Since its been a lot cooler this week there's a strong temptation to veg under a blanket on the sofa, so I've not done much crafting. I've been procrastinating starting on my printers tray - it needs a bit of a clean which would mean spending time in the kitchen where there's no radiator.
The good news is, if our house purchase goes through, we'll have a nice open plan kitchen diner and I won't have to put up with a cold dingy kitchen anymore. We're feeling a bit more hopeful about it working out although it's definitely not certain yet. Basically, the current owners took down the supporting wall between the kitchen and dining room and put in replacements supporting joists without getting building regulation approval. It's probably fine but, there's a risk that the beams aren't sufficient and the house could actually be structurally unsafe. Luckily they have agreed to get it checked and get the retrospective approval so we just have to keep our fingers tightly crossed that it turns out to be OK. 

So anyway, I just have a quick tag to show you today. I feel a bit like it needs something else, but I'm not sure what, so i'll leave it as it is for now. It might have worked better on smoother card too.
 Its been a while since I've done a tag or entered any challenges so I'm killing two birds with one stone here.

Challenges I'm entering this in are:
The Stampman - 'use red'
Simon Says Stamp and Show - 'anything but a card'

Right, next job - make an effort to start commenting again!

Sarah
xx

New Year, New Project!

A slightly belated Happy New Year to all! Hopefully it will be a good one.

For the start of the 2012 I thought I needed to give myself a bit of a challenge, a crafty project I've fancied trying for a while:

It's a real vintage printers tray, purchased off Ebay and it arrived yesterday - I was a little overexcited :0)

It needs a bit of cleaning and I'm debating over removing some of the dividers to create larger sections, but it has some lovely brass details which will look gorgeous polished up.

I might have mentioned in a previous post that hubby and I are hopefully buying a house, so I guess I got the printers tray with the idea of it being a nice interesting bit of decor for the new house. However, things with the house aren't progressing quite as well as we hoped, so like the weather, I'm feeling a bit bleak about it today (seriously spooky stormy light outside at the moment!). Going to keep my fingers tightly crossed because I really don't want to have to start the house hunt all over again.

Anyway, at least I've got my crafty project to keep my mind off the house for now. The only question is: 95 sections - where the heck do I start?

xx

A mirror for a wanderer

I'm aiming to make quite a few handmade christmas presents this year and one of the things I'm trying is jumping on the bandwagon of decorating Ikea mirror frames. I've seen so many people using them to make some fabulous art and they're an absolute bargain at £1.25 each!

I have various ideas for what to do with the 6 I ended up buying. For the first one I was inspired by an article in this months Craft Stamper magazine where they used reinkers and craft glue to make a fantastic collaged mirror frame. Quite a few papers from my Tim Holtz paper stashes are travel related, so I thought I could do something similar on a travel theme for a globetrotting friend. However, what I ended up with was a much simpler piece than I originally planned...

I started off with a single sheet of map design paper from Tim's Lost and Found paper stash. I cut out the two halves of the globe to use as the main images and used the reverse of the leftover paper to make the background. I edged all the bits in vintage photo and stamped some splatters round the edges of the background pieces.

The mirror frame edges were stained with walnut stain distress stain.

Somehow, I managed to trim the papers so there was a hole in the right place for the mirror, then I glued down the images with matt multi medium.

Using vintage photo distress ink again, I stamped the birds at the top and used a a Tim Holtz mask to create the compass at the bottom, adding the game spinner as a compass pointer.

The strap down one side was made with grunge paper, stained with walnut stain and vintage photo, embossed with a texture fade and highlighted with black soot distress ink and some coppery rub on. I then gave it a coat of multi-medium. Hopefully it looks a bit like leather. The studs are the tops of some brads glued on. The word in the book plate came from the same sheet of paper as the rest of the design.

The final detail was the phrase at the bottom, which I think was perfect for theme of this piece - I used a left over scrap of paper, stamped in vintage photo and clear embossed.

So thats my Holtzian travel mirror and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks for reading, I hope you like this as much as I do :0)

Sarah
xx

Endings or beginnings?

I've been badly neglecting my blog for a while. It's been a busy time with conferences, holidays and bathroom decorating. Also was coming up to the end of my contract at work. Sadly, it ended last friday, so after 5 years in the same place I have to move on... to what I don't yet know.

I've applied for lots of jobs and haven't even had an interview - I work in psychological research and I guess the university research funding cuts have made things a lot more competitive. It's especially difficult because my husbands job means I want to stay in the same part of the country. The academic career path seems to expect people to move around the country (or world!) for years before they can get a permanent job and settle somewhere. I'm not willing to do this and it frustrates me that I end up feeling like I have to apologise for putting my family and personal life before my career.
So I think it's time for plan B... however, having a PhD apparently qualifies me for absolutely nothing in the real world so it might prove a little tricky!

At least having no job means I can make the most of having some inky crafty time. I have endless projects I want to do and xmas cards to make, so I'll definitely be keeping myself busy.

For starters...

This photo frame was lurking in my husbands study. The frame was a faded green and the photo in it was an old and unflattering picture of the two of us from around 10 years ago. It was just crying out to be updated. I used one of my favourite photos from our wedding and the text is the poem (by e. e. cummings) that hubby and I read to each other in the ceremony.

i carry your heart with me 

i carry it in my heart 

i am never without it 

anywhere i go you go,my dear; 

and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling 

i fear no fate for you are my fate,my sweet 

i want no world  for beautiful you are my world, my true 

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant 

and whatever a sun will always sing is you 

here is the deepest secret nobody knows 

here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud 

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; 

 which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide 

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart 

I carry your heart 

i carry it in my heart

Will be back with some more crafty stuff soon

Sarah
xx

Wish upon a star!

It seems to have been ages since I entered any challenges and I know I won't have time for anything next week, so I made this tag to go in three challenges at once!

Firstly, it's for Grungy Monday where we have to use the Tim Holtz technique from 12 tags of Christmas 2010 day 10 (see linky here). This also means I can also enter Simon Says Stamp and Show, where the theme is show a Tim technique.

So I started off playing around with a couple of backgrounds and some embossed acetate/plastic packinging . Then I started thinking what I could do with it (working backwards as usual!). I added a few embellishments and realised that the whole thing reminded me a little of celestial charts - probably more to do with the colour than anything else - and so 'wish upon a star' seemed fitting... perfect for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers wish theme this week.

The tag base was roughly painted with baltic blue fresco finish paint and I tried to rub some off before it dried to give it a more grungy texture. I then sprayed it with some blue/turquoise perfect pearls mist which has given it a wonderful petrol sheen (unfortunately it can't really be seen under the acetate, but I'll definitely be using this paint/pearl combination again). The tag and acetate were cut with Tim's large tag die and the acetate was embossed with a the retro circles embossing folder. The clock faces are cut from some Tim paper stash - I really loved how these looked with the circles on the acetate!

I stamped 'wish' and 'a' onto paper and used with bits from a 'make your own brad' set, and although you can't see it too well in the picture, 'upon' and 'star' are stamped around the edge of two of the clock faces.

So my wish for this week is that all the senseless violence spreading around this country ends soon. They were interviewing two teenage girls on the radio last night who hoped the riots would carry on because it was 'good fun'!!! It really makes me angry how mindless it all is, but I'll stop there before I really start ranting.

That's all for now. Stay safe and stay inky :0)

Sarah
xx

An experiment in vintage colours

I recently came across the work of Polish scrapbooker/artist Anna Dabrowska from the Prima design team (see her work here). I absolutely love the sense of colour and texture in her work - it's seriously gorgeous stuff!

Her work inspired me to try making a card using muted vintagey colours and layers of different textures.

The background was coloured with distress stains / inks (antique linen, vintage photo and victorian velvet) and then I built up a few layers of:

• vellum - coloured with antique linen, stamped with the Tim Holtz Papillon background in a brown archival ink, torn into strips and edged with victorian velvet
• Lace - stained with antique linen and swiped through a bit of victorian velvet on the craft sheet
• Lace effect cream paper ribbon edged with victorian velvet

I swiped a few brush fulls of rock candy crackle paint over parts of the whole thing for extra texture.

The butterflies were cut out of fabric using a Tim Holtz movers and shapers die. The fabric I used was some little squares (perfect size for the dies) that were actually samples of suede sofa fabric I kept from ages ago when we were choosing a new sofa (I new they'd come in handy eventually) - I love the feel of them :0)

I mounted the panel onto a book page distressed with vintage photo distress ink, and then onto a card blank. Finally, I stamped Happy Birthday onto some left over scraps of the book page, painted with a little cream acrylic paint first to lighten the text in the background.

It's a different style than other things I've done and about half way through I thought it was a disaster, but I persevered and now I hope you'll agree it's not actually turned out half bad  :0)

Thanks for stopping by.
xx

Dreaming of butterflies

I fancied trying out a technique from this months Craft Stamper magazine using tissue to build up layers of images and texture, and I just got some Tim Holtz distress stains so I wanted to try them out too.

I started off with a canvas board and swiped it over with the distress stains in wild honey, fired brick and walnut stain. I cut some pieces of heavy TH music print paper using the TH scrollwork on the edge die and coloured these with the wild honey stain before glueing onto the canvas.

Next I added a single layer of tissue over the whole canvas, soaking it on with diluted PVA glue. It wrinkles in places to add texture, and I worked it in around the scrollwork pieces so that they still appear slightly raised. The pattern on the paper is also still visible through the tissue.

Then I stamped my various images (stamps from Paperartsy, Tim Holtz, Debbi Moore) onto more pieces of tissue in black stazon  and glued them onto the canvas in the same way. Thanks to Florence at florenceandfreddie.wordpress.com for the tip of stamping with a layer of foam underneath the tissue for a better print - hop over to her blog to see some gorgeous bottles decorated using a stamped tissue technique.

Once it was all dry, I added some extra colour with the stains and a few more butterflies in black archival ink. Finally I rubbed some gold rub-on colour around the edges and lightly over the rougher bits to emphasize the texture. Oh and at some point I sprayed some heirloom gold perfect pearls over it.

Not too bad for a first attempt I think - the colours look better in real life too.

This last photo is just an ATC I was using to test out some of the techniques before using them on the main canvas, but I quite liked the way it turned out (even if the butterflies have smudges because I used distress ink then went over the top with more glue).

Sarah
xx

Where flowers bloom

When we got back from holiday last weekend our front lawn was a sea of beautiful flowers - white clover, daisies, and what my Dad tells me is birdsfoot trefoil. Unfortunately our neighbours are very keen gardeners whose lawns are always perfect - literally they go round the edges with scissors! - and have been known to moan to our landlord when we don't keep the garden as neat as they'd like. So the pretty flowers had to be mown :-( It was almost heartbreaking, but I'm sure they'll grow back pretty quickly.

I took this photo before we got the lawnmower out (sorry for the quality - I don't think photography is really my strong point):

Anyway, this inspired me to make a flowery tag. I coloured an ATC sized piece of white card with butterscotch and stream alcohol inks, edged it in vintage photo distress ink and stamped 'Where flowers bloom...' a few times also in vintage photo. The stamp was from the flower fairies lavender set by Crafters Companion, which I got as part of some blog candy from Craft Stamping Magazine. When I first saw it I didn't think I'd use it as cutesy isn't really my style, but I've ended using it a few times now.

The flowers were cut from grungepaper using the Tim Holtz tattered florals die and coloured using alcohol inks (butterscotch, and wild plum) and distress inks (wild honey and vintage photo). I also stamped a Hero Arts script stamp over them using various different inks. The letters spelling flower were stamped in black in the center of each one.

I curled the petals a little and mounted them to the background card using foam pads. The whole thing was added to a plain kraft tag and to finish it off I added some ribbon and an acetate butterfly (stamped from the Tim Holtz Papillon set in black stazon and coloured with wild plum alcohol ink).

I think this tag fits the new Sunday Stampers challenge over at Hels Sheridans blog. The theme is writing and this tag has both the script stamp on the flowers and the phrase stamped on the background.
And the current challenge at the Stamp Man is alcohol inks so I'm going to enter it in that too.
Oooh and not to forget the Grungy Monday Challenge at Studio L3 where the theme is also Alcohol Inks - check out Tim Holtz's demo here!
...And finally Simon Says Stamp and Show - A word!

Thanks for reading and I hope you're having a good Sunday

Sarah
xx

Altered tin

After tea the other night I spotted the empty tin of moroccan spice mix we'd used and thought it would be perfect for altering. After soaking it for a while to get rid of the spice smell (not entirely sure I succeeded) I set about to prettify it.

I used some Anna Griffin paper to cover the sides of the tin, distressing the edges with vintage photo distress ink. The flower on top used some of the same paper plus some grunge paper, cut with the Tim Holtz tattered florals die, again inked with vintage photo.  Before attaching the flower with the a decorative brad I stamped a flourish in black stazon on the plastic center.
Finally, I stamped some flower images in black stazon round the edge of the tin lid and added some brown ribbon to finish it off. 

Simple but pretty.

Thought I'd enter it in the Try It On Tuesday challenge which is altered boxes this week.

xx

Dreams

I have realised I have a (bad?) habit of making bits and bobs of backgrounds or embellishments with no clear idea, or no idea at all, of what I'm going do with it. 

I just got the Tim Holtz tattered florals die and of course had to test it out. I had some vague recollection of a challenge with 'red' as the theme and that stuck in my head even though I quickly realised that it was the Sunday Stampers theme and had just ended :-(... So I cut the flowers out of grunge paper and inked three of them with fired brick and black soot distress ink. I stamped a script design in black on edge of the largest flower and curled the petals - love the way you can do this with grunge paper and it stays in shape! I added a large brad as the centre and a tiny metal 'dream' tag.

I was really pleased with the flower, but had no idea what to do with it. After rummaging aimlessly through my craft drawers looking for inspiration for a while I found this little frame which is actually a magnet. It seemed to suit the style of the flower and together they had a dramatic gothic feel which I liked. Maybe it's a bit of a cop out - just sticking the flower in a fancy frame - but I love it.

I'd like to enter this into the Try it on Tuesday challenge with the theme of dreams.


Sarah
xx

Time piece

The Dragons Dream Tag It On challenge theme this week is 'Time Piece' and, having plenty of clock related bits and bobs at the moment I jumped at the opportunity.

Umm, not entirely sure it went very well....

I started off with a tag cut from some lovely diamond patterned paper which I embossed with the Tim Holtz pocket watches embossing folder.  I lightly inked the raised areas with brushed corduroy and black soot distress inks. At this point I really liked the look of the tag but wasn't really sure where to go with it.

After I while I thought along the 'time flies' route and stamped some Tim Holtz birds onto acetate with black stazon.  This really started to give me a feel for the way I wanted the tag to go - a dark 'gotham cityesque' feel (the tags are darker than they look in the photos)- but it needed a focus point... Umbrella man seemed perfect and the phrase 'no time to stand and stare' came to mind.

So... finished tag no.1:

But I didn't like it - the phrase was too messy and took up too much space, it just looked too busy. So I tried again - this time doing all the stamping onto acetate which was overlaid onto the clock pattern tag. Unfortunately, I couldn't get as clear and crisp an image onto the acetate as I had before (any tips will be gratefully received), so as a quick fix I coloured the faint images with permanent marker (??). I wrote the phrase freehand onto the acetate.

Finished tag no 2:

I do sort of like this one better, but it's still not right (and I'm sure permanent marker was not the best tool for the job!).  Think I'm going to give up on this one - nice idea, poor execution!

Hopefully, today will go better :0)

Smile!

After being away since last wednesday I got home yesterday and it didn't take me long to get back to some crafty time.

I was having a play with a new Tim Holtz embossing folder and this card was the result. The tag was coloured with broken china and stormy sky distress inks before embossing, then I inked the raised areas of the embossed design with brushed corduroy ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I then got a bit stuck... until I found a bit of card that I'd used to test the on the edge steampunk die, which seemed to work quite well layered onto the tag. I finished off the card with the smile stamp panel coloured and heat embossed in the same colours as the tag - sort of inspired by Tim Holtz's rusted enamel technique from his compendium of curiosities book.

I'm not sure about the overall card but I love the texture and colour combination on the tag. Like quite a few things recently I did the background then found it really hard to bring myself to do anything with it because I found it so appealing on its own. I just love the effects I can get with combinations of embossing in the Big Shot, inking and heat embossing. It's so much fun just playing with different colours and textures - it really makes me smile :0)

One for sorrow, two for joy

It's taken me all afternoon and a few odd hours here and there during the week, but I have finally finished my entry for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week. It's the first time I've entered this challenge, but I really liked the theme and one idea just got stuck in my head. The theme was 'Old Wives Tales' so after some thought I remembered the rhyme about the meaning of seeing different numbers of magpies.

One for sorrow

Two for joy

Three for a girl

For for a boy

Five for silver 

Six for gold

Seven for a secret never to be told

I think maybe what brought this to mind was seeing magpies in our garden a lot the last few weeks, usually one at a time so I really hope the rhyme isn't right :0)

Anyway, I think it fits the theme quite well and was perfect inspiration for a mini ATC sized album thingie.

  


Here's each page individually:



The skeleton image I used on the first page is from a fantastic stamp by Kaycee crafts. They have a great range of clear stamps with some more unusual images. I discovered them through their Ebay shop, but they have their own website too which is slightly cheaper (although the prices are very reasonable anyway).



The small lettering I used on all of these was from a little wooded alphabet stamp set from Hampton Arts I've had for ages. I'd never used them because I thought they'd be too fiddly - sort of true if you want the letters perfectly aligned, but for a more grungy look they are actually great. I'd been intending to  get rid of them in my next clear out, but I'll be hanging onto them now.


I love the background for the silver page This was white card coloured with dusty concord and vintage photo distress inks, embossed with a Tim Holtz texture fade, then silver ink swiped over and clear heat embossed. It looks so much better in real life than in my rubbishy photo.

I'm sure there are more lines to the rhyme, but this will have to do for now.

Sarah
xx

Crafty storage

A little while ago we had the inlaws visiting for the weekend, so we went for a day out to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. It was a bit cold and grey outside, but the inside of the hall was really interesting.

My husband was playing around with his new toy - a lensBaby creative lens for his camera. It gives some cool blurry arty effects. He took these wonderful photographs while we were there:



They were taken in a room where the walls were lined floor to ceiling with drawers, originally used for storing all title deeds for the land and businesses the estate owned. I couldn't help thinking it would have been great for storing craft materials (or possibly shoes :0)) I've always had a bit of an obsession with little drawers - is it strange to get pleasure from organising things?

Anyway, Hubby and I went to TK Maxx this weekend looking for a silicon baking tray.  Well, we found the baking tray, but I spotted a couple of storage bits that I couldn't resist. Including these gorgeous little drawers that really reminded me of the room from Hardwick Hall. They look almost antique and were only £12! Perfect for storing some crafty bits.



I love the homeware section at TK Maxx, it has so much slightly random and quirky stuff. I also found this lovely basket, perfect for storing all my dies and embossing folders.

Have to admit craft storage is taking over my house :0)

Sarah
xx

Time flies...when you're having fun!

My birthday is in a few weeks and my present from my husband was delivered on friday - a Big Shot and some Tim Holtz alterations dies and embossing folders to go with it! I was so stupidly excited that he, very kindly, let me open it early, so I've spent the weekend playing about with it.

My favourite things so far are the pocket watches embossing folder and the fanciful flight die. After a few test runs with cardstock I tried cutting butterfly wings from some of the plastic packaging  and embossing them. Here they are (some detail coloured with a promarker):

I rather like the effect. Not entirely sure what I'll do with them yet, although I have an idea ;0)

Next I found some thick speckly brown card which embosses brilliantly. I swiped the raised bits with clear embossing ink and brushed over gold perfect pearls. I absolutely love this effect - might be doing this a lot! I also tried spraying some copper mist on as well - even better - it gives a wonderful rusty effect. It'll be perfect for the steampunk cogs and gears too!

Finally, I cut some butterfly wings from script patterned paper and made a butterfly using a Tim Holtz spinner to make up the body. I added this to a piece of the pocket watches embossed card and placed them on a distress inked background to create this final piece:

I think I may have a new addiction :0) 

Dragons Dream - Perfect Purples

Purple is my most favourite colour and has been since I was very little. Occasionally I get tempted away by teal, but I always end up back at purple (almost all my clothing is purple, turquoise or black!). So, when I saw that Dragons Dream Tag It On  challenge theme this week was purple of course I couldn't resist!

I thought I'd have a go at the perfect distress technique from the Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities. The idea is to stamp an image in distress ink, cover it with perfect pearls, then mist with water to set the perfect pearls and wick the distress ink out a bit from underneath. This is what I came up with:

I don't think I made a very good job of it - the ink colour under the gold perfect pearls blended too much into the background. I still like the overall effect though, even if, like most things I do, its not quite how it was intended.

Sarah
xx

Gothic birdies!

Yet another gorgeous sunny day (you'd never believe it was a bank holiday weekend!), so, just for a bit of contrast, I decided to make a dark, moody, gothic tag.

I'd like to enter it into the Dragons Dream Tag It On challenge this week. The theme is birds (love this theme!) and it just so happened that I rediscovered some lovely bird rub-ons in my craft drawers yesterday. I hope this is within the rules as the bird itself isn't a stamped image, just the background details!

I created the background with stormy sky and dusty concord distress inks, stamped the frame and script stamps (from Tim Holtz) in embossing ink and heat embossed with clear powder, then wiped over with black soot distress ink. I'm really pleased with how this worked out. I then added the bird rub-on (which I think was from the periphery range by Basic Grey), a bit of lace and some dangly beads.

On another bird related note, I just have to post this gorgeous picture my husband created this morning! He started off with a simple photo of a crow in a tree and added colour and texture layers. I think it's fantastic and he likes it so much he's ordered a print of it to hang on our wall. It's not his usual style, but it's exactly the sort of picture I love.

Hope everyone's having a lovely easter!

xx

Sunday stampers - Love theme

Last sunday, the Sunday Stampers theme on Hels Sherdians blog was 'Love' - using the techniques and products that we love (can't believe how gorgeous her printer tray is!). I thought I'd have a go at something a bit different so I made this LOVE hanging using some of my current favourite bits and bobs.

I started off with chipboard letters and covered them in some wonderful papers from the Moulin Rouge range by Prima. This is one of my favourite ranges at the moment as I love the decadent style and the beautiful shades of blue and deep pink in this range. I inked the edges with stormy sky distress ink and used a Tim Holtz grungy text stamp to add some more detail to the L and O. I used glossy accents to add texture to the spotty paper on the V.

I'm currently a little obsessed with birds and butterflies, especially the butterflies and moths on the Tim Holtz crowded attic papers. I cut out a few butterflies and a bird stamped from the Tim Holtz urban grunge set and added these to the letters. Finally, I inked up a butterfly in stormy sky and stamped a swirl over it in gold (you can't really see the design but it gives a nice gold shimmer at certain angles).

Finding a way of fixing the letters together with what I had in was a bit of challenge, but I quite like the way its turned out with the pink wire that matched the pink in the Moulin Rouge papers.

Whats cool about the chipboard letters I used is they came in square pieces so they leave square frames to do something with as well. I'm thinking I might but some little photos in the letter spaces. Hopefully I'll have the time next week and will be able to show you the finished piece.

Finally, this weeks tip of the week is don't craft on the sofa - or at least don't use squeezy glue bottles! I squeezed the glossy accents bottle a little too hard and it went all over my hands then dripped onto my jeans and the sofa, Oops!

xx

Embossing on a sunday

I've been having a lovely relaxing sunday, basking in the glorious sunshine though the windows and making some ATCs.

I have a drawer full of embossing powders but haven't used any of them for ages - mainly because its very difficult to do heat embossing on a lap tray in front of the telly :-(  However, the latest challenge in on the Stamp Man Challenge blog was embossing...and I just got the Tim Holtz compendium of curiosities book... so I was inspired to have a go at some new techniques.

Here are two ATCs I made (I think I like the red one best!):

I'm going to enter them into the Stamp Man challenge and I'm also going to enter the blue one into the Sundays Stampers challenge (although it's definitely not a patch on the gorgeous tag Hels Sheridan has made!)

To make the background I stamped the script and embossed it with clear embossing powder, then inked over the top with distress inks. I created the hearts from some Maya Road chipboard hearts and the triple embossing technique described here (thanks to Vix for the fantastic tutorial). I love the texture it creates. The blue heart was using some moonglow embossing powder and has produced a lovely shimmery effect thats maybe a bit hard to see in the photos.

On an unrelated note, tip of the week is that glossy photo paper and rubber stamping don't mix - unless the aim is to spend 20 minutes scrubbing your stamps to get rid of the layer of paper now stuck to them!  Ooops!  Should I have realised that would happen?

xx