Homemade Ink Blenders

Long lost post.  I apparently put this together about 10 months ago but didn't post is.

I got this great idea originally from luvleescrappin, but then I saw cricutologist32820 using a different type of block.  I think they are old wood blocks from stamps she unmounted (she had one video where she was talking about unmounting all of her stamps).  Anyway, I was so excited.  I had actually just unmounted (see my previous post) almost all of my Stampin' Up! stamps and really wanted to find another use for the blocks (I wasn't about to throw them away.  I would make something out of them before doing that :)

Well here is the process.

First I took my wood blocks from my Stampin' Up! sets that I unmounted.  I had all different sizes.  The ones that are longer I am going to cut with my miter saw.  I had a few that were smaller and I ended up trimming just a bit of the foam applicator off in the end.  If you don't have any of these, you can go to your local hardware store and buy wood and cut it to size.

Besides the wood blocks, you are also going to need some adhesive velcro (just the scratchy side) and Inkssentials Ink Blending Foam.

I attached two strips of velcro to the block (I could not find any wide enough to cover with one strip, but this size was perfect when I put them side by side.  Then I added on the blending foam.  Wa-la, ink applicator.

Of course I needed a place to stores these (look, I have space for more, guess that means I am going shopping).  I found this box at Walmart for $2. 

To top everything off (literally), I made some labels using white card stock and my Xyron adhesive machine.  I inked up the stickers, wrote the color, and affixed it to the top of the block.

 Now I can have a block for every color and no need to change out the pads every time I go to grab another color.  Love it!!

Happy craftin'

Bee Mine

Over the weekend, I made these cute Valentine's cards for my daughter's preschool class.  I guess I could have bought some of those paper Valentine's from Walgreen's, but this gives me an excuse to do something crafty and use my Cricut (need some justification for all the carts that I have ).

I cut white cardstock at 3x4" and rounded all of the corners with my We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper (1/4" side).  Then inked around the edges with Tim Holtz - Fired Brick Distress Ink.

Then I cut my bee from the Walk In My Garden Cricut cart at 2" using the Cricut Craft Room software on my Mac.  I used various cardstock from my stash (love using the Cricut with my enormous scraps "collection").

I also cut a red heart (Create a Critter - I think) and "mine" (Jubilee) with the Cricut as well.  Didn't note the size on these, sorry.  Just used the grid lines on the Cricut Craft Room to ensure they would fit on the card.

I assembled all of the pieces onto the 3x4" white card and done (ended up adding some Christmas Red Stickles to the heart for some extra pizzazz).

My daughter, without asking me first, ended up writing her name on the front of each card in red pen.  I was really wanting it to be on the backside, but at least is was in red and you can read it :).

Happy Crafting!