Random Stamping Tutorial

"Come on, now", I hear you say, "why do we need a tutorial on random stamping. Isn't it supposed to be, well RANDOM!" Well, yes and no. random stamping is supposed to be random and hopefully will still look that way but to get it looking really great takes just a wee bit of planning. Because we are used to so many straight lines, our random stamping tends to end up like that, no longer looking random. I suppose if we all lived in the woods and looked at fewer things that are perfectly straight, this might now happen. Any whoo, here goes. To see the final project, click HERE. (I posted it over the post with the baby gift card holder I decided wasn't worthy!)

The tricks to this are always stamping in triangles and stamping off the page when necessary.

Step 1. (click on any photo to see it larger) Stamp one image in the top corner. Stamp another near it, not directly beside or directly below or at 45 degrees to the first. I may have broken my own rule, I think this may be close to 45 degrees. OOPS! But how much space do you leave? That depends on how dense you want the stamped images and whether or not you want other images to go in between later. For a looser stamping, Leave 1 - 1.5 times the stamp width, for a tighter grouping, leave half the stamp width. Closer stamping is very hard with stamps that have a distinct shape rather than being mostly circular, square or oval, like words. one way to handle these is to rotate the stamp a bit with each stamping. If you are using more than one stamp, always stamp the larger images first. The smaller images will fit between a set of three larger ones.

Step 2.  So now we have a third image. Notice it is roughly equal distance to each of the other two. Try to keep all the distances roughly the same (after all, it is random stamping!). Refer back to the original three stampings if you need to, especially if you are stamping a large project with a small stamp.

Step 3. Continue to add more stamps in the same manner.

Be sure to stamp some off the edges of the page. If you wish, you can see that there is room for a smaller stamp in between each triangle. You do not need to stamp in between in each triangle however. To see the whole project and 'recipe', click here.

HTH, Enjoy, Rebecca

Cranberry Roses Note-a-lope

I was inspired to make this by a Splitcoast challenge, Envelope It. A lot of the gallery items showed envelopes that matched the cards.

Great idea but I wanted to do something different. I remembered I had saved instructions from Michelle's Rubber Room for a note-a-lope, a slightly goofy name for a really cute project (Michelle, I apologize if the slightly goofy name was your original idea:0 ). Perfect for this challenge!

The instructions start with a sheet of patterned scrapbook paper, I chose a retired paper with roses on it. I consciously decided not to use chocolate brown to go with it even though that seems to be my go-to colour lately, I am trying to expand my colour palette. I used mellow moss ink for the flower medallion and the same colour paper for the insert and scalloped square. The flower is stamped on vanilla and adhered with foam dots. The scalloped layer on the insert is retired cranberry crisp with a vanilla panel, both cut with Nestabilities.

The roses were stamped in cranberry crisp, I used generation stamping to get two tones of ink because I didn't think any of the ink colours I have would look quite right. TIP: In case you aren't familiar with generation stamping, you stamp the image repeatedly WITHOUT reinking. Each stamping is progressively lighter, up to 3 or 4 times. How long you hold the stamp to paper makes a difference too. The longer you hold the stamp down, the deeper the colour you get and the lighter each subsequent stamping will be. I masked the roses and stamped the leaves in olive and moss. Then I used the Nestabilities die as a stencil to sponge ink on the inside of the vanilla panel; I repositioned the die over the panel and used a piece of foam held by a small binder clip to add first caramel, then cocoa ink. TIP: Don't tap the sponge on the paper; swirl the foam from outside the edge of the die over and on to the paper, over and over in circles until you get the depth of colour you want. When you ink the sponge, swipe it back and forth over the pad rather than tapping it.

Start with a light colour of ink first and go darker if you need to; you can always layer on more colour, you can't take it away if you think it is too dark. Don't forget to use your stamp washing system to clean your Nesties.

I adhered the scalloped cranberry panel to the moss insert with foam tape. I planned to put the ribbon on the side with the panel only but then the ribbon ends would show on the back, which is the inside of the note where you write. So I wrapped it around the whole thing, putting the ribbon ends under the cranberry panel.

Finally, I stamped leaves onto the insert with moss and olive ink.

When I close the envelope, I hold it closed with a shaped clip from bronze hodgepodge hardware as well as tucking the envelope tip into the folded diamond pocket.

TIPS (based on things I changed from the instructions): After folding the paper, the edges do not align perfectly; I adhered the layers together, then trimmed the edges. Be sure to stick the adhesive between the layers while the envelope is folded (as much as possible, when you open the envelope the layers shift). I cut the insert a bit smaller, 5.5x7.5" so there would be a border of patterned paper showing on all sides, not just the left and right sides. I folded both sides in the diamond shape because I liked it symmetrical.

RECIPE
Paper: retired rose DSP, moss, vanilla and cranberry crisp cardstock
Stamps: wild rose, carte postal
Ink: cranberry crisp, old olive, mellow moss, creamy caramel, close to cocoa
Accessories: Nestabilities, ivory sheer ribbon, foam tape, 1 1/4" circle punch, bronze hodgepodge hardware oval clip, sponge. All products SU!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Snowman Gift Card Holder

I seriously hated the project that used to be in this space so I am doing a new gift card project  right over the old one. This one is so much better. I was hesitant at first to use a card stock colour I pretty much never touch, Taken with Teal, but I decided to try the Colour Challenge 196 this week on Splitcoast Stampers. The other colours were Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and white.

This gift card holder style has been floating around the blog world for a while. Basically you take a simple long card fold, glue the sides and add a tag inside to hold a gift card. I random stamped the pocket for the gift card holder in baja breeze with the same colour ink. It measures 4.25 x 11" scored at 5.5". If you want to stamp both sides, I recommend you do it first, before adhering. (A post on Random Stamping will follow in a couple days.)
Use red line or other very sticky adhesive to close the sides and form a pocket. Be sure to leave the short end open! Make your tag. I think mine measured about 2.75x4". Be sure it will fit into your pocket before decorating just in case your glue took up more width than you thought! (Also do not start your tag decorations  until you continue to read the directions!) Even though I had measured and left extra ease, it is still a snug fit. The more layers the tag has, the more 'ease' you will need.

Before adhering your layers, be sure to use a slit punch or Basic Grey notching tool to create little flaps to hold your gift card. I suppose you could trace something and use an X-acto knife if you don't have either. Since you do not want your gift card flaps to show on the decorated side of your tag, plan around these slits! Do not put adhesive on them from the other side either. It's all in the planning folks. If it sounds hard, it isn't, you just have to do everything in the right order.The photo below shows the 'gift card' in place on the back of the tag. Yeah, I know I isn't really a gift card! Miscut Nestie shape to the rescue!
I stamped the white panel with the snowmen using Adirondack ink  and coloured them in with Copics, colours I used are in the photo. Once I finished everything else, I realized the pocket was way too plain. I dressed it up with a medallion made from teal and white CS, adhered with foam dots, cut with Nestabilities. The star is from the snowman set, on riding hood red CS stamped with the same colour ink and cut out. The sentiment is also from the snowman set, stamped in the same black ink. Finally I dressed up the tag with an eyelet and fibre. TIP: if you are going to use a really large eyelet, plan to leave extra space on your tag beyond your layers or make sure your top layer leaves enough space so your stamped image isn't going to be partially covered by the eyelet.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE: Paper: Baja breeze, white, taken with teal and riding hood red CS Stamps: Snowflakes, It's Snow Time Ink: Adirondack pitch black, baja breeze, riding hood red Accessories: Copic markers, foam dots, Nestabilities, fibre-unknown, jumbo eyelet-We R Memory Keepers, corner rounder punch

Happily Ever After

I haven't used this stamp set in ages. The images are so small and my tastes have changed so it sits on the shelf. However, this sketch suits little images. Splitcoast Sketch Challenge SC205.

I started with so saffron DSP from last year on a standard chocolate card base. Fortunately, a lovely blogger Dannie figured out the dimensions for the three panels! She included sizes for both the panel and a mat, I just used the mat size because I couldn't decide what colour to use as a mat but later I wished I had matted the saffron panels for visual interest. Anyway, I stamped the little wedding car on vanilla and cut it and the scalloped chocolate mat with Nesties. I used a combination of Copics, SU! markers and a silver gel pen to colour the image.

I added a chocolate ribbon across the card and tied a second ribbon around it for a tie. You all know that trick right? TIP: Tie a small ribbon around one stretched across the card, adhered at both ends, instead of tying one ribbon from the left with one from the right together for a tie. That way you can adjust the tie easily if it isn't exactly where you want and you don't have to struggle to get it tight enough either, holding one finger in the middle while you tie it a second time. If you are mailing the card, the tie isn't so lumpy either because you only need to tie it once, not twice! 2nd TIP: The thicker the ribbon, the more slack you should leave when adhering the first ribbon to your card or when you add the tie, it will be to tight and pull the card front into a curve. Ask me how I know!

I used black foam dots to adhere the car layers to the card over the ribbon. Now it looked way too boring. This is where the trouble started! I got out my flourish stamp from Autumn Leaves and stamped it in close to cocoa ink. Well, the stamped image was spotty at best. The ink didn't adhere well and puddled in spots, leaving others with no ink at all. Ughhhhh! So I tried stamping over it. Nope, didn't line it up right. So I ended up taking the top two panels off, recutting them and restamping. Before I restamped I tried to condition the stamps by sanding them. The test stamp on the dull side of the chipboard that comes with scrapbook paper looked OK so I stamped it in chocolate, this time on the card. Helped but not enough. Dang it! I am guessing the difference is the absorbency or surface texture of one paper vs the other. So I ended up using a chocolate marker to go over the areas where the spotty ink problem was most prominent. I still thought it needed something at the bottom but I was hesitant to add another flourish. So I went with the sentiment that goes with the little car; I rather like that font. Now I am relatively happy with it. Hope you think it is at least OK. In case you noticed, I swear the ribbon was trimmed perfectly at one point. I must have brushed the angled cut end the wrong way, rats! Don't yajust love the country song "(It Doesn't Have to Be) Perfect" by Sara Evans!

RECIPE

Paper: chocolate chip, very vanilla cardstock, so saffron DSP Stamps: elegant flourishes by autumn leaves, Greetings Galore Ink: Stazon brown, chocolate chip
Accessories: chocolate ribbon, black foam tape-unknown, silver gel pen-unknown, Copic markers, SU! Markers. All supplies SU! unless otherwise noted.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Tea Gift Set

This is just a quick post because I want to enter this photo in a challenge. Splitcoast gallery stopped uploading for me so here goes.

This is a double pocket bag; instructions from Splitcoast Stampers. The bookmark is created from a piece of cardstock longer than you can see, it is folded over in back and there are magnets between the folded section and the front.  This helps the bookmark stay inside the book.

RECIPE:
Paper: white confetti cardstock and scrapbook paper
Ink: not sure but probably either chocolate chip or stazon brown and close to cocoa
Stamps: Stampington except tiny coffee cup-unknown
Accessories: Basic Grey Magnets, brown grosgrain and satin ribbons, pink watercolour crayon, Prima flowers, rhinestones-unknown. All Products SU! unless otherwise noted.