Darling Stamp & Scrap Club February Project for Sale-a-Bration

It's back to school & back to work for most of us this week, but don't despair!  Pop along to Darling Stamp & Scrap Club on Saturday 8 February and make this gorgeous project:

These are all the rage right now, and the opportunities are endless.  I'll give you full instructions on how to make this "card in a box" and you can customise it for your needs.  A supply list is provided on booking.

Call 0427 063 376 or email me on kecumming@gmail.com to reserve your place.  Hurry, space is limited.
Cheers
Karen

Another En Francais

I just stumbled across a photo of a card I made last year, and it uses the En Francais background stamp again.  This time it's used in the more direct sense and I think it creates an elegant backdrop for the flowers from Everything Eleanor.

Hope your week is off to a great start!
Cheers
Karen

Playing with Background Stamps

Background stamps are so useful and versatile, but how often do you just pull them out to use as a "background"?

Why not make a feature of them occasionally?

Here's 5 different cards I've made using En Francais.  Order it here.

Each card showcases the stamp in a creative way and hopefully gives you ideas on how to extend your stamps so you get more out of them.

 This card was made using the flourish from Everything Eleanor.  Look closely and you'll see the image is slightly darker in places.  I first inked up the flourish using Pool Party ink, then I inked up En Francais with Marina Mist ink.  I "kissed" the two stamps together and the result is the marbled effect on the flourish.

 This card was made by inking En Francais in Basic Black ink and stamping directly onto Designer Series Paper.  To ensure the stamp shows up well, I chose a paper with a small pattern in a light colour.

 Looks complicated?  Well, it's not!  I stamped En Francais in Real Red onto a piece of Pool Party cardstock.  Then I used my hexagon punch to cut out about 10 or 11 shapes.  Tip:  Pay attention to the direction of the pattern - I wanted all my words to be the right way up!!   Next, I laid each hexagon onto a piece of Real Red card stock that measured 9.5cm x 13.8cm in a diagonal pattern.  I glued them all on with snail adhesive.  Then I ran the whole thing through the Big Shot with the polka dots embossing folder.

 Tags are really in right now and I've started by decorating a plain white one using En Francais inked with Pistachio Pudding.  You can then add any layers or embellishments that you have available.

This last one is a bit harder to see, but En Francais was inked with Black StazOn and stamped onto a window sheet, or piece of acetate - dig out those old OHT's at the back of the drawer! I used Whisper White card stock on the inside to create the note area and it's stuck to the acetate sheet behind the banners.

Note:  Working with vellum and acetate is tricky when it comes to glue.  You can either buy some vellum glue dots - they're quite good, but I don't think you ever get a truly invisible fix.  Or you can choose to add adhesive only in places where you know it will be covered by embellishments - this can be hard to work out at the start because you almost have to design the project backwards.

Anyway, I hope this may give you some ideas for expanding your use of background stamps and hopefully you'll find even more ways to use them once you start playing.

Cheers
Karen

A Revolution

This is the time of year when I have a big clean out of my craft room.  It's so liberating!  And I often discover hidden treasures :)

This year though, there's a change coming......

What are all those sticky things you say?  Yep, the labels on my clear mount stamps are comin' off!  I've been having trouble getting the stamps to stick to the blocks despite regular "block cleaning".  So, when some new stuff arrived in the mail this week.....giggle.....I decided not to add the stickers to the unmounted stamps and just try them directly on the blocks.  OMG what a revolution it was!  

Yes, there will be some adjustments.  Like how do I feel about not "seeing" the image through the block?  And how many times will I stamp upside down?  Not me, the stamp!  But I feel like I'm ready to try it and it really is refreshing to not have the stamp fall off right at the moment of truth!

Now, here's some pics of a couple of postcards I CASED from the current catalogue:

 I've use the Post Card stamp - LOVE it! And it's so perfect for dropping someone a quick note.

 The Postage Due stamp set is gorgeous in a collage style on the reverse side.

And the greetings are from Four You.  All these stamps are in the current annual catalogue.

If you'd like to order any of the items you see, send me an email or give me a call and I'll be happy to help you.
Cheers
Karen