Category Archives: Tips & Techniques

Stampin Up Cake Pops

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Hi Stampers!

Here is what I have been up to lately:  CAKE POPS!!

Cake Pops with Stampin Up for Father's Day gift treat

Cake Pops Stampin Up style for Father’s Day gift / treat

These were actually for my partner, who was returning from a week long business trip – I wanted to make something special for him, and I knew he had a sweet tooth.

It occurred to me while I was making them that this would also be a GREAT Father’s day gift as well.  It could be a fun thing for Mom’s to do with kids to make the cake pops, then Mom could get in there with her Stampin Up gear and make the labels.

These are a great manly / masculine gift period – I found the trick is to make sure you use ‘manly’ colors – like the brown sprinkles and neutral colored tags etc.

I pretty much used half of my craft room for this – but you could really use ONE stamp set and they would still look great!

Here is the list of Stampin Up tools I used:

STAMPS:

  • Postage Due
  • Chalk Talk
  • ** I’m missing a few – I will have to check the exact name – stay tuned **

INKS:

  • Crumb Cake
  • Night of Navy
  • Real Red

PUNCHES:

  • Postage stamp
  • Petite curly label
  • 1/2″  circle
  • Chalk talk framelits
  • XL oval
  • Small & large tag punch (retired)

 

The cello bags came from the dollar store along with the curly ribbon. The candy melts & lolly sticks we got at Michaels.  I made the cake pop stand out of a styrofoam block (also from Michaels) and I wrapped it in kraft paper (meant for sending parcels) and put a ribbon around it to cover up the tape a little bit 😉

 

**HELPFUL HINTS & TRICKS FOR THIS CAKE POP PROJECT**

  1. The recipe on the Duncan Hines website states to use half the icing tub – I actually only used a QUARTER of the tub.  Using half would probably make your cake pops a little too moist and they may fall off the stick while you are trying to coat them.  Try adding a tablespoon at a time until the mix is moist enough to make a into ball.
  2. To melt the (Wilton) candy / chocolate: use the DEFROST button on your microwave if you do not have a double boiler.

Both of these tips are crucial to the success of your cake pops!  I tried to make cake pops before and it was a disaster.

 

I am happy to share any info you would like that I may have missed here – simply leave me a comment!

Until next time stampers!

 

 

 

10 minute treat favor / goodie bags

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For my latest workshop to celebrate the new catalog, I prepared a little thank you gift for the attendees.  I wanted something that everyone could use, and that looked great, but was still within my budget – so I made these great goodie bag / party favors with a few basic tools.

Treat Goodie Bag Party Favors Stampin Up

Goodie bag party favors to workshop attendees

What you need to make these party favor goodie bags:

  • Big Shot / die cutting machine
  • Top Note die
  • DSP / card stock
  • Ribbon
  • small clear cello bags (I got mine at the dollar store)
  • shredded tissue paper (dollar store again)

* TIP*  I stuck my embellishments to a piece of clear acetate to make sure that the presentation would be perfect.

I made the embellishments from the new “Buttons & Blossoms” clay molds available in the new Stampin Up catalog.  Using the freshly pressed 2013 – 2014 In Color line, these are the greatest thing I have seen in a looooong time for crafting!!  I hate it when I cannot find embellishments to match my project colors.  NOW you can make your own!!  ALl you need is the clay (which goes a LONG way – at least 60 embellishments from one bag of clay) and some reinkers.  Your total investment is around $20.  Just THINK of the savings!!! And the convenience… Need I go on?

Until next time stampers!!!

Keep calm, and craft on!!

Critter Coloring: Kittehs

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So I have been on a crazy coloring binge since I have discovered the blending technique using colored pencils & baby oil from my post here. 

I fell in love with the critter stamps from Penny Black – the hedgehog, kitties, mice and critters are just about the cutest things EVER and are versatile enough to use for any age & occasion card!
I have found that Simon Says Stamp is the best place to get them online (other than Ebay) – great prices and even BETTER shipping!  Being Canadian I really appreciate when sellers can offer reasonable rates. 

Ok – enough of the hype, here is my latest creation. 

 

ImageI used only colored pencils & baby oil to color it.  I love that it looks like a cross between watercolor pencils & Copic (or alcohol markers).  Best of both worlds I think!  My boyfriend (yep, he’s *that* awesome) came up with the idea to fussy cut the balloons them pop them up with pop dots. 

The inside has a white matte to cover the ribbon, and I used the “Celebrate” sling mount from the Outlined Occasions set from Stampin Up’s 2011 Sale-A-Bration.

 

Stamp sets used:  It’s Your Day by Penny Black Inc

Crazy for Coloring: Penny Black ~ Cat with Balloon

Crazy for Coloring: Penny Black ~ Cat with Balloon

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Penny Black – Cat with Balloon from “It’s Your Day” clear mount set. Clear mount rubber acrylic stamp Colored with Crayola colored pencils using the blending technique I posted here

Eureka! Alternative to Copic & Alcohol Markers!

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WOOOO HOOOOO!! Party in the craft room today!! I *finally* found a method of coloring stamped images that did not require a thousand dollar investment!!

All you need: Standard pencil crayons, baby oil & blender tips (called pen or marker nibs)

Seriously. That’s it.

Thanks to Madame Wong‘s post today on how to blend colored pencils in a similar manner to Copic coloring or alcohol markers in general, I was able to create this card:

Penny Black Its Your Day Cat Balloon Card

Penny Black stamp colored & blended with Crayola Pencil Crayons

My foray into coloring with my new Prismacolor markers wasn’t NEARLY as successful – the set of 48 I got did not have enough shades of one color to allow for a proper gradient blend.

Here is the video that madame Wong posted showing a tutorial on how to blend your pencil crayon coloring:

 

Here are a few additional tips to coloring & blending your pencil crayon coloring:

  • If you want to show texture (like fur in my example), then be careful not to over blend
  • Use only a pinpoint amount of baby oil – the more oil you have on your tip, the more it will blend your work. go over your colors a few times instead. Better to have not enough, than too much blending. And yes, you can blend too much. Too much blending = smeary, smudgy looking work
  • The better quality pencils you use, the richer your colored image will turn out.
  • I used Whisper White card stock from Stampin Up, but plain old card stock from Michaels also worked when I tested it.

 

Materials for my card:

STAMP: Penny Black (clear mount) “It’s Your Day”INK: Black Memento Archival Ink
COLOR: Crayola Pencil Crayons
BLENDING: Household standard type Baby Oil & Marker / Pen Nib refills (see video for other types of blenders you can use)
PAPER: Recollections (I don’t know the colors)
EMBOSSING FOLDER: Cuttlebug Spots & Dots

**EDIT UPDATE**

After some requests, here is a picture of the blenders that I use. I am Canadian & got these at my local Michaels. (I looked for the tool that was used in the video but I couldn’t find it.)

 

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Some brilliant and VERY useful tips on how to get a perfect stamped image from your stamps & Stampin Up ink pads every time!

periwinky's avatarperiwinky's cloud

Last month, I excitedly gifted myself four sets of the foam Stampin Up ink pads. I fell in love with the pads’ smooth deep finish at a stamp camp last fall and when Kim Morris offered a 15% rebate on her blog, I pounced. (Kim provides amazing customer service – even though she lives halfway across the country, she spent so much time helping a total nube – me! – figure out how to use all these ink pads! If you don’t have a demonstrator, I highly recommend her.)

So… the last few weeks have been frustrating for me because my solid images would come out with even coverage but very smudgey lines OR crisp lines with incomplete images. As I mentioned in a previous post, this awesome fellow stamper who just happened to be in line behind me, gave me an impromptu tutorial yesterday and by jove, I…

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Crazy for Coloring!

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Coloring.  Not just for kids anymore!  I just recently acquired a set of 48 Prismacolor markers.  These are very similar to Copic markers – they are alcohol based ink which allows for blending and non-streaking when filling in.

Image

Thanks to the brilliant Darlene Devires and her tutorial post showing step-by-step instructions on how to color with copics markers (or Prismacolor in my case) I was able to color this Mouse stamp that I had got to make boyfriend a Valentine’s Day card with.

And here is my first colored image using alcohol markers:

Image

Those penciled notes you see in the top left corner are my notes with each of the colors I used to create this image so I know for next time what the best colors are to use.

Yay!