BLENDER PADS

With my Distress and Distress Oxide Inks, I store them underneath my ink pads, when I am needing them, I just peel them off the velcro underneath.

When I need a new one, I throw out the old and place the new one on.

I use velcro 'hook' dots on the ink pad itself.

PAPERCRAFT TECHNIQUES

Papercraft .... I am obsessed with papercraft and I can honestly say, I dont have a favourite as they are all my favourites .... inking, chalking, die cuts, stencilling, painting, stamping plus so much more!

I will add some examples of my techniques, so keep an eye out right here!

CUBE NO.1

Here is the first cube Wayne (hubby) and I have pulled apart, cleaned, repaired and put back together.

The second one is going to take more work as there is water damage that neither Wayne or I noticed (bugger!)

Anyway, here is what it looked like before:

It was quite dirty and had a lot of stains but with a little elbow grease, it came      up quite well. The cube shelves are held together with dowel pieces and then    there are screws on the outside.

First step is to remove all the plastic covers, screws and dowel pieces. All the frame and shelves and dividers should be all separate now.

I had an old table set up with a clean rag - when I cleaned one side, I turned it over onto the sheet so that it would stay clean.

The first clean was just using some household cleaner and a dishcloth to remove  the  dust and dirt.

The second clean was using the 'Magic Eraser' - and it is magic! I use these even on my stencils to clean them, they are great for getting inground marks off with ease. If you can see the photos above, the one on the left has been cleaned with the eraser and the one on the right, cleaned only using the household cleaner. This eraser takes off pen, paint .... all sorts of stains!

The above 2 photos are of the same panel - the second photo was reduced and cropped as there was a lot of background and plus I took the photo a bit crooked   .... well, maybe not just a bit - it was very crooked. But I promise, these two  panels are the same and look how clean it came up. Again, the Magic Eraser!!

Also, see how we didn't take our own advice ..... we missed taking out the      dowels from photo No.1, but I did take them out before cleaning it.

So clean all your panels and dividers the same and then you will be ready to        put it back together.

Place your top and bottom down and then one side - as above. Put all the dowel pieces back in and for the dividers (middle panels above) ensure the dowel goes  1/2 way through as this one piece will hold the 2 pieces on either side.

The next step is to start in the middle and put the dividers in (you might think they are the shelves but in fact, the smaller pieces are the dividers and the long pieces are the actual shelves). 

Here is Hubby clicking them into place - use your hand to 'slap' the pieces into     the dowel. If you cant, make sure you only use a rubber mallet gently to push the dowel into the pieces.

A couple of dowels were broken so we just used some wooden ones we had - as long as they are the same size, it doesn't matter if they are plastic or wood.

  Hubby thought he deserved a beer at this stage .... who am I to say he didn't???

Now all the dowels are pushed in and the unit is stable - don't lift it up yet,         you still need to put the screws in.

Nice and square!

 Now go and put the screws back in - if using a drill like Wayne has, dont screw them in tight as it could damage the screw.

Use an Allen Key to tighten up the screws.

The last thing to do is to put the plastic covers back over the screw holes.

                

A reminder of what it looked like before:

UNIVERSAL CRAFT INK PAD ORGANISER - Part 2

This unit is made out of foam core (like the Real Estate signs) but is coated in plastic giving it stability.

Here is what the unit looks like when leaning back on your table, you can see the colours but unfortunately you cant put labels on the shelves as they are too small  (I love labels!).

I store my blender pads two different ways - with the Distress Inks, I velcro the blender pad underneath the ink pad, but be warned, they will stain your unit when you slide the ink pad in the slot. This doesn't worry me but for some, it might.

If you prefer to store your inks upside down or straight, you can turn this unit over so that you can do this. A lot of dye inks can be stored on an angle like the first photo without any problems. Tim Holz has stated that you can store his inks anyway you like without any problems.

The larger ink pad in the above photo is a Pigment Ink - never, never store them straight up like this, it will cause all the ink to flow to the bottom corner. Pigment inks are a wet ink, store them flat. I always store my Pigment Inks upside down as I want the ink to be at the top of the pad and not at the bottom.

As you can see by the photos above, the shelves are not wide enough to take a large ink pad straight in - they can only be put in by the shortest end, leaving half the ink pad hanging over. This isn't a problem if you are not going to move the unit.

If you do have Pigment inks that you want to store in this unit, the above 2 photos show how you should store them (although, as I said, I would store mine upside down).

StazOn, Large Archival, Momento, Versamark ... any large ink pad will need to be stored the same way as above, but for the price, its awesome!

You can see the Distress Oxide ink stains in the first photo - I bought 5 of these but have only made up 1 so far. Again, this doesn't bother me as they will always go back in the same place.

UNIVERSAL CRAFT INK PAD ORGANISER

I found this on Craftonline.com.au for $17.99. I have been looking for an affordable ink storage units for quite some time, I was ready to attempt to make a wooden wall unit when I found this.

I took photos of the steps needed to put it together as it comes flat packed. I must admit, I thought I could put this together myself but there are times where I needed a second set of hands. 

  

There are instructions included along with a small screwdriver - I won't be boring you with copying the instructions, but what I will do is reference my photos to the number on the instructions.

1 & 2:

3:

4:

5&6:

7: The next step is putting in the screws - you will have 2 left over as spares. Hint: Make sure the screw hole is lined up flush against the piece you are about to screw into.

8. The last step is to slide the shelves into the unit - it can be difficult to click in each side - 2 ends of different shelves broke on me but it didn't stop the unit coming together.

I really hope these photos help you put this unit together - an affordable and sturdy way to store your inks. Not bad looking either!

FAVOURITE TOOLS

We all have our favourite tool or tools, so I thought I would show you mine.

Warning though .... I have lots of fave tools, so I will post each of them separately.

Keep an eye out .... coming very soon!

These are just a selection of my favourite tools ..... yes, I have more!

KALLAX CUBES

I have been after the Ikea Kallax 8 x 8 Cube shelving for a very long time ... each time I see one secondhand, I miss out on it by one person (ugh!)

Luckily, I was able to buy 2 of these secondhand from a Pre-School and I am over the moon! This has saved me $300.00.

Yes, they need cleaning and some fixing and especially the second one, needs more than the first, but a bit of elbow grease costs nothing and the end result is very exciting.

Shortly (hopefully) I will be renovating my Craft Studio and these cubes will help so much with storage as I will be buying some of the insert drawers and doors.

Hubby and I have finished the first one and I will post some photos shortly.

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES

TIPS AND TRICKS

Throughout my Blog, I will post Tips & Tricks relating to paper craft techniques.

I hope these help you get more creative and hopefully save you time. Some you may already know and some might be a surprise to you.

I will cover things like brushes, inks, chalks, dies and die cuts, card stock - it doesn't matter what paper craft you are into, these tips will help. This is what Papercraft Central is all about - Techniques.

REPAIRS, RESTORATIONS & IMAGINATION

You can purchase second-hand furniture pieces and sometimes, if you are lucky, you don't have to do anything to use it.

Other times, you may have to give it a good clean and other times you may just want to make it into something unique.

Sometimes, you already have a piece that is quite boring such as a filing cabinet - not boring in an office, but quite boring in a craft room!

I have four projects I am wanting to do:

    1. Cleaning and repairing 2 Ikea Kallax Cubes (8 x 8)

    2. Restoring a Doll House

    3. Painting a Filing Cabinet to match my craft room

    4. Painting veneer bedside cabinets & Tall Boys

STORAGE SOLUTIONS

In my Blog, I will chat a lot about storage solutions, some that have worked for me and some that I changed because I found out that it wasn't productive or too difficult to keep putting the product away.

There is so many different storage solutions out on the market but I think sometimes we forget we can use the simplest and affordable way ... especially if you are just starting out.

So I will put up some photos and hint on what I use for the different products I use and how I store them. Some of these will include papers, pages, pens, glitters, dies, embossing folders .... all sorts of things.