Ink Swatch

We have all seen paint chips in the hardware or home improvement store, and we've all seen fabric swatches and even cardstock swatches. The other day, I was in a stamping store (Stamping Details in Poway, CA) and they had some tags which they had turned into ink swatches! What a cool idea! I am forever forgetting which inks I have and which I don't, so I thought a swatch would be a cool thing to carry in my purse. However, it needs to be small and durable.

I had a Petite (key chain) album from MOSD in my stash and thought it would make a cool swatch book for my Tim Holtz Distress Inks. The album is 2x2 and comes with two clear covers and four chipboard pages. I used some scrap chipboard left over from another MOSD project to make some extra pages for my swatch book. The chipboard was easy to cut with my Fiskars trimmer and I rounded the corners with my Round-it-All tool.

I covered each page with white cardstock (from the scrap bag!) and then stamped an image with each ink color, then labeled the pages with a Zig pen. Easy peasy! I used some black Staz-On ink to decorate the little clear acrylic covers.

When I add more ink colors, I can just add more pages! And this is small enough to stick in my purse so that when I'm in a craft store I don't have to try to remember which ink I still need!

And aren't these Hero Arts stamps to die for?! I've had these ladies in my stash for a long time and they are just too fun for words!

I hope you have fun making your own swatch book! MOSD products are such fun to play with and the possibilities are endless!

Happy Easter to everyone! May the Lord bless each of you!

- Gloria

Thinking outside the album...

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. We're hosting the meal at our house for the first time in several years. I used a MOSD Clearly Cute Petite album to make a couple of easy additions to my holiday table.

To start, I created a wine glass marker with one of the the acrylic covers:



Here's how I did it:

1. Stamp acrylic with a mix of alcohol inks to add color.

2. When dry, apply rub on.

3. Emboss edges of acrylic with gold embossing powder. (Tip: Go for less is more and don't put your heat tool too close! It may take a bit longer, but you won't melt your acrylic!)

4.Add a metal wire ring and some beads, available at M's.


Looking for something to do with the chipboard pages that come with the album? I made a tag to use as a napkin ring:



As you can see, it is easy to add some homemade charm to your holiday table.
Now if I could just find my tablecloth, I'd be all set...

I sent them other Sitck Ons - I promise!

Lots of fun this week and last week with the Halloween Stick Ons, but I did send the awesome MOSD designers other Stick Ons... snowflakes for example!

Here is a quick project I created using the covers to the Clearly Cute Petite Album and Snowflake stick ons in blue, pink and purple.

(White snowflakes are so "out" this year, lol!)

A little ornament :

And a gift tag:

The ornament is decorated with stickes and for the tag I just used a purple fine tip sharpie marker... easy and fun!