Following the Directions

Hi, the other day we talked about what a great value Paper Pumpkin ® is, now today, I want to talk about the simplicity of Paper Pumpkin and the many other benefits of these great kits. 

Have you ever wanted to sit down and craft but felt you just didn’t have the time? Have you ever thought, “I would love to make a personal card for someone that I care for, but I just don’t want to make that investment into supplies”? Does any of this sound like you? What if I told you that Paper Pumpkin can remove those barriers for you? It’s true! 

Paper Pumpkin is fast and easy! Using the February kit as an example, the 3 cards below, I put together in a matter of 20 minutes! That’s right! 20 minutes! Within 20 minutes I had followed the directions and completed 3 hand stamped cards that I can now give out to family and friends as needed. And the best part, I have the supplies for 6 more cards left over, so the next time I have a few minutes to spare, I can sit down and put the remainder of my kit together. So, yes, there is time to craft! In addition, adding to the value of these great kits, you now have a terrific, exclusive stamp set and at least one new ink spot to add to your collection and if you are doing the monthly subscription, your only investment is $19.95 + tax, so no big upfront investment for supplies and you don’t have to try to remember all of what you need while wandering around a craft store because all of the supplies necessary to complete your project get delivered to you in your little orange box.

Paper Pumpkin ® February 2016

So, I urge you, if any of this remotely sounds like you, go ahead and sign up. Try a 3 month pre-paid subscription and just give it a test drive. I can promise, you will truly enjoy these kits as much as I do. The designs are always adorable and the simplicity is always there. And right now is the best time to try a 3 month pre-paid subscription as it is on sale for $55 and qualifies you for a free Sale-a-Bration™ item, just click here to Join Now! 

I hope you decide to join me with a Paper Pumpkin subscription. In the meantime, happy stamping!

Katrina

Paper Pumpkin! One of the BEST Values Around!

Hi! I just wanted to fill you in on PaperPumpkin® and what a great value it is. Paper Pumpkin is a monthly subscription available from Stampin' Up!® through your demonstrator and it’s like Christmas every single month when that adorable little box arrives in your mailbox!

What I love about Paper Pumpkin, is that it contains EVERYTHING I need to complete the projects. It has all of the paper and cardstock that I need, glue dots if required, dimensionals if required, an ink spot (the colors do NOT repeat for one year so you can build your color collection and they’re so darn cute!) an exclusive stamp set (you cannot get these stamp sets anywhere but PaperPumpkin) and a full set of directions. In addition to all of that, they always include enough materials to make 8 or 9 of the projects as well as a few extras to use as you like.

Another feature that I love about PaperPumpkin, is that it is just as perfect for an advanced stamper as it is for a new stamper. You don’t need to “be creative”, you can just follow the directions provided, but the you can go outside the box and use the materials in a completely new and innovative way. It’s completely up to you. But what I can tell you is, PaperPumpkin is always fun, always adorable and always a favorite for those that subscribe. And right now, during Sale-a-Bration™, a 3 month subscription to PaperPumpkin is on sale and qualifies for you to select a FREE Sale-a-Bration item! I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that! A fun filled 3 months of PaperPumpkin AND a FREE awesome Sale-a-Bration item? YES! Trust me on this one, give PaperPumpkin a try. I promise you will not regret it. And, if you sign up for the 3 month pre-paid subscription and you find at the end of that 3 months you would like to continue and sign up for the monthly subscription for 19.95 per month, I will send you a free gift with your 4^th shipment of an adorned case to store your exclusive stamp sets and ink spots, in addition, I will provide you with a monthly email with links to additional ideas for you to use your kits.  Give it a try, I promise you will not be disappointed! Just click here to sign up!

Happy Stamping!

Katrina

Join Now!

So Many Black Inks!

 Hello,
I wanted to take this opportunity and piggy back off of my last post regarding the many different inks and show you the differences among the 3 black inks that Stampin' Up! carries in their line, as each of the inks server a purpose.
First is the water-based dye ink, Memento® Tuxedo Black ink. This ink is formulated to work with alcohol coloring mediums such as Copic® Markers or Spectrum Noir®, however, it doesn’t work especially well with water-coloring as it does react to water and will smear, making for a bit of a messy piece as shown here:

Memento Ink

Using the Aqua-Painter

Adding Alcohol based Ink marker

Next is the Archival Basic Black® ink. This ink is also a water-based dye ink, however, it’s formulation makes it a permanent ink that does not react to water and therefore can be used for water-coloring and it will not smear and get messy, however, it does smear and react slightly with the alcohol inks. As you can see here in the photo, you could probably use the Archival ink with your alcohol based markers if you were careful to remain within the lines because as you see here, there is minimal smearing of the black color.

Archival Basic Black Ink

Water-color with Aqua-painter

Using Alcohol Markers

Last but certainly not least is Stazon® black ink. This is a permanent solvent based ink that can be used on non-porous material such as glass, plastic, acetate and tile just to name a few. It is water proof but does react to alcohol based inks, as you can see here, with the aqua-painter®, the color remains true while the Blendabilities® alcohol marker color blended with the black ink creating a much deeper shade of Daffodil Delight! Because of the solvent base to the Stazon®, you do need to use Stazon® cleaner to remove the ink from the stamp also, otherwise, you will permanently color/stain your stamps and you should never use Stazon® cleaner on your photopolymer stamps as the material used to make photopolymer stamps will react to the Stazon® cleanser and break down the stamps and will shorten their life span, and if you are like me, you love your stamps and want them around a very long time. So, to be safe, I avoid using Stazon® ink with my photopolymer stamps and then I don’t worry about that, I can clean them with the normal Stampin’ Mist®

Stazon Jet Black Ink

Using Aqua-painter

Using Alcohol Marker

Stazon Cleaner

I hope you have found this helpful in selecting which black ink to use for which coloring technique you are using. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think and please, if you have any questions that you would like me to address here on the blog, just let me know in the comments below and thank you so very much for stopping by and spending some time with me.
Have a great day and Happy Stamping!
Katrina

Ink Ink All Kinds of Ink!

Hi, one of the most common questions I get asked is, “is there a difference between all the inks out there, and if so, what is the difference?” Well the answer to the first part of the question is YES! There are 3 major categories of ink out there with a few sub-categories  that have made their way to the market, Dye Ink, Pigment Ink (craft ink) and Solvent Ink.

Let’s start with the most commonly used ink, dye ink. Dye ink is a water-based ink that is used most frequently to stamp with. Water-based dye inks work well on all sorts of paper and dries very quickly. It comes in a wide rainbow of colors and Stampin’ Up!© is no exception..we carry a wide range of colors in our collections. Other examples of dye ink are Archival Inks and Memento® Inks. 

Archival Inks have the properties of water-based dye inks, such as quick dry time, however, they also have the properties of pigment ink (crisp dark color) and Solvent inks, (don’t react with water). The later, making them ideal for water-coloring as they will not react with water and run like other dye inks.

Memento® Inks are a water-based dye ink that is ideal for coloring with alcohol markers such as Copic® or Spectrum Noir®. The formulation of these ink pads prevent their ink from reacting with the alcohol preventing them from running and smearing with coloring. These are a must have if you like to color with alcohol based markers.

The second most commonly used ink, is the pigment ink, or craft ink. These inks are much thicker in consistency than dye inks and have a much longer drying time than dye inks. This makes them ideal for heat embossing because the wet ink holds the embossing powder well while heating the powder. But beware, because of the increase in drying time, it is very easy to smear and smudge this ink making for a messy project. Currently, Stampin Up!© carries Versamark ®and Whisper White Craft Ink® in their line of pigment inks.

Finally, the 3^rd most commonly used ink is solvent ink such as Stazon® ink. Solvent inks are permanent inks that are ideal for non-porous materials such as tiles, glass etc. It is also an excellent ink to use for water-coloring as it does not react to water. Solvent inks are permanent and do require a special cleaner, such as Stazon Cleaner® to clean your stamps, however, do NOT use this cleaner with your photopolymer stamps as this could react with the photopolymer and ruin them.  

I hope this clears up any questions you may have regarding the different types of inks on the market. There are always new developments hitting the market, such as Distress Inks®, which are water-based dye inks that stay wet longer and are highly reactive to water for wonderful effects, Hybrid inks which combine dye based with pigment properties creating a “best of both worlds” and I’m sure many more developments to come in time.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below and I will be sure to get an answer to you. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I thank you so much for taking the time to stop by my little corner of the web.

Happy stamping ,

Katrina

Stippled Masking

Hello!
I hope everyone is staying warm in this deep freeze we're having! Good grief, today was the coldest day of the year so far, and I really hope it remains the coldest day of the year. -20 wind chill today and I think I about froze myself when I went out for a bit to meet up with some friends for a fun afternoon of painting. Which brings me to the conclusion that I need to stick with stamping! lol What do you think?

My master piece lol I will say it was a lot of fun and I will suggest that if you ever get the opportunity to do something like this, go ahead and try it. You can just have fun with it and be prepared to laugh at yourself. well at least that's what I did. I own the fact that I'm a stamper, not a painter!

Anyhoo, I have a tutorial to share with you and I made my very first video tutorial EVER! Making the video, not too bad, editing the video, I have lots to learn! I hope I don't bore you too much, but this card did turn out pretty cute. I hope you like it. It uses the soon to be retired Sky is the Limit stamp set. This is a sale-a-bration stamp set that goes away Tuesday 2/16! Not to worry, Stampin' Up! has some great replacements for it, however, you won't want to miss out on this one. Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of today's card and the video tutorial and thanks so much for stopping by and watching.
Have a great day!

It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack
$26.00

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
$7.00

Sky Is The Limit Clear-Mount Stamp Set
$0.00

Decorative Label Punch
$18.00

1-3/4" Circle Punch
$18.00

Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad
$6.50

Mint Macaron 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$7.00

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.50

Basic Black Baker's Twine
$2.25

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