On the Verve Visual blog today, I went Back-to-Basics!My very first "technique" was edging. It was taught to me by Gwennie, who was my very first stamping teacher. She worked at one of only two independent rubber stamping stores in the Treasure Valley at the time. (Sadly, both have since closed their doors.) Her cards seemed to have such depth and richness. I wanted to learn from her right away.
The trick to the dimension and depth, she said, was the brushing of the ink pad against the edges of the cardstock -- a technique known as edging. The technique is very flexible. Using different amounts of pressure when edging, you can control the amount of color that is imparted to the paper. You can also vary inkpad types to achieve different looks. My favorite ink pads for this technique are the very spongy ColorBox Chalk Cat's Eyes, and Gwennie used these too. Supply List
Stamps: Fancy Florals Remixed, Thoughtful Florals and Fancy Florals (Verve Visual)
Paper: Wild Wasabi & Whisper White (SU!)
Ink: Blue Iris ColorBox Chalk (ClearSnap); Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, Bayou Blue (SU!)
Accessories: White Glaze Pen (Sakura); Stitched Ribbon (SU!); Brad (Karen Foster Designs); Flowers (Prima Marketing)To see the other photos of this card in progress, click here.The Verve Visual stamp sale only lasts until Friday. You definitely don't want to miss it.Happy Stamping!
There was a little treat waiting for me in my mailbox today -- The Stampers' Sampler Take Ten issue for Spring 2008. I hadn't ordered it yet, so this must be my "artist comp" copy. Yeay!
Five of my cards are in this issue. Do you recognize them?
Many Thanks appears on page 4. Snow, which I created as part of the Mandarin Pixie DT finalist challenge, appears on page 28. Make Me Smile, my very first Verve card ever, appears on page 113. Then two cards are in special areas of the magazine. Beaming with Happiness is featured on page 138 in an advertisement for the Summer 2008 Take Ten issue. Then, most exciting for me, is Wishing You which appears on page 26. It's exciting because it has been chosen as the DESIGN CHALLENGE TEMPLATE for this issue. *squeal* Since I haven't shown Wishing You yet here on my blog, here it is:
Supply List:
Stamps: Starlight Starbright (Verve Visual)
Paper: Cowboy Collection (Crate Paper), Star Kissed Star Mile (Daisy Bucket)
Ink: Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink (ClearSnap), VersaFine Vintage Sepia (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Extra Jumbo Scalloped Oval Punch & Super Jumbo Oval Punch (Marvy Uchida); Grograin w/ Satin Center Ribbon (May Arts)
Thanks for sharing my special news! I have quite a bit of stamping time scheduled over the next couple of days, and I hope to have more projects to share with you soon!
Happy Stamping!
There was some productive stamping and painting time today. I stamped a flat die-cut white cardstock and a separate white sheet of CS with a gray StazOn ink, since I felt that black would have been too bold. Then for painting, several colors of Twinkling H2Os 
were tested on the white sheet. Garnet was just the right choice: bold enough to stand up to the gray but not over the top. Assembly was easy after the paint was dry... that killer red tacky tape is REALLY sticky. Just what was needed.You'll be seeing a lot more die-cut projects around here because I've accepted the invitation to join the Design Team for Creative Cuts & More. So fasten your seatbelt and get ready for the specialty-cut cards, fun boxes, and all the other great products Terry offers there. And in addition to standard papers, she offers her die cuts in chipboard, acetate, polyshrink, foam, felt, and beautiful metallics. And if you want something else cut, like a specific patterned cardstock, send it to her and she'll cut it for you! The DT is comprised of many very talented members (including my best pal, Lila), and I can't wait to work with them and get to know them better.Supply List:
Stamps: Serenity (Verve Visual)
Paper: White Cardstock (Creative Cuts & More)
Ink:Stone Gray StazOn (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Garnet Twinkling H2Os (LuminArte); Short Puff Box Die & Killer Red Tacky Tape (Creative Cuts & More); black ribbon (May Arts)Happy Stamping!
