Thinking Inking

Let's talk paper!

Today I'd like to show you some of the lovely papers that I saw at CHA this past weekend. I'll link to the company or line whenever possible, and I have tried to show only photos that I asked permission to take. (If I have a picture taken at your booth, and you do not want it shown, please e-mail me, and I will happily remove it.)

One interesting couple whom I met were friends of Karen's, Fred and Dani of Rubber Soul. I'm posting this in the paper category because Fred and Dani also had some lovely paper, reminiscent of Memory Box papers with clean, graphic lines. Dani has also recently started a blog which you can see here. They humored me and posed for a photo--thanks, Fred and Dani!

From BoBunny, I really loved the richness of the Fall Festival papers (shown here), as well as Homespun Holidays, Napa, and Tuscany collections.

A company that was new to me was Sweetwater, with a fresh, clean, doodley-style and a very dramatic black and white booth. I liked their Jingle, Still Fishing, and Basic Black collections.

Another new-to-me company was Imaginisce , which ran the style-gamut from clean, graphic collections to elegant vintage collections.  I am looking forward to playing with some of their new Christmas collection, Candy Cane Lane, when it is available. Out on a Whim had an updated country air. Now and Forever consisted entirely of  a white-to-beige spectrum, but it was anything BUT "boring beige."  What a fabulous wedding album it would make! Timeless was a vintage collection, sophisticated and chic.

The K&Company booth was breathtaking, though I wasn't able to get a catalog from them and was told when I asked permission that they preferred no pictures to be taken. I adored their Classic K collection (and would still love to have a catalog in the remote possibility that anyone from K&Company ever sees this!)   Daisy D's had a gorgeous Christmas collection called Snowflakes and Holly. (Sorry--I don't think it's on their website yet--probably will be coming soon, I'm guessing.) Besides traditional Christmas colors, it also incorporated a medium blue-gray--vintage and elegant!

Webster's Pages was another new-to-me paper company. I'm not even sure how to characterize their 12" x 12" papers, except that they were fabulous--perhaps with a European flair. My favorite collections were Pink Lemonade, Coco, and Winter Wonderland. They had some amazing accordion albums and keepsake boxes as well.

I already told my funny story about Cosmo Cricket yesterday, but their products are what really set them apart. One was their Biography 101, an 8" x 8" album that fit into a suitcase, with a shadowbox opposite the album. It was oh-so-beautiful! New paper collections included Little Boys, with airplanes--too cute!--and Little Girls, a collection so lovely that it it really makes me regret that I have no little girls. (Trust me; I'll find a reason to use it anyway.) I also liked that papers will be offered in 8 x 8 sheets--perfect for card makers. I need every single one!

The Melissa Francis booth was so lovely that I went there three times. . . The first time I might have drooled--figuratively speaking anyway. The second time I dragged others with me to share my joy!  Melissa Frances had some seriously amazing  frames and alterable boxes, as well as papers (which enables me to put them into this paper post, even though I mentioned them for their alterables yesterday).

I loved their vintage holiday collection as well as their individually named papers and tags. Their shaped albums were to-die-for, as were their vintage hinged boxes, frames, and paper mache craft and scrap pieces. I could seriously use one of everything in the booth--no, make that two.

Well, that's probably enough for today. I hope that you have enjoyed seeing these scrumptious products even a fraction as much as I did!  Thanks for visiting.

Back from CHA

Where do I begin? Going to CHA was such a fabulous experience: I have never before seen so much pooled creativity and so many cool toys in my life! I met many people who felt like old friends because I "know" them from SplitCoastStampers or from blogging. I met editors to whom I've had the privilege of submitting work, and met companies for whom I've created samples. Picture a family reunion with only your favorite relatives, and that might come close! I was able to spend quite a bit of time with Ellen Hutson, Karen Lockhart, Michelle Wooderson, and Trudee Sauer; and I finally got to meet my bloggin' buddy Taylor too (above--Taylor's the young, cute one, and I'm on the left).

From companies for whom I've done some work, I was able to meet Ron from Copic/Imagination International, as well as Kathy (ColoringKate); Jeff, Stacey, and their crew from Spellbinders; Nichole Heady from PaperTrey; and Mitra from Impression-Obsession. Lisa Strahl gave Mish Wooderson and me a great tour of Ranger's booth and products, and I met Bella herself, Emily, and her friend Nicky!  There were so many more SCS'ers--Lindsey/Jacksonbelle, Michele/Shel9999, Joy and Daisy, Heather/Pine, Lisa Johnson, Julie Brooks, Leigh O'Brien and Denise--way too many more to list them all at the moment, but a joy to meet every single one!

I had to keep reminding myself not to let my jaw drop as I looked at the new papers, stamps, dies, and alterables. One funny story for today: I was standing in the Cosmo Cricket booth in sheer amazement at the beauty of it all.  I had already soaked in the new fall line (which reminds me of their beloved Dutch Girl, but in autumn colors and more traditional Dutch patterns) and the new Christmas line which I can't wait to get my hands on. (Okay, there were fabulous new girl and boy lines as well, but I digress.) A lovely lady approached and started talking to me, and I began to gush (no kidding) over how much I'd enjoyed and used Dutch Girl, as well as what gorgeous samples they had.  I stopped myself mid-gush to ask, "Are YOU one of their designers?" She smiled and calmly answered, "Actually my husband and I own the company."  [Can you say "completely starstruck" and almost speechless by this time?] She told me that both she and her husband design the collections, and that she works from her kitchen with children around her--so I met a real-life supermom! After we left the booth I remembered that I had a Dutch Girl-based card in my little portfolio, and at Ellen's and Karen's suggestion, I signed it and ran it back to the booth. She was busy, so I gave it to her husband.  After that I figured I'd better stay away so they wouldn't think they were being stalked! 

I saw some incredibly classy alterables at the Melissa Frances booth--must get some to play with! Other great alterables: 7 Gypsies, Bare Elements, Art Blanche, and Provocraft. A company called Simply Swank had soldered glass pieces with photographs and stamped images inside. Since I already love stained glass, combining stamping and scrapping with stained glass techniques to make tiny treasures is on my must try list! Amazing scrapbook pages were everywhere, in every format.  Many were 12" x 12", but there was also an abundance of mini-albums in every shape imaginable. (I am a mini-album-fan.)

Well, I think I"ll stop babbling for today.  After I have a chance to sort through all of my photos, I'll probably share some more.  Thanks for visiting!

She was good with Rope. . .

Tonight I played with some of my prize stamps from the PaperCrafts Stamping Royalty Contest. I thought I should use these now because next week will be a very good rubber week.  I have new rubber coming from Stampin' Up, Lockhart, and Impression Obsession!

This little stick cowgirl is a Wordsworth stamp, M099-K, Howdy. Isn't she cute?  I wasn't sure that I liked the typestyle that was on her, so I omitted it and used my Lockhart sentiment, "She was good with rope," as a design idea.  I tried to work the sentiment into the card front, but it ended up working better inside the card. (Is it just me, or do cards feel naked without words on the outside?)

Background stamps were Stampin' Up's Paisley and Linen, along with Judikins 2691-J, a stippled floral stamp. Card stock colors are Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Crisp, and Kraft.  I inked the main image with a Versamagic black chalk ink. I colored my main image with my COPIC markers. I used a light beige marker (Baby Skin Pink) and a burnt umber (Africano). If I had had a lighter brown, I would have used that. Since I didn't, I'm glad that Copics are so blendable! Trying Ellen Hutson's trick, I put down a layer of the baby skin pink, them I touched the tip of my Africano marker to Baby Skin Pink to pull off enough brown to shade with. (I would not recommend doing that with regular markers.) With the Copics, you can clean your marker pretty much the same way you would a blender pen, leaving it clean and undamaged.

I used a Sakura Gelly Roll to put a red brim on the cowgirl's hat, and I used some linen thread to make a lasso for her hand. Brads are Memory Makers aged copper. Large eyelets are by We R Memory Keepers.  Twill tape is the medium width that SU sells.  This isn't a typical card for me, but I think I like it. Thanks, PaperCrafts, Wordsworth, and Judikins!

Chipboard and Romani

Granted, there isn't much stamping here--other than the PaperTrey Green Thumb sentiment--but I had to share this one with you anyway.  This was a recent contest entry for the PaperCrafts Stamping Royalty  Contest. It was in the chipboard category--not a category that I won in, but still one of my favorite cards that I submitted.  I have to confess that I really  have to work at using chipboard. It doesn't come naturally. Also, I used Basic Grey Romani/Gypsy paper; again, not one of my favorite Basic Grey collections, but one that I have used almost a whole 6" x 6" pad of anyway--go figure!  (Yes, I must grudgingly admit that I might just need another one. . . Maybe that means that I like it better than I first thought!)

These chipboard flowers started life as lightweight coasters. Then they met and fell madly in love with a Cuttlebug flower die. (I got it at either All That Scraps or Eclectic Paperie--can't remember which, but both places have them.) I colored them with some Clearsnap Fluid Chalk inks--the brights option assortment.  The Green is SU's Green Galore--not exactly the right shade for this collection, but the closest that I had. A lime green would have been just right, but I kept my mat down to 1/16" so that the color variation wouldn't be as noticeable. Bright green dotted organdy is May Art Cindy-Ribbon, and eyelets are SU Bold Brights. I also dabbed a bit of Stickles on--love those things!

Have a happy day!

Edited to add: Kris asked a great question: "Where did you get the leaves?"  I used the same die linked above for all of the chipboard pieces. For the large leaves, I cut apart that four-petaled leaf or flower. For the small leaves, I used the insides of the loopy daisy flower. Hope this helps!

There's a new [butterfly] in town. . .

I have to admit that I've been on a butterfly kick lately. Tonight there's a new sheriff--I mean a new butterfly--in town!  Do you know how long I spent cutting out around the antenna, punching circles in the wings, and dry embossing him?  (I'm almost embarrassed to tell you.) About three minutes. . . (Yes, way!)

What was the secret to my new-found speed? I cheated. Bet you didn't know that Spellbinders makes a butterfly rubber stamp set with a coordinating die that both cuts and embosses. How sweet is that? I see more curvy embossed shapes in my future now that I know this. (See added note at bottom about compatibility with Cuttlebug, Big Shot, and Big Kick.)

The Celebrate! sentiment is from PaperTrey's Little Lady. I'm very fond of that font with the mixed upper and lowercase--whimsical with a touch of class. The butterfly, one of a set of four from Spellbinders (linked above), is stamped in So Saffron ink. I used a Marvy Mega scalloped punch for the butterfly's base, and a Super Jumbo circle punch for the burgundy layer. Patterned paper is Basic Grey Perhaps collection in the 6" x 6" size.  I zig-zagged on my sewing machine, whose tension adjustment settings have seen better days. . . Clear rhinestones are Hero Arts Gemstones that I picked up at that stamp convention a few weeks ago. Bright silver brads are from Cindy Lyles. Finished size of the card is 4-1/4" square.

A couple of you have written to ask when my new SU preview stamps will be here. I ordered right after midnight on June 1, and they shipped today.  It takes UPS seven days to get to the U.P. of Michigan, so I'm hoping for next Monday.  Until then, I'll just keep enjoying them vicariously through the SCS galleries. Thanks for visiting!

Edited to add: Many of you asked if the Spellbinders dies are compatible with a Cuttlebug; the official short answer is yes.  Here is a Cuttlebug sandwich:

Using the CuttleBug ™ to cut and Emboss Spellbinders® Style Dies:

Cutting Sandwich-

  ( Stack from bottom up )

1. A plate
2. C plate
3. Spellbinders die face up ( rough side up)
4. paper or cardstock
5. B plate
6. run through Cuttlebug machine.

Embossing Spellbinders Dies in the Cuttlebug- ( Stack from bottom up )

1.      A plate

2.      B plate

3.      die face up (with die cut still in die)

4.      3 pieces of cardstock

5.      1 Spellbinders tan polymer mat

6.      2^nd B plate

Run through Cuttlebug machine.

Below you will find the instructions for using Spellbinders dies with the most common die-cutting machines. Hope this helps!

Download big_kick_machine.doc

Download big_shot_by_ellison_design.doc

Download using_the_cuttlebug.doc

This and That

I have a couple of things to share with you today!  My stamping buddy Valerie Stangle sent me some super-cute stickers--not paper but a raised slick surface like plastic. I finally had a few minutes to play with these last night after everyone else went to bed.  I certainly didn't come up with anything as cool as Valerie did! But I still had fun with them. Paper is Basic Grey Romani/Gypsy collection. Sentiment is from PaperTrey Green Thumb set. I used my SU cutter to freehand the swirl across the paper, and I zig-zag stitched the layers on my sewing machine. Thanks, Val!

Next I have a Polka Dotted butterfly (Lockhart) which I paired with some Jen Wilson paper from my Sayner excursion a few weeks back. The trail of the butterfly was stamped in Sahara Sand, then pierced. I love Nicole's Little Lady trail as a piercing template!  The "ascend" is run through a label maker and inked with a vanilla craft pad.  The butterfly is colored in Prismacolor pencils (Deco Blue, Blush Pink, and Pink) and dotted with Stardust Stickles. Eyelets are SU Soft Subtles eyelets (Blush). Punch is a Marvy Mega Scalloped Circle.

Speaking of Marvy punches, several of you have asked through the months where to get them since the superstores seem to be out of them frequently. Tomorrow is your chance!  PaperTrey Ink will begin a preorder for all of the Marvy Scalloped shaped punches, even the new shapes, as far as I understand. In SU news, I'm guessing that I'll be up at midnight MST to preorder some new colors and stamps.  Anybody else?

Have a lovely day!

Summer Poppies

I have been wanting this Stampendous poppy stamp for so long! I looked for it in two stores when we made our Sayner excursion, and I didn't find it.  That's okay; I found it at Eclectic Paperie. . . along with some beautiful Crate Paper Brunch Collection. (I didn't want the stamps to be lonely in that great big old box. . . .)

The first one uses the Crate paper and SU Old Olive and Confetti White card stocks. I tried using reinkers to watercolor (hence the streaks in the Saffron background). For some reason, I just color better with watercolor crayons than I do with reinkers. Reinkers seem to stain the paper more quickly and be a little harder to move around on the surface of the paper. (Or perhaps I'm simply reinker challenged!) The celebrate sentiment is a PaperTrey Little Lady sentiment. 

On card two, I switched to Ivory Naturals and used watercolor crayons. I was able to get a smoother background with the crayons. I think that the ivory card stock coordinated a bit better with the Crate paper as well.

For card three I decided to use my Memory Box Homespun Collection card stock. It required a cleaner, whiter paper, so I used a piece of my new heavier white card stock that I ordered from PaperTrey last week. Let me preface by saying that I love my SU Whisper White for solid stamping; it gives a clean crisp image every time, though drying takes a bit with some ink colors. But when someone mentioned a new sheriff in town--I mean a new white card stock--I figured that I had to try it as a public service. (That falls in the same category as not wanting the previous stamps to be lonely in the box, I confess.) Anyway, the verdict is that I like it. It's not quite as smooth to the initial touch as the Whisper White, but it holds an image nicely, AND I was able to watercolor on it--something that I don't usually try on Whisper White. The surface held up nicely, even to a bit of scrubbing with my aquapainter on the background. I will use both white card stocks. Black brads in card three and black metal picture hanger in card one are from Cindy Lyles' e-Bay store. On all three cards I used a black Sakura gelly roll glaze pen to color the centers of the poppies--that really helped, even though you can't see it in the photograph. So, which one worked best? While I love the Crate paper, I'm leaning toward the Memory Box version. The clean lines of the Memory Box papers seem to work well with the clean lines of this stamp, in my opinion. Variety is the spice of life!

Finally, for those of you who are wondering when I'm getting some new Stampin' Up stamps, I can hardly wait to preorder on June 1! I'll get a few new SU toys then, and wait until July 1 to place a big order. Woohoo!  I have a house full of company for the next nine days, so please excuse me ahead of time if I can't post every day. Thanks!

Folded Flap Card

You know something? I really like toys--maybe almost as well as my seven-year-old does. When Diana Crick e-mailed me to ask if I'd like to try her new Scor-Pal, of course I said yes!  I've had a scoring board for about a year, but I was still eager to try a Scor-Pal and compare both tools for myself.

Diana asked me to write a tutorial on a Roses in Winter card that I had posted several weeks ago. Instead of remaking the same card, I used the same format and made a bit different card. You can find step-by-step directions here, if you'd like. This is a very simple fold and yields a 4-1/4"  square finished card.Papers here are Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl and SU Real Red and Whisper White. Brad is a Making Memories brad. Flower is made from an Ellison Daisy die.

Have a lovely day!

Make a Wish. . .

I know, everybody but me has bought this My Favorite Things stamp set, right?  No kidding--I have seen four blogs in the last two days that used this stamp set! Well, I finally caved. And I'm sure that I will get that coffee one that's coming out in June as well!  I ordered this one directly from Kim at MFT, but I have also seen them at Eclectic Paperie if you happen to be ordering other stamping staples as well. Before you think that I am being an enabler, consider this: I give you links because if I do not, I will need to look up the information anyway in response to comments or e-mails.  That is the main reason that I provide links--not to tempt beyond measure!

I used my Memory Box Sugar Collection for the background papers and my COPIC markers to color in the image. I cheated a tiny bit and went back with a Prismacolor pencil to deepen the background yellow color at the end--not because of the limitations of the COPICs, but because I am still learning how to use them. . . and because I may "need" a few more colors! ;-D  I will tell you more about them as I get more familiar with all they can do. Suffice to say that I love how easily they blend from one shade to the next, even without the blender, though it is quite useful as well. Next I used my Sakura Clear Gelly Roll pen to make the polka dots on the dress shiny, my Liquid Applique to make the frosting puffy, and my Stickles to make the candles gleam--none of these were original ideas, I'm sure, but they were the natural choices nevertheless. Ribbon is double sided May Arts that both Cindy and Lindsey carry. This is a pretty plain card, but  the MFT stamps work well either dressed up or pared down. Fun!

New Toy!

We had a good trip to the Sayner Stampede; I found this Ellison flower die there that I had wanted for a long time, and it was 20% off!  I have always liked the SU Looks like Spring flower, but cutting it out takes too long to layer a great many of them--at least with my patience level.  This daisy die cuts three different flower sizes. I layered Blush Blossom and a baby pink Bazzill card stock for the flower, ending with a small SU Pretty in Pink layer.  The washer is a We R Memory Keepers extra large eyelet.  The top and bottom papers are Jen Wilson Signature Suite papers, and the center word strip is That's Life by Kelly Panacci.

Would you believe that I bought NO rubber?  I saw one unmounted sheet that I would have enjoyed; but as much rubber as I have sitting here waiting to be used, I couldn't justify adding to the stash.  We stopped at a couple of scrapbooking stores on the way home--one called The Baker's Wife, although I have no clue what town we were in. It was my favorite stop of the day!  I rarely get to a store that carries card stock and printed papers by the sheet since we live two hours from the nearest craft superstore. It was a real treat to get to browse shelf after shelf of gorgeous papers.  I knew that I was in trouble when I saw the first display inside the door--an American Crafts paper display.  I drooled over the Fancy Pants swirls acrylic stamps--you know, the two huge $40 sets. But in the end I decided that life as we know if would go on, even if I didn't get them. I picked up a couple of intricate Dreamweavers brass stencils and some stenciling paste, paper, and a bit of bling. All in all, we had a great day, and I didn't blow the household budget.  What more can you ask for?

Edited to add: Thanks to two of you, I now know that The Baker's Wife is in the Minoqua/Woodruf area of Wisconsin--right next to Subway.  I also added a link above to the daisy die on the Ellison site; this one's a bit of a challenge to find available online though!  You could always order directly from Ellison. Several of you asked if the Ellison dies are compatible with a Cuttlebug, and I have no idea since I don't have a Cuttlebug. I know that they work with a Spellbinder's Wizard, as well as with a Big Shot. The actual dimensions of the die are 5-1/2" x 6" x 11/16" thick.