Always Basic

This week, I have been working on a scrapbook for a friend, so I have slowed a bit on the challenges. Today, since I love the limited supplies challenge on SCS, I am back!

We were supposed to limit the stamps and the paper to be of the same line. I think I did so for the most part. We were supposed to think back to the day when we had very limited supplies and show what could be done with them.

I just mounted my new Always set by SU!, so I figured, why not? I remember the best and earliest tool I bought to stretch my supplies was the Stamp-a-ma-jig by Stampin' Up! A friend of my used to call it the "Stampenator." The concept is BRILLIANT. You can basically take any sentiment stamp and use any part of it that works. Unless you are SUPER careless, you will stamp your image wherever you need it... no guessing and checking. I think my early love of this tool led to my current fixation with acrylics. The best power for a stamper is to be able to really see where the stamped images will go.

I used the ever-so-popular and beautiful bird from the Always set, as well as the sentiment. The sentiment came as one stamp in two lines. Using my Chocolate Chip marker and Stamp-a-ma-jig, I placed the sentiment where it was most effective and split up the two lines.

I also used another technique that stretches supplies. I had seen this on a Craft TV Weekly webisode by Michael Strong called "Divide and Conquer." I painted black cardstock with Lagoon scrapbook color by Making Memories. Then, I used my trusty Scor-Pal to "divide and conquer." I sanded the score lines so the black showed through in a bit of an antique way.

The matting is the same sheet of double-sided paper, another great thing top buy to stretch your supplies. This paper is from Afternoon Tea by Stampin' Up! I mounted the images on True Thyme SU! cardstock, and surrounded the images with punches.

Size: 4 1/4 x 5 7/8 inches