Stampin' 101 Tutorial - Stamp-A-Ma-Jig Tool

I've gotten so many requests for a tutorial on using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig tool. I've been meaning to make this video for ages, and I finally got it done! :)

The Stamp-A-Ma-Jig is one of my all-time favorite tools - I really don't think I could make a card without it. It's a stamp positioning system that allows you to see exactly where your image is going to stamp. It's especially useful for sentiments, and sets that involve layering stamps on top of one another to create a detailed image. (Stampin' Up! refers to this as "two step stamping," and these sets now tend to be photopolymer for easy lining up. But the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig is indispensable for older clear-mount or wood-mount two-step stamps.)

Another thing I love about the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig? It allows me to "try out" different positions for a stamp before I commit to anything on my card. Say I can't decide where I want my sentiment to be. Or maybe I stamped one flower, and I can't decide if I want a second flower to its right or its left. Since the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig imaging sheet is clear, I can move it around on my card to see exactly what my stamped image will look like in all the places I'm considering stamping it. Awesome! :)

So are you intrigued? Or maybe you're one of the folks who's always kind of wondered about the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, but never really figured out what it's all about. Go ahead and check out my video demo below, or over on my YouTube channel. Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh, and by the way, here's the finished card that I'm working on in the video. It uses one of my favorite new sets, Garden in Bloom. The sentiments are from a super cute and clever set called Words of Truth. "I love you more than grilled cheese" is my favorite sentiment from this set! LOL.

Happy Stampin'! :)

Start-to-Finish Sunday #42 - Watercolor Wings

Wait a minute. I know what you're thinking. Start-to-Finish Sunday?? Doesn't that mean a video??? Yes! My first STFS video since September! Baby Lyla actually let me get a ton of crafting the other day - including THREE videos! So stay tuned. :)

Today's card features one of the new sets from the 2015 Stampin' Up! catalog. It's called Watercolor Wings. Now, I'm not a big butterfly person, even though they're always really popular. But you guys know how much I like watercoloring, and anything that creates a watercolor look. This set fits that bill. It's made up of multiple images that you layer together to create really stunning butterflies. I love it for a tone-on-tone look with layered shades of the same color, but I'm also really excited to play with this set and try all sorts of color combinations. Which is where this card comes in!

This card was inspired by one that Alison Barclay shared on her blog. I immediately fell in love with this very unique color combination. I never would have thought to put Blushing Bride and Watermelon Wonder with Night of Navy - let alone combining them in one image. But I love it! (I also added a little bit of Smoky Slate.) The sentiment is from a stamp set called Hello Life.

In the video, I show you how to assemble the different stamps in this set to create these beautiful layered watercolor-look butterflies. You can check it out below, or over on my YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#038: July Cards Challenge - Green Planet

CCC#037: July 2014 Cards Challenge

Green Planet

Inspired by Earth

OK, friends, this month's challenge is to make a card inspired by planet Earth. Now I'll admit, this one really had me stumped for a while. I kept pouring over my stamp collection thinking... What direction do I want to go with this? Maps? Blue and green? When I couldn't make up my mind, and no stamps were jumping out at me, I decided this challenge called for one thing: Custom made stamps! :)

Isn't it amazing that we can carve our own stamps now?! Stampin' Up! just thinks of everything! I've done my fair share of linoleum block printing in my life, but the Undefined stamp carving kit has sat on my shelf for almost a year now (it was introduced at Convention last year, remember?) and I could never decide what I wanted to make with it. So glad I still had it there ready and waiting when I decided what to do for this project!

I decided to do my stamping on this paper from the Typeset DSP collection, because it looks like newspaper and, to me, that fits with the recycling part of the message. I kept the rest of the card very simple - a simple spiral border, linen thread, and I sponged the card base using the polka dots stencil from the new Dots and Stripes Decorative Masks.

As I was stamping these images, I was thinking about how nice they'd look just on a simple one-layer notecard. So I decided to give that a try too! But of course, I couldn't just leave it at that... :)

I ended up cutting about an inch off the bottom of the card, and then I adhered the DSP to the inside so it peeks out the bottom. And I also added some white bakers' twine.

I hope you enjoyed these cards and that you're excited to give the Undefined stamp carving kit a try! Let me tell you, this kit is amazing! Like I said, I've done linoleum blocks before with the hard linoleum and the soft flexible kind. The rubber in the Undefined kit blows them both out of the water! It cuts like buttah! I highly recommend you give it a try! :)

(P.S. These aren't the blocks that come in the kit for you to mount your stamps on - but there are 4 blocks that are included. My dad made these for me because my stamps happened to be a little too big for the small blocks and too small for the large block.)

Head on over to Cathy and Catherine Create to check out the other DT members' cards. And don't forget to link up your card if you play along with the challenge - you could win an awesome prize!

Happy Stampin'! :)

CCC#037: July 2014 Challenge - National Pride

CCC#037: July 2014 Monthly Challenge

National Pride

This month's challenge from Catherine and Cathy Create is to make any project inspired by your country's national colors. A lot of us are celebrating Canada Day and the 4th of July, so this is perfect timing! Though, I have to say this one wasn't much of a challenge for me since 95% of my recent projects have been red, white, and blue! :-D

So as I told you before, I've been completely addicted to the Sea Street stamp set and matching Maritime DSP collection... which just happens to be red, white, and blue! What I love about the Sea Street set is that it's so much more versatile than it may appear at first glance. Sure, there are cutesy smiling sea creatures that are probably most appropriate for projects for kids. But the other images in the set are perfect for creating a totally on-trend and very sophisticated preppy nautical look. That was what inspired my project for this challenge.

I decided to put together a complete stationery set with everything you need to send adorable notes right in one box. Since I used the preppy nautical theme, this set is very grown-up, but would also be completely appropriate for a child off to sleep-away camp. :)

I used Stampin' Up!'s white notecards and envelopes to quickly and easily create a set of 6 clean and simple notecards. I stamped the anchor and rope images from Sea Street and the hello sentiment from A Dozen Thoughts in Real Red, Coastal Cabana, and Night of Navy inks.

The notecards come come with envelopes, but I wanted to dress up the cards a little so I made my own envelopes out of the Maritime DSP and the envelope punch board. Quick, easy, and cute!

Since the DSP envelopes don't have any sealer on them, I thought it would be nice to stick some coordinating stickers into the kit. These are just some white yardsale price stickers I had hanging around, but the anchor stamp fits perfectly on them! I also found some large mailing label stickers, white I decide to cut in half and stamp to coordinate too. (The "to" stamp is from an old Christmas set, by the way.)

Here's what it looks like when the whole set is put together. So cute and so sophisticated! I stamped on the label (with a retired alpha set - sorry!) but you could just as easily hand write your recipient's name. Or you could write a whole address on the label - it's big enough - and you could actually put this through the mail! (I'd seal the envelope up with more than just the little sticker if I was going to mail it.)

I did include a coordinating pen, because I wanted the kit to have everything you'd need to write and send a note. I wanted to put a piece of DSP inside the clear barrel of the pen, but this particular pen is just too skinny, and I couldn't find the mini version of the Pentel R.S.V.P. pens that work so well for this. Oh well, the pen still matches all by itself!

So that's it for me! Hope you enjoyed this project and you've been inspired to play along with this challenge and make a project with your country's national colors? Are they the same as mine? :) If you do make a project, make sure you link it up on Catherine and Cathy Create - and while you're there, check out the other DT members' projects.

Happy Stampin'! :)

One Stamp, Four Ways: Bright Birthday Card

I'm back today with card 2 of 4 using the Flower Patch stamp set! If you missed the first card in my challenge to make 4 different cards with one stamp set, make sure you check it out here: http://bit.ly/1rvqc1Z So you've seen me make a sympathy card with this set... The next card I needed was a birthday card for a friend.

This particular friend is a very bubbly and vivacious gal, so I chose a bright color palette of Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizzazz, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, and Tangerine Tango. I stamped the flowers randomly on a Whisper White panel, starting with the largest flower (in Strawberry Slush) first, and working my way down to the smallest (in Bermuda Bay). I love stamping my own backgrounds like this - I can make a stunning card in no time at all!

This card is similar to my first card in that there's a lot of stamping, and very minimal embellishment. I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the centers of the Strawberry Slush flowers, but otherwise let the graphic black and white sentiment serve as an embellishment. I love this sentiment, which is also from the Flower Patch set. And it's absolutely perfect for this birthday girl! :) I embossed it on Basic Black cardstock with white embossing powder.

I also decided to mimic some of the stamping on a panel inside the card for a little extra color and flair. Super simple!

Well, we're halfway through my little challenge here. I've got two more cards up my sleeve, and one of them is really different! :) So stay tuned!

Happy Stampin'! :)

One Stamp, Four Ways: Sweet and Simple Sympathy Card

I have a terrible habit of making tons of cards at random and never actually doing anything with them. When I found myself needing 4 cards to be in the mail and delivered by Thursday, ironically I didn't have any on hand that worked! So I decided to challenge myself. The Flower Patch stamp set had just arrived in my mailbox, and I was dying to bust into it. It's one of the photopolymer sets in the new catalog - and it is huge! The combinations of flowers you can stamp are endless! I thought it would be fun to see if I could make 4 different cards - for completely different occasions - using that one stamp set. Fun!

So here's the first card I have to share with you. There's a really sweet woman who is a patient at the medical office where I work, and she always asks for me when she calls. Her husband had been very sick, and passed away a few days ago. We live in an area with a lot of older people, and sadly, we have patients passing almost every day. I certainly don't often send cards, but with this kind woman, I just felt called to reach out and let her know I was thinking of her.

Sympathy cards can be very difficult to make, so I decided to keep this one very simple. The pastel color palette is bright, but appropriate. I kept my stamping simple too - I didn't do much of the two-step stamp layering that this set is designed for. And you can see that I still achieved beautiful flowers just by stamping one layer!

The colors I chose for this card are Crisp Cantaloupe (which is way more of a peach color than shows in this photo), Pool Party, So Saffron, and Pistachio Pudding. I used a layer of Sahara Sand to create a small border accent, but this could very easily be a stunning one layer card. The sentiment I chose is from A Dozen Thoughts, stamped in black ink.

So that's it for today. Stay tuned for my second card, coming soon!

Happy Stampin'! :)

Start-to-Finish Sunday #37: An *Almost* One-Layer Card

I was faced with a bit of a self-imposed challenge recently. I was prepping for the first week of a 6-week cardmaking class. I only knew one of the girls who'd signed up, and I knew she was more of a scrapbooker and I wasn't sure how much stamping experience she had. And the others? I knew nothing about them! So I decided week 1 would be Stampin' 101... no Big Shot, minimal embellishments, mostly just stamps, ink, and cardstock. And it was hard! This card was the last one I designed, and it's really kind of my favorite of the three.

It's thisclose to being a one-layer card, with just a couple very simple embellishments. One stamp set. Two ink colors. One punch. Twine. And done! :)

You can check out the video below, or over on my YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stampin'! :)



Supply List:

InLinkz.com

Clean and Simple Cardmaking

 
Today is day 2 of Kristina, Jennifer, and Julie's Clean and Simple Cardmaking online class and I am already loving it! They started out on day 1 with three sketches - what a perfect way to start for those of us who really struggle with CAS cards! And I actually sat down and made a card with one of the sketches! :)

I really struggle with white space, so instead of leaving it actually white, I used some large stamps to create a background.

In her post and video, Kristina talked a lot about using masking to create interest, and also ways to use die cuts creatively. So I decided to use both these techniques on my card.

It may be only day two, but so far I'm really loving this class and I've got high hopes for a lot of learning and improving on my part! :)

Anything that ends in PALOOZA has to be good!

Hello friends! I hope you'll excuse my more-than-a-month long blogging hiatus... it sure has been busy around here this summer! But now I'm back, because...

Today is the day we've all been waiting for!! :-D The *BRAND SPANKIN' NEW* A Muse Studio Holiday 2011 catalog is now live! TONS of new product is now available to you! (And is also available for us consultants to order more than one of! Wink wink!) Trust me, folks, you are going to LOVE the new options. Of course, there are new stamp sets but there are also 2 new colors, beyond adorable new dies, glitter, embossing powder, baker's twine and... drum roll, please... Hello, FELT! :)

*swoon*

Go ahead and check it out at my webstore.


ALSO - today is the very first day of A-Muse-A-Palooza! This fantastic event will run until September 30, and will feature extra-awesome hostess rewards and great deals on products!

To celebrate, I've made a card featuring one of the new stamp sets and one of my all-time-fave techniques for fall leaves. Check out my video to see how I did it!

Supplies used in this video are by A Muse Studio and are available at my webstore:
- Stamps: Fresh Foliage
- Inks: French Roast, Cranberry, Papaya, Buttercup, Grass, Fern, Memento Tuxedo Black
- Cardstocks: Sugar, Pumpkin, Fern
- Other: clear blocks, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, Tombow Adhesive Dots tape runner, small sponge daubers

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope your week is marvelous!

We go together like...

Hey there! Happy Monday to you! Just a quick post today to share a one-layer stamped card I made using the Perfect Blend stamp set from A Muse Studio... I think this might be my new favorite stamp set! :)

How cute is this sentiment?! I used masking to create the border and keep the stamping within the center area.

I also did a little paper piecing to make two of the cups go together. So cute!

All materials from A Muse Studio, and available at my webstore:
- solid cardstock in Kraft
- polka dot cardstock in cherry
- pigment ink in Cranberry and French Roast
- mug image and sentiment from "Perfect Blend"
- label image from "Vintage Labels"
- Tombow Dual-Brush Marker in Cranberry
- Sakura Quickie Glue Pen
- Other: Stamping Mask Paper by Inkadinkado

Have a great week!

I {Heart} My Mom

A challanging challenge...

I'm going to try hard not to ramble here... I have a lot to say about this one little card but most of it I'm sure won't be interesting. Still - consider yourself warned ;)

Kristina Werner's blog is one of my favorites and with her latest video she issued a challenge: Make a one-layer card using only stamps. You can take a look at her card here. This is not normally something I would even attempt, but I figured it would be something fun to try for my new blog. Here's what I came up with:

Well... now that it's done, fun is not necessarily the word I would use... I've had Hero Art's What's Perking stamp set for a couple months now and I've never been able to figure out what to do with it. So for this challenge I was determined to use it. I was going to make a Mother's Day card using the teacup stamp, and it was going to say "Take time for you." But the "take time for" part of the stamp set is really small, and I don't have any large alphabet stamps that I could use for "you." So scratch that idea. I created a little scene that I liked with the coffee pot and mug, and then found another stamp set that had a sentiment that I liked. The circle border is from Sassafras.

This challenge was kind of embarrassingly hard for me. I rarely do this much stamping on one card, and it took me three tries to get it right! I'd get halfway through what was turning out to be a great card and the next stamp would be crooked or uneven and I'd have to start all over again! I vastly prefer stamping on individual elements so I don't end up ruining the entire card. And I made my card a little more like Kristina's than I would normally have liked. I really like how she layered the stamps, so I decided to try the same technique. I may try to make a stamps-only card again using a different format.

And in conclusion... I think I'm ok with paying extra postage and standing in line at the post office to have stamps hand-canceled. :) If I do want/need to make one-layer cards, I think I'll try it with patterned paper adhered straight to the card base and without large three-dimensional embellishments.