The Blogger's Swap is Back!

Please join me this Spring as I celebrate all the wonderful stamping bloggers out there! I just hosted a 2nd Splitcoast Bloggers swap. All the cards have shipped out and people are starting to receive them! I wanted to post one of my swap cards for you today. The rest of the cards will be posted through the following months.

Who doesn't love a little blue bird for spring! I am in lust with this Swirly Birdie Stamp designed by Rhonna Farrer for Autumn Leaves. It's an Acrylic Stamp (I know; shock... horrors!); and I was an Acrylic virgin until this card! I tested several different inks before I tackled this project and decided that my Staz-On worked the best with both of these images (the swirl is by Rhonna Farrer too), and not just because I was stamping on Window Sheets and using Bleach... but straight stamping on paper; Staz-On tested best in my personal trials.

I will have to share the ink tests with you all over at Craft Critique in the coming weeks. Meanwhile I would love to know what inks you prefer with your Acrylic Stamps. Feel free to leave your ink comments below. I'd love to know if you have unique ink preferences for specific brands of acrylics... they all seem to feel so different to me.

Let's take a closer look at the birdie on the card. He was stamped in Black Staz-On on Pretty in Pink Cardstock and then bleached out. I just painted him with bleach and used a small brush. No need to worry about the ink, I was able to paint right over it without fading. In fact I liked the look of white bleaching being outside the stamped image as it was more obvious after filling it in with color that it was initially bleached out. Tip: use a "Splashless Bleach" for more control... it feels more like a paint. And speed up the drying with a heat tool, or at least let them sit overnight before painting so the bleach evaporates out of the paper... otherwise your fill in color will fade.

After beaching I simply painted him in with my Aqua Pen and Cool Caribbean Reinker. I love how he turned out!


The rest of the card is your basic window/transparency card; the oval was created with the Coluzzle... which I love. The "window" is a clear transparency (from an office supply store) stamped with staz-on ink with the uber cool Rhonna Farrer Swirls! Gosh I love those swirls! The doodling around the oval frame was done with the amazing Sakura Glaze Pen; which I now sleep with under my pillow I love it so much! I will be chatting more about the glaze pen on Craft Critique THIS week! :)

The sentiment "spread your wings" (thanks Seewah!) is by the ultra funky company Just Johanna which I am receintly obsessed with. Oh, so many stamps so little time! The sentiment is stamped on the inside of the card and peeks through the window. Black brads and black grosgrain ribbon add the finishing touches!

Please be sure to check back later this week for my first "Featured Stamper" post, and a fun giveaway to help celebrate all your favorite bloggers and learn about some new blogs out there! :)

Happy Stamping!