Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Around the House....Shaving Cream

Today I'll be featuring the first in a series of tutorials called "Around the House".  You'll be amazed at how many household items you can use to create wonderful stamped artwork!



It's time to steal your husband's shaving cream.  The best kind of shaving cream for this technique is fragrance-free and CHEAP.  I usually buy a $1 can at the dollar store to use in workshops and I buy "better" shaving cream for the hubby.  However, I think my hubby ran out of his brand and found my stash.  So, I had to "borrow" it for this tutorial....be prepared for some strange looks from the man in your life.



Shaving_cream_materials_3



You'll need to gather the following items:  shaving cream, 1-3 classic ink re-inkers (I used regal rose and rose red), wax paper or a paper plate, small sheets of white cardstock, plastic knife, and paper towels.



Dispense a generous amount of the shaving cream onto wax paper or a paper plate.



Shaving_cream_pile_2Hpim0786  Hpim0789 Shaving_cream_paper                                              Place several drops of the re-inkers randomly over your pile of shaving cream.  Swirl it gently with your knife.  Do not mix completely or your cardstock will not have a swirled effect.



Push your cardstock straight down into the shaving cream.  Lift it up gently, then remove all excess shaving cream.  The little scrapers from Pampered Chef are great for this!  I use paper towels, but it's a little messy.  Allow your paper time to dry.  You can repeat this several times with the same pile of shaving cream.  Each time will produce a completely different look!



You can stamp directly on the shaving cream paper or simply use it as a background piece. 



Hpim0791Here is my completed shaving cream card (click on the image for a closer look).  I stamped "love" from the Wonderful Words stamp set in basic black ink directly on the shaving cream paper.  The hearts are from the Happy Hearts stamp set, and the saying "my heart is with you" is from the Small Sayings stamp set that is featured in the Winter Mini catalog.



I used Whisper White, Basic Black, Regal Rose, and Rose Red cardstock, and the coordinating classic ink pads.  Black gingham ribbon and dimensionals complete the look.



All images copywrite Stampin' UP! 2007



Now it's your turn! Kids love this technique, so why not try it together?  If you make something using this technique, be sure to send me a picture.  I may feature it on this site.



Happy Stampin'



Melissa



                                                      



Sunday, February 11, 2007

I'm Back!!!!!

I know it's been quite awhile since I've posted anything.  It's been a wild month!  Two days before I left for Leadership Conference(January 11-13), I broke my little toe.  I thought, "Wow! What an awful thing to happen.....I can hardly walk and I'm going to be walking through airports and convention centers all week!".  Luckily, the pain was manageable by the time I left (read: I was on a bit of pain medication).



However, that wasn't the worst thing!  The day after we arrived in Houston, my eardrum ruptured.  Now, all of my medical books state that this is not a painful event.  Well, they are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!  It has taken 2 rounds of antibiotics and nearly 4 weeks for me to feel somewhat back to normal.  I definitely have some hearing loss, but it'll be a bit longer for us to know how much of it is permanent.



So, you know how bad things always come in threes?  I've been waiting patiently, not sure that I could handle anything else.  Well, yesterday it happened!  I was making tea and the glass pitcher it was in broke, spilling boiling water everywhere.  It could have been worse, but I burned a nice portion of my belly.  I've injured the top and bottom, so why not hit the middle now?



Now that my third affliction has occurred, I can finally share with you some of the fun things we did at Leadership conference.  We received a nice bag and the stamp set Doodle This at check-in.  The stamp set will be available beginning March 1st and is featured in the Spring 2007 mini catalog which many of you will be receiving in the mail shortly.  We were able to make 4 projects with our new stamp set.  Tiffany and I liked 3 of the projects so much, that we decided to offer a stamp camp to our customers in March so that you can make these adorable projects for yourself.



Photo_wallet Thanks_card Doodle_this_layout The stamp camp is scheduled for Saturday, March 24th.  More details can be found by clicking on My Events.



I'll be sharing a few more project ideas from Leadership with you later this week, so be sure to check in.





On a final note, I am modifying this month's contest.  To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of this message.  Each commenter will receive 1 entry into a drawing to receive the Loves Me designer series paper and Flirty ribbon.  Drawing will be held on February 26th and the winner will be announced here.



Have a fantastic week!



Melissa