Oct 2, 2009 |
I had my monthly demonstrator get together last Sunday here in Florida. We always have a great time and it’s a favorite part of my job! This month Toni Ballesteros volunteered (or did I talk her into it? details, details) to show her cute, original idea of how to use a Valentine’s Day stamp set for Christmas. We have a video camera set up so everyone can see it on the big projector screen and I hit the record button and captured it for you. It’s a live video, so you will hear everyone’s comments and cheers, too:
(clear your cache and temporary internet files/cookies if video stutters)
Original Design created by Toni Ballesteros. All Images copyright Stampin' Up
Thanks, Toni! Really Cute!
Aug 23, 2009 |
(if viewing from a feed in your email, you may need to come to my blog to view video)
It’s been a while since I made a Stampbuster’s Video. I haven’t really had many stamping myths to prove lately until today! If you missed a few, most of them are HERE on this blog.
On with my experiment! If you have a cuttlebug, Big Shot or other machine that embosses paper, you may have you tried spritzing your paper with alcohol or water before running it through to get a sharper, raised image. There was a hefty debate with my stampin’ buds lately about which works better, water or alcohol. Seriously, you would have thought we were debating an issue of greater importance, such as which is worse for you – pink or blue packets of sugar substitute.
To put the speculation to rest for me, I set up a controlled test area (my usual messy desk) and cut 6 pieces of 3×3 squares of card stock. 2 were Regal Rose card stock and 2 whisper white. I spritzed one white and one rose colored card stock 3x with water and the other set of papers 3x with alcohol. I ran them through the Big Shot with the Squares Texturz Plate.
My results? Although the water did help the embossed images to pop up more than without any spritzing, the paper took longer to dry and curled up more. By the time it dried out enough for the glue to stick to it, I’d lost interest and moved on to something else. The alcohol sprayed paper had a more pronounced, embossed design and dried so fast! So the conclusion (for me anyway), is to use alcohol in a spray bottle for dry embossing plates and folders.
I used 70% Isopropyl alcohol from the drug store. If you have any other ideas or experiments you’ve had great success with to improve your embossing, just drop me a comment!
Addendum: Eileen left a comment the day after this was posted and said spray the texture plate instead of the paper for less curling. Brilliant! I tried it, same results as spraying the paper but dried faster and less curling paper for sure. Worked great! Thank you, Eileen!
Here is the video:
If you are interested in purchasing any of these Stampin’ Up Texturz Plates for your own experiments and enjoyments, you can order on my Demonstrator Website or contact me by phone or email if you don’t prefer to order online (my info is at end of post). I take all credit cards including American Express. US order only please.
The set of 3 Double sided Texture plates below are Stampin’ Up Exclusive Texturz Plates #1. $11.95 for the set of 3 plates, 6 designs. Item # 114512
This individual Texture Plate is a Stampin’ Up! Exclusive design called Perfect Details. It is only $3.95 and is double sided. Item #115962
All Images Copyright Stampin' Up!
The plates below are called Texture Plates Kit #4. 3 Plates for $9.95, 6 designs. Item # 114531
All Images copyright Stampin' Up!
To place an order for the Texturz Plates, click here!
Linda Heller, Ind. Stampin’ Up Demonstrator
Sr. Manager
1-866-460-4902
Lindastamps@cfl.rr.com
Jun 28, 2009 |
(if viewing from a feed, you may need to come to the blog to view the video.
Hi Stampers! I was playing with one of our sneak peek stamp sets, Animal Stories, that is in our new catalog. I couldn’t get past thinking it looked like a cat instead of an owl!
Here is a quick video for how to turn him from a hoot to the cat’s meow:
All images copyright Stampin' Up! Original design by Linda Heller
I used a Stamp A Ma Jig and the whale stamp that comes in Animal Stories to make his tail. A Chocolate Chip marker for eyes and whiskers. Pixie Pink marker for ears and nose. Dusty Durango card is 6 x 3 folded to make a 3×3 lil card. Mustard brads, 1-3/4″ Circle punch on a 2 x2 chocolate chip square. The DSP is Razzleberry Lemonade strip 1″ x 3″. I put some dimensionals under the circle, too.
May 14, 2009 |
Byte size stamping video tid bits….
(you may have to come to the blog to see video below)
Hi stampers – Stamping on ribbon is fun to do but can sometimes bleed and look bad in just minutes. Here are a few tricks to stop the images from getting fuzzy!
Linda
May 5, 2009 |
Byte size stamping in video tid bits….
(you’ll need to come to the blog to see the video if reading from a feed)
Today’s Vid Bit is how to set our new grommets and a trick for how to get it through fabric or one of our Pretties Kit flowers:
These grommets are in our Stampin’ UP Occasions Mini Catalog and come in 2 sizes. Small and Jumbo. The small have 60 in the container and the large have 20. 6.95 each. The colors are black, silver, vanilla and white. I love them and hope they make it into our new catalog on July 1st!
By the way, Stampin’ Up has placed a new video on my Demonstrator Website and you can view it HERE!
Feb 15, 2009 |
What makes you go ‘grrrrrr’? I’m not talking about things like drivers who don’t use their blinkers or when they forget to put ketchup in your bag to go with your fries. That’s a WHOLE different blog. For stampers like us, getting organized and fixing those little annoyances really helps us enjoy our creative time when we have it!
Someone asked me recently if I store my watercolor crayons in their tins. My grrrrrr with my crayons was that I was constantly going in and out of the 4 tins to get different colors. And THEN reorganizing them to keep the Regals together, the Earth together….seriously, it was driving me mad. So I gave in and threw them all together! I realized that I rarely take the complete set to workshops but grab the colors I need and put them in one tin anyway if I need them to travel.
If you store them another way, write in and let me know!
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This is a votive holder that was given to me a few years ago by my friends Susie and Dede. (I think it came from Hallmark) It’s perfect to keep all of my crayons ready for use.
I have a second set that I keep in my SU mug from Leadership 2004. I think it originally had hot chocolate in it. It’s nice and easy to transport but not as easy to take them in and out as the votive holder.
Ok, what is YOUR grrrrr…? Maybe we can come up with a solution or if I dont’ have an idea, I’ll post it to the stampin’ readers for some help and we can make it GRRRREAT!
Linda
Dec 6, 2008 |
Hi Stampers! This week I am testing out homemade stamp cleaners!
I researched recipes online from seasoned stampers on Splitcoaststampers.com and other stamping forums. I am testing out 4 homemade recipes and putting them up again Stampin’ Mist and StazOn cleaner. Remember this is Stampbusters, not Consumer Product Testers so I am not going out to buy every stamp cleaner out there to see which one works the best (altho I would LOVE that) so I am just testing the myth “Do Homemade Stamp Cleaners Work?”
For my ‘study’, I dug through my stamp sets that I have used for years with StazOn and permanent inks. Lovely As A Tree was the worst one in the pile, so I started cleaning with that one.
I started using a clean Stampin’ Scrub pad but then ended up using a white shop towel so I could see how much ink really came off.
I’ll post the results under the video in written form for those of you dial-uppers!
**Addendum 12/7: I’ve been getting some comments that stampers love Ultra Clean stamp cleaner. Also, someone asked for a cost comparison per volume vs our store bought cleaner. One of you out there must be a math whiz so we’d love it if you figured out which is more economical – Homemade or Store bought?
Like I mentioned in the video, the rose water and glycerin in the recipes below are supposed to condition your stamps like a regular stamp cleaner. I cannot vouch for that since I haven’t used all of these recipes for years (or days even!) on my stamps, so if someone out there has used homemade stamp cleaner for years, tell us how your stamps are doing! Linda
p.s. I bought the Rose Water at my local health store, Chamberlains.
Video:
(Recipes in order of appearance on video)
Recipe #1:
(Reported to be close to Stampin’ Up! Stampin’ Mist)
2 Cups of Distilled water
1 Tablespoon Baby Magic Baby wash
2 Tablespoons Rose Water
Recipe #2:
2 Cups Distilled water
1 Tsp. Dawn dish soap
5 drops of Glycerin
Recipe #3:
8 ounces Distilled water
1 teaspoon Baby Wash
2 Tablespoons Glycerin
Recipe #4:
2 Cups Distilled water
2 teaspoons Simple Green
1 Teaspoon Glycerin
Here are my findings in order of Best to Worst:
First Place goes to Recipe #1 (Just about as good as Stampin’ MIst and StazOn cleaner). Got off my old StazOn stains that were years old!
2nd Place: Recipe #4 with the Simple Green. Worked very well – I’d use it again.
3rd Place: Recipe #3 with the baby wash. Pretty good, not great. Maybe for light cleaning.
Last Place: Recipe #2 with Dawn dish soap, which didn’t work at all for me. Save it for the dishes.
These recipes make so much of the cleaner that I put them in canning jars for gifts to my favorite stampers! It really is important to use Distilled Water and not tap water. It will keep much longer without micro-critters and getting stinky!
Well, that was fun! Any ideas for next week? Linda
Nov 16, 2008 |
Hi Stampers! A few weeks ago I uncovered a box of old blender pens that I have had for over 10 years! As my blender pens started to get dried out (and the tips too mushy to color in details like the beaks of birds and little eyeballs) I replaced them with new ones. Over and over again -now I have a box of 40 or so that have accumulated and remind me of how much I spent on just blender pens!
I’ve tried to refill my pens before but didn’t give it a real effort. It was too easy to buy new ones. The refill recipe couldn’t work as well as a new pen – or could it?
These recipes have been around a long time with lots of different variations. I pulled up several through searches on Google and found one that popped up over and over so that is what I used:
1/4 tsp. rubbing alcohol
2 tsp. glycerin
4 tsp. distilled water
For the experiment, I stamped a bird in black StazOn several times on watercolor cardstock and on whisper white cardstock. Each bird represented a different coloring medium – Watercolor Crayon, marker, watercolor pencil, classic ink and pastels. Then I colored each one with a refilled blender pen and then a new one. (too much time on my hands or just obsessive…?)
Here are my “scientific” findings to answer the question for myself once and for all! (and maybe it can help you to save your abandoned blender pens, too)
*A few days after making the video, I found out that submerging the pen barrel in the solution WAS too much. I know, you told me but I just had to try it….! Just put an 1/8 tsp inside the barrel and that’s it!)
Video:
(Song “Colour My World” by Petula Clark 1967)
Next week, I’ll debunk the many theories of embossing and static reduction!
Linda
p.s. Almost forgot! Remember last week’s punching our soda cans to sharpen them? Look what Marni Levett did using those punched out soda can pieces!
Clever girl!
You can check out more of Marni’s blog here!
Oct 25, 2008 |
H Stampers! We had our monthly get together of my Stampin’ Up downline last Sunday. It’s always a bunch of fun, lots of stamping and sharing going on. I always have my video camera set up to project our demonstrations up on a big screen so everyone see. This past week, Jackie and Emily jumped in with a few fun demos and I hit the record button! Both were great and thought I’d share with all of you, too.
Here are 2 of the videos, shot “LIVE and unrehearsed” from the meeting:
In the first segment, Emily Turner takes the mystery of ruching ribbon. Then she shows a card she made using the scallop edge punch and felt flowers. My picture didn’t come out very well in the light at our facility, but it is Pink Pirouette, Baja and Chocolate.
And here is the video:
Jackie Walker Shows how to make this holiday card using the Iris Folding Technique. She got the template from Page 7 of our June 2008 Stampin’ Success Magazine. If you aren’t a Stampin’ Up Demonstrator, ask your demonstrator for the pattern. As a last resort, you can get some free patterns at Squidoo.
And here is the VIDEO:
Have a GREAT stampin’ week!
Linda
