A Peek Into My Stamping Room

Stamp-a-majig In Action

It was harder to take pictures of the Stamp-a-majig in action than I thought.  But I did the best I could.  Hopefully, you will learn something!

This is the Stamp-a-majig!  There is an imaging sheet (clear sheet) with a smooth side for classic dye ink and a textured side for pigment craft ink.  For this illustration, I am using the smooth side!

The black positioner has two sides you can position with.  This is really good for the left-handed stamper!

I stamped my outline image in the corner using the positioner to keep it straight.  I know its hard to see, sorry.

After stamping the "underneath" images, I line up the outline image I stamped on the imaging sheet.  I am being very careful where I put the outline image because I want my two step stamping to line up just right!  Once I have things lined up, I place my stamp positioner against the corner of my imaging sheet.  This is where I will stamp my image using the positioner to get it in the right spot.  Clear as mud?

I am lining up the outline stamp here!  I used a darker color of ink for the outline.  I used the imaging sheet to line up the outline stamp for all three images.  The Stamp Positioner has grippers on the bottom so it doesn't move.  Very handy!

Here is my completed card.  What do you think?  Aren't you impressed by how nicely the two step stamping looks?  LOL  The Stamp-a-majig requires a couple of extra steps but I am finding it just a little addicting!  I hate it when I am almost done with a card and I have to stamp again because I stamped crooked, don't you?

The stamp set I used  is called Polka Dots and Paisley.  It is the set I received from Shelli Gardner, owner of Stampin' Up!, as a Christmas gift.  Nice, huh?  I love getting FREE stamps!

I used the Key Tag punch and the Horizontal Slot punch (mini word window) to make that buckle looking thingy!  I got this idea from a card on SCS by Debbie Olson. 

Supplies Used:  Polka Dots and Paisley, Happy for Stamp sets; Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Sage Shadow, Shimmery White & Enchante' Cardstock; Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Sage Shadow Classic Ink;  Key Tag punch, horizontal slot punch, twill tape, Stamp-a-majig.

More Valentine Swaps

Here is more Valentine swaps for you to look at!

This card is by Julie Purdum or jeweleintin on SCS.  I love it!    This is a great layout and I especially like the creamy caramel in with the red and black, very nice!

Supplies Used:  Happy Hearts and Tiny Talk Stamp sets; Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, Real Red & Whisper White Cardstock; Basic Black, Real Red Classic Ink; Whisper White Craft Pad; Ticket Corner Punch, Square Punches, Red Eyelets, Carmel gingham ribbon, red grosgrain.

I am supposed to be working on a tutorial on how to use the Stamp-a-majig but its cold in the basement!  Oh well, I guess I will put on my pink slippers (you know the ones) and go to the coldest stamp room EVER!  See ya soon!

3rd Valentine's Day Swap!

Here is the third swap I received in the Valentine's Blogger Swap! This card is by Denise Bryant!  I really like everything about this card especially the pocket!  Denise used a McGill File Folder Tab punch.  I haven't ever seen this punch but its really cute.  Wonder if its like the new punch in the Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalog?  We will see!!

Supplies Used:  Dream Come True & Sweet Shapes Stamp sets; Cool Caribbean, Close to Cocoa classic ink;  Cool Caribbean, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Pretty In Pink, Loves Me Designer Paper and cardstock;  Stampin' Dimensionals

The Ribbon and brads are non-SU.  The brown pocket is from Bazzil but that is pretty easy to recreate with your own cardstock!

I love the colors and that Designer Paper is one of my favorites.

Would you like to see MY swap?  Here it is!

I made a fairly simple card.  I have been really struggling to find my own "style".  I guess this card is probably the closest I will come to a style of my own!  I really like simple cards.  When I look at it everything just goes together.  I can get pretty anal about these things, if I let myself!

Supplies Used:  Loving Hearts, Everyday Flexible Phrases and Canvas Stamp sets; Kraft, Choc. Chip, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Whisper White and Loves Me Paper; Regal Rose, Cool Caribbean, Creamy Caramel Classic Ink; Soft Subtles eyelets & Rose Grosgrain Ribbon.

This swap has been alot of fun.  All the participants have links to their blogs over on the left-hand side of this.  Check out everyone's blog, just for the fun of it!  See you tommorrow!

2nd Valentine Swap!

Here is a picture of the second Valentine's Day Swap I received.

This card was made by Lauri Royale @ the blog -Lily Notepad!  Too Cute - no it's Stinkin' Cute!! LOL

Supplies Used:  Stinking Cute Stamp Set, Basic Black & Whisper White Cardstock; Basic Black ink; Red Gingham Ribbon, Giga Scalloped Punch; Non-SU patterned paper; Black Marker (for dots)

I think this is such a great stamp set.  It really doesn't stand out in the Idea Book & Catalog too much, but when you see a cute sample like this one, it gets your attention!  Tommorrow I will post another swap card, so get ready!

Sweet Valentine's Blogger Swap

I got my Valentine's Blogger swap in the mail the other day.  The cards are so cute.  Here is the first card:

This card was designed by Alora Sweetser.  Here blog is inkingthings.blogspot.com!  I really love this card and the stamp set!

Supplies Used:

Stamps - Love Matters, Canvas, Everyday Flexible Phrases;  Paper - Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Shimmery White;  Ink- Black Stazon, Almost Amethyst;  Accessories - Dimensionals, Rich Regals Brads, Sweet Shoppe Ribbon, Crafter's Tool Kit (Mat Pack), Aquapainters, Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Stamp-a-majig.

Very cute and I love the color combo.  Alora used the Stamp-a-majig to position each heart in a row.  If you haven't used a Stamp-a-majig, you should give it a try.  Makes life much easier especially when you stamp a 2-step image!  I will show a small tutorial on the Stamp-a-majig in a few days!

Today I am having lunch with my good friend, Tammy.  I am looking forward to seeing and talking to her because we have both been so busy lately we haven't seen each other.  In the past, our friend Elizabeth would join us too but, sadly, Elizabeth has moved to Virginia.  I miss you, Elizabeth but I am glad you called me the other day!  Your call made my whole day better, thanks!

So enjoy the first card in my Valentine's Bloggers Swap!  I have 6 more to go with a couple of bonuses!!  Have a great day!

UHU Twist 'n Glue

Before Christmas, I received a sample of the UHU Twist 'n Glue (click here to check out the blog about this product) and UHU glue stick to use and review on my blog.  I have been kinda slow doing this because these two types of glue are not something I normally use.  So I was playing around on Sunday night and this is what I altered using the UHU Twist 'n Glue.

Here's the bottle of UHU Twist 'n Glue.  I found it to be surprising easy to use.  It dried fast but not too fast.  I accidently left the lid off all night and it didn't clog!  I was not a gluey mess when I got done.  A little goes quite a long way, leading me to believe this bottle will last awhile.  Now, you can use it different ways.  Take the lid off and the spout is small, give it a twist and the spout gets larger for better coverage of large items.  So I would say YES - good stuff, very affordable and I will definitely buy this.

Stampin' Up! does not sell these Gable boxes anymore.  I had this one in my scrap cardstock box (why I don't know).  I decided to play around!  Using the last few scraps of my favorite designer paper, Flower Patch and my free bottle of UHU twist 'n glue, I altered this box.  I used a piece of OnBoard Chipboard for the Sweet stamp.  I am going to fill it with chocolates for my youngest's teacher.  I think Ms. Z will really like it.

I left it really simple and I think that's a good thing, too.  After I glued the designer paper to the OnBoard Chipboard piece, I waited for it to dry a few minutes and then I sanded around the edges.

Supplies Used:  Gable Box, Flower Patch Designer Paper, Blush Blossom Cardstock, Shimmery White Cardstock, Corner Rounder, Bashful Blue Classic Ink pad, Gold Brads, OnBoard Chipboard and Cocoa Grosgrain.

I have my Blogger's Valentine Swap Cards.  They are really good.  Tommorrow I will start posting them!  They are all really cute!  That's all for now!

No Swaps but Coasters in the house!

I didn't get my Valentine's swaps in the mail today.  Kinda sad about that but there is good news to share.  My Valentine's swap is featured on THIS blog.  Thanks for the rave reviews on my card, Connie!  I love the name of her blog - isthatyourmonkey.typepad.com.  That's pretty cute!  Check it out!

Some more good news  -  I received 50 square coasters to play around with.  If you look HERE on Splitcoaststampers you will see what I am doing with them.  If you haven't checked out Splitcoaststampers - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  There are a million samples of cards in the gallery and thousands of stampers to chat with.  Its alot of fun!  Hopefully I will have time to make something with my coaster....tommorrow!  Catch ya later!

Stampin' Up! on TV!

Sara Douglass, daughter of Stampin' Up! owner, was recently on Paint, Paper and Crafts!  She gave a wonderful demo on how to turn a $1 notebook into something really special, using the 5 in 1 envelope template.  You can watch the demo HERE.  I have the 5 in 1 Envelope template but haven't used it much.  Now that I have seen it used, I better get busy! 

I have had a sick kid all weekend.  My middle daughter got the stomach virus thingy I had.  She is doing lots better but Saturday was miserable for her.  Hopefully, all the Lysol spray I used on the house today will help the germs to quit spreading!  I will post pictures of some projects later!  I should be getting a Valentine's Swap really soon, too!  Stay tuned.

I've been tagged!

Julie tagged me so here are my answers!

A - Available or Taken:  Happily Married

B - Best Friend:  Diane

C -Cake or Pie:  cake!

D - Drink of Choice:  Pepsi

E - Essential item you use everyday:  Computer

F - Favorite Color:  Rose

G - Gummy Bears or Worms:  Gummy Bears

H - Hometown:  Festus, Missouri

I - Indulgence:  Macadamia Nuts

J- January or February:  February

K - Kids & Names:  Colleen (13), Caitlyn (10), Cassie (6)

L - Life is incomplete without?:  Chocolate

M - Marriage Date:  April 27, 1991

N - Number of Siblings:  None 

O - Oranges or Apples:  Oranges

P - Phobias or Fears:  Hate letting other people drive!  Stupid, I know

Q - Fave Quote:  Life is too short for whiner babies.....unkown source!

R - Reason to Smile:  when we eat dinner together

S - Season:  Spring

T - Tag 3 or 4 People   Dawn & I can't think of anyone else!

U - Unknown fact about me:  I played the flute in High School

V - Vegetable you don't like:  Peas!

W - Worst Habit:  Putting things off!

X - X-rays: teeth

Y - Your Fave Food:  Chinese

Z - Zodiac Sign:  Aries

So you want to know?

So you want the instructions for the cute bag, right?  Well, since I can't remember where I found the instructions for JanTink's bag and since this is JanTink's copyrighted design I will have to ask permission before sharing over the net.  So I will get back with you on the instructions.

Anyway, here are the projects we did at my workshop tonight.  I had a great time with my ladies.  I always look forward to a workshop with this group because they are just FUN!  Enjoy!

I used the Pocket notes from the Winter Mini to make these Sucker Card holders!  Everyone thought they were really cool.  It was super easy because all the work was done for you since I used the Pocket Notes.  You can check out the Winter Mini Catalog on the Stampin' Up! main website in the link to the right for these and other great Stampin' Up products!

Supplies Used:  Sweet Shapes; Pretty In Pink Pocket Notes, Taken with Teal, Whisper White Cardstock; Pretty in Pink, Taken With Teal Classic Ink pad; Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon; Hole punch

This is a Shaker Card!  My hostess requested this project and I am so glad she did.  It is hard to see but the sentiment says:  Have I toad you lately that I love you?  Funny, huh?

Supplies Used:  Very Punny, Unfrogettable, Itty Bitty Backgrounds Lily Pad Wheel; Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal & Whisper White Cardstock; Basic Black & Certainly Celery Classic Ink; Certainly Celery Ink Cartridge,  Certainly Celery Marker; MicroBeads; Celery Grosgrain; 3m Foam Tape and Transparencies.

Don't you think this froggy card would be cute to send to my nephew, Stephen?  You see, he is in the Marines in San Diego, CA.  He told us at Christmas that he would probably be in Iraq by March.  I am proud of him.  Stephen has been a difficult child, teenager and adult.  I never thought he would make it this far, but the Marines seem to be for him.  I am scared for him but HE is not!  Hopefully, the other guys won't make fun of him or maybe they will, hehe!!  Hope you have a great weekend!