Wandering Words, a SMASHing idea book page

A quick project, a SMASHing idea book page and the cover for the stamp storage case.  I believe I bought this set wood mounted...and never mounted it on the wood.  LOL.  Do you have any unmounted stamp sets...purchased and not yet used?  (ahem)  When I get all my stamp sets "logged" into my SMASHing idea book...I won't.  LOL.

I really want to get into the moment here...when I buy it, use it.  No saving it for later!  Do it NOW!  Later, I forget WHY I bought something and HOW I was inspired to use it.  Gotta change that! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

New (to me) Technique

There's been lots of posts & challenges lately using colored pencils to color stamped images.  Flashback!  When I was in school, I called these "map pencils" because we had to have them to color maps in geography class!   

To try this technique, I didn't have to purchase ANY special tools.  I had these items around already.

Stamp your image in Staz-on and color away!  Then use a blending pen dipped in baby oil and blend.  Best results occur when coloring in small circles and blending in small circles. 

I was practicing a new technique and used the results for my SMASHing idea book.  It's a very relaxing & fun technique.  This is also the first time I've inked up Stampin' Up!'s Havvest Home.  I think I know why; it requires coloring.  LOL.  And I cannot find ANYTHING using Havest Home saved to my favorites on SCS.  HUH?  Why did I buy this?  Have you ever asked that question? 

Guess I'll find something to do with it...otherwise it was just a practice set for a new technique.  LOL.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

Cow Piles, 9 Layers & Unfinished Bizness

Remember the Cow Piles?  Here's one all colored up and pasted in my SMASHing idea book!

I colored the pile of Cow Piles with SU! Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an aquapainter!  I was planning to make Cow Appreciation Day cards to take to work.  That didn't happen.  Then yesterday, the stars aligned!  LOL.  A Stampin' Flybabies stamping challenge to use NINE layers AND an SCS sketch challenge from Wednesday...plus the mollymoo challenge to finish unfinished bizenss...and I just plumb felt up to a challenge or two or three! 

Viola!

A nine layer cow pile card...and that don't count the pile of cows!

Am I going to take the remaining four cow piles and create FOUR more NINE layer cards?  I reckon so.  I think the key to a great nine layer card is that it doesn't look like you tried to make a nine layer card.  I think I got it! 

Have you made a nine layer card?  How'd you feel about it?

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

Ruff Day? (a SMASHing idea book)

Here's another page I created for my SMASHing idea book using Ruff Day from Stampin' Up!  (retired).  I had stamped these and included them in the original sheet protector / three ring binder book I mentioned HERE.

Here they are trimmed out & colored with SU! markers...making their debut in a SMASHing idea book!

a SMASHing idea book page for Ruff Day

Looking at them in the SMASHing idea book gives me more ideas than thinking this is "just a dog set" (stored in drawer method) or the impersonal feel of the images stored in sterile sheet protectors.  I see birthday, I see encouragement, I see have a good trip...and that puppy about to pounce is just too darn cute!  What other stamps do I have that I can mix & match with this one?  Once I make that connection, I will write that down on the page! 

Have you been inspired to create your own SMASHing idea book?  Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect...and it's ALWAYS a work in progress.  Enjoy the journey!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

a SMASHing Idea Book Pagination

My SMASHing idea book is coming along with each project I create.  Sometimes I do make the page before I put away the supplies from my projects, other times it's all about the page.  The sets are in random order, so I have an index...

a SMASHing idea book - Index

...and page numbers...

a SMASHing idea book - Page numbers at the bottom of most pages

a SAMSHing idea book - Page numbers at the top of some pages

My SMASHing idea book is not an alphabetical index of what I HAVE, but rather an idea book of how to use what I have.  My goal is to write down ideas before I purchase a set, then when the sets get here, make the SMASH book pages.  I'll eventually have both - a stamp inventory AND an idea of what I wanted to use those sets for.  The ultimate goal is to use what I have.  Ideally, I won't be stumped for a crafting idea because I have realized there is no way humanly possible to use every craft product I have.  I just have to keep my mojo flowing and if using an idea books on days it's not flowing freely gets it flowing, then I'm all for it.  I have lots of ideas for things but I cannot do them all at once and I cannot use up precious brain cells trying to remember all of them.  Brain cells are getting in short supply anyway. 

When I started my page numbering, I chose my favorite SU! products.

Tidy Numbers (retired)

Tidy Alphabet and Tidy Numbers is my go to set!  Easy to trim and looks good with just about everything!

Wild Wasabi ink.

A great way to use up scraps!

I do a little at a time, so I don't get bored and so I can use up scraps!  Works for me.  Have ou given any thought to how you inventory your stamp sets and / or keep up with your ideas for particular stamp sets?  How do you do it?

On another note, I still haven't decoreated the outside of the book yet.  LOL.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day.

Goofy Smiles

Googlie eyes are not just for Halloween!

Sunday, I played along with the Creative Crew and with the Featured Stamper Challenges.  The Creative Crew is a Stampin' Up! Only Design Team on SCS.  They issue four monthly challenges.  This project meets the criteria for the color challenge, which was to showcase some new In-Colors.  I used the new SU! Pool Party and Island Indigo.  For the Featured Stamper Challenge, we were to CASE a project from teristampsalot's gallery.  I chose this card to CASE. 

I did use some retired sets...Tart and Tangy and Tidy Alpha.  Tidy Alpha is my "go-to" alpha stamp set.  I love it!  I use it a bunch!  It's so easy to cut...snip, snip, snip and snip.  Done!  I wanted to sew the title on...but I had used tape to adhere the Pool Party strip of CS and I didn't want to gum up my needle...so I used faux stitching. 

I had fun with the fruit.  I colored the strawberry with markers; stamped and punched the citrus fruit.

Citrus Fruit

I punched them out with the 1 1/4" punch.  The 1" punch almost took off the rind...so 1 1/4" it was and then used the matching marker to color the white edge.

Aren't those googlie eyes cute?

The smiles are hand drawn with a black sharpie marker. 

Inside of card.

Envelope.

Insde & envelope.

While I had the stamp sets out, I made the pages for the SMASHing idea book.

Tart & Tangy page in SMASHing idea book.



Smile Curve page in SMASHing idea book.

The whole shebang!

I had fun with this Featured Stamper Challenge.  I love Teri's gallery.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

Grand Soiree

I love the chandlier image in Stampin' Up!'s Grand Soriee.  I had already unmounted this set a while back; I had not stamped the cover for the case.  I wasn't feeling to good today, so I decided to do some low key stamping.  I stamped the cover and created a page in my SMASHing idea book.

There's plenty of room to jot down ideas.

I just had to add some sparkle to it! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!

PTI Order

I'm an SU! gal.  I spent quite a bit of time debating my purchase...but I need sentiments for inside my cards AND I need to get cracking on baby stuff.  Since my niece is gonna have a boy in August and we're all going baby, I figured this would be a good time to do my son's baby book, too.  LOL 

Uh...no...the cat didn't arrive from PTI.  I was trying to photograph my order and... I gotta give my cat some attention.   

Three stamp sets...

...two dies and two ink spots.  These are the first dies I've had from PTI.  Interesting.  Very compact, thin, space saving and probably, easy to loose.  eek.  I hope not...easy to loose, that is.

PTI sets come with a jewel case to store the sets.  I tried to use them...but one set was simply too big and I could not see what I had...too confusing to read a clear sticker and have clear stamps.  eek.

So...I used a SU! stamp case.  On these two, I used the PTI labels.  I put the labels on brown copy paper cut to insert size.  I used brown paper, so I can immediately pick out SU! and PTI sets when I open my stamp drawer.

On the third one, there were two labels.  I decided to stamp the sentiments and not use the stickers.

 
Here's the inside:

Those particular three images didn't stamp fully because of the bump on the back, the CS label I cut from the belly band that was on the original packaging.  So I stamped those on white CS, trimmed them and then run them through Xyron. 

TIP:  I traced around each image with the paper piercer.  Why?  Sometimes I get more sticky than I want...glue strigs and stragglers on the edges of the images that I don't want.  I discovered if I traced the image with a sharp instrument, there are no exposed sticky stuff.

I'm loving this...the sentiments are in the same order as they are stamped on the cover.  I can actually read the sentiment stamps through the cover, especially since they have been inked up.

Here's the SMASHing idea book page for this stamp set:

I'm glad I stamped the sentiments...cuz I have a better idea of what I have. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a moo'valous day.

Stamp Inventory...SMASH Book Style

I've struggled with how to inventory my stamp sets.  I hadn't come up with anything useful in the several years I've been stamping.  I tried this:

I stamped images in black on white cardstock, put it in a sheet protector & stuck it in a binder.  That's where it stayed.  Nope...never really used it...never got the project completed.  Not gonna work.

I tried half sheets of cardstock to be filed in a box...ditto.

Until the day before yesterday.  That's when the seed was planted.  A fellow FLYBaby mentioned a "SMASHing" idea...cutting up old SU! catalogs to inventory her large collection of stamps - SMASH Book style.  I think she's onto something.  I had an extra current year catalog...I cut it up!  It was hard...but it was an extra.  ;-)  What do I put it in?

Aha!  I run to the hall closet and pull out this:

How do I get them in...masking tape...I taped in THREE.  Then I grabbed the Mono Multi and glued 'em all in!  For some, I cut out the projects shown in the catalog if it was something I wanted to case.

Today, I took it with me and when an idea for a page or use for a current stamp set hit me...I wrote it down.

I do this for all the current stamp sets...not perfect...but it gets my inventory started.  What about those retired stamp sets?  Or those that I have stamped CS sheets for?  THIS:

TRIM ' EM !

COLOR ' EM!

GLUE ' EM!

I think I'm gonna like this one! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a moo'valous day!