(I finally figured out why my pictures are so fuzzy - there's a smudge on my camera lens the size of timbuktu! Sorry about the crappy pics!)...
I LOVE paper! I can never seem to get enough of it . . . and then I treasure it. It's all just too pretty! And, knowing that I am queen of making mistakes, I don't want to ruin it with some hideous project that looked so cute in my head and . . . not so cute in real life. Regardless, I'm sure you all can imagine my husband's face when he saw that I was stamping my OWN paper, using a plain white sheet of cardstock, instead of using one of the fabulous one's I already have. LOL! Ü
With that being said, I was rummaging through all of my poorly neglected scrapping supplies and stumbled over some stamps that I had no idea what to do with when I bought them. However, as soon as my eyes passed over this stamp, I knew exactly what to do with it today!
I LOVE paper! I can never seem to get enough of it . . . and then I treasure it. It's all just too pretty! And, knowing that I am queen of making mistakes, I don't want to ruin it with some hideous project that looked so cute in my head and . . . not so cute in real life. Regardless, I'm sure you all can imagine my husband's face when he saw that I was stamping my OWN paper, using a plain white sheet of cardstock, instead of using one of the fabulous one's I already have. LOL! Ü
With that being said, I was rummaging through all of my poorly neglected scrapping supplies and stumbled over some stamps that I had no idea what to do with when I bought them. However, as soon as my eyes passed over this stamp, I knew exactly what to do with it today!
This stamp comes from one of the first sets of acrylic stamps that I bought and I absolutely love it in this setting! I knew it had to be in a fabulous color, so I pulled out Robin's Egg Blue from Close to my Heart (which is still in awesome shape considering how old it is - lol) and just stamped around a piece of white cardstock in no particular pattern.
Didn't it turn out so cute?!? Ü So I decided that I would make a whole bunch of it and use it for card club next month.
To start, I punched out ovals with my new Nestabilities oval dies on my homemade paper and on this bazzil textured coral cardstock from Making Memories - I have TONS of it, so I'm always looking for excuses to use it. lol. I finally got smart and drew a grid on my cutting plate so that all of my ovals would be centered on the cardstock. If you don't mind drawing on your plates, I would highly recommend doing so! It helped a ton. Ü (I also marked the center lines on my straight-edged ovals so that they would be straight when cut on the paper).
I decided to make a birthday card using an old ice cream cone stamp. (Seriously - this stamp used to be my grandma's! I don't even know who made it). The only problem is that I have that hardest time centering rubber stamps! (Especially when the stamp itself doesn't line up with the image on the block). So, I put some adhesive on two small pieces of paper that were the same height (about 1 inch) and stuck them on the block just touching the edge of the rubber. Then I drew a center line down the papers so that I could line it up properly on the card. Next, I positioned my card on my plate (if you look closely, there are little tick marks where each edge of the card should go) and centered the stamp over with card (without ink on it). I made little tick marks on my plate where the edge of the little pieces of paper should go so that I don't have to waste my time trying to position the stamp later.
I inked up my stamp, matched up the center lines and the tick marks, and *voila!* a perfectly centered ice cream cone! (I was quite proud of myself Ü). You can see a little bit better in this picture where all of my tick marks are. They really help to speed up the process, especially when you're mass producing cards. I wanted to place a smaller ice cream cone in the windows on the sides, but, alas, I don't exactly have a small ice cream cone. So, in my pondering (more like kicking myself - why did I do that! You see? I have this knack for ruining fabulous pieces of paper because I just do things on a whim - I don't entirely think them through) anyhow - I remembered this fabulous technique that I learned forever ago called masking. Eureka! Problem solved . . . and it better work! lol Ü
I shifted my card over so that the edge of the card matched up with the center line and made a few more tick marks on the plate to adjust my centering. Then, using a black stamp marker, I inked just the top portion of the ice cream cone and stamped on the edge of the card. Make sure you put a piece of scrap paper underneath the card so you don't end up inking your plate. Ü You can see what it turned out like on the left window of the card.
Next, I created a mask for my ice cream cone by stamping the top portion of my cone onto masking paper (basically a large piece of masking tape). Then I cut out the mask and placed it on top of the image that I'd already stamped on the card.
After getting my mask placed on the card, I inked up just the bottom portion of the cone, lined it up with the tick marks and stamped. You don't need to worry about any of the cone getting on the ice cream because the mask is protecting it.
Repeat on the opposite side, take off the mask, and let dry. Now they're ready to color!
I used markers from Close to my Heart for the cone and the cherry, but oh how I wish I had a set of Copic markers! They seem to blend so much better. Anyway, after coloring those, I took a blue crayola marker and traced around the edge of the ice cream, then I took a water/blending pen and bled the ink into the center.
After swirling the color around and letting it bleed, I blotted it with a towel and stuck it under a book to dry flat. lol. Of course I didn't think to use water color paper that wouldn't warp. Putting it under a book worked though and it turned out fine.
I printed out a happy birthday sentiment from my computer because I'm not cool enough to have a stamp that says 'happy birthday' yet. lol. Ü After printing, I cut it out, poked 3 little holes in the bottom right corner to give it a little 'something', and punched out slots on the sides so I could thread ribbon through it. Now all that's left is putting it together! I cut out some clear paper and placed it underneath the windows. (That way, there's something of substance where I cut out the windows instead of a gaping hole. Ü lol)
For those that read this earlier, you may note a few changes. My little sis came over and said the coral didn't look good with it, so we just threw it out. Ü (ok - not literally - I save everything! but we decided to let the pretty paper show instead. One of these days I'll find a use for the coral)
Aren't they cute?! I'm rather quite proud of myself for just having pulled that out of my head. lol. ok - I did have a little help with the layout, but nothing else Ü. What do you think?
Supplies and Tools:
Stamps: swirls v:1 by rhonna farrer, Autumn Leaves; ice cream cone, Provo Craft (1991!)
Ink: robin egg blue, black, red velvet, shell pink, fawn, and light, Close to my Heart; vivid blue, Crayola Window Marker
Paper: white, Making Memories, translucent paper, ?
Other: small and large oval nestabilities, small and large scalloped oval nestabilities, Spellbinders; polka-dot aqua ribbon, American Crafts; font - Sarah Caps; water pen, ?; big shot die cutting machine, Elison; ribbon slot punch, Making Memories
