Tuesday is oh so much better then Monday ; ) And lots of links for you too.

Good morning!  We had a nice rain over the weekend, but sunny skies and somewhat warm weather for this week, which is fine for me : )  Our house is in total disarray with all the construction, we started with the windows today, and the hall bathroom still has to be finished.

Remember the "Sketchbook Project" that I linked to last week?  My sketchbook came in the mail on Friday and I decided that my book would be "Unfinished Life Projects."  Basically I am using all of the scraps I have from projects, backgrounds I made but did not use, stamped images that I colored but didn't use and so on. I figured that putting all those things in a book does two things:  clears out my area while at the same time represents all those unfinished things we have in life, from paper crafting to other areas.

I figure that using these unfinished elements in the book actually will "finish" these elements when I am done with the book : )

So, here are a few pictures of what I have done so far:

From 2010-11-09

From 2010-11-09

From 2010-11-09

Calendar Templates:  Lots and lots of templates here for you to use (gifts, making your own planners and so on).  I love when all the links are in one place like this, makes knowing how to find the information so much easier!

Digital Stamping:  What is the difference between a JPG and a PNG file?  Click on the link to find out, GREAT information for anyone who is using digital images, or is thinking of using them.

Outliners Design Team Search:  I love their stamps and saw that they are now looking for DT members, so if you are so inclined, go for it : )

Digital Stamp Companies:  GREAT thread on SCS, lots and lots of places to find digital images.

99 cent specials: Check out some of these stamps and other items for only 99 cents!  One of my most favorite stamps of all time is here, the "dream" stamp.  Other bargains here as well.

Templates for Xmas cards:  Loved these, print out a card with a ready made border, add another stamp, some color and you are good to go (and it makes for a nice easy kid craft.)

Really cool snowflake:  I might even try this for some quick gifts this year.

And this is a great snowflake too:  A fun project with the kids, and I love that this shows how to make a snowflake with six points, you will be amazed at these (and they are easy).

A whole lot of videos:  Mrs. Grossman has a ton of videos on how to use stickers for some pretty interesting projects (I have so many unused stickers, these videos gave me some good ideas on how I can start to use them up.)

Thats it for today, check back in next week for some more GREAT links just in time for Xmas : )

And thank you so very much for being such loyal readers of my blog.

Additional hints for the Faux Stained Glass Melted Crayon Background

Has anyone tried the technique yet? Today I sat down and played again, and have a few more pointers for you if you decide to take the plunge and melt those crayons.

1.) You can also add your mic powder to the glue on the transparency. I did this today and the mica powder really popped.

2.) After you melt the crayon and peel back the wax paper you can also add more heat directly to the melted crayon on the card stock without the wax paper on top.

3.) Try heating the card stock from underneath after the first melt and you peel back the wax paper. If you heat the card stock from below you can add a few shavings of the crayon and the heat from under the card stock will melt the shavings on top. DO NOT use your heat gun on the crayon shavings directly, they will fly everywhere and your cats will not like you. (My cats have decided that my crafting area is not a "cat friendly" zone ; )

Let me know if you tweek this technique and what your results look like. And I really would love to see some of your work : )

Here are a couple of cards I did using this technique:

The first one below is the butterfly from the tutorial, the paper behind the butterfly is the wax paper leftover:

From January 17 2009 More Faux Stained Glass Background Cards

This one is from the same background as the butterfly, I had just enough left over after cutting out the butterfly to stamp an image and saying:

From January 17 2009 More Faux Stained Glass Background Cards

And of course, here are a few links:

Given that Tuesday is the Inauguration, I thought it would be fitting to link to a half sheet of Obama Rubber Stamps.

Need a new technique? Don't forget this GREAT archive of all the SCS Technique Challenges, I spent over an hour checking all of these out, I LOVED this one, glittered window, and can't wait to try it!

Speaking of techniques, how about this one using foil? While the tutorial example uses flower shapes, think of what you could do with hearts for Valentine's Day....mmmmmmmmm.

And one of my favorite blogs, Mel Stampz, has an amazing list of 100 things you can
do with your scor-pal. If you have the time surf her site, I can't believe how much information she has gathered, WOW! I LOVE her blog!

Julia Andrus has some GREAT video's on her website, check out this one which shows you how to glaze paper with perfect pearls. She has more videos on her site, make sure to check them out.

Ok, that is it for now, wow, two posts in under a week? I am on a roll ; )

Have a great Sunday all, see you soon.

Christmas wishes for you (and of course some links)

My wish for you and your family is a most happy, joyous Christmas and New Year.

This time of year can get crazy, buying gifts, making gifts, decorating, wrapping, cleaning, visitors, visiting others, preparing holiday meals (are we there yet?) and, well, the list is endless isn't it?

Please know how grateful I am to all of you who visit here, you are all so kind, sending me emails, posting comments, making sure all is well here in San Jose, I am very blessed to have such a wonderful and caring group of people who visit this blog.

So, how about a shot of the "AfterHoursStamper" Christmas tree? Ready? Here it is:

From 12-20-2008

And here is one of our kitties, Mishgie (no one knows how to spell her name, even our daughter who is the one who named the cat....) Mishgie can be found many times under the tree (thankfully she hasn't decided to climb the tree yet), she has pulled a few ornaments off, but not too many:

From 12-20-2008

Ok, so how about some budget ideas and links? And a question about a product you may or may not have used yet.


First of all I found a GREAT deal at Target a while back, a set of 12 glitter pens for $4.99, and these pens are a good quality pen, here is a picture of the set, and I found them in the regular pen sections, not the paper crafting section:

From 12-21-2008

And of course after Christmas we all are in the mood for stamping since it is usually cold, wet and windy outside, but, if you are like me, January isn't usually a great month to spend money. So, here are a few places you can go to buy sheets of stamps at prices from $7 to 30. Some are unmounted, some you can buy trimmed and mounted on cling material, many are unique, all pretty fun:

* Blockhead Stamps: HUGE selection of rubber stamp sheets, from 1/4 page to a full 8 x 10 sheet, you can order these stamps mounted on cling or unmounted, and the prices are GREAT. Here is a page of "INK-N-RUBBER EXPRESSIONS RUBBER STAMPS," some really neat floral images, here is a set of "Hearth Mice" from the Blockheads image page, mounted on cling for $30 (which, for the number of images you get is a GREAT deal)

* Evolving Images: Interesting idea: you can buy a small sheet of stamps AND a matching stencil (which includes the cut outs you can use for masking). The sheets are $8 for 1 to 3 sheets, $7.25 for 4 or more. The stencils are the same price. So, for $15 you can get a 4 x 7 sheet of images, stencils and masking pieces. This website also has some good ideas on how to use the stamps, check out how to layer the die plate number 6, pretty neat.

*Stamping Ground: WOW! Check out the prices of some of these sheets, as low as $7.50 for a full 8. 5 x 11 sheet. Here is a link to a set of kids toys, here are some cool corner stamps, and some kitchen utensils (this set is $11.25, still a great deal.) Their regularly priced sheets are reasonable at $15, here is one that I may order, really cool floral images.


And if you like to laminate your projects (like the pocket planner) try buying packs of 50 self stick laminating sheets, you don't need a machine to heat set and truthfully the sheets have WAY less waste then the Xyron machine I have (the cartridges are so expensive for the Kyron, and there is too much waste as well). I used the sheets for the 30 pocket planners made for gifts, and still have about half of the sheets left for other projects. Here is a link for an online store that carries the sheets for $15.99, a great deal!

From 12-21-2008

Last, but not least, has anyone tried this product: JudiKins MicroGlaze? I am really tempted to try it, especially using it as a resist ink on stamps and using it as a mask on an existing stamped image.....if you have used the product, post a comment, and I am thinking of ordering it online in January to try out : )

Not sure if I will get a chance to post again before Christmas, but will try.

Hope you liked the links today. Take care, and don't forget to take care of yourself as you run around for the holidays.

Peace.