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Archive for March 2012

April 2012 Release Week Last Post

March 31, 2012 Lisa Cards, Sneak Peeks No comments

This is our final post for April’s new products! On April 1, our new products go live including 2 stamp sets, 4 beautiful colors of cardstock, inks, and felt!

Today’s card is a bit different than what you may normally see as a Mother’s Day card. It’s not bright and springy with pastel colors, but I think it’s rather pretty on it’s own.

I started with a card base of Stamp School Poptone Red Hot paper. Next, I used a piece of Sweet Tooth cut to 4 x 5 1/4 so you can still see a bit of the Red Hot behind it once it’s all put together. On the Sweet Tooth paper, I used my Ink Blending Tool, and various Distress Ink pads to create the colors of the background. I just added some colors and blended until I was happy with it. Next, I added the Paper Smooches cloud background with Stamp School Black Licorice ink. Last, I sprayed some Perfect Pearls Mist over my entire card front. Because the Black Licorice is a dye ink, it does some cool things once the Perfect Pearls is sprayed on it. Do you notice on the purple section of the background that the clouds are very faint? Cool huh!

Next, I stamped one of the main floral images in Sour Apple ink and the flowers in Red Hot. The cool thing about this stamp set, is it allows you to stamp your greenery for the flowers in a green and the flowers themselves in another color. I stamped this on Sweet Tooth and then inked it with a Distress ink again because it was just too stark white. Then I fussy cut around the flower image.

I diecut some Sweet Tooth and inked around the edges, and stamped my sentiment in Black Licorice.

While putting my card together, I wanted to make a border under everything, so I put a layer of Hambly Washi tape first, then layered a red grossgrain ribbon over that.

Stamp School Cardstock – Red Hot, Sweet Tooth
Stamp School Ink – Black Licorice, Red Hot, Sour Apple
Stamp School Stamps – Flowers for Mom, Women in My Life

April 2012 Release Week Second Post

March 30, 2012 Lisa Cards, Sneak Peeks No comments

Welcome to Day 2 of April’s release week! I hope you are excited about this month’s stamp sets! I really love the floral sets, and I hope you’ll see all the many possibilities these sets have to offer!

This second card is one of my favorites for this release. It uses another new pastel color called Bubble Gum for the base. I used the Bubble Gum ink to stamp the background image over the whole card. While at CHA, I learned a new stamping technique for backgrounds from Tim Holtz. Instead of taking your stamp and adhering it to an acrylic block for a full background, you can hold it in your hand and roll it instead. That allows for that cool fading out feeling on the card.

Next up is the vine border I created using one of the stamps from the new set coming out on the 1st of April. I stamped the first part in Jellybean Green 3 times up my card. Then I took the two flower images that go with the vine, and stamped them in Cotton Candy and Grapesicle in the blanks that the first step left behind.

I diecut some Sweet Tooth cardstock and stamped some more of the larger flowers with a 2nd generation Grapesicle. Then I used a sentiment from Women in My Life using Black Licorice. I used an Ink Blending Tool and Cotton Candy ink to go around the edge of my diecut.

Last, I created 2 little flowers using Washi Tape and some Kaisercraft big bling stickers.

Stamp School Cardstock – Cotton Candy, Sweet Tooth
Stamp School Ink – Jellbean Green, Grapesicle, Cotton Candy, Black Licorice
Stamp School Stamps – Women in My Life, Flowers for Mom

April 2012 Release Week First Post

March 29, 2012 Lisa Cards, Sneak Peeks One comment

Welcome to Release Week at Stamp School! The last 3 days of each month, you will be treated to some beautiful creations by our Faculty here at Stamp School! Each month, we release 2 stamps per month. The first part of 2012 we will be releasing 4 colors of Poptone cardstock and matching inks until we stock all of their 24 colors. We also will be releasing 100% wool felt along with the cardstock each month.

Our Faculty will post their projects on their personal blogs (which we will link you to at the end of each post) and then during the month, they will post tips, tutorials, inspiration, ideas here on the Stamp School blog. If you want to be kept up to date on what is going on here at Stamp School, you can keep track of us a number of ways:

1) Our website and blog. You can subscribe to our blog feed, simply by clicking over on the Subscribe button to the left. You will then get a daily email of what is posted here on the site.
2) Our Facebook Page. Like our Facebook Page for exclusive content, contests, and chatting about our favorite hobby!
3) Email Newsletter. You can sign up for our Newsletter by clicking on the Join our Newsletter button to the left.

OK, so now that you know how to keep up to date, let me show you what’s going on this month!

Today’s card I have tried to make my own background using one of the floral stamps. I must admit…making my own background has NEVER been one of my strong suits. I started with a card base of a new color for April…Grapesicle. I love this beautiful and soft lavender color! I used the Grapesicle ink that matched, and stamped that multiple times for my background image.

Next, I layered the new Plus Corporation Deco Pen in blue polka dots to the front of my card. This is a new product from CHA and they’re so fun to play with! My 10 year old daughter loves these too! You simply use them like a pen, and the rub-on magically appears!

I cut 2 Nestabilities Labels 4, one from Sweet Tooth, and the other from Banana Split. The Sweet Tooth one, I stamped the same image from the background, however this time, I inked up the stamp with my new Distress Markers before I stamped it. After I stamped it, I used a Water Brush to make the flowers look more watercolor-y. After I did that, I went back with another Distress Marker and outlined some of the flower shapes.

The Grandma sentiment was stamped on another Nestabilities label cut from Sweet Tooth, with the matching Want 2 Scrap pearl sticker.

Stamp School Cardstock – Grapesicle, Banana Split, Whip Cream
Stamp school Inks – Grapesicle
Stamp School Stamps – Flowers for Mom, Women in My Life

April 2012 Sneak Peek #2

March 28, 2012 Lisa Sneak Peeks No comments

Welcome back to April’s second sneak peek! This set is so very pretty and goes so well with yesterday’s set. The flowers on this set will allow you to build your own floral backgrounds, use the images for a main focal point, and with our multiple step stamp sets, you can stamp your stems and leaves in a shade of green, and your flower in another color.

April 2012 Sneak Peek #1

March 27, 2012 Lisa Sneak Peeks No comments

It’s time for the start of our April countdown…Spring is here in Iowa and I’m looking forward to grass, flowers, blooming trees and everything else spring has to offer!

For our April release, we are bringing you two stamp sets. The first sentiment stamp is one I hope you will love as much as I do. It is for the Women in My Life. Mothers, Grandmothers, Sisters, Aunts, Birth moms, and so much more!

Art Room 3-26-12

March 26, 2012 Rosignedit Art Room, Cards No comments

The colors for this challenge are Blue Raspberry, Snow Cone and Berrylicious. They create a wonderful hombre effect! Check out my project!:

We’re adding a submission form below this post. Make up your card and post it on your blog (with a link to our blog of course *wink*). Submit your card by adding it below. Make sure to post it to the actual blog post and not just your general blog address. You have until 11:58 on the last day of the month to upload any challenge entries. While we love seeing what you can create with our products, you do not have to use Stamp School products on your contest submission.

Teacher’s Lounge 3-23-12

March 23, 2012 Rosignedit Cards, Teacher's Lounge One comment

Hi y’all! Rochelle here! I want to show you how to create a faded background using distress inks. This is a great technique for creating a vintage card that will be sure to impress!

I typically use two different (but similar) distress inks. I also use an old dry ink pad as my sponge. I like that it already has a tiny bit of distress ink in it. It works really well.

Make sure you start inking the edges first.

Then, work your way in…

Now it’s time to use your darker distress ink to ink the edges. After you distress the edges, select the stamp of your choice and ink it up with the lighter distress ink. Stamp your image all over your distressed panel.

What you create will truly be a vintage treasure!

Other:

Vintage floral paper

Twill Ribbon

Study Hall 03/22/12

March 22, 2012 AmberG Cards, Study Hall No comments

Hi! Amber here, welcome to Study Hall! I want to share a card I made for this month’s great release from Stamp School – Graduates. Every child loves opening cards and receiving mail, so this little card is perfect for a kindergarten graduate.

I started with my card base. I then added an embossed piece of cardstock. I love banner sentiment strips, so simple to make – just snip a “V” at the end of your strip. I added a Jillibean Soup die cut and some pom pom ribbon. Coloring the little graduate was easy using my Copics. Here’s a little Copic tip – color in a circular pattern keeping the last thing you colored moist when coloring a new area. This helps blend seamlessly. I used the rectangular stamp from Graduates as my background for my little boy and added Liquid Pearl to the edges. Don’t forget – when making a “Graduate” card, personalize it with the graduates school colors. Enjoy!!!

Copic Markers: Copic E51, Copic Y28, Copic E35, Copic E33, Copic C-1, Copic BG93, Copic G21,

Geometry Class 3-21-12

March 21, 2012 Potaylor Cards, Geometry Class, Sketches No comments

Hello! Samantha here with a brand new sketch challenge. Sometimes I just want a clean and simple card that I can make quickly, so I tried to come up with a sketch that would work well with that type of card. Here it is:

I love using black, white, and red together so I combined those colors with the above sketch and this months newly released stamps, and this is what I came up with:

The words from To the Future are so elegant that they really need very little dressing up. The make a beautiful focal point for a clean and simple card.

We will randomly choose a winner from each month’s submissions to win a prize package from Stamp School.

Study Hall 03-20-12

March 20, 2012 AmberG Cards, Study Hall No comments

Hi all! Amber here from The Country Scrapper. I have a card to share with you in today’s Study Hall post. I always struggle with Graduation Cards, there’s never enough sentiments to mix things up. I adore Stamp School’s To The Future Stamp Set. They’re a great variety of sentiments that are perfect for the outside or inside of your card plus a great addition to a scrapbook layout/altered item. I made a very simple card highlighting a sentiment as my card’s focal point.

This was such a fun card to make. I simply added a strip of patterned paper to my cardstock. Then stamped my sentiment and cut it out with Spellbinder Nestabilties. Next I added a strip of cardstock to the top of my patterned paper and stamped the fancy design at the top of my card using the Stamp School’s Graduates stamp set. I ran two pieces of lace beind my sentiment. Then I added Liquid Pearl for a little shine. This card has feminine touches, but not so girly that it takes the focus away from the Graduate theme.

You can see my supply list below. Enjoy!!!

Art Room Color Challenge 3-19-12

March 19, 2012 JudyR Art Room, Cards, Color 3 comments

Today’s Art Room Color Challenge is brought to you by a lovely table setting from Tea Time Magazine. I subscribe to this magazine and just love the inspiration I get from table settings, teapots and cups, and yummy delicacies!

Our colors today are Cotton Candy, Gumdrop Green and Limeade. Sounds delish! Here is what I made:

My sentiment is from To the Future. It is stamped in Razzleberry ink and sponged with Cotton Candy ink. Designer Paper is Annalee by Prima.

We will randomly choose a winner from each month’s submissions to win a prize package from Stamp School.

I hope you will play along!

Other: ribbon, lace, stick pins, paper roses, designer paper, border punch, flower punch, embossing folder

Teacher’s Lounge 03/16/12

March 16, 2012 AmberG Cards, Teacher's Lounge 3 comments

Hi all! Amber here from The Country Scrapper. Today in the Teacher’s Lounge I want to share one of my favorite techniques! The hole punch! That’s all you need, a basic supply. I bought mine at the Dollar Mart, so cheap and handy to have.

I love when crafters threads the ribbon thru the card to tie their bows. I found myself scared of making a card and then hole punching it, but this technique is totally worth it. Just be careful to align your holes correctly.

For this tecnique I start with a card “top”, a piece of cardstock you will layer onto your folded card base. Inking the edges of your cardstock adds such depth and character to cards, I highly recommend this. I stamped my sentiment onto a piece of cardstock and also cut a piece of scalloped felt out using my Spellbinder Nestabilties. I used the beautiful “To The Future” Stamp Set from Stamp School for my sentiment.

Now you simply decide where you want your bow to go. I wanted mine at the bottom of the sentiment.

Then you simply thread your ribbon thru the holes. I usually leave my ribbon attached to the spool so I know exactly how much ribbon I will need and not waste ribbon. A Walk Down Memory Lane has a varitey of terrific ribbons to use with this technique.

So my two ribbon ends are at the bottom of the card and the ribbon loops over the top of the card. Now you simply cut your ribbon from the spool and tie your bow.

Finsih decorating your card “top”. I added the stamped graduation caps and diploma from the Graduates Stamp Set from Stamp School. Then adhere your card to the cardstock base. All of my supply links are below. If you have any fun hole punch techniques, leave a comment…we’d love to see your ideas!

Study Hall 03-15-12

March 15, 2012 Rosignedit Cards One comment

Hi there everyone! It’s Rochelle here! I wanted to share a neat card with you today. It’s neat because I was at a Crafty Birthday party and my friend gifted me some crochet embellies! I just had to use one and so, I added one to this card!

Other:Kraft paper, designer paper, crochet bow

Geometry Class 3-14-12

March 14, 2012 JudyR Cards, Geometry Class 2 comments

Good morning! Judy here with Geometry Class for the week!

I hope that you will play along!

I used one of the sentiments from Stamp School’s new March stamp sets, To The Future, and some pretty designer paper and embellishments to make this quick card.

I stamped my sentiment with Hot Fudge ink on Whip Cream cardstock, then cut out using my Grand Calibur and Spellbinders Labels Three Nestabilities die. The card base is also Whip Cream, with a layer of Hot Fudge before the designer paper. It really goes together quickly!

We will randomly choose a winner from each month’s submissions to win a prize package from Stamp School.

designer paper, pearls, paper roses, border punch of your choice

Study Hall 3-13-12

March 13, 2012 vdutchr Cards, Study Hall No comments

Hi, Vicki here! Don’t you just love the sentiment pennants out there in blogland? I know I do! I adore the way they look on cards. Look how easy they are to make;

Cut end of strip in the middle

Cut from corner to center cut

Cut the other corner to center cut

Perfect!

Here is another way to get the same result:

Using a square punch, angle strip in one corner of punch and punch

Wala – faster, but I get better results in the first way

I hope you enjoyed this little trick on making a pennant for your cards!
Thanks for stopping by!

COPICS: E51, B24, R05, E35, Y18, YG07, C001

Art Room 3-12-12

March 12, 2012 Potaylor Art Room, Cards, Techniques One comment

Hello! Samantha here with you in the Art Room today. I was pretty excited about the many beautiful shades of green being released this month by Stamp School. I absolutely love green and brown together, so for today’s color challenge I chose this lovely green and brown inspiration.

You can find the original photo here.

Stamp School released 4 gorgeous greens this month, and any of them combined with Hot Fudge (brown) will do for this challenge. I chose Sour Apple and Hot Fudge for my card.

I used the medallion stamp from Graduates to create a stamped background to use as a focal point for my card. Doing so was simple.

I took a piece of Sweet Tooth Card Stock, the medallion stamp from Graduates, and 2 colors of ink (in this case Hot Fudge and Sour Apple).

Choose somewhere (anywhere) to start stamping on your card stock, and stamp the medallion once in your first color (here I used Sour Apple).

Switch to your second color (here I used Hot Fudge). Stamp the medallion in the second color, overlapping the corner of the Hot Fudge medallion with the corner of the Sour Apple medallion. Repeat this step on all available corners of the Green Apple Medallion.

Continue the previous step switching back and forth between your 2 colors until your entire piece of card stock is covered in the pattern. Then use your paper as a background or focal point on a card.

We’re adding a submission form below this post for you to show us your own Green and Brown creation. Make up your card and post it on your blog (with a link to our blog of course *wink*). Submit your card by adding it below. Make sure to post it to the actual blog post and not just your general blog address. You have until 11:58 on the last day of the month to upload any challenge entries. Your creations do not have to include Stamp School stamps in order to be entered, but we do LOVE to see what you’re creating with Stamp School products.

We will randomly choose a winner from each month’s submissions to win a prize package from Stamp School.

Thanks for playing along!

Teacher’s Lounge – 3-9-12

March 9, 2012 vdutchr Teacher's Lounge 8 comments

Hi there – Vicki here with a great organizational tool to make.
I don’t know about you, but I adore my embossing folders! However, at this point I have sooooooo many it is a pain to flip through to decide which one I want to use. Therefore…. here is an awesome tool to make!

STEP 1 – cut cardstock 2.75 x 4.25 -

STEP 2 – Cut corner with corner rounder, and punch hole in corner

STEP 3 – Finished Project – Using a ring hang new templates from shelf at your desk for easy access.

I hope this little project helps your day be more organized.
Thanks for stopping in~

Study Hall – 3-8-12

March 8, 2012 vdutchr Cards, Study Hall One comment

Hi Everyone – Vicki here.

For today’s Study Hall, I used felt flowers. [Have you gotten any of Stamp School's felt? Oh, it is so awesome! Cuts like butter~] It comes in lengths of 6″ x 30″ or 6″ x 6″. I also used felt for my leaves, and sponged the lines while still the felt was still in the die with Jelly Bean green to accent the leaves. I am having a lot of fun using the [gorgeous fonts] To The Future stamp set. I am not a colorer (is that a word?) so I love accenting sentiments.

Another card for my stash of graduate cards (I will need about 20 for this year!)

Thanks for stopping by~

Geometry Class 3-07-12

March 7, 2012 Rosignedit Cards, Geometry Class One comment

Hey y’all! Rochelle here to bring you a fun sketch for Geometry class! Take out your notebook and prepare to get some work done!

We will randomly choose a winner from each month’s submissions to win a prize package from Stamp School.

Study Hall 3-6-12

March 6, 2012 Potaylor Cards, Study Hall 2 comments

Hello! Samantha here with you today in the Study Hall. Today, I thought I’d play around with one of my favorite color combos (teal & red) and this month’s newly released set, “Graduates“.

This card is 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″. I thought I’d give you the step-by-step directions for creating this quick little card. The best part? If you’re not a fan of this color combo, just switch out the colors for those of the school that the graduate is graduating from.

1. Cut a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Sweet Tooth card stock. Score and fold in half. This will be your base.

2. Cut a 4 1/8″ x 4 1/8″ piece of gray card stock and adhere to your base.

3. Cut a 4″ x 4″ piece of Sweet Tooth card stock and adhere to base.

4. Cut a 1/2″ x 4″ piece of Blue Raspberry card stock and adhere to base.

5. Cut a 1/4″ x 4″ piece of Wild Cherry card stock and adhere to base.

6. Use a decorative edge die (I used Die-namics Double Scallop Edge) to cut Red Hot Felt. Adhere felt over the 1/4″ strip of Wild Cherry card stock.

7. Cut a 1″ x 4″ piece of Snow Cone card stock. Stamp the circle from “Graduates” in white ink over the card stock to create a patterned background. Adhere to base: