necessity is the mother of inspiration...

They say that necessity is the mother of all invention... well, I don't know if that's true or not, but it certainly does inspire!

I recently ordered a case of empty CD cases so I could organize my clear and cling stamps.  I went through and put all of my stamps (except the over large ones) into these cases, printed out little tiny labels for the spines, and arranged them all on a dvd rack. I must say, I was very pleased with my work.   They looked so neat and tidy, it was easy to have multiple sets out at a time, and a breeze to put back...

I soon discovered, that my beautifully organized stamps had one obvious problem... A lot of my stamps I know by brand, and while all the labels have brand and set name on them, and they are organized alphabetically by brand, they also all look the same at a quick glance.

My initial thought was to put colored dots on the spines of each case with different colors representing different brands... I realized that the dots would more than likely just fall off.  I ran through several different ideas all with the same general outcome of it just not working. 

I realize that what I really wanted is a whole bunch of those fancy-dancy pretty tapes that are so popular right now.

It was then that the bolt of inspiration hit.... MASKING TAPE!

What you'll need

Masking Tape

Creative Inspirations Paint

Non-stick craft sheet

Background stamps (optional)

StazOn ink (optional)

Acetate (or overhead transparency)

 Step 1: Stick strips of masking tape to a clean non-stick craft sheet. (if you have any glitter, powders, or anything else from a past project on your craft sheet, the tape will pick it up, so make sure it's clean)

 Step 2: Paint your tape strips with your favorite CI colors. (Some of the lighter colors needed 2 coats to get a good finished look)

allow to dry.

 Step 3: (optional) Use StazOn ink to stamp patterns onto your tape.

 Step 4: Remove tape from craft sheet and put on an acetate sheet for easy storage. 

Now it's ready to use!

After making this for my stamp organization, I did a little research... Masking tape comes in multiple widths from 1/18 inches to 3 inches wide! And, although not all masking tape is acid free, some is!  SO... if you are wanting to use these as decorative tape in your scrapbook, just make sure you get the acid free kind. 

Of course, if you are just using it for cards... any masking tape will do!

Enjoy!

~Kassi