Get Your Stamp On!

Get into my head….While many of you who know me best (especially my husband) would find this scary…I really want to share with you more of the strategies of how to get going stamping.  I hear from many of you that you all struggle with getting going when you do have precious time to stamp.  While the reasons can widly vary, here are some tips:

1.  Plan (just a little) and LIMIT

When you have a goal in mind that surly helps!  Do you need a specific type of card?  Do you just want to use a particular set?  Do you have some printed paper you've been hoarding?  (Don't even look at this post like you don't hoard…remember…I know what you've got!  I just don't know what you;ve used 🙂

2. Start by Copying

I think the question people ask me the most is how do I come up with all my ideas, and my favorite answer is that I simply don't!  I always hate when people tell me, "I'm just not that creative"  PHOEY!!  If you can copy, then you can create a masterpiece!

In my last post I showed a card I made…here is the card that inspired it:

It is almost a stamp for stamp copy of a card I saw at a Stampin Up Regional Seminar, and I think they told us it was based on a card in the current catalog (substituting sets/colors)

So, I just loved how it looked, and then I went from there:

Same color scheme, I liked the First Edition printed paper (thank you Stampin Up for sparing that from the discontinued list!!)  I love the Inspired by Nature set (unfortunately, this was not spared, and I believe it belongs in every stamper's collection)  Contact me if you need to order it before it is gone forever (May 31st).  I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the Boho Flower and Punch Pack punches, and added some bling.

3.  Add some embellishments (limit what you have to choose from or you'll go crazy…you all hoard this stuff, too!)  Pick some things that coordinate…

I wanted to use the Distressed Dots Bkgrd (Background stamps are kind of like embellishments, if you think about it).  I wanted to use some pearls, and I certainly wanted to add something cute, like those darn butterflies from the Wonderful Wings Embosslit (another staple of your collection).  A Dena Original…doens't happen too often!

4.  Bring out something you've never tried before (or not for a while)

We all have things we have not used (or forgot we have) or maybe even are not sure where they are (that is my problem, quite often)

That drove me to continue with another card with this color scheme  but with different stamps:

This awesome card uses 3 things I had not pulled out in a while:  Borderlines (A FABULOUS set that Stampin Up is discontinuing…boo hoo)  It was on my first order out of the current catalog, but was stashed in the back of a drawer of stamps and I just ran accross it again…LOVE IT!!  The Blossom Party Die is one I have always loved, but sometimes I forget about it (wrongly) in favor of my favorite die, Fun Flowers!  And, of course, The Word Play Stamp Set, was another one I had not pulled out lately…here is what you get:  Another completely original card!  Yippie!

We will be making this one in my Card Club…wanna join us?  We meet tonight at 5 or 7pm…contact me if you'd like to come!

That brings me to this card and another tip: 

4.  Use the random stuff left from the last card(s) on your desk

…Given what is on my desk I could go on for days and days…I find I am not really successful stamping unless my 8 foot table has only the size of a card's worth of space left to use! 🙂

The final in the series:  I had diecut 4  1/4 Sheets of cardstock in the flower die…so the left over pieces needed to be used…and the Word Play set was obviously still out…. 🙂 Voila, another materpiece (well, another Dena Original, at least!)

Hope these tips have been helpful…please let me know what you think with acomment on this post!