Thursday, June 26, 2008

Fun Foam shapes for Big Kids: make stamps with your Cuttlebug!


You know that gorgeous Queen & Co felt trim? This gorgeous felt trim? I've seen people cut the flowers from it and use them separately ( I looked for a particular post to show you for an hour and gave up...) SOooo... I love the look, but I don't have any of that gorgeous felt trim. So I made a fun foam version.

I do still want to get some of the felty goodness, but I think fun foam is great for this, because it is a little more shapable and sturdier than felt. And you can do something else nifty with fun foam... since the shapes can stay lifted up like this...


...I thought I'd better have something to go under it. Then I wondered 'Why not turn them into stamps?' And it works! You can layer stamping and die-cuts in the exact same shape and size!?! All Matchy-poo even. (I think I set off the stampdorkiness meter) ;-D.

I'm sure this has been done before, but it floated my boat so much that I had to share. It's so easy too! Basically, you just die cut it and stick it on a block, but here are some how-to details that might come in handy if you try it.

DIY Fun Foam Stamps:



A) Die-cut fun foam & mount it B) Stamp a background

A) Die-cut fun foam & mount it: You can make your own stamps in any shape you can die cut! Fun foam cuts like butter in a cuttlebug with dies. You can cut it just like you would paper. I double mounted 2 different shapes on this wooden block (1 on each side.)

After making the shape, mounting it on a wooden block is easy. I used Crystal Effects. It holds well, but will peel off easily if you want to reuse the block (you can just scrape the adhesive off the block to reuse it.) You could use a Xyron or temporary adhesive & stick 'em to an acrylic block.

B) Stamp a background: I wanted a pattern on the paper flower, so I added the circles from Boho Backgrounds:



You could use a stampamajig for perfection when placing your background
& adding your shape or just stamp it a few times.




A) Curve stamp B) Stamp & Cut out C) Pierce stitches

A) Curve stamp: Acrylic stamps are great curved. You can arange them any way you like on the acrylic block & use it to cut wavy pieces of cardstock. This stamp is from A-Muse's Fancy Borders set.

B) Stamp & Cut out: The stitches were stamped in Pixie Pink & I cut along the curve. I like to leave extra length on the cardstock so there's some choice when it comes to deciding on the final of the cardstock placement when I'm sticking it on the card.

C) Pierce stitches: These stitches are super handy guide for paper piercing. I used four pieces of fun foam as a mat & two pins to hold it in place. Inexpensive (and handy in case you're shifty like me!) ;0)



A) Trace the curve B) Cut to create a second curve

A) Trace the curve: I used the curved piece of cardstock (cut along the stamp) as a kind of template to trace & make other parts of the card:
  • For the bright pink flowered designer paper (retired SU Loves me valentine paper with silver pen & white gel pen details added to it)
  • For the stitches along that paper (just trace curves in pencil & free-hand paper pierce)
  • For a mask when stamping the silver flowers (trace it onto thin paper so the mask doesn't interfere with the stamping too much) Flowers are also from Boho Backgrounds.


The sentiment...


...was made with three stamps sets. The large "delight" (from Paint Prints) is stamped in black classic ink. I outlined it in a silver pen from Creative Memories. The large 'd' is from Jumbo Outline alphabet. It's stamped it in Pixie Pink & dotted it with a Sakura white glaze pen (my new fave of faves.) The Pixie Pink delight definition is from Define your life.

Do you forget what sentiments each set has? I need to make a book of just sentiments, so I can use them more. I don't add enough sentiments (or enough alphabets) so it was fun to try something new with the three together.





Other ideas for fun-foam stamps:
  • Stamp on designer paper
  • Stamp shape in stazon and watercolour inside the lines
  • Stamp solid shape and emboss
  • Use them to create emboss resist
  • Create a background
  • Make them for your kids to play with (if they get wrecked they cost pennies to replace)
The quality of the image with fun-foam stamps is softer than with rubber stamps (less defined edges.) With inking it, I found it was important to look at the inked fun-foam stamp to make sure there was full ink coverage. Even pressure and letting sit on the page for a second helps the ink soak into the paper. I liked the coverage I got with Craft (pigment) inks.

The best way to clean them seems to be stamping off the excess and pressing hard into a wet paper towel then a dry one.

Well, I'm off to Cuttlebug fun-foam until my head explodes from crafty happiness. Ynuk ynuk!
Hope you're feelin' craft-happy too! :0)



P.S. Can you guess from the first photo--way up there--what the next post will entail? (I'm such a stampgeek!) ;0)

P.P.S. WAY cool new Stampin Up product line here: Definitely Decorative

P.P.P.S. Don't forget blog candy here


25 comments:

  1. What a great idea,I feel an addiction comming on! Loving all you do.

    Glenda x

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  2. Hi Mel how spooky was that!! It's now 8.30am thursday.I'm trying to sort out a playlist! Hard to think of songs !!

    Glenda x

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  3. oh wow
    what a great idea, i love your side and creations
    greetings from germany
    iris

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  4. Hey Mel! Wow, what a great idea to use those foam thingy. . .they're so pretty on your card too! I love all the details of your cards!!The black and pink color combo are fabulous!

    Maria

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  5. Very cool idea!!! I'll have to try that.

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  6. LOL "I think I set off the stampdorkiness meter"????? You crack me up, especially since this is such a cool idea, and the card is so pretty.
    Thanks again A.M.

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  7. WOW! What an awesome card - and great tutorial. I positively LOVE how you combined different stamps to create just an awesome sentiment. GREAT job on all of it!!

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  8. Such great ideas you have!!! Love this!

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  9. Lovely creations and great ideas. Added fun foam to the shopping list.

    Next post is about making your own DP/PP or whatever you want to call it?

    People who can't sleep are very creative because their head does not stop creating even when they do :-)

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  10. you are SOO clever!! I love the fun foam stamps & flowers-tfs!

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  11. Just brilliant! My kids would love this too...is it time to head to M's again?

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  12. Great idea! Cute and fun! I just love everything you do! I remember how excited I was when I realized I could cut regular felt with the CB ! Genius! :)

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  13. Super idea Mel just off to find my cuttlebugs and foam.

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  14. Oh my gosh I love this so much. Love! Do you hear me? I love this! LOL!

    Beautiful work, as usual. So creative and fabulous!

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  15. Cool fun stuff you came up with. You are so imaginative! My brain is mussshhh. Can't wait to play with the nesties with you!

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  16. Oh this looks like fun, I can tell I will need to be buying some cutting dies and fun felt as all I have is embossing folders!

    TFS!!!

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  17. this is cool and I have plenty of craft foam her on hand and I have a wizard so i could try this out maybe. I never thought about it. thanks for sharing this.

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  18. Wow, thanks for the idea, this card is awesome, love all your detail.

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  19. love your card...the wavy stitches and the fun foam idea. You're going to emboss it and cut it next I'm guessing....whoot!!

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  20. Wow! This card is fabulous, and so is your tutorial!! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  21. There is not one of your creations that does not amaze me! You have such a talent and your such an inspiration!
    Hugs,
    Joani

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  22. I have one word . . . AMAZING! OK, maybe a 2nd . . . BEAUTIFUL!!

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♥ Thank You so much sharing your thoughts. It means the world! ♥ Mel