ATC Project with Claudine Hellmuth Stamp Sets

I just finally got a chance to play with some of the new Claudine Hellmuth foam/clear stamp sets.  I was inspired by the doodles set to create a weather series of ATCs.

The foam/clear stamp sets were design to produce a the look of offset printing.  Offset printing is done by printing the same page more than once.  Typically the background colors are layed first and then the outlines are printed on top.  Often you see the outlines not quite matching up with the background.  By creating this same look with stamps you can acheive a fun retro media look without going through a painstaking printing process.

When stamping these ATC's the foam stamp was always used to stamp the background color first and then the matching clear stamp was used to stamp the detail on top.  On the foam stamps I used several differnt things.  The grey clouds were created by dabbing pitch black adirondack dabber onto the foam and then I stamped lightly into some white paint painted onto scrap paper to create a muddy mottled grey color.  On others I painted with Claudine Hellmuth studio paint onto the foam before stamping.  The yellow flowers were created by inking the foam stamp using amber clay ColorBox Fluid Chalk ink and inking the matching clear stamp with tangerine ColorBox Fluid Chalk ink.  The pink puffy rainbow was created using pink flamingo VersaMagic Ink on the foam stamp and red hat VersaMagic ink on the clear stamp.

I hope this gives you some ideas for trying out the new Claudine Hellmuth Clear Stamps and Foam Stamps.

Materials:

Claudine Hellmuth Clear Stamp and Foam Stamp Sets

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint

Adirondack Paint Dabbers

ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink Pads

VersaMagic Ink Pads

Ranger Surfaces Manilla ATCs

Studio Paint Backgrounds on Canvas

When I posted a Stamping on Canvas challenge on our Facebook Group a couple of members asked me for ideas on creating backgrounds on canvas.  I've posted 3 tutorials to our gallery in the Techniques - Studio Paints section.  I created these on chipboard covered by Studio Canvas and painted each with gesso.  I limited my color palette to 4 colors so people comaring each could decide which to try based on overall look rather than color preferences.  These techniques could be created with any 2-3 colors that can be mixed to make other pleasing colors.  A good example besides modern red, dab of yellow and sable brown would be landscape green, dab of yellow and classic teal.  This is because if you mix any two of these colors it will create a pleasing color.  You could not add orange into the mix instead of yellow with as good an effect because orange and teal, which may look good opposite one another, will not blend to make a pleasing color.  If your color combinations don't turn out like you want simply paint over with another coat of gesso once the paint is dry and try again.

Here are a coupe examples of finished canvases I made with similar backgrounds.  The butterflies, from our Essential Elements series, were stamped on slightly differently colored Studio Canvas, cut out, and adhered to the background canvas with some mini pop-dots under the wings for dimension.  I also added some German Foils as embellishments and stamped images from our Grunge It Up stamp series.

Products Used:

Studio Canvas

Studio Paint

Studio Brushes

Adirondack Dabbers

StazOn Ink

Mini Pop Dots

Essential Elements Rubber Stamp Set

Grunge It Up Rubber Stamp Set

Alice in Wonderland Coasters & ATCs

Alice in Wonderland Coasters made with Lost Coast Designs stamps
and scanned pages from the book.

Pages from the Alice in Wonderland book make such a fun background for these Lost Coast Designs stamps.  I didn't want to tear pages from the book so I scanned pages, printed them on copy paper.  I used a laser printer.  If you want to try this but only have an ink jet printer you should photocopy the page that prints because the ink will run during some of the steps of this process.

To make these coasters I aged the printed scans with walnut ink diluted with water to about 1/5th the strength of Tsukineko Walnut Ink spray.  I simply poured a little into an empty spritz bottle and added water.  I find I prefer it pretty week because I can always spray again if I want it darker. 

I used a pulpboard coaster as my base but since these will be covered, chipboard works just as well.  I then applied Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA) to the face of the coaster and spread it with my finger and pressed it onto the back of the printed, aged paper and trimmed around the coaster leaving about 1/2".

To wrap the paper I made 3-4 cuts in each corner and pulled the pieces of the corner in to glue them with PPA and then wrapped the edges around and glued them the same way.  The back will get covered so it doesn't matter how it looks on the back.

After the PPA dried I stamped and decorated the coasters the way I wanted, making sure I used permanent ink that wouldn't bleed in the final step.  I also made sure I kept them non-dimensional so they could be used as coasters.  Finally, I covered the tops with PPA.  PPA dries flexible and clear and is water-resistant.  The backs can be covered with felt cork or craft foam.

The faux book pages also make fun ATCs as well.  I just printed smaller versions of the pages on card stock and cut them to ATC size.

Downloadable Book Pages to Print on Copy Paper or Cardstock
Mad Tea Party
Who Stole the Tarts?
Down the Rabbit Hole
Mock Turtle

We also created some printable quotes from Alice in Wonderland that would be fun to embellish collage art or cards with
Alice in Wonderland Quotes

Supplies
Lost Coast Alice in Wonderland Stamps
Walnut Ink
Pulpboard Coasters (chipboard can be used as well)
Perfect Paper Adhesive
Lost Coast Long Swirl
Luni Stamps Mini stamps
Various Memento Ink Pads
Various VersaMagic Ink Pads
Prismacolor Colored Pencils
Fun foam, felt or cork for backing

New Puppet Stamps from Lost Coast Designs

I thought I'd show a fun idea for using the new Clown and Shepardess puppet stamps from Lost Coast Designs on a card.  I simply stamped the clown puppet image, colored it with colored pencils and cut out the pieces.  I used an awl to poke holes through the register marks and used mini-fasteners (paper brads) to hold the peices together and adhered the body of the clown to the card with pop-dots so the limbs could move freely.

I also wanted to show how to use our diamond background stamp from our Backgrounds for all Occassions set.  The french script and dots also come from from that set.  People often wonder why I made the diamand background so small.  I designed this background to be tile-able so that it could fill any size area.  It is hard to find a background for the 4" x 7" front panel of this Z-Card but by tiling the diamonds and the french script it appears to be a continuous background.

Resources:

Lost Coast Puppet Stamps

Blockheads Backgrounds for All Occassions

Blockheads Verses - Feel Better

Congratulations to Therese Bills!

Therese won our randomly awarded $25 gift certificate for following our blog.  Thanks to everone for following!

Using Embossing Folders with Metal - Cuttlebug and Sizzix

Di and I challenged ourselves this weekend to use Spellbinders Craft Foil Sheets with Embossing Folders. My first technique I borrowed, with a modification from Technique Junkies. Using the brass color sheet I used he felt applicator to apply red pepper, butterscotch and espress alcohol inks with a little blending solution to the foil sheet. I heat dried it to make sure all the ink was dry and then I then ran it through the Tim Holtz Patchwork Texture Fades folder and sanded the color off the ridges.

Di created a frame for her Gibson Girl stamped image by running a copper color sheet through the Kassie's Brocade 5x7 Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and then using the Spellbinders Labels 13 to cut the hole in the middle of the foil sheet.  After using a paper cutter to trim off unembossed areas, the color was added by rubbing Saddlebrown StazOn ink over the raised areas.  The edges still looked a little raw for the vintage feeling she wanted so she applied pitch black Adirondack Dabber paint to the outside and inside edges.

I liked how this looked so much that I used her inside piece to create another frame.

I applied timber brown StazOn ink because I wanted a darker, more tarnished look and allowed it to dry.  Once dry I applied pitch black Adirondack Dabber paint to the entire suface and then used a paper towel to rub a lot of it away exposing most of the metal colored with StazOn and some of the brighter copper.  After that I cut a hole with a smaller die from the Spellbinders 13 set.  Now I still have a nice peice from the center for an embellishment and need to get back to playing!  That metal went a long way in this project.

Supplies List
Spellbinders Craft Foil
Tim Holtz Texture Fades Embossing Folders
Cuttlebug Embossing Folders
Adirondack Alcohol Ink
Spellbinders Labels 13 Nestabilities Die
StazOn Ink Pads
Lost Coast Windy Gibson Girl Stamp
Blockheads Years Ago Woman Stamp
Lost Coast Long Swirl Stamp
Tim Holtz Lost & Found Paper
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Keys

New Cuttlebug Emboss Plus Folders Just In

I had a quick chance to play with the new Cuttlebug Emboss Plus folders. this afternoon. They work quite well. In this sample, I used the Blooming Bouquet folder with white-core card stock so I could sand the color away from the paper and better show the embossed part of the design. The small holes in the shape of jacks that are created are a little fussy. I ran mine through my cuttlebug between two B plates and it cut through but I had to poke each little tab out with a toothpick. The folder is plastic but has two metal plates inside it that do the cutting and embossing. It looks to be a well made product but requires a little patience and a toothpick. The Love Bird stamp is from Prickley Pear and the Best Wishes Stamp is from our Verses - Special Delivery set.

Clear Envelope Shaker Card

This was a shaker card I made for my neice's birthday. I first learned to make shaker cards using acetate, foam tape and a lot of cutting and measuring. The result was fun but the process was not. This is my quick shortuct. I used a Type 2 A2 Clear Envelope and stamped the Songbird stamp from Prickley Pear using Timber Brown StazOn ink. After the ink was dry (about 2 minutes) I inserted mini pop dots into the envelope and adhered them to the corners.



This provides jut a little space for things to "shake" around. Then I added my inclusions and opted for 2mm silver micro beads, lavender .5mm microbeads, dew drops and tear drops and a few sequins I had kicking around. Then I cut the envelope down to the size I wanted it and sealed with plain scotch tape. I cut a piece of paper to go behind the shaker window and piece to go on top.


I used a Spellbinders Nestabilities die to cut a frame out of the top piece. I adhered the bottom piece of cardstock with double-sided tape, then adhered the shaker bag to the bottom piece and the top piece to the shaker bag and card with double sided tape. A few final touches to finish the card and it's done!

Product Links
A2 Clear Envelopes
Prickley Pear Songbird Stamp
StazOn Ink Padj
Mini Pop Dots
Metallic Micro Beads
Robin's Nest Dew Drops and Raindrops
Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies

New Mini Stamps

In case you've never used mini stamps before, I created this card using my 4 favorite techniques:
1) create a border or paper ribbon
2) create a background by randomly stamping
3) create a mini pop-up image as an embellishment
4) use different colors with the same stamp to bring an area to life with color
I used just 3 of the 40 new mini stamps we have in stock from Luni.
Shop for mini rubber stamps.

Lost Coast Designs Rose Boy and Domino Border Card

The background was created using the 5x7 Cuttlebug Domino embossing folders. The smaller folders were never quite big enough to create a full A2 background. The fun things about these larger folders, is not only that they are large enough to create an A2 background but there is actually a little room to insert the paper at an angle if you don't want the pattern completely straight. This beautiful high-detail stamp is from Lost Coast Designs. We carry that stamp untrimmed or cut on cling here. We also carry the neat domino border stamp. For complete instructions, click on the image to view the card in our card gallery.

Romantic Stamped Cards

Here a couple of wedding card ideas using our Love & Romance and Love & Hearts stamp sets.

Summer Love

The theme of our next newsletter is going to be summer love. We've put both our Love & Hearts and Love & Romance sets. Here is a sneak preview of the newsletter artwork.

Embossing Folder Technique: Letterpress & Other Ideas

Embossing Folder Letterpress

These cards were created using the new Tim Holtz Texture Fades and Lost Coast Designs Alice in Wonderland rubber stamps.

As announced in our last newsletter, we have just gotten the 8 new sets of Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades (embossing folders) in stock. I have always enjoyed
using my Cuttlebug Embossing Folders and am happy to have a few more designs as options. A few months ago we sponsored an embossing folder challenge to see what fun ways readers could come up with for using these. Since then I've had a chance to play with a few new techniques as well. Here are some fun things to do with embossing folders.

StazOn Metallic Ink Pad Kits

Many of us have had an ongoing quest for the perfect metallic ink pad. Many companies have tried to create a permanent metallic pad that will stamp on non-porous surfaces like glossy paper and acetate, but there have always been problems with the ink drying out before the pad gets to the store and consequently many of those have been discontinued.

Tsukineko has done a nice job of dealing with the problems of the metallic powder absorbing the liquid. The first thing they did right was to ship the pad dry and include the ink with it in a kit. This way the first application of ink isn't dry when you open the new pad. The next brilliant thing Tsukineko did, which we haven't seen before, is use a special type of foam in the pad. It doesn't absorb ink the way other foam pads do. The ink seems to float near the surface. The first application of ink only requires 8-12 drops. Really! Exceptional instructions for inking the pad are included in the kit. You may need to ink the pad each day you plan to use it, but you need so little ink you can reink at least dozens of times. The third nice thing about this pad is that each kit includes an ink spreading tool. I keep an old credit card around for reinking but I can't ever find it when I need it. This little spreading tool can be stored right inside the case so you always have it handy.

Personal Preferences: I found that I like a freshly inked pad when stamping a bold image on matte card stock, like the dragon on green cardstock. Conversely, I actually prefer that the ink dries for a day before stamping a highly detailed image on a glossy surface like the poppy on acetate. The ink gets just a little tacky which keeps the stamp from sliding. I'm sure stampers will figure out their own preferences, but the one thing I think most will agree on is that this ink pad will stamp a lot of images, not waste ink and not need to be heat set, which makes it perfect for acetate and other plastics.

Instructions for Dragon Card
Instrctions for Poppy Card


Shop for StazOn Metallic Ink Pads