The Rubber Cafe has a cool video tutorial for their Scrap Happy glue. It’s a tacky liquid glue that can be used for loads of different application in paper crafting. This video shows how to make giant glue dots for fabric rossette embellishments and also how to use the glue with your rubber stamps and glitter for the look of embossing with no heat required. Click here to watch.

-Heather

Klutz books is offering a wonderful giveaway to our readers!

Three (3) lucky winners will receive:

-Stamp Art

-$50 Klutz.com gift certificate 

Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win. Contest ends 11/28/11. Giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only please.

Sample & Prizing courtesy of Klutz , also check out them out on facebook.

“Stamp Art makes stamping simpler — and more creative — than ever. Stick the included shapes on the see-through acrylic block to create your own one-of-a-kind stamp design. Full of inspirational artwork and instruction, this stamp-right-in-it book shows how to create animals, flowers, houses, aliens… anything you can dream up.”

If you missed it click here to read my Stamp Art book review with samples and we also have a great coupon code for our readers too!

Get20% off your entire order – shop Klutz.com and use coupon code KLUTZ4U

Promo cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer expires 12/31/2011

Good luck!

-Heather

I recently got the chance to play with a brand new book from Klutz called Stamp Art. And when I say play, I mean it, I had a blast with these stamps! Stamp Art comes with 64 clear stamps, a clear block, 3 double-sided colored pencils, a black ink pad and a really fun book with loads of ideas and places to stamp. The stamps are basic and not so basic shapes, like ovals, circles, squares, tear drops, crescents, stars and lots more that you combine to make your own designs. This book is geared for kids but I honestly think stampers of all ages will have fun and find uses for these stamps, everyone needs basic shapes in their stamping tool kit. And the possibilities for making your own images are really endless, once I started creating with them I had a hard time stopping The book has loads of step by step ideas so kids (or you) can following along or just sit down and see what you can combine to make your own. For all you stamping parents out there who have kids that always want to try your stamps this is the *perfect* gift to give them!

I wanted to share a few of the projects I made with the stamps in this book. For the place card I stamped my shapes on colored cardstock and cut them out to make my cute turkey. This would be a great project to keep the kids busy while you are cooking on Thanksgiving, they can make a place card for each guest.

The other two cards were made combining the stamps using a little masking technique and colored with colored pencils. The cat and turkey were variations on images found in the book but I’m so proud of my owl, I created him all on my own.

Click here for a link to the book.

Here’s a few peeks inside the book itself.

“Stamp Art makes stamping simpler — and more creative — than ever. Stick the included shapes on the see-through acrylic block to create your own one-of-a-kind stamp design. Full of inspirational artwork and instruction, this stamp-right-in-it book shows how to create animals, flowers, houses, aliens… anything you can dream up.”

And here’s a wonderful discount code for our readers:

Get 20% off your entire order – shop Klutz.com and use coupon code KLUTZ4U

Promo cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer expires 12/31/2011

For more info about Klutz products click here to visit their website and Facebook page.

And best of all tune in here tomorrow for a fantastic giveaway from Klutz for three of our readers!!

-Heather

A few months ago Tim Holtz released his lovely Fall Seasonal Distress Inks, available for only a limited time and they were such a huge hit most places sold out quickly and Ranger had to hurry and make some more. Tim’s now released the new Winter Seasonal Distress Inks and they are just as lovely. He’s promised Ranger is ready for the demand this time :) Visit his website for a closer look at these limited edition colors and check a store near you, most will be getting them soon.

-Heather

This is the last week of our month with Inkadinkado stamps. And today I’ve got another chance to share an exclusive look at brand new, not yet released stamps! Stop back by on Wednesday for our last big prize package giveaway! If you missed last weeks Background Cling post click here to check it out.

Inkadinkado’s new Stamp-a-Story sets are so much fun! Each wood mounted stamp sets contain 8 different stamps for building scenes. With themes like the beach, woods, farm, gardens, cityscapes, animals and more.   A lot of the sets even mix and match perfectly so the possibilities are really endless. I found the stamps pretty easy to line up but you could use a stamp positioner if you like. I think these sets are great for masking techniques as well, so you can get the look of a lot of depth and layers without any bulk. Cutting out and popping up individual images will also help add dimension to your scenes. In addition to cards these stamps would make terrific borders for travel scrapbook pages.

For the card shown above I used two different sets, the On The Road set and the Lake Scene set. Using different colors of dye based inks I stamped out the trees, road, water and clouds and using a wet paint brush I went over the clouds and water to get a nice watercolor effect. The light house, car and RV were stamped with Staz-On ink and I used more of the dye inks with the wet brush to color them in and popped them up.

The next card I made a forest scene using the Lake Scene set. I think this is a great masculine card, we all know those can be hard to make some times The majority of the Stamp-a-Story sets are perfect for manly cards! Again I used different colors of ink to build my scene, cutting out one of the trees and popping it up with foam tape to give it more dimension. I used a sponge dauber to add ink around the edges and for the sky and grass in my scene too.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak peek at some more of the fabulous things Inkadinkado has coming up! And don’t forget to come back here to the stamping blog this Wednesday for a chance to win some of their brand new Stamp-a-Story sets!

-Heather

Continuing on with our month of Inkadinkado stamps this is what I’ve really been waiting for, a chance to share an exclusive look at brand new not yet released stamps! This entire month there will be four weeks of ideas, inspirations and giveaways!  Join me every Monday in October for samples and ideas using new Inkadinkado stamps and every Wednesday there will be fantastic prize package giveaways! If you missed last weeks Party post click here to check it out.

This week I got a chance to play with some of the new Inkadinkado Background Cling Collection stamps and let me tell you they are fantastic! Please scroll down all the way to check out all my samples.

Each set comes with a very large 6″x6″ stamp, a long border stamp and several other coordinating stamps. These sets are cling mounted meaning they are deeply etched red rubber on a foam backing that has cling on it so they adhere onto clear blocks. One of the things I loved best about these stamp is the image label is printed directly onto the back so you can tell exactly where you are stamping! I think these stamps are really the best combination of what I love about wood mounted stamps and what I love about clear stamps. They are very sturdy and stamp perfectly but they are slim and easy to store. And because they are cling they can curve a bit making it easy to stamp on rounded objects.

These large stamps are wonderful for not only paper crafts like cards and scrapbooking but they are perfect for home decor projects too.  My first sample shown above is a fabric collage. I stamped the large butterfly stamp from the Insect Amalgam Cling Set with brown Staz-On ink onto unbleached muslin and colored it with Sharpie markers. You could also use fabric markers. I pinned the stamped fabric to another piece of muslin and hand stitched around the butterfly with embroidery floss. I stopped when I had stitched almost all the way around and stuffed batting in between the layers of fabric to give it some dimension. The close up side view below shows this. I stamped the word onto Sticky Back Canvas and stitched on some buttons and then placed the fabric inside an embroidery hoop. Now I have a great piece of hand stamped art work for my wall.

My next project is some fun name place cards for a garden party. I used some of the smaller stamps from the Insect Amalgam set, coloring them with markers, adding glitter and cutting them out. I added them to small folded cards with layers of cardstock and pattern paper and stamped each persons name on them. These are a fun quick way to add a nice touch to any party table.

Using the largest stamp from the Regal Tiles Cling Set I want to make another home decor project. This one was really quick and easy but turned out really cool. I bought an inexpensive ceramic tile from the hardware store and stamped on it with Staz-On ink. Simple but elegant! You can seal these with clear spray and put felt feet on the back and you’ve got some wonderful coasters or decorative tiles.

For my last project I used the border stamps and some of the smaller tiles from the Regal Tile set and made a card. A few rhinestone add a little bling.

To go along with these new cling sets Inkadinkado has released something I’ve been on the lookout for and that’s a really large clear block, it measures a whopping 6″x6″. And best of all it’s not a bulky, thick block, the best way to describe it is a heavy-duty plastic “tray”, which actually makes it easy to get a lot of pressure that you sometimes need when stamping with really bog stamps. It’s also got grids for easy alignment, I love that.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this sneak peek at some of the fabulous things Inkadinkado has in store for us! Be sure to come back here to the stamping blog this Wednesday for a chance to win some of their brand new Background Cling sets!

-Heather

Continuing on with our month of Inkadinkado stamps this week it’s time Par-tay! This entire month there will be four weeks of ideas, inspirations and giveaways!  Join me every Monday in October for samples and ideas using new Inkadinkado stamps and every Wednesday there will be fantastic prize package giveaways! If you missed last week Halloween post click here to check it out.

Click on the highlighted link to find a stamp on line. Be sure to scroll down to see all the samples.

I had a lot of fun designing the wine and cheese party set shown above. The invitation card is made with grapes colored with markers from the Wine and Gift tag clear set, the words are from the Wine and Cheese Party cling set. I dry embossed the pattern paper for some added texture.The tooth picks are also made using stamps from the cling set. For the wine charm I used another stamp from the clear set, punched out the circles and used two sizes of jewelry jump rings to attach it to the stem of the glass, you could stamp guests initials on the back if you like.

This cool Haunted Chateau wine label is perfect for home-made wine or for decoration on your bottles at a Halloween party. I colored the image with chalks and used a stong adhesive to adhere it to the bottle.

This next card would be great for a baby shower, or a birth or adoption announcement. Using the stamps from the Birth Record cling set I stamped the cameo twice, once in blue and once in green, cutting out the face and layering it onto the frame. I also cut out the sentiment and layered them onto a blue card base with pattern papers and ribbon, adding buttons for embellishment.

This last card would be good for so many different occasions, a wedding shower invite or gift card or congrats on your promotion. I layered frames of cardstock and pattern paper, adding some silver with a gel pen around the stamped “Cheers”  image in the center. Sheer ribbon and brads add a nice simple touch for embellishment.

     I want to send a BIG shout out of thanks to Inkadinkado for this great inspirational month we’ll be sharing! Be sure to come back here to the stamping blog on Wednesday the 12th for a big prize package giveaway…(hint: there will be a chance for you to win a lot of the stamps you saw today!)

-Heather

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am! All month long right here on the stamping blog we’re going to be having a ton of fun with stamps from Inkadinkado ! There will be four weeks of ideas, inspirations and giveaways!  Join me every Monday in October for samples and ideas using new Inkadinkado stamps and every Wednesday there will be fantastic prize package giveaways! How awesome is that!?

So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get started…First let me say I’ve used and loved Inkadinkado stamps for many years, they are in my eyes one of the most iconic stamp companies around. So I was really excited to get a look at (and play with) what they have just released and an exclusive sneak peek of what they have up coming up! Be sure to scroll down and check out all the samples I made this week. They always seem to be at the front of trends in stamping with their images and styles. One thing I love most about them is they carry a wide variety of types of stamps from wood mount, clear and cling and their image styles range from cute, to funky, to elegant; they truly have something for everyone!

This first week of Inkadinkado month we’re celebrating fall and Halloween, my favorite holiday! I wanted to make several different styles of Halloween cards from traditional to not so traditional. Click on the highlighted link to find a stamp on line.

This first card is traditional Halloween all the way. I used the large spider web stamp and heat embossed it in black twice , punching out the spider with a tag punch from one and cutting the other out with deckle edged scissors. I backed the punched tag with purple and added an orange brad, lining it up and mounting it on top of the larger image with foam tape. I layered that onto orange cardstock and a purple card base. I tied wire ribbon around the top and scrunched up the ends. Nice and spooky, huh?

This next card is a party invite using cool fall colors and the very trendy style of doilies. I stamped the doily in yellow and then the cat in black on top and die cut with a circle and layered that onto another grey circle. I adhered two different pattern papers and grey twill onto a yellow card base. I then stamped the “Let Celebrate” in black on the bottom. I added a little bling with rhinestone to the text and the collar of the kitty.

I think this next card is my favorite, it’s very nontraditional. I made a collage style card with the lovely large cameo stamp and turned her into a witch by adding a hat from the Happy Halloween wood set. I stamped the cameo in grey and then again in black, cutting out the center and layering on top of the grey image and then added the peach hat. The “Be Yourself” stamp was stamped in black on top of the cameo image. Along the side is a notebook punched edge layered onto blue cardstock, peach pattern paper and a blue card base. I added peach fibers, flowers with brads and a rhinestone for embellishment.

This next card is totally fall and would make a nice Thanksgiving card. Using brown cardstock I made a long card with a folded flap on the left side. Layering on yellow pattern paper with the stamped “Thank You”. The lace leaf border and lace leaf were both stamped in yellow and then I rolled the edges on a brown ink pad (this technique is commonly called rock and roll ). I added a brown button and twine on the flap and closed it with some velcro.

This last card uses some really cool stamps from the Inkadinkado steampunk line. They have several Halloween and Christmas stamps that have this super fun and trendy style. I dry embossed a spider web on grey cardstock and added an edge of heat embossed gears and cogs trimmed with decorative edge scissors. The “Boo” and spider were also heat embossed in black. I added a few silver brads here and there to add to the look of gears and cogs.

I want to send a BIG shout out of thanks to Inkadinkado for this great inspirational month we’ll be sharing! Be sure to come back here to the stamping blog on Wednesday the 5th for a big prize package giveaway…(hint: there will be a chance for you to win alot of the stamps you saw today!)

-Heather

Jet Pens carries lots of great pens for artists and crafts people and I recently got the chance to try several of the different brands of white gel pens they carry to put them through the test.

White accents are always perfect for holiday, winter and Christmas cards so I chose that theme for my sample cards.

The first pen I tried was one I was already familiar with and have used for years and that’s the Sakura Gelly Roll white. It’s a nice pen, it gets the job done on most cardstocks but sometimes it can be a little milky, especially when writing with it.  But for small accent and dots like on the background of elf card I made it’s fine.

Next I played with the Pentel Hybrid Grip DX Gel pen adding faux stitching dashes and dots around the edge of my card and also wrote out the word “Joy”. Again, I found the small accents worked well but when writing I didn’t get a very bright look. I did really liked the feel of this pen, it’s thicker than most gel pens and more comfortable to hold and control.

Lastly I tried the pen I’d been dying to use, the Uni-ball Signo Gel pen. I’ve read about this pen on various stampers blogs, talking about how wonderful it was and how much better it was than any other white gel pen they’d used. I thought “How much better can it really be?” well let me tell you it really truly is better! I honestly was amazed at how bright white it is, no fading, no milkiness (is that a word?:)) On different types of paper and different darknesses I got a nice bright white line every time! I tried both the Angelic pen and the larger Broad pen, both seemed to have the same thickness in the lines they drew but the Broad has a slightly wider barrel that I found really comfortable to grip. I used this pen on my last card for the dot accents and the hand drawn snowflakes around the bunny. I’m in LOVE with this pen!

Be sure to check out all the white gel pens and well as the other pens that Jet Pens carries here at their website.

-Heather

There are so many different coloring mediums on the market for coloring in your stamped images. It’s great to have choices but sometimes it can be overwhelming to decide what’s the best brand for your wants and needs. Dorcas Designs has a great article about two of the most popular brands of colored pencils, Lyra and Prismacolor, click here to read her pro, cons and more about both brands.

-Heather

Faber-Catell introduced a brand new line of colored pencils at CHA this year, Art Grip Colored Pencils. Hop on over to their blog for a video showing how nice, smooth and blendable this new pencils are. I love using colored pencils on my stamped images, I think I need to give these a try!

-Heather

With all the many, many machines out on the market that can emboss it can be a bit confussing choosing the right one for you. Find a very helpful video at Above Rubies Studio about some of the most popular machines (please note it’s during the second half of the video). Click here to watch.

-Heather

I recently got to try out some stamp sets from The Stamps of Life. The clear stamp sets from The Stamps of Life are made from high quality yellowing resistant photopolymer and are latex free (and are made right here in the ol’ USA too!). I found that they stamped very nicely, with good even ink coverage. I also did not find the need to “condition” them like some other clear stamps, they stamped perfectly right off the carrier sheet. The carrier sheets are clearly printed with another clear sheet behind (which is attached to fold over behind the set), the stamps are sandwiched between to help protect them. This might not be a big deal to some but I personally dislike when there is no backing sheet (it helps the stamps stay clean and dust free) and also if the sheet are separate I tend to misplace them

I love the style of the Stamps of Life sets, very cute, fun and whimsical. With lots of themes to choose from like birthday, ice cream, robots, princess, home, tons of great phrases, lots of different holidays, floral, alphas and many more. You can click here to see all the current sets available. Most of the sets also seem to co-ordinate with each other really well, as with my first sample.

I used “trees2build” and “banners4all”, I thought they went together perfectly! FYI: for my samples I used ink from Close To My Heart, which is formulated for clear stamps and I find it works great with all clear stamps I’ve tried. I found the Stamps of Life stamps cleaned very well with these inks, there was no staining. Even with Staz-On ink if I cleaned it off immediately I got very little staining. I love the variety in both of these sets, I picked a polka dot theme but the banner set has everything from Halloween to birthday designs in it and the words fit perfectly onto the banners. And the tree set has two sizes of trees along with leaves, berries, apples and more for a lot of variety, you could make a spring, fall or winter tree with this set. And aren’t those birds totally adorable?

For my second card I used the “kites2fly” set. Kites are so trendy right now, they are just are so happy and make you smile! Like the other sets there is a ton of variety, with different designs and patterns to make unique kites every time. It also comes with two sizes of clouds and lots of great sayings.

Be sure to click here to visit The Stamps of Life website, it’s got a wonderful gallery with loads of ideas, along with videos and information on their club membership. And check back with me here on the stamping blog on Tuesday for a giveaway from The Stamps of Life!!

-Heather

   I recently got to try out some of the new Mixed Media and Gelato sets. The sets are separated by color families (red, yellow, blue and green) which makes for fun and easy color mixing and matching. They are also odorless and acid free, both big pluses! I tried the red Mixed Media set which included a stampers big brush pen, metallic artist pen,  Aquarelle watercolor pencil, pastel pencil and a metallic gelato. This set is a great way to try different mediums and to be able to achieve different textures and techniques, all in the same color family. In my butterfly card sample I used everything that came in my red Mixed Media kit. The pastel pencil works great for a softer chalky look, the watercolor pencil bended nicely with little water needed to move the color around. The metal pen is nice and shiny as is the metallic gelato. The big brush marker works really well to color directly onto stamps, giving you the option of easily adding multiple colors to a single stamped image. This white tag shows you what each medium looks like alone. From left to right it’s: gelato (w/ water), gelato (no water), brush pen, artist pen, watercolor pencil (w/water) and pastel pencil.

The second card is made with the red/yellow Gelto kit, which comes with four gelatos, a brush and a clear stamp. I embossed a large flower background stamp with black embossing powder and colored the flowers with the gelatos and water. The gelatos are like creamy crayons with a nice bright pigment and they can be used with or without water. You can use the enclosed brush or I used a watercolor brush with a water reservoir, it just makes things go a little faster. I applied the gelatos directly onto the stamped image and used the brush to pull and blend the colors. You can layer different colors and also get different intensities of the same color depending on how much water you use.

I love using different mediums in my stamping, it gives such a variety and if your looking to try something new and different I highly recommend these fun new kits from Faber-Castell!

For more info please check out their website here: Faber-Castell, or follow them on Twitter @DesignMemCraft or Facebook. And check back here on the blog on Thursday for a wonderful giveaway from Faber-Castell!

-Heather

I recently got the opportunity to try out a super cool kit from Lifestyle Crafts called the L Letterpress. Letter pressing is the act of inking and debossing paper at the same time, it gives a wonderful clean crisp image and is usually only done with large expensive letterpress machines. But Lifestyle Crafts has come out with an easy and affordable way to do Letterpress at home. Click here to visit the Lifestyle Crafts website for additional product info, ideas and technique videos.

What is it:

The Lifestyle Crafts L Letterpress combo kits comes with everything you need to get started, it includes:

Epic tool (which also die cuts and embosses up to 6″ x 12″)
Cutting platform
Cutting mat
Embossing platform
Letterpress platform
Ink base
Ink brayer
Black ink
Printing plates
Paper placement guides
A2 paper pack
Adhesive sheets
Nesting Circles cutting dies 

you can buy additional supplies like printing plates, lots of great colors of ink, papers, cards, envelopes and more.

My experience:

I found the L Letterpress tool really easy to use. You start by adding adhesive to your printing plate and adhering it on one side of the platform, laying your paper on the other side of the platform, using the grid lines to make sure everything lines up the way you want it. You can also the foam placement guides to make sure the paper doesn’t move or for easy alignment when printing multiples. A tip: I personally found laying my plate face down on my paper with adhesive side up and them folding over the platform to pick it up helped me be sure it was exactly where I wanted it. You then add a small amount of ink to the ink base and using the brayer roll out a thin layer of ink, getting a nice even coverage on the brayer. Getting the right amount of ink is probably the most important step in getting good results and takes a little practice, not enough ink gives poor coverage and too much gets a blurry image. Roll the ink evenly over the template. Close the platform, roll the platform through to Epic machine and open the platform and that’s it, you’ve got an letterpress image, it’s that’s simple!

Here’s some helpful tips I found while playing.

-If you decide to get a Letterpress kit be sure to get the wipes, you’ll thank me This ink is like nothing I’ve ever used before and you need the specially formulated wipes to clean up. And clean templates really well between inkings so you don’t get a color transfer.

-The ink stays wet for awhile, be patient before touching it.

-The foam paper guides are meant to lay beside your paper not on top, it can tear your paper if not, so be careful.

-Print all one color first, changing ink colors is a little time consuming.

-Be careful not to get ink on the edges of your templates and clean any excess ink of the base before pressing.

-For deeper impressions add extra paper under the base, it really makes a difference.

Outside the box:

I’m sure alot of people are thinking this looks cool but wondering if they can use other supplies they might already have around so I tried a few things myself. First was using regular cardstock instead of the special letterpress paper, it did work but it was a much fainter impression but sometimes you might want a more subtle look. The letterpress paper really gives you that nice deep impression, takes the ink well and also does not show the impression on the backside.

I also tried some stamping inks both dye based and pigment and found even using a brayer I always got alot of ink around the edges of my plates which transferred to the paper, I also didn’t get as nice of a clean crisp image. I’ll stick with the letterpress ink.

If you already have a crank style die cutting machine you might be able to get the L Letterpress starter kit only, I tried it in a Cuttlebug and got the exact same results as in the Epic machine.

Over all I found this machine to be really fun with a lot of different possibilities. In addition to the traditional Letterpress look, you can emboss only without ink, you can make pattern papers for backgrounds, layering, punching etc. You can cut out or color in images like you would with stamps, you can mix the ink for custom colors, you can even have custom plates made for yourself. How great for wedding and shower invites, business cards, the possibilities are endless.

Here’s a few of the projects I made using the combo kit along with some extra plates, inks and papers:

On the orange flower card I cut and layered images for dimension and embossed the background with out ink, the pink and gray cake card has a cut out image and the small note cards have matching envelopes, these small cards would be perfect for place cards, thank you notes, business cards, etc. I love the simplicity of the all over navy floral background on the other birthday card, very classy!

And here’s the best part, check back with me on Monday next week for a *very* exciting L Letterpress giveaway from Lifestyle Crafts!! You won’t want to miss it! And don’t forget to visit their website for more info and as a special bonus here’s a promo code:  BLOGGOSSIP for  Lifestylecrafts.com good for 25% off until the end of the month!

-Heather