Finally, after three years, another AfterHoursStamper Video!

Hi everyone, hope your week is going well : )  Our weather has been great, a very mild and dry January, which is ok except I am going to need to start watering our garden soon if it doesn't rain.  The mountains in California are also dry and without much snow, which is pretty unusual for this time of year (last year we had endless rain and tons of snow in the mountains).

Enough of the weather talk, onto the subject of this post which is a new AfterHoursStamper video!  Yes, finally, after three years I have put together another video.  The camera I was using three years ago was just not working right and this Christmas my wonderful husband gave me a new video camera, it is very basic but does the job pretty well.

Anyhow, I will be uploading a few more videos in the near future, one on my craft area, one on a really cool gift idea for crafters, the melted crayon technique and how to water color with Twinkling H20's.  And if there are other videos you would like to see, let me know.

Today's video is on how you can make your own designer/background paper using an every day object, a wine cork!  If you are like me you have a ton of background paper, but you stamp an image and can't find the right patterned paper to go with you have stamped.  So, I find it easier to sometimes just create a background paper, and have done so with background stamps, and today, with a cork.

UPDATE:  I have been asked to provide information on the stamp used in the video, here is a link to the stamp: Stampendous "Deco Lady."  The stamp comes in clear, wood mount and cling mount (my son gave me the stamp for Christmas and I am really loving how versatile the stamp is!)

You do not need any special tools (except for the wine cork), and the card itself is quick and easy to make.  Here is the video, I will try to post some links for you later this weekend, on Sunday hopefully (have been finding some sneak peeks for the upcoming Winter CHA, lots of goodies!)

Please let me know what you think of the video, this is only my fourth one and I see some things I want to "fix" in the next video, would love to have your feedback on this video though : )



Take care, have a great Friday and hopefully I can get to the links by Sunday.

Being thankful for so very much

As we approach the holiday season I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have stuck with me during my somewhat long and erratic "vacations."  The reason this blog is here is because of you, my wonderful friends who love stamping as much as I do : )  Your comments and emails give me the energy to keep on posting and sharing the great online world of rubber stamping.

I am also very grateful for my family who has supported my rubber stamping addiction with out hardly a complaint.  My husband, god love him, encourages my addiction, and I am ever grateful that he puts up with my stamping area in the corner of our family room. 

Even when life gets tough our friends and family are there beside us, and for that I cannot ever say enough "thank you" for all that I have been blessed with.

I started my Christmas cards (yes, I know, late, but hopefully they will be in the mail by the end of this week), will post a picture next week after they go "postal."  This year I decided to do something a bit simple, and I think the card came out very nice, but you can judge for yourself next week. 

How about some links today? 

Cuttlebug circular embossing:  Great idea, easy and just perfect for those Christmas cards you have yet to make.

Daily Deals Links:  Here is a thread from SCS that lists some sites that offer daily deals on crafting supplies, remember that these deals are usually good for no more then a day, you will have to check them daily to see what new and exciting item is being offered.  I checked out a few of these and found some great one day deals!

Glittered Pen:  WOW!  I LOVED this idea, so easy and perfect for a stocking stuffer/small gift to give this holiday season.

Spool Cap Goodie Holder:  Another great idea for the holidays.  This one is easy and makes anything you put inside look wonderful.

"Grounding" your stamped images:  A very nice tutorial on how you can make sure your image is "grounded" instead of floating on your project.  I love the use of a mask to help with the grounding.

Extreme Cards and Papercrafting:  Yes, you read right, extreme!  This is a great blog with all sorts of templates and ideas to give your project a little bit extra.  I especially liked this tealight (battery only please) holder, fantastic idea for Christmas.

Don't Eat the Paste:  You are not going to believe how many box templates there are on this site!  Great resource for your holiday giving.

Coloring Today:  This blog, "Running with Scissors" has an amazing collection of techniques you can use to color your stamped images.  The link will take you to all of the tutorials for coloring, make sure you visit the main blog site as well for additional ideas and great cards.

Ok, that is all for today, I have to get ready for work and then do my Tday shopping after work, tomorrow is prepare the food day, and Wednesday is travel to Dad's day : )

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I would love it if you posted a comment on the things you are thankful for this year. 

Thank you again for being such loyal and wonderful friends and fellow stampers.

Monday morning fun: How to make your own flower soft! And of course more links : )

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. We didn't do a whole lot this weekend, attended a baby shower (my best friends son is having a little girl in less then a month), did some stamping, wrote a tutorial for Paper Craft Planet and watched a few movies.

We love to watch movies here, at the theater or at home, and this weekend we watched "The Proposal," a cute movie with Sandra Bullock, if you want something lighthearted make sure to rent or buy this cute movie. Speaking of movies I can't WAIT for the movie "2012" to come out. I absolutely LOVE disaster movies, and "2012" is made by the same person who made "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow," two of my favorite movies : ) 

Ok, on to some links.

Make your own flower soft:  As promised, here is an amazingly EASY tutorial on making your own flower soft, and yes, it does work.  I made some this weekend, have white and a peach, and am going to make some red, blue and green as well.  For glue I used Aleene's Tacky Glue.  To dye the home made flower soft I used a reinker, put my white flower soft in a zip lock bag, added a few drops of reinker and let the flower soft dry (kept the bad open) and was ready to go.

Here are some of my pictures, first is an image I stamped and then added my home made fluff:

From Flower Soft

This is how I am storing what I make, the large glass container is for the white and the smaller one was an empty clear embossing powder container:

From Flower Soft

And here is the video from Hog Wild About Stamping:



Free Paper Craft Patterns:  Great site for all sorts of paper crafting, you will need to enter your email address and some other information to gain access to the downloads.  Some really neat patterns here.

How to make a stay put bow:  Great idea to make a bow stay put on your card, you will love this and be amazed at how simple this is.

How to make a bow using a fork:  Yes, you read that right, and it is a really good way to make a bow, make sure to check out the link.

Using an A2 envelope for a square card:  Simple, easy and wonderful way to use a regular A2 envelope for your square 4 1/2 sized cards : )

Not Just Stamping:  Some really good prices on Rubber Bandit unmounted stamps.  I loved these Christmas stamps, and these too, and I especially loved the prices : )

Ok everyone, that is all for now, have a great week and the best Monday ever.

Projects, links and ideas, a perfect way to start the week.

Good morning to everyone, I hope that your weekend was filled with all sorts of wonderful and creative stamping time.  I find it interesting that the somehow the two days of the weekend go by so much faster then any one day during the week, perhaps some scientist will study the time warp of weekend days versus work week days sometime in our lifetime. : )

Our weekend was pleasant, though the week started out a bit on the wild side due to the weather, specifically a very intense rain storm.  How intense?  Here are some pictures:

From October 13 2009 b

The above picture shows the street around the corner from our house, lots and lots of water which came from our local creek, shown below.

From October 13 2009 b

The creek, which is actually a very old irrigation ditch (from the late 1880's) is about three houses away from our house.  Since we have lived here the creek has flooded our neighborhood about three times, usually after a number of storms.  This time the creek rose and partially flooded our area in less then a day.

The picture below was taken the day after the rain storm:

From October 14 2009

It is still amazing to me how much water went into the creek in such a short period of time, and how fast the water went back to normal after the storm.  Luckily our house, though near the creek, is higher then the rest of the neighborhood so our street doesn't flood.  And we are also lucky that the level of flooding (when it occurs) is usually no higher then driveways and the water recedes quickly.

Now onto some links  : ) 

Mini Scrapbook Albums:  You are not going to believe how much information you can find at this link, from how to do almost any type of mini album you can think of to ideas for your albums.  While I do not scrapbook much (is not at all considered not much?), mini albums are something I might just be able to take on.  I really loved the theme page, lots and lots of ideas for you to play with.

How to wire a button letter:  Neat idea for a card, make letters (and shapes) with some buttons and wire! 

Weaving with paper:  I love this idea!  You could use card stock instead of the packaging and decorate these baskets for the holidays, better yet, save this link for a neat project for the kids during the holidays.

Punching Paint Chips:  Cool idea using free paint chips! I have a bunch of paint chips and can't wait to try this idea.  A very simple idea for cards or scrap booking that gives you a very polished finished product.

Double embossing with the Cuttlebug and nestibilities:  Love this technique and can't wait to try it on some cards I need to make for Christmas.

How to make your own scratch off lottery ticket:  Way cool, easy and a fun technique to keep around.  You could even use this to do a scratch off game in a card for a child, like tic tac toe.

Paint a button mini tutorial:  I saw this on SCS and thought it was a brilliant and very simple idea! 

And last, but not least, this GREAT video on making a GREAT project, an expanding file folder with lots and lots of possibilities.  Here is a link to the project directions, here is a link to some book binding glue and below is the video of how to put the project together:



I hope you like the links from today, and don't forget to check back next week on some more fun and exciting links and videos!

Hope your week is filled with all sorts of wonderful and exciting moments.

TV Tuesday

Ok, not exactly TV, but who could resist that title? How about some videos tonight? I can watch some of the technique videos all night long, especially as I am more of a visual learner.

As you all know there are literally thousands of videos on rubber stamping, from how to do a certain project to learning new techniques to using certain products. Today we will look at technique videos, an idea that was actually given to me through one of the comments on yesterdays post. Here is the comment by AWorkOfHeart:

I also like to use the paint daubers by Ranger for image transfer. You can smear it all over an image you have printed out from a laser OR ink jet printer, then burnish paint side down onto nearly any surface. When the paint dries you remove the paper by spritzing with water and rubbing lightly. You are left with the image over a colored(whatever paint you used)background. Love those Ranger Daubers.

My good friend Patricia read the comment and then sent me a link to a video of this technique which is oh so cool:



Am very excited about having some extra time to sit down and try this technique.

Here is a great video from Scrapbook Lounge on how to water color your images, if you have not had much luck with this technique, make sure to watch this video as she gives a number of very good tips.

And this is a great video featuring Michael Strong, who shows you how to do a number of different techniques on one card (I am going to watch this one again because it was just amazing).

How about creating a neat background with distressed inks? Check out the video below for an easy way to create a colorful and unique background, I really liked this one too.



And then there is the frosted filter technique, really neat, now I have to go get some coffee filters : )



I hope you enjoy these technique videos, now I am off to hunt down some of my paints that are stored in the shed to try the Michael Strong technique (I have the same stamp he used too, thanks to my friend Patricia ; )

Hope you are able to find some stamping time tonight, and here is to a wonderful Wednesday.