New TPC Studios Sets

These are some of the new clear kits from TPC Studios.  Especially for scrapbookers who are looking to complete pages of their children's sports activities.  The following kits are available in Football, Baseball, Soccer and Cheerleading (This American company has not made a Hockey set). 

Here are some cute kitchen bits and scribble flowers. 

This kit of scrolls (on the left), has such a nice variety of sizes that I'm sure you"ll find the right one for your project.  The Granda's Attic set includes great designs for your distressed collages.

Last but not least, the lovely fonts and scrolls in this salutations kit can be used simply as a lifted label on printed card stock for a fast card.  Sorry theres no card sample right now, we're still playing catchup.  We'll aim for another blog towards the end of this week.

For those of you who have been dissapointed when trying to register for our fun morning, we have now added a wednesday afternoon class from 1pm to 2:30pm. Please call the store to register, the price is $5 +H.S.T. for this one card class.

Happy Stamping.

New Mini Clear Stamp Kits from KaiserCraft

The following pictures are just some of the new kits from KaiserCraft.  Some of the fonts are extremely delicate and need some practice to find the correct pressure.  You'll find this holds true of many of the polymer stamps.  The best recommendation for ink would be Versafine.  Firstly, this hybrid pigment clings well to the polymer material, unlike straight dye inks; and it also is fine enough to keep the tiny lines clean.

Here are a few Christmas designs to add to your collection.  At $2.98 each you can forgive yourself for splurging on more Christmas stamps.  In particular, the salutations are a very nice size to fit into tight spots. 

The flower cluster and the heart tree are just waiting to be coloured with your choice of colouring medium.  Although they are fairly small, the flower cluster measures 2" x 3", they will still make a nice focal point.  There are even more kits then I have displayed here.  Wonderful scrapbook sentiment 'Treasure These Memories", and more salutation kits. 

Hope your Christmas card designs are coming along as quickly as you've hoped.  Keep us in mind, we still have a store full of Christmas stamps.

Happy Stamping.

Think Spring! It'll be back before you know it!

This is a card that was done in class, and we had a recent request to put it up on the blog.  The back single card (blue panel) is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and the parchment card tri-fold is 5 1/2" x 10 1/2" (scored at 3 1/2" intervals).  The branch was stamped multiple times with Versafine's Sepia and we've used the bushy branch from the kit below. The small verse is from Impresssion Obsession. With the first two panels folded together, we used a Whale Of  A Punch Oval. Feed the punch in from the top as far as it will go, and punch through the two layers at once. Pencil through the open oval onto the third panel to frame where the verse will sit. 

Using the McGill Botanicals Bird punch, punch out several robins using different colours of velvet paper.  Don't forget to punch some of them from the backside of the velvet so you can change the direction that the bird is facing.  The tree kit below is called 'Delicate Branches' from Inkadinkado.  We used the top branch in this set.  We added green colour with a Sakura's Metallic pen.  With the parchment folded as shown, attach to the back blue panel.  I hope this helps, Esther. :)

Sorry for the delay.  We've been busy with Workshops and our visit from Stacy Rich of Stacy Stamps. We'll see you again shortly. Happy Stamping.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Cards!

I made the easel card below with Hero Arts people at CHA in Chicago in July.  The stamp kit is a cling-mount called 'Enjoy the Seasons' and there are 3 snowflakes stamps and the sentiment.  It sells for $12.95.  The shape was made with the Tim Holtz Alterations die from Sizzix called 'Styled Labels'. We used die inks and misted them with a solution of water and pearl coloured Perfect Pearls so that the snowflakes glisten as the ink dries.  A very nice effect for wintry images. The background on the card was made with Hero's 'Magical Background'.  A lovely large cling stamp (4" x 6") covered with dotted scrolls, sells for $11.95.

This is a nice winter village scene from Stamp Barn.  It cuts up easily into three panels for a window-pane look.  The cling version sells for $12.75.  This scene was stamped in Versafine Olympia Green, onto white card stock, and some winter sky was added with blue chalk.  As always, Hero Art's ultra fine Prisma glitter (A.K.A. Stampendous' Multi ultra fine glitter) puts on the finishing touches.

Snow Writer creates wonderful dimensional snow effects and is perfect for any of your winter scenes.  The 2oz bottle sells for $2.69.  There is a foil seal underneath the screw lid and once this seal is opened, you will want to finish using the product within one to two months as it tends harden in the container.  One way of prolonging the lifespan would be to cover the bottle with a saran collar before you put the screw lid back on.  If yours is already dried up, try adding a small amount of water and/or shake it as much as you can, this is a water based product.  The stamp is from Northwoods and the water has been coloured with Twinkling H20's.  The Snow Writer itself dries a mat white so while it is still wet, you'll want to sprinkle on the ultra fine Prisma glitter for the glistening effect.  This stunning card was made by Judy Kennedy.

Martha Stewart's Snowflake Trim punch ($22.95) is a great way to accent any winter card.  The trees below are from Hero Arts.  Unseen by the computer's eye, Louise has used the Snow Writer and glitter again on the trees.

Believe it or not, Christmas will be here before we know it.  Happy stamping.

Awesome Adhesives

Below is the perfect product if you're looking for a lightweight adhesive applicator.  I love how the tape has tiny 1/16" cuts which allows you to stop and start easily.  It has a great tack and likely the most user-friendly dispenser I've ever used.  To protect the tape end for storage, you can easily pop the cartridge out and put it in the dispenser backwards. Right now the 3 pack of replacement cartridges are discounted to $24.95.  A single replacement cartridge sells for $9.95. That's like getting the third one at 1/2 price.

This mother of all tape rolls is the best dimensional tape to raise card layers.  It does not shred when you go to cut it and it is easily doubled for a higher lift.  It will last you awhile, but it is worth investing in.

Kool Tak Micro Dots are the perfect answer to adhere vellum layers or small paper embellishments.  These tiny dots are wonderfully tacky and see-through at the same time.  You would simply press four corners of the vellum layer into the exposed dots and then apply the vellum to the card layer.  As in the picture below, simply place your punched flower onto the exposed dots, burnish gently and peel the flower off the acetate layer and place to card. This is less troublesome than using a glue pen for smaller objects.  

As far as tape runners go, this product really lives up to its name. It is extremely sticky and very easy to use and the right price at $3.50 for 8 yards.  There are no refills for this product. 

You might want to consider these products for your Christmas gift giving.  From stocking stuffers to under the tree presents, glue is both a staple and consumable for all crafters.

Couldn't leave a blog without showing you at least one card.  This is Stamp Barn's Loon.  The bird panel is raised with the foam tape. The background is just torn paper in different colours glued to a background panel and the edges are trimmed.

Happy Thanksgiving, see you next week.

New Deep Edge Punches

Well we blew our perfect record (since august) of posting every week. Although the blog should have gone out before our Anniversary Saturday, I'm still going to use that day as an excuse for being behind.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the well wishes and your support for our continued success. Preamble out of the way, have a look at these great punches by Ek Success, the Garden Trellis is under the Martha Stewart name. 

The card above is our version of a card that Pauline Campbell made for Louise's birthday.  The trellis edge creates a dainty effect and yet is still strong enough for the card to stand. The bird on the front of this card is English Robin by Inkadinkado.

This Palm Leaf deep edge punch creates a nice lacey effect.  As above, consider backing your punched layer with another colour of card stock before layering to a printed paper. The paper is by Kaiser Craft, Utopia Collection, Idyllic.  This card is finished with paper flowers and gemstones.

See you later in the week with this week's blog, Happy Punching.

New JustRite Kits

If you are not familiar with this collection, what they offer are a combination of designed images which fit into frames that can be interchanged. You do need to purchase a different handle for the different shapes and sizes of their stamps. On each of the kit covers at the top left corner, they will state the handle size that you need.  The back of each stamp has an interlocking ribbed grid surface which locks into their handles. Be aware that this system will not allow you to use the stamps with just an acrylic block for the above mentioned reason.

These nested frames work well to layer up a salutation. The rectangle shapes work well with border punches for an additional elegant touch.  In the photo below, they've used Martha Stewart's 'Iron Gate Corner and Border punches'.

These are two of the newer design releases.  The Autumn Blessings has some lovely pictures for fall, a perfect choice for your Thanksgiving cards.

The sample below was made with Backyard Birds.  Note that this is the only Christmas bird in the set, and the rest can be used year round.  The interchangeable pieces to these sets lead to a multitude of possibilities. The Merry Christmas is from Stampabilities and the tiny pine bough is from Art Impressions (cling $4.95).  I really like this tiny bough for creating bigger branches.  I used the Clear Sparkle pen from Sakura to colour the outside ribbon on the largest frame and trimmed the ribbon frame with scissors.