Treasure it!

I love the new Sneak Peek set by The Angel Company called "Treasure It". It is a 2-step stamping set and is all flowers!! I love 2-step stamping stamps. They are so fun and so easy and depending on the ink colors that you choose, you can have a different look each time! The flyer that TAC put out about this new set says that it is a set of 10 but I cut mine into 9 stamps. I want to show you how I cut my stamps and I also want to share a tip on matching up your 2-step stamps.

Now, first, some of you may be wondering what a 2-step stamp is. Well, that is easy! It is an image that you make in 2 steps. First, you have the solid stamp and you stamp that image on your paper, in this case it will be a flower. Then, you find the outline stamp of the image you just stamped and you stamp that on top of the solid stamp. This produces an outline of the image.

Now sometimes it can be frustrating to try and match up the outline stamp on your paper exactly to the solid stamp. I have an easy way to do this and it gets great results (almost) every time!!

First of all, this is what your flowers will look like once they are cut. You will notice that I put little notches in between most of the petals instead of just cutting the flower in one big circle or square shape. I like to cut my images close & I like to place as many notches in my images as I can so that when I am stamping I can see exactly what I am stamping and where I am stamping and the notches provide me with great reference points!

Now, here is the tip: Figure out how your images line up. You can see by looking at the photo of the blue rubber flowers that they are already lined up on the blocks--the outline stamp's petals match the position of the solid stamp's petals. So, if I were to stamp these flowers now, I could just turn the blocks over and be ready to stamp & my images would line up perfectly. But, I really don't want to have to try and figure out each time I stamp (especially if I am in a hurry) what position to stamp the images in so that they will match. So, this is what I do:

Once I have figured out how the images line up to match each other I take a black sharpie pen and put a large dot on the bottom of each stamp in the same position (on the cling side). Now, each time I stamp the image, I remember where I stamped the side with the dot and then line up the dot on the other stamp in the same position and stamp! By lining up the dots, I know exactly where to place my image every time! Simple!

I also want to show you how I cut out the stem to this set. You will notice that I cut it fairly close to the image. I like cutting off as much of the extra rubber as I can so that I won't catch the edge of the stamp when I ink it up. I hate when I have everything cut and ready to go and then I catch an edge in my ink pad and transfer it to my paper. Very frustrating! I also like being able to see as closely as possible where I am stamping my image so that it goes exactly where I want it to. (It looks like my blocks need a good cleaning again too, doesn't it!)

I also told you that I cut my set into 9 stamps, instead of 10 like the flyer shows. This is because when the rubber comes, the 2 leaves are already lined up with the leaves on the stem. So, by leaving them together and not cutting them into 2 pieces I can stamp both solid leaves right on top of the leaves on the stem all in one step, rather than stamping each leaf individually!

This is a mini clipboard that I made with this "Treasure It" stamp set and Palette inks. These are so fun to make! The photo at the top of this post is another mini clipboard and it is made with this same set using VersaMagic Chalk inks. These make cute gifts! You can use formica chips or small plastic sheets as your base. The clip that the ribbon is tied to are just mini silver binder clips that I bought at Target and Office Max (2 different sizes). When the clipboard is finished, you can take a magnet and glue it to the back. Now you have a magnet for your fridge or file cabinet. What a fun place to clip a note to someone special or to remind yourself of something that you need to buy or do. You can also clip a mini calendar to the clip.