Betsy at Innovative Stamp Creations wants to see your creations using their stamps!

You may use any ISC sheets , must be ISC stamps only. A random email address will be chosen at the end of each month and the winner will receive 1 FREE ISC stamp sheet of their CHOICE! This is a monthly drawing. Post your link with your design and remember: do not enter anonymously!! Here's the blog - Have fun!

ends: 5/2/08

Stampin' Organization 101 - Ink Storage

Hi :o) I have a few minutes to share some tips and ideas with you on storing inkpads, etc. and have included some hastily snapped photos to go along.

I have an interesting mish-mash of older and newer pads! I use an antique divided wood tray that I've hung on the wall so the pads stack on one another.

*tip*

With the exception of the new style Stampin' Up! pads, most dye ink pads should be stored upside down to keep the ink near the surface.

I like to see what I have at a glance, so I have labeled each case. Nothing fancy, I just Googled the particular brand, printed the page from a site that sells the entire line, cut the ink pad names apart and taped them to the edge of the cases. If it's easier, you can just swipe some of the ink on a scrap paper, writing the ink name over the top of it when it's dry, and tape this to the case.

I'm showing examples of the Distress line here:

Another thing I do so I can see what I have easily is to stamp a sample of each color on a page that slips into a page protector, and then that goes into a three-ring binder.



I've measured my page into sections - the open space running along the top edge measures 1/2" wide, and then the title blocks along the lefthand edge measure 1" x 2", with the other blocks all being 1" square. I like to use a sample stamping image that has some fine lines and thicker ones too so I can see how much the inks spread. This will also give you an idea how they fade, or don't, over time.

One other thing I do that has been really helpful is to stamp the same color families in verical lines, no matter what the brand is. Again, just easier when deciding what colors to use in a project.



I stamped my samples of Kaleidocolor rainbow pads using a tall enough stamp to see the whole range in one image. These pads get stacked upside down in plastic divider containers on a shelf.



*tip*
On those days where you want to be with your stamps but have no creative juices to work with, grab your reinkers and re-wet your ink pads. I like to do a thin line back and forth across it, then turn the pad a quarter and do this again. I'm very conscious to get the edges as wet as the center because I am forever edging things with ink directly from the pad, and using the outside edges to apply ink to stamps.

*tip*
Keep a bottle of Staz-On stamp cleaner near your stamping surface for quick clean-ups when you accidentally drop the pads ink side down on your desk/table/hardwood floor! LOL


I keep a color wheel in the pocket of my ink index binder to give me ideas for mixing colors when I'm feeling blah. I particularly find myself using one with lots of shade options like the one below: (I probably should use this more often - most times I find myself doing whatever strikes me at the moment! LOL)




Hope this gives some fresh ideas and inspiration to keep organizing for a more user-friendly space :o)

A special award

I feel so honored to have been given this award by Shar and Shirley this past week. It is called the Arte Y Pico. Thank you both - you made my day! :o)

I believe the origin of this award is a lady named Eseya from Uruguay, South America, and the title is something like "Art and a little of other things too". This is Eseya's site which is supposed to be posted each time the award is given by the person receiving it.


The idea is that you then pick five blogs that you believe deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogging community. List the names of the people you chose to receive the award on your blog and link to their blogs. Then let your award winners know by posting a comment on their blog. Each award winner is to show the award and put the name of the person who gave them the award with a link to her/his blog. You also need to show the link to the Arte Y Pico blog to honor the origin of this award.



I love and appreciate SO MANY of the blog owners and all their hard work to entertain and educate the rest of us, so it's been hard to narrow it down to just five you'll love to visit. But here's a go at - enjoy!!

Debi

Gerrie

Lisa

Dina

Kathy

Blog Candy Winner!!

A big huge congratulations to Linda P! Your name was drawn randomly and I will be sending your TechniqueJunkies CD to you as soon as I receive your address.

Thanks to all of you who shared your tips and favorite charities in the comments section - what a great group of stampers you are!! I wish I had a CD for all of you, but I have some good news to share with you concerning TechniqueJunkies - if you go to Pat's blog you will see a blip about getting internet access for under $10! See the link for her blog on the TJ homepage :o)

BLOG CANDY!

A very generous stamping friend and blog enthusiast has given me this CD to offer all loyal readers of this blog a chance at winning!!! I am so excited for whomever the lucky winner will be - this cd contains the entire 2005 year of TechniqueJunkies newsletters! I have to tell you, of all the years, this one overall is my favorite one.

Here's all you need to do to have a chance at winning it:

Leave a comment here with either a favorite stamping tip, or the name of a charity you love to support, or both if you're feeling chatty LOL

You'll have till next Monday when I draw a name randomly, but better just leave one now so you don't forget ;o)

Some Sparkle Flowers

Click photos for more detail

Cards measure from 4 3/4" x 5 1/2" to 5 1/4" x 6 1/2"

I had a coupon for Archiver's that I was compelled to use the other day :o) so I picked up The Essential Glue Pad by Tsukineko. I'd been wanting to try it ever since I found my jar of Heat n' Stick had turned from powder to unbreakable chunks in it's jar!

This set of Clear Stamps by Heidi Grace for Fiskars (at Joann's) has 2 flower heads and 2 flower centers in graduated sizes, and then a small flower head on a stem, and a spare larger leaf. So I stamped the large flower head once and the smaller one twice, as shown. Then I stamped just the stem part with leaf repeatedly and a few times inking just the stem, without the leaf, to elongate the stems I'd already stamped. The leaf is on the right side of the stem so I used the larger spare leave to fill in where needed.

The background on the pink and green cards is Brayered Spots from the TechniqueJunkies Dec '07 newsletter and on the purple ones it's a modified TJ Madras technique. Inks on the pink ones are from a pack of 15 mini pads called Creative Beginnings Suedes Soft Matte Dye Ink Collection (purchased hanging on pegboard in Joann's or Michael's a year or two ago). The inks on the purple cards are Stampin' Up!'s Old Olive and Eggplant Envy. The sentiment (Northwoods Rubber Stamps) on all of the cards was stamped in SU Always Artichoke. Glitter is The Art Glittering System Transparent #98 Amethyst and #99 Juicy Fruit.

I found the Glue Pad to work really well for glitter. The gal at the store recommended not letting too much time pass between stamping the glue onto the paper and sprinkling the fine glitter on it, and then pressing down on the glitter with a piece of paper over it to make sure it sticks. I found I got better results on these when I didn't press down or two much glitter stuck to the delicate flower center image. The same goes for pressing down into the glue pad and then the stamp onto the paper - I found a lighter touch works better.

The sheer ribbon is attached by punching a small hole on each edge as shown, threading the ribbon thru and tying a simple knot. The corner points on the purple one were made by cutting two squares of the madras paper scraps, then cutting these on the diagonal. I think that's about it!

Thanks for looking!!

Blog Candy Winner!!

Thanks to all who left comments over the past week :o) Watch for some even more awesome blog candy coming again soon....

CONGRATULATIONS to PAM S !!!

Your name was picked randomly for the free stamp and artwork! Just email with your address when you get a minute and I will send those out to you...

Rejoice, flowers coming soon!

Woohoo! The tulips and whatnot are starting to pop up in our yard and it's raining today. Every spring I am awestruck by God's miracle of green plants, especially the perennials. I've been reading Genesis and it's an amazing book for so many reasons, but one thing that really sticks out in my mind today is the rainbow covenant. Lest we think God is far removed, check this out:

"Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life."

~ Genesis 9: 14,15

Wow -when we're looking at that gorgeous display of color, God is remembering too. That just takes my breath away.

Okay, here's a card I made last night. Might as well click on the photo right now LOL because the background is one that is so soft it really needs to be viewed close up...

Click photo for more detail

Card measures 5" square

I was browsing some of my favorite blogs and stuff late last night just before bed, and was so taken with the idea on Pamela's site I just had to try it immediately! LOL Plus I had a sheet of tired transparency on my desk from a clean-up session, and a stack of pinwheel pigment ink pads I haven't used in literally a year!!

Here's what I did: rubbed two colors of the pigment ink on the transparency, flipped it over onto my white cardstock, and used a rub-on tool to transfer ink randomly from the transparency to the cs. I kept repeating this process to build up the color till I was happy with the look.

I stamped the flower grouping (A Stamp in the Hand) using Versafine Black ink onto this background piece. I tore the edges as shown, and layered it onto black cs.

For the patterned background, I used a sponge to rub the pigment ink into another piece of white cs, starting with the dark color at the base, the lighter at the top, and blending them in the middle. No need to do the center - it doesn't show and only wastes ink and elbow grease LOL I overstamped this piece with the dark ink on a word collage stamp by Paper Inspirations called Faith Hope Love.

I layered the black piece to this, wrapped a piece of torn vellum around as shown, folding both ends over and adhering them to the back, and then stamped it with the darkest ink using a Stampin' Up! word from the Graceful Words (2006) set. Normally I probably should have embossed this but the combination of the drier ink and absorbant vellum allowed it to soak in and dry alright.

My last step was to add the coordinating brads and adhere to similiar colored cs.

Thanks for looking!

Cilette

Couldn't wait to try the Mesh Direct technique from the current TechniqueJunkies newsletter, and I got a mesh bag with my onions from the grocery last night so timing was perfect! I believe the ink colors I used were Stampin' Up!'s Vintage Violet and Cranberry Crisp. I wanted a lot of the background to show so I thought this stamp seemed perfect.

Click photo for detail

Card measures 5 1/2" x 6 3/4"

This card is pretty simple. I stamped the image (unknown - sorry, no marks on the wood block) with words over the background using black Staz-On ink, and again on a scrap of white cardstock. I colored the image on the white cs with colored pencils, trimmed the girl on chaise lounge closely, and adhered it over the image stamped on the background by running her thru a Xyron to apply adhesive.

I thought about adding something - embellishments, etc. - but I was happy with it as it was, so I mounted a piece of black cs to the lower corner before adhering it to a confetti plummish piece of cs. Then to the bottom layer, which is a grayish speckled soft pink.

Thanks for looking!