Two Step Stamp-A-Ma-Jigging

I'm sure many of you will already use vellum sheets in place of the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig's reusable imaging sheet. Another advantage of using vellum sheets is that you can create composite images on them ... which is the answer to my Tricksy Trendy Trees troubles.

Stamp all four foliage images on a vellum sheet.

I mark the corners of the vellum sheet with an "L" to mark the short and long sides of my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. This informs users of the sheet as to how to orient my SAMJ in relation to the sheet.

Stamp the corresponding trunk in the desired position onto the vellum sheet using an imaging sheet and Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. I recommend using a lighter ink colour so that you will easily recognise that the vellum guide is for the foliage.

You can now use the vellum guide to stamp some foliage with full knowledge of where their trunks will end up when they are eventually stamped.

So, here are all the trees complete with their trunks evenly spaced and in a straight line. Yay!

In gratitude and guilt

In Australia, we've had a compelling lesson in the fragility of existence. The bushfires in Victoria have claimed many lives, 173 people confirmed dead so far, and many homes. I am sure that those who survive the ordeal will eventually recover because, even though our time here is arbitrary, our ability to endure is immense.

As witnesses to scenes of grief and ruin, we have asked each other how we could help and have acted in concert with the response. It is heartening to know that we will still look out for each other in tough economic times.

As someone who is well removed from the flames and those affected by them, I'm stuck strangely between gratitude and guilt. Feeling gratitude for all that I have and guilty that I haven't lost it all. It seems to be the only homage that I can make to those who have lost everything.

I've got no projects that would be appropriate to post but this page features my nephew Shi Wei - I am so grateful that he is still around. Stay safe.

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Basic Black
Pretty in Pink
Wild Wasabi

Stamps:
Jumbo Outline Alpha

Paper:
Afternoon Tea DSP
Ginger Blossom DSP
Pumpkin Pie Prints DSP
Vellum CS
Whisper White CS
Wild Wasabi Textured CS

Accessories:
Anchored Rub-Ons
Flower Fusion
On Board Blossoms & Basics
Paper Snips
Photo Corners Punch
Rhinestone Circle Brads in Ice
Round Tab Punch
Sanding Block
Scallop Edge Punch
Silver Brads
Simply Scrappin' Kit Winter Bright
Stampin' Write Journaller
Styled Silver Hodgepodge
White Gel Pen

Simply versatile

You've probably already seen these cards before - they are the two predesigned cards in the Lifelong Notes Simply Sent Kit. The kit includes enough supplies to make five of each of these styles and even has directions on how to assemble them. I think that the top card is great for men because of the colour scheme and the geometric design. No flowers - I'm sure that they'd be relieved about that! It must be just about every macho man's worst nightmare - to receive a really pretty floral card on their birthday in front of their friends accompanied by a "Here's your prezzie, Honey Bunny Sugar Puff!" *grin*

One of the things that I enjoy most about these kits is creating projects using the supplies to make something that is radically different from the predesigned cards - I suppose it is the MacGyver in me! I also like using things out of my existing stash with the items in the kit for maximum synergy.

The card on the left is a CASE of a card from the Stampin' Up! Sydney Regionals. I added some Certainly Celery DSP, used a stamp from Occasional Greetings and a mat pack and I reckon it looks nothing like the ones above. What do you think?

The card on the right is for the girly girls who would have looked at the other three cards and wondered whether you had confused them with your hubby. I punched out a scallop from a sheet of Summer Picnic DSP and created holes using my 1/16" circle punch, used Basic Black on vellum for the medallion centre, a couple of lengths of Bashful Blue Grosgrain Ribbon and a stamp from Cheer & Wishes. Stampin' Write Markers in Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery sure came in handy too. Pretty girly, huh?

Simply Sent Kits are 20% off for a very short time only (October 4-11) so please send in your orders early so that you don't miss out.

Out of order

Such strange serendipity! I was entering the title of this post with just the hint of a smirk, when Fate slapped me down for being out of order. The original meaning that I had intended for this title was that I would be showing one of the challenges for the cyberstamp out of sequence...but when Blogger's Autosave feature activated, I was greeted with "Autosaved failed" and prompted with the standard suggestion of please try again...which I did. Hmmmm...did I try that again or did I imagine myself pressing the Save button? So I pressed it again. "Autosaved failed". Oh no! Blogger is out of order!

So, I trawled through the Blogger Help Forums, found no help there but lots of panicky people rearranging chairs. I then tinkered around with my settings and if you are experiencing the same problems, try clearing your browser cache and refreshing on each form before you use it (such as the list of posts and when you open up the edit post form). It worked for me [ETA: just long enough to get this posted] !

The third challenge for this month's INKlings Cyberstamp was the option of either a scrapbook layout or making a card using a themed stamp set so that the theme was not featured (eg. a Christmas stamp set for a birthday card) or vice versa (eg. a Valentine's day card from a non-themed flower stamp set). The scrapbook page is to use [WARNING: sample scrap page features a SNAKE] the following sketch.

I've posted this out of order so that my mum can see another layout of my nephew, Shi Wei! I've kept her waiting long enough...

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Chocolate Chip
Really Rust
Wild Wasabi

Stamps:
Defining Alphabet
Priceless set

Paper:
Apple Cider DSP
Naturals Ivory CS
River Rock Textured CS
Vellum CS

Accessories:
1/16" Circle Punch
Anchored Rub-ons
Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware
Black Hemp Twine
Corner Rounder Punch
Earth Elements Buttons

Dad-ication

My father's birthday and Father's Day are very close together - in fact, every seven or so years they fall on the same day. And I reckon that's kinda unfortunate for him. It is like having your birthday close to Christmas ... everyone gives you one card and one present and says they've combined the two events (but never mentions that it is with a 40% discount *wry grin*). But that's me completely projecting because my Dad really doesn't seem to mind.

Hence, this dedication to my Dad: a one of a kind father, who is incredibly generous and charming...and interesting! He was definitely there for me when I was growing up and I appreciate the time that he always makes for us whenever we need him. A heartfelt thank you, Dad.

The little boy in "Summer by the Sea" could be my nephew and I thought it was just the right image for Dad's card since my father derives so much joy from his grandson. I'm sure they'll have a great time at dinner, together, tonight!

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Basic Black
Creamy Caramel

Stamps:
One of a Kind set
Sanded background
Summer by the Sea set
Wonderful Favourites set

Cardstock:
Creamy Caramel
Kraft
Naturals Ivory
Vellum

Accessories:
Aquapainter
Crop-A-Dile
Earth Elements brads
Hodgepodge Hardware in Antique Brass
Sponge Daubers
Watercolor Crayons in all colour families
Watercolor Pencils

To all the fathers and grandfathers out there reading my blog, I hope you have a lovely Father's Day. Or, more likely, I hope that your father and/or husband has/have a wonderful day with you. Happy Father's Day!

KWERNERDESIGN.COM COLOR inspiration 21

I've been admiring many creations using Kristina Werner's fabulous COLOR inspirations for a while now. I had considered joining in the fun but I was either too late off the mark or I had something else more pressing like workshops or swaps or washing my hair (Hey! It gets itchy if I wait long enough!).

This time I only have a hundred and forty swaps to make for the Sydney regional on Saturday so she'll be apples¹! Actually, choosing to take part in this COLOR inspiration just shows that I wasn't really committed to the swaps in the first place. Anyway, the snazzy colour combination chosen by Kristina:





Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Whisper White

I've had to adopt her suggestion of replacing two of the US SU!'s '08-'09 In Colors with Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive. Thank you, Kristina, for the great inspiration. I suppose I should go back to pretending that I am working hard on those regional swaps...

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Basic Black
VersaMark

Stamps:
Kindness wheel
Sassy Stems set
Short & Sweet set

Cardstock:
Old Olive
Rose Red
Tempting Turquoise
Vellum

Accessories:
Aquapainter
Earth Elements brads
Heat Gun
Theater Ribbon Originals
Whisper White Grograin
White Embossing Powder
White Gel Pen
Watercolor Crayons (in every colour family except for Soft Subtles!)

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1. Aussies don't really use the phrase "she'll be apples" nowadays so we have a giggle about its fuddy-duddiness whenever we see it in the Stampin' Up! G'Day Mate stamp set. OK...so I speak for myself!