Apr 29, 2011

Altered Clip It Up Products- Vintage & Grunge Minis

Hi everyone! I am so excited to share my altered Clip It Up products with you today. I had so much fun altering them! I hope you like them. :o)

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First let me tell you a little bit about this product. Both of these are Clip It Up Minis with Upper Tiers. When I received my box from Simply Renee, I immediately tore it open with excitement! I was so anxious to assemble it and start clipping my supplies up! I
literally put my Clip It Up Mini together in less than one minute. The ‘clipping up’ part took longer because I had so many products to put on it. I decided to fill my mini with supplies before I altered it to familiarize myself with the product. I wanted to make sure
that my planned alterations would not compromise the functionality of this wonderful product.

In the past I stored all of my bling and flowers in plastic boxes. Although boxes are pretty, they are not the ideal storage solution to suit my needs. A box is the perfect solution for items that will be put away and stored for a long period of time. This was not the right organizational system for me. For products I use frequently, I needed a better way to store and easily access my supplies. Since I only have a few hours every evening to craft, I needed the best organization system possible to prevent me from wasting valuable time. I would literally waste at least an hour just searching for the products I planned on using. I remember feeling frustrated after my long search for supplies which caused me to lose the desire to create.

Another drastic change I noticed was the reduction in clean-up time. When I used boxes, I dreaded the clean-up process because I would complete a project and find my floor completely covered with open boxes. With the Clip It Up, it only takes a few minutes to clip my supplies back up! (My two young children even enjoy doing it for me!)

The Clip It Up comes with clips and divider tabs, making it easy to organize your stash. There are also optional accessories sold separately such as the Clip Grips, Storage Cover and my favorite... the Zip Bags. The Zip Bags are fantastic! I keep loose items in my Zip Bags such as pieces of bling that were cut up and left over, small chipboard elements, etc. I have seen others use regular Ziploc bags instead, but to be honest, I prefer the Clip It Up Zip Bags because they are much sturdier and hang better which
makes it easier to flip through my supplies. The ‘zip’ closure is also on the side of the bag which means that I do not have to unclip it to open it.

Can you believe I was able to empty out FIVE boxes of supplies onto ONE Clip It Up?! I was amazed at how much fits onto this small product! I was so happy to be able to see all of the products that I own. I also noticed that I had duplicates of many items
because I had no idea I had already purchased them! With the Clip It Up, I know exactly which products I have and will no longer waste money on buying the same item twice.

I now own several Clip It Up products and all of them are very light-weight and sturdy. They are easy to move from one location to another. They are also very easy to disassemble, making it perfect and convenient to alter. Let me show you just how easy
it is!

For my vintage Clip It Up, I added lacing to the top of the base. To do this, you must first drill the holes.

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You will notice that beneath the base there are plastic divisions that support the base. Please keep this in mind when drilling your holes.

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Using the faint markings on the top of the base as a guide, I taped on strips of paper (created using a border punch) to mark my holes. I drilled the holes using a 1/8 inch drill bit. Just a quick side note- the Clip It Up box you see beneath the base is excellent
for many different uses. I use it to mist, paint, emboss etc. So don’t throw it out! :o)

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The first step is to paint your Clip It Up. I found this great paint at my local craft store that is a metallic paint with a stone texture. Paint each part of the Clip It Up and allow them to dry thoroughly. If desired, apply a coat of clear gloss as well to protect the painted surface.

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The rings were painted a gold color using Rub’n Buff. Apply the medium to the ring and then gently buff to a luster.

Once all of the parts are dry, reassemble the Clip It Up. Now comes the fun part... the decorating!! There are so many possibilities! First let me show you how I altered my
vintage Clip It Up.

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I added eyelets to the holes I drilled and used lace for the lacing. The chipboard elements are all made by The Dusty Attic. Each chipboard piece was inked and decorated with a little bling.

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The pole was wrapped in lace and adorned with mulberry flowers. The tri-arms were also wrapped in lace. Remember to decorate each piece individually, otherwise, the arms will not turn.

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The divider tabs were decorated with papers from TPC Studios to coordinate with my vintage theme.

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Here is a glimpse of the top of the handle. I kept it simple because I wanted to be sure I would be able to grasp the handle to transport my Clip It Up.

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VoilĂ ! The finished product! I have all of my Prima Flowers hanging on this Clip It Up. It is now so incredibly easy to find the right color or flower that I need.

After altering my first Clip It Up, I felt the urge to alter another! But this time I decided to make it grungy! Check back next Friday and I’ll show you the details of my second one.

Natasha

Apr 27, 2011

Fun with Echo Park and Tips on Organizing Spellbinders Templates

Hello everyone! Tina here with a quick post to give you some tips and ideas on making the most of your crafting space!

I had the honor of being a guest designer for a fabulous kit club called “My Scrapbook Nook” for the month of April. I created this LO using the kit that they sent me! I just loved working with these Echo Park papers!

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In creating this page, I played with some really fun Spellbinders™ die templates. I recently got back from the Spellbinders™ design team retreat, and came home with lots of fabulous die templates to create with! My first thought was which of my Clip it Ups would house them the best!!?? I decided that my Main Base would do just perfectly! If you are not familiar with Spellbinders die templates, they come in a variety of sizes, so I needed something that will hold all of the sizes in one place! The Spellbinders™ Grand  Nestabilities® are a touch wide, so I clip them slightly to the side of center, to help it to still turn well. But the height is perfect even for the 12 inch border dies!! I have not gotten to alter the one yet, but rest assured… I will!

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Do you have a die cutting machine? How do you store all of your templates or cartridges? Have you thought about using a Clip it Up When I get my space ready (it’s coming along QUITE nicely!!) I also plan to have a Wall Mount or Swinging Wall Arm near my cutting station so that I can clip up the ones I am using on a particular project and have them in front of me!

So here are some organizing ideas and thoughts that I’ll leave with you today…

*Use the Main Base to clip up your die cutting templates or cartridges.

*If you don’t have a lot, consider using a Swinging Wall Arm or Wall Mount! (both items on sale now)

*Remember that you can use your Jumbo Clip it Up for collections and kits? Keep them in a zip lock bag and hang them up! Are you part of a monthly kit club? Do you have a dozed pizza boxes stacked up? THIS is your solution! Organize them by month and you’ll always have them out in the open and accessible for use!

I hope that I have inspired you today to get organized or to get crafty! Either way…

Happy Scrapping!

Tina

Apr 25, 2011

Mother’s Day Giveaway!

We all have women in our life who we love and cherish.  Simply Renee wants to honor special mothers throughout May.  Email us why a woman in your life deserves some extra attention and then make sure you follow our blog.  In May we'll randomly select different women to blog about and she'll receive a special Clip it Up prize.  Don't miss out on this great way to show an amazing woman in your life you think she is great.

Email us at clipitup@gmail.com before April 30, 2011.

Rules/Regulations

  • Email a picture and a short reason why you think the mom you nominated deserves a Clip it Up product. 
  • All nominations must be received by April 30, 2011 11:59 PM MST
  • Winners will be randomly selected and they will be announced on our blog along with the picture and reason why they were nominated.
  • Prizes will vary and will be announced within the post
  • Simply Renee reserves the right to make changes at any time during the promotion

A mother holds her children's hands for a while...their hearts forever. -- Author Unknown

Quote of the Week

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” ― Maya Angelou

Don't forget about our Mother's Day Contest! Click here for details. 

Apr 20, 2011

A perfect Spring layout

Hello everyone! It's Barbara again. Are you ready for Easter? I can't wait! It will be so much fun to watch my grand-daughter run around collecting eggs! Plus there's the added bonus of eating deviled eggs! Yum yum!
A few years ago my sweet husband made me a huge scrap desk. He installed pegboard for me to hang all my bling,flowers, and alphas. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I would constantly find that what I needed was all the way at the back. So I would have to take everything off and then put everything back on again. What a hassle! And so time consuming when you have to do it all the time.  He meant well and I love him for it! But I needed a better storage solution.
My two tier Clip it Up solved my problem. On the Upper Tier I store my smaller bling and pearls. I always know where to find my pearls and gems, and they are easy to get to. No more taking everything off and putting it back on.
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On the Main Base I have items separated into alphas, flowers and bling flourishes. Can you imagine me having to take all those alpha's off pegboard? Pleeeeeease, talk about a waste of good scrappy time!
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Most of my flowers are in ziploc bags separated by color, but I do like to keep the newer ones on my Clip it Up. I want to use them first and this makes it easy to find them, especially since it's right next to my desk!
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For this weeks project I used the new Jillibean Soup's Dry Mustard collection. The papers coordinate so well and are beautiful. I love that scalloped circle die cut! I focused on making the layout strictly with the paper itself. The hearts were cut out of the patterned paper. I used a punch to create the two flowers, and the centers are Arco Iris flowers made by Prima. I can see me wanting more of those.  On top of the triple loop punch you see the yellow pearls which were easily accessible on the top tier of my clip it up. I made the pleated flower using my Martha Stewart scoreboard and used another heart for the center.
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Have a wonderfully blessed Easter!
Barbara

Don't forget about our Mother's Day Contest! Click here for details. 

Apr 18, 2011

Quote of the Week

"There is great meaning in life for those who are willing to journey"
-Jim England

Don't forget about our Mother's Day Contest! Click here for details. 

Apr 13, 2011

Family Clip it Up Wall Mount

Hello everyone! I am super excited to share an altered item with you today that I have been working on for a while!!

I don’t consider myself much of an “altered items” type of scrapper. I’d much rather do layouts. But when I get an idea for a project, it consumes me and I really put my heart into it! That’s what happened when I got my Clip It Up Wall Mount. I knew right away that I was going to use it for something other than holding supplies, and I also knew that I wanted to make it so that it was  visible in our house and that I could move it around.

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I went to my local craft store and found a piece of unfinished wood with a nice shape (I brought my wall mount to the store to make sure it would fit!). I thought that if I adhered the wall mount to a piece of wood instead of directly to the wall that I could move it around in my house.

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I painted the wood with black paint, and then a crackle finish and a clear top coat. The letters I cut out on my Cricut using the Storybook cartridge, and the hearts are from a punch. I made sure that my letters would fit between the two end brackets of the wall mount before I glued anything down!

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You will notice that the Wall Mount is actually mounted upside down. I did this so that the word FAMILY would be easier to see.

For the strands, I purchased some small wooden panels that are about 3”x4”, and some wooden house shapes, too. I painted each of these black and then added some patterned papers to them.

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The house I decorated with papers and some chipboard pieces. I then printed off my photos 2.25”x3” and adhered them to the panels. I used a strong paper piercer to poke a hole in the bottom the panels big enough for a clip it fit through, but a small drill would work, too.

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For the words “Live, Love, Laugh”, I used my SCAL program on my Cricut to cut some chipboard and papers to cover them. I covered each word with a few layers of Mod Podge to make them a bit more sturdy. Each word was then glued to a circle punched from paper, and that circle was glued to a piece of ribbon. The ends of the ribbon strip were looped and hot glued so that a clip could hang from them.

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I made a few bows out of ribbon and hot glued them to the front of the clips. Because of the way the clips are angled when you get them, I had to use a pair of pliers to bend the clips so that my photos would hang straight.

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I am so SO happy with the way this turned out! I need to find the perfect place to hang this my house. I think I might start working on another one for a Christmas gift!

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Supplies: Papers: We R Memory Keepers; Ribbon: American Crafts; Chipboard: Maya Road; Punch: Fiskars.

Audrey

***The Wall Mount is on sale now.  Click here to purchase***

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