What's all the noise?

At Club Scrap, we try to incorporate some sort of texture or "noise" into every collection. And for the most part, each rubber stamp series includes some sort of representation of that texture. It might be text, a tiny pattern, water droplets, etc. Using these stamps can sometimes be a challenge, but it's nothing you can't overcome! And in honor of UM Stamps Week, I've got a fun tutorial for 'ya!

Noise stamps can be great for creating awesome customized sheets of paper that can be incorporated into cards, pages and projects.

Check out the process using three different recipes:

1. Bold Blooms Club Stamp Unmounted Sheet; Carnation, Tangerine and Ruby Inks; Light Pink paper.

Ink and stamp the texture noise onto the paper and stamp several more times until all ink is off the stamp. Repeat until the sheet is covered.

Tip: When stamping off the edge of the paper (and be sure to do that), do not stamp back onto the paper fully. The stamp will make a nasty straight edge on your paper and you'll be super-bummed. If this happens, all is not lost . . . simply stamp over it until the line disappears.

It's fun to add depth to the texture by stamping with additional ink colors.

2. Equestrian CS Unmounted Sheet; Mahogany and Earth Inks; Tan Paper.

At first, the stamped image might seem to have a harsh, straight edge. Don't give up. Keep stamping additional times at different angles until the edges blend.

3. Bright Lights, Big City Unmounted Sheet; White Pigment Ink; Black Paper.

Be sure to heat set if you are using pigment ink.

Once the texture sheets are complete, incorporate them with matching papers and our Idea Deck card making formulas to create fabulous cards!

I was able to make the entire batch of 14 stamped and decorated cards in about 90 minutes.

There 'ya have it! Go make some noise!

Tricia

Bold Blooms Stencil with Video!

Even with Retreat weekend, the calendar marches on, and our production staff is hard at work preparing for another shipping day! Club Scrap Junior's Bold Blooms collection leaves the loading dock tomorrow, and we are so excited about this gem!

It's a stencil month (we rotate the stencil between the Club Scrap kit and the Junior kit), and that's always a favorite for me. Kay and I snuck into the studio to film a quick video peek on how to use the poppy stencil with CS® inks and ink applicators. It's a blast! And it will make you look/feel like a genius!

See that background on Kay's layout? We did it with the stencil. And the cool part is that you can make the color of your poppies coordinate with the streamers on Marilee's bike. (Or whatever you've got going on with your photos, of course, cuz I'm guessing you don't have a stash of photos from Marilee's birthday.) Kay also added two of the title stamps from the Unmounted FontArt. She first stamped in the top center of the page, and then again on each side. Great idea!

Without further ado, here's your "spoiler video"!

Bold Bloomin' Poppies!

After spending some time hanging out with my new Bold Blooms Unmounted stamps, I thought it would be fun to share the results of my experimentation. If you look at the image above, you'll notice that I made the card prior to discovering a few things. I found that there are (at least) three great ways to apply ink/color to the Bold Blooms stamps. Kay and I quick snuck into the studio to walk through the techniques, cuz a video is worth, like, a billion words!


I love sharing techniques with you, and I hope that you'll grab your supplies and give some of these a try. Remember that many of my experiments end up in the "circular file." Don't be afraid to try something new, even if it means that you might fail on the first couple of tries. You may need to make a few adjustments, but eventually, you'll get the hang of it!

Are there other techniques you'd like to see demonstrated on our blog? If so, let me know by replying with a comment below.

Happy Bloomin' Day!
Tricia

Warning: Major Spoiler Alert!

I just couldn't resist. Upon completing the fifteen Greetings to Go card samples for the August Bold Blooms collection, I just HAD to share.

It's bright. It's bold. It's beautiful! When the paper collection arrived at the Clubhouse, everyone was SO excited about it! (Always a good sign.)

And I've got lots of fun (but easy and efficient) techniques to share based on what I've learned by working with the fabulous stamps. Club Scrap members, it's not too late to have them added to your shipment for next week, cuz you're going to want them!!!! If you're not a member, you may want to fix that right away! And now, back to August retreat preparations! (No sleeping allowed until August 12th.)

A sneak peek at the Bold Blooms Greetings to Go collection.

And, without further delay, the random number selector chose "Lisamme" as last week's blog candy art medium comment challenge winner! Congratulations! We'll be getting in touch with you to send you some goodies! And I loved hearing about all of the mediums that you enjoy using. Thanks for your feedback!