Making Rik Rak with your Scallop Punch

The other technique we learned at the last technique class was how to make rik rak (I never know how to spell that!) using the scallop edged punch from Stampin' Up. It's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I'm sure there are several ways of doing this, but this is how I came up with mine.

Look at your scallop punch. There's the actually punch mechanism and then on either side there's a guide with silver scallops on it. The top of the scallops are called "peaks" and the place where two scallops come together is called the "valley". See the picture below.

• Start with a one inch wide strip of cardstock at least 2 inches longer than you'll need for your project ( so if it's going on a 5 1/2 inch wide card you'll need a strip at least 7 1/2 inches long.)
• Slide it into the punch so that the bottom edge lines up with the valley of the two scallops that is just outside the punch mechanism and punch along the strip ALMOST to the end of the cardstock. You don’t want to go all the way to the end. You'll need the strip to remain one whole piece until your completely finished.
• Now flip the strip over so that the unpunched side is in the punch and slide it down so the edge of the strip is at the peak of the scallop that is just outside the punch mechanism and punch along the strip almost to the end.
• Trim to desired length, and voila, cardstock ric rak!!

Here is a close up picture of the ric rak on a card.

And the finished card. I used a sentiment from the Chitchat rub-ons.

Enjoy!

Stamps: Polka Dot Punches (SAB set)
Colors: Certainly Celery and So Saffron
SAB designer series paper.

It cuts like Buttah!!

Oh...my...gosh!! I got my new Circle Scissors Plus from Stampin' Up the other day and the think cuts like buttah!! It's so cool. You turn that black dial to the size circle you want, insert the handy cutting tool, give it a twirl and voila...instant b-e-a-utiful circles.

At technique class last week, the girls and I had fun twirling out lots of circles. We made this card.

Cute, I know! It literally takes about 5 minutes to crank this out. The hardest part is cutting out the card base.

You can see on the left side of the brown card base that there is a straight edge along one side--that's the scored edge of a regular card base that I then cut out using the Circle Scissor. I basically scored an 5.5x11 inch piece of cardstock at 5.5 inches and placed the folded edge below the top of the circle so that the blade doesn't cut all the way thru. It takes a little practice to get it lined up just right, but once you get the hang of it it's pretty easy. Just don't ask me how much paper I wasted until I got the "hang" of it!! :)


Another hint is the cutting blades come with nifty little replaceable covers so you're protected from their razor-sharp edges. Just remember to REMOVE it when you go to cut something. I knew this but when I first sat down to do the prep work for class I couldn't figure out why the blade would not cut! I guess no amount of red dye is going to take away my blonde-ness!!! :)~

If you decide to invest in a Circle Scissors Plus, remember that you also need a glass cutting mat to use it on. To be honest I haven't tried it on any other sort of cutting mat, but the blade is VERY sharp and I don't know if even a self healing mat would work. The one that Stampin' Up sells comes in a really nice box with a carrying handle which works great for storing it away.

Feelin' crafty yet? You know you are.....




Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Colors: Tangerine Tango and Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Circle Scissor Plus, glass cutting mat

Kissed Backgrounds

Here is my twist on the classic technique: Kissing. I call it Kissed Backgrounds. Before I give you the knitty-gritty, here is the finished product:

Ain't it gojus? I love that Baroque background stamp it's so scrumptious!

Now for the details on how to do the technique.

What you'll need:

• 2 background stamps, one with a solid image like Baroque and one with some open pattern on it, I used Bella Toile on this sample.
• 2 shades of the same color, one light and one dark. In this case I used Pacific Point and Bashful Blue.
• Brayers (one for each color. This is very important because you do NOT want to be cleaning the brayer all the time.)

1. Ink a solid image background stamp with the lighter of two complimentary colors. (hint: suggested pairings are on your color wheel.)
2. Ink a second background stamp with the darker color.
3. Huff on both and stamp the one background onto the other and immediately stamp the solid background onto the cardstock.
4. Clean the solid BG stamp between applications so it doesn’t get muddy

Easy-peasy!! The other hint I have is when you are ready to stamp the image after kissing the backgrounds, lay the stamp down rubber side up, place the piece of cardstock on the rubber, lay a piece of copy paper paper over the top and rub over the cardstock down onto the image. It's really hard to get an even stamped image when you do it the traditional way.

Here is a close up that shows the pattern on pattern.

Break out those background stamps and give it a try!!

Stamps: Bella toile, Baroque, Elegant Cheer.
Colors: Pacific Point, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray

Accessories: Brayers, Lots of Tags sizzlets, Big Shot die cutting machine, Large Oval punch

Feelin' Groovy!

Stampin' up has released some delicious new Designer Series Paper. One of my new favorites is Morning Sunshine ( you can go here to view it or scroll to the bottom of this post). It's very retro and groovy. I'm also totally in love with our GoGo Boots diecut alphabet from Sizzix. The letters are adorable and just the right size for a card.

I had the Kiwi cardbase and the chocolate chip textured circle left over from a recent class so I decided to see what I could come up with. What do you think? As JanTink says...Yes, I love myself or YILM!!! Aren't those little kiwi buttons the cutest thing evah? And our new eyelet border punch...yumm-O!!

Another variation of the same theme. I'm submitting this to SU for their monthly contest for us demos. Wish me luck!

Here is the Morning Sunshine paper. Love it! Go stamp something!!

Faux Tea Staining and Ink Pad Stria

Everyone is familiar with the technique Faux Silk using tissue paper (if not, you can find the directions for it here). Here's my twist on it: if you apply a solid background stamp (as in our now-retired Floral Background) to the tissue paper and then adhere it to brown cardstock (cocoa or caramel works best, but so saffron is good option too), the image appears tea stained. I used ModPodge to adhere the tissue paper.

Here's another technique for you to try: I call it Ink Pad Striation. On a solid image stamp of good size like Fabulous Flowers (which is also retired...sorry...both of these were from my Kiss 'Em Good-bye class in January), simply ink up the stamp so it's nice and juicy and then drag the edge of the pad from the center out to create striations in the image. Here's a close up of the image:

And the whole card.

Be creative today!

Buzzin' By with some new stuff!

I know I'm almost a month late in posting new catalog goodies, but I've been "buz-z-z-y". This is the new Just Buzzin' By set. The bees are absolutely the cutest things ever! I stamped the hive on Summer Sun and added some white craft ink for highlight. It's also 3-D using dimensionals as is the hive's base. Here's a close up:

Enjoy!

Card Recipies

I guess Stampin' Up is going green! That's the only reason I can think of as to why they decided NOT to print the card recipes in the back of the catalog this go around. Not to fear, however! They've provided us the details for all the samples in this handy PDF which you can print off of you'd like. Warning, it's 23 pages long!! The neat thing is that they put the pictures of the specific sample right next to the recipe so we no longer have to guess if it's sample A or C. :) I'm going to add this to the sidebar as a widget which you can link to anytime.

I'm thinking of having my catalog spiral bound and if I do, I'll be printing this off to include in the binding.

I'm off to savor the catalog...for the fourth time! :)