Cards from Friends and Family

Between Christmas and my Birthday just past, I've got a nice display of hand made cards that others have made and sent my way. I bought two of those little wood display stands from 7 Gypsies and keep them filled with stuff that I like.  I thought I'd share....

This first one is one of mine - I keep it on display because I like the stamped sentiment.  I keep this stamp out on my worktable too.  It's a little blurry.  It says "Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are".

 This next one is from Lynn Diebold.  A very pretty Christmas card she sent me. 

 Andrea sent this for my birthday this year.  That rosette is VERY popular these days.  This one is hand made, and very pretty.  I think this is the first birthday card from Andrea that DIDN'T have Fluffles the cat on it.  I don't miss him...:oP

This one came from Jan Nolte, a fellow Cedarburg crafter.  Looks like she was into crafty brown for Christmas too!  

 
These next two are from my big sister, Bridget.  She likes to do a lot of hand lettering and decorating.  There is a name for the style of lettering she did on the Christmas card, but I don't remember what it is.  Essentially, you draw the letter and than fill it in by repeating a pattern over and over until the letter is no longer 'hollow'.  Each letter has a different pattern to it.

 

This pretty winter tree came from Cheryl Husmann.  She's got her own blog which you can peruse by clicking her in my blog roll on the right.  She's a scrapbooker with grandbabies so her blog has a lot of layouts you can use for inspiration.

Masking

Here's another way your Stamp-a-ma-jig stamp positioner is useful.  I often find I only want to use part of a stamp.  Maybe one flower out of a whole bunch, or in this example, one word from a sentiment.  Sure, I could just use my computer and print out the word I want for my card, but that won't add it to the same element as the image we stamped in the previous post. 

For this example, I want my finished image to say "Valentine, you make me smile", so we need to figure out how to add the word 'valentine' to what we already have when we don't have quite the right stamp. 

The way to do that is to use the masking technique.  Here is picture of what you will need.  Elipse tape, is nothing more than a roll of paper where the entire back has post-it note glue on it.  So, you guessed it, post-it notes work great for making masks.  The stamp I am going to hy-jack the word 'valentine' from is pictured below.  I stamped it onto the pink scrap just so you could see it on paper.

Cut off a piece of Eclipse tape and stamp your image onto the paper side.  Use a dye or chalk ink so it drys fast. 

Next, get out your craft knife and trim away the part of the image you want to show on your finished piece.  In this case I am removing 'valentine' from the stamped mask.

Set the mask asside and place the pastic sheet from the stamp positioner on your work surface.  Line up the jig with the corner like we did in the last post.  Stamp your sentiment onto the plastic sheet making sure you have it nice and snug into that corner.

Place the mask on your project so the missing word will show where you want it.  You'll note that the Elipse paper is see-through.  Post-it notes; not as much.

Layer the plastic sheet over the mask, matching up the letters, so it reads perfectly.

Add the jig, snug to the corner of the plastic sheet.  Hold the jig in place with one hand and pull the plastic sheet away.   You should now have the jig in place and the mask in place so...

...ink your stamp and snug it up to the jig in the corner.  Lower the stamp onto your project and stamp. 

Ok - that's it - go back to the top to see the finished image.  You may see a little smudge above my finished image - I was toying with the word 'happy' while putting this class together and dropped the dirty stamp.  Gah!

Stamp-a-ma-jig - Stamp Positioning

Hidey-Ho Readers - in an effort to stop stuffing my face after work in front of HBO, I put this class together on using a simple stamp positioner.  It's called the Stamp-a-ma-jig and it retails for about $8.  You can buy extra plastic sheets for the thing separately, but it comes with everything you need to get started. This is what you get, minus the tape runner.  I stuck that in there so you could get an idea of how big the thing is. The plastic sheet has a sticker on the side you DON'T stamp on.

Ok - here is a look at the finished piece.  I'm using a couple of stamps from one of Unity Stamp Co's sets and a sentiment from Hero Arts in the next post when we get to the masking class.  The inks should be pigment ink.  I'm using Colorbox; terracotta and pink. 

First let's stamp the base image - the sign post.  This is a larger stamp, and it's important not smear ink into the hole where we'll add the word 'smile'.  To keep things even and clean, I like to use a brayer to load the stamp with ink.  You can use your ink pad, but just be sure to keep the edges clean. 

Not to get ahead of myself, but I doused the finished product in clear UTEE and melted it from behind with the heat gun. Another reason to use the brayer to load the stamp; it puts a nice, even, thick layer of ink on the page that UTEE loves to stick to. I find when using Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) it's best to heat the stuff from underneath. The larger particles tend to blow all over the place if heated from above.

Set the sign post image aside, once you have it stamped.  Now, lay the plastic sheet on your work surface.  The smooth side should be facing up.  Place the jig handle tight to the corner of the plastic sheet.  Ink your 'smile' stamp and carefully place the corner of the stamp into the 90 degree corner of the jig.  Lower the stamp so it prints on the plastic sheet.

Ok - we're almost there...take the plastic sheet and layer it over the sign post so 'smile' is in the center of the lower oval. 

Add the jig snug up against the corner of the plastic sheet, keeping 'smile' where you want it.  Move the jig together with the plastic sheet until you get it just right.
 

Once you are happy with the placement, keeping the jig in place with one hand, carefully remove the plastic sheet with the other.  Don't move your sign post image when you take away the plastic sheet.  If you do, it's no big deal, just repeat the above step and try again.  You should now have your stamped sign post image with the jig on your work surface.  Ink your 'smile' stamp and place it in the corner of the jig, lowering it down to stamp onto the sign post.

Remove the stamp and the jig and you should now have 'smile' right where you want it.  Ta da!  (Here's where you can get out the UTEE and dunk, gently shake off the excess, and melt from behind.)   

There are about a million different stamp positioners on the market today, but I find that none of them are as easy to use as this little gadget.  Here are some additional tips if you are stuggling at all with this.

1. If you can't seem to pull the plastic sheet away without moving the base image, try using some repositionable tape to hold the base image to your work surface.  You can stick it down with post-it notes too.  They are designed for repositioning, but most people don't use them as tape.  I do. 
2. Use pigment ink to start.  It wipes right off the pastic sheet so you can try again.  Chalk ink and Staz-On require you to remove it with special cleaners.  It's just something else to mess up the place and keep you from getting things figured out while you practice.
3. Ahhh...Practice.  Yeah.  Good idea! 
4. Note the plastic sheet has three corners (because of the sticker they place on it) that you can use for images.  You can put a different image on each corner and place them anywhere you want them.  If you buy extra plastic sheets, you get three in a pack.  Thats 9 more corners to play with!  Take off the silly sticker with some Un-Do and, bam!  That's extra corners!

That's it!  Shout out any questions you have.  I'll reply with comments on the blog so everyone can see.  - AMK

New Valentine Theme

If you've been visiting regularly, you've undoubtedly noticed I've been playing with the blog theme.  It all started when my brother took down his blog site, one I had linked into my blog roll.  He's a figure drawing sketch artist out in Portland who teaches drawing on the side.  After he exited the on line world, I removed his link, saved everything and then those little wrench-crossed-with-screwdriver icons started showing up on all the widgets I have on my site.  I've been messing with things ever since in an effort to get rid of them.  They seem to have a mind of their own. 

Since Valentine's day is right around the corner, and I've got all those piles of would be cards on the floor again, I'm sticking with a Valentine theme for a the next little while.

For those of you who were avid readers of  'The Paper Bicycle'  my blog devoted to professional cycling, I've added a page to this blog.  Right now it's linked under the Pages roll, but I may make it its own tab.  I'm thinking I'll start those post updates on that new page.  Google's blogger is SOoooo much easier to use than the wordpress blog I started that site with.  With February being the official start of the 2012 season, I'll be just in time to start those, oh so wonderful rants as well. 

- AMK

Auntie Unusual

Guess who's finally gettin' her first year's baby book?  Madison's big brother Jason got his shortly after he was born so it's only fitting that Little Red get hers.  If you don't get why I call her Little Red, then you must not be from Wisconsin. 

I don't do a lot of decorating on the inside of these baby books, because I figure Mom will add her presonal touches.  Each page is an envelope that holds a different colored page.  Pictures and little notes to baby are added each month for the first year.  The book always starts with the birth month. 

Beyond the obvious, these little books have a lot of uses, all of which work better if you keep the book a secret while they are growing up.  For example:

1. When she brings home the first boyfriend you don't like, you can whip this little thing out and embarass the hell out of her.  Be sure to have at least one naked baby picture. 
2. Or, when she's become a screaming teenage nightmare, you can give this to her and she'll have no choice but to treat you better. 
3. Or when she's a screaming teenage nightmare you can read it again and remember why you love her. 
4. Or, when she gets married, you can make a gift of it to her - something old maybe? 
5. Or, while she's pregnant with her first baby, you can give her this one, and make one for your soon to be grand baby and give her that after the arrival. 

A 12-days special I couldn't resist...

New ribbon organizers!  And, only $10 each, Merry Christmas to me!

If you look back at my first post where I showed you my craft room, you can see how my ribbon was displayed above one of my work spaces.  The wooden dowels were curved, overloaded, and not all that functional.  I'd pull down what I wanted to use and invariably start an avalanche.  So when I got the email for this deal from scrapbook.com I bought my limit, got out my dad's whisky stick, my trusty De Walt drill and away we went.    Ta da! 

Playing on a theme

About a year ago, Hero Arts produced this wood mounted 4-square set of little birds holding Christmas things in their beaks.  They've been sitting in my Christmas card idea box since I got them.  I saw the "let the choir sing" sentiment stamp and immediately associated it with these little egg shaped birds.

If you've been following along, you know the 4-square card layout is one I use a lot.  This time they are all in a row, colored with markers, and placed on a background from K&Co.  I used another of the Tim Holtz edge dies to add a little something extra and his frosted spruce (or pine, maybe?) distress ink to smear things up a bit.  That's one of his Christmas special edition colors this year. 

The choir from the sentiment is, of course, meant to be angels.  But since I am way too secular to own any angel stamps, I picked the best part of an angel to bring the idea forward. The little birds make their appearance on the inside of the card.  The wings are from WRMK, stamped using Dove Grey Staz-On onto white card stock.  I cut them out and applied them with hot glue.  I love hot glue.  I'm using it more and more. Especially on cards that I know will be in the shoebox for a while.  Tombow is still my tape runner of choice, but nothing stays stuck over time like good ol' hot glue. 

Happy New Year! - AMK