Stamps, Paper, Scissors

Another Sketch Challenge!

I decided to do sketches this week and as you saw in the last post, I used one there. But for this one, I returned to my SU! stamps because the sketch just seemed to call for it. The sketch is Di Hickman's September Sketch #4:

Ingredients: Stamps - Baroque Motifs, Canvas; Paper - Very Vanilla, Ruby Red, Blue Bayou, Creamy Caramel; Ink - Ruby Red, Blue Bayou, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip; Other - Fire circle brads, kraft taffeta ribbon, paper piercing tool.

Isn't it GOJUS!!! (YILM!) I am on a ROLL, let me tell ya!

Oh, the power of RUBBAH!!!!

Well...the power of stamps, really! 'Cause these stamps ain't made of rubber!

You know how low my sales resistance is right now! I got sucked into ordered from yet another company! The banner was right there on Splitcoast and I just had to click on it! The stamps are a little pricey, but so cute! The psychic resonance just oozed out of the screen! I dithered, I really did! But I kept clicking on it and looking. I still had a tiny bit of money left from my last Ebay sale, so finally I bit. The stamps are from Kitchen Sink Stamps, a new company started by someone from Splitcoaststampers, Maria Colosimo.

The first card I did using a sketch from Julee at Poetic Artistry for Mojo Monday (#4)

Ingredients: Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps Pretty Petals; Paper - Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean, Pumpkin Pie, Apricol Appeal; Ink - Tempting Turquoise, Cool Caribbean, Pumpkin Pie, Apricol Appeal, Certainly Celery, Old Olive; Other - Celery dotted organdy (Michael's), daisy punch (SU! retired), 3/4" circle punch, round tab punch, stampin' sponge wedges.

Isn't it GOJUS!!! (YILM!)

For the second card, I decided my Cuttlebug was sadly neglected, so I went ahead and pulled out all the stops:

Ingredients: Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps Thanks with Style; Paper - Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black, Regal Rose; Ink - Regal Rose, Pallete Noir, Pretty in Pink; Other - Cuttlebug Divine Swirls & Heart Blocks Embossing folders, black dotted organdy (Michael's), brads - Queen & Co., Diamond Dots (Stampendous), dimensionals.

I decided that the perfect touch for the letter was a Diamond Dot from Stampendous...I scrabbled around in my drawer of Forgotten Embellishments and found a few left from many years ago. It was so perfect that I wondered if they were still being made and they are! You can get them from addictedtoscrapbooking.com among other places...just google "Stampendous Diamond Dots" and you should get plenty of sites that sell them.

I also used some cute brads from the stash from Queen & Co. that were just the perfect touch, I thought. And yes, I think it's GOJUS!!!! (YILM!)

And you'll be happy to know I did end up finding the chocolate! It was on the shelf in the plastic box  where I keep cassette tapes; considering I rarely listen to cassettes any more, it's not that surprising that I didn't see it there...question is, why did I put it there to begin with?!?!? The mysteries of the mind.....

Joseph's Coat Inside-Out Tutorial

Well, after many requests, I have finished the tutorial for this technique, but first some background:

I developed this technique 2 years ago and sent it into Pat Huntoon for the Technique Junkies Newsletter. I want to urge you to subscribe to TJ, it is the BEST resource ever for the technique-lovin' stamper! I, personally, have had several techniques published, including this one, and there are many, many more. You get a paper copy in full color, plus you have online tutorials for all the techniques and a great gallery. It's a real bargain.

For my fellow TJ'ers, I did make sure it was okay with Pat to publish another tutorial on this technique and she said "go right ahead! I don't own them!" As long as I'm using my own pics and words, it is okay with Pat.

So without further ado:

You need:

• a piece of light colored cardstock
• three to five different colors of ink (some lighter than others)
• a background stamp and a stamp or stamps that are solid in nature (rather than line art)
• Versamark Pad
• an Embossing Buddy
• Clear embossing powder, preferably not detail
• Embossing heat tool
• a rubber brayer
• sponge wedges
• paper towel
• Chocolate

Start by inking up the background stamp...but don't pay any attention to the fact that I actually started out by inking this up with Purely Pomegranate because I almost immediately realized that I hadn't meant to grab that color, but Groovy Guava instead. Just pretend that I am inking it with Groovy Guava, despite the fact that the Groovy Guava pad is lying there closed. It's an illusion.

Lay your light colored cardstock on top of the background stamp (note how the Groovy Guava pad is now open...now this is reality, remember!)

Flip your grid paper over and rub the back of the cardstock to transfer the image.

Peel up the cardstock and admire your creation for a bit. Have some chocolate! Wait...where is the chocolate?!?!? There was a bag of Hershey kisses down here just the other day! Where is it?!?!? I didn't eat them all...did I?

Check the waste basket...nope...no bag in there! Where are they?!?!?

I careen around my stamping haven looking for chocolate, but it is nowhere to be found...hmmm...now thinking dark thoughts about children and even DH! Where did they take the chocolate?!?!?!?

What? Oh! You want to get back to the tutorial! Okay!

Sponge some color on top of the piece you just stamped. Not dark colors, just adding a little variety to your background.

Like this!

Use your embossing buddy to get rid of any residual dampness from the ink. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Otherwise you will get embossing powder sticking all over. Don't have an embossing buddy? Use some baby powder or cornstarch...messier, but it will work.

Using Versamark ink, stamp your images on top of the prepared piece. You can't see what you've stamped very easily, so be careful not to overlap...I tilt the cardstock and check for the shine of the ink.

Pour clear embossing powder on top of the stamped piece, making sure to cover the whole thing to get all the images coated.

Heat the embossing powder until it melts and becomes clear. Don't overheat, or it will look like doodie.

Like this! Cool eh?? This would be a great time for some chocolate!

Oh...that's right...where did that go?

No Hershey bag in that wastebasket either. Where did the chocolate go?!?!?

I'm not finding it!!!! Rats!!!

Oh, yeah...the tutorial!

Take your darker colors and start brayering. Unlike the original Joseph's Coat technique, I am not using glossy cardstock and I'm not trying to completly cover the cardstock. Instead I'm making a kind of raggedly plaid look. I brayer rectangles and squares of color that overlap.Make sure you clean your brayer in between colors, or instead of having Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, and Close to Cocoa Pads you're going to end up with three Groovy to Get Close to Pomegranate Drinking Cocoa pads...and you don't want that color because it would be better named Muddy Muck instead!

I like three colors, including the one you stamped the background to begin with.

So I keep adding chunks of color to my cardstock until I'm dang happy with what i have.

Then I dampen a piece of paper towel with a bit of Stampin' Mist.

I buff off the excess ink on the embossed images.

I take my darkest color and add a little more of it behind the images to make the details pop out.

OOOOOHHHHH PURDY!!!!!!

Then, of course, you trim and cut and stamp and fuss and fuss and fuss until you get:

Ingredients: Stamps - Fabulous Flowers, Paisley; Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Groovy Guava, River Rock, Soft Sky; Ink - Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava, River Rock, Versamark; Other - 3/16" corner rounder, ticket corner punch, scallop circle punch, vintage brads, dimensionals, chocolate chip marker, Crystal Clear EP

A detail:

Yes, I know!!!! It's GOJUS!!!! And when you think I did it without benefit of chocolate, why that just makes it even MORE amazing!!!

"But Jan!" you say, "How is this different from Emerging Color? Danged if I know, other than my technique uses a background stamp and Emerging Color does not. Oh yeah and they deepen the background color more so the "seams" don't show as much. All I know is that my technique came first, dang it! And I have no CHOCOLATE!!!

Anyway, here are some other cards done with this technique:

This card started it all. My original inspiration was a Stampington stamp that showed a flower with type in it. I thought, "How can I mimic that with our stamps?" And the rest is HISTORY!

Here is where I really started getting a better idea of how cool this would look if I let the seams show some more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Started adding more color with these!

It's a great technique! Have fun with it and link up in your comments so I can see what you've done!

And now, I will retire to look for my chocolate. If you want to send some, just let me know...the weather is now conducive and it probably won't melt.

the Girls

Here's another layout I managed to squeeze out of the last design team packet from Scrappy Chic:

Ingredients: Patterned Paper, Cardstock Stickers - Girly Girl by Reminisce; Cardstock - Bazill Bling; Punches - Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle, Stampin' Up! Photo Corner; Stamps - Karen Foster Casual Snap Stamps (Medium); Ink - Colorbox Fluid Chalk; pens - Sakura Stardust & Martha Stewart Black Glitter; Ribbon - Making Memories

This is just such seriously cute paper and I have sooo many girly pictures that have never been scrapped that I'm having a ball!

Stamp Sale!

I have had enquiries regarding my retired stamps left from the sale. I'm going to be taking pictures of them sometime in the next week or so, but in the meantime, I have an Excel spreadsheet that lists the names and conditions of the sets and wheels I am selling. All stamps are in excellent condition unless indicated. I mail priority mail and do take Paypal and will be happy to combine shipping on multiple sets!

Here's the file:

Download JanTinkStampSale2007.xls (23.5K)

Hump Day and a Cool Tip!

It's Hump Day and I think a little Rubbahdultery is in order, don't you?

I mean, I've been getting all these new stamps in and don't you wonder "has Jan even stamped ANYTHING with those Cats Pajamas stamps?" I've had them for a while now and remember...I have a RULE and the RULE says, "USE it soon after you get it, right?" So without further ado, my first Cats Pajamas creation:

Ingredients: Stamps - Cats Pajamas; Ink - Palette Noir, SU! Real Red, Soft Sky; Cardstock - Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Whisper White; Patterned Paper - Creative Imaginations (Rick Purdue); Other - ribbon - Michael's, Sakura Stardust Clear Glitter Pen, Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, snowflake eyelets - Oriental Trading.

I had a ton of fun with this one, hunting out my most retro papers. I found this one in the stash and was thrilled that it matched Soft Sky and Blue Bayou so nicely. After I finished stamping and assembling, I realized it needed some glitter and jumped at the chance to pull out the Stardust pens that I bought last year from Starlitstudio on Ebay. I think it's STINKIN' CUTE!!!! (YILM!)

And now for the Cool Tip. You remember what my stamping table tends to look like, right? Like this:

One of the problems with this style of stamping (which I call Sem-I-Controlled Chaotic Order or SICCO for short), is that clear stamps do not really fit into the scheme of things. That's one of the things that has held me back from purchasing many sets of clear stamps, the idea that unless I clean it right after I use it and put it away, it will be buried in this mess somewhere and get stuck on the back of something else, or, heavens forfend, fall on the floor to be run over by my desk chair and suffer irreparable damage. Then GENIUS STRUCK!!! SHAZAM! I thought of the answer!!!

It is a stand up display frame, such as you might buy at Office Depot, to put a picture in or a flyer to display at a craft show. I have a number of these I use for my business; they are great for putting instructions for self-guided make and takes in or promotional flyers for displays. They are also made out of ACK-rylic, so clear stamps stick just ducky to them. So I stamp, I peel and I toss it on this thing. I can see where it is, it doesn't get buried, and I can even clean them right on here before I put them away. I am SO SMART!!!! (YILM!!!)

I hope this helps my fellow SICCOs out there!

In other organization news, I finally organized my clear and unmounted stamps:

I was amazed that I had so many (and I know there are those who are saying, "Is that all?" and you have my condolences!) and this isn't including the few CTMH sets I have, which have their own storage system. I had bought all of these jewel cases for making projects with them and didn't use them, so it was nice that I finally USED something I bought instead of buying a whole box (just to save money, you know!), using two and then stashing the rest! I have only 6 of them left now...which tells me I have to buy more unmounted or clear stamps so they won't go to waste!

Right?

You love me! You really love me!

Thank you for all those lovely compliments and offers to drive millions of miles to attend my classes. Makes me feel so validated!

And for those who were curious:

Emiliy, Dash (Detroit Tiger Leopard), Laurel, Snowball (Wizard Husky Dog), William and Garfield (Pirate Puppy).

And for those asking for a new tutorial for Joseph's Coat Inside Out, I will work on it and post it as soon as  possible. In the meantime, my friend Sharon came over today to stamp with me. She got a lot more done than me! I worked on two projects which I didn't finish, then decided to resort to CASEing a card I had admired greatly. Here it is on Amy Celona's blog: Amy's GOJUS card.

Now, I wanted to do this card, but decided to change the color somewhat. Here is mine:

Ingredients: Stamps - Holy Triptych, Star-Studded Season, Snowburst; Ink - Versamark; Cardstock - Vellum, Whisper White, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky; Other - Stampin' Write Markers, Blender Pen, White EP, Irridescent Ice EP, ticket corner punch.

It turned out that Sharon had participated in the swap in which Amy swapped her card, so she had a copy of it. After all the work I had to do to make just one, we both marvelled at the fact that Amy made 28 of them!

So, Amy, you've been CASE'd! It's not something I do too often, but I sometimes am so struck by how someone does something that I need to have one of my very own.

What am I, chopped liver?

Well, here it is the last Monday of the month and I have no students for my class again. Sigh...I must be holding my mouth wrong.

Okay, I didn't send out any reminders, because I didn't have any of the cards designed. I had had a couple people say they MIGHT be able to make it, but since it's already past 12 N, the time I set as a deadline for reservations, I think it's safe to say that no one is coming. And last month I had a reminder sent out early and still got no one.

I guess there is only one explanation. I've thought it over carefully and faced with the idea that I'm losing my powers of psychic resonance (somehow I don't think so), I've come up with this much more logical explanation:

It's aliens.

Aliens are abducting all my regular students and brain-washing them not to come to my classes. It's really the only explanation that makes sense. Dang aliens anyway!

After all, who wouldn't want to make THIS!:

Ingredients: Stamps - Autumn Fest, So Many Sayings, Paisley; Cardstock - River Rock, Really Rust, Very Vanilla; Ink - Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Old Olive, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark; Other - Crystal Clear PE, Rubber brayer, More Mustard 1/4" grosgrain, gold brads.

I mean...wouldn't you want to come to my house and make this? This is my technique called "Joseph's Coat Inside-Out" and I think it turned out GOJUS!!!!

So, any of my students out there is cyberspace, behold what you are missing. Tell those aliens to go take a hike!!! Gaze at the card...ohhmmmmm....center your mind and feel your powers of creativity flowing from the tips of your toes all the way up to the roots of your hair...aliens...what aliens? They have nothing to offer...be one with the card...feel the psychic resonance....

There...that oughta do it!

Now, I need to show you all the STUFF I've gotten lately. The other day Frugalities and Papertrey came on the SAME DAY (can you feel the conjunction of planets and stars out there?!?!?)

Frugalities

Papertrey.

I took my kids to Build-A-Bear yesterday, as you may recall, for Laurel's birthday. They had a hoot of a good time! On the way I stopped in to Scrappy Chic to drop off my layouts and ended up (cough) buying a few things:

This is for a future class (justified purchase!!! (april!))

After that we headed out to Build-A-Bear, ate at McDonald's and came home. When I got home, Chris called me from Scrappy Chic to tell me I had left my phone there. So I had to jump back in the car and drive all the way back. Since I was there, it seemed such a waste to drive all the way there for just that, so.....

and

I can't help it that it was so stinkin' pretty I had to buy it!

Anyway, I guess I'll go play in my lonely stamp room. But I think I'll be okay with all my new stuff to console me...I just need chocolate!

Ducking in quick....

'Cause I still have company coming today so I'm gonna be running around getting the house slightly cleaner for them!

Paula's workshop went pretty well, though I must say I started up goofing up so much that people must have been wondering which alien shape-shifter had stolen the demonstrator and left this inept stamper in her place! Plus, I totally forgot to do my usual spiel at the top of the workshop...I guess I can blame it on not having done one for a couple of months. Oh well...things got better after a while as we started making the two cards!

I wanted to show  you Paula's hostess gift, which is not only GOJUS but STINKIN' CUTE too! (YILM!!)

Ingredients: Stamps - Snowburst, So Many Sayings; Cardstock - Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Brushed Silver; Ink - Bashful Blue Craft, Chocolate Chip Craft; Other - Band-Aid Tin (Provocraft), Blizzard wrapping paper, mini envelope template, light blue gingham ribbon, chocolate chip wide satin ribbon, chocolate chip taffeta ribbon, Snow Blossom punch, Spring Bouquet Punch, 1/2" circle punch, Word Window punch, silver brads, small circle Ice rhinestone brad, dimensionals, Royal Plaid decoupage medium.

Here's a close-up of the tin:

And a closer look at the little cards:

I had the band-aid tin from the last time I bought from Inky Antics (free with a $40 order, why who coudl pass that up, LOL!), but I also have a bunch I ordered from CreativeXpress when I was thinking about doing a class with them making little cards to go inside.

I was hoping to use the pocket notes that had debuted a short time before in one of the mini catalogs, but after I got the tins, I discovered they are too big to fit inside, so I ended up not doing anything with my little bandaid tins.

But yesterday, as usual, I left the hostess gift until the very last minute...scrabbling around in my amply stocked supply of alterable items, I decided that one of these tins was just was I was looking for! But what size to make the cards to go inside? Suddenly a flash of genius illuminated the room, sparkling off the glittery dust bunnies under the tables and throwing the mounds of paper scraps and piles of stamp sets into sharp relief against the backdrop of card samples lying in heaps on the display table! I grabbed my  SU! mini envelope template and decided that the 3 x 2 envelope template would make a card that would fit nicely inside, and then I could use the template to make matching envelopes from the wrapping paper! I am so STINKIN' CLEVER!!! (YILM!)  I made a total of six cards, three of each design. There is something so fun about making tiny cards!

I decoupaged the wrapping paper onto the tin and used my little Xyron X to make the ribbon sticky to adhere to the outside. I like Royal Plaid Decoupage Medium to do decoupage like this because it seems to dry with less bubbling than Mod Podge.

The backgrounds on the cards were stamped with Craft ink, since I wanted a nice dark look for the cards stamped with Chocolate Chip on Bashful Blue and I wanted the Bashful Blue images to pop off the Chocolate Chip cardstock.

Now I'm sad...'cause I had to give this away!!! I guess I'll have to make another one for me!

Reverse Masking Tutorial or Why Do I Do This To Myself?

I really would like to know.

Part of the reason I decided to do a tutorial for y'all, in spite of the fact that:

a) I have a workshop and a class coming up that I should be working on

b) I have a filthy house that I should be cleaning and relatives coming on Saturday

and

c) I haven't finished shopping for birthday presents for Laurel

is probably because ONE of the workshops I had coming up this weekend got postponed and my meeting with the hostess, set for this morning, is off too. It unhinged me, making it seem as if vast vistas of time had opened up, making it possible to wedge in a tutorial for those of you that are mystified by Reverse Masking. (See?!?!? Making comments is a GOOD thing, because then I know when I have blown something right over your head! Remember...no comments - BAD, comments - GOOD. Yes, I am pitiful. Let's get that straight right now.)

ANYWAY...I made this tutorial and it's a bit on the discombobulated side, so bear with me. In contrast to what so many of you seem to think, to my eternal bemusement, I am not a goddess, unless goddesses are chubby suburban housewives with dirty houses who film tutorials and only notice after they are done that they should really have looked closer at their fingernails before they started. WHAT was I thinking?!

So here it is:

REVERSE MASKING TUTORIAL

You need a piece of freezer paper, the Coluzzle, some Dotto or other temporary adhesive, and some cardstock, stamps and stuff to make cards with.

I cut my freezer paper the same size as the piece of cardstock I will be putting it on...makes it easier to figure out where to put it. So put your coluzzle down on the freezer paper (shiny side down) on top of the cutting mat in the same place where you want your hole....er...the hole in the PAPER, not in you. No cutting holes in you...we all have enough holes as it is...um...let's just get back to stamping, shall we?

Cut the hole in your freezer paper. Note that I am holding the blade straight up and down; this is where a lot of people have problems...hold it straight up and down and put it all the way in the channel until the plastic around the blade hits the template. That way you do not nick the sides of the channel. That way you LOVE the coluzzle, not curse it and consign it to oblivion in your stamping stash. The coluzzle is LOVE. Be the coluzzle. Embrace it. You love the coluzzle.

And now I have a holy piece of freezer paper...o holy freezer paper.....da da da dum...er...sorry! Back to the tutorial:

Put some Dotto on the back (shiny side)...arguably you could leave this step off if you are confident in your manual dexterity and hand to eye coordination, but I am not that confident. I can be a klutz, I admit it. So I stick mine down.

Put the freezer paper over the cardstock, shiny side down.

Sponge some color on top.

At some point, you may say, "OH CRAP THIS COLOR IS TOO DARK!!!" and you may do as I did and flip the cardstock over and change colors quick. 'Cause I'm not perfect, just great at thinking of solutions to my own ineptitude.

Eat some chocolate...trying new things can be stressful. I got these at Target...sooooo gooood....

Stamp some images using the same color as you sponged to get that soft look.

Remove the mask...and say OOOOOHHHHH PRETTTTYYYYYY!!!

Take your adhesive lift thingy or use your (clean, not chocolate stained) finger to rub off the bits of Dotto stuck to the cardstock. When stamping I almost always have chocolate or ink on my fingers, so I like my adhesive lifter thingy for this.

Speaking of chocolate....have some more...and some Diet Coke too!

Now start stamping more and embellishing and fussin' and flinging stuff everywhere as you stamp and making a huge mess...kind of like this one:

And believe me, this aint' NOTHIN'! Usually it's worse!

But if you're lucky and you are just such a creative genius (though not perfect!) you'll end up with something like this:

Ingredients: Stamps - Stem Silhouettes, Curvy Verses; Cardstock - Basic Grey, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White, Soft Sky; Ink - Soft Sky, Basic Grey, Purely Pomegranate; Other - Basic Grey Taffeta ribbon, Pretties Kit, Crafter's Tool Kit, Coluzzle, sponge wedge, Photo Corner punch, sponge dauber.

THIS is the one reason I wanted this set, so I could use a sponge dauber to color in those empty flower heads and make them bloom. I've been itchin' to do it ever since I saw it, but until this set went on sale, I was trying to resist. However, I should have realized that Resistance Is Futile and now that you've seen it, you Stem Silhouettes fence-sitters, I hope I have pushed you off with my powers of PSYCHIC RESONANCE, BWAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!

I'm evil...I know!

Now, just a bit more blathering and showing off and I'll let you rush off to make your very own reverse masking creation!

Guess what came in the mail yesterday...my stuff from All That Scraa-aapps (said she in a sing song nasal tone!)

My hunt for more ribbon storage solutions was a fruitful one. I've had a hard time finding the 3 x 3 drawer that fit those 3 x 3 ribbon cards and as for the ribbon clips, I have never seen them before! (but now that I have them you could save those little clippies that come with dress shirts...they would be PERFECT FOR THIS!!! just not as pretty as these!) The little jars are flock...black and white. And the EZ mount is the reason I went to this website to begin with...oh, I am a bad, bad stamper...

'Cause after I had stuck all these in my cart, I clicked on stamps and found these:

I have a thing for cats. Can't have one, 'cause Dan is allergic to them, so we haven't had a kitty in a long, long time. But this cat is named "Fluffle" and "Fluffle" is one of my pet names for Emily...short for "Curly-Fluffle-Head". I have to say I am the only one allowed to call Emily this name, so don't you do it or she will give you the Emily Death Stare Look (she's very good at it too...I myself have escaped death by ducking quickly when I see it coming!) So when I saw Fluffle and how cute he is, I could. not. resist.

Now, for the showing off:

Ingredients: Stamps - Haunting Halloween, Batty for You jumbo wheel; Cardstock - Basic Grey, Only Orange, Lavender Lace, Green Galore, Whisper White; Ink - Basic Grey, Basic Black, Green Galore, Only Orange; Other - black gingham ribbon, word window punch, keytag punch, watercolor pencils, blender pen, star punch, silver brad.

This is the OTHER card for Paula's workshop. Isn't it...c'mon everyone, STINKIN' CUTE?!?!?!

YILM!