Shut the Front Door! - Change of Address Cards

The first real card to come out of the new craft cave is in the mail!  Woot!

I used up all the WRMK White Out collection paper I had and came up with the variations on the theme below.  I get my address lables from Vista Print.  They are super easy to costomize on their website and they have a TON of available art to choose from.  I've got a pack of address lables for all the halidays in the calendar, and then some non-secular ones for the every day.  I made them into a little tag on each of the cards,  held on with an artist's safety pin.  The stamps are from Unity, again.  I know, I use thier stuff a lot.  What can I say?  They have cool stuff.  For those of you who know me, there is just no way I was passing on 'Shut the Front Door'. 

Since I just spent a lot of time sorting through and hanging all my ribbon, I've decided that this year, every card will have some ribbon on it.  I have an OBSCENE amount of ribbon.  Time to use it up!

Valentines Part 2

Much like I did for Christmas, I kept on with the Valentine's to stock up for next year.  Here are a few more that made it from pile to produced.   I love this little kewpie doll.  He usually makes an appearance every year in some way or another.  I've used him for Mother's Day and I've got an idea for Christmas too. 

This is the end result of the stamp positioner and masking class posts I did a few weeks back.  As I mentioned in the class, the signpost is from Unity Stamps.  I used some elastic string to accent the bottom.  I was going for an arrow-ish look. 

The town image in this one is also Unity Stamps, but I confess I paired it with another sentiment I had on the same theme.  I do that a lot.  Mix and match from my collection.  It probably gives the manufacturers fits, but a girl has to do what those vioces in her head tell her is right.

Well - looky there! Another Unity Stamp valentine.  I really loved those birch trees with their hearts sort of woven into the bark.  I layed the ink on thick and then smeared it up a bit because bark isn't smooth, right?  And, that little bird they sort of hid in the image was too cute not to color and bring forward with a hand cut matching paper feather.  That little blue bird makes me happy!

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

Majors and Minors - using it all up

I'm getting a head start on next Christmas while I'm still in the mood.  If you're a card-maker like me you know all about having a pile of scraps to deal with.  It's almost never that a single card idea uses up all the paper you've chosen.  The idea you have in your head becomes the Major. The challenge becomes how you adapt that idea to use up the scraps, creating the Minor. 

Here is a sample of one of my Majors and Minors.  It's a reoccurring theme for me.  There is a rendition of "T'was the Night Before Christmas" on my all time favorite Christmas album by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians that I hear in my head all season long.  Inevitably it results in the sugar plumb card. 

The larger one - the Major - was my original design idea, 5x7.  The background paper is from Pink Paislee's snow day collection.  I had been hanging onto a pack of felt snowflakes from American Crafts for forever and decided it was time to use them up.  I added glitter brads and stamped images along with punched out rings to create the 'visions of sugar plumbs that danced in their wee, little heads.'  The header image is from Unity Stamps - an image by Webster's Pages.  I may color it, but have plenty of time to decide.  Everything is embossed with clear powder to make the edges shine and the stamped images glossy.  It adds to the 'sugar' feel I was trying to create.  Some images are popped up with foam to add dimension. 

Since I used up all the glitter brads on the Major, I substituted crystal bling on the Minor.  The ribbon is American Crafts, again, and has the same color scheme as the background paper.  I reversed the paper for the Minor just to mix things up.  I think I'll get out my glitter glue and glitter up some of those dots in the background, just to keep the 'sugar' idea prevalent in both.  

Happy Christmas, Everyone! - AMK

Unlucky 13 - Unity Stamps

I was trying to convey the concept of a creepy garden gate or front door with this card.  Something that brave trick-or-treaters would dare each other to walk through.  The center image is reminiscent of the door knob or perhaps the knocker.  I couldn't decide which way to orient this card and finally settled on what you see here.  It could work just as well as a flip top (although the bats on the Martha Steward punch would be upside down).  The second image shows the shine on the 'ironworks' inherent in using the glossy black card stock.  Click to embiggen. 

Here are the tools you'll need to recreate this card. 

Unity Stamp set - Unlucky 13
Hero Arts Stamp - K5347 Misty Swirl Long
Quickutz Revolution die - REV - 0039
EK Success Whale of a Punch - Circle punch (1.75")
Martha Stewart Halloween Fence punch (not pictured)
Spellbinders Nesting Circle die - 2"
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Swirls
Maya Road - decorative Pins
Making Memories - Spellbound two sided paper
Black glossy card stock
Orange card stock - middle hue, not too bright, not too pale.
White card stock scraps
Colorbox Chalk Ink - Tangerine (not pictured)
Colorbox Pigment Ink - Sepia Black (not pictured)
Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear (not pictured)
Small rubber brayer and pallet board.

The recipe is as follows:

Stamp unlucky 13 and Trick or Treat using Sepia Black onto white card stock.  Emboss the round image with clear embossing powder and punch out using the 1.75" punch.  Trim the paper close to the Trick or Treat words and ink edges of both pieces with Tangerine.  Ink the edge of the words a second time with Sepia black, leaving some of the tangerine to show through.

Die cut an orange 2" circle.  Place it inside the embossing folder and roll it through.  Using the brayer loaded with Sepia black, ink the embossed circle to show off the design.  Ink the edge with sepia as well.

Using hot glue - put a blob in the center of the orange circle.  Arrange two of the pins in the glue and layer Unlucky 13 image over the pins, centering it within the orange circle.

Cut the Spellbound paper to 12 x 5 and fold it to 5 x 7.  The front of the card will be shorter than the back. 

Stamp the misty swirl image onto orange card stock with Sepia Black ink.  Trim right up to the image, ink the edge with sepia and mount to white card stock.  Trim the white to be 5" long and adhere to the inside back of the card.  You should see it when the card is closed. 

Cut two of the hinges from the Quickuts die using glossy black and adhere to front of card as shown.  Using glossy black, punch a longer strip than you need of the fencing so you can lay it on the front of the card without having to trim a fence post in half the long way.  Way to difficult and in the end that fence post will be too delicate.  Adhere to front of card as shown and then trim to fit.

Place adhesive on only one half of the back of your Unlucky 13 image.  You don't want this to stick to the inside of the card through the fencing.   Adhere to the front of the card as shown.  Layer the words behind the pins, and adhere.  Again, watch where you put the adhesive so you don't stick the card closed.

Hope this makes sense, shout it out if it does not.

Enjoy - AMK

Unity Stamps - Breaking all the rules

I've been collecting a number of images from Unity Stamps in the last year or so.  They were one of the companies at this year's Expo here in Milwaukee.  And, if you have not yet 'friended' them on Facebook, you missed out on a SWEET Facebook promotion they did in August - 40% off your entire order.  Needless to say, I bought another boat-load.  I picked up Bella Trees at the Expo and have been waiting until Fall to bring them out to front and center. 

Thumbing though my unseemly amount of paper, I happend across an 8x8 pack by Carolyn Gavin from K&Co, that to look at, does not even whisper fall, with it's bright, hot pinks and teals with lime green and dark brown accents.  Yet the images on some of the papers were the perfect foil for these funky trees in the Bella Tree set.  And, when I found acorns on the reverse side of one of them, well, I've never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Breaking all the rules is part of the fun.

Here are two of what will likely be a double handfull when I finish with this set.  I'll add more pix under this post as they emerge.  Join the blog to get updates, so you don't miss anything.