The Stamper

Stampin' Up! Artistic Etchings and bleach

One of the new stamp sets available in our new Idea book and catalog is Artistic Etchings.  This set has 6  images that are very fun to play with.  I created this card for my classes this past week using bleach. Yes your read that right you can stamp with Clorox bleach this kind you most likely have in your laundry room.  A few hints to having success with bleach:
1.  use new bleach, bleach starts to age in about 6 months so if you are not getting quick results then purchase new bleach
2.  Use a glass dish.  Bleach will eat through plastic dishes and you will have a mess on your work surface.
3.  I use glass dish with white felt to hold the bleach.  White felt becomes your ink pad surface.  Felt will not break apart like paper towels and can be used over and over again for years. 

To create this card: use the new Crumb Cake cardstock (formerly Kraft) cut in half and folded in half.  I stamped the border stamp over and over again along the side in Early Espresso ink and then torn the edge and sponge the torn edge with Early Espresso ink. The other stamp images are stamping on the new Cherry Cobbler cardstock, first the medallion stamp is inked with bleach and stamped, I used a heat tool to speed up the bleaching process.  Then I stamping the tower with Early Espresso ink and the crown with Versamark and embossed it with gold embossing powder.  Tear the edge and layer that onto Early Espresso cardstock and then the main card.  I stamped the key image with Versamark and embossed it with gold embossing powder and cut it out.  I punched a greeting with the small oval punch and layered that image and the key onto the card with dimensionals and linen thread.  The only piece I did use from the set is the greeting Amour and it could have been used in place of the greeting stamp I used here.  Enjoy

Big Shot Flower Die quilt

I have been doing a little quilting and just finished this quilt top that was pieced together and then I use the Big Shot Bigz clear Flower Die to cut out fabric and batting to create this flower image that I appliqued onto my pieced quilt front.  I also used the circle die for the flower centers. 

Using the Big Shot and the Stampin' Up! dies are a perfect way to create uniformed images that are quick to cut.  I layered 3 layers of batting and 6 layers of fabric cut them all at one time.  I used Stampin' Up!'s glue sticks to hold the layers together and onto my quilt while I appliqued the flowers to the quilt.  This was a very easy way to keep the layers from shifting and the glue will wash out. 

I now need to quilt this.  I grew up handquilting but that is a slow process so I want to learn to machine quilt.  That is my next hobby to start...  Like I have all the time in the world to learn how to do this but you know if you want to do something you can't wait until you are not busy or else it never gets done. 

Stampin' Up! Pendant Park Stamp Set

I was preparing for a workshop I had last week and decided to do the diaper wipe technique and wanted to do it with a stamp I had never used before, as I was going through my stash I came across Stampin' Up!'s stamp set Pendant Park.  I got this for free at convention I think?  And I never used it because I was not sure about it.  Well, I should have picked it up before now.  Because it is easy to use and turns out so nice and the border piece is just beautiful. 

I loved how the bush turned out using different colors of green refills, I used Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Crushed Curry and then just stamped the park bench in Chocolate Chip ink after stamping the bush.  The border from this set is my favorite and I used the diaper wipe technique on it as well.   I used the slit punch and added a 1/2" chocolate chip circle then a old olive brad to finish the look.  Enjoy, I think I might do this card for my club night tomorrow.

Circle Flower of Wow Page

I love these circle flower and enjoyed creating this scrapbook page for my Wow Scrapbooking Class.  I hold Wow Scrapbooking class on the 4th Friday of each month at 10am and repeated at 7:30 pm.  We make 3 two-page spread that you can take home and drop your pictures on. 

I enjoyed dropping pictures of this page of my daughter and her bright blue eyes.  Wow Scrapbooking class is a fun way to scrapbook, you get to stamp with friends, you get several pages done in a quick amount of time and someone else designed them for you. 

I would love to have you join me for one of these classes, but if you live too far away you can purchase the Wow Scrapbooking Class designs at my other web site I have with Monika.  I design the pages and she types of the instructions for you.  So check it out at http://wowscrapbookkits.wordpress.com/

Stampin' Up! Autumn Splendor

  Happy Thanksgivng week. This past month at the in home workshops I have done we have made this card using the torn paper technique and Stampin' Up!'s Autumn Splendor stamp set as well as Stampin' Up!'s Tres Chic background stamp. I adapted this card from a card exchange I received.  I love this technique is always brings a wow factor into your cards and yet it is easy to create. 

You tear a piece of light weight paper, I use copy paper and I put two-way glue on the back and let it dry to create a post-it-note piece.  Cover the part of your card that you want t remain clean.  Now randomly stamp on the rest of your card using images from your stamp set, I used two leaf stamps from Stampin' Up! Autumn Splendor stamp set, stamped with Really Rust ink.  I then sponged along the torn piece of paper and the edge of the card using Really Rust ink.  I then inked Stampin' Up! Tres Chic background stamp with Soft Suede ink and stamped it over the other image.  When you pull away the torn paper it leaves a torn paper effect on your card.  I stamped another leaf with Soft Suede and cut it out and crinkled it and added it to the front of my card with dimensionals.  Also note I did the envelope to match.

The card stock was Really Rust and Sahara Sand.  Ink colors; Really Rust & Soft Suede. 

Stampin' Up! will be offering specials for this week of Thanksgiving so make sure you check into my Stampin' Up! web site often.  You will be able to order these items on-line.

Polished Stone Technique

I love this technique and had a chance to teach it this week twice.  My workshops this week wanted different themes but the same card layout and technique worked well for both. 

The basic technique:  dab glossy card stock with little dots of Encore ink refill, don't do too many and keep them small.  Moisten a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and add a few drops of ink refills, don't really squeeze bottle just let a drop get on the cotton ball.  Now dab, dab, dab all over the card, this blends the colors together and creates a marble effect with the Encore refill.  You must use glossy card stock for this to work.

For the Halloween card, I used Silver Encore refill, pumpkin pie, crushed curry and night of navy classic ink refills.  I stamped over the image with Night of Navy ink with the House of Haunts Stamipn' Up! stamp set.

The winter trees card, I used gold Encore refill, Night of navy, sage shadow classic ink refills.  I stamped the trees twice, once full strengthNight of Navy and the other upside down having stamped off once.  I added two way glue and glitter in little dabs to the tress so they glisten. 

I attached the greeting with those too cute library clips.