Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

A place to get those great coasters!

I've had a lot of people asking where to get the coasters I used for the calendars I made in this post ---> Coaster Calendar Magnets

I actually got my coasters through a buy/share that one of the girls in my downline did so I have about 400 that need to be used up.

But........the good news is.........there's a great source online that you can get them.

I found that the same place I got those groovy little calendars (Stamp On This) for this project ALSO sells the coasters at a great price! And if you buy more, you save more!

You can check them out here: White blank chipboard Coasters

Just some good old fashioned stamping again....and a quick question answered

I've been working at my computer for what seems like all day today and then I had my Weight Watchers meeting to attend at 4:30 this afternoon and I realized around 3:45 that I never got any stamping in today. I've been so absorbed by other work today that one of my favorite activities of the day went by the wayside........well, almost.

I made sure that I got my creative stamping fix before I had to walk out the door to my meeting.

I sat at my desk and worked on this card while the smell of cut grass came in through the window. (The husband was outside using the old fashioned push mower on the lawn....it's actually the ONLY mower we own and he sure got his exercise out there with mowing AND raking.....and I think that's probably going to be the last cut of the year so I was really soaking that fresh smell in.)

The smell of the grass made me lean towards green. The colors of this card actually make for a really nice guy or boy birthday card. Okay, okay, so there's some glitter (well, a lot of glitter) on this card, so maybe it's not a GUY card, but more of a boy's card.....but I swear that if you don't make a big deal out of the glitter, most guys won't notice. Whatever you do, NEVER apologize to a guy for using glitter on his card. It's just a way for us women to help them get in touch with their feminine side without being blatant about it. ;)

I used the Eat Cake set for this card. It's a 2-Step Stampin' Set, which opens stamping up to a variety of possibilities. The number one possibility is that of using multiple colors for really great looks!

I stamped the present first with Certainly Celery ink and then stamped the ribbon and bow stamp over the top with Blue Bayou ink. Great guy colors and the finished presents perfectly match the cardstocks.

I got some really great spool ribbon at Michael's a while ago and this was the perfect card and excuse to finally open that spool up. Just a little something to lighten it up without overwhelming it.

I used pop-dots to give the greeting some dimension. I also used the pop-dots so that I didn't have to mount the greeting directly on top of the ribbon and not have it lie completely flat. Besides, the popped up greeting is fun. :)

I used my 2-Way Glue Pen to go over the ribbons and bows on the presents and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds glitter over them. Glitter is perfection personified!

Some of you have asked what Dazzling Diamonds is and what the 2-Way glue pen is all about.

I know that some of you use Stickles and I even bought a little bottle of the Diamond Stickles, but I have yet to use it. I just love the ease of the quick drying 2-Way glue pen and the look of my shiny and uber-sparkly Dazzling Diamonds. I just can't help myself!

The 2-Way glue pen is a felt tipped pen and allows you to apply glue in VERY small amounts. It goes on super flat and almost looks like it's not even on there.....but it is. A quick sprinkle with the Dazzling Diamonds glitter and it's instantly set and dried. I don't have to worry about a line of glue to completely dry or have it sticking up in a 3-D way. This dries quick and flat. It seems like it's almost instant.

Some of you mentioned that it seemed like extra steps when you could just use glitter glue. Sure, you can do one application of glitter glue, but it still has to take time to dry and if you'd looking for a flat effect, you're just not going to completely get that with a glitter glue.

Make sure to come back tomorrow........it's Round 2 of the free stamps give-away!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Eat Cake set (Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Certainly Celery, Whisper White; Ink: Blue Bayou, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue; pop-dots; Dazzling Diamonds glitter; 2-Way glue pen; ribbon

Question and Answer time :) The "Stampin' Mama Tutorial Program"

Back at the end of August, I did my first "Groovy Give-Away Friday." For that give-away, I told you all that you could ask me any questions you wanted. Wow.....what great questions I got and I'm still working on answering them all in my posts....it'll take a little while as the questions were so diverse and I'm looking to find ways to intersperse them into my posts.

One of the questions that I got on that post (and I actually get this question a lot in my email box) was about the "Stampin' Mama Tutorial Program":

How does one subscribe so as to get to the tutorials?

-asked by Leslie P

Well.......I've been working on getting a page up on my blog that tells you all about it.

I send out an email each week to release the new tutorials, so if you're on my mailing list, you'll see those in your inbox each week. For those of you that aren't yet on my mailing list, you're totally missing out! Not just on tutorial releases, but all kinds of other groovy stuff I have going on for my mailing list. If you want to make sure that you don't miss anything, you can sign up for my mailing list by plugging your email address into the little box ALL THE WAY at the top of my blog, right under my picture. (where it says, "Join my mailing list")

In the meantime, I have already put out 19 Issues of the "Stampin' Mama Tutorial  Program" and you can check out sneak peek pictures of all of those issues. To see information about this great program, click here --------> The "Stampin' Mama Tutorial Program"

This page will tell you everything you need to know about the program, as well as give you the option to sign up and take part in the program. There's also the option to get the back issues that I've put out.

Please don't hesitate to email me to ask any questions you may have about this program.

Have a great evening!

-Erika

Quick card with the Simply Scrappin' Kits......and a question answered

I find that I can never have too many "thank you" cards. There's always someone to say "thank you" to, even if it's just for being a good friend. I find myself reaching for a "thank you" greeting more often than I reach for others.

I've spent most of today doing non-crafty things....unless doing dishes, washing out the trash can, making salads and watching movies is considered crafty. Well, for me it's not considered crafty and I needed to get my crafty fix in for the day and make a quick card. Okay, I DID clean off my craft desk because my daughter made a huge mess of glue, stickers and paper scraps on it, but I still don't think that qualifies as gratifying craftiness for me.

I looked through my stamp bins for something to work with but nothing screamed at me to be used today (I think my stamps wanted a break from me), so I pulled out one of my Simply Scrappin' Kits and decided that would be a great quick fix.

The Secret Garden Kit is my all time favorite kit from the new catalog. The colors and patterns are so soft, earthy and gorgeous together. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for the Paper Bag Album that I put together.

As much as I love scrapbooking and it's what I started with LONG before I started stamping, I'm just not a "kit kind of girl." I prefer to work with a LOT of creative license when I'm scrapbooking, though I know that for some people, they LOVE working with kits. For cards, though, I LOVE these Simply Scrappin' Kits. They're more like "Simply Card Kits" to me. You can do an incredible amount of projects with these kits. I made that entire Paper Bag Album, as well as 3 other cards, and I'm STILL working on using up the supplies in the kit....it's like the supplies in those kits are never ending!

Everything that I used on this card was from the kit, except for the ribbon and the stamped image.

All of the Simply Scrappin' Kits are new this year and they include a selection of beautiful textured cardstocks. They have a linen look and feel to them that's just luscious. You can kind of see it at the top of the card on the first picture, but you can definitely see it in the bottom right corner of the picture here to your left.

From one of the past Groovy Give-Away posts, Elizabeth asked:  What tool from your wish list will be your next purchase?

I really stick to the basics when it comes to tools. I have my paper cutters, my circle and oval cutters, embossing gun, crimper (though it doesn't really work right since my kids have tried to crimp matchbox cars through it and yah, that doesn't really work well), my Crafters' Tool Kit and my handy-dandy Cutter Kit. That's pretty much it when it comes to tools.....other than the essential and basic punches that I have. I really am a "back to the basics" type of girl. I don't own a Cricut. I don't own a Cuttlebug, a Bind -it-all, a Rubicoil, a Sizzix machine, a Xyron, a Quik-Kut, a Scor-Pal, a Spellbinder, a Carl Cutter, an ATG gun or a BigKick machine. Like I said, I'm a "back to the basics" kind of girl.

I guess none of that answered Elizabeth's question, now, did it?

Some may not consider these next two things as tools common in a stamper's "tool box," but I think it's partly because as stampers, most people wouldn't think of them as stamping tools. My wish list for tools is comprised of only two items. A REALLY beefed up digital camera and a 12 x 12 color printer that prints exceptional quality photos.

The camera I'm using now has been a great friend and great to learn on but the more I learn about cameras and how much more I could be doing, the more I want an upgraded and beefed up camera.

As a scrapbooker, I've been wishing for a 12 x 12 printer for a while now. I never print photos out on my printer because it's just not meant for that. But I've also wanted to put 12 x 12 cardstock through my printer for ages and no matter how hard I try to talk my 8.5 x 11 printer into feeding a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock through it, it's just plain stubborn and won't listen to me. It actually talks back to me and argues about it. Pfft!

So........probably not the answers you expected, but it's what I really want. I got the new computer last year and I just splurged on some more memory for it. The camera will be next on the list. Gotta save my pennies for it. :)

Have a great Saturday night!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Much Appreciated set (Stampin' UP); Textured Cardstock: Groovy Guava and River Rock (Secret Garden Simply Scrappin' Kit); Patterned paper (Secret Garden Simply Scrapping Kit); Ink: Always Artichoke; Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon

Lovely as a Tree card and some questions answered...

Can you believe that I've had the Lovely as a Tree for about 4 years now and have NEVER used this oak tree stamp?

I got the set with some hostess credit years ago because I loved the line of naked trees that comes in this set. For the last 4 years, it's been all about that one stamp for me.

I've seen beautiful cards done with this oak tree and thought, "Oh, isn't that gorgeous." But I could never wrap my head around being able to use the stamp myself.

I set a challenge for myself yesterday and told myself to not only make a "Guy card," but to also use a stamp in my collection that I either haven't used in a long time, or that I've never used at all. This was kind of hard for me as I don't really have a lot of stamps in my collection that haven't been kissed with ink.

This oak tree stamp stared at me and taunted me. I told myself, "Oh, heck with it, Erika. Suck it up and use the darn thing. It's not THAT scary of a stamp. IT HAS NO POWER OVER YOU!" And so here you go.

So many of you have asked how my creative process works. To be honest with you, it's all over the place. Some things that work for one card may not work for another card. Sometimes I have the card already envisioned in my head when I start and I nail it just like I saw it in my head. Other times, I have something envisioned and when the card is finished, it's completely different than what I saw in my mind. There are times that I start a card and have something in mind for it and only half of it comes out the way I saw it in my mind and I tweak things as I go along....add a new color, change a greeting out, turn things a different way, etc.

There are two things that always stay constant for me in my creative process. One is that I always start with the stamps first and then work the rest of my design around the stamp images. The other is that I try to stay FAR away from magazines, websites and books when I'm in the middle of creating. I get quite a few magazines and LOVE to look at them and get ideas, but I find that I'm easily overwhelmed if I look at them WHEN I'm in the midst of the creative process. For some people, it helps. For me, it overwhelms.

Some of you have asked what I do when I have a "creative block." When I have a creative block, I usually walk away from the desk, put on a Putamayo CD (these are a collection of cultural music CDs and run the gamut from Turkish to Greek, from Reggae to Celtic, from Gypsy to African.....they cover the globe in music) and come back a little while later. Sometimes a bowl of creamed corn helps, too. Now......I'm not guaranteeing that if you eat a bowl of creamed corn and dance around your craft desk to the tunes of Bob Marley that you're going to be hit with creative inspiration, but it does work for me most of the time. :) If you DO try it, though, definitely let me know if it worked because I just might be on to something. ;) The point is.....I find that if I walk away from the project for just a little while and redirect my thoughts somewhere else, I usually come back with a fresh perspective or a new idea that I didn't think about before.

For this card, I knew that I wanted to watercolor the tree image, but that was about it.

When I watercolor, I like to use either my Watercolor Wonder Crayons or pick up my  color directly from the lids of my ink pads. I used the lid of my ink pads for this card. I went over it first with Old Olive ink and then touched it up with some Always Artichoke ink. Same thing for the ground and the tree "shadows" under the tree. I used Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa for the tree trunk. I used a wide flat brush and did a wash of Bashful Blue ink for the sky.

I used my handy-dandy little distressing tool on my Cutter Kit to rough up the edges of the cardstock layers before I mounted it to my card. It just seemed so appropriate for a natural looking card.

You all know how much I LOVE to swipe my cardstock for added texture so I did that with the Creamy Caramel layer under the tree and also on the Close to Cocoa card. I used Close to Cocoa ink to swipe around the outside edges of the card for more definition. The Creamy Caramel ink on the cardstock surfaces give it such a nice rough-velvet look. (Click on THIS POST to read more about the "swiping" technique)

I'm not sure yet who I'm going to send this card to. Maybe I'll slip it into the husband's lunch box next week as a surprise.

I'm so excited that it's Friday. There's just something about them that makes them so enticing to me.....maybe it has to do with the fact that it's payday for the hubby. ;) Or maybe it's the fact that I can spend the whole weekend with him....okay, maybe it's both. ;) ha!

Have a lovely weekend.....I plan on FINALLY putting together a scrapbook page that I've been thinking about for a while. And yes, you'll get to see it sometime soon.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree & Sincere Salutations stamp sets (both Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Confetti White; Ink: Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Basic Brown, Jet Black Staz-on; distressing tool from the Cutter Kit; fine and wide flat paintbrushes and water

Watercoloring......a mini tutorial

Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary and I wanted to make a special card for my Davy. Something that would have our personalities show through. I love the couple stamp image from the Summer by the Sea stamp set. And the word stamp from this set was perfect for an anniversary card.

I love to watercolor and this stamp set lends itself SO well to watercoloring.

I've gotten quite a few emails asking how I watercolor, what stamp pad I use to get a clean and crisp image, etc.

I decided to do a little mini tutorial to walk you through the stages of my watercoloring process. Everyone does their's differently, but at least you'll be able to see how I do mine.

First off, I go back and forth between using the Classic Ink pads and the Watercolor Wonder Crayons for my watercoloring. They each give a little differently of a look. It's not that I like one over the other, it just really depends on the mood I'm in. For this card, I used the Watercolor Wonder Crayons.

I started off with a Creamy Caramel card and swiped it with my Creamy Caramel ink pad. I just ADORE this look.

Then I cut a piece of watercolor paper and stamped the image with my new favorite permanent black ink pad.....the Palette Hybrid Black ink pad. I have found this pad works the BEST for watercoloring. It doesn't bleed and it creates a very vibrant and crisp image. I used to use the Basic Black pad (Stampin' UP) for watercoloring and then the Jet Black Staz-On, but I'm finding that they just aren't as permanent as I like, or they just don't give me that crisp, vibrant image that I'm looking for. The Palette Hybrid pad works the best for me. When using watercolor paper, though, you have some texture on the paper and to get the crisp image, I just make sure to give some hard, even pressure when I stamp the image onto the paper. This pad hasn't failed me yet.

After I stamp the image on the cardstock, I let it sit for a few minutes. This gives the ink time to settle into the paper and dry.

Then I start adding color with my  Watercolor Wonder Crayons. I don't completely color the images. I usually follow the lines of the image, the creases, the shadowed areas, etc. This is where the colors run a little darker when you look at things in real life. I go a little heavier on the ink in these spots, since I'll be using that color to "pull" from when I start the watercoloring process.

For the sunset in the background, I went lightly over the area with the crayons, since I didn't want the sunset to be too bold, but just soft and subtle in the background.

(You can click on ANY of these pictures to bring up a window with a larger view. This will help to see the details even better.)

I use a small watercolor brush so that I can work with the detail easier. Some people swear by the Aqua Painters, and while I like those for some techniques, when it comes to watercoloring, I'm a brush type of girl. I've loved to paint since I was a wee girl and getting a new paintbrush was almost like winning the lottery at that young of an age.   

I wet my brush just a little and start by getting the crayon  marking really wet. When I've gotten the color wet and fluid, then I start to "pull" the color towards the white areas. This helps to leave most of the heavy shading towards the edges and bring in a lighter shade of the color to fill in the white area.

And yes, I really do use little Disney paper cups for watercoloring. Every once in a while, I feel generous and let me kids use some for juice. ;) They're really great for quick watercoloring and they're easily thrown into the recycling bin after I'm done with them. I like that they're small and convenient and there's not a lot of water in them if I do happen to knock one over (though I try really hard not to do that......you'd be surprised how much of a klutz I can be sometimes). And.......the best thing about those little cups is that you never know which one you're going to get when you pull one off of the stack! It's a surprise every time! :)

This picture shows the shirt completed.

It also shows a close up of starting the watercoloring on the jeans. You can see how I get the blue crayon on the jeans started and blended before I start pulling the color towards the white area. By doing this, it takes away the harsh crayon line.

I always keep a paper towel handy when I'm watercoloring....not just because I'm a klutz and I might spill the water, but also just in case I get a little more water on the watercolor paper than I really wanted. I use a corner of the paper towel and VERY lightly touch it to the extra water and it soaks it up without worrying about bleeding the color into another area or having a splotchy look on the paper.

Here's a close up of the finished jeans.

I repeated these steps for each area I needed to watercolor, except for the sky.

For the sky, I started at the top of the paper with a REALLY wet brush and blended the crayon with the water in an ovular motion. As I did this, I worked my way down the cardstock, blending the colors together. This process gave the sunset a cohesiveness....it looks like each color bleeds right into each other. There's no line break in the colors.

After the watercolor paper was dry, I mounted it on a piece of Apricot Appeal cardstock, which I lightly swiped around the edges with Creamy Caramel. This got mounted on top of a piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock, which I also lightly swiped with the Creamy Caramel ink pad.

I mounted this on top of the Creamy Caramel card front.

I used my Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker to ink the first two lines of the greeting and stamped that in the upper left corner of the watercolor paper. I cleaned off the stamp REALLY well and then inked up the third line of the greeting stamp and stamped it on a scrap of Pretty in Pink cardstock. I then trimmed down the Pretty in Pink cardstock (which I swiped with Creamy Caramel cardstock) so that it would fit under the small metal frame from the Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware. I adhered this to the card in the bottom right corner.

Before I put the Antique Brass brads (also from the Hodgepodge Hardware kit) in the holes on frames, I cut a piece of ribbon from one of the 5 spools that comes in the Uptown Khaki ribbon from American Crafts and tied it with a knot and trimmed the edges. I then used the paper piercer and mat to pierce holes through the Creamy Caramel cardstock and pushed the brads through.

And yes, my Davy loved the card. :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Your questions answered :)

I love getting all of the emails and comments that you all send.

I do get a lot of comments and emails asking about specific techniques, or things that you see here on my blog, etc. I decided to do a quick post to answer some of those questions.

Alison said on THIS POST:

Very nice card!  When you say you "swiped the edges with the inkpad", can you describe that a bit more for me?

When I attempt to do this, either just the very edge picks up colour or I end up with hatch marks on the border of my cardstock from the inkpad - it never looks like yours!

My answer:

"Swiping" is also known as the "Direct-to-paper" technique. With direct-to-paper, you're taking your ink pad directly to the paper. Direct-to-paper, though, can mean many different things. You can get a lot of different looks with this technique. Swiping, on the other hand, is direct-to-paper, but a little different in that you get a specific look with it. It DOES take a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be addicted!

I typically use the long end of the ink pad and start by swiping it against the edge of the cardstock, getting just the edge inked up. Once I get the edges inked up, I start by going back over the cardstock and very carefully, I go a little further in on the cardstock with the ink pad, swiping down against the cardstock. I go over the corners a little deeper just to give more dimension and texture.

Every once in a while I get a cross-hatch of ink on my project (you can see it at the bottom of my Hugs & Kisses card from the post that I linked to above), but you can usually hide it under an accent. Or, if you really don't like the way it turned out, then you can always make that the back of your card, or the inside of your card. I've done this MANY times. :)

 

mnhyrkas asked on THIS POST:

adorable- love the "feeling lucky" sentiment.  who makes it?

My answer:

GinaK Designs makes the "Feelin' Lucky?" stamp and she just updated her store online with all new designs. AND she has those scalloped Giga Punches that everyone's been looking for. Check her out here: StampingFreak.com

Cheryl asked on THIS POST:

could you post the finished photo of the card at the bottom of the tutorial also so that I don't have to go back to the top to see it again?

My answer:

I know that someone mentioned this on the post, but I thought I would answer it here, as well. If you hit the "Home" key on your keyboard, it will go to the top of the entry so that you can see it again. Then you can use your "Page Down" key to go down the page slowly, so you can easily find where you left off on the tutorial.

Someone recently asked me what chipboard I use.

My answer:

I love using chipboard and have recently become QUITE the fan of it. I love using it but it can be hard to find small pieces in large quantities. I really like using Bazzill Chips. There's a lot of sizes and shapes offered and they come in large quantities (20, 30, 40, 50 pieces).

Jennifer asked on THIS POST:

(About the Double Resist Tutorial) Does it have to be Glossy cardstock? Or could I just use the whisper white?

My answer:

Yes, it does have to be glossy cardstock if you're going to do the Versamark Resist part of this project. If you are doing just the Emboss Resist technique, you can use regular white cardstock. Versamark Resist, though, won't work if you're not using Glossy White.

Lourin asked on THIS POST:

I wanted to ask you. From the front view of the card, it appears that there is a Green Ring around the outer edge of the circles. It looks like a frame of some sort. At first glance I thought you had used circle tags, then thought, how did she get them green. Could you please explaine how this is achieved. I have read the turorial over and over again, but I must be missing it.

My answer:

The green "frame" that you see behind the turtles when the card is closed comes from the Gable Green cardstock that the turtles are mounted on inside the card. The holes that were punched out of the cardstock are 1 3/8 inches and the chipboard circles are just a tad smaller at 1 1/2 inches. When you close the card, there is a small gap between the chipboard circles and the punched holes. You can see the green from the inside of the card through that gap, which makes it kind of look like a frame. :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama