"Sitting Here"

Here's one of the cards we are making at June stamp camp and following is a video on how we are using the MISTI stamping tool to make it. If you are coming to camp you need to watch the video to the end as the MISTI will be all set up for you ahead of time.

All images are Copyright Stampin' Up!

Here's the video:

It seems when life gets busy, blogging doesn't happen! Well, I'm back and will try to keep up with this blog. Stamping is a hobby but if you want to do it right, I guess, you keep up with it and I am working on some videos to explain how to do some techniques that might be of interest to stampers, especially those who attend my camps. So, here goes:

The first card I'd like to show you how to make is a technique that is not stamping at all, but a way to use your die cuts. I am using the Rose Wonder die set from Stampin' Up! All inks and other things in the video are from Stampin' Up! unless I specify otherwise. The little black foam pad was discontinued years ago but you can use a pad made from "fun foam" instead.

Just Playin' Around!

Well, it's another Snow Day, and that gives me a chance to finish this card I started the other night! This is a little interesting because I didn't have the background scrapbooking paper I needed, so, again, I rolled a background. Then I found after coloring in all the little flowers and adding white to it and sponging it (how many steps is that??!) I had to cover up some of the dark green places on it. First I tried stamping and punching out flowers with Pink Pirouette paper and putting them on, but they were just the wrong shade of pink. So I had a piece of tissue paper laying on the counter and I stamped in, get this: Melon Mambo! So I liked them, and they were just transparent enough to give me the look I wanted, a light pink translucent flower with dark pink veining. Oh, well, it was an experiment on making my own DSP again!!!
This card is done in the same colors as the previous one: Pink Pirouette and Soft Suede with a little Always Artichoke thrown in. (Am I in a rut or what?!)

Easter Blossoms Faux Cameo

Materials needed:
Acetate sheets
White StayzOn
Soft Suede classic ink
Crystal Effects
White, Pink Pirouette and Soft Suede paper
Border punch and corner punch
ribbon
Embossing folders (optional)
medium SU pearls (3)
small flower punch
larger 3-flower punch

Directions:
Stamp the image on a sheet of acetate with the StayzOn and cut out very close to image. Glue to an oval cutout of Soft Suede and then to a larger oval of embossed white. Sponge the edges of the white oval slightly with Soft Suede ink.
Stamp the branches in Soft Suede ink on a piece of Pink Pirouette and affix the ovals as shown. Layer this on a piece of white that has the border punched all around and then on a piece of Soft Suede. Add ribbon and put entire thing on the card front.
Go over the acetate sheet with Crystal Effects.
To make the 3 small flowers at the edge of the frame, I embossed the surface of a scrap of Pink Pirouette with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and punched them out. I punched 3 larger petaled flowers with the larger flower punch from a piece of white embossed paper and added the pearls to the center.

Stampin' Up!'s Unmounted Stamp Sets

So, you try the new unmounted sets, which are, no doubt, really nice. They are rubber stamps that have cling vinyl labels that stick to the back of the stamps so you can see right where to stamp. The only problem is, how do I line up and get those stickers where they belong... and then you get the labels off just a teeny bit, and, "YIKES!" it's not lined up right and you try to take it off the stamp, but the glue is so strong, it rips the foam back off the stamp or the vinyl label stretches and warps, never to lie flat again! Happen to you? Well, I've written a tutorial that will help, so go get a copy and have a "Hassle-Free" time putting your labels on the backs of those stamps!!

Here it is for you to download: Tutorial for Hassle-Free Labeling of SU's Unmounted Stamps

Also, some people have been frustrated by how to get them to stick to the block. I think it's Chemistry 101, but not sure... (I didn't do too well in that course!!) but it has to do with "bonds." Not the savings type, but how the vinyl bonds to the acrylic... it works best if you lay the stamp down on a flat surface with the vinyl label up, then "huff" on the acrylic block and press it down onto the vinyl backing with a slight sliding motion. Let me know how you make out!

February's Stamp Camp is going to feature watercoloring which is something I've been planning to do for awhile. The frames are $1 store frames, and this makes an inexpensive way to frame stamped images and they make great gift ideas! Whenever I find square frames at the $1 store I pick them up for this purpose. Here are a few I've done.

Videos of Projects Available

Sometimes it's just easier to see things as they are done rather than to read directions, which is why some of my directions might have the picture of the project and then it reads, "watch the video," and you're thinking, "I don't have the video!!!" Well, since the videos are long, some being 15 minutes or more, I've compiled some of the videos that we've done in the past couple of years onto DVD's. I'm not a pro at making these, but I did test them and they work, so if you would like one, there are 2 of them and they have about 4-5 projects on each of them. You can order them here by EMAILING ME and I will ship them for $5 each which will cover the cost of materials, postage and shipping. You can get them both for $8. Above is a picture of some of the projects that are on them.