Quick cards and freebies!

Tomorrow is December first so I thought we should make some quick cards that are easy to mass produce for Christmas. Everything in the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff shop at Shophandmade is 10% off until Dec 2nd AND you get a free stamp for ever $5 you spend before dicount! I challenged the Lindsay’s stamp Stuff Junior DT to creat some 10 minutes or less cards using my digital stamps, here are mine:

Stamps, Template: Lindsay's stamp Stuff

This cocoa packet is one of my favorites, I designed the template last Christmas time and it was perfect for giving Starbucks gift cards;) It works well for a cocoa packet too, an inexpensive gift for a teacher or bus driver. Get the templates here:

Here is a printable version.

Here is a version for Cricut DS users with the George Cartridge.

Here is an SVG version for Cricut users with SCAL software.

*Today is the last day you can save 10% on SCAL software with the coupon code: 9794821, it is the perfect Christmas gift for any Cricut owner ;)

all Elements: Lindsay's stamp Stuff

On this card I used the free gingerbread clip art (see freebie pack below) and the scalloped rectangle from the embossed mats set (I adjusted the color to green) and typed “Happy Holidays” over it and printed it out as one image on a piece of cardstock that was my card base. I punched 2 holes and threaded a shot piece of ribbon through and viola: a card in 3 minutes!

Stamps/elements: Lindsay's stamp Stuff

I just did this card this morning, I printed one of the card base sheets from the new Winter Printables kit and cut it in half (you get two cards for one sheet) and folded it. I used the Gingerbread svg file from the freebie pack (I cut it with my cricut and scal software) and glued that on my card over one of the tags from the 3-D Advent Calendar set, then I cut a slit on the fold of my card for my ribbon and added that and finally I added the happy holidays tag also from the Winter Printables set. I added a punched tab at the top and over it an element from the Christmas Cupcakes set. As you can see all of the stamp set from Lindsay’s stamp stuff coordinate beautifully together ;)

Here is a look at the brand new Winter Printable kit:

New Winter Printable kit, only $4 from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff!

Here is your freebie for today ;)

2 stamps, 2 clip arts and 2 svg cutting files, enjoy!

Ready for some more quick cards? Check out what my awesome  DT has in store for you today:

Kristen Hamlin

Joy Stagg

Karin Martin

Jennifer Bliss

Cheryl Gorka

Anette “Nettie” Robins

Cassandra Cushman

Remember: everything at the Lindsay’s stamp Stuff shop at Shophandmade is 10% off til Wednesday and you get a free stamp for ever $5 you spend! Til next time Happy Crafting!

Fun With Flocking!

I love to use flocking and my favorite way to adhere it is by using double-sided adhesive, On this card I stamped the Santa twice, colored the face on one and pressed the other onto a sheet of Scor-Tape. I cut apart the hat, fluff and beard then pulled the backing off the tape and sprinkled on red and white flock. Be sure to press the flock down well so it will stay stuck!

Stamps: About Art Accents, Flock: Doodlebug, Paper: K&Co, die Cuts Cricut, Punch: Fiskars

The wonderful stamps are by About Art Accents, they are known for their beautiful Asian designs but their folky and vintage Christmas designs are my favorites! I have a collection of vintage santa stamps, I love them because they never go out of style and they are so pretty. You can see all of the Christmas designs here: Christmas 1, Christmas 2, Christmas 3, Christmas 4, Christmas 5, Christmas 6, Christmas 7, Christmas 8 The stamp I used on this card was from Christmas Plate 2 but I have plate 1 as well and it is my favorite! All of their Christmas plates (the big honkin sheets of many stamps) are 20% off right now too so stock up! Another cool thing about About Art Accents is that if you are just ordering one sheet of stamps of a few single stamps you can email them and they will adjust the shipping on your order so don’t fret if the shipping seems high for a small amount ;) They will adjust it if you email them.

When you buy a plate of stamps you get a large sheet of rubber with lots of stamps (a great value). The way I deal with this is first I closely trim out all of the stamps, then I paint a layer of Aileens Tack it Over and Over on the back and let them dry. I have a 3-ring binder (I have one dedicated to About Art Accents stamps!) and I have page protectors in it with cardstock sheets inside. I simply stick the stamps to the outside of the page protectors to store them and I can flip through my binder when I am ready to create! Easy peasy! If you want to be uber organized you can stamp the images on the cardstock before you put it in the page protector and you can easily see what stamp you have and what ones you are missing.

Have a great weekend folks, if you have a bit of time to web surf today check out my group at MyGrafico. I am having a card contest from now till Dec 1st, be sure to check it out! Till next time Happy Crafting!

3-D Advent Calendar and a Freebie!

Update: The Gingerbread man SVG was missing from the freebie zipfile. I rezipped it and you can download the freebie here. So sorry for any inconvenience ;)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the states ;) I’ll be spending the afternoon with my parents having some yummy food and enjoying my family’s company. The great thing about being a vegetarian on thanksgiving is that no one asks you to cook anything, yep, I still get to mooch like a college student;) I’ll probably make some rolls and humus and maybe a vegan banana cream pie, yum!

This week I worked on crafting kit that you can use to make an Advent calendar:

3-D Advent calender kit, only $3, form Lindsay's stamp Stuff, Pattern paper: K&Co, Cardstock: Staples, The Paper Co.

A 12 days of Christmas calendar:

Arrange 9 green boxes and 3 brown boxes to make this cute, quick, calendar!

And Christmas ornaments (picture a little paper trunk underneath so it looks like a Christmas tree, I completely spaced when I made this LOL!)

One box makes an ornament ;)

And there is more you can make with the 3-D advent kit too, like a “cake” centerpiece by arranging the boxes in a circle and favor boxes for table place settings. I included a sheet of printable numbers for the calendar as well as a sheet of printable tags and blanks if you want to write a name in them. The numbers are sized to fit a 1 1/2″ circle punch perfectly saving you time and making this craft easy. I included a template with instructions written on it and I also put another printable template that has just the cutting and folding lines and there are two boxes on that sheet so you can put your 8 1/2″x11″ green cardstock in your printer and print the template right on the paper with little waste, no tracing, YAY! For those of you with Cricut Machines and SCAL software I have SVG cutting file in the kit so you can cut it with whatever Cricut you have! If you dont have SCAL yet you can use this coupon code: 97994821 to save 10% on the software, hurry, it expires on 11/30/09!

Here is a look at the 3-D Advent Calendar Kit available for $3 at the Lindsay’s stamp Stuff Shop, remember, for ever $5 you spend you get to pick a single stamp for free!

3-D Advent kit, only $3 in the LSS shop!

Speaking of free, here is a little freebie for my stamping AND SCAL/Cricut friends. You get 2 digital stamps in both png and jpg format and 2 SVG cutting files to cut with your Cricut!

Click the picture to download this fun freebie!

I gave the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff Design Team the week off but they are so dedicated that some of them just had to post anyway, take a look at what they created this week:

Janet Rossi

Margie Visnick

Lisa Jurecek

Melissa Craig

Tamara Bennett

Cindi Hooks

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you have some time to do some shopping everything in my shop at MyGrafico is 20% off today until midnight! Or you can shop at my Shop Handmade shop and get a free stamp for every $5 you spend ;) Dont’cha just love good deals! Till next time happy crafting!

Letterpress Experiment {part 2}

After playing with my homemade letterpress the other day I was thinking of other things I might make printing/debossing plates with when a lady on the SCAL/Cricut yahoo group suggested that I try magnet sheets. It just so happened I have a bunch of sheet magnet scraps given to me by the local sign shop so I gave it a whirl and guess what? It worked!

The green swirls were done with my magnet sheets.

I cut the magnet sheet with my Cricut. I used the Accent Essentials cartridge and the multi cut feature on my Expression. I made sure to tape the magnet sheet down on all 4 sides to my mat to make sure it didn’t move while cutting and I used a deep cut blade depth 6, pressure max, speed low. You need to cut it twice to make sure it goes through the magnet (probably 3 times would be better because it still didn’t go all the way through but I was able to pop the design out of the sheet.) This was the first time I used the multi cut feature on my Expression ;) Here is a look at the debossing without ink:

The magnet gives a clean crisp debossed image when run through the home-made letterpress.

Here is a detail of the card. I kinda go overboard with my brayer and ink but you can still see the pretty design.

The damask and text plates are from Lifestyle Crafts (L) the swil is my magnet plate.

Since my homemade letterpress worked so well I decided to make a prettier one with a grid for lining up and measuring. Here is what I did. I used a new Big Shot cutting pad (I bought 2 new cutting pad sets at JoAnns today as they were on sale for 40% off as was all of the cricut and sizzix products so ou may want to stock up…I’m such an enabler) ;) and a piece of masonite cut to 6″x9″ (it was a scrap of wall paneling board I cut to size with a craft knife, you can get discontinued paneling samples from the hardware store for free if you ask or use 1/8″ masonite or a spare cutting pad.) I printed graph paper off the internet from this site, trimmed it to 6″x9″ and glued it to the masonite then covered the whole grid with a laminating sheet so any stray ink could be wiped off. I taped around the edges with clear packing tape overlapping 1″ on the top and bottom of the masonite board on all 4 sides. I place the clear cutting pad and masonite board end to end leaving a 1/4″ gap between them and taped them together with duct tape to make a hinge. Be sure to wrap the duct tape all the way around for a sturdy hinge. Then I used a ruler and a purple sharpie to make lines on top of the clear pad and the grid paper to make it easy to line up my paper. Here is a look at the pretty version:

I used a new cutting pad and added a grid on my revamped letterpress gizmo.

here is the letterpress open, see how easy it is to line up the plates and paper using the grid.

I place the letterpress on the spacer with two sheets of cardstock to shim (or pack) it.

Here is the debossed image using the letterpress plates from Lifestyle Crafts, if you want a colored debossed (letterpressed) image ink up the plate first. see my ink recipe and instuctions below.

Here is a recipe for homemade printing ink:

1 part Prang Tempera Paint (I like the metallic and the dollar tree sometimes has it) mixed with 1 part Reeves brand Gauche Paint (you can get a set of 18 colors at AC Moore for $10 or cheaper on-line. Mix together and place a bit on a ceramic tile then roll a rubber brayer over it until it is evenly inked and you are ready to use the brayer to ink up the printing plates! If the ink seems too wet add more gauche, if it is too dry add more tempera. You could use acrylic paint however you need to clean your brayer and plates meticulously and quickly after using because if the paint dries on the plates or brayer they will be ruined. Gauche and tempera are like opaque watercolors and can be washed off even when dry.

If you don’t have a clue what I am talking about in this post you can read part 1 of my letterpress article here. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Cricut carts for $24!!!!

Holy moly, I was just at the Pink Tuesday sale at Custom Crops and all of their cricut carts are on sale! I bought Storybook for $24.99! I’ve been eyeballing that one for a while, it’s an early x-mas present to me;) They also have free shipping on orders over $100. I got a few cuttlebug folders too, the prices werent super cheap but they had a great selection of ones I’d never seen before. I am NOT affiliated with Custom Crops, just wanted to pass this along, the sale ends at midnight tonight CST si hurry, I’ve ordered fro them before and always had good luck. I’ll be back later today with a crafty post and surprise, it used the cricut;) Till then happy crafting!

Easy X-Mas Cards and a Freebie!

The countdown is on folks, Thanksgiving is 3 days away and we only have 32 shopping days til Christmas! As a kid I remember each Thanksgiving, after the meal had been eaten and the dishes washed (while dad watched football) mom would address all of her Christmas cards in her beautiful penmanship. My penmanship is NOT lovely but I can make a cute card (I hand make 70 each Christmas) and if you are hand making all of your cards they need to be quick so here are a few quick cards you can make using stamps from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff:

Stamps: Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, MarkersL: Bic Mark-Its, PP: American Crafts, Cardstock: SU!, Georgia Pacific, tool: Scor-Pal & Scor-Bug

Tips: Print out a bunch of images ahead of time and color and trim them while watching TV. This wreath only took a few minutes to color and trim, since I placed the label over the center I didn’t bother to trim the middle, what a time saver!  Get the look of stitching by rolling a paper piecer (I used the scor-bug) over the edges of your paper and use a pen to draw the thread! Total card time 10 minutes! The label is from the Christmas Cupcakes set and the Wreath is from Christmas Potpourri both available at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff!

Stamps, Paper, Clipart: Lindsay's stamp Stuff, Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Bazzil (teal), Markers: Bic Mark-Its

I used the pattern paper, cupcake stamp and label from X-Mas Freebie kit in these cards. You can find the Bingo card (there are 36 in the set) and the ornament stamps in the Christmas Potpourri digital stamp set. The cupcake card took 10 minutes to make because of the coloring but the other card was done in 5!

Stamps, paper, tag: Lindsay's stamp Stuff x-mas freebie kit

Cricut Expression Tip: To die cut around a digital stamp place your digi stamped paper on your mat. Use your arrow keys to bring the blade to the center of the stamp. Press the “Center Point” button, select your shape and size and press “cut”. You will have a perfectly cut image every time! It is also easy to die cut your stamps using SCAL software. Place the shape you want on the mat on your computer screen then stick your digistamped paper on the same place on the real mat, insert it into the cricut and cut. BTW you can save 10% on scal using this coupon code: 9794821

Stamps and elements: Lindsay's Stamp Stuff

Here is a look at all of the Christmas set available from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff, at only $5 each you can afford them all! Click on the pictures to go to the set.

Brand new in the shop today!

A perfect kit for quick Christmas Cards!

Any excuse to make cupcakes right?

And now here is your freebie!

Enjoy these stamps and elements for free ;) Click the picture to download.

This is my favorite part, time to see what the Lindsay’s stamp Stuff DT “Monday Crew” has made for us this week:

Kristen Hamlin

Joy Stagg

Karin Martin

Jennifer Bliss

Cheryl Gorka

Anette “Nettie” Robins

Cassandra Cushman

Check out their fabulous work and don’t forget to leave them some love ;) Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Homemade Letterpress!

I feel like an evil genius! I figured out how to make my own letterpress contraption to use with my Big Shot Die Cutting machine, lookie at what I made:

Some cards made with my homemade letterpress and printing plates from Lifestyle Crafts.

Here I debossed the images without ink then used a brayer to add ink over the debossed designs.

You may be thinking “what’s the big deal? It looks like stamping” but that is only half of it because when you letterpress it debosses too! You can just plain emboss, ink the plate first and have a colored debossed image or you can run your paper through uninked then brayer ink (or swipe it with an inkpad) over it to highlight the raised design. It’s totally cool!

This is how it looks without inking. I like it!

Here I inked the crown with purple ink before printing. The card base was pressed uninked then I used the same purple inkpad to rouge the edges.

When I saw the home letterpress kit from Lifestyle Crafts I was intrigued but I wasnt about to spent $150 on a whim especially since I had a die cutter and zillions of rubber stamps already, they also have a starter kit that has the contraption that you use the printing plates with, ink and paper for $70 but that is still a lot of money in my book. So I took an old plexiglass cutting pad from my Big Shot, a piece of Masonite and some duck tape and made this:

I hinged the plexiglass plate to a peice of Masonite with duct tape to make my press.

The results of my Homemade snowflate printing plate.

I purchased the Everyday letterpress printing plate at AC Moore, I just about fell over yesterday when I saw that they had the whole line of products (and I had a 50% off coupon in my pocket.) The plates sell for $24 a set but with the coupon they were $12, a reasonable price for a few hours of fun and experimentation I think ;)

Here is the set I purchased, I really like it!

For my first experiment I used Rives BFK printmaking paper because you need soft thick paper to get the full effect. I used the adhesive that came with my plates (double-sided tape will work too), stuck a printing plate to the plexiglass side, put my paper on the Masonite side, closed the contraption and ran it through my Big Shot. The debossing was gorgeous!

Then I inked up the plate with a pigment inkpad, it looked OK but I got a much cleaner result when I used a soft rubber brayer to ink up my plate.

Then I tried the plates un-inked again and used a brayer to apply ink over the design. I like that a lot.

So then I thought I would try to make my own printing plates. I used thick stencil plastic that my SIL who is a quilter gave me and my Creative Hot Marks (woodburner) with the tapered stencil tip on it to cut my own plates. I made an Asian character, a frame, and a snowflake. I printed the Asian design on paper and placed it under the film so I could see it as I cut and the others I just took die cuts from the Cricut and cut around them, both ways worked equally as well. I had to use a craft knife to trim away some of the plastic burrs on the plates but they were quick to make and worked nicely.

Some homemade letterpress plates made with stencil plastic and a woodburner.

I used my homemade Asian plate for this. the background is a LC plate inked with gold before pressing.

I experimented with paper and it seems that the ticker the paper the better it worked. Watercolor paper and printmaking paper worked the best, DCWV textured cardstock worked very well too, I wasnt as pleased with regular cardstock and paper though. If you try this and don’t get any embossing you may need to shim (or pack as they call it over at Lifestyle Crafts) your contraption. For my homemade plates I place a sheet of rubber gasket under my homemade letterpress before cranking it through, for the purchased plates I used 2 sheets of cardstock under my press for a shim. Do not over pack it or you my crack your plates, I noticed little stress cracks on one of my plates when I used too thick a shim. I have been “making art” for a long time so i had a lot of supplies like brayers, ink and paper on hand, if you don’t it might be cheaper to get the kit if you are dying to try this craft.

I would love to try the Lifestyle crafts kit to see how it compares to mine, my niece is getting married and I have been asked to help with the invitations and I think these designs will be beautiful for that. If you try this let me know how it goes, I sure did have fun playing with this today ;) Till next time happy crafting!