Up until this week, anyways!  Brrrrr… temperatures have dropped and already, I can’t wait until summer!

So, to warm up our spirits and brighten up our days until it arrives, I have a bright and cheery colour challenge to share with you!

Doesn’t that make you feel warm and fuzzy?

Here’s a layout created with this colour palette:

I stamped images on patterned papers, using black ink and the Colorful Companions and Wishing You Sunshine stamps sets.

Hope this colour challenge inspired (and warms!) you, too!

Sometimes you just need to create for the sake of creating. I have an art journal that I use for this purpose, but I haven’t cracked it open for quite some time now. I was really beginning to feel a need to play with inks, paints and Glimmer Mists, so I decided that it would be fun to try a few mixed media techniques on canvas.

Here’s a step by step-tutorial of how I created my canvas:

Start with an 8 x 8″ canvas. Mine had paint on it already, but as you can see, I covered it completely by painting the sides with pinkish Ecoline and by adhering random pieces of old dictionary pages to the front of the canvas with gel medium:

Once the gel medium is (almost) dry, grab a few vibrant colours of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (I used Pink Bubblegum, Cosmos, Pumpkin Pie and Mustard Seed) and spray the whole surface with it:

Set the canvas aside to dry. You can speed up the drying process with a heat gun, but I let the puddles of Mist dry overnight before I got on to the next step.

Use the myStamp BOX Border Lines set to create the word ‘LOVE’ on a piece of cardboard. Use the corner shape for the ‘L’, the heart for the ‘O’, manipulate the corner shape to form the ‘V’ and then take the same shape to create the ‘E’, by covering parts of with masking tape. Make all of the letters approximately the same hight as the heart:

Use a black pen to tidy up the parts where the letters were elongated:

Cut out the letters and colour them with Ranger Distress Ink Broken China. Emboss them with clear embossing powder:

Stamp another heart. Cover the open heart with Ranger Distress, like the other letters and spray the closed one with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Dragonfly and Chalkboard Peacock. Coat it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam Chandelier. Adhere the two hearts together with foam squares:

Time to tackle the canvas again:

Stamp on the canvas. I used the following sets: myStamp BOX Graphic Borders, Colorful Companions, Itty Bittys and Abundant Blossoms.

Spruce up some chipboard buttons (these are from Graphic 45) with Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Glam and adhere them to the canvas with gel medium:

Grab a piece of heavy cardstock and stamp it with the word ‘YOU’ using the myStamp BOX Blueberry Alphabet. Colour the cardstock letters with Ranger Distress Ink Crushed Olive:

Adhere all the letters to the canvas with foam squares. Take the tiny flowers from the myStamp BOX Funky Flowers set and stamp a few of them here and there. Splatter a little bit of Glimmer Mist and as a final touch ink the corners of the canvas with teal ink:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you feel inspired to create a canvas of your own, please link it up in the comments below. We would love to see it!

Well today I am going to show you how to make a quick and easy card that I think still has impact.

1. Make a standard A2 card with white cardstock.

2. Use post-it notes to mask off the front of the card.

3. Stamp a butterfly image from Colorful Companions on the unmasked area.

4. Peel off the post-its and draw lines above and below the stamped area.

5. I stamped a greeting from Mention It but any sentiment from any collection could be used.

6.I then coloured in my images using Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol but you could colour using any type of medium.

I’m sure that you could find some time in your busy schedule to make a card using this recipe and brighten someone’s day!

Today, I want to share a canvas that I created, after reading this quote:

“Every artist was first an amateur.”  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It felt good to get inky and painty!  It’s been so long since I’ve worked with any mixed media so I eased into it with a small 4″x4″ canvas:

I covered the canvas with gesso and let dry.  Then, I gathered all sorts of goodies for my collaged background:  sewing patterns, book paper, punched cardstock, tissue paper – stamped with Staz On and Colorful Companions.  Using gel medium, I attached all of the bits and liberally covered it all with a thick coat.  Once dry, I used mists and paint to add colour to the background.

Using white and black acrylic paint and my Backgrounds stamps, I stamped the corners of the canvas.

Using a dye based ink, I stamped a butterfly from the Colorful Companions set onto white glossy paper and cut it out, adhering it to the canvas with a dimensional glue dot.

The quote was written first in black India ink, using a calligraphy pen nib, and then overtop with a white Sharpie paint pen.

Thanks for looking!

Now the eye is taken right to those elements that have been stamped and given that “wow” factor that I was looking for.

Here is a closeup of the banner that I randomly stamped with a little flower from the Funky Flowers set.

I stamped the heart shaped chipboard piece with a butterfly from the Colorful Companions set. One of my new favourites.

My challenge to you is to use your stamps and some embossing powder on your next project and I hope that you will share it with us.

These are so easy to make on a sewing machine by simply sewing the fabrics together in a strip, strengthening by sandwiching iron on interfacing between the front and back and trimming down to size.  I then stamped my images with a black stazon ink pad and used fabric paints to highlight parts of the stamp. 

I decorated and attached buttons or loop hook fastenings and they’re ready to go.

Here’s a closer look at the details.

The stamps I used for this project are Colorful Companions, Rustic Outlines and Border Lines.  The button on “I wear my heart on my sleeve” has been stamped using a flower from the Funky Flowers set.

including 3 inch squares of patterned paper, MyStampBOX stamps, ink, punches, 2.5 inch squares of cardstock, an acrylic block, scraps of ribbon and a crop o dile.

I glued the patterned paper back to back so the note is double sided.

On one side I left a blank piece of cardstock so that I could write a personalized note:

On the other side I stamped several different images (including images from Colorful Companions, Wishing You Sunshine, Bold Blocks):

A small punched hole for tying some ribbon is the final touch. And here are a bunch of them together:

My kids totally appreciate them and I figure I might as well enjoy making them before they get to be too “cool” for lunchbox notes from Mom

It’s Sue and I’m going to share a fun tutorial to make this quick and easy hostess gift.

To start, you’ll need patterned paper scraps; a sheet of coordinating cardstock (8.5 x 11 or 12 x 12); a scoring board or blade trimmer and stylus; scissors, your favourite myStamp BOX stamps; coordinating inks; punches; a strong wet adhesive; dimensional foam adhesive; twine or ribbon.

Start by cutting your cardstock to 4.75″ x 10.5″  This will create a box that is slightly larger than 3″ x 3″ x 0.75″.  Turn your cardstock as shown below.  Beginnning at the left side, score your cardstock at 2.5″, 3.25″, 6.5″ and 7.25″.

Turn your cardstock and score at 0.75″ and 4″.

Fold along scored lines and crease sharply, using a bone folder or the edge of a ruler.  Turn your cardstock so it is lengthwise and cut along the scorelines just to the vertical lines.

Repeat on both sides.

Using your border punch, trim the 2.5″ flap at the end of the cardstock, as shown:

Using your patterned paper, cut the following: 2 pieces that measure 3″ x 3″ and 4 pieces that measure 3″ x 0.75″.  You will also need two pieces for the sides of the lid that are 0.75″ wide and one that is 3″ wide – the length of both will depend on the punch that you used.  Attach them to the cardstock and assemble your box, using a strong adhesive.

I punched a circle from patterned paper and stamped it with the “just for you” sentiment from the Itty Bittys stamp set.  On a scrap piece of white cardstock, I stamped and embossed a butterfly from the Colorful Companions stamp set.  I cut out the butterfly and attached to the side of the circle just down the middle.  I then folded up the wings for a bit of dimension.

I added a line of foam adhesive horizontally to the back of the circle and attached it to the box.  I then wrapped twine around the box several times, sliding it under the circle and tied it in a bow.  Voila!

I also created very simple, coordinating 3″ x 3″  cards to slide inside the box.

I used the Border Lines, Colorful Companions and Symbols stamp sets

The sentiments (from left to right) read:  ”You Make My Heart Flutter”, “You’re SWEET!” and “You’re tea-riffic!”

This project can be adapted to house any size of card or occasion.

Cheers!

This mini proved to be just that so I had to find cunning ways to use my favourite stamps on pages which are only three inches by three inches.

This is the cover page and the butterfly from the Colorful Companions set, has been stamped onto shrink plastic. It’s only half an inch wide but has lost none of it’s detail.

On this first page I really wanted to use the Mini Pennants stamps so when cutting them out I left a small tab at the top which I folded over and threaded some coloured thread through them so I could wind them around the two pages allowing them to poke out of the page in a couple of places.

Stamping onto acetate also allowed me to make my own overlays and kept the pages free from bulky embellishments.  It keeps the finished look light and uncluttered. I attached my overlays using Helmars Scrap Dots as it dries clear. Incidentally you can compare the butterfly with the one on the front page – it’s the same one!

On these two pages I’ve used the Snapshot stamp set for the photo corners, camera (again stamped onto acetate) and the sentiments.  The tiny size is absolutely perfect here.

On this final page I’ve again used shrink plastic with the Seal It stamps to make the flower centre. Compare the shrink plastic version with the stamps on the right for an idea of the shrink ratio.  You can clearly see how the full sized stamps could have swamped the page.

I hope you enjoyed my mini and it gave you one or two ideas for making your own.

Rebecca and Agata are here to put some color into your world! We’ve teamed up for this challenge and chose to make some layouts using a great stamp set: Colorful Companions which is all about butterflies! Here’s Rebecca’s beauty:

She took only one stamp from that set, stamped it numerous times in colors that matched her patterned papers. Then she cut out all those butterflies and pop-dotted them on her layout for some dimension. Rebecca has purposely chosen the butterfly with a simple shape as she knew she would be cutting out a lot of them!

As for me I used almost all stamps from the set to create a patterned paper of my own. I used some chalk and pigment inks which was useful since I’ve embossed two images with an iridescent embossing powder.

Depending on ink’s color this technique gives different effect. Here are some close-ups:

Hopefully those layouts will inspire you to take out this beautiful stamp set and get inky!

&

I came across some wonderful resist techniques and had to try them out.

One of our partner companies is Clear Scraps and their clear acrylic shapes are perfect for some alcohol ink treatments.

I first used my ink tool and felt pad to apply the alcohol ink over the surface of the shape. Using an archival ink pad (this is important – it MUST be archival for the technique to work but the colour isn’t important), I stamped the butterfly from the Colorful Companions set onto the alcohol ink background.  I then took a piece of kitchen paper and carefully dabbed off the archival ink (don’t rub or you’ll smear the image) which takes  the alcohol ink off with it. Keep dabbing until you’ve taken off as much as possible, then and only then, carefully buff over the image to make it really appear. To make it pop out I backed the clear acrylic piece with white card.

In this second resist, I first clear embossed the butterflies all over some glossy white card.  

Using the inking tool and felt pad, I covered the entire piece of cardstock with alcohol ink, really working it into the negative spaces in the butterflies.

Once that was dry, which took less than a minute, I placed a clean pad on my inking tool and squirted blending solution onto it. Carefully I dabbed the blending solution over the butterflies to remove ink.  You could also use a piece of kitchen paper or a cotton bud to be even more precise about it.

 If you end up taking off some of the alcohol ink from around the image just re-ink that area again.

Here are the finished results.

I’ve put together a mood board to emphasize my point.

So here are a few projects using the colours I’ve chosen.

 Now it’s your turn.

I want to share this card, using a very simple resist technique.

I stamped the glossy cardstock with the Colorful Companions stamps using Versamark ink and heat embossed the images with clear embossing powder.  Then using my Clearsnap stylus and pigment ink in orange and pink, I added ink directly over the stamped images, building colour in layers.  I then buffed the stamped images with a paper towel to remove the ink from the embossed images and to blend and soften the background colours further.  I stamped the sentiment on twill ribbon, using Tim Holtz distress ink and the Straightforward stamp set.

And voila!

Thanks for visiting – enjoy your weekend!

(ink, a MyStampBox circle stamp from the Border Lines collection, an acrylic block and paper). First ink half of the circle:

Stamp the first half circle at the edge where you want your border to begin:

Next, re ink half the stamp and line it up next to the last image.

Continue stamping half circles until you have completed your border and you have a fun addition to your layout or card:

Thanks for stopping by!

Gladys has worked with the Colourful Companions stamp set. She has created these lovely cards and tooth picks for us.

Later this week Gladys will share a tutorial with us.

I love the simple layouts and colours Gladys has used for her projects…

Happy Stamping!

Here are Isha’s tips:

1.Use an old mouse pad under the paper before stamping with clear stamps. It will give a better stamped image but don’t use it while using stamps with lots of empty space as when you ink such stamps, some ink transfers to the empty space and since mouse-pad gives more cushion, it will ink your card where you don’t want .

2. Use water based markers from your kids stash to color the background stamps, spritz a little water and stamp for a lovely background effect.

Great ideas Isha, thanks for sharing these. At the last ScrapFest in Kitchener in April, Allison and I were offering make and takes with  the markers on stamps technique on our “Colourful Companions” set. This creates some beautiful effects.

Isha, please e-mail me directly at bettina@mystampbox.com and send me your address. I will put a set of “Snapshot” in the mail for you.

Our Design Team will share more stamping tips in the next few days. Make sure to check these out!

Happy Stamping,

I really like to come up with fun ways to use my stamps on something other than paper… One of the materials that I love especially is shrink plastic. With shrink plastic I can have these lovely butterflies from the Colorful Companions set around me all day!

For this particular necklace I stamped the Colorful Companions onto frosted ShrinkyDinks with StazOn (Mustard, Rusty Brown and Blazing Red). When I cut the images out, I made sure I left a white outline. The last step was to make holes in the wings of each butterfly with a Crop-A-Dile (largest hole) and then the images were ready to be shrinked!

I always shrink the plastic in my oven, following the instructions on the ShrinkyDinks package. You could use a heat tool too, if that’s what you prefer! Leave the shrinked pieces to cool for a bit and then you can adhere them to your bracelets, earrings and necklaces!

Have fun and make some custom jewelry!

Marsha.

This week I’m challenging you to use this sketch:

Don’t forget… a sketch is just a starting point so the sky’s the limit in how it inspires you!  You can even use it for a layout.  Try stretching it or center it with in your page.

Here are a few cards I created using my sketch this week…

Just a Little HelloStamp sets used: Floating Leaves, Oval Office, Funky Flowers

Check out my blog on how I created my autumn leaves on this card!

HELLO Tags

Stamp sets used: Road Trip,  Royal Flush, Floating Leaves

I rotated the sketch for my tag card.

Butterflies

Stamp sets used: Colorful Companions, Funky Flowers, Repeat After Me

So grab some stamps and the sketch above and let’s see what you can create with them!  Happy stamping!

I took different sizes of envelopes, punched their borders and stamped using my favorite sets and inks.

It’s quite easy to shape those into little bags where small candles can be put either on their own or in small recipients (which may be better for safety reasons). Anyway, I’m just looking forward to putting them on my balcony.

Wishing you plenty of warm days in your part of the world,

Stamps used: Pennants, Funky Flowers, Graphic Borders, Colorful Companions

We’re thrilled to be sharing some fun projects with you today.  We tried to think of different products to use our stamps on because normally we stamp on paper.  So we, Jaine and I (Cari) gave ourselves the challenge of stamping on anything BUT PAPER. I admit it was a bit difficult trying to come up with a variety of things to use but we did it!

First off, Jaine made this fabulous card by stamping into black polymer clay in a beige coloured chalk ink. After it baked she rubbed the chalk ink over the surface just to take the shine off the clay and make it look more like fragments of black stone.  The stamps she used were from the Funky Flowers, Repeat after Me and Wishing you Sunshine stamp sets.

For this next sample I used felt as my stamping source.  I stamped on the large turquoise flower with black pigment ink using Funky Flowers and then stamped again with turuqoise pigment ink on the small cream rectangle shape using Seal It stamp set.

This third example Jaine created another card that has been stamped using a red pigment ink and the Wishing You Sunshine stamp set onto a piece of denim.  The red card mat has also been stamped using the Repeat after Me stamp set.

Using some a transparency for my “non” paper source I stamped a sentiment using Stazon ink in black from the Oval Office-Small Box set. This would make a great Father’s Day card.

The third card that Jaine created (which she says is her favorite!) has been stamped onto shrink plastic using a black Stazon and the Border Lines stamp set.  The shrink plastic pieces were torn rather than cut and coloured with Adirondak ink before shrinking. Tearing the shrink plastic makes it look more like fragments of sea glass. (I love the tearing idea!)

The last two cards that I created I stamped on canvas with pigment inks in Peony and Pink, Dark Moss and Moss Green using the Funky Flowers stamp set. I really like how the images turned out on the canvas too. The second card I used Colorful Companions and Oval office – Small Box stamp sets on the canvas.

And here’s one last card from Jaine where she stamped on the button and then embossed it. She also stamped on the ribbon as well. Fabulous! She used Funky Flowers stamp set.

WE hope that you have enjoyed our projects and have encouraged you to try different ways to use your stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

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