See Ya Later, Alligator

When your daughter asks if you can make a card for her bestie featuring an alligator, you say, "OF course!"  Aaaaand then you create one for her with LOTS of alligators!

This was super fun to make...even with the monotony of the masking.  I stamped to gator on a separate piece of CS and cut him out carefully along his outline.  Then I started by stamping the very front gator.  The rest were stamped after carefully masking the over lapping image with this cut-out.  You have to work your way carefully from front to back--and I could have done more layering of the crowd by cutting out more alligators to mask, but I honestly did it at the last minute so had to manage my time.

I only planned on coloring in the little guy next to the word bubble, so I knew it wouldn't take long after that...

The cute little reptile image is found on a retired set from CTMH, and the sentiment is found in the current Short and Sweet My Acrylix.  I stamped him in Memento Ink, colored him in with my Tender Pink, Vivid Green, and Leaf Green ShinHan Alcohol Ink Markers, and matted it on a piece of Willow CS.  Simple, and fun!

September Stamp of the Month

From the Heart Card Kit

Life In Pictures Stamp Masking Technique

Hey there, stampers!  I have a quick little technique that I used in a layout last weekend.  It is SUPER-easy to use, so I wanted to share it with you.

This is a masking technique that uses a sticky note to do the "dirty work" for you.  Check it out...

I wanted to add the polaroid camera image from this month's CTMH Stamp of the Month to the center of this frame...but I didn't want it to extend past the inner rectangle.  I just placed a sticky note up to the line...

...stamped the image...

...and removed the note!

I TOLD you it was easy as pie!  I like to keep it simple, trust me!  Hope this was a tip you can use in your stamping too.  Have a fantastic weekend!

Just a couple more days to scoop up this sweet Stamp of the Month on my website, so be sure to check it out!

That's not ALL that's going away soon, either!  The Seasonal Expressions 1 Idea Book will be history in just TWO days!  Here are the only items sticking around a little longer...

Z3208 Everyday Life™ Album Black
Z3210 My Crush® Everyday Life Pages
Z3211 Everyday Life™ Washi Tape
Z3212 Everyday Life™ Perfect Plan Roller Stamp
Z3192 Memory Protectors™ 4" x 6"
Z3191 Memory Protectors™ 4" x 3"
Z3193 Picture My Life™ Overlay White
Z3196 Base & Bling Necklace Cards
Z3197 Black & Gold Ribbon
Z3189 White & Gold Ribbon

The rest will no longer be available...and I am sad to say the Charlotte papers are the first to disappear.  If you really want anything, get it before it's gone!  ;)

Kiss It Better (coordinates with Cricut Artistry)

Playful Puffies

My Anchor

My Anchor Thin Cuts

Woodland Romance (coordinates with Cricut Artistry Collection)

Stuck On You

 

Stuck On You Thin Cuts

Masking Meets Mojo 301

Hi everyone!  I have been playing with some new CTMH supplies this week and giving a few sneak peeks at the Autum/Winter products from Close to My Heart.  Are you ready to see some more?  Super!  :)

Today I am linking up to the Masking July Challenge at Heart 2 Heart Challenges and the Mojo Monday 301 sketch.  I used the brand spanking new C1559 Always Grateful My Acrylix set that will be available starting August 1st on my website! 

Here is the Mojo sketch (which I turned on it's side.)

I usually follow a sketch pretty much to the "T."  I must have been in an ornery mood yesterday though, because I translated the two parallel rectangles in a bit of a different layout because, quite frankly,  I just didn't want them staggered. That is the beauty of a sketch, though, and Mojo Monday always has fantastic sketches!  :)

I used the Love Doily My Acrylix for the beautiful Ruby colored rounded shape.  See that button bling?  It is from the soon to be released Rosewood Mini-Medley Accents from CTMH.  I adore the hint of rose in the metals and bling in this set!  

This sentiment box that I matted with our super-sparkly Black Glitter Paper is where my masking technique comes into play.  The words "always thankful" don't look like this without a bit of manipulating.  Let me show you how I did it.  

First, I stamped this image from the Buzz and Bumble Scrapbook WOTG (retired) onto White Daisy CS.

Next, I carefully cut out the "YOU are my HAPPY" sentiment.

I placed that cut-out sentiment on the CS I want to use for my card, lined up the words from the image, and stamped it right on top.  You can only do this with clear acrylic stamps and that is one reason why I LOVE Close to My Heart's!

It didn't come out totally clean since the words were so close to the skinny lines, so I decided to try it a second way.

For this second masking technique, I placed the paper ONTO the stamp itself before inking.

Then I inked it all up carefully, removed the CS mask, and stamped again.  This time it was a clearer image, and I had just a tiny dot of black to fill in.  :)

Finally, I used the "always grateful" sentiment to go in the middle of that image.  Here it is on the carrier sheet. 

You can see it is all in one line on the actual stamp.  I wanted it to fill the space on the image I had already stamped, so I used another masking technique.  This one is super easy.  I simply inked up one word at a time to stamp.  You must be careful to remove all the ink from the stamp in between for this method.  ;)

Sometimes, you can even accidentally try masking like I did with this foam square backing!  LOL!!!  This happens to me all the time when I don't clean up in between projects! 

Have you ever tried masking?  Why not give it a shot?  There are a lot of examples of great masking techniques over at H2H right now, so have a look and give it a try!  You have all month to link your project up with us over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges.  You could win Top Chick for participating!  :)