No Time To Stamp?

A boutique gift item? Sure looks like it!!! What fun to change a $4 Wal-mart bag of potpourri (but it does smell delicious!!!) into an item that looks like it came from an expensive boutique!!!This was super quick and easy with the use of 2 items to make this a standout gift — the personalization with a JustRite Monogram Stamper C30 Kitand all that luscious ribbon!!! Take a look:

Isn’t this just so pretty!!! I love it just as much as I loved making it. For this project I used the smaller of the self-inking monogram stampers by JustRite, the C-30. In all my past projects using the self-inker I have used the C-45, which is the same size as all the original round wood stampers. But today I wanted a monogram a bit smaller, so the C-30 was the perfect choice at 1 3/16″. I have never used my C-30 before, and as it came with a double sided pad that was filled with black ink on one side and empty on the other, I decided to fill the empty side with SU Handsome Hunter ink. I have had great success using the SU ink refills in all my pads for the self-inking stampers by JustRite. Here’s a series of pictures to show you how easily it is done:

Photo 1 shows the ink pad with no ink on the side you are seeing. The other side has the black ink from the factory. I took the pad out of the C-30 to ink it up. Photo 2 shows you how I have begun to fill the pad with drops of ink. It saturates in quite quickly, but if it beads up, just wait a few seconds and keep going until your pad appears to be evenly saturated with ink, as shown in photo 3. Now, I’ve heard it said that you are supposed to wait a bit for the ink to evenly saturate and settle before using your stamper; however, I haven’t really found that to be necessary when using the SU ink refills. I usually stamp within a couple minutes. The first 2 or 3 images may be splotchy, but they clear up immediately!!! On this stamp today, my S was not accepting the ink evenly, so that told me that it needed to be conditioned, or roughed up a bit to give the rubber some tooth to better hold onto the ink. I just went over it with a pencil eraser very quickly, and that did the trick. However, on some of the larger stamps with more surface area to cover with ink, it may be necessary to condition with something a bit more rough. Just realize if ink is beading up on your rubber, you need to condition your rubber to give it a bit more tooth. And as far as actually using your C-30, it works just like the C-45. Taylor over at Taylored Expressions has prepared a perfect video to show you how to do this if you aren’t familiar, and you can see Taylors video here.

Once my Monogram was stamped, I used all punches on this project, making it super quick and easy. The monogram itself was punched with the SU 1 1/4″ punch, the matting was punched with the SU 1 3/8″ punch, and the scallop was punched with the SU round scallop punch. After adhering all layers together, I pierced the scallops. The small yellow punch is my Deco Corner punch by All Night Media. I can’t even tell you how old this punch is — I think it was one of the first I ever purchased when I began to stamp maybe 10 years ago. I used it to punch the corners. If you have any of those great new Spellbinders dies, those would work wonderfully for a project such as this!!! Here’s a closeup of the monogram:

And all that great ribbon is my new favorite, 1.5″ wide grosgrain by May Arts. Don’t you just love it!!! Here’s a close up of the card, which is 3.5″ wide x 4 high. Such a fun project!!! See how the ribbon is wrapped around the card?

• Stamps: Monogram Stamper C-30 Kit by JustRite

• Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgundy, Handsome Hunter, Crafty Secrets Earthy Pad

• Ink: SU Handsome Hunter

• Accessories: May Arts Ribbon, SU Taffeta, SU Brads, Mounting Tape, Piercer and Mat Pack, SU Punches: 1 1/4″, 1 3/8″, Scallop. All Night Media Deco Corner Punch.

Thank you so much for stopping in to look!!! I’ll be back tomorrow with all the Stamp Simply Designers with another fun challenge!!! Hope to see you then!!! Have a great day!!!