Before another year passes...

When a friend first introduced me to card making, I didn't realize how much I would enjoy it. Not only have I made new friends, but there is an abundance of 'stuff' to try out and play with. When I was a tole and decorative art teacher, I looked forward to a new pattern book release, or a new paint product. How I loved finding a new paint product, or technique and sitting down to push all the boundaries.

These days, I look forward to playing with a new die, or feeling the hand of a new paper product. And rubber stamps?  Oh my, don't even get me started. I can hardly wait for a new release of Hanko Designs paper and then I just want to look at each and memorize the design before I dare cut into a piece.

I am very happy to find a new way to be creative. It was very hard to give up teaching paint classes and not be able to manipulate a brush. I still miss painting very much. It's been a slow learning process, but then I stop and realize how often I fall into my pushing boundaries fugue and and how quickly time can get away from me.

Recently, I purchased a MISTI.  I was a little behind the times, mainly because I would not allow myself to watch all the YouTube gift guide videos during the holidays :). The good thing is that inventory was up and I received mine very quickly. I LOVE this thing! It won't completely replaced my Stamp-a-ma-jig, but it has been a God-send to me when using a layered stamp set. It is not hard to use, easy to figure out how to use it, and the results are fantastic.

I do use the plastic from my Stamp-a-ma-jig when I want to test the placement of a new layer, and Jennifer McGuire has a blog post about printing a guide on a transparency sheet here (She also has more videos highlighting the MISTI.)  This really comes in handy when you are using red rubber cling mounted stamps. You can't see through the stamp so placement of the different layers is difficult. By using even just a clear piece of plastic, you can lay it over your project to help line up the next stamp. Once you've placed your stamp correctly, you can proceed with multiple stamping of the same image, perfectly aligned, over and over again!

I hope you get a chance to try this tool.. it has given me the confidence to use all those stamp sets I've collected and taken all the frustration away.

Enough rambling from me for now… I will try to post some photos of some of the cards I've made using the MISTI soon.

Happy inking,

Cathy