A new little wiggle-thingy

 Hi Folks, 

Just playing around a little on a January day.  I've got a pile of projects taking up space on my table, so I thought I'd take a whack at one or two of them today.  This is the pile....

And here is the card I pulled out to play at:  

First- A look at the stuff I used just to keep things honest and above board.  That little bag over on the right from Simon Says Stamps, that's the thing that made me start to play today.  They call them Mini Springs.  They let you add a little wiggle to an element on your project.  As you can see, I'm putting a Halloween card together.  I've said this many times, there are no seasons in the craft cave.  Today, its Halloween! 

 

Here is the finished project.  I tried to get a shot to show the spring raising up the skelly head on the card front.  I took a little movie so you can hopefully see the BOING!! effect after you stick it all together.  Kind of fun and importantly, it squishes flat when you load it into the envelope so the post mangler may actually let your card arrive and pop out like it should.  I have not yet mailed one of these to myself as a test yet, but that's next.  Stay tuned...

Playing with my Stamping Gear

With Summer's end comes the time of year where I'm sick of working on the cookie books for Christmas and desperate to dive into Halloween greetings.  Anything NOT Christmas is in order.  While the books are not yet done, I find I get a little sloppy with them, so it's time to put them aside for a bit. 

Here is the first of three Halloween designs.  First a shot of the stuff I used to make it.  I went a little nuts when the Stamping Gear hit the market about a year ago.  I've been buying stamps steadily to use with it, everything I like, which was kind of a lot.  What can I say?  It's a gadget for stamping!  If I were a cat, this thing would be cat nip....just sayin'

It's sold under the Inkadinkado logo, parented by EK Success.  That green cog is the large round version of the tool.  It has a small round as well as a set of ovals, rectangles and squares too.  Essentially it acts as a spacer so you can evenly place images around the shape you've chosen.  They sell a line of stamps made for the Gear, but you don't have to limit yourself to them.  Any foam mounted stamp can be used.  I took one of the clear stamp skulls in the set below, mounted it on foam and used it with no problem.  Sure, sure the clear stamps stick without foam, but if you want the tool to work you need the height of the foam added to the clear stamp for it to work. 

That set of stamps in the center of the Gear is one they sell for the Gear - its their Halloween offering from last year.  I used the branches in the design below.  It should be said that the gear works best with images that are roughly 2" or less.  Anything larger won't fit well onto the handle they provide. 



 



You can see that by varying the color and the notch you use you can layer in the images until the cows come home.  A wreath of anything you can think of becomes possible.  The large circle was used on the front and the small was used on the inside.  I wanted the bats to have some dimension, so stamped them individually and then fussy-cut them out while watching mindless television. 

 

The Gear is a keeper.  If you like to make frames around things, this is a great twist on the standard.  There are lots and lots of Gear stamps available and more every season.  And, with a little ingenuity ANY stamp, as long as it's foam mounted, can work with your Gears.  You can probably even use wood mounted as long as you mark the center of the image on the wood and line that up with the notches on the Gear as you stamp.  Put it on your Amazon Wish List for Christmas! 

 



 

This one's my Favorite of the bunch...

After I get all done with something like the Halloween cards, inevitably I have my favorites.  This year it's the one you see below.  There's two shots of the same card to illustrate something I do to keep things marginally unique.  They don't all have to be exactly the same, you know.  Experimenting is good!  (sorry about the color on the second one - it kind of washed out, but you get the idea)

There is something about that Giant Eyeball from Inkadinkado that just makes me laugh.  It is definitely a keeper.  I already have another idea on how to use it in my head.  Not sure if I should wait till next year or just make it now.  Hmmmm...

I pared the eyeball with paper from Reminisce (Halloween Night) and Basic Grey (Erie collection - Tombstone).  And, yes, there's another one of those Christmas stamps that just works perfectly for Halloween as well.  Anybody out there own their own copy of the Nightmare Before Christmas?  That's the first time I realized how alike the two holidays really are.  Tim Burton is genius. 

To get the shine you simply emboss the eyeball with clear embossing powder after stamping with black pigment ink.  The shine on the background swirl is Ranger glossy accents, again.  I do like that stuff.  I used it on the eyes of the jack-o-lanterns in the background and on some of the dots as well, just to add a little interest and keep the eye moving. 

Happy Halloween everyone!  Enjoy - AMK

The Halloween 4-Square - This one's for Barb Housner

Barb left a comment on the Cool Cat Card Class post and as promised, I made this one for her!  Thanks for your support!

Ahhh, the four-square.  A timeless card design I use again and again.  I don't think there's been a major holiday in the last 10 years that has not seen me use this design in one way or another.  And, if you ever wondered what people see in those Inchie stamps from Inkadinkado, well here you go.  I own no less than 13 sets and I believe there is one on the way. 

If you decide to dive into the Inchie scene, do yourself a solid and buy the 1", 1.25" and 1.5" square punches from EKSuccess.  You'll get nice even tiles with no measuring and a perfect .25" or .5" matt with just a squeeze.  How cool is that? 

I hung these little guys on a big, full, yellow moon made from Spellbinder's nesting circles set.  They are matted with orange and black glitter paper.  A 'Happy Halloween' puctuated with sparkly brads by We R Memory Keepers and a sprinkling of sequins finishes this one off.

Enjoy! - AMK