Using Paperclay and Rubber Stamps

 This is a product that I love! Today we are looking at using it with rubberstamps. You can stamp into rolled out paperclay to make an impression or you can use a deep rubberstamp as a mold. Once the clay air dries it can be sanded and painted.
Below is a project I have not finished, but I would like to sand it, paint it metallic gold and put an antique photo in it.

 I love seashells and when I saw this stamp from Sparkle N Sprinkle, I had to have it! I first tried doing layers of toilet paper in it, like I do cookie molds. It turned out okay, but not as nice as with Paperclay.

 You can impress the whole stamp, or do the shells individually as shown below.

And, of course, the stamp is lovely stamped also! I will share other ways I used the Paperclay in upcoming posts! Hope you enjoyed seeing this lightweight embellishment that is lots of fun to make!

CHA Supershow, Sparkle N Sprinkle

Another friend I have made in the past ten years is Margaret from Sparkle N Sprinkle. Margaret carries beautiful glitters and embossing powders. She also has unmounted stamps in 5 by 7 sheets. Her daughter, holding up her hands in the photo below, has come on board and has designed some of the great new stamp designs.

Margaret's husband, George, (below) also goes on the road with them. They had booths at both the Supershow and the trade show, so they had a lot of work to do setting up both booths.

Their new product this year is a flocking with glitter in it....I think flocking is a hot item right now, so adding a little sparkle to it has to be a good thing....especially if you love all things sparkly!

I met Margaret years ago when I was doing shows for the Rubber Stamper Magazine. I always have my camera with me and she asked me to take photos of her booth one show when she forgot her camera, so it has become a tradition that I snap a few photos of her booth!
I hope they have a great show at both venues! Check out her great powders, glitters, stamps and flocking if she comes to a show near you or I am sure you can order from her online too.

Paper Quilts

Well, I shredded several sheets of K & Company paper to use in my Martha Stewart Crafts Photo Holder cards that I found at Big Lots. Each package has two of each of these cards, envelopes, glue and two colors of glitter (all for $2!). There is an easel flap that can be secured to display the cards. I tried to choose papers that would work in any of the three colors and then once I had added all the strips, I decided which color I thought the quilt looked best in....another thing I learned was to use a background paper that would not stand out. Instead of using white, I used some kraft paper I have that are full sheet labels. I cut three 4.25 by 6.25 pieces of adhesive kraft paper from each sheet of 8,5 by 11 paper. I am going out of town this week, so I plan on taking these and the strips with me so I can do some quilting!

The card above uses one of the new Spellbinders die and it looks like it was made for this card opening! The sentiment is from Sparkle N Sprinkle. I used gutter guard through the Wizard to give the quilt a quilted look. The satin ribbon gives a nice authentic look.

For the brown one, I used a Spellbinders Impressabilities and the green one, a new Sizzix embossing folder. Both of them were distressed a little with the metallic rub-ons. Before removing the Impressability and embossing folder, I lightly sanded with a white block sanding block. Leaving it in place makes the design show up a little better. I don't sand the gutter guard one as it is not a delicate design like the others.

These are a great thing to do while watching tv or when you want something mindless to do! Once you get it all mounted, the patchwork almost looks like a piece of paper....too bad someone doesn't make paper that looks that much like a quilt!
Now that I have my paper shredder and am using the sticky labels to stick them to, I am going to go back and use some of these strips to do the bargello again. Happy Stamping!

Easel Sympathy Card

Every once in a while, I will stumble across a type of card that apparently has been popular for a couple of years, but I have not seen it. That was the case with easel cards. I don't remember seeing them but there were templates that were a couple of years old, so it was just something I missed.

Unfortunately, the opportunity to use the new sympathy stamps from Sparkle N Sprinkle came much too quickly, as my daughter-in-law, Jessica, lost her grandfather Monday night. I made cards for her, her mother and her grandmother like the one above. I drove to Huntsville, AL for the funeral and had some time to spend with my son, so that was good. I still remember when I lost each of my grandparents and what a deep loss it was for me. I enjoyed spending the time with Jessica and her family also.

The template I found on SCS had some cutouts but I didn't understand the need for the cutouts. One piece of cardstock (a wonderful pistachio heavy cardstock that Marcos sells at conventions....I love it!) 5.5 by 11 for the base and another 5.5 square for the card front. I used my Scor-It to score and fold the long base in half lengthwise and then again at the 3/4 measurement. That 1/4 piece was adhered to the top of the card front as seen in the photos. I used Spellbinders die, K & Company rhinestones (used one to anchor the card front from slipping...it is in the flourish...another on the cross) and some of that pearlescent paint I told you about.

You could make the card any size...just have one piece twice as long as the card front and score at the half and three quarters lines.

One thing Jason and I did while I was there was to go back to the Botanical Gardens to see all the scarecrows....I will be sharing those. I was tempted to go visit a covered bridge that was 5.5 miles away, but the weather was threatening and I had to drive back to Atlanta. I will make it there another time.

Jason and Jessica live on a two lane country road and as I was coming back into Atlanta and the interstate was bumper to bumper and barely moving, I thought, "You know, living out in the country might not be such a bad thing!".

New Toys

As you know, going to a convention means getting new toys! A couple of my new toys are the sympathy set of stamps from Sparkle N Sprinkle and some Pearlescent Paints that are way fun!
Unfortunately, my DIL lost her grandfather last week, so I have a reason to use the sympathy stamps much quicker than I wanted! He was a grandfather to my son too...they liked watching football together.
I also make postcards that we send from our visitation program at church, so I can always use religious stamps.

These paints give the look of Twinkling H2O's but they are very inexpensive. I saw them from $6.50 to $8.00 for this set and there was a smaller set also.

I like to use pearlescent paints for small accents like on the flourish above. If I am doing a lot of watercolor painting, I use regular paints, as I think it is a bit much to have that much pearlescence.....just my opinion.

Above is another example of doing airbrush to color this Wordsworth stamp....I think I like my layered mountains better, but this works too!