Crop for a Cause--American Heart Association

I made this card using the new Tasteful Trim die to make the rick rack and scallop trim.  This is going to be one of my favorite dies because it can be used in so many different ways.  I chose the heart to remind everyone about our Crop for a Cause on Saturday, Sept. 18th.

Unfortunately, too many of us have a loved one affected by heart disease or stroke. As the leading cause of death in this country, cardiovascular disease claims almost as many lives each year as the next 7 leading causes of death combined. To help stop this, we are hosting a crop (our "team") to help raise funds that are needed for heart disease and stroke research and education and we're asking you to join us.

Our team will be participating in this year's Start! Heart Walk fundraiser by Cropping for a Cause from 9 am – 9 pm on Saturday, September 18 at Central Christian Church in downtown Forth Worth. There will be door prizes, a couple of vendor tables, and a silent auction – all to benefit the American Heart Association.  The more people we have working to defeat heart disease and stroke-the better, so please sign up today and get your projects organized! It promises to be a fun-filled and worthy day!  Your $40 crop fee will go to the American Heart Association.

To register for our crop, send an email to CropForaCauseFW@yahoo.com with your name and phone number and we will send you the registration form.  But hurry, seating is limited to 50 participants!  We hope to see you there!

Here is how heart disease affects one of my co-workers at Baylor, Laura "Tiffany" Hartgraves.

I recently began working for Baylor All Saints.  I am a PCT on C5 Med/Tele.  I created Team Harrison four years ago, in 2007.  Team Harrison is in honor of our amazing four year old, Harrison .  This is our 4th year to walk and our first year to walk with the Baylor family. 

 

Our little family was growing as we waited for the arrival of our precious baby boy and we couldn’t have been more excited!  During a Level II Ultrasound we were informed that our unborn son would come into this world with multiple birth defects, with various congenital heart defects topping his list.  At only eight days old, our baby, Harrison, went in for open heart surgery to repair his tiny heart.  Although surgery was a success, it did create other medical problems that would affect Harrison the rest of his life.

 

Throughout his recovery period, Harrison suffered mini strokes to both sides of his brain.  Once he was extubated it was discovered that he had a paralyzed left vocal cord. Almost two months later, little Harrison came home on Christmas Day 2005; what an amazing gift for our family!  He came home with a feeding pump and a long list of medication and he was only seven weeks old.

 

After Harrison ’s first birthday we learned that he had mild cerebral palsy, secondary to the strokes.  His cerebral palsy affects his speech.  Harrison had his feeding tube removed during this year too.  We were finally out of the woods and Harrison was playing like a typical toddler.  When he was 2 he had an MRI at Cook Children’s Medical Center and, little did we know, the result would turn our world upside down.  Harrison had an extremely low heart rate between 40 – 50 beats per minute.  After only one night of observations on the Cardiac floor at the hospital we were told that he was in complete heart block and would need a pacemaker for the rest of his life.  He was in surgery within the hour.

 

On April 23, 2008 our little boy had another heart surgery to receive a dual chamber pacemaker.  With the technology and research today, we upload Harrison ’s pacemaker activity bi-monthly.  A broken wire was discovered after his first upload.  On July 30, 2008 doctors had to go back in to replace a broken wire and retrieve the pacemaker that had slipped into his pelvic bone.  Harrison now carries a card with his pacemaker serial numbers.  With a non-stop life, in and out of the hospital, we can’t believe that Harrison is only 4 years old.  And this year, Harrison was given the gift of communication; he received a communication device to help him communicate with us. His life is finally on cruise control with a healthy beating heart!

 

 Harrison’s experience led us to the American Heart Association.  We created TEAM HARRISON to walk, united against heart disease and stroke, during the Tarrant County Heart Walk.  2010 will be our 4th year to walk.  With each year, we have seen Harrison ’s energy level increase.  Each year he gets stronger, and so does our family, thanks to the American Heart Association’s research that has helped keep Harrison alive.  Maybe this will be his year to run a little!

If you can't join us at Crop for a Cause, please consider donating to the American Heart Association via my Heart Walk website. 

 

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX
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Imagine the Possibilities Card

This is another one of the cards that I designed to swap at convention.  The inspiration came from a card that my friend, Marilyn, made using the clear blocks to stamp the background.  I loved that idea and had to play with it.

I stamped with the butterfly from Simple Friendship and the sentiment from Word Play with Rich Razzleberry ink.  Then I stamped the rectangles with Baja Breeze.  You are using the clear blocks that are normally used to hold the clear mount stamps.  In this case, you are using the clear block by itself.  For the Baja Breeze rectangles, I used Block B.

I used Block  A to add the Certainly Celery squares.  Then I used the flower and Old Olive ink to finish the background stamping.

After that, I added the Old Olive 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon and Rich Razzleberry card  stock.  The card body is Baja Breeze card stock stamped with the Texture jumbo roller. 

This ended up being a quick card to make and a fun new way to use the clear blocks.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Flores Suaves Card

I just got back from Stampin' Up!'s convention in Salt Lake City.  What a fun way to have girlfriend time, see wonderful projects, learn new techniques and come home with free product from the upcoming Holiday mini catalog!  One of the things I like the best about convention is swapping cards.  At convention, you swap cards with other demonstrators so you come home with lots of new friends and samples of their work.

Flores Suaves is one of the cards that I made to swap at convention.  At a recent retreat, one of my friends, Heather, was working on several contemporary paintings.  I was so inspired by the layering in her work that I wanted to make a card with multiple layers in the background.  This card uses several simple background techniques to make what looks like a difficult card.  Truthfully, the hardest part is waiting for one layer to dry before you add the next one. 

Step 1:  Sponging Technique
Sponge Always Artichoke on all four edges.  Leave the center uninked.

Step 2:  Wrinkle Free Distressing Technique
Step 2 is a variation of the Tim Holtz technique where he inks a non-stick craft sheet and mists the inks with water and then lays his card stock in the ink.  I adapted this technique to use Stampin' Up! products.  I replaced the non-stick craft sheet with clear block F and I used the Always Artichoke ink refill instead of an ink pad.

On the clear block, put a thin bead of the Always Artichoke ink and mist with water.

Lay the card stock in the ink.  Color all four edges of the card stock using this method.

Step 3: Drop and Swish Technique
Apply a thin layer of white acrylic paint over the card stock.  To do this I use one of the fake credit cards you get in the mail or the hotel keys that are the same material as credit cards.  Apply a thin bead of white acrylic paint across a little over half of the short edge of the credit card.  With the paint side down, pull the paint across the card.  Be sure to leave some of the Always Artichoke edges showing.  Let dry.  Repeat if needed.

Step 4
Using black StazOn ink, stamp Flores Suaves.  Flores Suaves is my favorite stamp set out of the Hispanic catalog, Celebrando Creatividad.

Step 5:  Smooch Spritz
For this layer I used the Gold Glow Smooch Spritz.  Instead of spraying, I put drops on the card stock and used my finger to spread out the Gold Glow.  You can see from the picture that I only added the gold to a few areas.

Use Always Artichoke to stamp the words from the Flores Suaves stamp set across the card.  Because you are stamping on acrylic paint, you can use a damp paper towel to soften the edges of the words if you want.

Step 6:  Watercolor Pencils
Use the darkest red watercolor pencil to color in the shaded areas on the flower.  You'll see the shading lines on the stamped image.

Step 7:  Coloring with Ink
Color in the flower with Cherry Cobbler ink.  I used a paint brush with water rather than a blender pen.  The blender pen can make the StazOn image blur since it is on acrylic paint.  I love how the watercolor pencil makes shading the petal so easy.

Color in the stem and leaf with Always Artichoke. 

Step 8:  Blushing with Ink
Okay, technically this is just sponging again.  Lightly sponge on Cherry Cobbler ink like you would add blush to your forehead and nose.  It's much softer than the amount of color you would put on your cheeks.  There should be just a hint of color that "marries" the background to the flower.  It's a tip that I learned in painting class many years ago.  Adding small tints of color in the background, helps highlight your focal point.  You can see the difference in the above picture with Step 7 and Step 8 right next to each other.  I also sponge on more Always Artichoke if I covered too much with the acrylic paint. 

Assemble per the sample and you are done!

Supply List:
Flores Suaves stamp set
Always Artichoke Classic ink pad
Always Artichoke Classic ink refill
Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pad
Gold Glow Smooch Spritz
Stampin' Sponge
Water mister
Fake credit card
White acrylic paint
Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel
1/8" Basic Black grosgrain ribbon
Confetti Cream card stock  2 3/8 x 4 3/8 inches
Basic Black card stock  2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches
Cherry Cobbler card stock  2 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches
Always Artichoke card stock  8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, wheel with Always Artichoke and fold to form card

Enjoy making this card.  I'd love to see what you make.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

Changing Wood Mounted Stamps to Clear Mount

Many of you know that I’ve been changing my wood mounted stamps to clear mount. Whether you prefer wood mounted or clear mount stamps is a personal decision. For me, it’s a space issue. Moving to clear mount lets me organize my stamps in a smaller space.

Several of you have asked for a tutorial on converting wood mounted stamps to clear mount. To get a rubber stamp to stick to a block you have two choices. Either make the block stick to the stamp or make your stamps stick to the block. After trying different ways, here are my favorite methods for each choice. 

1. Put something sticky on the block so it will hold your stamps. This is the most cost effective method if you have a lot of unmounted stamps. You only have to convert a few clear blocks instead of changing all of your stamps. My favorite clear sticky product is Tack-n-Peel. Over time, your sticky blocks gather lint and don’t stick as well. With Tack-n-Peel, you can rinse the block in water, let it air dry and your block is sticky again. Please e-mail me if you would like to know where to find this product in our local area.

This is what I originally did with many of my stamps. I put Tack-n-Peel on several clear blocks. I never removed the paper from the back of the stamps. When I need to use the stamp, I place it on the clear block and it sticks to the Tack-n-Peel. When I’m finished, I clean the stamp while it is still attached to the clear block. Then I remove the stamp and put it back in its case.

2. Put something on your stamps that will help them stick to your blocks. There are many different ways to make your stamps sticky. When you use adhesives, they also gather lint over time and don’t stick as well. That is why I use cling vinyl to stick my stamps to my blocks without using adhesive. It’s what I use for my current stamps. Because Stampin’ Up! stamps are already mounted to foam, I use Papilio inkjet clear static cling film.

When using cling vinyl, you can also add the image on the back of the stamp. To do this, you need to reverse the image. There are two ways to do this. One is low tech, uses tissue paper and doesn’t require being computer-savvy. For the second method, you’ll need a software program where you can reverse images before you print.

Using Tissue Paper

Buy plain white tissue paper that you can find in the gift wrap section at your craft store. Stamp the image on the tissue paper and let it dry thoroughly. Rough cut the image out of the tissue paper. Turn it upside down and adhere it to the back of your stamp. You’ll be able to see your image through the tissue paper. Add the cling vinyl and trim to fit. I used Tombow mono multi liquid glue to adhere the vinyl. You can also use it for the tissue paper if the back of your stamp isn’t already sticky.

In this picture, the thanks image was stamped on tissue paper using the low tech method. The butterfly image was printed on the cling vinyl. 

Printing on Cling Vinyl

While this method takes more time, it’s my favorite. The image is printed on the vinyl before you mount it on your stamps.

The first thing you need is a digital version of the stamped images. To get these images, I usually scan the label. For the rest of this process, make sure that your images stay at 100%, so they will be the same size as your stamp.

You’ll need a software program to flip your images so the printing is backwards. You need to flip your images because you are printing on the side of the vinyl that touches the foam. After you attach the vinyl, you’ll see the image correctly. To flip your image in Photoshop Elements, go to Image>Rotate>Flip Horizontal or Vertical. You may also choose to increase the contrast of the image so that the black is really black.  

Here is the label for Dream Gardens after the image is flipped. Notice that the word "dream" and the Stampin' Up! copyright is reversed.

After reversing your images, insert them in a Word document to print. You can fit as many images as you can on one page before printing. Follow the printing instructions that come with the Papilio sheets.

After the ink is dry, rough cut the images out of the vinyl. Attach to the back of the stamp and trim to fit.

FAQ’s

How do you take your stamps off of wood blocks?

Usually you can carefully peel them off. Putting them in your microwave for a few seconds will heat the glue so that they are easier to remove. In my microwave, 3 seconds on high works well.

I no longer have my label, how can I get a digital image to print on the vinyl?

If you no longer have your labels, here are some options.

1. Peel the labels off of your wood mount stamps. I’ve been able to peel these off without putting the stamp in the microwave. Attach the labels to paper or a transparency and scan.

2. Stamp the images on paper and scan.

3. Depending on how old your stamps are, you may be able to find digital versions of the stamps on My Digital Studio or in Stampin’ Up!’s online catalog. You will need to make sure that the images are at 100% as sometimes these digital images have been re-sized. With images that are not 100%, I’ve been able to enlarge them in Word so that they work.

How do you store your unmounted stamps?

I put my smaller sets into empty CD cases. You will have to remove the holder for the CD. For the larger ones, I use the DVD-type storage cases that Stampin’ Up! sells. With regular DVD cases, there isn’t a way to remove the part that holds the DVD. 

How do you label your CD cases?

I print an insert with the name of the stamp set on card stock. I then add the label and insert to the CD case. Be sure to buy the standard CD cases and not the slim ones.

How do you label your DVD cases?

I loved the way that Stampin’ Up! designed their inserts and copied their format. I set it up to print two inserts on one piece of 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper. I reduced the digital stamp images and added them to the insert. On the front of the case, I add the label, a digital image or a piece of paper with the stamped images.

For background stamps, I use the label that comes with the stamp. It fits in the DVD case perfectly.

What is Static Cling Vinyl?

Static cling vinyl is a special formulation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to which a large amount of plasticizer (a liquid) has been added. This highly plasticized formulation is exceptionally pliable. The vinyl is specially treated to give it a smooth finish. When the vinyl film is applied to a clean, smooth, glossy surface, it adheres firmly without the need for an adhesive. A good quality static cling vinyl is worth the extra expense.

If I can give you any more information about changing your wood mounted stamps to clear mount, please post your comment here.  Please contact me if you would like to buy the Stampin' Up! storage cases, Papilio Cling Vinyl or Tack-n-Peel.  

Have fun changing your wood mounted stamps to clear mount.  It gets easier after you have finished changing one or two stamps.
 

Visit my online store to get your supplies for this project.  Remember that when you purchase $25 or more in product, you are eligible for my Rewards Program.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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New Catalog Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at some of the new products in the catalog coming on July 1. 

The card uses two new stamp sets:  Artistic Etchings and Occasional Quotes.

I used my Big Shot to die cut the Scallop Rectangle with a Clearlit.  A Clearlit is a clear Sizzlit die that lets you easily position your die before cutting.  

The card stock is Very Vanilla, Basic Black and River Rock.  I'm glad River Rock is back. It's a great neutral with just a hint of color.

The ribbon is a 1/8 inch taffeta ribbon that comes in 13 coordinating colors.  The thin ribbon is a perfect accent for your card or scrapbook page. 


This card uses a new hostess stamp set called Cute By the Inch.  I alternated the stamped images with 1-inch squares of a new designer series paper called Newsprint.  The sentiment comes from the stamp set, For All You Do.  For the background on the card body, I used Extreme Elements.

The card stock is Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake. The heart is in my new favorite red, Cherry Cobbler.

To see other items from the new catalog, come to one of the open houses being held by the demonstrators in my group.  Check out my website for dates, times and places. 

At the July 10th open house in Richland Hills, I'll be demonstrating how to convert  wood mounted stamps to clear mount.  I've had several customers ask me to show the different methods so they can decide which way works the best for them.  Come check it out and decide if you prefer wood mount or clear mount.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

Organizing Small Embellishments

Are you looking for a way to organize your small embellishments?  Here’s a picture of my new favorite container.  It’s a pill organizer. 

When I was at Martha Pullen’s Sewing Market, someone showed me her favorite storage container for small embellishments--it was a pill organizer. The compartments are all separate and it is less expense than similar storage containers.  When I went to the Great American Scrapbook Convention, I saw storage containers that were normally $5 - $7 for 50% off.  I noticed the Braille dots on the containers and then saw that each one had 14 compartments.  That’s when I realized they were pill organizers with a scrapbook label on them instead of am/pm and the days of the week.

These are the pill organizers that I bought at the Dollar Tree. I was able to remove the days of the week with Stazon cleaner.  They have pill organizers in different shapes and sizes.  I liked these containers better than some of the more expensive ones I have purchased in the past.  Leave a comment to let us know where you have found your favorite pill organizers.

Visit my online store to get your supplies for this project.  Remember that when you purchase $25 or more in product, you are eligible for my Rewards Program.

Creatively yours,

Sharon Cheng
Richland Hills, TX

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Art-To-Go Printer's Tray

When I saw this Artist Printer's Tray, I wanted to make inserts that could be changed to fit different seasons and holidays.

 

This is the first in a series of classes where you can make inserts to go in the Printer's Tray or on a 12 x 12 sheet of paper or canvas. For this first class, you can choose the black and white or summer theme.

Date: Saturday, June 26^th
Time: 10:15 am to 1 p.m. 
Location: North Richland Hills, TX

Class Fee: $20, includes kit for summer or black and white theme 

The Artist Printer's Tray is an additional $17.99. It comes in black or white. This is an optional item as you can layer the page on a 12 x 12 canvas, magnetic memo board or 12 x 12 sheet of paper.

At the scrapbook convention, they were selling these trays for $19.99 and the kits for $13.99.

For information about the class and the artist printers tray, please contact me at

sharon@sharoncheng.com.

I can't wait to design the Fall and Christmas Art-to-Go versions!

Sharon Cheng

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