My STAMPALOOZA

White Pearls can become custom colors with just a swipe of a marker.  However, the marker has to be alcohol based or other permanent ink. 

Here’s what happens when you use the water-based markers – at first it looks great, then it pretty much wipes right off!  I have a nice selection of copic markers and since they are alcohol-based, they work.  Sharpies would also work.

Another detail that I have just fallen in love with is an envelope liner.

I did a little research (no sense re-inventing the wheel!) and found a great little video by Mary Fish.  She recommends cutting a piece of patterned paper 4″ x 5 11/16″. Yes, 11/16ths.  It works perfectly.  Insert your paper piece inside the envelope, leaving just a bit past the flap.

Run adhesive or glue around the edge of the envelope flap.  Flip over and trim the excess off with scissors.  For a perfect fold, score the flap again on the original fold line.  Downside: you will have to add glue to the flap.  Just about anything will do.  I have seen a formula for making glue that you can brush on, dry, and then lick to stick.  I’ll try to find that and post at a future date.

Until next time…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

Remember these?  When I discovered the “Candy Conversations” stamp in the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do – Chalk Technique!

For this method, you need to ink your stamp with Whisper White Craft Ink, and stamp (usually) on a darker paper.  You will need  some kind of chalk “media” – Stampin’ Up has a full palette of our signature colors in chalk, so you can match every one!

Here’s the stamp inked up.  Notice I have managed to just ink the stamp along the edge of the stamp pad to keep ink off of the sentiment.  You should wipe any boo-boos off before you stamp.

Here is the stamped image on our darkest red card stock, cherry cobbler.  The nice thing about the craft ink is that it stays “wet” a little longer, so you have a minute or so to choose your colors and chalk it up.

I chalked a different color on each heart for my card, but you could just color one and use your embossing gun to dry the rest of the chalk ink for a single “pop” of color.  The inportant tip here is to make sure you have plenty of chalk covering the ink.

The final step is to wipe off the excess chalk with a soft cloth.

Curious about the card yet?  The final details tomorrow!

Until next time…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

Onto the BRAD!!!  Well, a glitter bow needs a glitter brad, right?

We have Stampin’ Up absolutely gorgeous glitter brads in many colors, so I proceeded to ATTEMPT crimping this bow with a red one.  Sadly, at least 4 brads later, they all looked like this:

Not good.  Clearly the brad is just too small to stand up to the bending and shaping required to get it around the bow. 

Plan B.  When I looked over the available (current catalogs) brads, I realized that the Occasions Mini had larger ones – the Jelly Bean Brads featured on page 35 of the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog! 

We also have our first “glitter glue”, called Dazzling Details (cherry cobbler color), available in the Occasions Mini.  AH-HA!  By squeezing the Dazzling Details over the top of the brad and spreading it around with the tip of the container, I was able to get a goodly glob of it on the jelly bean brad.  It did take quite a bit of drying time, so you must be patient, or not plan to use the brad until the next day.  The “glob” compresses down to the top of the brad once dry, so don’t worry too much about your mound-o’glitter.  I did find that once it dried, it was VERY hard to remove from the silver ring around the brad, so use your fingernail or a toothpick to wipe off the silver ring BEFORE it dries. 😉

Until next time…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!

Remember this bow?

It was the final result of a day-long experimentation with re-inkers, craft re-inkers, contraband re-inkers, smooch spritz and shimmer paint.  After nearly permanently red fingers, bleeding too much ink (bleeding used both as a verb and expletive deleted here…), and a whole BOTTLE of Champagne Shimmer, the easiest (and SU-product) method turned out to be sponging on the shimmer, dry with heat gun then follow with real red marker and a final dry with the heat gun.

Faux Bow, you say?  Why yes, glad you noticed! Cut 13 inches of the (inked) ribbon and lay flat on the table.  Fold the two ends in over each other, so the layers are evenly in thirds.  Pinch in the middle and fold the brad ends AROUND the ribbon, crossing over in back, and press as flat as possible.  Gently pull the end on the right down from the loop and clip each end into a “V”.  VOILA’!  Perfect bow!

*Note* I tried a big glue dot to adhere  the ribbon to the card, and it just did not hold up at all – by the end of the next day, the bow had fallen OFF!  Horrors!  I solved this dilemma with a couple pieces of sticky tape instead.

Until next time…Keep Calm and Find Yourself a Rubber Stamp!