Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tutorial Tuesday: Creating Stencils from Your Stamps


The tutorial I'd like to share with you involves creating stencils from stamps. This is a very easy method which expands the way you are able to use your stamps.

Not all stamps work well as stencils, so you will want to choose your stamp carefully. Some trial and error may show which ones are the best fit for this.



  Butterflies are one design that typically work well.  So I've chosen these two butterflies from the Victorian Hearts set.

I used a glossy paper to stamp my design.  It's a little sturdier and the gloss will allow me to wipe off any medium that gets transferred to it.  That way I can use the stencil over and over.

After stamping my butterflies I carefully cut them out creating my stencil.

~~~


Before I use my butterfly stencil in a project, I am first going to create a text background for it.
I've chosen a definition stamp from the Well-Defined background set.

I stamp it repeatedly on a piece of paper to create the background shown.

~~~


I then use my stencil to create the butterflies here.   The mediums that can be used with stencil are limitless.  For mine I used a Gelato crayon which allowed the background text to come through. 

You can use watercolors, markers, paint, or paste as well with your stencils.

~~~


I thought the sewing mannequin from the Sew Thankful set would make a great stencil as well.   Once again, I stamped it on glossy paper and then carefully cut it out with an Exacto knife.

~~~


This time I stamped it on my text paper with black marker.   Because of the darker color, the text does not show through.

Take a look at your stamps with an eye towards using them as stencils.  You'll see how much more use you can get from your stamps!



Monday, January 28, 2013

Facebook 500 LIKES Sweepstakes!

Are you on Facebook? Do you LIKE the Red Rubber Designs Facebook page? If so, this post is for you!

Red Rubber Designs reached 500 LIKES on our Facebook page! That deserves a giveway - or two.... or more! A BIG THANK YOU to all of our Facebook fans! And the more entries we get, the more prizes we give away! But you have to enter to win!



If you don't yet LIKE our Facebook page, do it now so you can enter the sweepstakes!

Note: Facebook will ask you to "Login with Facebook" and then show this app as "Custom Tab 1". It's weird, I know! But it's okay - it's the ShortStack app (www.ShortStack.com) that takes your sweepstakes entry. It's safe, or I wouldn't use it. Good luck!


Official 500 LIKES Sweepstakes Rules
Red Rubber Designs
1. To participate, complete a Red Rubber Designs entry form on our Facebook Page with your name and email.
2. The sweepstakes will be conducted through February 6th, 2013. Deadline for entries is February 6th, 2013. Drawing will be held on Thursday, February 7th.
3. Qualification for the sweepstakes drawing: You must LIKE the Red Rubber Designs Facebook Page in order to participate in the drawing. Once you LIKE our page, the entry form will be available to you on the Red Rubber Designs Facebook Page. 
Important: Entries are restricted to participants in countries that Red Rubber Designs ships merchandise to. Please see our Shipping Information page for details.
4. The number of winners will be determined by the number of entries into the sweepstakes:
  1. ONE winner will be chosen if there are 25-49 entries (prize #1 awarded).
  2. TWO winners will be chosen if there are 50-99 entries (prizes #1 & #2 awarded).
  3. THREE winners will be chosen if there are 100-149 entries (prizes #1, #2 & #3 awarded).
  4. FOUR winners will be chosen if there are 150-199 entries (prizes #1, #2, #3 & #4 awarded).
  5. FIVE winners will be chosen if there are 200+ entries (all five prizes awarded).
5. Prizes available to be awarded:
  1. One FREE stamp set of the winner's choice valued up to $5.00 retail.
  2. One FREE stamp set of the winner's choice valued up to $7.50 retail.
  3. One FREE stamp set of the winner's choice valued up to $15.00 retail.
  4. Winner can choose any combination of our patterned cardstock/paper collections of their choice valued up to $16.00 retail PLUS one FREE stamp set of their choice valued up to $5.00 retail.
  5. Winner can choose any combination of our patterned cardstock/paper collections of their choice valued up to $20.00 retail PLUS one FREE stamp set of their choice valued up to $7.50 retail.
6. You must be 21 years of age or older to win. No purchase necessary. One entry per household. You need not be present to win. Void where prohibited.
7. The contest is open to everyone with the exception of employees of Red Rubber Designs LLC, their families, agencies and representatives.
8. All taxes relative to the prize package are the sole responsibility of the winner. No prize substitutions, assignments or transfers. No cash equivalents.
9. If you are a winner in the sweepstakes, you must provide your valid mailing address to Red Rubber Designs in order to receive your prize.
10. By participating, all entrants acknowledge and agree that they have entered the contest of their own free will, that the full rules and details of the contest have been made available to them in writing and they therefore understand and agree that neither Red Rubber Designs LLC, their agents, affiliates, sponsors, representatives or employees have any liability with respect to any damages out of acceptance and use of a prize. By entering this promotion, participants agree to be bound by these rules.
11. Approximate value of all prizes total $100.00 (including shipping costs).

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tutorial Tuesday: Brown Bag It!

Don’t have a pretty bag for that little gift you want to give? This is a tutorial to show you an inexpensive way to make over a plain brown bag.  


Start with a few favorite stamping supplies and make a focal image for the front of your gift bag. 


Here I have used a stamp set from the Red Rubber Designs store called Furry Friends. You can also find card stock and stamping ink there. ;D



Now let’s make the outer cover for the gift bag.



Cut a card stock strip using the same width and depth of the size bag you choose to use. Make sure your card stock strip is a couple inches taller than your brown bag. (You can cut the height of the brown bag down to make it shorter than your strip of card stock.) 



Now decorate the outer strip using your focal point piece and whatever trim you choose. Attach eyelets to the top front and back.


This is how the side of your project should look.



Now it’s time to attach ribbon through the eyelets to form the handles of your gift bag.
After inserting through the eyelets, knot the ribbon on the inside.




Fill it with yummy treats and it’s ready to go!




Paper, stamps, stamping ink, hardware and ribbon are all from the Red Rubber Designs store.
One stop shopping for your crafty needs!

Thanks for stopping by!
Diana

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tutorial Tuesday: Creating Stamped Mixed Media Backgrounds


Today I would like to share a basic tutorial on how I make my backgrounds. I love incorporating lots of different products into my background especially stamps. You can customize your backgrounds to put on cards, canvases, layouts or any altered project.


To start out you will need:

Here I Am Background Stamp
Heat Tool
Palette Ink Pad
Pigment and Glimmer Ink Sprays
Gesso
Distress Ink


I started out with a blue cardstock. I applied a little bit of gesso to my background and dried it with a heat tool.


I sprayed my various colored glimmer and pigment sprays to my background and allowed the paint to drip down my cardstock.



I inked my background stamp with blue ink and randomly stamped it onto my background.



I distressed and inked the edges of my cardstock and then added it to a kraft colored card base. Complete by adding layers of embellishments and stamped images.

You can find this tutorial as a FREE PDF file in the Red Rubber Designs store.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Blog Hop Winner

We have a winner for the January blog hop contest.  The contest this month was to tell us your favorite stamp set from the January releases.

Our winner is.......Kerry Urbatch.  Her favorite stamp set is Victorian Hearts.  You can visit Kerry at her blog Bug Bites.

Congratulations, Kerry! 
Please contact Pam at contest@RedRubberDesigns.com to collect your free stamp set.


Thursday, January 10, 2013

Red Rubber Designs First Thursday Blog Hop and Contest

A warm winter welcome to our faithful followers and also to first time visitors. We're glad you are here to celebrate a new year with us as well as the release of our featured stamp sets for January. Our focus this month will be on love, friendship and of course, Valentine's Day.

Here is a look at our spotlight stamp Victorian Hearts.

This set is available at a 40% discount with any order during the month of January.

As always, we have a CONTEST for you.  Here is what you have to do to win a free stamp set:
  1. Pick out your favorite stamp set from the featured stamp sets found here.
  2. Email the name of your favorite set to contest@RedRubberDesigns.com
One name will be selected by random draw to receive the set of their choice. One entry only please. Contest will end at midnight CST Sunday, January 13.

We hope you will enjoy what the Design Team has in store for you as you visit each blog on the hop.

Blog Roll
Red Rubber Designs (you are here)
Diana - Wordbird's Nest
Kate - The Scrapyard
Louise - Kard Krazy
Paula-Kay - Creative Stamping with Paula-Kay
Sarah - Vintage Figments

Thursday, January 3, 2013

First Thursday Delay

As I mentioned in a previous post, our January First Thursday Blog Hop and stamp release is delayed until next Thursday, January 10th.

Please join us next Thursday at 7PM Central time to see our Design Team's lovely creations and participate in our monthly contest. See you then!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!


May the year be blessed and bring all things

good to you and yours!