Makeshift Stamp Positioner

There's a fairly new kid on the block when it comes to stamping tools - the MISTI. What I like most about it is its ability to act as a stamp positioner for overstamping and for stamping on already cut out die cuts. It does more than that, but those are the two things I really liked.  I thought to myself, it's just a shallow tray with a lid. Surely I must have something like that at hand!

Voila! A Stampin' Up! cling mount stamp case! It's shallow and clear. So, I tried it and I'm sharing the results with you on my paper crafting video channel. I think Stampin' Up! sells these cases separately too. I'm expecting a catalogue in the mail, so I'll see! Alternatively, I believe they are similar in size to DVD cases.

Mind you, this case is a lot smaller than the MISTI, so your project size is limited. It will hold a 5x7 card though, and that's plenty enough for me.

Here's the card I made with it. I used the stamp case to get the greeting inside the frame.

This gate fold holiday card is destined for a retirement home this holiday season. I used my Copic hand airbrush tool to spatter the sky: light all over and slightly darker near the hills. I had already done this centre piece but it would have been WAY easier to get the trees straight if I had used my new makeshift stamp positioner!

The MISTI doesn't work with wood mounted stamps. If you really want to use it for them, you will have to convert your wood mounted stamps to cling stamps by unmounting them and them putting them on EZ Mount.

Check out how well it worked for me in my Makeshift Stamp Positioner video on my Vimeo channel. (I apologize for the choppy parts of the video. I had to really cut it down to get the file size to fit my upload limit!)

Dinosaur Birthday Card

One nephew shares a birth month with my dad and one shares a birthday day-of-the-month with him. It was my nephew's 5th birthday this past week and my dad's 65th. I made a card for both of them, but today I am sharing my nephew's.

I used Freshly Made Sketches sketch #185. I kept the colour scheme bright and simple. The balloon is a shape that came with my Brother Scan'N'Cut. I cut it as small as possible and then had to shave it down by hand. I cut the dinosaur on my Scan'N'Cut too, but that one I designed myself on the computer.

I masked off a bigger birthday wish stamp to get just the "birthday wishes". Then I spelled out "BIG" with an alphabet set I have from Close To My Heart.

I had to make this card in a hurry so I was glad to find inspiration in the sketch!

40th Birthday - Give a Poem a Home - Dragon

My sister made me a birthday card this year.... but she forgot to write anything inside it! So, since it is effectively blank, I told her she's going to get it back on her birthday since hers is the month after mine!

However, it was a milestone birthday for her this year, so I had to make a super extra-special card. I used Dreamy Dragon by Sylvia Zet of Wee Stamps - you can get her designs as rubber stamps from Whimsy Stamps online store.

I looked online for examples of how people coloured it and recreated it from ones I liked.

This image is BIG. I had to put it on a 5x7 inch card, so I decided to make it a crisscross card. The lacy circle mat that I backed it with was a little bigger. It wouldn't quite fit in a 5x7 envelope, so I had to custom make one of those too!

Isn't this image sweet?

(Click for larger view.)

It was a lovely thing to colour! I have to admit, however, it took me 2 hours just to colour the image. I spent another hour making the card, the insert and the envelope.

I used alcohol markers on this one:
Body: BIC Mark-Its: Margarita Green, Key Lime and Meadow Green
Spine: COPIC: V15 Mallow and V17 Amethyst
Belly & Soles: COPIC: C3 Cool Gray 3 and 0 Colourless Blender
Flowers: BIC Mark-Its: Petal Pink and Polynesian Purple
Blush: COPIC: R22 Light Prawn
I didn't write down the colours I used for the tree. Sorry! They were Copic markers though.
I also used my white gel pen for the highlights.

I cut the lacy circle mat from a metallic shimmer paper. I also shimmered the blossoms. I was going to shimmer the dragon but, by the time I finished colouring it, I didn't want to touch it anymore in case I ruined anything. At some point, my brain just said to stop fiddling with it.

You can see the shimmer better here:

Of course, I had to compose something for the flat greeting that slips into the crisscross pocket!

Click image to read poem.

I won't lie. It pained me a little to give this one away. But it went to someone super special for a super special day, so it's all good!