Your Memories Here Kick Off!!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to give you a head's up and tell you about the great re-opening sale AND GIVEAWAYS happening over at Your Memories Here!

Grand Re-Opening Sale at www.YourMemoriesHere.com enter code Big_Event at check out and save an additional 10% off your purchase.

If you become a follower of the DT blog and help spread the word about the awesome store, you will be entered to win some goodies. I got my first YMH DT goodies over the weekend and let me tell you, I am loving what I am seeing :O) Be sure to visit our DT blog here: http://ymhdesigns.blogspot.com/


I hope you will go take a peek! Be sure to tell them that Samantha sent you *wink wink* (I am an enabler, I know! LOL Think Primas, Pebbles, Bind it all, Cricut!!!)

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

SPCC #13

**I  am on a ProvoCraft/Cricut Boycott! They won't get another dime from me!  Got a Cricut? Well use it! Don't have one yet? Consider a different  machine!! Click here for more details about my boycott and how I got here!! You can join the boycott too!**

Isn't it fantabulous?!!?

Be sure to come over to SPCC and play along, there is an awesome prize this week (I know, I know, I say that every week, but it is TRUE every week!! LOL)
This is the color swatch for this weeks, SP Color Combo! I am just LOVING this one!!!

I am really digging the black and pink together.
I had a ton of fun making this LO. I used a little sneak peek item from this weeks upcoming spotlight. Remember to check back here every Thursday because I am going to be giving some awesome goodies away from my spotlight guest companies!!!

• Roses and leaves are from the Stampin' UP A Rose is a Rose stamp set (one of my faves and so classic!!)
• Alphas where cut out of cardstock using the Cricut Winter Woodland cartridge! Man the yellow ones were a pain in the butt to cut out!!! OMG Here is a little tip: If you are going to use the font on this cartridge, do not cut the lowercase letters smaller than 1.75inches tall!! I had no problem with the Regal Rose letters to make the "Toybox" word, but the yellow ones were awful!
• And since iCopic.com is our sponsor this week, I decided to use my Copic multiliner pen to do my journaling. I know that is not what you are supposed to use it for, but it is acid free so I thought, why not? LOL
  

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

This Week's Stamp Set Reveal & September News

I was all revved up today, cranking out the last couple of projects for this week. I was getting the rest of my post projects completed for this upcoming week and realized, my reveal this week is going to have to be altered a bit! I kinda jumped the gun on this one, but you will definitely know why when you see what stamp set I picked this week!! :O)

This week's reveal will happen on Sept 1st because my stamp set for this week is from the Holiday Mini (that is coming out on Tuesday!)

September is going to bring some awesome changes around here. I hope you will be as excited as I am about all this when you start seeing the new stuff!! Be sure to sign up to be a follower (and you will be entered into my current blog candy) or subscribe for email updates so you don't miss a beat!

First, I have updated my regularly scheduled blog segments. You can find the new schedule in my sidebar. I have tweaked and played around with it, and I think I am happy with it now (hopefully no more tweaking! LOL). Some things are staying the same, but I am adding MORE of the things people have asked me for.

One of my most exciting new blog segments is going to be starting THIS THURSDAY! You will NOT want to miss this, folks!!!!! Every week, I am going to be going a Spotlight and every week, I am going to be giving something away!!!! My spotlight companies are AMAZING and I really hope you will go visit them (they are already in the sidebar under Products I Love)!

And on a final note, I got notified by mail yesterday that my MRI is scheduled for Sept 3rd (lucky Thursday) so wish me luck!! Now, I am off to schedule some blog posts for the week :O)

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

2 Days Left!! Become A Demo Today!

There are only TWO DAYS LEFT to sign up to be a Stampin' UP Demonstrator for only $85!!!! I have had many new demos join my team during this awesome deal because NOW is the time to sign up if you are even considering it. I have NEVER seen such a great price for a starter kit, and that is saying something.

To Sweeten the deal. . . I am offering a special bonus for ANYONE who signs up to be a demonstrator on my team in the next two days (By August 31st!): Receive 2 YARDS of each of the 6 brand new In Color Ribbons!!!

Read below to learn more about this great promotion and about becoming a demonstrator:

Sign up to be a demonstrator with a mini starter kit for only $85!!! You can sign up just for the awesome 20% discount or you can sign up to start a great business for yourself. I LOVE being a Stampin' UP demonstrator and this is a great time to sign up!

If you want to sign up as a demonstrator with the regular starter kit you still get extras too!!!

• During the promotional period there will also be a standard Starter Kit incentive for new recruits who choose the standard Starter Kit instead of the Mini Starter Kit; new recruits who choose the standard Starter Kit will receive the following, along with the standard Starter Kit supplies:
  
• All six of the new In Color Classic Stampin' Pads
• One pack of In Color assorted card stock (8-1/2" x 11")
• ****Incentive items have a $43.65 value and are not substitutable.

If you have any questions at all, please email me at scrapmastersparadise@yahoo.com . I would LOVE to have you join my Inkalicious Divas team. I am supportive of my Divas & I am also a compulsive email checker so send me your questions, concerns, comments about taking the leap and becoming a demonstrator!

Here are the details for the mini starter kit:

Summer Fun Recruiting Promotion

Dates: July 15 - August 31, 2009
Promotion Details:
Become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator with the limited-time $85 Mini Starter Kit. The Mini Starter Kit contains the following products:

Item Code	Page #*	Description	Retail Value**
115360	118	For All You Do stamp set	$28.95
115658	155	Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad	$5.95
115656	155	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	$5.95
115659	155	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	$5.95
115654	155	Dusty Durango Classic Stampin' Pad	$5.95
115655	155	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	$5.95
115657	155	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	$5.95
100730	155	Whisper White card stock (8-1/2" x 11")	$7.50
115315	155	In Color assorted card stock (8-1/2" x 11")	$7.95

*All page numbers refer to the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog
**All products may be substituted for like items; see Mini Starter Kit order form for details.
Some of the perks about being a demonstrator (not a complete list!!):

• Chance to order brand new items before everyone else!!
• You can pre-order some HOSTESS SETS!!!!
• You have the support from me :O)
• You have the support from Stampinup.com
• A monthly SU magazine filled with inspiration and business ideas
• Instant 20% discount on all your purchases and 20% instant income on all your sales
• The chance to earn free SU supplies based on your sales
• The chance to earn 9 free stamp sets in your first 6 months (I did it!!!)
• The ability to earn up to 40% of your sales
• You can run your business how you want to or you can sign up just for the discount!
  

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

A Lovely Card

Here is a card my good buddy Alison made yesterday. She came over to pick up some goodies and had to run, but I convinced her to at least stay to make a card with me :O) I know, I am a horrible friend LOL!!

So we played around with an emboss resist technique -this will be one of my upcoming Stampin' With Sami Workshops here at Scrapmaster's Paradise. This was the card she made (I will share my card later, but I didn't have it scanned yet, shucks!).

• Floral design is from the Stampin' UP Kind & Caring Thoughts stamp set. This is a hostess level 3 stamp set. I got this stamp set because demonstrators are allowed to pre-order one level 3 stamp set from each new big catalog!! (It is great being a demo!!!)
• The sentiment is from the Stampin' UP Warmest Regards stamp set, which is a retired stamp set (Thank you, MeMe!!)
  

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

Make Your Own Tile Coasters

This lesson will show you how to make your own coasters out of tiles! This is one of my favorite new techniques (well new to me anyway) because these will make great gifts for people. I plan on making a set for every major holiday so we can have them out as decor :) These are so easy to make.

For this project you will need:
*a set of 4X4inch tiles. These can be purchased at any major home improvement store. I got these ones at Home Depot in a pack of 9 tiles for $4.77. The tiles I recommend are the unsealed natural stone tiles so that they will soak up the moisture from your glass when you have the glass on the coaster.
*heat tool. the same tool you use for heat embossing.
* waterproof ink pad. I am using Stampin' UP's Basic Grey ink pad which is waterproof.
*permanent markers. Some companies like Sharpies, Bic, etc. sell large packs of assorted permanent markers. I got my set of Bic Mark It markers at Staples for $10 on sale and I use them all the time in my stamping.
*aerosol hairspray (optional). This will just help protect your stamping a little from wear and tear, but it is unnecessary since all our coloring tools are waterproof.
* a stamp or stamp set. I am using Stampin' UP's Dreams Du Jour stamp set.
*felt or plastic feet. The feet will go on the corners of the bottom of the tiles to protect the surface the coasters will sit on. These feet are sold in the home improvement stores too, but I just cut out square pieces of felt and hot glued them onto the bottom. It worked just perfectly and saved me a little money :)

1. Stamp your image using waterproof ink and quickly go over it with the heat tool until it dries completely. While experimenting, the ink took a long time to try and thus soaked into the tile making my image blurry. When the image was dried with the heating tool, the image remained crisp.

2. Color in as desired with permanent markers.
3. Optional: spray a light coat of hairspray over the tile to make a light seal over your stamping.
4. Attach the feet to each corner on the bottom of each tile.


The photo above is the set of tiles I made. They are stamped in different places and colored in differently so that they coordinate together, but aren't exactly the same.

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

Add Glitter to your Stamped Images

This card was made for day#5 of my Love You Much week! The heart stamp, sentiment stamp, and patterned paper are from the new pre-order bundle called Love You Much. To see the bundle details, click here!

This card is another tiny card. The glitter hearts were my first attempt using SU's Heat and Stick powder and WOW does that stuff work! I love it! I love glitter on anything :)

TO USE HEAT AND STICK POWDER:
1. Stamp your image using VersaMark or draw your own image with a VersaMarker.
2. Pour Heat and Stick Powder over the VersaMark & tap off excess just like you would for heat embossing.
3. Heat with heating tool just until the powder looks shiny. Do not overheat!! (If your glitter doesn't stick, you overheat your powder)
4. Quickly pour glitter over the shiny powder and tap off excess.
5. Reheat slightly with heat tool to ensure the glitter sticks to the powder.

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

Pigment VS Dye Ink

The two most common types of ink for rubber stamping are Pigment ink and Dye ink. They are different and have different uses. It is important that you have the correct type of ink for your project so that you get the look you want. There are other types of ink including chalk ink and solvent ink, but right now we are going to focus on pigment and dye inks.

DYE INK:
Dye ink is a water based ink that is what most people think of when they think of ink for stamping. It is thin and dries almost instantly.
Dye ink is used for stamping on lighter colored papers because the color "dyes" the paper and the ink will only show up correctly on lighter colored paper. Dye ink is most commonly used if not embossing since it is so easy to work with and it dries almost instantly.

PIGMENT INK:
Pigment ink is a thick, almost paintlike ink. It is super slow drying and sometimes doesn't dry at all without being heat set (using the heat gun to dry the stamped image).
Pigment ink is better when stamping on dark colored papers because the ink will show up since the ink sits on the surface of the paper.
Pigment ink is also the ink you use for embossing. When using pigment ink, you can use clear embossing powder to emboss if you want the ink color to show up.
When Pigment ink dries, sometimes you can feel the ink raised up on the paper slightly.

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

Mounting Stampin' UP Stamps

Stampin' UP stamp sets come unmounted meaning you have to put them together by yourself. Each stamp set comes with a set of wooden blocks, a plastic container, a sheet of clear stickers and a sheet of the rubber stamp images.

Mounting your Stampin' UP Stamps is easy now that most of the stamp sets come with the rubber parts die cut. This means the rubber part is always cut around each of the stamped images. In the photo above, you can see some of the die cut rubber pieces already punched off of the rubber sheet. Some sets are still not die cut, so if your stamp set comes with an uncut sheet of rubber, cut around each stamp with craft scissors. Make sure to cut close to the images but not close enough to cut the image itself. Use small, straight cuts.
STEPS FOR MOUNTING YOUR STAMPS:
1. Make sure to match up each wooden block size with the corrent image size. When you have them matched up, peel off the backing from the foam side of the stamp part.
2. Stick the rubber piece in the center of the stamp.

3. Cut closely around the clear adhesive image. The sheet of images actually comes with dotted lines that you can tear each image apart with. I find it difficult not to rip the clear stickers and the clear stickers hang off the wood block slightly so I just cut around them.

4. Peel the clear sticker from the backing.


5. Check the orientation of the rubber part of the stamp. You want the sticker to line up in the correct orientation with your rubber stamp so you can stamp correctly. In the photo above, I am just holding the clear peice up to the rubber part. Then I flipped over the wooden block so that the rubber side is down.
6. When you know that the clear sticker is lined up correctly, place it on the wooden block and rub over it to make sure that it is stuck down.

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

Stamping With A Medium Sized Stamp

For this lesson we are going to use a medium sized stamp. Medium sized stamps are a few inches across, but they are large enough that it can be difficult to get the whole image stamped clearly. With this technique, you should be able to stamp any medium stamp clearly and crisply.

First, start with a well inked stamp, remember to hold it to the light and make sure the whole image is shiny. To stamp, you will need both hands. With one hand, firmly hold the sides of the stamp -this hand will keep the stamp in place so the image won't smudge. The other hand will be used to press the top of the stamp.With your "pressing hand" firmly press over the top of the whole stamp, moving your fingers from place to place until you have pressed over the whole top of the stamp. In the photo above, I am only applying pressure with the tips of my fingers. Remember to keep the stamp in place with your other hand while you press.
If you press over the whole stamp, you should come out with a clear image. This technique takes practice so use some scratch paper for your first couple of times. If there are places that don't get stamped enough, the stamp is either not inked enough or not pressed enough. Notice the top corner of the heart on the right side of the paper -there is an uninked gap. I just didn't press well enough on that corner of the stamp :)

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

Using Stampin' Spots

Stampin' Spots are so easy to use! If you don't know what Stampin' Spots are, look at the intro to Stampin' Spots here: http://stampinwithsami.blogspot.com/2008/10/intro-to-stampin-spots.html . Simply dab over the whole rubber part of your stamp. To ensure your stamp is well inked, hold it up and make sure the whole rubber surface looks shiny in the light.
Dab repeatedly over the surface.It is hard to see in the photo, but the surface looks shiny.

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

Bad Stamping Pathologies

Now that you have practiced stamping, I thought it might be helpful to go over some bad stamping pathologies. When you stamped image comes out less than ideal, it is important to know why. Stamping is about applying the correct amount of pressure and ink. Below are some bad stamping pathologies with
Ideally, all images would come out as crisp as the stamped image above. The stamped image is complete, there are no blotches of ink anywhere, and all the lines look clean and crisp. This is what you want! Unforutnately, we all end up with imperfect image sometimes.
This image is missing some of the details, there are whole patches just completely missing. This is due to one of two things: not enough ink or not enough pressure. Like mentioned in Lesson #2, check to make sure your stamp is fully inked before you stamp it. If there is ink all over the stamp, the image on the rubber part will be shiny with ink. Sometime it is easy to tell if the stamp is fully inked if the ink color is darker, but you have to rely on the shiny quality when the ink color is lighter.
The image above has blotchy lines, and the edges are blurry. This happens when you have too much ink or too much pressure. You have too much ink if your whole piece or rubber is inked, in between the lines of the image. If you applied ink to where it just coats the raised image portion of the stamp, then you have applied the correct amount of ink, which means the problem is too much pressure.
This image was made poorly because you can see a shadow of the image. This image was made by holding the stamp unsteadily. Remember, you have to hold the stamp firmly in your hand.

Once you realize which bad stamping pathologies you have, it is easy to correct them. Apply more or less ink, more or less pressure, and keep your hands steady while stamping. Remember, even the best of stampers suffer from bad stamping pathologies too!

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land

Simple Masking Technique

Masking is one of the simplest stamping techniques that create depth. The butterflies above are all stamped using the same rubber stamp, but it looks like the two outside butterflies are behind the butterfly in the center. This depth is created with masking.You will need a stamp, ink pad, scissors or cutting blade, piece of cardstock, and scratch paper.

STEPS:
1. Stamp your image onto the cardstock where you want it. Stamp the same image onto the scratch paper.

2. Trim closely around the stamped image you made on scratch paper. This piece is going to be your "mask".

3. Temporarily attach your mask over the stamped image on your cardstock. You can attach it with a piece of tape or simply hold it in place while stamping over it.

4. Stamp your other images where desired making sure that the mask stays in place.


5. Peel your mask off and you have a masked image!

SP and Company Stamps  |  SP Color Combos  |  Imagination Land