Stamp Happens » Instructions

Paper Awareness

Posted on 26-04-2010 | By: Tonya

Category : Coloring Techniques, Copics, Instructions, Techniques, Tips

Tags: Copics, neenah, PaperTrey Ink, pti

Let’s talk PAPER AWARENESS!!! What exactly does that mean? It means that all paper is not the same when using Copics.

Choose your paper wisely!!

For example:

Stampin’ Up! Whisper White is not a good choice for Copics. SU’s paper is made for water-based markers and your Copics will just make a complete mess if you try and use them with it. Been there, done that!
Neither is water color paper. It is also made for water based products (hence water color!! lol) and your Copics are just going to absorb into the paper wasting your high dollar ink.
I like PaperTrey Ink’s white paper. This has been my “go-to” paper for quite some time now.
I also like Neenah Solar White 80 lb paper.

Neenah Solar White is now being stocked in the Stamp Happens Shop!

How do you know if your paper is going to work well for you? Test it.

Testing your paper is simply the easiest way to know if you’ll be frustrated and disgusted…or happy. In fact, some paper might work well with certain images but not others. Your best bet is to just test the paper.

I recommend testing your paper by:

Printing a digi image on it.
Stamping an image on it (use all inks you plan to use).
Use both a simple image and a detailed image for each. This is incredibly important!!!
Take one sheet of your paper and do all these tests on it. Label the bottom of the paper with the brand name so you’ll remember which kind it is.

I’m not sure if you can really tell that there is a slight shade difference here. But there is.

This difference is precisely why you need to print your Copic color chart on a piece of the white card stock you normally use.

The paper will slightly affect your ink!

Here are two circles I’ve drawn with Copic Multiliners.

You will notice that the finer the image is, the more prone the Copic ink is to spreading.

Neenah paper is great with thicker lines, but you can possibly run into issues with finely drawn images.

BE CAREFUL.

Practice coloring finely detailed images so you can figure out where to stop coloring.

I would be better off stopping the coloring right before I get to the edge.

The ink can then spread on it’s own to the edges.

JUST PRACTICE!

You’ll note, I don’t have the same problem with PTI.

PTI is a heavier weight paper which may be the key. I’m not a paper “expert” so I’m not certain.

I’m used to coloring on PTI so I need to practice using the Neenah.

A final word of caution.

I added another color to the middle of the Neenah ink circles above.

Note how the ink spreads even further.

This is incredibly important for those finely detailed drawings!

You will get spreading! Make sure you account for it!

Stop your coloring before you get to the edge!!

Neenah is a great paper.

It just takes some practice if you are used to PTI.

Easy Mini Scrap Book for Busy Bash!!

Posted on 24-10-2009 | By: Tonya

Category : Events, Instructions, Projects, Promotions, SH Shop, Scrapbook Pages, Stampin' Up! Stamps

I have a super cool friend from high school that I hooked back up with via everyone’s favorite…Facebook! Gotta love social networking! Anyway, my friend Sharon is a really great person. She was always one of those super sweet people in high school. Not one of the fake, nasty, stab you in the back Mean Girls. I’ve always liked Sharon a lot. I remember one time in high school she actually taught me one of my life’s biggest lessons and she probably neither remembers nor realizes that something she said had such deep impact!!! You’re dying to know what it was aren’t you?? Sharon was starting to date a guy (who was also super sweet) and she came into gym class with that glowing look after just talking with him…remember those?? And I remember asking her to dish…and she basically told me that she didn’t want to…because it would spoil the specialness. I remember being stunned at that! And I thought about that…a lot. I came to realize that Sharon had it right!! Keeping those special moments…special…included not dishing about them! Thanks, Sharon!

Anyway…back to paper. Sharon asked me if I’d be interested in helping her by writing some instructions for a mini scrap book. There’s simply no way I could say no since she’d given me some really awesome life insight back in high school!!! So let’s look!

This is the Easy Mini Scrap Book for Sharon’s Busy Bash (cool concept!!!):

This truly is an easy and fast project to make. Great for quick gifts or stocking stuffers! This project is not my original idea. I only interpreted it from another project and made it my own. Unfortunately, I do not know who to credit. As always, I’ll happily credit if anyone knows to whom that credit should go.

This book had to be EASY … something busy moms could do in very little time without being an “expert”. So I’ve kept the project extremely simple.

There are 10 pages in my book. You can do 8 pages or 10 pages for this book and the instructions will still work. Anything more, and the cover score marks will not work.

I love the elegant look of black card stock. For this project, I chose Raven Bazzill because it has a nice texture. I like to use a textured card stock when I will be displaying a lot of plain paper.

I made a very simple decoration for the front cover. I used Onyx Black Versafine ink and embossed it with clear powder. I think the look is very elegant and isn’t over powering for this small book. I added in a very light blue (Soft Sky, retired from Stampin’ Up!) for just a hint of color to this project. I adore this color combo!!

Inside the book, I used primarily white pigment (or craft) ink. White pigment (or craft) ink can be difficult to work with. My most important tip for you, is to ink your stamps upside down. This will keep your images from getting too much ink pooled in places you don’t want it. I ink all my stamps this way and I find the images to be crisper and easier to work with.

In one word, this picture BITES!!! Sorry about that! I actually added tiny rhinestones to the “dot, dot, dot” in Once Upon A Time…

Make sure when you are using white craft pigment ink, that you allow for plenty of time to dry. It takes forever!! On this book, I let two pages dry over night before moving on. You can use a heat tool, but I prefer to air dry. I seem to warp things with my heat tool…

I basically made my own designer paper using this stamp. I think it turned out very nicely! On the opposite side, there are white page mats for your pictures and journaling. If you’re brave, you can add gel journaling on the black paper as well!

Because I just couldn’t stay completely away from some bling, I added a few Robin’s Nest Dew Drops on this page set.

Another page of the “designer paper”. I sponged my white pieces with Soft Sky ink just to add that light hint of color.

In case you are wondering, I use sponge daubers like these to add my color.

Another bad shot. This is the final page set. I didn’t have time to wait for this white ink to dry so I decided to add clear embossing powder and heat set it. THAT I can do.

I thought the embossing turned out nice. It’s a little hard to emboss on texture but I think it looks fine. I added the Martha Stewart bling because I just had to.

Download Easy Mini Scrap Book Instructions Here

Inking Your Stamps

Posted on 01-07-2009 | By: Tonya

Category : Instructions, Product Review

Tags: help, ink, stampin up, stazon ink, whisper white

Deidre asked me this today:

SO I have a question regarding Staz On. When I use it I often get splotchy images where the ink hasn’t taken well or it is sticky when I apply to the paper. I really have to ink it up and look at it to make sure I am going to get a good image….it is so much work! I have reinked and more. Do you think it is because my staz on is old? Should I just get a new pad? Does anyone else have this problem???

What a great question!! Actually, the question is so great, that I couldn’t just respond to Deidre alone. I had to share my experience with everyone.

There is absolutely nothing worse that gooey, gloppy, sticky ink that gets everywhere! I avoid this by doing one simple thing…

I ink my stamps upside down!

Seriously, I find this solves the problem 95% of the time. Let’s look…

A lot of people lay their stamps down onto the ink pad as shown on the left. That is how I stamped the “Oh Hoppy Day” sentiment on the right.

A lot of times, stamps that are inked in this manner get too much ink on them. And not in the right spots!! The extra gloppy ink can look like this:

See how the ink pools around certain spots? Not every image will do this. But when they do…yuck.

Then, when you put the image on your paper (I’ve used Stampin’ Up! Whisper White here), it gets smudgy.

Now, here are two notes.

I find this to happen most often with Stampin’ Up! Whisper White because of its smooth finish. That is why I chose to use it here.
There seems to be a “slicker” side on Whisper White. I tend to notice the “stick” sound when I stamp on it. The other side doesn’t seem to do this. I’m not sure how to tell the difference.

Now let’s look at the image I stamped doing the “upside down” technique.

I pat the ink pad onto the stamp making sure every area is covered. I don’t push hard. I just pat it over until the image is completely covered.

See the difference between the two images? No pooling or extra gloppy ink on this one!

And here is my sentiment when stamped this way:

See how much clearer the bottom is?

Now, I said this cures 95% of problems. If you try this and it doesn’t work, I would spend the extra money for a new pad. I’d also try a different paper.

I really love PaperTrey Ink’s white paper. I’ve tried a few other white card stocks and by far, PTI’s rocks my world.

And one last thing…you should check out Deidre’s blog. She’s got some extremely cute projects on there!

As promised: Vertical Box Tutorial!!

Posted on 13-04-2009 | By: Tonya

Category : Big Shot, Instructions, Projects, Sizzix, Stampin' Up! Stamps

TA DA!!!

I am finally finished with the tutorial for making my Vertical Note Card Box as promised!

Download Vertical Note Card Box.pdf (694.6K)

I have not made the note cards that fit into this box yet. So no pictures of those! And this post is going to be really short because I’m really behind!

Before I go, I just wanted to point out the butterfly on my lid. I was completely inspired by Beate’s card Kiwi/Baja Butterfly.

Her card is completely gorgeous (as always) and I knew I just had to make the butterfly for this box. I have every intention of CASEing the complete card soon!

I used Angel Wingz Shimmerz on my butterfly. Have I mentioned I love that stuff??

Stay tuned for Wednesday when a really big announcement will be made!!

Game Box: Better than XBox

Posted on 16-03-2009 | By: Tonya

Category : Instructions, Projects, Stampin' Up! Stamps

Tags: fix

Ok, I'm sure quite a few people would argue with me over the title, including my husband and son. Alas, it's my blog and I can say what I want!! smile_omg

My mom and sister love to play cards and dice games. Recently, I noticed they keep their dice in a Zip Lock bag with their game rules. Furthermore, I've been making these cute little boxes. And the icing on the cake…I have this great Jackpot designer paper that I have no idea what to do with! Put it all together and you get….

This great little game box to hold cards, dice, rules, and score pads! Check out the Crystal Effects and bling on the top!

Ready to see what is inside?

I made a reusable score pad and matching pen! See? Check it out!

I made the score pad so that it would fold nicely inside the box. Does it look a little shiny? Sure it does!

There's a sheet of acetate/transparency paper over the top. The words "score pad" the dice and the words "big winner" are all on the designer paper below the acetate so they won't get messed up.

The pen is a dry erase marker. See how easy it is? Do you want to know how to make this fabulous box?

These directions will fit standard A2 size cards.

Start with two pieces of designer paper.

The bottom box piece should measure 9 5/8" x 8 3/8".

The top lid piece should measure 6 1/2" x 7 3/4".

This designer paper isn't sturdy enough for my box so I've chosen to back it with a Riding Hood Red piece of card stock for the bottom and Basic Black for the lid.

To make the lid:

Score each side at 1".

This is so easy!!!

Your scored sides should look like this. Then snip the sides on the score marks as shown.

You will place adhesive on each of the tabs and stick the sides together to form the lid.

Here is the finished lid.

You can decorate the lid to suit your tastes. That's the fun part!

To make the box:

Repeat the same procedure as the lid. However, score each side at 2".

Here is the finished box!!

ETA: The dimensions for a note card box like I made my MIL and Maureen:

Box: 7 3/4" x 9 3/8"

Lid: 7 1/2" x 5 7/8"

www.score-pal.com has lots of instructions for making different boxes. Be sure to check them out!

Enjoy!!

Hey, one more thing…we are having a super fabulous scavenger hunt over at http://twilighttuesday.com and I'd love it if you play along!

ScrapBookie Tutorial!!

Posted on 29-01-2009 | By: Tonya

Category : Instructions, Projects, ScrapBookies, Scrapbook Pages, Sizzix, Stampin' Up! Stamps

Tags: card, handmade

I had to wait to post this little ScrapBookie until my friend Margie received it. She has now so I’m free to post! I originally made one of these for Eve earlier this month. Eve’s ScrapBookie was the original prototype so her pages weren’t refined like this new one.

So…presenting…the ScrapBookie!!!

I have made a tutorial for those of you who want your own ScrapBookie.

Download ScrapBookie.pdf (579.7K)

And here is the inside of this one:

FLIP….

I’m really exhausted from making this tutorial, taking the pictures, editing the pictures…so…I’m off to RELAX!!!

Who’s going to make one??? Be sure to post back here so I can see yours!

Mini Book Tutorial

Posted on 08-10-2008 | By: Tonya

Category : Instructions, Projects, RAKs, Stampin' Up! Stamps

Tags: card, handmade

Didn’t you just love that little book I made yesterday? I could make a whole library of these!! Of course I want to share it with you! But before you watch, let me warn you. You might notice it looks like I’m working with the book opening the wrong way. I’m not, actually. I forgot to take off the mirroring effect!! ARGHHH! But I fixed it at the very end so you could see the picture properly.

Here’s the book I made:

Notice what the title is… ALL MINE!

Here’s the video:

And one last thing! I finally got this wonderful birthday card from my SBS14 sister, Tracey! She’s going to be so excited! This poor little thing has been lost for weeks!!