Inkyfingers Papercrafting

It’s Sale-a-Bration time! This is the most wonderful time of the Stampin’ Up! year, as it’s the best time to SHOP, HOST, or JOIN.

With every $60 you purchase, you get to choose a free product from the Sale-a-Bration brochure. These products include stamp sets, designer series paper, ribbon packs, embellishments, project kits … just about everything you could ask for! There are also a few Level Two rewards, which you can earn with a $120 purchase – these include a beautiful thinlits set and a super-size stamp set (16 stamps!).

When you host a party during Sale-a-Bration, you’ll get an additional $30 in Stampin’ Rewards (translation: free products). With your party guests aiming to earn themselves free Sale-a-Bration products, it’s easy to see how your Stampin’ Rewards will quickly add up!

And as for joining, I’ve said lots about that opportunity recently (here and here). So in this post, I’m going to focus on one of the products you can order to earn a free Sale-a-Bration item: The Stamparatus.

The Stamparatus is available in the annual catalogue at $67CAD. It comes with a foam pad, which you will need for stamping with photopolymer stamps, two extremely strong magnets to hold your cardstock in place, and two removable plastic plates that act as blocks to hold your stamps.

There are several different techniques you can do with the Stamparatus, including two-step stamping and hinge stamping. One of the first things I discovered when I got mine is that I can use it to produce perfectly aligned sentiments every time, and even add emphasis to a specific word or image, as shown below with “you deserve every good thing”. I stamped the sentiment in Bermuda Bay ink, cleaned the stamp (while leaving it in place on the Stamparatus plate), then used a Dapper Denim marker on the word “every” and stamped it again. The Stamparatus ensured that I stamped the sentiment in the exact same place each time.

Another very handy use for the Stamparatus is in creating multiples. I had a large batch of Christmas cards to finish recently, and using the Stamparatus meant that I could finish the batch really quickly and efficiently, with no crooked stamping or wasted cardstock. I was stamping on a shape I’d cut out with the Stitched Shapes framelits, so I made myself a grid paper template to fit in the Stamparatus, and was able to churn out 40 of these in about 15 minutes. Brilliant!

I finally got a chance to try wreath stamping with the Stamparatus recently, and it is SO cool! We’re going to to be using this technique at class next week. Here’s how it works.

First you’ll need to create a template from a 6″ x 6″ piece of cardstock, using the largest of the Layering Squares Framelits.

Find the centre of your cardstock, then cut two overlapping squares to create a six-pointed star.

Cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock with the same square framelit – it will fit perfectly into your template. Now you’re ready to stamp!

With your template and white cardstock square in place on the Stamparatus, position your flower stamp and stamp it once. Then turn the white cardstock 90 degrees and replace inside the template. Repeat stamping and turning the cardstock until you have stamped four flowers.

Clean your stamp with the Simply Shammy, but don’t remove it from the Stamparatus plate. Turn your cardstock 45 degrees so the flower stamp will land in between two of the images you previously stamped. Use a different ink colour to stamp the flower. Then repeat the steps above of turning the cardstock and stamping the flower three more times.

Depending on what flower set you’re using, you may be finished at this point, or you may have the option of using an outline stamp to add detail, as in the case of the Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set, which I was using. Line up the flower outline stamp on your stamped cardstock, then use the Stamparatus hinge to pick it up. Stamp and turn the cardstock until you have outlined all the flowers in a contrasting colour.

And here’s the finished project:

Isn’t that a cool technique? Now you can turn ANY flower stamp (or pretty much any other stamp) into a wreath! Google “stamparatus wreath technique” to see lots more creative ways to use your Stamparatus, then contact me to order yours, or shop 24/7 at my online store. And be sure to share your creations in the comments so I can see what you’re up to!

Happy Stampin’!

Product List

Please visit my 24/7 online store by clicking above, or contact me: lauralyzer@gmail.com.

Have you subscribed to my monthly newsletter? You’ll receive project tutorials and inspiration, as well as all workshop dates and special promotion news. Don’t miss out, sign up today!