Use Every Stamp Challenge

Hello. My name is Katie, and I am a stampaholic. I love buying cute stamps and sometimes I don't use them before buying new stamps. It is especially true during the holidays. You know all those Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

I have a non-crafty friend who doesn't understand my need for new stamps. She issued a challenge that I use "Every single stamp in your collection" before you buy a new set. I have already failed. I just received "Map Love" and "Tree Hugs" from Concord & 9th, and I am looking forward to playing with these new stamps.

But my friend has a point. I have A LOT of stamps. I should make use of them, or let them go to someone who will. So in the words of Barney Stinson, "Challenge accepted!"

Each week I will feature one stamp company, or illustrator, or theme. I will post all cards on Instagram tagged with #UseEveryStampChallenge and the feature of the week, along with any other tags that seem appropriate.

As I go through the stamp sets, I will find sets that no longer fit my style or needs. I will list these stamps for sale in my Etsy shop. I know I also have a few oops stamps. You know, those items you accidently hit two instead of 1 when purchasing. These will be given away as prizes when I feature the stamp manufacturer.

I know using every stamp will be different for each of you — So want to play?  You can do this challenge along with “The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge”. The 30-day coloring challenge encourages you to color at least 5 minutes a day from February 1 - March 1. I am going to accept that challenge plus I am going to Use Every Stamp I can during that time. I will need to stamp a lot longer than 30 days. Like I said before — I have a lot of sets to go through.

In honor of the Coloring Challenge, this weeks theme is #coloring.

Lawn Fawn, Washi Tape, Copic Markers

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Happy Crafting,

Copic SKETCH 72 PC SET A Markers AAAS72A

Memento TUXEDO BLACK INK PAD Full Size me-900

Lawn Fawn COLOR MY WORLD Clear Stamps LF793

*Crafter's Companion ACRYLIC BLOCK STARTER SET 5 Pack AH05

InLinkz.com

Dragon Dictate Software test A lot of Tags

Dragon Dictate software

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This is a test of the Dragon Dictate software for Mac. I am writing this post in Microsoft Word, then pasting it into blogger. Over the holidays I watched a lot of Hallmark Channel movies. Late night Dragon dictate seems to own the advertising on the Hallmark Channel. I ordered the software because it was inexpensive compared to their regular price and because it looked cool.

My mother bought me the PC version several months ago after seeing an ad on TV. She said I would be able to get more done and post more frequently to my blog. I also think she bought it so she could write on the computer without actually having to type. She doesn't even know how to turn the computer on yet, but with Dragon Dictate she might be able to send emails or letters to her sister in Texas.

So today I am testing it. I don't mind typing, but I'm a much better editor that I am a typist. If I can speak to you and spew all the thoughts in my head then go back and edit the content, it's so much easier for me.

The software has a learning curve. I need to learn how to speak so it can recognize what I say. And it needs to learn what I'm saying and how I speak. When you speak there is a box in the middle of your screen that says, “Recognize Text,” with the text it just recognized. This is slightly annoying but I'd rather speak then type. I can speak a lot faster than I can type.

The software comes with a headset microphone. I must look like I'm at some kind of call center. Small price to pay for not having to type. There's one earpiece, and the microphone is on the same side as the earpiece. The other side has a bar that goes above your ear. I have a ponytail today and every time I take the headphones off the bar gets caught in my hair. Again small price to pay for not having to type.

Tags a lot

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Today's post features tags I made before the holidays. All my holiday tags were put on gifts. But I was in a tag making mood before the gift tags were made and I have several to share.

 

This tag was inspired by Tim Holtz and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. The background is very Tim, and the leaves are very Julie.

This tag is also inspired by Julie and Tim. This time the background features circles that remind me of work. The music and lamppost stamp are both from Tim Holtz. Many of these tags also include postage stamps. The postage on this tag is a Christmas stamp. The wreath on the lamppost was created by me in Illustrator and cut out on the Silhouette SD. The red dots on the wreath are Smoosh ink. (Dragon doesn't like brand names sometimes - I had to type Smoosh).

This tag was an experiment with glue and glitter. I am not a big glitter fan. I won a bunch of glitter from Amy at Mod Podge Rocks, and in the package was a note saying that I would hoard this glitter and Mod Podge but I would use it within 13 years. The Mod Podge has been used several times, but the glitter was harder for me to use at all. A friend of mine calls glitter the herpes of the craft world, "because you can never get rid of it," and I believe it. So this experiment was important as I was testing adhesives to see if they would hold the glitter without it flaking off. The chunky glitter is never going to move. The finer glitter comes off if rubbed, but does not come off if you don't work at it. Thank you Glossy Accents.

This tag features embellishments from K and Company. When I purchased the package I did not realize that each embellishment had several layers. They were not going to work for the projects they were purchased for, so I use them on tags. The background uses Distress inks, and a template of wood grain by fill this in later. This stamp of the postmark has been in my collection for years, the postage stamps have also been in my collection for years. It's nice to finally get the old stuff out and use it.

This tag also features a K and Company embellishment, and an old postage stamp, as well as a page from a book. The background was colored with metallic Distress ink. The leaves are from a very old stamp. I used Versamark ink and embossed with green Zing embossing powder. Upon close inspection the words on the page are also embossed. I will have to experiment a bit more to see how what else I can do with that.

This tag was super easy to make. It features a laugh banner stamp from the dollar bin at Michael's. The cherries are from that K and Company embellishments collection, and the stripes are washi tape. The edges have a bit of Distress ink to give it some depth.

The next tag features a green background thanks to a Distress ink dauber. A stamp from Stampin’ Up provides the stems for the flowers and the grass around them. The flowers are fallen fakes picked up from the floor at Michael's. The “private collection” stamp has been in my collection for a very long time, I'd forgotten I even had it. The green tape at the bottom is florist tape. The butterfly is from K and Company.

The background of this tag was colored with blue Mr. Huey ink mister. I put some repositionable tape on the tag first so I would have a space to put the word "voyage". The voyage stamp was stored with the “private collection” stamp so I forgot I had that too. The postage stamps are from all over the world but the colors worked so well together for a monochromatic or duo-chromatic tag. The butterfly is from the K and Company embellishments collection mentioned before.

The last tag features a butterfly from the K and Company collection. The background is from a calendar, I cut just a small portion of the wall behind a floral arrangement for this tag. Sort of like having free paper. "Friends forever" is a stamp from Stampin’ Up. I used a punch from Stampin’ Up for the scalloped border.

Hopefully I will be able to post more frequently now that the holidays are over and the crazy has died down.

Happy Crafting,

I made my own washi tape

There are several kinds of trends in paper crafting.   

• Images -  bikes, silhouettes, owls, pennants, or hot air balloons.  
• Shapes - chevrons and hexagons. 
• Tools - Distress inks, stains and markers, misting inks, templates, vinyl, die cutting machines (electric and otherwise).
• Materials - shipping tags, twine, crocheted flowers, wooden die cuts and washi tape.

Back when the trendy material was ribbon I purchased a lot of ribbon. A LOT of ribbon. But I was never great at tying pretty bows so I didn't use it much. I have boxes of ribbon that just sit on the shelf waiting for a design that requires their assistance.

The trend I am currently loving is washi tape. I don't have much but it is so easy to use, no tying required. But washi can be expensive for a cheapskate. Because I am always looking for ways to create crafts for less I have turned to other types of  tape to see if I could make my own washi.







This card was made with washi from K & Company (EK Success) for use with their Smash books. The rest of the materials on this card are from my scrap drawer. The paper is also K& Company. The sentiment is from the dollar bin at Micheal's it originally read "cutie pie" with an image of a slice of pie. The doily is from the dollar store. The ducky has been in my collection for nine years.  I purchased it for my son's first birthday party invitations, but that's a different story for a different time.

The image on this card is from the Recollections set Zoo-licious. I was just playing with this image. I colored the spots with a white crayon and made a mask for the head, tail and legs and spritzed. Then I masked the shell as well and spritzed again. Then I scrapped off the crayon and shaded the legs, head and tail with Copics.

The card sat for a couple of days before I decided to add the tapes. It just looked undone, too plain. Now it looks done.

The same washi I used on the first card was laid down first. I then laid down a tape I created with cloth medical tape and stamped with the flower from the Papertrey Ink Up, Up and Away stamp set. The cloth tape takes dye and alcohol  inks well. The leaves were made but just touching a Copic marker to the tape, it automatically bleeds just enough to look like a leaf. 

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 The next card uses the same tape with a different stamp. This time it's Lawn Fawn's Critters on the Farm set. I stamped the fence on the tape that was stuck on my craft mat. I wish I had stamped it on the card itself because when I stuck it down the fence kind of took a western slant.

The images are colored with Copic markers. The white coloring comes from a paint marker on the cow and a gel pen on the barn. The cow bell is colored with a silver pen.

Given the success of using cloth medical tape I decided to give the paper version a try. I didn't stamp on this one I kind of like the tonal difference. This card was also made with stuff from my scrap drawer. Next time I'll be stamping on the paper tape to see how that looks.

This weekend I purchased a few more rolls of washi at Archivers. They had designs that will work well on Christmas cards.

Happy Crafting,

Click here to help my son pay his own way through scouts. Order Trail's End popcorn using code 79936evan674 and great tasting treats will be delivered to your door.

Tim Holtz Style Tags

I recently watched the video Tim Holtz did for Simon Says Stamps Stamptember Celebration. I learned a lot and gave the new techniques a test run. I didn't have all the stamps Tim used but found similar images at Micheal's from Hampton Arts. They are smaller but the price was right and the results work for me.

Tim's set featured an eye - I had one in my collection. Tim's set included an eye chart, and a hand. The new set had those images. I used Distress Inks and Momento dye ink, even though it's water soluble. I just made sure I stamped those bits. last.

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In the video Tim introduced new Metallic Distress Stains. The shimmer was so cool putting these stains on my wish list — the short list.  This tag was my attempt to use metallics. Of courses without these news stains I had to improvise. I used Adirondacks Metal Mixatives. It's not as shimmery but it's still kind of cool. The skeleton is from a new Halloween set. The ruler is from the Hampton Arts set. The film strip is new washi tape.

The skeleton on this card is from the new Halloween set. The film strip washi tape is on this one as well.  The upside down B is attached with Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher

To see larger images just click on the images.







Happy Crafting,

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Click here to help my son pay his own way through scouts. Order Trail's End popcorn using code 79936evan674 and great tasting treats will be delivered to your door.

WOYWW 169 at Katemade Designs

 

 

It's been forever since I did a WOYWW post. I feel a bit nervous, it's like being a first date I have to look good, sound intelligent and show off my the bubbly part of my personality and hope that you like me enough to visit again.

The picture shows the latest addition to the work desk - WASHI! I've see the blog posts. I've pinned the cards and scrapbook pages. And I've dreamed of having a bit of this magic tape. I wanted it when it was only from Japan. Now that American craft companies have seen the profit potential the product is more accessible and the price is more reasonable. I picked up 3 rolls at Archiver's this weekend. I purchased 2 that were black and white, figuring I could color them as needed, and the pink striped one you see here. The colors and pattern match my blog, Twitter and Facebook page background and I thought it would be good for packaging of certain items.

The experiments card front was made with the Silhouette. I did a print and cut on the tricycle image from The Graphics Fairy. I flipped over a second cut (not printed) and used it as a mask for misting to give the feeling of coming and going. The flag was also done as a cut and print with the Silhouette because I hate to waste paper and time. The texture was made by running the Mr. Huey's Circle Graph Mask from Studio Calico through the Cuttlebug. I worked so well I may have to do that again and again and…

I also got the misting mask on this weekend's Archiver's trip. I was thrilled to see Studio Calico in a brick and mortar store. I thought they were only available online. I hadn't purchased it before because I like to see things before I buy them the first time. Now that I know the weight, quality, etc. I may have to go spend some money in the Studio Calico online store. Of course I need to find some money first.

The binder clips in the foreground are holding paper as the Mod Podge dries. I was tired of looking at the domino box that holds my adhesives. I'll show the finished project when everything is dry and has been decorated completely.

On the horizon

Friday Freebies - digi stamps, papers or Silhouette cuts

I'll be explaining pixel vs vector graphics in next Tuesday's Tutorial. 

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Happy Crafting,

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Click here to help my son pay his own way through scouts. Order Trail's End popcorn using code 79936evan674 and great tasting treats will be delivered to your door.