November give-away
November 2, 2009 by Bettina · 80 Comments
Yes, it’s November. Halloween is just over, the candy cupboard is well stocked and we are enjoying our Fall with its pretty leaves and windy walks. Finally more time indoors for games and – naturally – lots of crafts.
I’d like to show some cards that I made when I played with the “Border Lines” set the other day. I call this series of cards “one thing leads to another”, because I started with one card and that inspired me to do the next and so on…
I started with one stamp that is a long skinny border and stamped it repeatedly onto a white card. Then I added a few buttons and this gave me the idea to use buttons as “flower heads”.
Here are the buttons used as flower heads, I added leaves (some are popped up with pop dots) and stitched a frame around the composition. This inspired me to do a “proper” flower:
This card uses the same stitched frame, but also the stem is stitched and only the petals and leaves are stamped.
For this last card I used the arrow stamp for the stem and added petals. A button marks the centre and a scrap piece of paper adds more volume to the flower. Hope you like the cards and my creative process throughout this series.
NOW – over to our new stamp set for November: “Passport to Adventure”. It has lots of fun travel and passport related stamps. Perfect for the documentation of your travels or for a card to wish someone a great trip.
To win the stamp set, you can leave up to two comments, each entry will win you a ballot. You can do one or both of the following:
1. leave a comment, please include your first name and last initial, plus your city/country
2. on a second comment post a link to the place where you have posted about myStampBOX’s blog (on your own blog or in a forum), again you need to include your name and last initial, plus your city/country – Good Luck!
This contest is open until November 14, the winner will be announced on Monday, November 16. Don’t forget to check in if you have been lucky!
Make sure you don’t miss our guest designer Cindy who will visit next Monday! She will bring some fun projects with her.
Not Your Ordinary Title
September 12, 2009 by Tracey · 5 Comments
Title work can sometimes be a challenging page element. Finding just the right words to convery the sentiment of the page is the first hurdle. Trying to display it on the page in an interesting manner is the next one. While I won’t profess to hold all the secrets to great title work, I will share a few pages I have made where I jazzed up a regular title by mixing stamps with pre-made letters and embellishments.
This first example is a simple mix of fonts. Since my title occupies a good size, I decided to use a variety of fonts to make it more pleasing. I stamped the word, “chasing” using the “Casual Upper” set and then used a mix of chipboard and letter stickers in a larger size for the word “bubbles”. Notice the circle of patterned paper under the chipboard letter ‘b’. It is a subtle addition but really serves to add another interesting element in the title. The circle also plays off the bubble theme in addition to tying in the red used in the first part of the title.
In this next example, my title follows the flight trail of a bird. A simple stamped heart from the “He Says, She Says” set is added to the trail and raised with foam squares. It breaks up the trail of mini letters and gives the eye a place to rest.
In the last example, I used a stamped heart as a layer underneath a title of mixed fonts and textures. If you look closely at the word “you”, you will see the heart topped with a button and then the letters on top of that. The letter ‘u’ is even laced around the button holes.
There are several stamps from the “Border Lines” set used on this page.
So there you have three different examples on how to use stamps to jazz up an ordinary title. I would love see different ways you have used stamps in your title work.
Until next time,
More Border Line fun!
June 18, 2009 by Marci · 3 Comments
I think that the entire DT has fallen in love with the Border Lines stamp set. In her recent post, Lecia showed us some amazing and creative ways to use the Border Lines set, and I’ve got a few of my own to show you.
One of the great things about the Border Lines set, is that it gives you the look of “doodling” without the “stress” of actually drawing on your page – LOL. I know so many scrappers who are afraid to doodle because they don’t want to ruin their layout….if you’re one of them, then Border Lines is for you 
On my layout, I used the set twice. First, I used the photo corners stamp to make my own photo mat. Then, I used the straight stamp to make my own border that spans the width of the page. To do that, I just carefully lined up the stamp with the image and kept stamping until I had the length that I wanted.
Instead of using ink, I colored the images using Sakura “Puffy” 3D pens. It gave the page a fun, 3D effect and it was so easy to tie the whole page together because I could pick exactly the colors I needed to match my papers perfectly.
I made my own 3D butterfly embellishments by cutting out some paper butterflies, then stamping images onto them using the Colorful Companions set. I used some Helmar Premium Craft Glue to attach the top butterfly to the bottom butterfly.
I added another 3D element to my page, by stamping my date using the What’s Your Number set. I stamped the images on the same patterned paper that I used as my background, then I cut the images out. Using Helmar Liquid Scrapdots, I attached them to a chipboard piece for another interested element.
But I digress, so let’s go back to our Border Lines set for a moment.
To make this card, I used the photo corners image to create a border all the way around my paper. By just inking one side of the stamp, you can use it to create a straight line instead of a corner.
I added my sentiment using the Many Many Thanks set, and attached my “flower” to the card with Helmar Liquid Scrapdots.
Thanks for Stopping by today. Happy Scrapping!
Marci : )
Stamping On Acrylic
June 10, 2009 by Tracey · 9 Comments
Acrylic was made for stamping. It’s really that simple. At least it is for me. 
Sure acrylic looks great with lace cardstock, trims, rub-ons and the like but there is just somthing about stamping on acrylic that I simply adore. As an example, I created a mini album using a tabbed album from Clear Scraps, one of our product partners this month.
When you are working with an acrylic album, you need to take into consideration how every page is going to show through the previous. For this book, I layered images on three different acrylic pages to create the cover. The first page only has the title on it, “The Story of Us”.
The next page only have the potty people. The third page has the heart. I stamped each image making sure that when the book is closed, the images work together to create a unified front page. At this point, I needed to add some paper to serve as a division and allow me to create the next layered section.
In between the two blue pages in another acrylic page. The stamped people forming the family is the only thing on the acrylic page.
Sure I could have added the whole works to one page, but I like the idea of layering pages and elements to create the whole.
Here is a peek at the last page. The album is actually an anniversary “card” for my husband. Our anniversary isn’t until mid-July so here’s hoping he doesn’t check the blog out before then.
Another thing to keep in mind when stamping on acrylic is that you will need to use Staz-On ink.
Be sure to take a peek at all the wonderful acrylic goodies offered by Clear Scraps and the fantastic adhesives by Helmar. They both pair wonderfully with myStamp BOX stamps.
Stamps used for this project: Border Lines, He Says – She Says, and You Name It.
Have a wonderful day,
border fun…
June 3, 2009 by Leica · 2 Comments
Sorry I am posting so late today. Did lot’s of traveling & teaching this month and now the field trip month has begun at school. So pardon me for my tardiness!
Well I received my brand new stamp set a few weeks ago and I am in LOVE!!!! It is called Border Lines. Can you say WOW WOW WOW!!!!
So since I am a scrapbooker I thought I would use this stamp set more in my scrapbooking. Here’s a few ways I plan on using it…
take the line border and stamp all along 2 edges of cardstock, you now have a perfect place for a title or journaling.
next border: stamp a line again, now hand cut random bumps along one side.
it will look like this when you’ve cut the whole line.
then get out a crop a dile or hole puncher and punch random holes in the center of those bumps.
another border : very simple, just stampin opposite corners. this could work great for cards.
Now let’s make a larger border similar to the one we hand cut, but this time I am going to create it with the circle border stamp.
or do it on 2 sides.
let’s use this same stamp and play with it in cherry red, then instead of punching holes with the crop a dile, I stamped using the buttons out of the same set.
Let’s take a black marker and outline the buttons to make them pop.
then cut out the bumps, leaving a hint of white around the edge. Then take embroidery floss and “stitch” the buttons to make them look real. Then I took one of the borders I made before, I used and attached it to the top of my “cherry loops”
Did you like making these fun & funky borders??? All I know is that I am famous for drawing these all the time freehand, and wow, the time saved is HUGE!!!! Thanks Bettina for designing these fabulous borders. I think you have increased my productivity.
so then I decided to make a card using the same border stamps.
Then stamp a heart on white, mount it on red. I took one of the x border stamps and cut it out to make it look like ribbon. then I stapled the “ribbon” to the heart. I journaled silly sayings to create a background. raised the heart and voila, a lovey card!
want to try another little fun touch?? well Clear Scraps has created some fabulous acrylic shapes to play with, I took the circle stamp again and stamped around the “core” of the flower.
ink edges with Staz On ink to make the flower pop!
well, thanks for joining me on this fun border adventure!
Have a great night!
Leica
check out my blog.
Video Tutorial: Crackling and Distressing
May 25, 2009 by Bettina · 2 Comments
Fiona, our wonderful Guest Designer for May, is back and shares with us her favourite technique. It’s crackling and distressing. The photos below show the cards and card detail and the video follows after (click on the link below the last picture).
The first project is a small wall hanging. The subtle colours are giving it a very calm feeling. Fiona has used the border lines stamp set to create a border for her sentiment. The crackled finish rounds off the distressed look beautifully.
We love the following card for its fabulous vibrant colour combination, the glitter and shimmering crackled finish. Fionah has cut out a part of her card front in the shape of the heart stamp. She used the Colour Me alphabet for her sentiment. The flower and ribbon round off the coulour scheme perfectly. Beautiful card!
Check out the great ink work and gold sparkles that make the card shine:
Click Here to see Fionah explain the crackling and distressing technique on a video
We love Fionah’s work. She is such a talented artist and brings out the best in our stamps Thank you so much for hanging out with us this month, Fiona! You are a great inspiration! Love, Bettina
Thank You so much for the Guest Design opportunity, it has been so much fun playing with your stamps. I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed my projects and tutorial! Bye, Fionah
Don’t be fooled! Announcements and more
April 1, 2009 by Bettina · 34 Comments
Happy April fools’, everyone.
I hope you have enjoyed our first month with many fabulous projects and detailed tutorials from our very talented design team. For this month we have planned more tutorials and got some beautiful projects to show and inspire. On April 15th you can meet this months’ guest designer Lori Roop on this blog and on April 25th she will have a tutorial for you.
We have several new stamp sets in the store: Border Lines, Oval Office, Sigh-Gush-Gasp. We also carry a variety of German stamps and are adding frequently to the selection: Kicher-Seufz, Versiegeltes
For April we have another draw for a stamp set that will go to a lucky winner at the end of the month. It’s called “Border Lines” and is perfect for quirky cards, tags and layouts. For the tags below I stamped directly onto cardboard with StazOn ink and “coloured” the white squares by glueing mini card stock bits on the designs. I added some faux stitching and sentiments from “Small Greetings”. Very simple and effective. I hope you will enjoy working with this set.
To win the Border Lines stamp set, you can leave up to two comments, each entry will win you a ballot, but you can only win one time. You must do one or both of the following:
1. leave a comment, please include your first name and last initial, plus your city/country
2. on a second comment post a link to the place where you have posted about my Stamp BOX’s blog (on your own blog or in a forum), again you need to include your name and last initial, plus your city/country – Good Luck!
This contest is open until April 30, the winner will be announced on May 1st.
The winners of the March 1 contest have posted the following comments:
Congratulations and thanks to all participants for your wonderful responses and good wishes. The lucky winners please e-mail your detailed address to bettina@mystampbox.com and I will get the stamp set in the mail for you.
Love,
Bettina
1. Best wishes for this site! I posted about the blog candy on my blog: Catherine, Montreal, Qc, Canada
2. Hello, I love your blog. I am going to keep it saved in my favorites box. Tanya R from Nepean Ontario, Canada.
3. Congrats on your new site and love the stamps! I’m Shirley VW from Holland Michigan and found your site through Tracey T!