Ink Swatches

Wow I knew it had been awhile since I posted but I am just realizing how long it truly has been.  The main reason for my hiatus was that we decided to redecorate the basement where my craft room is located.  That meant packing up everything and then the unpacking and reorganization.  Anyway the unpacking has given me a chance to discover things I had forgotten and also to reorganize what I do have.  I love having my stuff organized and lately it feels as though I love to organize more than I create. 

I am done with the organizing bug and have actually finished a couple of projects, but with having a trailer in the summer that has no access to internet (no Wi-Fi or mobile internet coverage) it's had to update my blog.  For the next little bit I will post some of the projects even if they are late and show some of my organization projects.  If I can get the room to stay clean long enough I will also post before and after pictures.  Honestly the kids use our shared area as much as I do and I am always having to move their projects to work on mine.  The main difference is the paint colors, we got rid of the chair rail (lots of work) and painted everything teal and grey.  No more orange and yellow for me !!!

 Inside view of the blues, if I had a matching marker I put a squiggle

Cover of the binder, still needs some decoration but I couldn't just leave it plain so I used some Craft Smith paper and cut a cover

Distress inks were edged as well since they are what I use them most for, and for white/cream inks I stamped on black cardstock and then mounted to a white piece of cardstock

Anyway while I was unpacking everything I came across a lot of ink pads I forgot that I owned.  I have most of my main ones stored in a CTMH ink tower and my distress inks are in this, these are the inks I use most but there are others that I used when I think of them.  Anyway one of my online friends mentioned a Jennifer McGuire ink swatch book and I made my own using card sleeves instead of the coin pockets she used but it's a fabulous idea.  It does two things first I now have all my inks stamped out and second I know what it looks like on cardstock.  Sometimes the color on the label doesn't match or in the case of my distress inks I have inked the edges of the swatch so that I know what it looks like on the edge. 

I put mine is a small presentation binder and keep in on the counter besides my main ink storage.  I used this stamp from unity because it has some fine detail and this allows me to see how the ink pad handles those details.  Some of my pads were way too juicy that no matter how light I was it saturated the details so I put a note on the back.  It also allowed a direct comparison of my ink brands and I will say I love the memento inks, they stamp so nicely and hold the detail really well.

Supplies used: Unity Stamps, Craft Smith Paper, Various Inks