Oriental Trading is an online store that is popular in my home and in the homes of many people who entertain youngsters, due to its crafts and party supplies. This online store offers supplies for art, along with teaching supplies, party supplies, toys and novelties, and much more. I have shopped at OT for things that I needed at my previous job as the prices for almost everything was better than at the dollar store:)
Oriental Trading has supplies organized into many subcategories and these categories are further subdivided to help customers find what they want as quickly as possible. With each category selection, a listing on the left side of the screen lets shoppers know the available subcategories along with the number of items available in each. When one of the subcategories is selected, the customer is then provided the option to narrow down further by price range. I like that Oriental Trading offers an easy to use search function like this. It makes shopping much easier and this is particularly important for a site like Oriental Trading that offers thousands of items for sale. It would become overwhelming if you tried to search without some way to narrow down.
Crafts are the main reason people visit Oriental Trading, but this online store does offer other things, too, including items specific to teaching, holidays, etc. The teaching supplies section even offers subcategories like furniture, carpet, and equipment. But don't get the wrong idea- these subsections are geared toward kids. The "furniture" section, for example, includes things like small plastic chairs and a folding table; a play kitchen; and soft foam- like couches and chairs. I know many teachers who recommend Oriental Trading for online school craft supplies, and that includes these extra categories like the furniture section.
Oriental Trading succeeds as an online shopping experience by offering literally thousands of craft and other items under one web site roof, pretty much guaranteeing that you will find something that suits your needs. It charges shipping on most orders, but the cost of shipping is eliminated if your purchase is large enough. I have found that it is often worthwhile to spend a little extra to avoid the shipping charges. These charges can add significantly to your total bill and this is why it is often economically in your best interest to spend a little more.
OT also has some name brand items for crafting, and usually those prices are the same as other stores. Some of the items are a little less quality, but in my ow experience I have not found them to be less supperior!
It was suggested to put some of this tech talk in one place. This is not a complete list, but will be added to, so if you have some I missed, please list them here. The majority of the expressions you see are not acronyms, but rather shorthand used while text messaging. Also, it is not polite to use all caps as it is considered shouting- but I have often found myself not paying attention and my caps lock was left on and have to appologize many times for that.
A
AFAIK As Far as I Know
AFK Away From Keyboard
AIIC As If I Care
AISI As I See It
AKA Also Known As
ANFAWFOS And Now a Word From Our Sponsor
ASAP As Soon As Possible
ASAFP As Soon As Freakin' Possible
AYF All Your Fault
B
BAIK Boy Am I Confused
BAK Back At Keyboard
BF Boy Friend
BFN Bye For Now
BNF Big Name Fan
BNI Batteries Not Included
BOC But Of Course
BOF Birds of a Feather (Special Interest Group)
BOS Big Orange Switch (Panic Button)
BOT Back on Topic
BRB Be Right Back
BRS Big Red Switch (Panic Button)
BS Bulls*
BSEG Big S* Eating A Grin
BTDT Been There, Done That
BTFT Been There, Fixed That
BTFM Beats the Funk out of Me
BTW By the way
BUGS Bloody User Generated Symptoms
C
C&B Crash & Burn
CATCH Come Again? That Can't Help!
CE Creative Editing
CIAO Goodbye
COTFLGOHAHA Crawling on the Floor Laughing Guts Out and Having a Heart Attack
CSY Can't Stop Yawning
CU Cracking Up
CUL Catch You Later (Goodbye)
CUL8R See You Later
CWYL Chat With You Later
CYA Cover Your Ass
CYA See Ya
D
D&C Duck & Cover
DBA Doing Business As
DBN Doing Business Not
DIAFYO Did I Ask For Your Opinion
DILLIGAFF Do I look Like I give a Flying Figment?
DITUIHIBMSL Did I Tell You I Hate IBMs Lately
DITUILIBMSL Did I Tell You I Love IBMs Lately
DNPM Damn Near P*ed Myself
DUCWIC Do You See What I See?
DUCWIM Do You See What I Mean?
DUHWIH Do You Hear What I Hear?
E
E2EG Ear to Ear Grin
EOD End of Discussion
EOL End of Lecture
ESAD Eat S* And Die
ESAL Eat S* And Live
ETLA Enhanced TLA
F
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
FIGMO Forget It, I've Got My Orders
FIIN F* if I Know
FITB Fill In the Blank
FM Fine Magic
FOAD F* off and Die
FOAF Friend of a Friend
FOAFOAG Father of a Friend of a Girlfriend
FOAG Father of a Girlfriend
FOT Full of Tripe
FRZ Freakin' Religious Zealot
FTASB Faster than a Speeding Bullet
FTL Faster than Light
FUA Frequently Used Acronyms
FUBAR Fouled Up (!) Beyond All Recognition (or Repair)
FUMTU F*ed up More Than Usual
FWIW For what it's worth
FYEO For Your Eyes Only
FYA For Your Action
FYI For Your Information
FYO For Your Opinion
G
GASP Go Away, Silly Person!
GD&R Grinning, Ducking and Running
GD&RVVF Grinning, Ducking and Running Very Very Fast
GF Girl Friend
GGN Gotta Go Now
GIGO Garbage In, Garbage Out
GIWIST Gee I Wish I'd Said That
GMTA Great Minds Think Alike
GOMF Get Outta My Face
GRUIT Get Reay yoU Impudent Thing
GTFOOMF Get the F* Out of My Face
H
HAND Have A Nice Day
HHO1/2K Ha Ha Only Half Kidding
HHOK Ha Ha Only Kidding
HOMPR Hang On, Mobile Phone's Ringing
HTH Hope This Helps
HWS(PEST) Husband Wants Sex (Please Excuse Slow Typing)
I
IAC In Any Case
IAE In Any Event
IANAL I Am Not A Lawyer, also IANA... such as CPA
IANALBIPOOTV I Am Not A Lawyer, But I Play One On TV
IARTPFWTSIOWIM I am Repeating this Parrot fashion without the slightest idea of what it Means
IBC Inadequate But Cute
IBM Inadequate But Marketable
ICUR I See You Are
IDGABTT It Don't Get Any Better Than This
IDGAD I Don't Give a Damn
IDGAS I Don't Give a S*
IDTS I Don't Think So
IIRC If I Remember Correctly
IITYWTMWYBMAD If I Tell You What This Means Will You Buy Me A Drink?
IITYWTMWYKM If I Tell You What This Means, Will You Kiss ME?
ILIWTPCT I Love It When the Plan Comes Together
ILSHIBAMF I Laughed so Hard I Broke All my Furniture
IMBO In My Biased Opinion
IMCO In My Considered Opinion
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
IMNSHO In My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO In My Opinion
IMVHO In My Very Humble Opinion
INPO In No Particular Order
IOW In other words
IRL In Real Life
IUD Insert Usual Disclaimers
J
JK Just Kidding
K
KISS Keep It Simple Stupid
KMA Kiss my A*
KWIM Know What I Mean?
L
L8R Later
LAGNAF Lets All Get Naked and Fool Around
LLTA Lots and Lots of Thunderous Applause
LMFAO Laughing My F* A* Off
LMTTA Leave Me the F* Alone
LOL Laughing Out Loud
LTIP Laughing Til I Puke
M
MCBTY(SN) My Computer is Better than Yours (So Nyerrr)
MFG More Friendly Garbage
MHDC(A) My Hard Drive Crashed (Again)
MMIF My Mouth Is Full
MYOB Mind Your Own Business
N
NAA! Not Another Acronym!
NBD No Big Deal
NERD National Establishment for Real Dorks
NFA No Flaming Allowed
NFW No F*ing Way
NIMBY Not in My Back Yard
NJTH Not Just Thinking Here
NOMS Not on MY System
NRN No Reply Necessary
NTL Nevertheless
NUNP No Users, No Problems
O
OATUS On a Totally Unrelated Subject
OAUS On a Related Subject
OIC Oh, I See
ONNA Oh No, Not Again
ONNTA Oh No, Not This Again
OOSOOM Out of Sight, Out of Mind
OOTC Obligatory On-Topic Comment
OTFM Only the Facts, Mam
OTC Over the Counter
OTOH On the other hand
OTTOMH Off the Top of My Head
OTTOMHAROOB Off the Top of My Head and Rolling Out of Bounds
OTW On the Whole
OWTTE Or Words to that Effect
P
PBKAC Problem Between Keyboard and Chair
PFM Pure Freaking Magic
PITA Pain In The Ass
PMETC Pardon Me, etc.
PMYMHMMFSWGAD Pardon Me, You Must Have Mistaken Me for Someone Who Gives A Damn
POQ P* Off Quickly
POQADCB P* Off Quickly and Don't Come back
POV Point of View
PPP Petty Pet Peeve
PTMM Please Tell Me More
R
ROFFNAR Rolling on the Floor for no Apparent Reason
ROFL Rolling on Floor Laughing
ROFLOL Rolling on the Floor Laughing Out Loud
ROFLMAO Rolling on Floor Laughing My Ass Off
ROFLOLBAG Rolling on the Floor Laughing Out Loud Busting a Gut
ROFPML Rolling on the Floor P*ing Myself Laughing
ROTBA Reality on the Blink Again
RSN Real Soon Now [which may be a long time coming]
RTFI Read the Friendly Instructions
RTFM Read the Freakin' manual!
RTFMA Read the Manual, Sir!
S
SAR Some Assembly Required
SBCN Sitting Behind the Computer, Naked
SHM S* Happens, Mate
SICS Sitting in Chair Snickering
SIIN S* if I Know
SNAFU Situation Normal: All Fouled (!) Up
SITD Still in the dark
SO Significant Other
SOE Silly/Stupid Operator Error
SOL Still Out of Luck (or something thereabouts
SOP Standard Operational Procedure
T
TANJ There Aint No Justice -- Niven
TANSTAAFL There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free lunch
TCB Taking Care of Business
TDMATBICPLY This Doesn't Mean A Thing But It Confuses People Like You
TGAL Think Globally, Act Locally
TIA Thanks In Advance (also AtDhVaAnNkCsE)
TIC Tongue in cheek
TINALO This is Not a Legal Opinion
TINAR This is Not a Recommendation
TINWIS That is Not What I Said
TLA Three Letter Acronym (such as this)
TM Trust Me
TNOTVS There's Nothing on Television, so...
TPS(S) This Program Sucks, (Severely)
TPTB The Powers That Be
TRDMC Tears Running Down My Cheeks
TSOHF Total Sense of Humor Failure
TTBOMK To the Best of My Knowledge
TTFN Ta Ta for Now
TTM To The Moderator
TTYL Talk To You Later
TTYRS Talk To You Real Soon
TUFD The User File Died
V
VETLA Very Enhanced TLA
W
WAB What, Another Bill
WAMKSAM Why are My Kitties (Kids) Staring at Me
WB Welcome Back
WBS Write Back Soon
WDYMBT What do You Mean by That
WIBAMU Well, I'll be a Monkey's Uncle
WMMOWS Wash My Mouth Out with Soap
WTF What the F*?
WTG Way To Go
WTH What the H*?
WYLABOCTGWTR Would You Like a Bowl of Cream to go with That Remark?
WYLASOMWTC Would You Like a Saucer of Milk with that Comment?
WYSIAWYG What You See is Almost What You Get
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get
WYSINWNWYG What You See Is No Where Near What You Get
WYSINWYG What You See Is NOT What You Get
WYPIWYG What You Printed Is What You've Got
WYTYSYDG What You Thought You Saw, You Didn't Get
Y
YAOTM Yet Another Off-Topic Message
YHGASPL You Have Got A Serious Problem, Lad!
YSWUS Yea, Sure Whatever You Say!
YMMV Your Mileage may vary
YSS You Suck Severely
YWSYLS You win some, you lose some
Mary over at http://cardzforu.blogspot.com/ gave me this award. It's an award for bloggers that show great attitude and gratitude and believe me, Mary definitly has both of these qualities, so bounce on over and check out her great cardz!
The rules for this award are:
* comment on this blog*
cut and paste the award logo and use it on your blog*
nominate 5 to 10 blogs that you feel show great attitude and gratitude*
link to your nominees within your blog post*
comment on their blogs to let them know they received the award*
link back to the person who gave you the award to shown your appreciation
The blogs I'm nominating are:
http://www.talentisoptional.com/
http://craftingmad.blogspot.com/
http://rosaswelt.blogspot.com/
http://countrylovincardmaker.blogspot.com/
http://rbwgold.blogspot.com/
I will go back later to make the comments and post my award- My little boy is wanting to help with this entry and it isn't working so well :)
Thanks again Mary!!!!!!!!
Various Tips and Techniques for using a Brayer. This a compilation of tips, some contributed by unknown stampers.
Supply List:
• Brayer
• Raised, dye-based ink pad - the juicier the better!
• Raised, dye-based rainbow pad - the juicier the better!
• Embossing, resist, or Versamark pad
• Any non-word stamp smaller than 2 by 2 inches
• Glossy cardstock, cut into 1/4 or 1/8 sheets (easier to play with than full sheet and a good size for practicing)
• Vellum, cut into 1/4 or 1/8 sheets (same reason as above)
• Matte cardstock, cut into smaller sheets
• Scratch paper covering your work surface. You will be rolling an inked brayer over and beyond the surface of your card.
• Plastic wrap (Saran wrap), string, dental floss, rubber bands
• Little spray-bottle of water
• Liquid Appliqué or Puffy Paint
• Heat tool
• Scissors
Tip 1:
Stripes: using markers, make stripes on your brayer (this works best if you lie it on its back and turn the roller while holding the marker) all the way around until the beginning and ending stripe meet. Roll brayer across your paper in whatever direction you desire.
Tip 2:
Squiggles (technical term): Repeat the same process as for Stripes but make wavy lines instead of straight ones.
Tip 3:
Confetti/Dots/Raindrops: Randomly make marks on your brayer with your marker (you can use different colors) all over the entire roller. Then roll away.
Tip 4:
Plaids: Same as with the markers for Stripes except turn your paper 90 degrees and roll again.
Tip 5:
Plaids: You could also outline the stripes for your plaids with the smaller tip of your marker to make the plaid/stripes stand out more.
Tip 6:
Rainbow backgrounds. This works great for those scenery/landscape cards. You need a rainbow pad (Kaleidecolor, Paintbox, Ranger) for this. Ink up the brayer and then roll it across your cardstock. In order to smooth and blend the colors, roll several times; shift your brayer slightly to the right or left with each roll. Try this on matte, glossy, and vellum papers.
Tip 7:
Weave: Do technique #6. Cut your paper into strips. You can cut it so there is a rainbow on each strip or so that each strip is one solid color. Now, weave the strips together.
Tip 8:
Plaids: Same as the background in Tip 6, but after you’ve completely covered your paper with the rainbow pad, turn it 90 degrees and cover it again.
Tip 9:
Reverse/mirror Image: Ink or marker a stamp, and roll the brayer over the image to transfer the ink from your stamp to the brayer. Then roll over your paper. Your image will then appear backwards. This is great for almost anything except letters! Your brayered image will be lighter than if you had stamped it directly, so if you want to stamp the original and the reverse image next to each other and have them be the same intensity, stamp your original image on scratch paper once before stamping onto your card.
Tip 10:
Kissing: You need a background stamp and a solid stamp for this. Ink up your brayer. Lay the background stamp flat on its back and brayer over it to put ink onto it. Take a smaller solid stamp and stamp onto the background, transferring the ink to the smaller stamp. Finally, stamp the small stamp onto your paper!
Tip 11:
Ghosting: Stamp an image on your card (say the Snowflake from the Snowflake set) several times in clear embossing ink. (DO NOT EMBOSS) Then brayer over your invisible images with regular dye pad and your snowflakes will start to appear. Similar to resist (see below).
Tip 12:
Resist: Works best with glossy paper, you will need to choose your resist medium, ink, wax or other. Color on the glossy card stock with the pens or items below and then brayer over the top with dye-based ink. The pattern that you drew or colored will not let the brayered ink to absorb through the card stock therefore comes the resist . (this category could actually count for about 10 different ways to love your brayer as you are only limited by your imagination on what you choose as your resist medium)
Tip 13:
Others to try: oil colored pencils (work best with regular matte finished papers); crayons; wax paper; metallic pens; ink; resist ink; emboss ink (try the emboss pens to write a hidden message); rubber cement; masking fluid; white out/correction pen; Gel pens; wax resist sticks; Deka paint (for fabric - much harder to do).
Tip 14:
Another Resist able technique: crumple a piece of wax paper; iron (on hottest setting/no steam) wax paper onto white card stock (be sure to use an additional sheet of card stock between the wax paper and iron); press for only 2-3 seconds - this will transfer the wax to both sheets of card stock (if you iron too long the wax will be absorbed into the paper) Ink your brayer and then brayer over card stock. The brayer will resist laying color where the was paper has left its design (makes a great background paper)
Tip 15:
Another variation to the above is to use a stylus tool and with the wax paper on the card stock use the tip of your stylus to write your own message or draw your own design - brayer over to reveal your design or message.
Tip 16:
Use your brayer for those big or detailed background stamps to get the ink evenly distributed all over the stamp.
Tip 17:
Ink up a background stamp and get out a clean, uninked brayer. Set your paper gently onto the background stamp (lying on its back, inked), then roll your brayer out over the paper. This is great for getting even coverage of detailed or large stamps.
Tip 18:
You could also use the same technique as above for those bigger solid images that you want to emboss. Brayer over the image with the emboss pad for an even/smooth finish.
Tip 19:
Put a piece of cheesecloth down and brayer over the cheesecloth for a different effect.
Tip 20:
Try the same as above with lace doilies. Cover the doily with ink while it’s on scratch paper. Then flip it over onto your card and use the brayer to transfer the ink from the doily to the paper. Also try with lace and with bubble wrap.
Tip 21:
Flat surfaces you wouldn’t expect� Use your brayer and a rainbow pad to ink up the bottom of a rubber-soled shoe (Birkenstocks have a wonderful pattern on the bottom!) Then stamp with your shoe.
Tip 22:
Do with those cool rubber mats that Suze Weinberg sells.
Tip 23:
Brayer over a leaf (two ways to do this: place card stock over leaf or other nature finds and bring out the textured surfaces below; or use the reverse/mirror image technique to pick up the pattern of your nature find.)
Tip 24:
Joseph's Coat: Brayer with a KC pad and cover the entire area of your card (glossy works best). Emboss your image with clear embossing powder/ink on top of the area colored (this technique works best with the more solid image stamps like the tent from Roughin It or the Kids Prints). Then ink your brayer with Black or Navy (the darker the better) and cover the entire card again with this new color. Let the overcoat of ink dry, then buff the card with a paper towel to remove excess ink. What happens is that your KC color will then shine through. Just think of a great landscape card with stars in the sky and trees) WOW!!
Tip 25:
Ink up your brayer with embossing ink and roll over the entire card then emboss with clear powder
Tip 26:
Brayer an intense/brilliant color on glossy card stock then use a speckled background stamp and clear emboss ink, stamp then emboss with Rainbow Razzle or other multi colored emboss powder. When you heat it will bring out the beautiful play in colors.
Tip 27:
Watercolor brayer: Ink your brayer with a rainbow pad or markers, then spritz with a water bottle, then roll out for a very pretty watercolor look.
Tip 28:
Brayer with a rainbow pad or one color, then use a background stamp of a slightly darker color over the top. Adds interest to your background.
Tip 29:
Brayers and bleach. Wrap string, dental floss, or yarn on your brayer. Put a little bit of bleach on a paper towel and use that as an inkpad. Ink your brayer with bleach (be sure to start with a clean brayer). Now, roll onto dark cardstock. You can make interesting lines and streaks. I saw a cool Christmas card with dental floss and bleach on forest green cardstock as the base layer. It made thin bleached lines on the base layer, then the next layer was a light green cardstock with a dark image of a spindly pine bough� very cool!
Tip 30:
If you want to extend your ink a little farther, spritz water into the air, and then move your brayer through the wet air.
Tip 31:
Brayer onto vellum. Allow some drying time. Ink up a background stamp with embossing ink, stamp it onto the same side as your brayered ink, and then emboss with white.
Tip 32:
Brayer onto vellum. Flip vellum over, then emboss white on the other side for a softer look. This looks great with a pastel rainbow pad on one side & white embossing on the other side.
Tip 33: Lyra pencils - especially the new metallics & neons - resist WONDERFULLY. Stamp an image lightly in black, color it with Lyra metallics, then brayer over the whole area with black. Gently wipe with tissue to uncover the Lyra.
Tips for LUCITE/ACRYLIC Brayer
Tip 1:
An acrylic brayer covers differently than a rubber brayer. Before moving on to some of the techniques below, try brayering on plain & glossy paper and compare the look to the look of a rubber brayer. I find rubber covers more evenly.
Tip 2:
Put rubber bands around your brayer for unique background. Ink the brayer and the rubberbands really well, then roll out. It looks like seaweed or spaghetti. Also try with string or yarn.
Tip 3:
After doing the tip above, cut away the rubberbands. You will still have some ink on your brayer where the bands were not. Creates a reverse pattern from the tip above. This works especially well with a rubber brayer.
Tip 4:
Wrap saran wrap around your brayer for another unique background.
Tip 5:
Try fabric netting or the netting from bags of oranges or marbles as above.
Tip 6:
Also use Crochet yarn.
Tip 7:
Use your acrylic brayer to roll out paperclay
Tip 8:
Use your acrylic brayer to make sharp creases in your card stock.
Tip 9:
Crinkle up a piece of Mulberry paper, ink up your brayer with the new Encore pads and give your Mulberry paper that gilded look.
Tip 10:
Faux Suede - squeeze brown liquid appliqué on wax paper or aluminum foil. Roll the brayer until it is coated and smooth. Roll an even coat of the liquid appliqué on your paper or a cut out image (try the gingerbread man die cut) then heat with a heat tool. This will give you a nice suede feel. Clean your brayer IMMEDIATELY! After you’ve made faux suede, you can cut it, tear it for a feathery edge, and stamp onto it. Embossing doesn’t work, as the powder will stick all over the suede
Tip 11:
Plop (another technical term) several colors of liquid appliqué or puffy paint next to each other on your wax paper, and mix only slightly with the brayer as you roll the appliqué onto the brayer. As you smooth it out on your paper, it will show variations in color. Puff it up into faux suede.
Tip 12:
Use your acrylic brayer with pigment ink on glossy (takes a little while to dry) don't roll use a quick sliding motion to brush the inked brayer across the card stock, wiggle if you want (the brayer silly!) You can make some awesome plaids or sunbursts.
Tip 13:
Try the same technique above but tap the brayer around in different areas for an all over color burst.
Tips for FOAM Brayer
Tip 1:
Use your foam brayer for an all over airbrush effect.
Tip 2:
Use your foam brayer with your stencils.
Tip 3:
Use with the KC pads for rainbow effect.
Tip 4:
Use your foam brayer with markers for an interesting look. I've heard that you can make some great tortoise shell, leopard or gemstone looks on glossy card stock.
Tip 5:
You can also use the spritz technique with the foam brayer for a watercolor effect.
Tip 6:
Use your brayer to roll two layers of a card that you’ve just glued so that they lay flat against each other.
More techniques for stamping--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bleaching - You can use bleach on colored paper for a washed out look, or you can stamp with bleach. Just use a mixture of water and bleach, and play with it a little. Make sure to have a well ventilated area.
Chalking / Chalk - You can use chalk for anything, wet or dry, shading or coloring. Play and have fun with it. I just use chalk from the dollar store, I don't buy the fancy expensive kind at the craft stores. Chalks can be applied wet as well as dry. To use chalks wet, simply dip a paint brush or cotton bud in water and rub this over the dry chalk. The color is more intense than when the chalk is applied dry. The water will not hurt the chalks although the water might leave a slight mark on the chalk.
Designer Paper - Some stamps and inks are all that is required to turn a plain sheet of paper into an attractive and unique paper sheet. This can be used as special stationery, in handmade card making projects, as invitations or used in a wide variety of other projects. Many different effects can be achieved - stamp the paper in a single colored ink for an elegant monochromic finish or stamp with different colors allowing the images to overlap and blend. Large flowers and swirls are very popular at the moment and are well suited to all over designs.
Dry Embossing - This is when you use a light table, stylus tool, and a template. You place your template on the light table, then your cardstock, then using your stylus tool, you trace out the pattern on your template.
Heat Embossing - Take your stamp and stamp it with embossing ink. Then stamp your cardstock, then cover your stamped image with embossing powder. Tap of excess powder, then using a heat or embossing gun blow dry your image. The powder will melt and create a raised image. Beautiful!
Kiss stamping - a basic technique that a lot of haven't thought of trying or just haven't had the right stamps to inspire us to try it. You simply need bold stamps and background stamps. Instead of simply using markers or ink pads to ink an image, you use a background stamp to apply your ink to the bold image. You can also ink your bold image with an ink pad and then use uninked background stamp to remove ink, or a background stamp inked with another color to apply a different color of ink.
Flocking - Use flock with glue to quickly add some texture to rubber stamping project. The flocking powder creates a velvet or fuzzy surface.
Layering - Many rubber stamp designs are great for layering. Different sections of the stamped image can be cut out and reassembled to add depth to a rubber stamping project.
Bubble Wrap - Stamping needn't be an expensive craft. Many different items can be used to give a stamped impression and bubble wrap gives an interesting result that is great for all over designs. Using unusual and discarded materials also makes this a great 'green' technique. A cassette tape box was used rather than a stamping block in the photographs to demonstrate that it is possible to stamp with just about anything!
Marker Pens - Available in a wide range of colors and their vibrant hues bring depth to a variety of projects. Marker pens can be used to add just a touch of detail to a project or to color in an entire design. Outline stamps produce great images for coloring and a range of different effects can be achieved by changing colors. Marker pens are ideal for projects where deep and more dense shades are required - decorating chalks give more subtle and muted colors.
Templates/Masking - This is a very simple technique that can be adapted in a variety of ways. By stamping repeatedly over a piece of paper a block of color can be created. This technique can be taken one step further to produce bold shapes and patterns by using a mask. Use one of our shape templates from the template library or use a shape of your own to produce an interesting design for a card. Bold shapes work the best as fine or intricate shapes can get lost when stamped over. Clip art shapes would also work well.
I decided to write up a review on the Crafters Ultimate Cutting Toolkit and pull some info from other sites as to not be biased. Please comment under this thread your personal experiences. This is in no way supposed to be the "right" way, it's just my own opinion and views.
Crafters Ultimate Cutting Toolkit
It’s the ultimate! This fantastic toolkit contains: • 17”x14” magnetic cutting mat—yes, it’s magnetic!• 8 magnetic posts to hold your project in place while cutting• 18” magnetic ruler• Craft knife with 5 refill blades • Rotary cutter with 2 refill blades and a scoring blade• Circle cutter (precise circles from 1/2” to 6”) with 5 refill blades
Rating on PW is 5 stars, staing that it came with all of the tools they needed to start out.
Avg customer rating on others sites is around 2.5-3 stars. Comments varied stating that the product was difficult to use, and only a handful saying they loved it.
My personal opinion is that there may be better tools to get. I have most of the tools in this set and do not use them. The mat looks good and that may be the best thing about this. I hope others can bring their opinion on this, I have not used it personally.
This isn't really any specific topic, but I just saw the funniest thing on this website, and what a great idea: http://www.cosmocricket.com/
On the left (bottom on most pages) is a button that says "Dear Hubby Panic button." I pushed it and it's great! I may put one of those tools on my blog. Lovein' it!
I am already getting my days mixed up-- oh well, back on track.
Todays challenge will be to create something for your man. For inspiration, check out Paperwishes webisode here or take a look at this card here and make your variation of it. There are also others HERE. Add your name to Mr.Linky so we can all see. You can also add a pic to the messageboard.
I will post an example later today.
Here is a rundown of the basic types of ink pads and their best uses, plus tips for selecting the perfect ink type for your needs.
DYE INK
This type of ink dries quickly on all types of paper, and most dye inks are great for children as they are non-toxic and washable. With the exception of archival dye ink pads, dye inks are not permanent and will fade over time. Use dye ink with detailed stamps or for stamping on glossy paper or vellum. Don't use dyes inks for embossing, as it dries too quickly, and don't use non-permanent dye ink with markers and watercolors, as this may cause smearing.
PIGMENT INK
Pigment ink is thicker than dye ink, and it's slow-drying, which makes it great for embossing. Pigment ink colors are vivid and fade-resistant, and many are made especially for stamping on surfaces like wood, fabric or glass. Use pigment ink for embossing and for richer color. Most pigment inks won't dry on glossy paper or vellum unless you emboss them.
PERMANENT INK
This ink is opaque and quick drying, and it works great on slick surfaces like plastic and glossy paper. It's also great for home decor stamping, including surfaces like walls, glass and furniture. Permanent ink will stain clothing and is not available in as many colors as other inks.
EMBOSSING INK
Specifically designed for embossing, this ink is often lightly-colored and very slow drying. Embossing ink is available in ink pads and ink pens. Although not as versatile as other inks, this ink is most ideal for embossing.
Monday –How To-Tips and Tricks
On Mondays I will be posting tips and tricks. I will keep my eye out for things being mentioned on the message boards and see if I can post them here. If you have any questions, please ask them and I will try to post the answers here.
Tuesday—New Technique Tuesday
Tuesdays I will be trying something new that I have not tried or want to try again. Please let me know if you want to try a new one with me or have a special request.
Wednesday—Tutorial Wednesday/ Video
On Wednesdays I will post tutorials and once I get my videos going, I will post them this day.
Thursday—Challenge
Want to join in a challenge? I will be posting challenges here. The challenges are meant for all levels -this is just a place to see what we can all do and practice what we learn. It is open to all crafts and not just cards. I will be focusing on the Paperwishes webisodes on this day and trying to do their projects, but since I do not own everything on the site (yet) and I’m sure no one else does, I may dig into the archives.
Friday—Store Reviews
On Fridays I will be adding reviews that people have had on different stores they have used, either online, or elsewhere. Please help me out and let me know of any experiences you have had or let me know if you have had great (or not so great) service with anyone.
Saturday—Product Review
I will be reviewing different products on Saturdays. Since most of my tools and accessories I get are from Paperwishes, that’s what I will be mainly focusing on. Again, if you have a request, let me know
Things You'll Need:
· Scrapbook paper
· Craft punches
· Aluminum foil
· Wax paper
· Find sand paper
· Damp cloth
1. Clean the punch with a damp cloth or mild cleaning solution.
2. Take a piece of aluminum foil and punch your craft punch through it several times in order to sharpen the edges. Then try the punch on a thicker paper like cardstock to see if it cuts more easily.
3. If step 2 doesn’t do the trick you can gently sand the edges of your punch with fine sand paper on each side to make them sharper.
4. Punch your craft punch through a piece of wax paper several times to lubricate the punch and clean off any adhesive residue.
Tips & Warnings
Some of these tips were retrieved on the Paperwishes message board – Thank you for sharing! Please add more tips in comments if you have them :-)
Look at your blade - you will see that a cross section of the blade will show a vertical face and a face slanted at about 30 degrees.
You need to use a sharpening tool, such as a honing stone or other sharpening tool along the 30 degree face to clean up the edge which does the actual cutting.
There are scissor sharpening tools which have the exact shape you need for this type of blade. Any decent arts and crafts store should have sharpening tools for this type of device.
These blades can also be removed and sharpened with a belt sander- please be careful and also make sure to not strip the screws when you take it out :-)
1. Fill a container that is deep enough to fit the craft scissors with warm soapy water.
2. Hold the scissor blades in the water. Open and close the scissors to make sure all parts are wet, for about 10 seconds. This will remove any glue, paper bits, yarn threads or glitter on the craft scissors.
3. Remove the scissor blades and shake off the excess water. Rinse off the blades with clean water from the tap. Dry off the blades with the paper towel until they are completely dry.
4. Hold the scissors in one hand and open the blades.
5. Pick up the piece of tin foil and fold it over one of the scissor blades. Rub the blade gently but firmly with the tin foil, making sure to give every surface some attention. continue for about 20-30 seconds.
6. Repeat on the other blade.
7. Take a dry piece of paper towel and wipe off any excess dust that may have been created.
8. You scissors are sharp and you can continue to craft!
This is in no way the only way to get things straight, but it works for me. I have two or three cutters that I use for different things. I find that my small guillotine cutter works the best to get things cut straight and even. 
When I start out with a 12X12 piece of paper, I cut one side of the card on my large cutter so that I can make all my mats and other cuts on the small one. I just make sure that the edges are lined up on the lines and push just slightly to the inside on the handle as I make the cut. This way I ensure that everything is cut the same way and comes out straight. I have many, many cutters and this method works the best for me as the cutter is small enough to handle, and it has the protector plate that can be pressed to help keep the paper in place. I also do not use my crafting knife and scissors too often unless I have smaller cuts that demand it. I have very clumsy hands that cann't make a straight line cut, even with a ruler and knife.
When placing embelishments on my paper, I have learned to mark everything first with a pencil. I do not measure every little thing I place, but I do have a Martha Stewart mat that makes it easy to just put my card on top of and make the marks next to the lines. I really didn't think I would use this as much as I do. I got it mainly so I could cut on my table, but have since found that the marks are great for quick measurement on just about everything- I use it to measure ribbon, card lengths and widths, mats sizes, and embelli placement. Another thing that I will often do is use my small hole punch to make a place for the embellishments to rest instead of rolling around while the glue dries. I use the small 1/16th punch for this. My punch is like the above, but green because I got it at Walmart :)
