Outlines Rubber Stamp Company, Inc

Monday, February 20, 2012

Challenge 40 - Make it Square!

Our Outlines Monday challenge theme this week is to..... KEEP IT SQUARE!

Make a card or project, the finished size just has to be square.

Any theme, any colors... just keep it square!

We would like you to join this challenge for a chance to win a $25 Shopping Spree at Outlines Rubber Stamp Co. To enter the challenge you must use only stamps from Outlines; only one entry allowed Please add the URL to your actual blog post or online gallery to the InLinkz you will find at the end of this post. Please do not link to your main blog. Also, please link back to our challenge in your blog post or gallery..

So let's see what our design team has created for you this week.

Jeanne Streiff

Stamps used: H-1014 Sketchy Dad

Jenny Gropp

Stamps used: AA-839 TIny Happy Birthday, H-1066 Split Layering Collage -Enjoy

Julie Warner

Stamps used: F-1049 Posy Greeting Center, E-401 Candles Square Large, D-1040 Round Posy Small

Kecia Waters

Stamps used: I-1153 Hide and Seek, AA-951 TIny Happy Easter

Lisa Silver

Stamps used: E-403 Flower Balloon Square Large

Sue Kment

Stamps used: E-780 Happiest of Birthdays Square Large

Challenge 39 - Color Combo Challenge WINNER

Using Random.org a winner was chosen from last week's

Color Combo "Red, White and Black" Challenge #39:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2012-02-20 04:17:35 UTC

Congratulations to Kathy B.!

Please contact us for your winning prize of a $25 shopping spree at Outlines Rubber Stamps. And thank you to everyone who joined in on the challenge. We hope to see you again this week.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Revisiting our Easter Egg Tree stamp with Viva Paper Soft and Pearl Pens!

Because I have been using this stamp to demo Pearl Pens and Viva Paper Soft at shows, I decided I'd

like to revisit the Easter Egg Tree stamp (F-934). This is the right time of the year and it's so easy to work with and so effective!

Stamps: Easter Egg Tree (F-934) , Alphabet (I-583).
Papers: Graphic 45 Once Upon A Springtime and new (to us) Paper Cut - Gold Linen Metallic for the layering and Paper Cut Rose for the word "Easter".

Viva Paper Soft: Dark Sand and Moss Green.

Pearl Pens used are: Gold, Light Yellow, Light Blue, Silver, Lilac, Salmon and Kiwi. Just a reminder about Pearl pens, the lighter colors are very pearly and the darker one are more enamel looking.

Embossing powder: PK Glitz -Timber Brown .

Directions:

1-Stamp and emboss egg tree.

2-Cut out free hand as shown.

3-With Paper Soft, add color to tree portion and a little to grassy area using the smallest round ponce brush.*

4-Fill in eggs with pearl pens.

5-I decided at this point that white did not look quite right, so I added color using Color Soft again.

6-Stamp the Alphabet stamp, emboss and cut out and layer onto small green squares to just off-set them. You can stamp the whole alphabet stamp and cut out the portions you need. I tend to cut a strip of paper, then cut it into small pieces. Ink the letter you need, place your small piece of paper over, press well with your finger, or better yet place a small block of wood or acrylic over and press down. You'll get a better inking that way. Using our Pixie Pick-Ups for placing the squares helps.

7-I decided that I wanted little pearl brads in the corners so I added them. This is a really great Pearl Pen tip if you don't already know it. When I couldn't decide if I wanted dots of peals in the corners or what color I wanted, I dropped some on wax paper. When these dry you can pop them right off and decide what you want to do with them. Save the leftover ones for future use.

8-Layer as shown. I used a corner punch to round edges and mounting tape to give the tree a lift.

*I gave some tips on using Viva Paper Soft in Volume #44 Newsletter(June 9th). I was trying to tell you how great this product is for getting nice feather edges of color on white backgrounds. I don't

know if I described it as well as I could have. I'll try again. The top of the container is a sponge that will have no color when new. You have to pounce it with the large brush to get the color to come to the top. Once it's there it is ready to use. When using it pounce the round sponge brush to get color onto it, then transfer to your paper with a very light touch. It won't look like much color is being added but you want to add it gradually. You keep adding color till you have reached desired shade. As you can see I used the small brush to get the green color onto the tree. I used a larger brush to add the sand color.

Here's an important for getting nice smooth results! After inking your brush, roll the edges off on a paper towel or just another piece of scrap paper. Do this every time after inking the brush!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Challenge 39 - Color Combo Challenge

Our Outlines Monday challenge theme this week is a Color Combo.....

create your card using the colors RED, WHITE and BLACK.

So let's see what our design team has created for you this week.

Jeanne Streiff

Stamps used: I-696 Layered Heart

Jenny Gropp

Stamps used: H-1004 Grand Heart

Julie Warner

Stamps used: E-91 Dotted Flower Large, D-92 Dotted Flower Medium, B-93 Dotted Flower Small, A-101 Dotted Leaf Small, F-1049 Posy Greeting Center

Kecia Waters

Stamps used: H-918 Growing Hearts, B-387 With Love

Lisa Silver

Stamps used: H-918 Growing Hearts

Sue Kment

Stamps used: H-911 Sparkle Love

Challenge 38 - February Sketch Challenge WInner

Using Random.org a winner was chosen from last week's Sketch Challenge:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2012-02-13 03:37:56 UTC

Congratulations to ljhart!

Please contact us for your winning prize of a $25 shopping spree at Outlines Rubber Stamp. And thank you to everyone who joined in on the challenge. We hope to see you again this week.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Create a Faniful Easter Egg Tree

Back from Atlanta. It was a great show and we met so many nice people! Well as promised, some basic directions for creating some very pretty Easter Eggs for hanging. A bare branch from outside is a nice way to hang them, no need to go looking for that special tree. I was lucky enough to find one that actually had a bird nest in it! Cute addition! I perched a little yellow chick on it.

I found the eggs I'm using at Pier One. These were a good find because they are styrofoam which means

you can poke your wire into the center for hanging. They did not look like they were styrofoam because

there was a hard coating over it. I removed whatever they had at the top to hang it with and there was

a nice opening to stick a wire into! I added glue to the wire to be sure it held. You can probably get plain old white styrofoam eggs and decorate them, I haven't tried that yet.

(1) I used paper from Graphic 45-Once Upon A Springtime paper pad. There are lots of nice papers in this pad for this project.

(2) I used stamps from our Mix and Match Posie Series. For this particular one I used all the same

posy in all four sizes: Pointed Posy X-Large, Large, Medium & Small. Usually I use only the medium, small and extra small and mix and match them.

(3) Stamp and emboss with gold embossing powder.

(4) Add glitter to tips. I used a Quickie Glue Pen and Cupid Micro Fine Glitter from Art Institute which we

offer on our website. This glitter is transparent so it doesn't show to its full potential over the blue paper, but it was the effect I wanted to achieve.

(5) I put a coating of Crystal Lacquer over the Posies, let dry and then put a coating on the backside

before cutting out. This will give a nice gloss and make the Posy more durable.

(6) I cut out along the edges and poked a small hole in the center to put the wire through. I used the wires from Flower Soft that we also offer on our website. They are white and very fine and pliable.