Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tree Silhoutte Set HALF PRICE!

Hey Stampers and Scrappers,

Here is a card I was playing with last night using our Tree Silhouettes stamp set. I love this solid image set as you don't have to color it in, so you can whip out a bunch of cards in no time! I also used the saying from the Fabulous Fall set and the leaf from the Autumn Icons set. The paper is BasicGrey from the Offbeat collection.

*** From now until the end of October this Tree Silhouettes stamp set is on sale from HALF PRICE! It normally retails for $9.95 and you can get it for $4.95. You can find this set at the store http://www.thestampingstudio.com in the "Rubber Stamps Flowers and Foliage" section (scroll down the left side) and it will be the first set in that section.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Monday, September 29, 2008

View master Tutorial

Hey Stampers, and Scrappers,

I have another tutorial for you today, View master Cards. I had made one of these when I first started stamping, so the technique has been around a while but now we have so many great punches and such to make the job easier. I really had fun with this one, and it was my Project Box project at the retreat.
Gather your supplies you will need for this project including;
4.25x11" cardstock for card base (orange)
5.25x4" purple cardstock
pattern paper strip
4" white cardstock circle
Mega scalloped oval punch,
2" circle punch (similar sizes will work)
paper piercer
brad
watercolor pencils
blending pen
StazOn jet black ink pad
stamp sets - Trick Or Treat, Halloween Fun and Harlequin Background
Stamp your Harlequin background stamp onto your purple cardstock using black ink.
Use the scallop oval punch to punch a hole new the top.
We need to poke a hole in the middle of the 4" white cardstock circle and I made a template to make this easier for me. To find the middle of the circle, fold in half once, and then again... unfold it and you will see the middle.
Use a paper piercer to make your hole.
The circle will go behind the purple cardstock.
So place the circle behind the opening, but the hole of the circle will need to be lower than the punched out oval. Once you get your placement poke a hole through the purple piece from behind.
Attach the two pieces with a brad.
Use part of the 2" circle punch to notch out a spot on the side, this will make it easier to turn the white circle and view the images. This is how that should look.
Now you can stamp your images onto the white circle "Trick or treat smell my feet..."

Then the jack-o-lantern treat bag.

Then "boo to U!"

Then the skull
Also stamp the trick or treaters onto scrap white cardstock. Now you can use your watercolor pencils to color all of the images in. I used one color for the base of the image and then went back with a darker color to make shadows.
Since the watercolor pencils are water soluble you can use your blending pen to blend all the colors together and get rid of of the pencil lines. The one on the right I used the blending pen on... it is a sutle difference.
I also like to outline all my stamped image (colored or not) with a light gray marker. It really looks great... you should try it!
Now we need to glue the purple layer onto our orange card and to give it a lift, so that the circle turns easily, I used 3-D glue dots, or foam tape works well also. I just used them in the 4 corners.
We need to punch another notch in the top of the orange card. Just slip the punch in there to do that.
Whala!
I added a pattern paper strip because it just needed "something" and this did the trick!
I had this great shred laying around and it was brown and earthy and thought it would match the card perfectly. (I bought this at the dollar store)
I separated the strands of the shred and layed down about 6-7 pieces criss-crossy.
To make sure the shred stays down as well as the stamped images I used more 3-D glue dots on the back of the image.
And just smoosh it all down to adhere.
Give the shred a "hair-cut" and you are done! People love to play with this card... who wouldn't?! I hope you try this one out and remember that it can be for any theme you can think of not just Halloween.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Water Bottle Hanger Tutorial

Hi Stampers and Scrappers,

I have a fun and easy tutorial for you today: Water Bottle Hanger. I got this idea from Cheryl Bowdon's project box that she did for our Sramping Retreat last weekend. We got so many great idea's from everyone that I can't wait to do it again next year!

This is a hanger that slips around the top of a water bottle and holds a drink mix that you add to the water bottle. Such a great idea that I think I am going to do this for my twins birthday party next month. I can just see these all lined up, bright and colorful, on a table for the party. My twins love the idea when they saw it last night and will not doubt want to help me make them.

Here is how to make this fun and easy project.

#1 Cut your base paper 2.5x11", a coordinating piece (gray) 2.5x2.5" and then a couple scraps.
#2 On one side score your paper 2".
#3 Score the other side of the paper 2.5"
#4 Cheryl used a 1.5" circle punch on her project, but I did not have one so I used my 2" square punch, which worked great. You will punch the end that is scored at 2".
#5 Stamp the corner image from the Halloween Fun set, and then some great spider webs from the Trick Or Trick set all in black.
#6 Now take the 2.5x2.5 gray piece and let's stamp a fun background. First stamp the bat from the Halloween Fun set.
#7 Then stamp the saying "Boo to U!" from the Trick Or Treat set.
#8 Then stamp the skull from the Halloween Fun set, and fill in all the areas that look empty.
#9 I added highlights with the Inkssentials white opaque pen. This shows up great on this BasicGrey Ambrosia paper!
#10 Glue this piece to the front flap.
#11 Attach two brads (love these from Queen & Co.) on both corners of the flap to keep it in place.
#12 Stamp the Halloween Rounder from the Fabulous Fall set onto some scrap paper with black ink.
#13 Now take a 2" circle punch, turn it over, line it up and punch the image out.
#14 Glue that to the front flap.
#15 Stamp the skull image (don't you love this image... not too scary but not too cute!) onto white paper, cut out and then use a glue pen all over the front.
#16 After applying glue sprinkle glitter over it, and now you have a "blinged out" skull.
#17 Use a 3-D glue dot to adhere your skull inside the Halloween rounder.
#18 Too cute!
#19 Add a ribbon.
Here is some of the drink mix that you can just tear open and add to your water bottle for fun flavor. My husband bought this for me and said that you can get all different flavors and types. I think he said he paid about $2.00 for this box of 10.
#20 Slip your hanger over the water bottle top and then add your drink mix.
Too cute!
Here is a slightly different one with a red glittered skull, and I used the skull for the background stamping as well.
I cut off the jaw of the skull and let it hang on this design, I also added some fun clear overlays from Little Yellow Bicycle that we have in the store.
Here is a Bat design with the bat stamp used for the background and the focal point image.
Here is that cute bat, and also more bat overlays.
Thank you Cheryl for the great project!, and I hope you will all try this one for your next party or event!