Category Archives: Crafty Techniques

My stamp of the month – “You’ve Got This”.  I think this is my favorite example so far!  A little fiddly with fussy cutting around the flower, but this is stamped on blackberry bliss card stock with versamark and embossed with clear.  Then brush on BLEACH inside the flower lines.  The paper bleaches to a light buff color which I then re-colored with blackberry bliss ink that was diluted with water for the flower and mossy meadow for the stem and leaves, also diluted.  So pretty IRL.  Shop for this stamp and supplies at www.mystampalooza.stampinup.net or message me to place an order for you!  Subscribe to my monthly newsletter for next month’s stamp of the month – card sketches, tips and techniques!

One of my favorite “inks” actually removes color – that’s Bleach!  This is more effective on medium – dark solid color card stock.  I usually stamp an image with versamark and then emboss with clear or colored embossing powder.  Then I put some bleach in a small container and “paint” with a small brush over the image inside the embossing.  This keeps the bleach effect from spreading outside the lines.  Very shortly, the color of the paper bleaches out to a lighter color – sometimes one you don’t expect!  After the bleach dries thoroughly (you can use a embossing/heat gun to dry if you are in a hurry), go back and ink up the resulting lightened image with markers.   There are a couple other methods to use bleach in stamping cards, but I’ll save that for another week ;-).  Here’s my sample, using a card from a Project Life pack as background, and the “Baby, We’ve Grown” stamp set.  I’ve added a few dots of Crystal Effects over the Owl Eyes!

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Spidey #2 – on the Label…

I inked the spider image from the “Spider Cider” stamp in the “Monster Munchies” set with Basic Black and Old Olive markers and stamped him on the corner of the “Happy Halloween” Label.  I also punched a 1/16″ circle on the inside of the “O” in Halloween (must have been AFTER I took this picture!).   I fed the top end of the fishing line with SPIDEY attached through that hole and adhered a dimensional over top. 

I punched a 1/16″ circle at each end of the label, and inserted old olive glimmer brads.

I added dimensionals at the four corners and attached to the top of the card. 

Now Spidey can climb up and down from his web to the jar of eyeballs!  CREEPY, Yes?

Here’s another look at the final card:

and, a video of Mr. Spidey doing his daily exercise!  <ed. sorry, couldn’t figure out how to get it embedded!>

Until then…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

A clear jar – challenge! – Window Sheet! Challenge solved! 

As you can see, I have stamped the jar from the “Perfectly Preserved” stamp set in versamark ink onto a piece of our awesome window sheet.  Then I embossed with black embossing powder.  If you have our NEW heat tool, there are 2 settings, and you can emboss on the low setting without melting the window sheet.  I CAREFULLY embossed with the old heat gun (only one setting – high!), by keeping the gun moving back and forth across the embossed area until all powder has melted. 

Then I cut the shape out with the jar from the “Cannery Set” framelits.  After this was done, I didn’t like the curved line at the bottom of the jar – so I just scraped it off with my fingernail!  In a perfect world, I would have masked the stamp with tape in that area when I inked it with the versamark, or removed the embossing powder with my fingernail before I embossed the jar, but the adhoc approach worked, thank goodness!

Next, I cut a slit in the plastic, right outside the jar line, to insert the ribbon.  I used my craft knife to “grab” the ribbon and pull it through the slit.  Since the Framelit cuts about 1/16″ outside of the stamp image, there is just enough room to make the cut.  I pulled both ends of the ribbon so that it sat flat on the “jar”.

For the label, I tried stamping it in basic black on the shimmer paper (my favorite label material, since it is a little stiffer than the whisper white paper).  That was not quite dark enough for me, so I tried it with versamark and black embossing powder, and that result was PERFECT!

I snailed the back and attached it right over the ribbon. 

Now it is time to attach the “eyeball” layer.  I adhered two glue dots to the back of the clear jar, right behind the label, so you cannot see them from the front.  Then I snailed the back of the “eyeball” layer just across the center where the ribbon would go, and wrapped the ribbon around that layer.  

Now I punched a 1/16″ hole through both layers of the jar (window sheet & eyeball paper), near the top of the jar (see example).  This is for the spider’s fishing line!  Feed the end of the fishing line through the hole (make sure SPIDEY is still attached!) and add a dimensional over the end.  I adhered several more dimensionals to the back of the “eyeball” layer, and pressed it down to the spiderweb card front. 

I think we are neeeearrrly finished!  Tune in for tomorrow’s wrap up!

Until then…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!