Quick Tip: Cleaning Stazon Ink off of Your Stamps

I’ve been using Stazon ink for several years when I am creating stamped projects that I’ll be watercoloring or using water based markers or watercolor pencils. It’s a love-hate relationship! Since you can’t use a water-based ink if you are planning on using other water based techniques with your stamped image, Stazon is the ink of choice.

I use Stazon cleaner when I am cleaning my stamps, but I’ve often found it just a little tedious to have to rub it off with a soft cloth and possibly have to repeat the whole process. That being said, I stumbled across a much easier way to get my stamps clean.

Here’s a stamp with Stazon ink:

 

 

Here’s what it looks like when you’ve put Stazon cleaner on it: 

 

 

Now, here’s the next step which makes will make your life much easier! Squirt regular liquid hand soap on top of the Stazon cleaner!  It may look a bit messy:

 

 

Now all you have to do is rinse it with water and bam!  Clean stamp!

 

 

Pat the stamp dry and you are good to go. Hope this little tip helps you!

 

 

Tutorial: Forever Fern Hello

 

I love the new Forever Flourishing dies that are part of the Forever Fern bundle! There are lots of different leaf stem dies that make a lovely greenery bouquet when used together.

 

 

Cut Cardstock: 

 

Assembly:

For the background, use the larger flower border die from the Ornate Borders dies to crop the bottom edge of one 5 1/4″ x 4″ piece of Soft Seafoam cardstock. Using Soft Seafoam ink, randomly stamp the dot image from the Forever Fern stamp set onto this piece.

 

 

To add a little more texture, emboss this piece with the Tasteful Textile embossing folder. Snail the completed piece to the card front.

From the Forever Flourishing dies, crop the fern stem out of Pear Pizzazz cardstock.

 

 

Crop the broader leaf stem out of the 3 1/4″ x 2 1/2″ piece of Soft Seafoam cardstock.

 

 

Crop two small leaf stems and two curved leaf stems from Gold Foil.

 

On the 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ piece of Whisper White cardstock, stamp two berry sprays from the Forever Fern stamp set using Pretty Peacock ink. *Stamp off on a piece of scrap paper first so that the color is not too dark.

Crop the stems with the corresponding die from the Forever Flourishing dies.

 

 

Using Pretty Peacock ink, stamp the greeting from the Tasteful Touches stamp set onto the remaining 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ piece of Whisper White cardstock. Crop with the third largest oval from the Stitched Shapes dies.

Crop the piece of Pretty Peacock cardstock with the fifth largest scalloped oval die from the Layering Ovals dies.

 

 

Snail these two pieces together.

Arrange all of the leaf stems and berry stems on the card front and glue in place. I cut the gold curved leaves in half to make it look like there are four stems. You may want to hold the greeting in place so that you have a better idea of where to place the stems. Use dimensionals to attach the greeting. Refer to photo for placement of the stems and greeting.

 

Inside:

Adhere the remaining piece of Soft Seafoam cardstock to the inside of the card using snail.

Use Pretty Peacock ink to stamp the sentiment from the Forever Fern stamp set to the remaining piece of Whisper White cardstock. Using Pretty Peacock ink and the berry stem image from the Forever Fern stamp set, stamp off on a piece of scrap paper then stamp onto the lower left side of this piece. Use Soft Seafoam ink to stamp the small leaf stem twice near the berry stem. Refer to photo for placement. Use snail to adhere the completed piece to the inside of the card.

 

 

 

Envelope:

Stamp the berry stem and two small leaf stems like you did for the inside of the card onto the lower left corner of the envelope. Refer to photo for placement.

 

 

 

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Facebook Live Recap: Ornate Style Fun-Fold Birthday Card

This impressive fun-fold card is quite easy to make and can be used to make cards for many occasions. Once you try it, I’m sure it will be a “go to” fun-fold for you!

For my Facebook Live yesterday, I used the stamp, die and Designer Paper from the Ornate Garden Suite.  If you weren’t able to watch the video live, you can view the replay here!

Here are the dimensions of the cardstock needed for this card:

  • Card base: Old Olive – 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, score at 4 1/4″
  • First Layer: So Saffron – 5 1/4″ x 4″
  • Second Layer: Whisper White – 5″ x 3 3/4″
  • Greeting: So Saffron -3 3/4″ x 2 1/2″
  • Ornate Garden Designer Paper: 8″ x8″
  • Inside Sentiment: Whisper White – 4″ x 3″

Join my group page to see other videos tips and ideas!

 

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Tutorial: Forest Friends Birthday Card

 

The sweet little animals in the Special Someone stamp set make a cute whimsical birthday card as they peek through the Designer Paper.

 

 

 

Cut Cardstock:

 

Assembly: 

**NOTE: All images are made with stamps from the Special Someone stamp set**

Use snail to adhere one 5 3/8″ x 4 1/8″ piece of Very Vanilla cardstock to the card base.

Using the second smallest circle from the Layering Circles dies, crop three holes on the Cinnamon Cider Designer Paper.

 

 

Use Early Espresso ink to stamp the detailed raccoon and the detailed squirrel images on a scrap of Very Vanilla cardstock. Using Soft Suede ink, stamp off once on a piece of scrap paper, then stamp the solid images of the raccoon and the squirrel over the detailed images.

Use Soft Suede ink to stamp the detailed mouse image on a scrap of Very Vanilla cardstock. Using Crumb Cake ink and the solid mouse image, stamp off on a piece of scrap paper then stamp over the detailed mouse image.

 

 

Use the third smallest circle from the Layering Circles dies to crop each of the stamped animals.

 

 

Use snail to adhere the animals to the card front, making sure that they will be lined up with the holes in the Designer Paper. I found the easiest way to do this is to hold the Designer Paper in place while adjusting the placement of the animals. Place several dimensionals on the back of the Designer Paper and attach to card front.

 

 

Using Memento ink, stamp the large flower stem, small flower stem and greeting on a scrap of Whisper White cardstock. Use Daffodil Delight ink to stamp the large flower petals and Melon Mambo ink to stamp the small flower petals. Color the flowers centers with the Dark Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Blends marker. Crop the flower stems with the corresponding dies from the Special Days die set and the greeting with the ‘word bubble’ die.

 

 

Snail the greeting to the card front. Attach the flowers to the card front with glue so that it looks like the squirrel and mouse are holding the stems. Refer to photo for placement.

 

Inside:

Use Memento ink to stamp the sentiment to the remaining piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. Stamp the large flower stem with Memento ink onto the lower left corner. Stamp the flower petals with Daffodil Delight ink. Color the flower center with the Dark Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Blends marker. Stamp the tiny butterfly near the sentiment with Memento ink and color it with the Dark Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends marker.

Snail the completed piece to the inside of the card.

 

 

 

Envelope: 

Stamp the large flower stem with Memento ink onto the lower left corner of the envelope. Use Daffodil Delight ink to stamp the flower petals. Color the flower center with the Dark Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Blends marker.

 

 

 

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Facebook Live Recap – Father’s Day 2020

This week I created two projects on my Facebook Live video perfect for Father’s Day or a masculine birthday – a card and a matching small treat bag.  The Rustic Retreat stamp set is great for creating more masculine looking projects and there are several images that can be used. For these projects I chose the ‘deer’ image, but you could easily switch it out for the bear or cabin image too!

If you missed the live presentation, you can watch the replay here!

I am on Facebook every Tuesday at 2 p.m. EDT to create a project or two. Be sure you have joined my Facebook group to view the videos!

 

 

Here are the dimensions for the cardstock used for these projects:

For the Card:

  • Card Base: Very Vanilla – 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, score at 4 1/4″
  • First Layer: Cinnamon Cider – 5 3/8″ x 4 1/8″, cut two
  • Second Layer: Very Vanilla – 5 1/8″ x 3 7/8″, cut two
  • Stamped image: Very Vanilla – 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″
  • Mat for Stamped Image: Cinnamon Cider – 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″
  • Greeting: Very Vanilla – 1 3/4″ x 1/2″ ;  Cinnamon Cider – 1 7/8″ x 5/8″

(NOTE:  If you are making the birthday card, the Very Vanilla strip is 1 7/8″ x 5/8″, Cinnamon Cider strip is 2″ x 3/4″)

  • Sprigs: Mossy Meadow – scraps

 

 

For the Treat Bag:

  • Base: Cinnamon Cider – 3 3/4″ x 2 1/2″, score all sides at 3/4″
  • Bag: In Good Taste Designer Paper (woodgrain) – 7″ (width) x 6 1/2″ (height)
  • Stamped Image: Very Vanilla – 2 3/4″ x 2 3/4″
  • Mat for Stamped Image: Cinnamon Cider – 2 3/4″ x 2 3/4″
  • Sprigs: Mossy Meadow – scraps

 

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Tutorial: Triple-Layered Painted Harvest

 

The Painted Harvest stamp set is one of my favorite stamp sets that’s retiring at the end of May, and I for one am sorry to see this happen. Although the main stamps make traditional beautiful sunflower images, when you change the colors it is just as lovely. I have used many colors with this set, and the colors I have used for this card remind me of some flowers I have in my garden called “rudbeckia rustic colors.”

While the Painted Harvest stamp set is retiring, I’m falling in love with some of the new sets already! Spoiler alert: There’s a new stamp set in the catalog coming out in June called “Celebrate Sunflowers,” and it will be wonderful to use with the retiring Painted Harvest stamp set. So if you don’t already own it, you may want to consider purchasing the Painted Harvest stamp set now before it is gone forever. The leaf punch used to punch out the tri-leaf shape that is in this stamp set will also be retiring.

The beauty of this stamp set also lends itself well to the triple layered technique.

 

 

 

Cut Cardstock: 

 

Assembly:

You will have three layers of Whisper White cardstock where you’ll stamp the background design.

 

 

Using Rich Razzleberry ink, stamp the ‘hello’ from the Timeless Tulips stamp set onto the smallest layer of Whisper White cardstock. See photo for placement.

**Note — All flower and leaf images are from the Painted Harvest stamp set.**

 

Place the three Whisper White layers together. You may want to use just a touch of snail to hold them in place. (I do this so they don’t separate or move around while I am stamping.)

Begin stamping the flowers by using Melon Mambo ink to stamp the more detailed flower image randomly onto the layered Whisper White pieces. It’s okay to go off the edge of the largest piece. Don’t be alarmed if there is a little bit of a white border or “halo” around the images near the edges of the layers. This will be covered up when you assemble the layers.

Next, use Daffodil Delight ink to stamp the more solid flower image over the previous images you stamped. To complete the flowers, stamp the flower center onto the flowers using Rich Razzleberry ink.  This is what the flowers should look like before adding the leaves:

 

 

Now fill in some of the white spaces. For this, use the detailed fern-like leaf stamp to stamp multiple leaf images using Old Olive ink. When you are satisfied with that, use the tiny five-dot stamp to stamp a few random background images with Old Olive ink.  See photo for placement.

If you used snail to hold the layers together, carefully separate them. If the cardstock tears a little, don’t worry, since it’ll be covered up when you assemble the pieces. You will be attaching the stamped pieces to the card base and the two other Granny Apple Green layers.

 

 

**Remember to keep the layers in the same position so that the images will line up.**

 

Snail the largest stamped piece to the card base. Use snail to adhere the other stamped pieces to the corresponding Granny Apple Green layers. Use dimensionals to attach these layers to each other, again being careful that you have the images aligned with the images on the other layers. Refer to photo. Doesn’t it look awesome already?!

Now for the final touch. On the 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ piece of Whisper White cardstock, stamp a flower like you did before using Melon Mambo ink for the detailed flower image, Daffodil Delight for the solid flower image, and Rich Razzleberry for the flower center.

 

 

Fussy cut the flower with your paper snips. Attach the flower to the card front with dimensionals. See photo for placement. Use Old Olive ink to stamp the tri-leaf detailed stamp onto a scrap of Granny Apple Green cardstock and punch out with the leaf punch. Use a bit of snail or multipurpose glue to attach the leaves to the card front, sliding the ends under the flower. See photo for placement.

 

Inside: 

Stamp the sentiment onto the remaining piece of Whisper White cardstock using Rich Razzleberry ink. The sentiment I used is from the Peaceful Moments stamp set. Stamp a flower as you did before to the lower left corner of this piece, going off the edge of the cardstock a bit so you have only a partial image. Refer to photo. Use snail to adhere the stamped piece to the inside of the card.

 

 

 

Envelope:

I love to decorate the envelope to coordinate with the card. It’s just that little touch that makes it extra special. Stamp a flower like you did before onto the lower left corner of the envelope so that you have a partial image. Refer to photo.

 

 

Whoever you send this card to is definitely going to have a case of “the smiles!”

 

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FB Live Recap: Forever Blossoms Easel Card

 

On my Facebook Live this week I created an easel card and also demonstrated how to add a touch of color to an embossed layer of cardstock. You can review the video here!

Please join me every Tuesday at 2 p.m. EDT on my group page for more live presentations. You can join my group page here!

 

 

Here are the dimensions for the supplies needed for this project:

  •      Card Base: Whisper White – 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, score at 4 1/4′ and 2 1/8″
  •      Extra Piece for Card Base: Whipser White – 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″
  •      First Layer: Rococo Rose – 5 3/8″ x 4 1/8″, cut two
  •      Second Layer: Whisper White – 5 1/4″ x 4″, cut two
  •      Flowers: Whisper White – 6″ x 5″
  •      Inside Strips: Whisper White – 5 1/2″ x 1″  &  5 1/4″ x 3/4″, Rococo Rose – 5 3/8″ x 7/8″

 

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The 2020 – 2022 In Color Club Is Here!

 

The new catalog is coming June 3rd, but the new In Colors are here! For the next two years, your new Stampin’ Up In Colors are:

  • Just Jade
  • Cinnamon Cider
  • Misty Moonlight
  • Magenta Madness
  • Bumble Bee

If you’re looking for the easiest way to get in on the new collections, consider joining my In Color Club!

Here’s what happens when you sign up:

Once a month for the next five months, you will receive a package containing a bundle of products in one of the new In Colors. Every box will include:

  • One pack of colored cardstock
  • One stamp pad
  • One ink refill
  • One Stampin’ Write marker
  • In Color Designer Paper

At the end of the five months, you will have all of the above in all of the new In Colors, plus five other new catalog products – I’ll be including an additional surprise in every box!

If you’d like to join and get your boxes, contact me by 11:59 PM EDT on May 31st.

I’ll send you a PayPal invoice for $36 each month before your box ships out in June through October.

Stay tuned for more news about the upcoming catalog!

 

 

Tutorial: Watercolor Wash with Ornate Borders

 

The watercolor wash looks so cheery under the Ornate Borders die. The butterflies from the Positive Thoughts stamp set are all that’s needed to complete the look!

 

 

Cut Cardstock:

 

Assembly: 

Emboss the piece of Granny Apple Green cardstock with the Ornate Floral embossing folder and use snail to adhere to the card base.

Make the watercolor wash on the piece of Watercolor Paper using Daffodil Delight and Granny Apple Green inks. To do this, first slightly moisten the Watercolor Paper using an Aqua Painter. You want the paper wet but not dripping. Pick up Daffodil Delight ink with the Aqua Painter and apply it to the moistened paper, leaving some white spaces. Apply the Granny Apple Green ink to the white spaces, just barely overlapping the Daffodil Delight ink. Make sure there are no white spaces left. To speed up drying of this piece, use your heat tool.

 

 

Crop the 5 1/4″ x 1 2/4″ piece of Whisper White cardstock with the Ornate Borders die. First, place the die as close as you can to one side of the paper and then crop it. Next, turn the paper around and place the die on the remaining half of the paper, then crop again. This will give you a double row of the intricate design and more space for the watercolor wash to show through. Use multipurpose liquid glue to adhere the die cut piece to the watercolor wash piece. Use multipurpose glue to adhere this to the bottom of the card front. I find using glue rather than snail to adhere watercolor paper works better because it is thicker and slightly textured.

Stamp the greeting from the To A Wild Rose stamp set to the 4″ x 2 3/4″ piece of Whisper White cardstock and crop with the die from the Wild Rose dies. Use dimensionals to attach the greeting to the card front. See photo for placement.

Stamp the butterfly from the Positive Thoughts  stamp set onto a scrap of Daffodil Delight cardstock  using Memento ink then crop with the corresponding die from the Natures Thoughts dies. Attach it to the card front using a dimensional. Crop two small butterflies out of  a scrap of Daffodil Delight cardstock using the tiny butterfly die from the Natures Thoughts dies. Run a thin line of multipurpose glue on the bodies of the tiny butterflies and attach them to the card front. See photo for placement. Place three small pearls onto the small butterfly bodies and three medium pearls onto the body of the larger butterfly.

 

Inside:

Use  Memento ink to stamp the butterfly from the Positive Thoughts stamp set onto the upper left corner of the remaining piece of Whisper White cardstock. Color the butterfly with the Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends markers. Stamp the sentiment from the To A Wild Rose stamp set onto this piece using Memento ink. Use snail to adhere the completed piece to the inside of the card.

 

 

 

Envelope:

Use Memento ink to stamp the butterfly from the Positive Thoughts stamp set onto the lower left corner of the envelope and color with Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends.

 

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed using the Watercolor Wash technique on this card and will try it on your other designs! It’s great as a background or with an intricate die cut over it.

 

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FB Live Recap: Poppies with Watercolor Wash

 

Here are the dimensions for the cardstock used for the card I created yesterday in my Facebook group. If you missed the live presentation, you can view the replay here!

 

Here’s a list of the supplies needed for this project:

  • Card Base: Rich Razzleberry – 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, score at 1/4″
  • First Layer: Poppy Parade – 5 3/8″ x 4 1/8″, cut two
  • Second Layer (front): Watercolor Paper – 5 1/8″ x 3 7/8″
  • Second Layer (inside): Whisper White – 5 1/8″ x 3 7/8″
  • Flowers: Rich Razzleberry – 8″ x 3″
  • Flower Centers: Scraps of Flirty Flamingo
  • Leaves: Old Olive: 3″ x 2 1/4″, Mossy Meadow: 3″ x2 1/4″
  • Greeting: Whisper White – 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″

 

Join my group page to see other videos, tips and ideas!

 

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