TESTIMONIAL:    Steve..... Thanks so much for having such a wonderful studio.  The ladies that came with Susan had a fun time and I'm enjoying all my purchases - this is exciting.  What a neat way to be able to buy the stamps - unmounted.  Half the enjoyment is taking the time to mount them.  It was good seeing you both at the market on Saturday and I look forward to seeing you at Circle Craft.                                       ............ Heather (from White Rock)

MARGARET'S MUSINGS:  If you have had an opportunity to see our display at anytime over the past few years, you would have seen sample cards by our friend Margaret Appleton. Margaret is always trying something new, and comes up with some great effects with our stamps. She has agreed to write a short piece for each newsletter on stamping in general and on techniques slightly beyond the basics. As I looked through some old Christmas cards the other day, I was inspired by the rich, deep colours on some of the cards. Since post-it notes are my best friends these days, I played with masking and the direct- to- paper method of applying ink to get some of those intense colours. 1.Mask the front of your card with post-it notes or with a sheet of scrap paper that has an opening in the center of it. Let’s suppose that you want a rectangular-shaped clean area left in the center of your card. (Mask edges can be cut with fancy or regular scissors or ripped). 2.Choose the central image for that rectangle. Mask the CENTER of the rectangle in one of 2 ways: a.) Make a mask by stamping the image on to a scrap of paper and cutting around it leaving a narrow border. OR b.) Choose a piece of scrap paper to be a mask in the shape that you want…rectangle, square, etc.  Affix the mask (image side up, if you’ve chosen "a"), to the center of the big rectangle with a temporary adhesive. (masking tape or any tape that has been first touched onto your clothes to take away some of the stickiness will do) 3. Apply ink directly and generously to the large rectangle, covering that opening over the smaller mask in the center. A deep jewel-toned colour and a juicy inkpad will give a good rich- looking coating. 4. Using a suitable background stamp or a greeting, stamp onto the large coloured rectangle, over the central mask, as well, if you want to. Remember you can stamp "off the edge", too. Black ink usually shows well for this step but you can use any colour that will show over the direct- to- paper step that you did. If you want to emboss the greeting or background bits you will have to wait until the overall ink is dry and then stamp and emboss. 5.Remove central mask carefully. I used tweezers. 6. Stamp main image into the center opening that was masked and then remove the outer mask. 7. This can be the front of the card or can be framed and mounted to a card. Tips: The direct-to-paper layer of colour can be a single tone, several colours blended, stripes or splotches of different colours but for intensity be generous in the application. The central image can be embossed or not and then coloured or left plain. The image does not have to be in the center of the rectangle Happy Stamping!

 

	MARGARET'S BEGINNER'S CLASS:  Margaret Appleton is going to do a class for us on the lower mainland tentatively on November 20.  It will be held in the White Rock area.  Margaret has a great facility, however, she is going to be holding the class to eight stampers.  The cost will be $30.  You need to pre-pay in order to hold your spot.  You can do that through us at 877-653-9091.  You can pay by cheque or credit card.   The class is going to be oriented towards beginning stampers.  It will be two hours in length, and will have a Christmas theme.  Anyone who has taken one of Margaret's classes before knows you will be going home with finished cards and a head full of new ideas!
	FROM THE MAILBAG:  Q. I would like to purchase your Sage stamp, but I don't like the text you have on there.  Do you have it without the text? A. Technically the answer is no we do not.  However, in a sense we do...please see the next item for a complete explanation.
	ASK EMILY: Many stampers play around with trying to sell their cards as a small business venture.   Emily Hull is one of the few that I have seen who has been very successful at it.   She is also the artist behind many of the original images in our line.  You are welcome to direct questions to her.  She will not be able to answer each one personally, however, she will pick one and address it here.  So, just Ask Emily! Last week, on a sunny fall afternoon, I was in the studio assisting a customer with the Cling Mount System. She was new to the system and seemed very enthusiastic to get stamping. When it came time for her to choose her images, she brought up a very good point. She had chosen one of our newest images- the Thistle. It is a beautiful stamp, drawn by a local artist, and it includes one line of text. It simply says "Thistle". Our customer asked: "I love this stamp, but I’m concerned I’ll be limited by the text. Is there any way around it?" This inspired me to explain a bit about masking. Masking is used for a variety of reasons. It is most commonly used when a stamper wants to omit a part or parts of the image. In the demos below, I have illustrated five simple ways of masking. I realize there are many more out there, and every one has their own tricks and tips, but I would like to highlight five of the simplest techniques. 1) Merry Christmas card- In this card, I went a little bleach-crazy! I stamped our new Christmas Message on to a lime green paper, then cut apart the message. The message originally read "Warmest Wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year". When I was finished with it, I had three pieces of paper with three different messages: Merry Christmas, Warmest Wishes, and Happy New Year. This brings me to the easiest way to omit a piece of an image- stamp it then cut it out! 2) Scrapbook detail- "Masking" is required in projects where you want images to fit together without overlapping. I wanted the flowers to spring up on top of the square hearts. However, the stamp I own is a vase with flowers, so I needed to get rid of the vase. I stamped the hearts, and then inked up my vase of flowers stamp. I then applied a small sticky note over the vase. I stamped it and it worked out perfectly- no trace of the vase. Instead of a sticky note you could use masking tape or adhesive paper. 3) I may have made my life a bit more complicated that I had to in #2, however, I just wanted to demonstrate a technique. In this particular case, I would have actually stamped the hearts, then used a scrap of paper to cover them up and stamped the vase of flowers over top. I would have got the same effect for less work! 4) Thistle Card- though this stamp contains text, it is optional whether or not you use it. The text is separate from the image, so it is really easy when you’re applying ink to omit the text. If you slip up, simply wipe off the undesired area. 5) Tree Tag- This stamp is actually my new To/From gift tag. I own two stamps of this image. One is the original, and the other I carefully cut out the words "To/From" with an Exacto knife. (Be Careful!) I have to admit; I have done this to a couple of my stamps then regretted it down the road. It’s easier & cheaper to alter unmounted stamps! Have fun & remember: It’s not too soon to start your Christmas Cards! If you have a question for Emily, email her at oldisland@saltspring.com.
	EMILY'S WEBSITE:  Emily has her own website!  So, if you are not going to have a chance to make all of your Christmas cards this year, you can still send them handmade ones.  Emily can help out, or perhaps you would just like to see more of her work.  You can check it out at:                                             http://members.shaw.ca/funkyboldbright/
	THE WEBSITE:  I have added 8 new stamps to the Latest Images page.  Six of them are new Christmas stamps.  I once again up-dated the discontinued page with regards to availability.  We had a large inventory, however, we are selling out of many of the images.  In honour of Kirsten, I have placed two frog drawings on the Drawing Board.  The first is a new drawing by our own Bonnie Curran, and the other is an old drawing I have had for a long time from Vicky Earl.  See what you think. Happy Stamping!  - Steve Mueller