Snapping Monsters Stamps: The Release of My First Stamp Set

Update!  My first stamp set has sold out of my Etsy shop,  but feel free to contact me to see if I have any sets left. My email address is: friend_of_ben@yahoo.com.   It is with MUCHO excitement that I announce the release of my first ever stamp set, which is being sold in my Etsy store.  Here's a project I made with my stamp set:

I drew this stamp set and had it produced because it's something I always wanted to try.  I'm not a big corporation or store owner or anything; just a somewhat nerdy crafty girl who had a blast putting this all together.

Stamp Set Size and Description

• This stamp set is ginormous: 8" x 12".  The girl with the crown is 5.5" tall and the girl with the polka dot dress is 6" tall.
• These are clear photopolymer stamps produced with high quality material here in the USA.
• There are over 20 fun objects/accessories.
• There are 2 complete girls, 1 extra head and 2 extra outfits (all totally interchangeable).
• There are 5 clever sentiments and over 30 words with boxes that you can combine any way you choose. *Note: you cut the words apart, so the words at the bottom of the set are in no particular order.

Here's a picture of the stamp set's images and sentiments:

And here's the set itself all mint and new and un-stamped with:

Cool Things About This Stamp Set
Being an avid stamper myself, I wanted this stamp set to be all about the versatility with both images and words.

• Using your fussy-cutting skills, these stamps are almost like paper dolls where you can mix and match the girls and their outfits in any way you choose.  Every dress and every accessory fits each girl for a lot of possibilities. 
• I absolutely adore words, so I put together the most useful set of single words I could think of and you can combine them into over 100 different combo's.  In the stamp set, I include a list of the words/sentiments you can create such as, Kitchen Ninja, Clever Girl and Happy Cake Day.
• To box or not to box?  I love making boxes around words, such as in the tag above.  But not everyone likes boxy words.  I made a series of boxes that you can stamp over the words if you'd like, or you can just string the words together and stamp them out "normal" and box-free. 
• I included two "fill in the blank" sentiments so that they could be personalized for your projects.  The first is, "You are the best __________________ in the history of ever."  The second is, "I heart _______________."  These have been so handy for me as I've made cards for all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons!
• These are clear stamps, so it's easy to place objects in the girls' hands or arrange things just right because you can see through the stamp to where it's stamping.  Now I can see some of you cringing when I say, "clear stamps."  Believe me, I know!  I've had those cheap clear stamps that stretch like taffy or tear when you try to pull them off the backing sheet.  And it's my pet peeve when I go to stamp with a clear stamp and the image is grainy or pebbly or fuzzy because the ink beads up on the stamp.  After a lot of research, I found a clear stamp company here in the United States that is TOP NOTCH.  The clear stamps produce crisp clean images.  I used the same company that makes clear stamps for Papertrey Ink and many other stamp companies known for quality products.

Price and Where to Buy
As I said earlier, I'm just one person and not a big fancy company.  I had these made on my own and they are sold exclusively through my Etsy shop, which is also titled, Snapping Monsters.  

The cost of the set is $30.

This whole endeavor has been an awesome adventure and I'll look forward to posting more projects using my stamps.  Happy stamping and thanks to all of you who support me and my crafty musings.

Tutorials: Stamping on Bingo Cards

Welcome to another fabulous challenge week over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog!  This week's theme is, "Gentlemen."  My cards were inspired by my sweetheart husband and his stint as a Bingo Caller at an assisted living facility (which he loved)!

So how does one go about stamping images onto Bingo cards?  Start with Bingo cards.  I picked these up at a local thrift shop, then I painted on a couple of coats of white Gesso.

Using Ranger Jet Black Archival ink, I waited for the Gesso to dry, then stamped on my images.  The woman is from Dina Wakley's Positive Women stamp set.

I colored in my image by using sponges and Distress Ink in various shades.

I added some embellishments (polka dots cut out of Washi tape, a sentiment tag from Jillibean Soup, striped Washi tape, a stamped  bird, and a Tim Holtz bingo piece that I painted with Dina Wakley acrylic paint).

  
I had so much fun making one card, that I made another using this great new stamp set from Concord & 9th called, "Let's Chat."

  
Here are the supplies I used on my Bingo cards which you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Dina Wakley Positive Women Stamp Set	Concord & 9th Let′s Chat stamp set	Dylusions Birds on a Wire Stamp Set	Jillibean Soup Everyday Notebook Tags	Tim Holtz Idea-ology 90 GAME PIECES Bingo	Prima White Heavy Gesso	Fiskars Acrylic Blocks
Doodlebug Christmas Candy Stripe Washi	Doodlebug Deck The Halls Washi Tape	Black Sharpie Fine Point Pen	Mixed Media Sponges Bars	Mustard Seed - Distress Ink	Worn Lipstick Distress Ink Pad	Picked Raspberry - Distress Ink
Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	Memento Ink Espresso Truffle

So how will you be inspired by our Gentlemen theme this week?  Upload your projects to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog to inspire us and for your shot at winning a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store!

   

 

My Cards and Tags: Reverse Confetti Sketch #30, Bring on the Christmas

I was feeling sketchy today (ha, ha), so I decided to play along with Reverse Confetti's November Sketch For You to Try.  I only recently discovered Reverse Confetti, but it was easy to become an instant fan.

Here's the card I came up with using their supplies:

I used two Reverse Confetti garland dies on this: the Double Scallop Garland and the Circle Garland.  I flipped the Circle Garland vertically and cut it into small sections from which I hung my stockings.  I also cut some circles free and used them in the upper left corner as embellishments.

I did a Distress Ink-smudge/water droplet technique for the background and added the sentiment that I made with words from Reverse Confetti's Winter Word Coordinates stamp set.  The stockings are from Reverse Confetti's Jolly Holiday set. The rest of it is rounded out with my two current favorite Washi tapes from Doodlebug: Christmas Candy Stripe and Deck the Halls.

This was a fun sketch to play along with and I appreciated the "creative nudge" it provided!

My Cards and Tags:Giving Thanks Cards Using Stamps from Concord & 9th and Reverse Confetti

Happy Thanksgiving season to you and yours!  The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is celebrating with the theme of Giving Thanks.  A friend of mine has a great Thanksgiving tradition in which she writes thank you notes to her friends expressing her gratitude for them in her life.  I thought this was a brilliant idea, so I made three gratitude cards of my own:

I made the background by smudging Distress Ink on with sponges, then dripping water onto the ink.  I let the water sit and spread for a few minutes, then I soaked the water back up with a paper towel, leaving only the "puddle edges" and white spots behind.

For this card, I used a sentiment from Reverse Confetti's Forever Fall set.  The teal scribbly circles are made with Concord & 9th's Love You Mean It stamp set and the leaves are all cut with Tim Holtz's Tattered Leaves die.  I used various patterned papers for the leaves and this one is from Prima's Garden Fable line.

  
This card was made with the sentiment portion of the previously-mentioned stamp set from Concord & 9th titled, Love You Mean It.  The patterned paper on the leaf is from Simple Stories' Pumpkin Spice collection and I added a stamped heart.

It was back to Reverse Confetti's Forever Fall set for the sentiment on this last card.  The patterned paper on this leaf is from Prima's Bella Rouge collection.

These were so fun to make and quite easy once I had a vision and then the system down.  To make all of my cards, I used these products that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Concord & 9th Love You Mean It stamp set	Reverse Confetti Forever Fall Stamp Set	Tim Holtz Sizzix Die TATTERED LEAVES Bigz Alterations	Sizzix Big Shot Machine	Prima Bella Rouge 4x6 Journaling Cards	Simple Stories Pumpkin Spice 12x12 Basics Kit	Prima A4 Garden Fable Paper
Mixed Media Sponges Bars	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Aquamarine Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Magenta Ink Pad	Worn Lipstick Distress Ink Pad	Festive Berries - Distress Ink	Mustard Seed - Distress Ink
Squeezed Lemonade - Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad GROUND ESPRESSO Ranger	Tim Holtz Distress Twisted Citron Ink Pad	Peacock Feathers - Distress Ink	Fiskars Acrylic Blocks

There is a lot to be grateful for and I can't wait to see what you come up with for this week's theme.  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win $50 to the Simon Says Stamp Store.