It's a Stamp Day

I am excited about the response I've received to my two blog posts about new product. Yeah! Thanks and sorry that I haven't gotten back to everyone. I was gone all day yesterday and it's month/quarter/year end for various companies around here and so unfortunately, that has held my focus for most of today. I will respond to you tonight though!

For day 3 of my new product list, I've decided to post about a couple stamp sets that just arrived. I don't tend to order a lot of stamps since they're so personal, but once in awhile I really like a set and I'll bring it in. Generally I keep one and just try to sell off the other one. I have two sets to showcase today.

First of all is a Hot off The Press set called "Far East Beauty." It is $18.

Second Set is an Inkadinkado set called "Meadow." Cost for that one is $10

I also have one Scor-Buddy in Stock. It's made by Scor-Pal which makes the 12x12 version, but this one is much smaller and is meant more for cards. It's very portable and comes with its own little travel bag pouch. Cost is $20 and I only have one in stock.


Again, just let me know if you would like any of these and I'll put them away for you!

Paper Packs

I love paper. I believe I've said that many times. So, I was giddy when I opened up my new paper packs. I probably don't need anymore as I'm running out of room, but I still order a few every so often. They make scrapbooking so much easier! I posted last fall about it and one of my friends bought a pack. Recently, she told me how quick her album came together because she didn't have to think about how to put paper together. It really made my day!

I have three new paper packs: two from Basic Grey and one from Echo Park. I haven't ordered packs from them before, but it looks really nice! The Basic Grey packs each have 18 double sided papers, one sheet of alphabet stickers and one sheet of cardstock stickers. The Echo Park pack has 12 double sided papers, one sheet of alphabet stickers and one sheet of element stickers.

Basic Grey: Life of the Party ($20)

Basic Grey: Hopscotch ($20)

Springtime: ($14)

Textured Impressions

I opened my box of new product and it was like Christmas. It was so much fun to rip through everything and look at all the cool stuff I had ordered. I tend to have a short memory and often can't remember what I ordered, so it's always exciting to see. I'm hoping to post a bunch of the new stuff over the next few days. If you are interested in any of it, either post a comment or send me an email and I will put it aside for you. I only have 2 of each of these sets. They are $13 a set (GST is included).

I've been working on my technique for my Technique Club and it uses embossing folders, so I'm so excited to have some new ones to play with!

Floral Flourishes & Vines

Flowers & Bow Strings

Corners & DamaskFlowers & Flourish

Corners & Lattice
Flourish, Dots & Ribbon
Country & Flowering Foliage

Elegant Vine & Flair

Garden Flowers

A Little Tease

I've been so busy the last week. It was my oldest daughter's birthday and getting ready for that took away all my playing and posting time. I'm going to try to make up for it this week though.

It's almost the beginning of April and that means a new technique for the Kayric Club. I was busy last week playing with stuff and I found a simple technique which I loved. So, I am posting a sneak peek of a card made with it. There will be more to follow! If you are interested in joining the Kayric Club, you can email me or post here. Click here for more information.


I had my favorite Canada Post guy show up today with a big brown box full of goodies. I haven't opened it yet (I was too busy today), but tomorrow is the day and so I will have lots of stuff to post and show off this week.

For Beck

It was my sister's birthday last week and we threw her a surprise party on Sunday. As such, I needed to make her a card.

Becky likes to scrapbook and has a definite style. She likes it distressed and likes her edges inked. So, it made it very easy to make her a card!!

I took a piece of brown scrapbook paper and stamped some background images from my Spills & Splatters set. I haven't used that set in so long, but I really like it. I had kind of forgotten about it. Then I stamped the main image (the words) in black (it is from Urban Tapestry). I added a little butterfly in a couple of places (from Urban Chic) and then one of my Tim Holtz embellishments. I was reading his blog the other day and he painted one of these tags with a white paint dauber and then wiped off the paint. It stuck to the recessed words and looked pretty cool. I distressed the edges with my Distress It All (which is her favorite tool) and then inked them with some black and adhered it to a brown base.

It came together quite quickly and I really like how it turned out. I knew she'd love it. Of course, when I showed my husband, he said it looked like a boy card, but what does he know, right?? She did love it.

In a Funk

I've been in a funk lately and haven't been stamping much. I'm really tired, as I haven't been sleeping well and I've been stressed which does not bode well for being creative.

Today my funk continued and I really just wanted to go take a nap, but I have too much to do. I needed to make a phone call after 1:00 and I had a bit of time, so I sent myself to my craft room to create.

I had been reading my friend Nancy's blog and she posted a one dimensional card that I really liked. I decided I'd start today by being simple and challenged myself to create a card with just stamps and inks. No embellishments or layers.

It was hard. You would think if it was just a bit of stamping and some inks, you could whip it off so quickly, but alas, I seemed to fight with it a bit. I don't really love the end result, but it was good enough to be considered done so I could move on.


For this card, I used three sets: Just Believe (Believe & the main tree), Slight Alterations (for the background) and Reindeer Flight (the background trees). I stamped in Distress Inks (Scattered Straw for the background, Forest Moss for the main tree, Crushed Olive for the background trees and Aged Mahogany for Believe).

Family

Just a quick post from me today. I haven't created anything new, but I just am sharing a scrapbook page I did earlier.

I used one of my Basic Grey Paper Kits which made it so quick to put together. Just the kind of page I like.

Product Focus: Ranger Scrub It & Craft Scrubbie

A couple of months ago, one of my friends, Jan, mentioned a Ranger product and asked me to bring it in for her. She had tried it out and loved it.

The product was Ranger's Rub It Scrub It. It is a stamp scrubbie and it works so great. I've had a few different versions of these and I have really liked them, but my beef with them was always that they sprayed wet; often times onto my newly finished stamping project. Eventually I got smart and kept it way out of the way, but that was kind of a pain too. The main difference that I've noticed with this scrubber is that the bristles are quite hard; they're not even really bristles. I'm not sure how to describe them, but they clean like mad and they don't spray, so I'm OK with not being able to describe them. It doesn't have an outside case and I was worried that the cleaner would seep out or drip but it doesn't. This has become my new favorite scrubber!!

And another great point: It's only $4.

While I was reading a tutorial on the Ranger site, it mentioned needing a Craft Scrubbie, so I looked into that. It's almost like a very fine pumice stone and you use it to clean off the ink and glue from your fingers. I was quite surprised to find out it works really well too. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as most Ranger products are quite good. And at $5, it's very reasonable too.


I've decided that in addition to sharing projects I've made, that I would share information about products too. It's always great to hear someone talk about something cool. Lots of the cool stuff I get to bring in and play with are actually suggestions from friends and customers. And to thank Jan for the great tip about the Rub It Scrub It, I am going to give her a Craft Scrubbie. I liked it so much, that I opened two by mistake, so I have an extra just waiting to give Jan the next time I see her. Thanks, Jan!!

For my blog readers, if you are interested in these product, I will sell the two of them together for $8 instead of the regular $9. Just let me know that you'd like to order a Cleaning set.

Kayric Club: A Technique Club

We all love techniques, right?? I have decided to have a technique club for those people who are interested.

Sign up fee is $10/year. You may join at anytime. Members receive one new technique sheet each month. Each sheet will be 8.5x11” and will include a supply list, instructions & a sample of the technique. It may also include additional colour photos relevant to the technique.

In addition, Kayric Club members will receive 10% off any of the product used if I need to order it in. If I have it in stock, then a 5% discount will apply. This is applicable for the entire month. For example, if I use Distress Inks & Embossing Folders, then any colour of Distress Ink and any embossing folder would be subject to the discount (not just the specific colour/folder I may have used). Applicable product will be listed at the bottom of the technique sheet.

There is no obligation to buy product or attend demos. Members are welcome to pay the yearly fee and then just receive their technique sheets/samples.

Please note that I will likely showcase these techniques on my blog as well, but I will make sure that Kayric Club members have them at least a week before I publish them on my blog. I will send out an email to Club members with an advance copy of the technique and then I’ll give you your printed version with the sample when I see you next.

I will also be demonstrating these techniques at demo nights so you can see it in real life as well if you can attend. There is no obligation to attend and if you missed a demo, just ask the next time you see me and I will try to show you.

For those whom I don't see often, I am willing to mail your sheets for the cost of actual postage. Let me know how often you want your sheets sent out and I will figure out the cost.

I'm excited to write that I already have 11 people signed up as Kayric Club members!!

What a Mess

I love stamping and creating. I hate cleaning up afterwards.

I always put it off and off and then I can't stamp because it's so messy. The funny thing is it never takes me more than 15 minutes to clean it up. I have my room fairly well organized so it's easy to find homes for everything. I just get lazy and don't do it.

So, before I cleaned up last time, I took a photo to share. I know that we'd all rather stamp than clean!

Spotty Eiffel Tower

I love this Eiffel Tower Stamp (Art Impressions). I don't know what it is about it, but I just love it. And I love the background stamp which I've used on several cards recently.

The background is the same as has been featured all week. This one was done with Victorian Velvet & Dusty Concord Distress Inks and the Seeing Spots folder. I then stamped the background image (from "I See Paris" by Tim Holtz) with Dusty Concord. I stamped the Eiffel Tower and saying (Inkadinkado) in black overtop.

To create the perfectly matching bottom design, I cut the spotty background and a purple cardstock at the same time with one of my Tim Holtz border dies. The trick is to make sure your purple cardstock is about an inch bigger than what you are going to layer on top of it. Then place and match up the bottom and cut the rest of the sides to fit.

Then I just stamped the saying below the panel. It's another saying from one of Tim Holtz' word sets stamped in Dusty Concord.

Black & White & Red all Over

I love the colour combination of black, white and red. It seems so strong and it really catches my eye.

Today, I used the negative background of the card I posted yesterday: Fired Brick, Dusty Concord & Retro Circles Embossing Folder. I had been getting back into the groove by working off of sketches, but this time it just kind of came together on its own. Not to say that I didn't struggle, but I had an idea in my head and then just went for it.

I cut the flowers using one of my backgrounds (I think from the left over scrap from yesterday's card) using my Tim Holtz die. But they were lacking some punch, so I stamped on them and added the black brad. I was getting somewhere. Then I put them on little red squares to make them stand out. I cut the background to fit and then matted it with a very thin black border. I tried putting that directly on the red card but it didn't pop enough, so I added a white background, but that was boring. Remembering my newfound love for black, I stamped a black background. I used the same background stamp from "I See Paris" that I used yesterday. I love how it's a nice background (and big), but not too cluttered. Then I tried stamping a saying in Fired Brick at the bottom. You can't really read it,but it added to the depth, so I just left it.

Happy Birthday Colleen

It certainly is the little things that make life big. This simple little card is a tribute to my friend, Colleen. She was over the other day and I was showing her the fun foam embossing folder technique and she told me to do one with red and purple. I was skeptical as it's not a combination that I've used before, but I love it. The background was done with Fired Brick and Dusty Concord Distress inks and the Retro Circles embossing folder by Tim Holtz.

I cut the background down to 4x4" and put it on the card. Then I stared at it because I didn't know what else to do. I was working off another sketch and so I cut the white and red paper, but didn't know what to do with it. So, I just started looking through my Tim Holtz sets until I found something that would fit. I placed it over top of the background, but the empty purple spot was bothering me, so I took one of the stamps from "I See Paris" (one of my favorite stamps) and stamped it in black. Normally, I like a more subtle background for something like that, but I quite like how it turned out. Then I just added a little embellishment and I was done.

I've been using black more on my cards lately and I really like it. I used to think it was too bold and I tended to stick to my other colours, but for now, the black is working for me.

So, this card is for Colleen. Happy Birthday!

Yellow Telling Time

The other day, when I was playing with my new technique, I did this background first. I really liked how the Seeing Spots folder turned out. I used Scattered Straw and Dried Marigold Distress Inks.

I had just finished making all these backgrounds which was the fun and easy part. Then came figuring out what to do with them. It had been awhile since I had stamped and it always takes me a little while to get back into the groove. So, I grabbed my Sketch book (I referenced it in another post as well) and started flipping through it until I found a sketch that caught my eye. Then I just started adding elements and in the end, I really like how it turned out. I love how the black went with the yellow. The stamps are Tim Holtz, as are the embellishments.

Tall Trees

I made this card using the technique I described yesterday. I used the Tall Trees embossing folder by Tim Holtz (I love it because it has a matching stamp). I used Crushed Olive and Forest Moss Distress Inks to create the backgrounds. Then I overstamped with the stamp (from the Reindeer Flight set by Tim Holtz) in Olive Pastel Chalk Ink. Then on the one, I just stamped the saying right on the card. On the other, I stamped it on vellum which I stapled on the card. Both are very quick to make. One card is with the positive side of the fun foam stamp and the other is with the negative side.

The negative side:


The positive side:

It's been awhile ... again

I seem to go in bits and spurts. I will go hard and create a bunch of stuff and then I have to tend to real life demands and catch up on everything I've ignored while creating, and stamping and scrapbooking takes a back seat. I keep thinking that I will commit to crafting a little bit each day, but the reality is that I have 3 small children, a husband, a household and a business to run and sometimes those take all my time and I can't get in there. Or, I'm just tired and don't feel like it. And that's OK. I am jealous of people who can stamp for an hour or two every day, but often their children are older and I don't want to wish my time away. It would be so nice to have time every day just for me, but I know that will come one day and I'll be wishing that I had my children in my lap instead. Or, at least sometimes I might.

So, the reality is that sometimes I'll be here blogging away and other times I won't. I hope that my readers understand. Many of them know me and know I'll always come back. I love playing with my stamps and my room will always draw me back and then I'll share here.

I invited my cousin over to scrapbook on Thursday and I felt more like playing, so I flipped through some old Technique Junkies newsletters (I LOVE those things) and found a cool technique to try. I really like when I find a technique which uses stuff I already own. I know that seems odd for someone who sells stamping supplies, but I also believe it's my duty to show people what they can do with supplies they already have. And, in the end, I often find that they order more of those supplies anyway. And if they don't, then that's fine! I always hear people say, "I need to use what I have." And I agree. There are monetary and space limitations; we can't simply have everything new. But that said, a new technique with existing product will always be cool.

So, a new technique. This one is so easy (really, I shouldn't need to write that since I don't do complicated ones). You will need a die cut machine (Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Wizard), embossing folders, Distress Inks, fun foam, spritz bottle with water and white matte cardstock. I often demonstrate techniques with Distress Inks and I'm asked if you can use other dye inks instead. The answer: in my opinion, not and get the same effect. You could probably make it work, but the Distress Inks are made to be work well with water and the colour won't break down like with other dye inks. I love my distress inks and except for a permanent black ink, they are the ones I reach for 90% of the time.

First step is to run your fun foam through your die machine in an embossing folder. You might have better luck to heat your fun foam a bit before doing this. You will not get as deep an impression as if you used paper (and since it's so thick, you may need to change your sandwich), but that's fine. Then choose two colours of Distress Inks. You are going to ink most of your fun foam with your lighter colour (just rub the pad directly around on the fun foam). Then go back and add a second colour in a few areas. Spritz with water and place your cardstock on, rubbing over it from the back. Peel it up and you have a very cool watercolour type stamped background. Put aside to dry or use your heat gun if you are impatient (ie: me). Then you can flip your fun foam over and do the same thing using the other side of the fun foam to get the negative version of the design.

I made quite a few of these the other day and just labeled the fun foam with the name of the embossing folder so I could use them later.

Today, I'm just going to show the background I made with the Seeing Spots folder. I really love the big dots of this folder; it's easily one of my favorites. And it looks very cool when you used the negative of it! For this sample, I used Victorian Velvet and Dusty Concord Distress Inks.

Here is the positive side.


Here is the negative side.


I'll be back over the next several days to show you the cards I've been making with this technique. I hope you enjoy it!!

You will get your fingers dirty doing this one. If that bothers you, you can wear gloves or you can try a Craft Scrubbie by Ranger which does a fantastic job taking the ink off of your fingers.