It has arrived

My Stampin Up start up kit has arrived. I should have taken a photo of everything, but was so excited and so exhausted when I went through it that it just never entered my mind to do that. It is all a learning experience.

I was able to mix and match to a certain degree the stamps that would be in my kit, the inks, and some of the paper and such. I am well pleased with my choice of stamps, feeling that those sets will be used often. I tried to think ahead to what I would be doing with the stamps. I am so new to all of this that I was really not even sure what I would be stamping or how I would use them. I now know however that I made a few really stupid choices in the ink department. What was I thinking to not have at least one of the ink pads be black? And what on earth I thought I would do with Pixie Pink on the rolling wheel stamp? I am anything but a pink person, and my wheel design is called cheers, the bar variety, not at all pink. Oh well, live and learn. I can however see getting a different design wheel and using the pink for something with a baby girl theme.

So here is the saga of my mini journey last night as I started seeing and working with some of what I got in the kit.

I started with the set I wanted to use the most. But, before I could start, I gathered up some supplies to use. The sketchbook: I purchased this inexpensive spiral bound sketchbook at Walmart. I stamp an image of each of my stamps on a page, keeping sets together. I then write a little bit about the stamp, what color ink, and the date. It is very helpful to me, mainly because it is a true image of what the stamped result will look like. Especially when it comes to size. Stamp set: This stamp set is part of my start up kit as I said, so is from Stampin Up and is called From the Kitchen. Mainly meant for making recipe cards. Now, I don't particularly want to take the time to mass produce blank cards to fill in, but for a special request, a new bride, or something similar, this is the way to go to make it a little more special. Card stock: for this project I bought a package of blank 3 x 5 index cards from the dollar store. They are glossy on one side and not so much so on the other side. I stamped the glossy side. I was especially pleased to find that the stamp just fit the index card. I might even get some blank index cards that are a size larger. With the extra size, I could use the "from the kitchen of" stamp and the "Yum Factor" as well. The Yum factor design has 5 stars and you can fill in the amount of stars according to how well you like the dish.

I found out rather quickly, as in with the first attempt, that the normal stamping technique would not work. Trying to center that large stamp on top of the index card was just frustrating. First it would be crooked as in the photo, then it would all to one edge, loosing part of the image, or a double exposure effect when moving the stamp produced a second image, or parts of.

So, I put my thinking cap on a came up with an upside down style. I am sure every one has done this and is not anything new.
As you see in the photo, I inked the stamp, placed it design side up, positioned an index card on top, then pressed down using the package of index cards. I found that the package of invitations that came with my start up kits works a bit better for this purpose. The interesting thing about doing this is that the plastic wrap around the invitations or cards is a bit charged and the index card clings to the package which helped prevent the double stamp effect. Then it was just assembly line style production of the blank recipe cards.
In no time at all I had a small set of the cards as a result. There is a stamp for each type of recipe as well. For example, meats, desserts, breads and such. I think it may be nice to make a set of these cards for a whole meal, then put the cards in a decorative little container or box and give that to a new bride with some cookware. On occasion I take casseroles to various places, like a funeral, some one having surgery, a new birth, or such and this would be a nice way to leave the directions for heating. Beats that piece of masking tape that tells how long at what temp, that is if the tape stays adhered to the dish. If I can get myself organized, there will be a card printed out for each dish in the freezer and then one of the kids or hubby can just pull it out and heat on the those hectic days they need to eat before I can get home from work. That is the goal anyway, is also what led to my scrapbooking/stamping new adventure. I had a lot of fun with this set of stamps, and actually just barely touched the tip of the iceberg with it.

Now, it would have really been nice if some one had told me that these stamps come unmounted. The smaller sets it just wasn't an issue, the details are larger and there are fewer stamps.
But for the larger sets, all those pieces,it was a real chore. Especially for the sets like this one, "Define Your Life", the print is small and reading it backwards no less as you are looking at the reverse image, it was truly frustrating at times. Almost so much to the point as vowing to myself never to buy anything like this again. This is where the journal comes in handy, I can read the stamped image in the journal instead of struggling to see if there even is a stamp with the feeling I am wanting to relay to the recipient.

To get the stamp ready for use, you take one of the die cut stamps, remove it from the sheet, it really is quite easy as it just pretty much pops out. Then peel the paper off the foam backing and then stick the stamp to a piece of wood. I really would strongly recommend that you kind of go over the sizes of stamps and the sizes of the wood blocks before mounting. There are clear stickers that show the stamp's design or letter or such to stick over an end of the wood part to identify the stamp. There is also a sticker to put on the box that shows the name and item number of the stamp set as well.

Then it is all done and you are ready to stamp.

I thought I would show you a couple of pages from my journal as well so you could see how that looks.
I know that for me, it really does help to have a record of the image. It is easier than reading the small print to see what the text is saying, I can see how the image will look printed out as well. This helps with determining proper left to right alignment and in the case of the alphabet I got it shows that the letter does not stamp solid. Not a problem as it it just part of the design, but interesting to note in case I am going for a certain style look in the end.

Next, I am going to attempt to make some cards. I had not intended to this way, but have had a very close family friend pass away this past week and another dear friend is in her last days. Both were awesome women to know and touched my life greatly.

I welcome any comments you care to share about my post.