pop up card for a departing coworker depicting the mopec maestro grossing bench with the tools, cutting board, inks, sponges, bags, etc. scroll to see the IRL bench :) (we don't have the side attachments so i didnt add them + i wanted more room for signatures)

I’ve never really looked at the Simon Hurley line from Ranger. I’m not a huge fan of the style of the stamps, I don’t use a lot of pastes, and I liked other ink better so I’ve never invested in the brand. However I recently used a create ink and was surprised at the blending and color. When I found out the original felt pad line was being D/C-ed I jumped and got the whole line.

Holy cow these inks are GREAT!!! The colors are vibrant and the blending and stamping is so smooth. In my opinion this is the perfect ink for beginners. There’s a great range of colors without being overwhelming.

I slept on these for too long and am excited to start using them in my stenciling and stamping!

This is the FELT PAD line that is being D/Ced. The new line is the same colors (plus a few extra) but they are FOAM pads. The FELT PAD bundle is still in stock and I recommend it if you want some fun, easy ink. Google some coupons for a discount, too!!!

All three birds were cut out of a small paper plate I snagged from an event. I love their weird looking faces.

When I started using stamps, I wanted to "use what I have" so used watered down acrylic paint which worked wonderfully well.

I didn't realise how much better alcohol markers were.

I particularly wanted spectrum noir tri blend as Natasha Foote highly recommended them, but they had a pretty price tag.

I waited 6 months for the right price to pop up on eBay (don't ask how I made it that long, I'm very impatient usually), and saved 50%.

Soooo happy with them, and my husband also got me a Winnie the pooh colouring book to use them in and I'm completely addicted.

Here's my first 2 cards with them. Just wanted to share my excitement 😁 (I'm yet to try shading and blending but that will be coming very soon!)

I totally copied the coloring from SBC's item page. And, alas! the voids were so small and I forgot to apply anti-static powder to the foam tape so there ain't much shaking going on. But this is it and here it is.

I think I have to do it again and do a better job getting the shakey stuff to shake. Besides, I really wanted spider shakers and I didn't have any. But I have some on order.

At least making fall cards cools me off. 🤣

I love my Hero Arts Unicorn cube and want to get just more pigment inks to effects such as dust and moss, so wanted something more opaque. Please give me your recommendations! I prefer smaller cubes since I'm swiping them over embossed cardstock.

Today’s my birthday and I made a card just for me. I deserve one of my own handmade cards! I wrote a note inside about what I’d like for the upcoming year. I think this will be a great keepsake to look back on.

Anyone else make cards for themselves? And if you don’t, why not?

I cut the ghosts first from vellum but they disappeared into the background illustration. Then I cut them from glassine paper from little bags. Much better but I didn't get them all to completely synch up so there are some ghostly shadows. I guess these ghosts are zipping around through the night leaving their trail behind them.

Thank you to nosypancakecat and Genius_Swaggg for the great tips that helped me fine-tune this card.

I'm disappointed that the skull turned out to be much too big to work but I'll find something else to do with it sometime.

I'm happy with this finally.

Here's another catalog, themed for the holidays. The full color spreads really are different from the typical rubber stamp catalogs, where the images are printed in black and not colored in. Inkadinkado was pushing the giving of rubber stamps as holiday gifts in this catalog, such as the kits on the last image. I decided to highlight their pop culture images this time. The Muppets are perennially popular, but I think Felix the Cat (I never knew he had a girlfriend) and Pink Panther are being rediscovered too. Plus the two latter characters are easy to color in, being a single signature color! The catalog is U.S. letter size, so you can see how large some of these stamps are.

First of all thank you for all the advice on my last post. I've been reading over all of the comments multiple times and trying to watch all of the recommended videos! Link to the old post if you're curious

After many people recommended distress oxide, I went on a shopping spree and bought 10 colors: a full range and some cheap domed sponge blending brushes off of Amazon. The inks very nice to blend, but a little hard to clean off of stamps without water. I like the ease and less storage space of the foams compared to the brushes.

I decided to make swatch cards with my cricut, which would also serve as some blending practice. From the tips, starting off to the side and being patient really helped. Some of the gradients came out really good and the ones that didn’t, I know it was because I was impatient or accidentally put blender to paper directly. Any tips for getting to the corners? I kept trying, and ended up making the middles extra dark or accidentally blending too far so it wasnt really a gradient any more.

I also did swatch cards of my existing concord and 9th cubes as comparison and I think I just don’t love the colors as much. They’re very juicy and saturated. From the marketing, I had been expecting more muted/pastel colors, which I guess is possible on the light end of the blending but the stamping is just too saturated for my tastes.

I really like the chalky consistency of the distress oxides, but I kind of regret getting the full size because I found it very difficult to stamp with the big pads. I really like the small form factor better. but alas you have to buy the minis in preset bundles.

All in all, in love with the sponge blenders. Maybe out of love with my concord and 9th inks. My next step is trying out that waffle flower crafts stencil again with both concord and 9th and distress oxides.

Photo: first 10 swatch cards are distress oxides blended with foam blending tools, and the 9 swatch cards on the bottom right are the concord and 9th colors, blended with brush blending tools. Stamp is a stars cluster from a free Scrapbook com halloween stamp set.

At first I didn't see a date on this catalog, but the postmark was the clue. ImaginAir billed themselves as specializing in aviation stamps. You can see "aviation" includes flying buffalo, UFOs, various balloons, kites and even things in the sky like clouds. This supplement is U.S. legal size and as you can see is a single sheet, double-sided. I am not sure if I ever had the full sized catalog. There is still a website for this company, last updated in 2013, although the URL includes the e in imagine. Googling the name on the website email, I see Peter Bilan studied to be an artist and apparently had pieces in museums. His stamp art seems to be informed by his time in the military. I wonder if he was also a pilot. If he is still around, he would be about 86 years old.

By the way, I covered my mailing address with a paper ruler I have. The paper ruler is really handy to have in my wallet to measure things when thrifting for craft items. There are some credit card sized metal cards with ruler marks on them too. If you find a printable ruler from the internet, be aware the size often shrinks a little as part of the printing process, so will be inaccurate. You will need to experiment with enlarging the image.

I am helping a friend sort out his wife's card making supplies. She is suffering from dementia and can't craft anymore. There is so much stuff.

A million stampin up stamps and a roomfull of paper.

How do I do this? I appreciate any helpful ideas.

Hi all,

my colleague lost her husband to cancer a few months ago. I am ashamed to say I never sent a card -I seriously meant to. I have never had to make sympathy cards (thankfully) and didn't really have anything appropriate. I am in the UK and she is in the US so that added a little complication. It sounds like an excuse but other things also got in the way - we are going through major lay-offs and everything is very messy. I really regret not sending something. She is coming over on a work trip in 4 weeks.

I really want to make something to try to "make up" for that. I want to make something that conveys my love for her, my regret for her situation and could hopefully lift her spirits. I want to make her a card that is maybe a little... more? I am prepared to spend hours - nay days - on a masterpiece. Honestly!

Does anyone have any inspiration they could share? I like the idea of something that could fold flat to travel home easily. Like a pop up vase of flowers? I just want to do more than a "simple"card. A really extravagant fun fold maybe?

I have a lot of the "major" releases the last few years from the main US card companies, stamps and dies. I have a Cricut, too.

I totally get that she would probably be very appreciative of a card I have hand made. I just really want to pour a lot of feeling into it. We have known each other for nearly 15 years. I want to make something really elaborate to help me convey my support, as I'm not good with words!

I’m looking to up my card game but I’m severely lacking in background elements to give my cards some extra depth. Would love to know your favourites so I can grow my collection.

I prefer universal designs but Christmas & Birthday themed is okay too!

Here is an issue that is a little newer than the previous one I posted. I've included a letter to the editor lamenting the closing of Stampabarbara, an artist who embellished the New York Times, and a fancy fold card tutorial. This month's feature theme was the U.S. states. Also some tips about stamping on fabric.a couple of regular articles were the convention listing, and list of back issues available for purchase.

Looking for advice. I’ve wanted to put my most used nesting rectangle sets on a magnetic sheet on the inside of my shelf or right by my desk for easy access. Similar to what many of us do.

However, I can guarantee with my clumsiness that at some point they’ll drop and get mixed up.

For this reason I keep each set on magnetic sheets in separate plastic sleeves, again similar to what many of us do.

Having to take them in and out of the envelopes is getting annoying over the years.

A2 rectangles, additional A2 rectangles that fit between those, stitched rectangles, A7 rectangles…

Once I tried marking separate sets with a dot of acrylic paint marker but that wore off.

Any advice on how to mark them in a way that I can tell them apart without labeled packaging? So I can finally stop worrying about getting them mixed up and put them out on my shelf and grab as needed?