Stamping » Trends

Technique: How to Emboss Copic Markers

Heather — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:00:10 +0000

: image by Mel Stamps

Copic markers are still super hot for coloring in your stamped and digital images and I’m amazed at some of the art work and ideas that people do with them, like this fantastic technique for heat embossing using your copic markers, visit Mel Stampz to read about her very clever discovery.

-Heather

Blog Hop: New Moon

Heather — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:52:07 +0000

image by Artful Inkables

Twilight Tuesday and Artful Inkables have teamed up and are hosting a New Moon blog hop on Nov. 20th to celebrate the release of the highly anticipated second movie in the Twilight saga (I personally can not wait!! ) Nov. 17th is the deadline to sign up. Click here for all the details.

-Heather

Inspiring Project: Photo Holiday Card

Heather — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:21:52 +0000

image by Anabelle O'Malley

Isn’t this the sweetest holiday card?? I love the unique way Anabelle O’Malley incorporated a photo into the card, visit her blog Bits and Pieces to find how how she made it.

-Heather

Trend and Project: Stamping on Burlap

Heather — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:04:16 +0000

image by Brown Paper Packages

A really hot trend right now in home decor is burlap, I’m seeing lots of items such as pillows, aprons, totebags, curtains and lots more, it’s got a wonderfu

Trend: Pretty in Pink

Heather — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:03:06 +0000

image by Hero Arts and Sheri Reguly

Instead of the traditional red you’re going to be seeing lots more non-traditional colors popping up for the holidays, and pink will certainly be one of those. To get you into a pink mood Hero Arts shares a cute trio of holiday cards. I love a pale green matched with the pink, it’s very trendy and modern looking.

-Heather

Trend: Day of the Dead

Heather — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:02:24 +0000

image by Dorothy Streets and Third Coast

This weekend is the annual Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead celebration, it’s a time to honor family members and loved ones who have passed away. The use of brightly painted skulls and dressed up skeletons is a popular theme during the the day of the dead and there are lots of stamp companies with Day of the Dead images.

image by Third Coast stamps

Third Coast stamps has a wonderful selection and they also have some more history and information about this celebration, click here to visit their Day of the Dead section on their website.

Sugar Skull is a website with lots of Day of the Dead items including some fun rubber stamps.

image by Sugar Skull

One of my favorite website for anything spooky or scary is Gorey Details, they carry lots of merchandise from the artist Edward Gorey as well as many others and they have a great selection of skeletons and Day of the Dead stamps too.

image by Gorey Details

And last but not least is this beautiful hand carved stamp available from Sweet Buddha on Etsy.

image by Sweet Buddha

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look into the stamping side of the Day of the Dead!

-Heather

Technique: Sewing with Your Stamps

Heather — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:04:00 +0000

image by Jenny Doh

Stamps are just always for stamping, visit Jenny Doh’s blog to learn how to use your stamped images as outline for embroidery and stitching, what a wonderful, fresh idea this is!!

-Heather

Inspiration: Halloween Tags

Heather — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:18:01 +0000

image by Tim Holtz

Scare up some fun with these amazing distressed Halloween Tags from Tim Holtz. He used lots of glitter and grunge and tells you all the products you need to make these cool tags on his blog. I love his use of staples on this skeleton tag!

-Heather

Trend: The Circus

Heather — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:04:45 +0000

image by My Cute Stamps

A really fun trend I’ve seen popping up in stamping and paper crafting is the Circus. Use bright primary colors for fun cards and layouts, they are perfect for children’s birthday party invites or for a card for anyone who is young at heart. Here are some fun stamping products I’ve found with a circus theme.

My Cute stamps has an adorable clear circus set:

image by My Cute Stamps

Basic Grey also has a wonderful clear stamp set called Build a Clown:

image by Basic Grey

Tim Holtz has a very fun ATC (artist trading card) sized stamp called Circus Freak:

image by Simon Says and Stampers Anonymous

and he also has an unmounted circus set:

image by Alphastamps and Tim Holtz

here’s a wonderful fun book by Lisa Kettel called Altered Art Circus:

image by Amazon and Lisa Kettel

And here’s an entire website devoted to the theme called Jim Marcus’ Circustamps:

image by Laura Jacobs and Circustamps

and lastly here’s a cute card I made using Close To My Hearts Life’s a Jungle set:

image by Heather Holbrook

-Heather

Trend: Trees

Heather — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:03:11 +0000

image by Heather Holbrook

A big popular trend right now is trees, there are lots of stamp companies with some great tree images. They make great masculine cards, they represent new beginnings (new job, home, baby), reflect an eco friendliness and seasonal changes, they are very versatile. Here’s a few great tree stamps I’ve found recently.

I made the card featured above with a set by Close To My Heart called Tree Tops.

I love this Flourished Fall tree from Inkadinkado:

image by Inkadinkado

I’m so in love with this hand carved tree set with trunk and circle leaves from Drum Chick on Etsy:

image by Drum Chick

And how about this fun stamp from Hero Arts that combines two great trends trees and cupcakes!:

image by Hero Arts

And I adore the tire swing to hang from the tree in this clear set from Clear Dollar Stamps:

image by Clear Dollar Stamps

Now go climb a tree!

-Heather

Trend: Twilight

Heather — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:05:58 +0000

image by Dragonfly Curls

Ok, I admit it, I’m a *huge* Twilight fan! I’ve read all the books multiple times and I’ve seen the movie more times than I’ll admit So I was thrilled to find some Twlight inspired stamps and projects!

The Dragonfly Curls shop on Etsy has the most gorgeous hand carved stamps inspired by Twilight.

Artful Inkables also has a wonderful Twilight inspired stamp set call Into the Moonlight , along with some cool pewter Twilight inspired charms.

image by Artful Inkables

I also wanted to share a link to this cool Twilight mini album made by Trace Gewarsky.

image by Trace Geworsky

And I LOVE this adorable card by Beth Crofton, she turned a cute stamp from The Greeting Farm into Edward. She’s part of a very cool website challenge designed all around Twilight called Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge, check out the blog for links to all their creations and challenges, very fun stuff!

image by Beth Crofton

What a wonderful way to show your fandom by stamping your book marks, cards or how about party invites for a Twilight theme party?

-Heather

New Release and Trend: Steampunk and Artful Inkables

Heather — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:04:38 +0000

image by Kristin and Artful Inkables

Artful Inkables has release 3 cool new stamp sets and I’m so in love with the Steampunk Sarah set!! Steampunk is a really popular style right now, blending old and futuristic by using aeronautics, gears, goggles, etc, think H. G. Wells, very cool.

image by Artful Inkables

-Heather

Trend: Inchies

Heather — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:10:03 +0000

image by Ellen Hudson and Cindy Lyles

Have you heard of Inchies?? Well inchies are simply tiny pieces of art that measure only one inch square. The possibilities are endless, you can stamp them, collage them, whatever you like as long as they are only one inch. You can use them alone or in groups, maybe add a magnet on the back, add them to card fronts, gift tags, scrapbook pages etc. Save your cardstock and pattern paper scraps, they make perfect bases for inchies. It can be a really fun challenge to your creativity to see how much you can fit on one little square.

Ellen Hudson has a wonderful blog dedicated to inchies called Inchie Inklings, she’s shares lots of great ideas how to make and use inchies.

Join Shari Carroll from Hero Arts on Youtube for a great video on how to make a panel card with inchies.

Lisa Lee also has a terrific blog all about inchies called All in an Inch, I love the plant stakes she made!

image by All in an Inch

Below is an inchie pendant I made. I stamped the bee onto a one inch square of glass using Staz-On ink then I sandwiched a one inch square of yellow cardstock between the stamped glass and another one inch square of glass and soldered around them, adding a jump ring. Visit my blog for more info about my pendants and soldering.

image by Heather Holbrook

-Heather

Trend: Robots

Heather — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:02:00 +0000

Robots are HOT HOT HOT right now! They are popping up every where and lots of stamp companies have some really fun new designs featuring robots. It can sometimes be hard to find more masculine images for boys ( of all ages) and I think robots make for great guy cards. Do you think they’ll become as big as owls and cupcakes??

Close To My Heart has this cute Robot Power set, I love the little dog. Click here to find a consultant near you:

image by Close To My Heart

The Angel Company has some cute new robots too, visit their website to find a consultant near you:

image by The Angel Company

Gel-a-tins new clear robot set is available at Paper Works Co.:

image by Peggy and Paper Works Co.

Stampin Up just released their new catalog and it’s also got a robot set:

image by Stampin' Up

And take a look at this adorable Smiley Robot greeting card made by Kat Wright, be sure to visit her Etsy shop for more great cards from her.

image by Kat Wright

Take me to your leader!!

-Heather

Trend: Kawaii

Heather — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:01:56 +0000

There is a fun trend coming to the US from Japan termed “kawaii”, pronounced “ka-why-ee”, the simple definition is “cute” and it’s a big trend in clothes, food, toys and even crafts and stamps. This trend borrows alot of influences from Japanese anime and manga forms of animation. Here’s a wikipedia page if you’re interested in more info. I wanted to share some of the great stamp shops that focus on kawaii, the images are so sweet and so much fun!

NikoArt has some of the most adorable kawaii stamps, Nicole Holi is the wonderful illustrator for these stamps. You can buy wood mounted sets or individual stamps. I particularly love this Forest Friends set:

image by Niko Art

and this cupcake:

image by Niko Art

The Mayberry Sparrow offers terrific hand carved kawaii style stamps like this absolutely adorable bunny:

image by The Mayberry Sparrow

Craft Pudding offers cute tiny wood mounted stamps like this girl with a bird on her head, how sweet is that??:

image by Craft Pudding

Craft Chi offers fun little acrylic stamp sets like this fruit and nut set:

image by Craft Chi

Hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into the fun world of kawaii stamps!

-Heather