stamp out loud by tami sanders

school days...

I have a few more vintage-inspired projects to share before we move onto another theme.

Today's project is a scrapbook page that features a "first day of school" photo...

 

Several vintage-style stamps were used to create this layout. First the mat for the photo was stamped using Atlantic Blue Archival Dye Ink on light blue cardstock. The edges were distressed with Mudslide Archival Dye Ink...

 

Then, an alphabet stamp and Mudslide Archival Ink was used to create a border...

 

The same alpha stamp was also used to stamp letters for the title; the letters were cut out from the stamped image...

 

And the rest of the title was stamped in Red Devil Archival Dye Ink on cream cardstock and put in a nameplate...

 

And for another vintage touch, a paperclip was used to adhere the photo to the mat...

 

If you'd like to make this layout to display your back to school photos, here's what you'll need to know...

“first day of school” mini scrapbook layout

Skill Level: moderate

SUPPLIES:

Clearsnap:  Archival Dye Ink: Mudslide, Cookie Dough, Atlantic Blue and Red Devil

Hero Arts: Simple and Basic ClearDesign stamps and Aged Print Frame Clings stamp

Memory Box: Alpha Background wood mount stamp

Bazzill: Kraft, Nautical Blue Light and Butter Cream cardstocks

Tools: paper trimmer, scissors, adhesive, file, bookplate, 2 antique gold mini brads and paper clip 

DIRECTIONS:

1) Cut a 6 X 6 piece of kraft cardstock, ink edges using Mudslide Archival Dye Ink.

2) Ink frame stamp with Atlantic Blue Archival Dye Ink and stamp onto a piece of light blue cardstock. Cut out around design.

3) Ink alpha stamp with Mudslide Archival Dye Ink and stamp onto a piece of kraft cardstock until image reaches at least 6" long. Trim around design at edges, and trim piece to 6" in length.

4) Ink alpha stamp with Mudslide Archival Dye Ink and stamp onto a piece of light blue cardstock. Cut out individual letters to spell "first day of".

5) Stamp "school" with Simple and Basic alpha set onto a piece of cream cardstock using Red Devil Archival Dye Ink.

6) Crop photo, tearing along right edge. Use file to distress photo around all edges. Then ink edges with Cookie Dough and Mudslide Archival Dye Inks.

7) To assemble, adhere frame to background, then paperclip photo to alpha strip and adhere to background.

8) Slip "first day of" cut out letters under left edge of alpha border as shown and adhere.

9) Trim "school" piece to fit nameplate. Check placement of nameplate and mark holes. Then adhere "school" piece and attach nameplate with mini brads.

Please be sure to check out Jean’s ColorSyle blog for more great projects featuring Clearsnap products!

all in the family...

I am the lone gal in my family; I’m out numbered 3 to 1, so I am always on the lookout for projects or ideas for guys. But today, I have a few ideas to share with you.

 

Color plays a big part of creating a “masculine” look; I immediately think of blue, brown and black with maybe a touch of lime green thrown in for some punch. Texture is important too; layers of different patterns can work together to add interest to your project.

 

This layout has examples of both of these ideas…

 

 

The photo was taken on my youngest son’s birthday, and coincidentally, all my guys wore lime green that day. So of course mom had to take advantage of that photo op.

 

I wanted the lime green of their shirts to be the “pop” in my layout, so the only other repeat of that color is a few touches of Smooch Accent Ink in Green Apple to tie the color in…

 

 

For texture, I started with the background paper, I used Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink to stamp a repeated pattern across the entire page…

 

 

 

Then I added some color, a medium blue that I thought accented the colors in the photos. I decided to use Watermark Ink to create a tone on tone look for the stamped design. And then to add another layer to that, I filled in the diamonds in the pattern using Smooch Accent Ink in Olive Twist…

 

 

 

I also stamped a frame around my photo, and added several stamped and cut out sentiments to the bottom of the layout…

 

 

As a final touch, I added my title using brads in antique silver…

 

 

 

Each layer adds depth and interest and keeps the layout from looking “flat” whether you frame it or put it in a scrapbook.

 

“”My Family” 8 X 8 layout

 

Skill Level: moderate

 

SUPPLIES: 

 

Designer Note: In the supply list, I have both the full or mini AND cats eye sizes listed. The full and mini sizes have pads that are “juicier” and are great for stamping. But the pad on the cats eye is perfect for inking the edges of your papers.

 

Clearsnap: Smooch Accent Ink: Olive Twist and Green Apple, Watermark Ink {full or mini size} and ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink: Chestnut Roan and Blackbird {full or mini size and cats eye}

 

Hero Arts: Circle Pattern cling stamp

 

Hampton Art: Artsy Edges and Word Collage Borders clear stamps

 

Memory Box: Lattice Background wood mount stamp

 

My Sentiments Exactly: Family clear stamps

 

Bazzill: Kraft and Nautical Blue cardstocks

 

Other: antique silver brads and fine tip black pen

 

Tools: adhesive, paper trimmer, scissors, paper piercer and dimensional foam dots

 

DIRECTIONS: 

 

1) Cut an 8 X 8 piece of kraft cardstock for background.

 

2) Ink Circle Pattern stamp using Chestnut Roan chalk ink and stamp design across entire background. Ink edges of page using Chestnut Roan, then Blackbird chalk inks.

 

3) Ink Lattice Background stamp using Watermark ink and stamp 2 designs on blue cardstock. When dry, cut out both and trim 1 piece to measure 1” wide, and the other to measure 1 ½” wide.

 

4) Fill in diamonds in lattice pattern using Olive Twist Smooch. When dry, ink edges of pieces using Watermark ink.

 

5) Stamp “My family” using Blackbird chalk ink on kraft cardstock. Cut out, rounding top edges. Ink edges first with Chestnut Roan, and then with Blackbird.

 

6) Lay photo on a piece of kraft cardstock and lightly trace around edges. Ink border stamp with Blackbird chalk ink and stamp along penciled line to form frame. Handcut frame, and ink edges using Blackbird chalk ink. Erase pencil lines and adhere photo to center of frame.

 

7) Stamp “family memories” border on a piece of kraft cardstock; cut out and ink edges using Chestnut Roan chalk ink. Fill in tiny circles along the bottom using Green Apple Smooch.

 

8) Stamp word border on kraft cardstock using Blackbird chalk ink. Cut out border, creating flag at right end. Ink edges first with Chestnut Roan, and then with Blackbird chalk ink. Outline “Family” with Green Apple Smooch, when dry, outline with black pen.

 

9) To assemble, adhere “my family” title tab to upper left of framed photo. Use paper piercer to make holes and insert brads. Lay photo on page and line up blue stamped pieces on either side with the narrower piece on the left. Remove photo and adhere blue pieces, then adhere photo. Use dimensional foam dots to adhere “family memories” border to lower right of photo, then adhere word border beneath aligning left edge with left side of background.

 

Hopefully, you’ll find these ideas helpful in creating projects for your guys…

 

---tami

 

pretty petals...

I've got another spring themed project for you today, and it's bursting with soft, pretty pastel colors: pink, lavender, blue, yellow and spring green.

Often it’s difficult to find printed papers or embellishments in color combinations that match your photos. But since Clearsnap has so many different types of inks in SO many beautiful colors, its easy to make your own papers and or embellishments that will match your photos PERFECTLY. 

Here’s today’s project, a layout titled “Spring Fair”... 

 

(Special thanks to Laura E for the photo of her beautiful girls!)

This 8 X 8 scrapbook page features a pretty bouquet of inked and "smooched" chipboard flowers. The flowers, part of Hampton Art's Flower Press line, started out as plain white chipboard. First they were tinted using ColorBox Pigment Inks. Then they were stamped with a coordinating stamp - made to fit each flower – that was inked with Fluid Chalk Ink. Finally accents were added or filled in using Smooch Accent Inks.

ColorBox Pigment Inks were the perfect ink to use to “paint” the chipboard; they are easy to blend, are very opaque and cover well. I decided to use the ColorBox Fluid Chalk Ink to stamps the designs on the flowers with as they add a soft but crisp look and dry quickly. And to add a bit of color AND shimmer, the Smooch Accent Inks were the obvious choice. They are opaque and cover in one coat, so there was no bleed through of the base ink color, and they have a fabulous precision applicator built into the top so that I could get into all the little nooks and crannies of the stamped designs.

It was easy to ink the chipboard flowers as the surface is nice and smooth and since they are bright white the inks really "pop" once you apply them. I placed each flower on a clean white paper towel, and working one at a time with the ink pad held upside down, I dabbed the ink onto the chipboard until I had the coverage I wanted. I used the Pigment Inks in the mini size as they are very easy to handle. 

After the flowers were dry and I stamped the accents on them and then used spring shades of Smooch Accent Inks to fill in some of the designs of each of the flowers. 

Here's a few closeups of the flowers:

 

 

I used some pretty pearls, from Hero Arts, to embellish the centers of the flowers. I also used them to "dot" the "i's" in my title:  

 

Once all the flowers were done, all I had left to do was stamp the title and assemble the layout.

Here are the supplies and directions you'll need to create this project yourself:

"Spring Fair" 8 X 8 scrapbook layout 

Skill Level: moderate

SUPPLIES: 

Clearsnap: ColorBox Pigment Inks: Orchid, Aqua, Sunflower and Heliotrope (mini or full size), ColorBox: Fluid Chalk Ink: Chestnut Roan and Blue Lagoon (mini or full size) and Smooch Accent Ink: Carrot, Pool, Taffy, Grape Soda and Sundance  

Hero Arts:  Curly Alphabet Clear Design Stampsand Accent Pearls: Pink, Light Yellowand Light Lavender

Hampton Art: Flower Press: White Chipboard Flowers, Large White Chipboard Flowers, Petal Patterns Clear Stamp, Petal Words Clear Stamp, Large Petal Patterns Clear Stamp and Large Petal Words Clear Stamp

Bazzill: Lime Sherbert, Coconut Swirl and Banana Blis cardstocks

Tools: acrylic block scissors,paper trimmer and adhesive 

DIRECTIONS: 

1) Select 3 large, 3 12pt and 3 chipboard flowers and ink them using your choice of ColorBox Pigment Ink colors. Place the flowers on a clean white paper towel, and then holding the ink pad upside down, dab ink onto chipboard until desired coverage is reached. Set flowers aside to dry.

2) Using Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk Ink, stamp flowers with your choice of coordinating stamp design and set aside to dry.

3) Use your choice of Smooch Accent Ink colors to fill in portions of the stamped designs and set aside to dry.

4) Cut an 8” X 8” piece of yellow paper.

5) Cut a 1 ¾” X 6 ¾” piece of white cardstock. Stamp “spring fair” title near the top using Blue Lagoon Chalk Ink. Adhere piece about 1/8” from the left side of the yellow background, having the top and bottom evenly spaced.

6) Cut a 6 ½” X 7 ½" piece of lime green cardstock and adhere about ¼” from the right side and from the top and bottom of the yellow background cardstock.

7) Adhere photo about ¼” from upper right corner of layout.

8) Arrange and adhere flowers on layout.

9) Cut apart your choice of size and color pearls and adhere them to the flower centers. Select 2 pearls to “dot” the “I”’s with.

You can also make these pretty little flowers to use on an altered project or card – they’ll be cute on whatever you use them on!

---tami