Friday, January 29, 2010

I fancy you


I fancy you
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
This is still part of the SU series.

Did you guys know that SU is now doing cling stamps? Now, I believe their website is calling it clear mount stamp, but they are synonymous to me.

**Disclaimer: Here comes the soapbox**
Personally, while I think it's a giant step up for SU, I think it's a giant step back or even side-step of other companies, such as Hero Arts. Don't get me wrong, love their designs, but the rubber technology can stand to be improved upon.

I love my clear stamps. No matter how you slice it and dice it, I love them. Their pros are (but not limited to): price point ~ more bang for your buck, storage is convenient, and you can actually see what you're doing when you stamp. Cons are (again, not limited to): image can stand to be clearer, rubber can stand to last longer, and the ink stain like a bad flea on a dog.

Why can we improve upon something great like the clear stamp instead of going back to the clear mount? Let me tell you, I fought clear mount for a very very long time. Until I came across Rubber Romance & Greeting Farm where I was willing to give in. Unless you have some superb image that I cannot live without, and at the time, it was Rubber Romance, I wasn't going to budge.

I like my wood (haha) like any stamper does, but let's face it, whenever I move I'm literally moving wood blocks. So, the advent of clear stamps was nifty and solved alot of storage problems. Draw backs, as mentioned was the whole thing about not lasting longer. Which, I think it's very sad because as more and more talented artists emerge, and more and more awesome stamps gets rolled out, I just know 20 years from now, the rubber is not going to last that long as the red rubber would.

I know, I know, there are all sorts of nifty way to store the unmounted stamps. I do have the vinyl cling, the foam cushion, and those sheets to hold the stamps... but that's about as close to clear stamps as I'm ever going to see. I still can see where I'm stamping.

Maybe I'm spoiled, who knows? I've grew up on the good ol' wood mount. I used to have a teacher, who is always precise and it's all done by eye. No Stamp-a-ma-jig to guide him whatsoever. And those skills are pretty much lost because of clear stamp. But now that Clear Mount are back, maybe those skills will need to be resharpen.

All Supplies by SU

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Pink & brown


Pink & brown
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Thus we begin the SU projects I've done in our group. I love it whenever I go to my demo's house to play. It's like a kid in a candy store, you get to play w/ everything and you don't have to worry about finding a place to put stuff. Mainly because my place/craft room is filled to the max. My DH politely say it's ok, but we all know that the craft room is like a mini Michaels... just that I've paid for all of that.

The other day, I stocked up on some yarn, the checkout girl was like, oh guess you're making a project, huh?! Implying how much I was buying... Urm... yeah.

Anyway, it's nice to use someone else's supplies and don't have to hurt my wallet and I don't have to hurt for space... is all I'm sayin'.

This is a very simple card. A great idea my demo told me was that to just tie a knot, nothing fancy, just a knot, and put it on a card. It looks like a hard to do knot. It's pretty cool.

Supplies:
All Supplies by SU

Monday, January 25, 2010

Birdie twee


Birdie twee
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
I saw this on someone's blog to do a very plain and simple DTP stamping. I thought, man, how far we've gone from just doing that?! I remember when I first started stamping (I mean as an adult) I would stamp all my Pooh Alphabets together and just make it spell something. Then, as I grew in stamping, I learn more and more techniques. The advent of internet really helped keep me challenged and learn from other people. And all the while we gotten more embellishments, more this and more that, we often forget the most basic thing. Just stamp on the card!

So, I'm kinda proud of the clean-ness and the highlight the technique had done for this design. I mean, how often do you see that anymore? Don't get me wrong, I still like my bling, my paper and my punches, but I do miss this technique. And as simplistic as it maybe, it's actually not as easy to achieve as everyone thinks. You do have to fill the space some and you do have to line things up just so. I'm just happy w/ the clean and tidy look it has, and still manage to convey the lovey dovey message.

Supplies:
Stamps by TCP

Friday, January 22, 2010

Xoxo


Xoxo
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
This is my 2nd card for my swap. They did say that the card can be adult themed, so here it is. I guess, I wouldnt' exactly say it's not kids-appropriate, but it's better suited for adult, I'll admit.

Anyway, I did painstakingly put on the little holes one-by-one. I hope whoever gets this would like it. For a while, I was thinking that they remind me of the lights at a dressing room mirror where there's lightbulb all around it.

I like the 'xoxo' thing too, everytimes I see it, I wanted to say 'you know you love me, Gossip Girl'. ha! silly I know. Obviously I've watched the show too much to get that natural reaction. Oy!

Well, work is swamped and things are happening left and right, so better go back to it. :)

Supplies:
Card & 3D embellishment by Target
Frame Stamp by MFT
Lady stamp by Paper Salon
Bling by Paper Studio

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Puppy Love


Puppy Love
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
This is one of two cards I'm doing for a swap. I've signed up on Swap Bot, and you can swap whatever handmade. If you're a knitter or a crocheter, you can swap something, if you're a quilter you can swap something, and if you're a stamper, you can swap something.

I've got alot of swap group experience, and I like Swap Bot because you are not burdening one person to manage the swap. If you want to start a swap you can, and people can sign up if they like. It's not overwhelming to one person to always come up with themes, and keep track to make sure the participants were honest in sending their part.

The beauty of using the Swap Bot is that they have ratings like eBay does. If this person followed instructions and did what they signed up to do, you can give them a good feedback. If they didn't do their parts, you can note that on there as well.

The weird thing, I thought, was that when you sign up for a swap, they do ask that you have certain numbers of rating before you can participate. That is good and bad. Good because you know you'll have reliable people to attend the swap. The bad to this would be that if you're new, like I was, then you have nowhere to start.

Either way, I'm enjoying it... would let you know if I see any interesting swaps coming up. :)

Supplies:
Card by SU
Background stamp by Amuse
Heart stamp by Hero Arts
Puppy stamp by TCP
Brad by Target

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Strawberry field forever


Strawberry field forever
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
I'm looking at the card and suddenly really want some strawberries... weird, huh? Power of suggestion, I'm telling ya!

Well, Houston finally came out of the freezing mark. There were interesting part where the plants froze up like a sculpture, it was pretty but too cold for my taste. I don't know how people living up North do it. I'd want to stay inside 100% of the time. Telecommute for me, thanks! Geesh.

The funny thing is, despite the freezing temperature, people were still out and about. The places we danced was packed, the restaurants around town were packed. So, I guess that doesn't deter people as much as I thought it'd be. Hmm...

Anyway, back to the cards... I think in terms of food alot of times, and when I am working on something it leads me to something else. I picked these sticker set up from Joanns and then I just kept trying to find cards that matches... and as alot of things in live, it happens when you're not looking for it.

I had thought about doing a 3D strawberry w/ the stamp, but this 3D one is so much better... so there you have it...

Supplies:
Card by SU
Stamp by Stampendous
Sticker by Colorbok

Monday, January 11, 2010

Froggie Royalty


Froggie Royalty
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
I started to play around w/ Vday cards. How can you not when you walk into all these stores and they're all ready for Vday stuff since the day after Xmas. Crazyness.

What else is crazy is that it's 25 this morning in Houston. We're pretty far South, how can we get below freezing mark? I was a tad disappointed that there's no precipatation to have a little snow. How fun would that be? Well, actually it wouldn't be fun if I have to drive in it, but otherwise, it would be neat.

Anyhoo, the Froggies... I like them, they're too cute together. I was going to do some sort of background on them, but I like them the way they are. I may do the background thing still, but I'm having fun w/ other stuff that's for Vday. For some reason I'm more inspired to do the Vday stuff than the Xmas stuff... go figure.

Supplies:
Card by DCWV
Patterned Paper by SEI
Green patterned paper by Making Memories
Stamps by The Cat's Pajamas

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Loves me or not


Loves me or not
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Have you ever heard of a song called 'Love Me and Leave Me' by Nina Simone?



I think this group is one of the most talented teams out there. It's super neat that they timed everything to the song.

Anyway, whenever I use this stamp, I'm reminded of the song. It's just close in wording, not the exact thing. But you know what I mean.

Supplies:
Card by DCWV
Patterned Paper by American Crafts
Flowers from ribbons by Michaels.
Stamp ______________

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

New Year Cheers


New Year Cheers
Originally uploaded by Patty_kins
Slacker, I know... this is the 5th day of the new year, how does it feel? I bet you're like me, still writing 09 at the end of checks and things you sign. Yep... I kept having to do cross out because I can't get used to writing 10 yet. Not to metion the past decade, all the years ends with zero-something, now I have to insert one in front it'll take some gettin' used to.

Can you beieve this crazy cold blast? It's going to get down to 20s in Houston. Houston... the place that gets 100 in the summer. Talk about a big gap.

Well, in case you can't tell, I got a new camera... it's a spiffy Hello Kitty camera, yep, and it's lightyears newer than the one I had. Of course, when I had my old one, that was 'top of the line' and now, I'm going for form rather than function... it's Hello Kitty and that's that.

Ok, now to the card... this sure worked out better in my head than in actuality, and not to mention, the new camera definitely can highlight the flaws. Yikes! But, the thought was to have the people's silhouette be covering the words, a la Savvy Stamps style... It doesn't turn out too bad, but now up close, you sure can tell the ink pad is not doing as good of a job as I first thought.... hmm...Oh well. *shrug*

Supplies:
Card & patterned paper by DCWV
Celebrate stamp by SU
Cheers stamp by A Muse