Good Intentions and Better Advice

After re-integrating my Second-Chance Stamps into my craft space, I decided not to purchase new stamps for a while and simply reacquaint myself with the freshly-brought-out-of-storage stamps.

I felt quite smug and fiscally responsible about this decision.

Then, I talked with Joan B of Dear Paperlicious. She asked me what I'm working on, what my plans are for stamping, and I told her about the reacquaintance plan. It sounded so boring and uninspired when spoken out loud to the ever-cool Joan. She mentioned, nonchalantly, that she still had new stuff she hadn't used yet.

Within 24 hours of that conversation, I'd placed a big order for stamps and ink with Ellen Hutson...stopped by Marco's for a box of envelopes and picked up some crystal effects because I had none...then ran into JoAnn's just to "look around" and walked out carrying a bag with glue, a stamp set, and two Hero Arts ombre ink pads.

It's all Joan's fault. Or maybe mine. Oh, bother.

Hero Arts recently released new ink colors, including cotton candy, fresh lawn, and Antigua. The ombre inks, which someone advised me not to buy for some forgotten reason, leapt into my bag at JoAnn's and are now two of my favorite ink pads. Must get more of them.

And now you see the reason why buying new types of product is so dangerous. It makes you want more in every color.

The fresh lawn and Antigua are delightful, by the way, but the cotton candy isn't my favorite pink. It's okay, but I was hoping for something softer. Must keep buying looking.

Oh, bother.

Busy As A and You're a Fungi are cutesy sets that called to me for a variety of reasons...mostly because they are stinkin' cute and also because most of the images are small, which makes them very versatile for my CAS style. My stamp collection is shy on cutesy, but I do enjoy stretching outside my very simple box on a regular basis. At least that is how I justified buying stinkin' cute stamps.

Color Layering Octopus came to live with me because Joan has it, and I want to be like her.

While poking around on Ellen's website, I saw this Thank You Messages set and swear to you I heard a voice in my head (my own, thankfully) reciting something I read 15 years ago about how it
is better to have more sentiment stamps than image stamps. That advice (which I considered then and still consider now to be bogus) made perfect sense in the soft glow of my computer screen.

Please tell me I'm not the only crazy paper crafter out there.

The Fresh Herbs set was a no-brainer, I've already played with it, and it's my new favorite.

Altenew is putting out some amazing sets, and since Joan and I talked about how amazing they are, I had to add one of the amazing sets to my card. It even flattered me by saying, "You are amazing!" Just check out the sentiment on the bottom if you think I'm kidding.

Now, you might have noticed in the first picture above that there's a bottle of Ultra Clean. I ran out, couldn't find any locally, and purchased another brand. I won't make that mistake again.

The Hero Arts and Archival Inks I use and love tend to stain stamps, and if you clean those inky stamps with plain water or whatever stamp cleaner you find locally that isn't Ultra Clean, you will be unhappy. You will put a stamp on an acrylic block, ink it up with pink ink, and it will stamp purple because you didn't properly clean the cobalt ink off it the last time you used it.

Yes. Yes. This is a first-world problem, but it frustrates me every bit as much as dropping an inked stamp onto an almost finished card. Seriously. Deep breathing and animal noises happen to prevent the throwing of the things. I don't normally have anger management issue, but perhaps you understand.

Anyway, I'm back in business stamping with properly-cleaned stamps. Whenever they've been inked with Archival or Hero inks, the stamps get a few rubs on the cleaning pad spritzed with Ultra Clean, then a few rubs on the dry pad, and then a swipe on the damp washcloth that cleans all my other inks.

This might seem fussy to you, but avoiding outbursts of apex-predator-level rage is really worth any fussiness one might require.

By the way, if you choose to imitate my sophisticated travel-wipe-container-with-damp-washcloth method, don't ever seal the damp cloth in the wipe box. Left overnight, it will start to smell funky. Use thick washcloths folded so the lid can't close easily. When not using the cloth, flip the lid so it's only mostly closed, and the cloth will stay damp for a few days without stinking.

The stamp cleaning pad spritzed with Ultra Clean will never stink even if left closed because Ultra Clean is magical and smells like perfection.

And on that slightly insane note...

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

IC590: Glass Butterfly

As soon as I saw this photo on the IC590 inspiration board, I knew exactly what to make:

Stamping on a transparency...haven't done that technique in a long time. I even wondered if my Staz-On black ink had dried out. It hadn't, and it still smells delightful.

Sniffin' ink. That's just sad.

Anyway, the butterfly comes from Antique Engravings by Hero Arts. The transparency is taped directly to the raised white frame and then attached to the stamped card base with strips of craft foam and liquid glue. Thus, the butterfly is suspended 1/8" above the flowers, adding some lovely dimension in imitation of the inspiration photo.

The floral stem comes from Rubber Stampede and is pretty old...not to mention just plain pretty. It's colored with Memento markers and huffed, so that's a second technique used on one card.

Not a record, of course, but still. The use of two techniques on one LateBlossom card deserves a little applause.

I've had a little spending spree and will share tomorrow. Oh, my. If I won the lottery, I'd spend it all on stamps. And ink. And paper.

Of course, we can't have everything. Where would we put it?*

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Rubber Stampede, Papertrey, Hero Arts
ink: Staz-On black, Archival black
paper: Papertrey white, transparency
accessories: craft foam, Scor-Tape, glue 

*Thank you, Steven Wright.

IC590 With Heart

The first pin that caught my interest on the IC590 Inspiration Board was this one. The slits cut in the paper allow for tucking of the greenery stem and also create a ground for the two moose.

I've always wanted to make the plural of moose into meese. English is such a loony language.

Anyway, the idea of slits appealed to my sense of tucking. After exploring my old-fashioned and out-of-date punches for images that might tuck appealingly, I settled on three sizes of heart punches.

For those of us without die cut machines, punches are quite useful, even if obsolete in most of the crafting world.

Of course, my card has a lot of white, which provides for the awesome pops of three shades of red in the hearts.

At first, the largest heart was dark and the smallest light, but that made the left side of the card extremely top-heavy. Also, the sentiment (which I stamped first so I'd know where to cut the slits) has deeply as the bottom word; it made sense to have the deepest shade of red be literally the deepest heart. The light-to-dark downward gradient definitely improved the balance and unity of the card.

The slits are 1/2" apart and were cut with a quilting ruler and craft knife. I moved the hearts around until their arrangement felt balanced and pleasing, taped the bottoms of the hearts down on the back with ordinary scotch tape, and then added dimensionals under the tops of the hearts so they stand out a bit. You can see the shadows that result a bit better in the closeup.

You might say it was a card made with heart.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts 
ink: Archival black
paper: Papertrey white, StampinUp cherry cobbler, real red, and maybe rose something? 
accessories: heart punches, craft knife, quilting ruler, dimensionals, glue, tape

IC590: A Favorite

Okay, so y'all know the Inspiration Challenge at Splitcoast is pretty much the only challenge I do, and that's because that's how my Muse rolls. And Audrie is just so good at finding inspiration sites that make me bounce in my seat with kindergarten glee.

This week's challenge--IC590--is to find inspiration on Audrie's Inspiration Pinterest board. Well, I found lots of inspiration on her board and it led to three fun cards. Today's is my favorite of the three, and it was inspired by the collage (or perhaps we should call it a loose mosaic) in the foreground of this image.

Obviously, the biggest change I made was the color scheme...from sophisticated neutrals to bright yellow, orange, purple, pink, and raspberry. My color scheme reinforces the JOY message. Also, the images on my tiles are diverse and stylized rather than natural and organic, as in the inspiration piece.

This card was amazingly fun to make. All the pieces were cut randomly from stamped scraps of cardstock, and I didn't fuss with the arrangement.

Okay, that's a lie. I fussed. But not as much as usual.

That's because in the original, the tiles are not arranged by someone with chronic OCD...there's irregularity and asymmetry, but also balance and harmony inside the square. My main focus was arranging the colors so same-colored tiles weren't right next to each other. Note that the three yellow tiles form a visual triangle that draws attention to the sentiment.

My Muse said to do that.

Several of the pieces were trimmed to fit where they ended up, and at least one was re-stamped because I needed a bigger piece.

But all that fussing was play and not a manifestation of anxiety. Contemplate the MANY variations you could create playing with this idea!!!! Eeeep! I want to go try another one right now, but alas! It's time for sleep.

I'll have visions of irregular mosaics dancing in my head all night.

Oh, JOY!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts, A Muse, Clearly Besotted, Altenew
paper: Papertrey white
ink: various Archival, Hero Arts
accessories: glue pen, scissors

Tea for Two

We need some sort of label for all the stamps I pulled out of cold storage. Let's call them Second-Chance Stamps because they have a second chance to convince me not to get rid of them. I will be using these Second-Chance Stamps a lot in the coming months. One has already gone back to cold storage. An hour's worth of wasted paper showed me why it went there in the first place.

Tea for Two by Papertrey, however, is a keeper, if only for this single card, which I love unreservedly.

The blue is Memento Luxe Bahama blue, and it is delightful.

The card will go to my friend Liz whenever she gets sick. She's the biggest tea drinker of my acquaintance, she's a graphic design artist, and she loves clean-and-simple designs. It simply doesn't get more perfect than that.

The round label is punched and popped up on the teapot...and that's the most technical thing about this card. I love how simple, yet dramatic it is!

I hope you had a lovely weekend and are ready to face another week. If not, perhaps you need a cup of tea.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Tea for Two
ink: Memento Luxe Bahama blue, black
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dimensionals, circle punch

Cards Received

Y'all, last week's mail was OUTSTANDING! I received a lovely card and letter from Pat and a box of 16 amazing get-well and sympathy cards from Darla as a donation to Karen's Card Shop at my church.

We can't keep get-well and sympathy cards stocked, so Darla's donation is particularly appreciated!

I want to share Pat's card and a selection of Darla's cards with you today.

Pat's white-on-white layers and bright pops of color
are lovely, as is the perfect rhinestone front and center!

Can you believe all this beautiful coloring! It must have taken
forever. What a beautiful and cheery floral arrangement! 

The bright blue and black create such pretty drama,
as do the dots of metallic perfect pearls that decorate
the three flowers in a nice visual triangle.

Remember that white space doesn't have to be white.
I'll take this happy prescription to get better anytime, especially
because it has three perfectly placed sequins. 

This one made me laugh out loud! What a cute image,
and Darla added some Crystal Effects (or similar
product) to give the chicken shiny eyes and to make
the vase look like glass. 

Many, many thanks to Darla and Pat for cheering me up this week with your wonderful talents!

Another Celtic Cross Card

As I stared at these two cards, it occurred to me that the layers could be reduced by one if I stamped the background on the base of the card.

Lo, it's simpler. And still quite lovely!

The silver border helps define the raised panel better...necessary given the incredibly light color of the Sicilian blue background. The London gray (Memento Luxe) and Sicilian blue (Impress Fresh Ink) create such a soft, serene effect, and a single light blue rhinestone brings focus to the whole design.

Soft colors may not be as eye-catching as bright ones, but there is a gentle beauty to them all the same.

And who couldn't use a little gentle beauty right now?

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: PSX, Judikins
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Memento Luxe London fog, Impress Fresh Ink Sicilian blue
accessories: craft foam, glue, Prismacolor silver metallic marker, ruler, rhinestone