Stamping Notebook

I just realized my last post on this blog was nearly two weeks ago! That doesn't mean I haven't gotten any paper crafting done - just haven't posted it.  Unfortunately, some of what I've done was so time critical that I didn't get pictures of it either, but I DO have a few things I can share with you over the next few days.  Today I'll talk about my Stamping Notebook.

As I've accumulated more sets of stamps, I began to realize that no matter how I organized them, there was still a challenge finding the right stamp for my cards sometimes.  I've organized my stamps into 6 basic categories:

1. Specific occasions - like Father's Day, Christmas, Birthday, etc.,
2. Small stamp sets - cute little sets that tend to be just perfect for card focals,
3. Decorative elements - borders, swirls, etc.
4. Themed sets - kitchen, birds, sewing, etc.
5. Word sets - quotes or greetings sets
6. Mounted rubber stamps (being bulker - these couldn't be stored with the others)

Though organizing this way has helped me be able to find some stamps when I needed them, I particularly noticed a challenge when it came to quotes and greetings.  The reason for this was two-fold.  First, some quotes or greetings that might focus on a specific occasion - could also be used just as well for some other types of occasions. Secondly, themed sets or small stamp sets, often have a few words associated with them.  These can be very useful - but hard to remember where they are. So, I decided to make a stamping notebook that has two sections.  

The first section is a list of single word stamps, arranged somewhat alphabetically.  If you look closely at the picture at the top of this post, you'll see it is composed of small 1/4-sheet sized papers - each with words that start with the letters that are highlighted on the mini-page.  I've simply taped these papers onto a larger sheet with removable tape.  This allows me to add more little sheets as needed to show all my single word stamps.

The second section is arranged by occasion or type of need.  For example, some focus on "Christmas" or "Birthday", or "Thank You".  And some pages show other types of needs like names used for people (husband, daughter, Dad, friend, me, etc.)  You can see an example of the second section here:

Here I've got a page of stamps related to occasions where one might want a "Congratulations" card.  

In both sections, I've stamped all applicable stamps from a single set together and drawn a line around them - then written the name of the set they came from in blue, so I can find them easily. 

As you can imagine, this project took a bit of time, and I found myself wondering if it would be worth it.  IT IS!!!!  Recently as I was making cards, I found myself wanting sentiments that needed to be a certain size and shape and font-type to support the theme of my card.  How nice to just be able to turn to the right page in my stamping notebook and see what would best fit my needs.  Several times, I ended up using stamps that I know I would have totally forgotten about if I hadn't had this notebook to refer to.

Dress-form Thank You

My daughter saw this dress-form stamp (from my Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine subscription) in my drawer and liked it.  So, I decided to make her a thank you card using it and some leftover pieces of paper in my stash.  I think they all came from HOTP.

Background: The background paper was from my stash - I think it was HOTP, but not certain.  After cutting the piece to fit, I used a pink gel pen to outline the edges.

Focal: I shortened the stand on the stamp by stamping the dress form first, then the stand. This didn't work as well as I would have liked. They didn't line up. Oops! I had to use a pen to turn it into a fake secondary piece for the stand. Next time I'll try stamping a portion of the stand first. I might be able to line it up better that way. Anyway, after stamping the focal image, I cut it out and embossed it with a die from the Radiant Rectangles set by Spellbinders. I used the same set for the pink and white mats. I used my gel pen to add color around the white mat.

Sentiment: The sentiment was a stamp from the same stamp set as the dress-form. I first cut a white piece with Spellbinders Fancy Tags, then stamped the sentiment. I cut the pink mat by tracing the outside of the die and then fussy cutting it out. I attached it with foam tape.

Accents: The three little circles in the upper right corner are button stamps from the stamp set.  I stamped them, then colored them with gel pens before cutting them out and attaching with foam tape.

Alcohol Ink and Waxy Paper

A few days ago I shared about magnetic pages I made to store my cutting dies, and how I used self-adhesive magnetic sheets to create them.  Well, after making those sheets, I had a bunch of these waxy backing sheets that had been covering the adhesive on the magnetic sheets.  Since I hate throwing away something that might be useful, I decided to experiment. 

Using some Spellbinders cutting dies (Splendid Circles), I cut some shapes out of the backing paper.  As I looked at them, I realized they could be quite nice if they were colored, but I knew most things wouldn't stick to the waxy surface.  I decided to try alcohol inks.  You can see what they looked like as you look at my focal in this card.  

I matted them on white card and then started looking for some backing paper that would set it off nicely.  I ended up using some more of my papers created with the embossed waxed paper resist technique (see posts here and here).  

The sentiment was stamped with a stamp from the Celebrations Labels One and Bracket Borders One set from JustRite.

For the corner treatments, I cut one of the Spellbinder's Holly Motifs elements in white card, and then cut it apart by hand to get the decorative corner bits you see on this card.  Voila! Another card from scraps!

Elegance In Green

Here green suede paper (from HOTP - love it!), green glimmer paper, and white paper come together to make a pretty thank you card.  

• Dies used: Spellbinders 5x7 Elegant Labels Four and Decorative Labels 8.  
• Stamps used: JustRite Grand Sentiments.

Background: Green glimmer paper was cut and embossed with the largest of the Elegant Labels Four dies - and a white piece of paper was similarly cut and embossed with the next smaller die in the set.  These were then layered and glued in place on top of a piece of green suede paper that was just a smidge larger. This whole thing was then glued to the front of the card.

Focal: The sentiment and frame was stamped in dark green ink on white paper.  Since I don't have the Labels 8 die set, I just fussy cut around the outside edge of the border. This was matted on a piece of green suede paper that had been cut and embossed with a Decorative Labels Eight die. I attached this to the prepared card, using foam tape for added dimension.  I finished the focal by adding a couple of green Jewel Dazzles from HOTP.