No photo op on the mother of all occasions

Happy Mother's Day, Mum! *kiss kiss hug* And Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there. May it be a carefree day filled with relaxation, appreciation for what you do and who you are, and lots of love!

I was hoping to post a couple of Mother's Day cards today but hubby ran off with the camera to visit his mum and family. OK...I have to admit that when I took pictures of one of the cards, I didn't download them before handing the camera to him BUT it's still all his fault! *pout* Hmmmm...typing this out makes it all rather obvious that I'm the one to blame...*sigh* Sorry hubby!

Have a joyful day, everyone! And you can expect a couple of cards on the blog tomorrow - one from a surprise guest crafter...

Mounting: a challenge

One of the selling points of Stampin' Up! stamps is that you get to mount them however you wish. In the majority of cases, this means that you either stick the rubber in the middle of the wooden block or flush with a side/corner (the latter is a must for Stamp-A-Ma-Jig hold outs unless they really don't care where the image lands - in which case I say "Don't tell me! I don't want to know!" *fingers in ears and eyes tightly shut*). If you purchase one of the stamps sets that includes one wooden block per combined image and sentiment such as Fun & Fast Notes and Greetings Galore, you can separate the sentiment from the image and mount the sentiment on the top side of the block (for Stamp-A-Ma-Jiggers). This makes it really easy to ink and stamp a background just using the image or to use the sentiment only.

And then came the Level 1 Hostess Set So Many Sayings. 34 lines, three blocks...one huge headache. Call me lazy, but I much prefer to ink with a pad in the same way that I stamp - move hand over target and apply downward pressure. That's easy! The thought of using markers or carefully inking a section in the block of tightly spaced lines just did not appeal to me. So, I formulated a set of rules:
1. Group sayings into categories such as love, friends, kiddies, thanks, and holidays on to the one wooden block where possible.
2. Put the lines most likely to be used separately at the top or bottom of the wooden block for easy inking. This included most of the motifs for me as well as birthday wishes.
3. For lines that will be used together, centre horizontally and even out the vertical spacing. Stamp the block of lines to check.
4. Maximise the space between unrelated groups of sayings to make inking easier.
5. Make sure that nothing gets in the way of the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.
6. Why on earth would "a little something" not be with "from me to you"?

The resulting mounting configuration:
As you can see from the picture, the lines mounted on the side of the wooden block are mounted upside down. The reason for this is that I want to see the labels the right way up when using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. I like to press the longer part of the wooden block against the longest wall of the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig for greater stability.

Is that making a mounting out of a molehill, or what? For some smart thinking, check out how Alana mounted hers. Please post your creative mounting configurations (er, for stamps only)...or just post a comment to say Hi!

Mums and PoPs

My five sampler pads of Palette O' Prints arrived recently. Yay! After hoarding the customary three, I have some left over to actually use. Double yay! And I thought what better way of putting the PoP to work than to make a Mother's Day card. Oh! Mum, this card isn't for you...well, um, maybe...Don't look!

Whilst there's not much stamping this time, I did use the Mother's Day sentiment from the Occasional Greetings set which was borrowed from the very gracious Michelle Dyson with the Purely Pomegranate ink courtesy of my talented upline Jayne. Since I had no Rose Red ribbon, I sponged some ink on to white grosgrain ribbon, used my heat tool to set the ink and repeated the two steps to increase the quality and intensity of the colour. The heart set into the scalloped Designer Series Paper (DSP) was die cut through Quickutz. A Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder also came in handy.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Purely Pomegranate
Rose Red

Stamps:
Occasional Greetings set

Paper:
Rose Red cardstock
Rose Red Prints DSP
Whisper White cardstock

Accessories:
Scallop punch
Sponge daubers
Stampin' Dimensionals
White Grosgrain ribbon

Overcoming the tendency to hoard pretty paper

I don't know about you but I have an awful time using scrapbooking supplies. I mean, how ironic is it, that some of the most beautiful paper available to humankind is for "scrapping"?! OK...it is just a terminology thing...after all, what we scrap we are meant to keep. *boggle*

Anyway, I have a gorgeous collection of Basic Grey paper in storage because I know that I'll never use it - not because I don't want to, but because I can't bring myself to cut the paper up and not have the potential of using it for something else more worthy. I took to buying three sheets of everything, in all available colour combinations, so that the option of doing a two page colour co-ordinated layout and having a little extra for embellishments was always there. I now have a mountain of scrapping material ready for that momentous life changing event that requires two-and-a-half pieces of patterned paper that I have luckily already bought...the only problem is that I don't know which patterned paper that is and, so, I have to keep all of it unused and in pristine condition...just in case.

Thank goodness I've now discovered the freedom that comes with making my own patterned paper. I never have to worry about hoarding three copies of everything since I can make extra whenever the need arises. And, if it turns out that I need more for a matching tag, altered pencil tin and covered gift box...no problem! I'll whip out my stamps, ink, daubers and what-not and ... voilà! ... a perfect quantity of matching patterned paper. Needless to say, hubby must be ecstatic that he's no longer crowded out of the house by encroaching hordes of pretty paper. From now on, it will be just the odd incursion, since who can stop buying the stuff altogether?

This is the final post for my blog declared Patterned Paper Week. Funnily enough, it coincides with National Scrapbooking Day in the US (March 3) and it just so happens that my project for my last homemade piece of patterned cardstock is to cover a mini scrap journal.
Additional Stampin' Supplies
Stamps:
Greetings Galore set
Ink and Cardstock:
Ballet Blue
Accessories:
Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware
Bluebird Grosgrain ribbon
Chocolate Grosgrain ribbon
Crop-A-Dile
Moss Gingham Check ribbon
Red Gingham Check ribbon
Taupe Grosgrain ribbon
Very Vanilla Grosgrain ribbon

Happy National Scrapbooking Day to those readers popping in from the US!

Update 2:58pm
It seems that it was National Scrapbooking Day in Canada too! So, belated wishes to Canadian readers. Perhaps it should be called North American Scrapbooking Day instead OR, even better, International Scrapbooking Day, in which case all of us can join in. Oh, scrap that! Every day should be a card-making and scrapbooking day...

Pinking and greening purple patterned paper

One of the really great things about creating your own patterned paper is that you determine the colour scheme. When it was time to make a card using the Paisleyed Elegant Eggplant on Very Vanilla , I wanted to add more colours to match the sentiment that I had in mind. Just use a marker or, if you only have the ink pad, a paint brush dabbed against the ink pad to pick up some ink, to add the colour you want. For those with Stampin' Up! classic ink pads, a standard recommendation is that you press the closed lid against the ink pad to create a patch of ink into which you can dip your brush. I've added some Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink into the mix as you can see in the picture to the right.

For the card, I was very, very sneaky as I cut out the matching flower from the area covered by the matted sentiment and glued it to the top right of the card. I think it brings a little more cohesion to the elements of the card. I set the eyelets with a Crop-A-Dile (for a great tutorial, visit Alana Galagher). Embossing is through a Cuttlebug and Perfectly Paisley embossing folder. Note to self: enrol in Cuttlebuglets Anonymous.
Additional Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Certainly Celery
Pretty in Pink
Stamps:
Carte Postale set
Cardstock:
Pretty in Pink
Accessories:
Certainly Celery Grosgrain
Crop-A-Dile
Earth Elements Eyelets
Very Vanilla Grosgrain

Stamping up - bringing backgrounds to the fore

Perhaps the easiest way to create patterned paper is through the use of background stamps. Of course, the size of the resulting paper is small, but it should be big enough for a greeting card and for matting smaller photos (a good excuse for cropping away tummy bulges).

For those of you who have not used background stamps before, a good technique for using these particularly large stamps is "stamping up". I'm not sure if the technique has ever been called this before (in which case I'm trademarking it) but I think that it makes a good name for a rubber stamp company that produces background stamps...
So, what does the technique involve?
1. Ink the background stamp.
2. Lay the stamp, rubber side up, onto a level stable surface.
3. Place paper, right side down, on top of the inked rubber.
4. Cover the paper with some scrap paper if there is any inked rubber showing. This makes cleaning up much easier as a result of step 5.
5. Smooth over the paper (or scrap paper if used) to make the impression. I use the wooden side of another rubber stamp but fingers, brayers or any item with a flat surface should do. Make sure that the paper being stamped does not shift otherwise you will get smudging or ghosting in final product.
6. Carefully lift the stamped image off the rubber without allowing the paper to touch the stamp again to minimise smudging.

To the right is a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock stamped with a Paisley background stamp using Elegant Eggplant ink. So simple and versatile!

The opportunity to step things up is always there...Here's an example using multiple background stamps, masking, sponging and lots of colours.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Ballet Blue
Close to Cocoa
Chocolate Chip
Not Quite Navy
Old Olive
Rose Red
Rust Red
Sahara Sand
So Saffron

Stamps:
Canvas background
En Français background
Paisley background
Heartfelt Thanks set

Cardstock:
Very Vanilla

I'll be using these two bitty pieces of patterned cardstock and posting the results within the next couple of days.

What May-hem!

Goodness! The first of May had brought an avalanche of things to do in one day...but it's all good. The most exciting thing is the start of the Stampin Up!® palette o' prints promotion in Oz. Stampin Up!® has produced a covetable 6" x 6" pad of double-sided Designer Series paper. 48 sheets and 12 print designs in total, there are 12 sheets each in Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Rose Red and So Saffron. Priced at $12.95 with every $35 purchase of Stampin' Up!® products during the whole of May. There had to be a reason for me declaring Patterned Paper Week...

I'll be posting the last in the mini-series of making your own patterned paper tomorrow. If I receive the sampler pad that I ordered last night, I'll try to post a sample or two using it to round up the week.

Hmmmm...what else? There's also the Under Wraps competition for Aussie subscribers to my newsletter.

Speaking of which, I still have to complete the May newsletter. Eeek! But, please subscribe anyway, so that I have a chance to tempt you with Stampin' Up!® offers. You always have the option to unsubscribe...I promise to include this option with every edition.

I have to write a few e-mails to some lovely people so if you are expecting one from me, please forgive me for the delay. I'll get to it ASAP.

Have a very merry month of May.

Update 5:29pm
May newsletter is complete and should have gone out to all intrepid subscribers. It's not too late to subscribe for the rest of you...

Under wraps

So, here it is...a little wrapped something-or-other. I'm sure that, if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, you'll know what it could be BUT please don't tell!
I'm making this into a little competition for Australian subscribers of my newsletter. I'd offer it to subscribers everywhere except that I can't give you the planned prize since Stampin' Up! Australia won't deliver overseas.

To win one of these in your June order, you have to guess what it is in May! I want the exact item number from the current Idea Book & Catalogue. No prizes for "something-or-other", "that thingy for doing you know what" or "you know the one" (yes I do, but do you? *raise eyebrow*). I'll detail the competition rules in the May newsletter...and that's a wrap.