More pictures of stamping room

Here's the latest on how we're doing on the remodel of the stamping room. I just took delivery of twelve additional cabinets today. Now we get to unpack and haul upstairs and start installing, one piece at a time. Most likely we will be doing one or two a night since the weekends are pretty shot with my day job.

Faux Silk

Here is my latest card using the faux silk technique. All you do is stamp your designs on tissue paper, wad it up, unfold and adhere to your cardstock. I like using mod podge to glue the tissue down and over the back of the cardstock. Make sure you get any air bubbles out by smoothing it down and trying not to loose any of your crinkles.



I used TAC ferns and tag tidbits on this card. The chipboard tag is from TAC as well, and all is tied on with jute twine and all card stock is by DCWV.

New Rubbah!

I just got a new sheet of dragonfly stamps from "My heart stamps for you" and on it was this cute frog. Of course he just jumped off of the page and begged me to make this card.



I stamped him on white cardstock, colored with prismacolors, sponged on creamy brown colorbox chalk ink, added some stippling in black for added dimension and then distressed. I then added some brads and attached it to a strip of black textured cardstock from DCWV. The square of burlap is actually a ribbon that was in the holiday clearance sales at Wal-Mart. I just cut off the red wired edging and pulled a few fibers out and wa-la. The "great job" is from TAC tag tidbits which was stamped onto a leaf abstract background, then cut out with circle punch.

Remodel

In the next few weeks I'm going to be remodeling my computer room (bonus room) to accommodate my scrapbooking and stamping hobbies. I'm literally bursting at the seams with so much "stuff" that I can't find my desk anymore. I know a lot of you have been there, done that or wish for better organization. Well I will be chronicling my labor of love through my blog. So, stay tuned for pictures and amusing stories about how my DH turns a two hour job into an all day one! Here's a picture of my mess now, and the two boxes of ready to install cabinets I purchased at Lowes.

New slide show

TP Casting Card

TP CASTING (Toilet Paper Casting)
Scott Single Ply Toilet Paper * Small Spray Bottle w/Water * Watercolor Brush – Stipple Brush – OR Q-Tip * Plastic Work Surface or Counter Top *

Tear off 10 squares of toilet paper.
Lay the stamp rubber side up.
Start with one square of toilet paper onto the stamp, mist with water…then apply another square…repeat the process.
Be sure to press the toilet paper after adding each sheet. Press firmly with your fingers over the stamp image.
If the stamp is detailed with deep grooves…use a brush to stamp the wet toilet paper into those areas. Make sure it’s fairly wet as you apply more toilet paper.
Water & pressure are what keeps the sheets together.
After placing 7-8 layers of toilet paper you will see quite a bit of detail. You can add a little watercolor to your castings. Add watercolor to the damp paper from the back. Then finish applying the rest of the layers. You can peel away the tissue while it is still damp to see if you will need to add more color. Be sure to make the brush damp not wet. Over wetting will lose some of the detail.
After the 10th sheet has been added…firmly press it down.
Remove the excess paper edges by gently tearing downwards on it at the same time supporting the edge of the image with your other hand.
Gently peel off & let it air dry. As it dries it does tend to curl up. Turn it frequently and pat it down to help it straighten out. It was suggested to put it under a box of stamps after it has dried. The weight of the box keeps it from curling up again.
Once it’s dried you can trim the edges with straight or decorative scissors.
If you decided to not watercolor your casting (#7), you could add color, using pastels. Lightly spray seal the castings with a sealer spray…this will deepen the colors slightly.

Coloring thoughts for TP Casting:
· The first layer of TP that you apply is the first one you’ll see on the finished project. The more layers you add the thicker the piece will be. You start to lose detail…but that’s okay because the detail is lost on the back of the piece.
· The color does show through. Intense colors work best…making sure that the brush isn’t too wet as the TP is already damp. The colors tend to spread out. The colors soften & blend. Don’t worry about coloring in detail…in fact the pieces look great without any color at all!
· If using the pastels/chalks to color, use a blender pen & use while the TP Casting is wet. This gives a soft watercolor look. Applying pastels/chalks just doesn’t look right.
· You can also use sponges. Ink up a quarter of a sponge (a stamping sponge cut into quarters) & tap down into the wet TP. It bleeds beautifully into the TP.

Stamps used: Hero arts E3754 full blossom I, lace stamp by Inkadinkado

These instructions came from the lists of stamping techniques thread from SCS.

New cool tool!

Ok, here's my new tool that I just had to share with folks.

This one's from Basic Grey...the magnetic precision mat. I saw an add in Scrapbooks etc. on page 9 in their feb/march issue and had to see for myself what it was all about. So, I headed over to the www.basicgrey.com to see what it was all about. What I read and saw convinced me to buy.

"Basicgrey's magnetic precision mat(tm) will take any trimming task to the highest level of precision. The perimeter of the black mat is marked every 1/8", and the interior is marked every 1/2" - both with an easy-to-see, white true-sized grid. The kit includes: one 15" x 15" self-healing magnetic mat, eight ultra-strong magnetic tacks to hold projects in place; and one 18" magnetic stainless steel, beveled ruler".

I ended up buying this on line at HSN for $23.00 plus S&H. This is soooo cool! Check it out!

More chipboard coaster art

Well, here I am still playing around with the chipboard coasters. This time I made a ???? not sure what to call it. Stand up card? A no picture frame? Hmm....well at any rate, it was fun to do.

All stamps are from Great Impressions except the hinges, which are CTMH (stamped on thin chipboard and embossed with silver EP). I used OMS with prisma colors, and blue chalk for coloring the background. Ribbon and a flower brad finish it off.