I’m still surprised at how many different way people are finding to use Copic markers for paper crafting! If you don’t have the color of embossing powder you want for a certain project you can use white and color the melted pwder with Copic markers, how cool is that. Learn all about it over at Nicole Headys blog.

-Heather

-Heather

The first is a tree found on the Ink Stains blog, she stacked her rosettes to make a holiday tree, how cute!

The next is an adorable snowman spotted on Paperella Plays, so fun!

And finally this wonderful ornament from She Stamps, really lovely!

-Heather

Darlene from Darlene’s Designs shares a great video on how to get the blended look of Copic markers but she uses Stampin’ Up markers. Way to use what you’ve already got! We don’t always need to run out and spend a bunch of money on the “latest and greatest”

-Heather

Using markers to color your stamp images is still all the rage. Here’s a great how to tutorial from Mama Dini’s Stamperia for getting the perfect shading using your markers.

-Heather

Judikins shares the instructions for making this super cool steampunk style fall card. What a great combination of styles!

-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

Jess Larsen shares some clever tips on turning a scrapbooking kit into cards. She made this cute camera card with the latest Studio Calico scrapbooking kit. Click here to watch her video.

-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

One of my favorite things to do on my cards lately is combine stamping with die cutting, it opens up worlds of possibilities  of mixing and matching. Shari Carroll shares a beautiful card on the Hero Arts website combining stamps from Hero Arts and die cutting with her Silhouette. Click here to watch her video tutorial.

-Heather

Banners of all shapes and sizes are so popular in paper crafting right now! Here’s a fun idea for a banner using a people stamp, visit the Create blog for instructions. Cute for cards or scrapbook pages!

-Heather

Sometimes it can be really frustrating when making a card and matching up your pretty patterned papers to the right color of cardstock. Well, Bazzil has come up with really helpful website called Bazzill Matchmaker. They pair up their cardstock colors to pattern paper lines, they have all the popular companies and all the current lines. It makes matching a breeze, click here to make your own match!

-Heather

Here’s a clever tip from Maria at the Joyful Stamper blog, turn a star die cut or punch into a banner! Banner are so trendy right now and if you don’t have a stamp or punch for one this is an easy solution.

-Heather

Donna Downey is one of my favorite mixed media artist! I love how she incorporates stamping into a lot of her art. In a recent video she shares her process for one of her art journaling pages that includes lots of paint and rubber stamps, the result is stunning!

-Heather

I love hand made embellishments! There are tons of embellishments on the market but why not make your own, it’s usually less expensive and you can easily co-ordinate them perfectly with your project. The Joyful Stamper blog shares the directions for making this fun tag card and cool zipper flower embellishment. In addition to paper crafts these would be perfect for clothes, jewelry, head bands and lots more!

-Heather

Inchie are fun little stamps that measure 1″x1″, they make great accents for any paper crafting project or group them together for a main focal point like in this card from A*Muse Studio. Click here for video instructions on how to make this sweet and simple card.

-Heather