Inspired Stamps 12 Weeks of Christmas Tutorials

OK, bloggers. I get a wee bit out of my comfort zone when I'm not making a card or scrapbook page, but here's my go at making a custom travel mug. Also, please excuse the blurriness of some of the photos, I have a three year old iPhone 3gs that desperately needs to be upgraded. lol My DSLR camera would have been too bulky in my tiny little craft nook. Also, photographing shiny cylindrical things is hard! ;)
I first ordered this travel mug from Amazon.com. It came with a black background for the customizable bit, but because I was using washi tape, I needed a white background. Also, they don't give you too much room for bulk, so I used thin printer paper. Card stock wouldn't be pliable enough and it also would have added too much bulk.

Here's a picture of me holding down the black paper that came with the mug because it was already bent into the shape of the mug from being inside it for so long. I held it down with one hand and with the other I used my trusty Hello Kitty pencil and traced its outline on the thin white printer paper. Once traced, I cut it out.

You're going to want to make sure your new paper fits after you've cut it, adjust as needed.

Then I lined the paper, starting in the center, with washi tape in a diagonal.

I stamped out Inspired Stamps' Christmas Poinsettia stamp and began coloring it with two different Copic colors. I use this line coloring (I have no idea if that's the official name) technique when coloring: it gives some dimension and depth.

Then I blend another lighter color (I used peach) to blend them all together. Later I go back and add some more dimension with a darker color, then blend again with the lightest color.

Here's the Poinsettia inside the mug acting as the seem holder.

The left side of the photo (my adorable husband and kitty), the Merry part of the sentiment at the bottom of the photo, and the Poinsettia.

The right side of the photo (me and our shiba inu), the Christmas part of the sentiment, and the other side of the Poinsettia. I hope you liked my tutorial. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Please come check out next week's tutorial on Friday on the Inspired Stamps Blog. Also, there are a lot of giveaways this week and the next with the sneak peek of the new releases happening, be sure to check it out! AND there's a 40% off your most expensive item in your order, with no minimum purchase required. 

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Inky and glittery fingers for all!
 -Gaby

Advice Cards for a New Mom's Shower

I got contacted through my Facebook page to make some custom cards for someone's sister who was naming her baby Willow. She wanted a distressed natural look and also wanted two different sets of cards. I was happy that I actually had a stamp that looked some-what like a willow tree and the customer loved it! On more traditional like the first card for out of town guests who couldn't make the shower and another more like a post card for those able to attend. Her sister is a new mother to be and wanted the guests to write down advice or words of wisdom for her on motherhood. So I pieced Lawn Fawn's Claire's ABCs together to stamp out the custom sentiment the customer wanted. I had never taken such a large order before, but I was surprised how easy it was to make 45 of these. I did it like I do my Christmas cards ...in an assembly line. I packaged up the postcard like cards with some Lawn Trimmings twine, a teeny clothes pin, and a custom tag I made with the same stamp embossed in gold and I hand wrote baby Willow's name in white gel pen.

I'm happy to have a little spending money now for Ginger Snap Scrap's 20% off everything sale this Saturday for National Scrapbooking Day!! The Coupon Code for the 20% off sale is NSM20 and is only good for 24 hours! Make sure to tell them I sent you!! They have the new Cricut Cartridges and older ones, too! (Which if you order any on Saturday, you'll get a free cutting blade with!!), all the new La La Land stamps, the New American Crafts glitter tapes ....to name just a few things from their amazing selection!


Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!

Inky and glittery fingers for all!
-Gaby