!

Published on by Taniesa3 Comments

Hi Friends!

Happy Thursday! Today I have a fun card that can be used for Christmas or any occasion. When I saw this Birch Background die at Kat Scrappiness.com I knew I wanted to create a card with this die taking center stage.

To pair with this fantastic Die I chose the beautiful Hero Arts color layering Deer stamp set. I love that you can layer different ink colors quickly and not have to worry where your shading will go.

Dear Friend Winter card for KatScrappiness.com | Taniesa Vlasak www.thecraftypickle.com

I knew that I wanted the trees to have some dimension to them so I took a piece of adhesive backed foam and a piece of adhesive backed cardstock and I stuck the cardstock on top of the foam. You could always use a product like stick-it to glue the cardstock to the foam, these were just in my supply stash. I find that it is easier to glue foam to a intricate die cut prior to cutting if at all possible. I cut the cardstock covered foam with the Birch Tree Background die in my big shot a couple of times to ensure everything cut though. This will smoosh your foam down a bit but it will puff back up.

Dear Friend Winter card for KatScrappiness.com | Taniesa Vlasak www.thecraftypickle.com

I carefully removed the waste from the die cut leaving just the background. I removed the adhesive backing on the foam and placed this on a piece of heavy weight cardstock that I have blended a bit of Broken China Distress ink on. I kept the ink darker at the top and lighter at the bottom.  After that was glued together, I took  W-01 and a W-03 Copic markers and added some shading to the trees. This added a bit more dimension and texture.

I stamped my deer using three shades of hero arts ink that I had on hand (Soft Sand, Latte, and Brown Bark) and then stamped the final detail stamps in Versafine Onyx black ink. I cut the deer out with the coordinating die set then popped the deer up with the leftover scraps of foam from my trees.

Dear Friend Winter card for KatScrappiness.com | Taniesa Vlasak www.thecraftypickle.com

I took some of my favorite sparkling snow sequins from Kat’s shop and glued them down on the blue panel with some Ranger Multi Medium Matte finish adhesive so that they looked like snow falling. To finish off the card I added a sentiment banner from the same Hero Arts stamp set.

I love the multiple layers on this card and it really came together quickly. I could see so many possibilities with this background die. It’s great for all seasons!

Dear Friend Winter card for KatScrappiness.com | Taniesa Vlasak www.thecraftypickle.com

I hope you enjoyed my card today. I appreciate you stopping by. Please check out the links below for supplies I used today.

Have a wonderful day!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Products used today (Affiliate links used if available):

Mixing it up! Honey Bee Stamps and Essentials By Ellen!

Published on by Taniesa2 Comments

Hi Crafty Friends!

Today I am mixing it up on the Ellen Hutson Blog as well as the Honey Bee Stamps Blog with some beautiful stamps and dies from both companies!

mix-it-up with Honey Bee Stamps and Ellen Hutson LLC

For this card I am using the Bokeh Dots and Thankful stamps by Essentials By Ellen and the Kindness stamps and Kindness dies from Honey Bee Stamps.

I wanted to do a one layer card and keep things pretty simple so I decided to do some masking and embossing. I will never get tired of the impressive results of masking and the elegant touch of some gold embossing powder.

Kindness by Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

When creating several masks of the same image I like to double up on my masking paper and cut once. I stamped all of my images out on Eclipse masking paper and then adhered that piece on top of another piece of masking paper and then cut out. This saves time and if your cutting masks anyway you could always cut some for the next time!

Kindness by Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

I started out with some Neenah Desert storm cardstock cut to 5.5″ x 4.25″(I later trimmed this down slightly smaller to show the polka dot pattern) I stamped and embossed the large kindness sentiment and then masked and stamped the various images from the Thankful stamp set and the smaller sentiments from the kindness stamp set. I used versamark ink for the embossed sentiment and I used Versafine Vintage Sepia for the small sentiments and other images. The dark brown ink goes so well with the Desert Storm cardstock and was less harsh of a line than the Versafine Onyx black that I usually use.  Finally I stamped the scattered dots from the Essentials by Ellen Bokeh stamp set with some Delicata Golden glitz ink.

Kindness by Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

After all that I was able to remove my layers of masking paper to reveal the finished stamped design! I love this part! I then colored all of the images in with my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. These blend beautifully on this cardstock! The only time that I used my gamsol blending medium was around the Kindness sentiment, to add a shadow. I found that after I colored the images the brown lines became lighter and darker in spots. If I stamped over the images again the ink would not cover evenly because of the oil based pencil. So I took a matching colored pencil and went over all of the brown lines. (see photo below for comparison) This gave the image a cohesive look and evened out the color all the way around.

Kindness by Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

What a big difference, right? The color I used to match up with the Vintage Sepia colored in was the 9201 Polychromos Burnt Umber. I think that doing this made the images feel like one big stamp instead of several little stamps.

I did find that the Kindness sentiment got a little lost after all was done. To fix this I die cut the Kindness sentiment out using the dies by Honey Bee stamps. The die and the stamp are exactly the same size so I embossed the die with the same pale rich gold embossing powder and then adhered the die cut on top of the stamped image with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. Before I glued the die cut down I did shade with the same burnt umber pencil I was using, around the kindness sentiment… I blended that out lightly with some gamsol and a paper blending stump.  I thought this gave just a bit more pop to the card.

Kindness by Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

I added the card panel to a piece of gold and brown polka dot paper from Echo Park and then glued that to a A-2 card base made from the same Neenah Desert Storm cardstock.

I really enjoyed coloring this card. I need to give my colored pencils some more love. I was pleasantly surprised how bright the colors showed on the kraft colored cardstock.

Head on over to the Honey Bee Stamps blog and the Ellen Hutson Blog for more inspiration and a chance to win a great prize!

For a list of products used and links please see my list below. (affiliate links used at no additional cost to you)

Supplies Used:

Faber Castell Polychromos Color Pencil Set – Tin of 120 Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils  (at the time of linking this there is an AWESOME deal at Amazon for the whole set… works out to be less than $1.50 per pencil!)

I started out buying the pencils open stock, However if I had to do it all over again I would have got the full set because it saves in the long run, especially when on sale!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by! Check back next week for some fun new surprises!

Happy Crafting!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

 

Review coming SOON!

Published on by Taniesa1 Comment

Hi Friends!

I have a review coming soon but I know some of you have been asking me about some organizing ideas for your craft space.

I am in love with the new Desk Maid products from Totally-Tiffany!

Here is a quick picture of a cubby I am working on. We still need to do some painting in my new room but I was too anxious to see how all these organizers would fit.

Craft Supplies Shelving Organization | TotallyTiffany.com

To some of you that might just look like a hot mess but for me that is organization bliss and bonus color candy for my eyes!

Look for a video review coming to my blog SOON! In the meantime check out some of my favorite products from Totally Tiffany by clicking —> HERE <—
Happy Organizing!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

Lawn Fawn Frosty Fairy Friends Shaker Card for KatScrappiness.com

Published on by Taniesa2 Comments

Hi Crafty Friends!

Today I am guest designing over at the Kat Scrappiness blog and shop and I am super excited to share this fun shaker card!

Adding texture to Christmas tree die cuts | Taniesa Vlasak for KatScrappiness.com

I absolutely love Kat’s exclusive dies. The stitched tree was just perfect to have the Lawn Fawn Frosty Fairies decorate!

Adding texture to Christmas tree die cuts | Taniesa Vlasak for KatScrappiness.com

To make the shaker I used the two largest double stitched rectangle dies in the set. I just nested them together and used a bit of tape to make sure they stayed in place. I die cut my cardstock frame, the acetate, and the foam as well! Came together super quick!

Adding texture to Christmas tree die cuts | Taniesa Vlasak for KatScrappiness.com

I used several shades of blue distress ink for my background and colored the cute little fairies with copic markers. Not a lot of shading was needed because they are small. I went over their wings and other details with a glitter pen after I was done coloring.

Adding texture to Christmas tree die cuts | Taniesa Vlasak for KatScrappiness.com

To get some texture on the absolutely fabulous stitched tree I used the small pine spring in the Frosty Fairy friends set and did some second (and third) generation stamping. You can see more on that in this little quick tip video.

I added my favorite white, blue and clear sequins from Kat’s shop in the shaker, I didn’t add a lot because I didn’t want it to take away from the decorated tree.

Adding texture to Christmas tree die cuts | Taniesa Vlasak for KatScrappiness.com

This card came together in a snap and I just love how it turned out. It is easy enough to mass produce and if you wanted to skip the shaker part it could come together even faster.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I am excited to be guest designing for Kat Scrappiness and I will have more fun projects for you soon! Check out Kat’s store at http://www.katscrappiness.com and for direct links to products used today see the links below.

Have a great day!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

Make your own coloring book with products from Honey Bee Stamps and Simon Says Stamp!

Published on by Taniesa2 Comments

Happy STAMPtember!

I am super excited to be representing Honey Bee Stamps on the Simon Says Stamp blog this week. I have three projects to share with you, and a video that walks through all three of them.

DIY Coloring Book for crafters | Taniesa Vlasak for Honey Bee Stamps and Simon Says Stamp

I will be listing all of the supplies used in my projects at the end of this post. Today I will be highlighting some of the brand new products from Honey Bee Stamps!

Zen Floral and Zen Bouquet were inspired from the popular adult coloring book trend. Both sets have matching dies and the large bouquet is almost 6 inches around. I thought that these would be perfect to show off today’s project share.

zen-sets

You can make a diy coloring book so many different ways, so I didn’t want to bore you with a step by step tutorial. Instead, I will walk through this project on camera and talk about several possible ways you can make your own custom coloring book with supplies you may have on hand already.

This coloring book measures approx. 5×7. To make this particular cover size, you will need two pieces of 5×7 chipboard, two pieces of cover paper measured at 5 ½ x 7 ½ , and two pieces of patterned paper that will go on the inside. Cut these slightly smaller than the chipboard. Mine measured 4 ¾ x 6 ¾.  I adhered all of the pieces together with Scor tape but you can use your favorite adhesive. You can even skip covering the chipboard or paint it with acrylic paint.

DIY Coloring Book for crafters | Taniesa Vlasak for Honey Bee Stamps and Simon Says Stamp

I chose to decorate my cover with the Honey Bee Stamps Zen floral border stamp and die. I also used the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember stitched scallop die and the Honey Bee Stamps Color my world stamp set and die. I did some simple ink blending with distress inks then went over the letters with my  Sakura black Glaze pen. I even added a little shimmer inside the letters with my spectrum noir glitter marker.

I made the inside pages slightly bigger than a standard A2 card base with a bit extra at the top for binding. The inside pages are 4 ½ x 6 ½ . I have pre stamped some card bases for my recipient to color. Pages/ bases are all on Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock, Neenah solar white, or Strathmore bristol paper.  This is a great way to get more use out of your stamp collection. Consider stamping several pages in one session to make multiple books or card bases ready to color.

DIY Coloring Book for crafters | Taniesa Vlasak for Honey Bee Stamps and Simon Says Stamp

Another fun product that I have included is the Simon Says Stamp exclusive Suzy’s doodles. These are printed on Tim Holtz watercolor paper. I adhered each to a page in the book with temporary adhesive. This way they stay put in the book for coloring but when you’re ready to take it out and make a card it comes off easily.

I stamped each of the Honey Bee pages twice for each design. The top piece being the watercolor cardstock and then using temporary adhesive I glued that to the other stamped panel on Neenah solar white. The Bristol paper is embossed and is a separate sheet.

DIY Coloring Book for crafters | Taniesa Vlasak for Honey Bee Stamps and Simon Says Stamp

As a finishing touch to the coloring book I made a cute removable pallet that can go in and out of the book. I used a pack of Peerless watercolor sheets and although you can just cut these in small squares or rectangles I thought it would be fun to use the hexagon die from Simon Says Stamp perfect shapes dies to arrange the paint in a fun “Honey Bee Stamps” sort of feel. I arranged the little paint hexagons in a gate fold pallet. The pallet base is created by using a 6×9 piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper, 6×9 piece of printed paper and a piece of heavy acetate. The acetate protects the watercolors from running into each other should the pallet be put away damp, it can also be used as a mixing surface. Each end of the paper was scored at approx. 2 ¼ inches. I created a simple belly band to keep the pallet closed using a strip of the same patterned paper using the opposite side. I die cut a circle and stamped a floral from the Zen Bouquet stamp set to tie it all together.

cinch

I bound my coloring book using the We R Memory Keepers CINCH binding machine. There are other binding machines out there  but I have only used this one. You could also punch some holes with a and bind using mini album rings, or tie together with ribbon or twine. You could even use an old planner or traveler’s notebook… SO many possibilities to create a coloring book for friends or for yourself to color on the go.

I am giving this coloring book as a gift, so I placed my coloring book in a mesh bag along with a waterbrush and chamois that I picked up from my local craft store.

DIY Coloring Book for crafters | Taniesa Vlasak for Honey Bee Stamps and Simon Says Stamp

I also made a card that coordinates with the album. I used the huge Zen Bouquet stamp which I have cut down partially, I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to do the coloring and added little touches here and there with my glitter marker and glossy accents. I used the Simon Says Stamp A2 curved card edge die and layered striped patterned paper behind it. For the sentiment I cut apart a sentiment from Honey Bee Stamps Happy everything (You Make Me) and added the new SSS Inspire die cut in the middle instead of “make”. For the final little accent I added the bee stamp from Honey Bee Stamps Sweet as Honey stamp set and die.

DIY Coloring Book for crafters | Taniesa Vlasak for Honey Bee Stamps and Simon Says Stamp

Here is a bonus idea if you wanted to give coloring pens instead or in addition to the watercolors with your coloring book. These are the Kaiser craft gel pens. I am not a huge gel pen girl but these are pretty darn amazing. Especially the glitter ones. They have a really fine tip to get into small places and the ink flows really well.  I just removed the sticker and took the same patterned paper I used in my coloring book to make a belly band for the case. I die cut the word create which is a new Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember release, and glued that on the belly band. I finished it off with coloring one of the white hearts red, adding two thin strips of cardstock to the top and bottom and coating the die cut with my  Sakura clear Glaze gel pen.

DIY Coloring Book for crafters | Taniesa Vlasak for Honey Bee Stamps and Simon Says StampListed below are the links to the products (or comparable products) I have used for these projects.

I hope you found today’s project share inspiring and can think of ways to make your own personalized coloring book. Thank you to Simon Says Stamp for inviting Honey Bee Stamps and myself to share in the STAMPtember celebration!

Thank you for stopping by!
Taniesa Vlasak for Honey Bee Stamps

Happy STAMPtember

Published on by TaniesaLeave a comment

Hi Crafty Friends!

Just a quick little sneak post to let you know that I have a fun video and post over on the Simon Says Stamp blog today! I am highlighting some amazing products from both Honey Bee Stamps as well as Simon Says Stamps exclusive products! I will be posting more on my blog tomorrow, but for now check out the post and video by clicking HERE!

Crafty hugs!

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com

Honey Hop! Honey Bee Stamps | August NEW release!!!

Published on by Taniesa62 Comments

www.honeybeestamps.com August Honey Hop!

Good Morning Honey Bees! Welcome to our August release Honey Hop!!!

You should have arrived from Melissa’s blog. If you got lost you can always start at the beginning HERE.

All this week we have been showing you little sneaks of our awesome new stamp sets and dies! TOMORROW our new release goes live and to celebrate we are showing you some beautiful projects, TODAY!!!
What’s a Honey Hop without some sweet prizes, right? This time we not only have one awesome prize pack but TWO!! One winner will win our zen florals pack (Zen florals, Zen Bouquet, and each of their matching die sets) and our second winner will win our Alpha prize pack! (Color me alpha stamp set, sentiment alpha stamp set, and color me alpha die set). All you have to do to win is comment here on the Honey Bee Stamps blog and again at each one of our designer’s blogs by Sunday August 28th. Winner will be announced on Monday August 29th at Noon PST.

So Hop along and get ready to BEE inspired!

During our preview days this week I shared two videos. One for each new Alphabet stamp set that Honey Bee Stamps is releasing this friday. I love them both and I am sure you will too.

Brand new Sentiment Alpha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmNywmNa9nU

And the oh so fun Color-Me-Alpha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJLTBFsORuM

and now I have two cards to share! The first one you may of saw this week on social media….

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

For this card I used the main floral border in the new Zen Florals stamp set. I also used the Smile stamp set and die as well as the Sweet as honey stamp set.

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

First I used distress ink to blend a light blue background (Tumbled Glass). Then I water colored the floral images. After the watercolor was dry I went over with a clear Spectrum sparkle pen.

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

I heat embossed a dot pattern on black cardstock and adhered just below the floral border strip. I also embossed the smile die cut and the sentiment that was made up from the smile stamp set as well as the sweet as honey stamp set. Everything was heat embossed using the WOW rich pale gold embossing powder. I popped the smile die cut up on some black adhesive backed foam.

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak | Customize the back of your card with your signature and a stamp from the main stamp set you used on your card!

As an added touch, and something I have been doing a lot lately, is taking a coordinating image from the stamp set that I used for the card and stamping it on top of my custom signature stamp.  I love how this just ties the entire card together and makes it just a little more special.

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

I also really like to stamp the envelope to match too.

For my next card I decided to shake things up…. well, Literally. I made a fun shaker card with Honey bee stamps new Zen Bouquet set, Zen Florals set, new gems embellishment pack, and I also added in the jar from the sweet as honey stamp and die set.

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

I stamped out the various flowers from both zen sets into an arrangement on scratch paper first. Once I was happy with the layout I traced around the jar from the sweet as honey die set. I cut some masks for each of the florals using Simon Says Stamp masking paper. Then I stamped my arrangement using Simon Says Stamp intense black ink.

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

After everything was stamped. I took my Tim Holtz craft knife (best craft knife I have ever owned, I love this thing!) and I cut around the inside of the honey jar and around the overlapping florals and leaves. This leaves the window for my shaker card. I took a piece of craft foam slightly smaller than my card panel and I cut out the Honey jar from the foam in the same place as the card panel. This leaves the opening a bit larger so that my panel covers the foam completely.

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

Then I began coloring. I used 3 to 4 shades per color family of copics to color in my images. I used warm grays at the bottom of the jar to ground the image. Once I was finished coloring I adhered a piece of acetate to the back of the front panel to act as my window.

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

Now the fun part …. Wait, it’s all fun, ok ANOTHER fun part…. filling the shaker! If you have seen the sneaks, Honey Bee Stamps came out with these cute little clear gemstones to use in your shakers. I needed shaker bits to look a little bluish like water so I pulled out a tip my dear friend and fellow design team member taught me a year or so ago. You can dye your clear plastic embellishments any color you want with alcohol ink! So I thought why not these cute little gems. I  took two shades of Ranger alcohol ink and a couple of plastic baggies and put some gems in each. I then put two drops of the ink in the bag and smooshed it around…. after they were coated well I poured them out on a paper towel and let them dry. here is a closer look at them….

Honey Bee Stamps Aug 2016 release | Taniesa Vlasak

Of course I need to buy more so I can dye these lil babies in every color of the rainbow!! I added some of these to my shaker window along with some clear sequins and some blue confetti. I covered up the opening in the back with a scrap piece of distress cardstock that I used a bit of ink blending on ( Broken china distress ink ) and that I drew in some stems with a green marker.  I placed the shaker panel on a piece of Doodlebug green polka dot patterned paper and attached the completed panel to a top fold A-2 cardbase.

Create an adorable "shaker vase" using Honey Bee Stamps new Zen florals series and new gems that you can hand dye to match any project! More info at www.thecraftypickle.com

And that pretty much does it for my cards today. Thank you so much for hanging in there with my very long post today. I hope you were inspired.

There is lots more fun to be had. Keep on Honey Hoppin to our awesome Guest Designer’s blog, Deepti Stephens!!
Listed below are the links to the products I have used for these projects as well as postcard projects I have done in the past, and planning on doing. Affiliate links may be used, which means if you make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I really appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog.

https://static.inlinkz.com/ppr.js

Taniesa Vlasak | TheCraftyPickle.com