(NOT SO) Final Blog Hop of the VC-Rocks 2012 Season

Our final blog hop this year is upon us! But wait! There's MORE - we have another in August, lol - whew! I thought this was the last one but our Maven of Blog-hopping, Loni (last stop on the hop) just let me know that we have another one in August, so watch for that next month!!!!!!Stampin’ Up! Convention is ON and that marks the approach of our final fun and festivities! August will be here before we know it!

You probably arrived here from:

Creative Designs by Jackie ~ http://jackielwatson.blogspot.com
This blog hop is about Non-Card items. When I signed up, I was thinking, “Nanc, what ARE you thinking??? What do you do that isn’t a card?!!?” Well, I must have thought it (or would that be thunk it ;) aloud, because I was informed that I made lots of non-card things (albeit, not all Stampin’ Up! type things)...

Here is one of those things, from the annals of Nanc!
Click on the pictures for a bigger look ;)


Now this was done several years ago – it was a Mother’s Day gift for my mom (wonder what happened to that when we moved her out here with us?). I purchased the pot at a local store, and stamped it using a SU flower stamp and acrylic paint. After it dried completely, I sealed the stamped part with a spray sealer – easy-peasy.

A similar craft would be the tiles I have made a kajillion or two of.



These are a few of my favorite. Even though “Long-stemmed” is long retired. I loved these so much that after giving away or selling that set, I bought myself a new set of it off some online auction purchasing site so I could make some more of them! These were stamped with Stazon inks (the only one we now sell is the Jet Black and the White, but we previously had colors, and I still have them, use them and have added to them ).

Addendum: I've been asked my process, and since these are still gorgeous after NINE years of use, as I made them my first year as a demo, here it is!
1. Wipe tile dust off with clean shop towel (or any kind of towel you have hanging around).
2. Stamp your stamp choices on a 4x4 square to get your layout in mind, then, using Stazon Jet Black ink, stamp your tiles with your design. (Note - the Christmas trees above were stamped in a Stazon green - forest, I believe, and the leaf/square were stamped in Olive Stazon and an medium brown).
3. Color your designs. Mine are colored using an old, gnarly set of blender pens (that are no longer good for ANYTHING else!). I squish the clear cover in the Stazon pads or the lids in Brilliance ink pads to get a little puddle of ink in the lid/cover. Then I pick up the ink with the blender pen (they are each marked by color - red, orange, yellow/white, blue, green, purple) and sparingly add color where I want it.
4. Stamp your sentiment - I always do this last for some reason, but you can do it sooner if you like. It is your tile, and I am NOT the Stampin police ;).
5. THEN, I bake them in a 350* oven for 30 minutes, and place in a child free zone to cool when done.
6. When completely cool, I mask the non-stamped areas and lightly spray my stamping with a Matte Sealer from that craft store that closes on Sunday (which I love - both the goods and the ethics they have!).
7. Finish it off by adhering a 4x4 ish (mine are about 3 3/4 or so square) piece of cork on the bottom. That same store has them pre-cut or you can buy a roll of cork (more cost effective) and cut them with your tabletop cutter  (no lie!).
8. When selling in craft fairs I stack four together and tie with rough twine and use the tag punch to cut out the price and tie in with the twine. I cross the twine on the bottom and tie a knot in it on the top so folks can pick it up by that knot.
If that isn't clearer than mud, you know where to find me - comment or email me your question :)
(The only set of tiles I've ever done this way that faded were given to the mother of a stamper after she made them in class, and the mother left them out on the patio in high summer, high in the mountains of Colorado... mine have been kept in sunny places with no discernible fading, but just be warned. If you keep them outside, cover them or turn them over, or the ink may bleach out :).

Whew!

A more contemporary product that I am so glad I made for a friend was this envelope album. It took very little time to make – in fact, it took longer to get her wedding pictures than it did to make and embellish this with a Simply Scrappin’ kit.


This is viewed from over the top, lol – so it’s kind of upside down…. but you get the gist of it! This is a really fun project! (The instructions are way too lengthy to put here, so if you want them, request it, and that will be a follow-up blog post :).

My very most favorite non-card thing to make, though, is….

can you guess….?

If you know me, you know that my favorite thing to craft is…

SCRAPBOOK PAGES and SKETCHES!!!!!!

Like this:


and this:


and sketches like this one, which is perfect for (dare I say it) the First Day of school!:



Sorry for saying the “s” word… you know…. (escuela). Anyway, the tree was handcut by me and stamped with the woodgrain stamp. Of course, now I would emboss it with the new woodgrain folder that we are getting on page 33 of the Holiday Catalog...just sayin'

For more great non-card projects, please head on over to:
www.loniholt.blogspot.com

And for the complete list, just in case you started somewhere other than the beginning (a very good place to start):
StartVC Rocks (Michelle McCarthy)    www.vcrocks.blogspot.com
1   Technostamper   http://technostamper.blogspot.com
2   The Love of Stamping   http://www.theloveofstamping.com
3   June's Creations   http://junescreations.blogspot.com
4   Stamp With Jane   www.stampwithjane.com
5   Krafting with Karen   www.kraftingwithkaren.blogspot.com
6   Pedstamper's Stamping Tree House   www.pedstamperstampingtreehouse.blogspot.com
7   Life with a Wiener Dog   www.lifewithawienerdog.com
8   My Little Patch of Dirt   www.mylittlepatchofdirt.blogspot.com
9   Something To Scrap About   http://somethingtoscrapabout.blogspot.com
10  Elizabeth's Stamp Room   http://www.elizabethsstamproom.blogspot.com/
11   Artful Imagination    http://artfulimagination.blogspot.com
12   Stamper Shirley    http://stampershirley.blogspot.com
13   Brenda's Stamping Corner http://brendasstampingcorner.blogspot.com
14   Creative Designs by Jackie     http://jackielwatson.blogspot.com
>>>>>YOU ARE HERE: 15  Scrapbook Kits and more    http://fancynancykay.blogspot.com/
>>>>>>>NEXT STOP: 
17   Loni's Life    www.loniholt.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed my non-card trip down memory lane!