A very stampy Saturday!

Hi! Are you having a good weekend? I sure am! I got to stamp all day yesterday at the Austin area Splitcoast Stampers Shoebox swap! This was the first time I attended a SCS swap — thanks to my friend Libby for letting me know about it, she finds out about all the cool stampy stuff!

Here’s how it worked — each stamper dreamed up a card that could be made in 10 minutes and made enough kits for 40 people to stamp it. Then we all went around and made each other’s cards — so fun!

Here’s what I came up with!

I thought I’d put together a little tutorial so that you could join in a “virtual swap”. Ready, set, start your timer…

Begin by stamping the Hero Arts Winking Reindeer with waterproof black ink (all supplies at the end of the post). Then ink an acrylic block — yep, ink the block — with pink ink and stamp it over the deer.

Thanks to my friend Sally for telling me about this, so cool! I love the distressed look it gives!

Next, stamp a bunch of snowflakes using the same pink all over the background — stamp right over the deer, too.

Now use watercolor pencils to add color as shown.  The cool thing about watercolor pencils is that you don’t have to be very precise since you blend it all out with the water — just sorta scribble it on.

Now for the fun part!  Mist another acrylic block with Perfect Pearls in water, then use a paintbrush to pick up the water and go over the pencil.  I like to start where there’s no pencil and then work my way down to it — that way you’ll get a nice blend. So for the reindeer, start painting on the water right under the horns, then work your way down to the chin.

The Perfect Pearls really add a nice shimmer!  (They add a nice shimmer to your desk, too, ha ha!)

Distress the edges, then stamp a kraft notecard with the Starry Sky background and white pigment ink.

Add the deer to the card with foam tape, then add a yarn scarf to keep him warm and a red gem to his nose!

Buzz!  Time’s up!

(Supplies: Winking Reindeer, various clear snowflakes, and Starry Sky stamps, red gemstone, and kraft notecard by Hero Arts. I used Colorbox white pigment ink to stamp the sky — I had them pre-stamped for the swap so people wouldn’t have to wait for it to dry. Pink Spun Sugar Distress ink and Perfect Pearls by Ranger.  Memories black ink by Stewart Superior.  Watercolor pencils by Staedtler – numbers 73 and 76.)

Hope you had fun doing the virtual swap!  Sure wish you could have joined us, it really was a great day!  I had so much fun meeting everyone, stamping, eating (especially the Round Rock donuts, lemon cupcake and white chocolate popcorn – yum!), and being in the beautiful Lone Star Retreat Center.

More pictures tomorrow — I’m off to go hiking with J at Doeskin Ranch. It’s a gorgeous fall day here, can’t wait to see what’s blooming.

Hugs,