Q-Tip Stamping: Details Dawn, we want details!

I feel like this post's headline should read:

Q-Tip Stamping Takes Stampers By Storm!

I've literally been flooded with requests to share more about coloring with Q-tips, to create a video and where I've purchased them (which is actually a really good question).  I also have some international followers that don't know what Q-tips are (never even occurred to me).  So here's a picture:

Here's the details:

I purchased these at least 3-4 years ago at a local dollar store.  They came in the real cool curvy container you see in the picture. (Partly why I bought them.  You do it too!).  They called it a "Pastels Cosmetic Set".  In each section were the following:  100 Cosmetic Buds (aka Q-tips), 10 Facial Pads, 10 Cotton Balls.  So I guess these were designed more for applying cosmetics, then for ear cleaning.

As it turns out - I really like them for coloring.  Actually better than the Q-tip brand which is softer and probably wouldn't hold up well.  These particular ones are quite "stiff and wrapped tight".  I also like that they have two types of ends.  I used the round end for larger areas and the pointed end for smaller details.  I just rub them on an ink pad and color away!

I think that should clear everything up! 

Thank you for your overflowing & overwhelming comments and reaction to my Control Freaks Blog post.  I do read every single one of them (I saw there were a couple of awards sprinkled in there too.  I'll get to them soon.)  I SO appreciate your support.  You know...when you first start blogging, you wonder.  Is anyone even reading this?  Well - over two years later...I guess you are!  Thank You!

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On another note:  The Abyss! (aka: Stamping Studio)

I'm thrilled to know that I'm not the only one who suffers from a messy Stamping Studio!  I want to thank the people who took the time to share their studio/craft room stories with me.  I loved reading them and you brightened my day!

Enjoy~Dawn O

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Q-tips stamping: Welcome to Dawn's World!

Who knew that Q-tip stamping would create such a buzz?  Certainly not me!  I have to tell  you - I'm snickering about this.  Maybe you all need to know a little bit more about me. 

Come in close...I have a dirty little secret!

Here, let me set the scene:

OK - I confess.  My stamp "studio" is a disaster area (aka The Abyss)!  It's a bedroom converted for my stamp supplies.  When it's "clean" it looks great and I might even stamp in it.  However, it quickly becomes the room where things get thrown into when I'm in a hurry.  I'm pretty good about getting stamp sets, ink, etc back into it's proper places.  Despite the look of it - it's quite organized.  A place for most everything.  Did you catch that?  MOST everything.  When there isn't a place for something - where does it go?  Into The Abyss!

So - why am I confessing all of this to you?  Well - since I can't actually stamp in my studio (at least 80% of the time), I stamp in the dining room.  Which means I make LOTS of trips to my studio.  Now - it's not that far from the dining room.  But this up and down, back & forth takes a toll on one's mojo!  You just get into an idea and bam...gotta go find this or that to make it happen.  Plus - with my short-term memory as it is, all it takes is for me to get out of a chair and before I make it to the studio, I've already forgotten what I was going there for. Ugh!

Which leads to making my Control Freaks project from yesterday.  Which I designed last month for one of the projects for my DOstamperSTARS quarterly CAMP-A-RAMA.

Envision me with supplies covering my dining room table.  I get the brilliant idea to use my Stampin' Pastels (which haven't been used in forever)!  So, I go to The Abyss (oops - my stamp studio) to get everything I need (Pastels, Q-tips, etc).  I give the Pastels a try.  It looks OK - but a little too soft for what I wanted.  Plus, my Pretty in Pink chalk is getting pretty small.  If I have everyone use it for this project, it's gonna be all broken into bits and not very usable after the event.  So that's not gonna work.  (OK - do you think like this or is it just me?).  I really think I need to use ink to acheive the look that I'm going for.

SO...I already had the Q-tips out and didn't really want to go back into The Abyss, oops- I mean the studio, to get a blender pen.  Which I had already thought out in my mind wouldn't work anyways, since it would probably pill the paper, because people generally overwork the blender pen, especially on our smooth paper (yet another glimpse into my mind).  So - what the heck...maybe I'll just give the Q-tips a try.  Made sense to me as they were already sitting right there, just an arms length away! 

So, here's how it went.  Listen closely and take notes!  No water, no nothing! Just rub a dry Q-tip onto the inkpad, then straight to the Very Vanilla cardstock to color.  Yup - that's it!

Sorry, to disappoint - no real magic here.  In fact, just plain laziness!  Or maybe, pure genious!!  You be the judge.  (Actually, I bet there are a few of you out there that have tried the Q-tips stamping technique!)

If I was Jan Tink, I'd find an evil-eyed scientist emoticon for you to enjoy.  But alas...I'm no Jan Tink! 

So there's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Have a great day out there in stamping land and give Q-tips a try!

Enjoy~Dawn O

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Tour De Freaks May Tour: Elements of Style

 

Welcome to the May 2010 Tour de Freaks Blog Hop! We are so excited to have you join us today! This month, I'm the 1st stop on the tour featuring projects made with products from the 2010 Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalog.  Our tour is nice and short and features some of your favorite Control Freaks Stampers. In fact, you may have just "made the loop" and came from Mary Brown's awesome website. 

My project today features a Shelli favorite, Elements of Style stamp set.  I know, you've probably seen tons of samples of this set.  But I wanted to do something a little different.  Most projects I've seen have lots of vintage details and I wanted more of a clean and simple look.  I love how it turned out!

So here's my Elements of Style Hostess Gift Card Pack (received by my workshop hostesses this past month)

 

 

Includes:
2 full size cards w/envelopes
2 love note size cards w/envelopes

 

I colored the images with Q-tips.  Yes, that's right...Q-tips.  I first tried using Stampin' Pastels to color them in, but thought it looked too soft.  So what the heck...I already had the Q-tips out.  I gave it a try and LOVE the look of it!  Plus - super easy to do!!

For more information about coloring with Q-tips check out this post:  http://dostamping.typepad.com/dostamping_with_dawn/2010/05/qtip-stamping-details-dawn-we-want-details.html

 

Dawns Stamping Supplies
Stamps:  Elements of Style, Tiny Tags
Ink:  Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Certainly Celery & Old Olive Classic Ink
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink
Accessories:  Pretties Kit (half-back pearls), Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon, Jewelry Tag Punch, Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies Die, Q-Tips, Large Cello Bag, Kraft Medium Envelope, Very Vanilla Medium Envelopes, Love Note Envelopes


What do you think?  Didn't this turn out great?!  Would you like to have one?  Of course you would. 

Leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a lucky winner later this week!!! 

Now it's time to hop on over to our next stop to the always inspiring Melaine Schulenberg.

 

 

 

Stamping Technique: Bouncing Brayer with Extreme Guitar!

Do you have a teenage boy or a young man in your life?  Well if you do...this card is for them!  You'll wow them with this cool "Bouncing Brayer" technique that was shared with me by my good friend Kelly!! 

Paired with stamps from Stampin' Up!'s extreme collection, Extreme Elements (#115181) & Extreme Guitar (#115328), you might even get a "cool card" response from the recipient.  I know that is what I said when I saw Kelly's card.  So I pretty much CASED her card but changed up the background stamping! 

I made a video for my Hedgehog Stamping Club Members.  If you are unable to view it below, just click: Bouncing Brayer with Extreme Guitar

Dawns Stamping Tips
Ink up a brayer with LOTS of Brilliant Blue Classic Ink.  Keeping one edge of your brayer always in the center, bounce (or tap) the ink onto the Glossy Cardstock.  Bounce the brayer around in a "circle", always keeping the same one edge in the center.  You'll need to move the brayer roller as you "remove" the ink from your brayer with the bouncing.  Re-ink as necessary. 

NOTE:  It's easier to keep the one edge of the brayer in the center by turning the cardstock instead of the brayer.

Dawns Stamping Supplies
Stamps:  Extreme Elements #115181, Extreme Guitar #115328
Ink:  Brilliant Blue Classic Ink (retiring) and Stazon Jet Black
Paper:  Glossy White Paper (#102599), Brilliant Blue, Basic Black & Whisper White cardstock Accessories:  Brayer, Bold Bright Brads, Star Punch, Spiral Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Enjoy~Dawn O

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Stampin' Up! Tropical Party Coconut Drink

The first thing I thought of when I saw the new Stampin' Up! Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Island Foral Bigz Die and the Tropical Party stamp set was: Coconut Drink!  I'm so thrilled with the way the card turned out.  How fun is this?!

Here's a quick video on how to make the Coconut Drink embellishment.  If you are unable to view it, click Coconut Drink Tropical Party Card to view.

 

 

Dawns Stamping Supplies
Stamps:  Tropical Party #118515-wood or #120081-clear (2010 Summer Mini Catalog), Warm Words #115108
Ink:  Tempting Turquoise & Basic Black Classic Ink
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Old Olive & Whisper White cardstock, Island Oasis Designer Series Paper (2010 Summer Mini Catalog)
 Accessories:  Bold Bright Brads, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Big Shot Die Cutting Machine, Circles #2 Die, Island Floral Die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Straw

Enjoy~Dawn O

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Punch Art Owl with Stampin' Up! Go, Graduate

How can you improve on the traditional owl image for Graduation?  With a Punch Art Owl - that's how!  Combine that with Stampin' Up!'s new GO, Graduate stamp set from the 2010 Summer Mini Catalog and you have a total owlsome card! 

My sweet friend Kay shared an adorable punch art owl graduation card a while back and I totally cased the owl!!  Thanks Kay!  For Kay's instructions, click HERE

Dawns Stamping Tips for Graduation Hat
1.  Use a Wide Oval punch out in Basic Black
2.  Draw a line down the middle from side to side and top to bottom
3.  Then use those marks on all four sides as a guide to cut a "diamond" shape

Dawns Stamping Supplies
Stamps:  Go, Graduate
Ink:  Basic Black Classic Ink
Paper:  Basic Black, Basic Gray, Crushed Curry (retiring) cardstock, Nouveau Chic Designer Series Paper Accessories:  Vintage Brads, see punch list below:

• Scallop Circle Punch - body
• Scallop Circle Punch - body/wings
• 3/4" Circle Punch - eyes
• 1/4" Circle Punch - eyes
• Round Tab Punch - head
• Modern Label Punch - feet
• 5-Petal Flower Punch - nose
• Wide Oval Punch - hat

Enjoy~Dawn O

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Blog Awards Thank You!

I've received several blog awards lately and I wanted to say THANK YOU!  I really appreciate your recognition of my blog!

Received from:

Martha Lucia Gomez
Cheryl Wilcox
Sue Dean
Lisa Young
Gretchen Barron

Oops - I'm missed:  Tammy Fite

 

Received from:

LeeAnn Greff

Thank you ladies.  I'm honored that you selected me for these awards!  If I forgot someone, just let me know.

Enjoy~Dawn O

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More Stampin' Up! Chocolate Sweet Scoops!

I love Chocolate Chip ice cream!  So when I received my FREE Sweet Scoops stamp set from Stampin' Up! I automatically started playing with my favorite flavor.  I found the best ink combination for the ice cream cone is:

Cone:  So Saffron Classic Ink
Ice Cream:  Close to Cocoa Classic Ink (retiring 6/30/2010!)
Chips:  Chocolate Chip Classic Ink

Here's the full card which was my Summer Mini Catalog swap with another awesome swap group called QC Swappers!

Dawns Stamping Supplies
Stamps:  Sweet Scoops
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa (retiring), So Saffron Classic Ink
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa (retiring), So Saffron & Whisper White cardstock, Accessories:  Crystal Effects, Chocolate Chip Double Stitched Ribbon,  1/4" Chocolate Chip Ribbon, Staples, Big Shot, Pennant XL Die (for scallop circle), 1-3/4" Circle Punch

Enjoy~Dawn O

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