Apparently, I like rotations

Today's card is brought to you by the Concord & 9th Retro Petals Turnabout Stamp Set.  I was inspired by this card, which uses the stencils for this set (which are on their way from SSS).  I was also inspired by the recent offset shadow word dies I have been seeing.  This is my first shot at designing one with my Silhouette.  I plan to play a LOT more with this idea.  

Interested in the Turnabout stamps?  There are some things you must set up, but once you do, it creates a great background.  I am not a fan of all of the designs, but I like this one a lot.  Again, I will get braver as time moves on.

Stamp Platform Drama

If you have been actively buying stamp accessories in the last two years or so, you know that a revolution for perfection has taken place.  We now have the technology to stamp images well with very little error.

Stamp presses were definitely a rage I fed into in the 2000s.  Thank you, Fiskars and Martha Stewart.

   

Then the MISTI came out.  Just a gal trying to make large stamping jobs a little easier.  I am grateful, My Sweet Petunia, for your forward thinking.

The creator of the MISTI has a couple of US patents on it.  The design is a smart one.  And, of course, people tried to jump on board.  Some made COMPLETE knock offs that looked so similar, you would feel you needed to buy it off a truck somewhere.  However, Tonic and Tim Holtz came out with this bad boy.

I was using my MISTI, and having some minor inconveniences with it.  I have had it for a while, one of the plastic hinges was cracked, and I think the use of too thick bar magnets was taking its toll on the design. Still, I paid over $60 for it.  I was not about to buy another one.  The largest one is available for a mere $100.  Do you know how many stamp sets I can get for $100?  Not happening.

I read about the designer of MISTI suing Tonic and Tim Holtz.  I of course became intrigued.  Law suit = something to be sued over.  So, I ordered one.

There are approximately a gazillion videos that compare these two products.  I am going to lay it out for ya right here:

Tonic redesigned the stamp platform.  They took it and made a superior product. It wasn't a carbon copy.  It was SO much better.  I make less mistakes, have to restamp a WHOLE lot less, and I can use all sorts of sizes of paper.  It's made of better materials. And, it was less than $40.  The travel size is available as well which is even less.

Tonic amicably settled with My Sweet Petunia, and agreed to pull the product from the North American market.  They wanted to show support for small business.

This whole thing has me a bit bewildered.  Quite frankly, I am a little sour about it.  I see redesigns of products to make them better as technological growth.  I feel that Tim and Tonic did not steal the design...they remade it out of better products and made something that worked better.  I know it took them a year to finally settle.  I imagine there were all sorts of conversations. But I have a bad taste in my mouth right now toward the MISTI and its manufacturer.  Give her some of the profits for having the patent?  Sure!!  Take competition off the market?  Hmmm.  Not sure.  Now, My Sweet Petunia is suing Stampin' Up because of its Stamparatus, which I think is also markedly different from the MISTI.

I will state here and now that My Sweet Petunia was wise in getting a patent for its product design. But I hate to see innovation squashed because of it.

Prayers

I was attempting a couple of things with this card.  I wanted to make a blended background with some Distress Oxide inks.  I wanted to see how the Mandala Maker set worked with white ink.  I wanted to use a die cut word that had dimension. 

If I had it to do again, I would rotate so the colors were horizontal.  I would also attempt either heat embossing the white or using Staz On white so the pattern stands out.  I used Hero Arts white, and it did not stand out on this background as much as I wanted (each stamp was stamped twice).  Otherwise, I love the basic concept of this card. This Hero Arts set and die never get old.

Cards for the Stash

I have officially been a full-on paper crafter for about 11 years.  "Full-on" meaning buying the goods and occasionally using them, making scrapbook pages and cards, and stamping with all the tools. When my mom visited last year, I encouraged her to go through a bunch of my card stash and take what she liked/needed. She has recently mentioned the need for sympathy, thinking of you, and kids cards, so I assured her I could hook her up.  As I went through my stash, I decided it was time for a purge.  I was never going to use some of these cards.  The design was meh, the ink was fading, or I just did not like it.  It was a bit freeing, but almost like throwing money in the trash.

Segue to this card.  I just got the Gina K Wreath Builder Bundle, and I decided to take it for a spin.  The result:

As a kid, I loved me some Spirograph, and I even have one in my classroom.  So this little stencil makes me quite happy.  The sentiment is from SSS inked with Hero Arts ink.  Pretty sure the red cardstock (it's either Real Red or Ruby Red) is SU! as well as the blue base (I have a LOT of Bordering Blue).  The white?  Part of a card I cut off so I could reuse it.  The other inks: The blue and orange/yellow are Distress Oxides, and the red is from Ali Edwards.  

Oh and...my Tim Holtz glass mat.  Holy guacamole.  I love this thing so much.  It actually helps my pens write better (I learned that accidentally). I strongly recommend it.

All for now.  Snow makes my crafting genes go nuts, so there may be more.

Simple Happy Birthday

Some Prismas, some Kraft paper, some Tim Holtz, an edge distresser.  Dude birthday card complete and enjoyed.

Summer Fun!

I feel like I am truly enjoying the month of June this year.  I lovingly call it the "Friday of Summer," but sometimes the Friday of Summer flies by.  It's usually due to preparing for a crazy July or filling June with lots of stuff.  We are prepping our firstborn for college, but, honestly, that has been slow and steady as well.

This week was full of some fun cardmaking, dabbled with some scrapbooking that is not-quite-ready for photo ops just yet.

First, some cards among friends.  Our friend, Mama Kate, is moving to Florida.  So we threw her a shoebox swap to celebrate her presence in our lives.  We tried to make a card that captured the moment or captured Kate.  I think we did a great job.  Some of these cards are not "finished," as we wanted to save them for moments when we needed them.  For example, on the US card, one could color in two states from which people are separated.  For the flower card, we left the stitched oval blank to be able to choose the appropriate sentiment.

Tonight, I had some fun stamping with Lawn Fawn.  A friend of mine is going on a trip to Australia with her family as part of her son's band trip.  I felt the need for a card, of course.  I borrowed Kim's Critters from Down Under set as well as some Pinspiration from this crafter.  I also used a bit of the Bon Voyage set.

I used two Spellbinders' dies (rectangles and squares) to create the Polaroid frame.  The black frame is hand-drawn.  I loved using the woodgrain background rather than patterned paper for this one.  I think it really let the image stand out.

Loved mixing Stampin' Up! linen thread with Lawn Fawn's baker's twine.

I cut out the individual pieces with die cuts and colored them with Copics.  For the background, I sponged some Distress Inks on white cardstock.  The kookaburra is popped up.

I tried several different ways to incorporate the boomerang because I thought it was adorable.  Finally snuck it in after my sentiment inside the card.

All in all, it's been a very creative week so far!

In which I have clearly lost my mind

I have this...thing...when I have an idea that I am in love with.  I just keep on going and going and going.  Exhibit A:

It all started with me sorting my patterned paper.  I realized that, despite wiping out a ton of paper through the garage sale and donations, I still had quite a bit of paper, especially repeat patterns that I bought for past projects.  My students earn these little "Mustang Bucks" when they do something that aligns with our school rules, and they always need a receptacle to keep them in (ah, now you see where I am going).  Twenty-eight envelopes later, I will be able to provide them with adorable envelopes for their Mustang Money.

I used the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board for these fun 5 x 5" creations.  I adhered them with some Aleen's, but, realizing I am dealing with 9 year olds, I also gave them a tint Tim Holtz staple for good measure.

It really did not take as long as it would seem.  It was easy to get a cadence.  My regret is that ideas like this dawn on me at about 10:30 at night.