When I’m making a card I like to pick a technique that I’m going to use as I find this cuts down my “stuffing around” time a lot and gives me a bit of focus.  This time I decided I’d take one of my own challenges (I set weekly challenges for my team that way anyone who is bored of what they’re doing can have somewhere to start).  My starting point was to use my favourite background technique and this is stamping, crumpling and inking (sometimes I spritz too).  I like the way this card has turned out, okay it’s not earth-shatteringly different but I like it.

Here are the products I used to make it:

All products by Stampin’ Up! and available for ordering through me.

Art Of Life stamp set (this is a hostess set and can only be earned through purchase/sales)
Bravo Burgundy cardstock and matching inkpad
Elegant Eggplant cardstock
More Mustard cardstock and matching inkpad
Very Vanilla cardstock
So Saffron inkpad
Watercolour crayons (Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive)
Mini Gable Boxes & Tags (I only used the little square bits out of this)
Gold brads
Gold cord

I also made an insert for the card.  Just click on the thumbnail to see it full size.

For the insert I stamped the branch from The Art of Life stamp set using watercolour crayons.  The “Thinking Of You” message is from the Elegant Greetings stamp set.

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I just made this card. 

It’s inspired by a card that was displayed at a Stampin’ Up! convention so I don’t know who the originator was.  I’ve used different stamps and layering from the original.

© Stampin Up 1990-2006

I think it’s simple and fresh looking, just something to brighten up someone’s day.

The technique used here is “Poppin’ Pastels” which is where you stamp with Versamark ink and then colour over the Versamark using chalks.  It’s a very simple technique but I still find myself going back to it time and time again as it can give you a different look each time depending on the stamps and colours you use.  It can be vintage or elegant or fun and also great for doing backgrounds.

The materials I’ve used here are all from Stampin’ Up! and are available for purchase through me.

Only Orange cardstock
Pixie Pink cardstock
Green Galore cardstock
Tempting Turquoise cardstock
Whisper White cardstock
Stampin’ Pastels®
Versamark Inkpad
Apple Green grosgrain ribbon
Blue Gingham Ribbon
Stampin’ Dimentionals®
1 1/4″ Square Punch
1 3/8″ Square Punch

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Okay, isn’t this just the cutest idea?  Goodness! I sound so American. LOL… been watching too much of the kids TV I think.  But still, it’s cool isn’t it?  I only wish it was my idea – not sure where it’s from, maybe www.splitcoaststampers.com?  So if you’ve seen this before and you know where it originated, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.

Anyway, I think these little gifty things are just great for so many occasions: Hang them on the Christmas tree, give them as party favours, fill them with some Lindt Chocolate for your children’s teachers, maybe a nice necklace or bracelet or little bath oils, whatever… the ideas are endless.  And the coolest thing is that they are sooo easy and quick to make.  So this is what you do.  You start with these items:
One stamp set: I used Little Pieces from Stampin’ Up! because it’s a great year-‘round set… even thought I’ve used it to make little Christmas gifts it’s not a Christmas stamp set – I just used the star stamps in it with red and green inkpads to give it a Christmas feel.  The stamp set also has hearts and flowers in it so it’s great to use for other occasions too.  You also need a cello bag, I used the medium sized cello bag from Stampin’ Up! but it’s a little big so next time I’ll try the small one.  A door hanger, yes a door hanger(!) that’s what it’s actually made from :) also a bone scorer and metal ruler plus two inkpads of your choice – I’ve used Real Red and Green Galore and ribbon.  Oh, and a hole punch too – I forgot to photograph that. So you take your door hanger and stamp all over it with your choice of stamps and inkpads.

Then you turn it over and make 3 scores on the back (I couldn’t photograph this as I needed an extra hand) – you score about 1cm down from the bottom of the hole of the door hanger then leave a space of about 1.5cm and make another score plus one more score across the top of the door hanger about 1cm from the very top.  Turn your door hanger over and fold it where the score lines are.  Fill your cello bag with whatever gift you like – I’ve used a Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Spot and Incentive Stamp in the first gift bag and then M&Ms in the next.  Place the cello bag in the folded door hanger and then holding it closed, make a hole at the top with the hole punch and thread the ribbon through and tie into a knot or bow. That’s it!  Simple, huh?  And only takes a few minutes to make.  Try one, you’ll find their actually very addictive to make.

All products used are by Stampin’ Up! (except for the metal ruler)
Gift bags made by Angela Sargeant (original source of idea unknown)
Products used:
Whisper White Door Hangers & Tags (tags not used in this project)
Little Pieces stamp set
Real Red Inkpad
Green Galore Inkpad
Medium sized Cello Bags
Bone Folder
Red Gingham Ribbon
Metal RulerTo order products or ask any questions regarding this project please e-mail me: angelasargeant@gmail.com

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Okay now that sounds weird, LOL… but it’s just a cool technique to get a different look from your alphabet stamps.  I’ve got here an example of a few different ways of using your alphabet – and there’s a heck of a lot more ways but I’ll save those for another time.

So what I’ve done here is stamped my name using the Headline Alphabet stamp set by Stampin’ Up! first just using some dye ink then then under that I stamped the same thing but using a Versamark inkpad and heat embossed the letters using gold embossing powder.  After that I stamped the my name with black ink on white cardstock and then again on a separate piece of white cardstock using a red inkpad, the red letters were cut out and then adhered on top of the black letters slightly off centre to create a shadow effect.  The last example is called “kissing”.  I inked up my Weathered background stamp (there’s that background again!) and then ‘kissed’ the background with the alphabet stamp – that is, I pressed the uninked alphabet stamp onto the inked up background and then stamped onto some Creamy Caramel cardstock and then cut out the letters and adhered them to the black cardstock.  To define the letters I also ran the edges of the cut out stamped letters across the inkpad to give some extra colour.  That’s it!  Better than buying sheets of alphabet stickers where you’re always going to run out of popular letters   Stay tuned for more ways to use these very versatile alphabet stamps.

All products by Stampin’ Up!
All products can be purchased by ordering from Angela Sargeant – angelasargeant@gmail.com

For more information on the above techniques, please e-mail me on angelasargeant@gmail.com.

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This week I thought I’d focus on stamping in scrapbooking.  Even though I’ve been stamping for a long time and scrapbooking for about 3 years I never really put the two together until recently.  This is a layout that I made for a friend of mine for her birthday.  The photos were taken at her husband’s birthday which was a Wild West Murder Myster Dinner Party which was a huge success and heaps of fun!  But I won’t go into that now. Hehehehe.

The background cardstock is Mellow Moss and I used the ‘Weathered’ background on the left hand side to add interest.  I love using the Weathered background stamp as it’s great for so many things – great for masculine cards, heritage scrapbooking layouts and looks really really beautiful with flowers for a shabby chic look.  Over the top of the Weathered background I stamped the star from the ‘Artifacts’ stamp set three time down the side and inserted Antique Brass brads to the centre of each star.  Again, this is a really versatile stamp set that I use often – I’ve used it for masculine cards, heritage layouts and the star stamp looks great on Christmas cards.  The photos have been layered onto Close To Cocoa cardstock then layered again onto Very Vanilla cardstock.  I distressed the Very Vanilla cardstock by running my nail around the edges and creasing them then I edged the cardstock with Tim Holtz Antique Linen inkpad (very kindly donated to me by Buzz and Bloom).  To make the transition between the background stamp and the photos I layered some Stampin’ Up! scrapbooking paper (Simply Scrappin’ Vintage Keepsakes) which I tore down the side and also rolled a wheel stamp over.  The wheel stamp I used is also by Stampin’ Up! and called “Size it Up”.  Not sure if you can see it well in the scan or not but Size It Up is a vintage-looking ruler – great for school layouts, cards for teachers, cards for men into building/renovation, and heritage layouts.  Up the top of the layout I’ve used my favourite Stampin’ Up! alphabet stamps – they’re called “Collage Alphabet”… now this I have used heaps!  Extremely versatile and always interesting looking.  Hmmm, what else? I’ve used photo turns or photo anchors, whatever you like to call them, to anchor down the photos.  Down the bottom I’ve used an oval bookplate, behind it I’ve stuck a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock which I stamped with the Weathered background then written over it then I’ve tied some Natural Hemp to the sides to continue with the cowboy-type theme.  Lastly I edged the whole layout by dragging the Creamy Caramel inkpad around the outside of it so it didn’t look so clean-cut.  Not the most complex of layouts I know, but I really wanted the photos to be highlighted and I think it’s a good example of stamping in scrapbooking.

All products by Stampin’ Up! (except where noted)
Layout by Angela Sargeant
All Stampin’ Up! products available for purchase from Angela Sargeant (angelasargeant@gmail.com)

Creamy Caramel inkpad
Bravo Burgundy inkpad
Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress inkpad
Mellow Moss cardstock
Very Vanilla cardstock
Simply Scrappin’ scrapbooking paper: Vintage Keepsake
Natural Hemp
Weathered background stamp
Artifacts stamp set
Collage Alphabet stamp set
Antique Brass Hodgepodge (brads, photo anchors, oval bookplate)
Stampin’ Write marker: black (for journalling)

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This week’s technique is Direct To Rubber.  Most rubber stampers know that you can colour directly on to a stamp using markers rather than an inkpad, however most of the time this is reserved for solid stamps and certainly for much smaller stamps than I’ve used here in this example.  I made this card for a friend and I used the On The Spot background stamp, this background stamp is actually 105mm x 148mm in size – large enough to cover a standard-sized card.  Colouring Direct To Rubber simply means that you colour the image using markers so that you can get different colours on different sections of your stamp, the markers are double-sided and I used the brush side of the marker to do colour.  Usually when you do this, you need to “huff” (breathe heavily) onto the rubber after colouring it to moisten the colour in case it’s dried on the rubber whilst colouring – then you stamp onto your cardstock.  In this case, and I’m not sure why (maybe it’s the Stampin’ Up! markers? maybe it’s the type of rubber that Stampin’ Up! use? or maybe even the Whisper White cardstock since it’s ultra smooth?) but I didn’t need to huff at all – the colouring was quick and easy and the impression I got from stamping was perfect.  I love the fact that I can get those great dotty circles in different colours and another bonus is that if you do happen to have missed a spot you can always fix it very easily using the fine point side of the marker.  After stamping my background, I randomly stamped the dotted flower onto a strip of pink cardstock (all colours listed below) using ink in the same colour as the cardstock.  This was adhered across the bottom of the card then I attached a green ribbon across the centre of that.  Using the Happy Birthday stamp from the “All-Year Cheer II” set, I stamped Happy Happy Birthday in Green on a piece of white cardstock.  This was trimmed down then layered onto a piece of green cardstock then pink (slightly skewif) then mounted onto the bottom right hand corner as shown.  The beauty of the All-Year Cheer II set is that in one stamp set you get a variety of sentiments that you can use the whole year ’round – apart from Happy Birthday there’s also a Father’s Day sentiment, Mother’s Day, Thank you, I miss you, You’re Invited, Celebrate (which you can use for lots of occassions) and more – 12 stamps all in one set.  Very versatile!  Back to stamping. To finish off my card I stamped the word Fun from the “Sweet Spots” set using green on white cardstock (notice this stamp is debossed instead of embossed which means the outer circle will be in whatever colour your ink is and the word Fun will be in whatever colour your cardstock you are stamping on is).  I then punched out the stamped circle using the half-inch circle punch and mounted that onto my card using some double-sided foam tape.  I also stamped the word “Sweet” up the top right hand corner.  I wanted to highlight this word so I stuck a clear flat button with gold thread threaded through over the word Sweet.  Almost done!  Finally I layered the card onto some pink cardstock then onto the green folded cardstock.  Again, seems like it takes a long time when I type it all out but this would be fairly quick to recreate.  The time is in the design!

All images copyright Stampin’ Up!
Card designed by Angela Sargeant
All products used are by Stampin’ Up! and available for purchase through Angela Sargeant
Products Used:
On The Spot background stamp (October 2006 – January 2007 Mini Catalogue)
Sweet Spot stamp set (October 2006 – January 2007 Mini Catalogue)
All-Year Cheer II stamp set (2006 – 2007 Idea Book & Catalogue)
Pixie Pink cardstock and marker (Bold Brights)
Green Galore cardstock and marker (Bold Brights)
Whisper White Cardstock
Clear Button
Gold Thread
Double-Sided Foam Tape
Apple Green Ribbon
1/2 inch circle punch

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Vellum looks so pretty and delicate and yet not many people use it as they’re not sure of how to take advantage of its beautiful transparent qualities or how to attach it to cardstock without glue or tape showing through the back.  Here’s a card I made today using vellum.   As I said, the beauty of vellum is in its transparentness so a great way of colouring vellum is from the back of your stamped image, yep! the back. The reason for colouring from the back is that you get a lovely delicate colouring – you don’t need to use blender pens or watercolour pens, just the markers directly onto the vellum. To make this card I first stamped my image (Natural Beauty stamp set) using Basic Black inkpad from Stampin’ Up! then I left it a few minutes to dry completely.  You can also use StazOn if you like but the Basic Black dries quick enough and we’re colouring from the back so there’s no problem.  After the image had dried, I turned the piece of vellum over and started colouring the back of the image using markers from Stampin’ Up!  First I coloured in the green leaves using Green Galore (you can use the fine end for any slim stalks) then using the brush side of the marker I coloured the shaded areas of the petals and other areas which I wanted to highlight using the Lovely Lilac marker.  I finished off by colouring the rest of the petals with Orchid Opulence.  Turning the vellum over now to the front you can see the colouring looks very professional – had I coloured from the front using markers on their own, it could have ended up looking like pre-school colouring, very harsh.  Next, using the Lovely Lilac marker I then coloured the word ‘Beauty’ from the (word stamp in the same stamp set) “Direct To Rubber” that is, I coloured the rubber using the marker rather than stamping the rubber onto an inkpad.  I then stamped the word ‘Beauty’ on to the bottom of the vellum.  Using the Direct To Rubber method is a good way of stamping only one section of a rubber stamp you want to use.  To add some texture and interest, I tore off the bottom of the piece of vellum then coloured the torn area using the Stampin’ Up! chalk pastels – there was no need to do anything to prepare the vellum or to ‘fix’ the chalk – just apply the chalk using the applicator and it adheres to the vellum beautifully.  Now to show off my stamped flower I wanted a white background so I cut a piece of white cardstock to fit behind the flower then taped this to some Green Galore cardstock which was the same size as the vellum.  I could have used a Xyron to attach the vellum to the cardstock without any glue showing but I wanted to use some ribbon to add some embellishment.  To get the ‘loopless bow’ (or whatever the technical term is, LOL) I punched two small holes in the vellum and cardstock (hold vellum and cardstock together so the holes match up) then I threaded the ribbon through the front of one hole then the other end through the other hole, then threaded them through the back to come out the front again.  I left some ribbon on the back so they don’t totally undo themselves and secured this to the back with some regular sticky tape.  Almost done!  Now for the background.  I inked up the Canvas background stamp using Lovely Lilac marker and stamped that onto a folded piece of Lovely Lilac cardstock (don’t you love the way all the cardstock matches all the inkpads & markers!!!) then randomly stamped the leaf image onto a strip of Opulent Orchid cardstock using the matching marker.  I attached the Opulent Orchid cardstock to the folded card then the stamped vellum piece to the top of that.  That’s it!  It sounds like a lengthy process but it wasn’t really – it was a pretty quick card.

All images copyright Stampin’ Up!
Card designed by Angela Sargeant.
All products by Stampin’ Up! & can be ordered through A. Sargeant
Natural Beauty Stamp Set
Canvas Background Stamp
Basic Black Classic Inkpad
Opulent Orchid Cardstock and Marker
Lovely Lilac Cardstock and Marker
Green Galore Cardstock and Marker
Vellum
Celery Grosgrain Ribbon
Whisper White Cardstock
Stampin’ Pastels (chalk)

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