I bought a set of clear stamps yesterday. I don't like clear stamps. I like wood mounted stamps. I'm an old dog who is very satisfied with my old tricks! It was this cupcake's fault. Actually it was Lisa's fault for showing me the cupcake. Her cards are always fabulous and now she's on the "cupcake" kick. I'm so annoyed with her. And then there's Dawn. She just had to give me directions to Archivers and had the nerve to suggest we meet there yesterday. What's up with that? ?
Now let's talk about why I had no choice but to get the clear set of cupcake stamps and not the wood mounted cupcake set. Everybody gets a little of the blame here-- except me of course. I'm holding Hero Arts responsible for most of the damage. They created 6 of the cutest cupcakes in the world, 5 sayings, and 3 cupcake toppers all in one set of stamps. With a little masking, I can have a candle, a flower, or a cherry on top of the four that don't already have something up there. This set is so versatile. How silly is that?? Each cupcake in the wood mounted set of 4 is what it is. There are two birthday cupcakes, one with a flower and the one with the cherry... It's locked in. You can't be flexible. Back to Lisa. Again, Lisa, made those cute cards. Not that I would duplicate her cards, but why couldn't they have inspired me to go and use the cute little cupcake stamps I already own. But NOooooo. Her designs were so adorable, I had to have the exact same ones. Now let's talk about Archivers. Oh it was worth the almost 1 hour drive to get there. They had the nerve to have the very same set of cupcakes in stock along with a whole wall of clear stamps-- Stampendous, Hero Arts and others. I wouldn't allow myself to look too closely. After all I came on a mission to get those cupcakes. Dawn is to blame too. Dawn, who wouldn't accept no when I tried to decline, gave me a 30% off Archivers coupon (the meanie) so I had to use it on this set. It's a conspiracy, I tell you! This is my story and I'm sticking to it!
What am I afraid of? Staci and Karen might remember the old days when I was a scrapbooker and a card maker --all without the use of rubber stamps, thank you! Karen went to her sister's house in another land (or state) and came back all excited about "rubber stamping". I refused to watch her stamp and emboss. After all, I had seen Carol Duval do it and I was afraid that if I saw it in up close and personal, I would have to have it(all). It took her about 4 months to convince me. I know me. I was sure that if I liked this whole idea of rubber stamping, it would be like Lays Potato Chips, I wouldn't be able to stop at one.( How many times can you color the same image without going nuts?) You've seen my organized stamp room. (--truth is I took pictures on the one day that it was completely organized) If I like clear stamps, I'll have to start a whole new system of organization. I already told you that I don't like new tricks....
You know it's all a mind game I have to play with myself. Stamping is addicting! I have to stop the madness somewhere...even if it's with my own special form of madness! Look out Paper Trey Ink!
Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'll tell you all about this card.
The Hero Arts heart cupcake was colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with a Prismacolor colorless blender pencil. I colored the entire heart a very light shade of pink. I used a light color and a light touch. After that I applied the red only to the outer edges. I used the blender pencil in a circular motion to blend the colors together.
The background was created with 1 inch squares of Bazzill Monochromatic textured card stock. I put the entire card through the Xyron. Once the whole front was sticky, I placed my one inch tiles in a predetermined pattern. Finally, I put a 1/2 inch strip where the tiles left off.
ETA: Answers to Kathy's questions. Archivers is more than worth the 45 minute drive. I do like the quality of the Hero Arts clear stamps and I really didn't want to like them.(wink) I'm not crazy about the Studio G clear stamps I bought from the $1.00 bin at Michaels . To be fair, I only tried two sets, but I had a hard time getting a clear impression with them. I do have clear stamps that I bought years ago, maybe 5 or 6 years ago from Diakonos stamps before clear stamps were wildly popular. The problem is I don't use them because they are in a drawer marked "Acrylic Stamps". All my other stamps are stored by theme. I do have a problem with the smell. I can't wait for that to go away. It really makes me nauseated.
--And another note. It's not just clear stamps that I don't like. It's anything unmounted. I like mounted stamps because I already have a system for organizing.
Deb, I'll let you know the next time I'm headed to Archivers. Maybe I can pick up something for you?
