Setting up Stamp Scrap Art Tour Philadelphia '09

Ever wonder what we do with all those cards that all of us from Starving Artistamps have made? Most of them go on display at the various stamp and scrapbook expos we do around the country.  I told the team I would take some pictures of the new display boards I had just put together with some of our (mine, the team and the guest designers) newest cards.  

Yesterday we got to set up about 2 hours before it was supposed to open.  We managed to get into the hall early and were lucky enough to be able to drive our truck and trailer right into the expo hall (a major treat as it save a lot of running back and forth wheeling heavy boxes and racks over to our assigned location)   Even with saving all that time and energy it still took us eleven... yes... ELEVEN hours to set up our booth.  Our space was 10' deep by 20' across.  And the answer to the age old question just how many products can you fit into 200 square feet of space?  

This much:

part of the back wall displays

My demo table in the middle front of the booth

Shot of my new Wall O' cards (work in progress)

I need to get a smaller sign, once I get it I will

have room for another 2 boards on this backdrop.

I have another 10'x10' backdrop which can hold

 9 more display boards for future expansion :o)

John covering the displays for the night before we got kicked out since set up was over.

Assorted clear stamps and stickers

CLOSE UPS OF SOME OF THE NEW BOARDS:

A few of the DoodleFactory sets on a hanging rack.

left half of back wall displays

far right side of the booth, the outer wall is being remodeled.

Prima flowers, just because John did a fantastic job 

making everything so straight and organized.

Im writing this from the hotel.  Its about 10:30 pm and the first day of the show is now over. Tomorrow we have another full day and then about 3 1/2 hours to pack up an break down the displays before we head home.  It was a really good show for us, especially good considering that this was the first year in this new location. We are especially grateful given the country's current economic worries. 

Back in November we did a stamp show out here on Long Island and several cards were stolen from our display, you can read all about it on our company blog ( www.starvingartistamps.blogspot.com under the post:  Missing, heartbroken )  anyway, so one of the cards that were taken was one of my demonstration cards. We have our 2009 show's coming up starting this weekend so I figured I'd better get up to the studio and recreate my card. While I was up there I managed to make a few more. 

All of these cards use Starving Artistamps stamps and the Square tile mosaic for the backgrounds.  

It's the same basic formula for all the cards (you can find full color step by step instructions on the website for this technique under NO Effort Tile mosaics instructions www.starvingartistamps.com)  I will put a general step by step written instruction at the bottom of this post but if you are like me and prefer to visualize check out the website. 

Stamps used: square tile mosaic, sm. and lg. dark sea horses, spatter stamp.

Stamps used: square tile mosaic, geode from fossils sheet, lily, sm. butterflies.

Stamps used:  Large butterfly, spatter stamp, square tile mosaic, sentiment from sweet and simple sentiments set.

Stamps used: geode, nautilus, large and small plesiosaur, square tile mosaic, sentiment from urban sentiments set 2.

Stamps used: Faith sentiments set, large natural leaf, splatter stamp, square tile mosaic.

How to make mosaic backgrounds:

Flip your mosaic tile stamp on its back, rubber side up.

Ink your stamp with versamark, clear embossing powder, or posh irresistible clear ink.

you can now add any light colors of PIGMENT ink on top of the clear ink or you can use a pattern or texture stamp to stamp some colors on top of the versamark ink.  

Add more images if you want, like I did with the leaves.  

Do not stamp words, numbers or other images that need to point in a certain direction (like clock faces) because you are stamping on the stamp everything will be reversed. 

Once you are done stamping and coloring on the tiles you can stamp out your creation onto regular cardstock.

since all the inks are slow drying, you can cover the tiles in clear powder and emboss them. 

Idea to note: you can also stamp more images on top of the tiles once you stamp the tiles. Stamp in pigment ink and then clear emboss the entire thing. (like I did in the fossil card) 

Feel free to email me if you have any questions!  strvingartistmp@aol.com

2 sketches 4 you

Starving Artistamps is the 2 sketches for you challenge blog sponsor this week:  http://www.2sketches4you.blogspot.com/

these next 5 cards are all done using this sketch:

I really enjoy using sketches, I find it really frees up the mind! 

Some of these came out a lot closer to the sketch a couple were a little "looser" interpretation. 

This is probably one of my top favorites. 

I used the new Basic Grey Marrakech pad and those colors make me so happy! 

Products used:

Basic Grey Marrakech 6x6 pad

Stamps: Starving Artistamps Sweet and Simple Sentiments, Percy SA DoodleFactory Animals collection.


Lots of layering going on with this one. 

I wish I did the Martha Stewart fence punch in a darker color. 

But other than that I thought this card was nice and cheery.

Supplies used:

Basic Grey paper 

Stamps: Starving Artistamps Faith Sentiments set, Autumn sunflower set.

Stamps used:

Starving Artistamps All about Easter sentiment, bird tracks, and SA "twee" from the country set and DoodleFactory Easter for the cracked egg. 

This is another top on my list of favorites. I just love Sir Silimus. 

Stamps used: 

Starving Artistamps Western Flourish background, Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Fairytale set (knight and steed)

Other: Quickutz dragonfly alphabet covered with diamond glaze. 

Ok so I strayed a little with this one! 

The cowboy, bronco, saddle (hand made) and saddle pad (basic grey Marrakech) 

were all layered separate pieces. 

All stamps Starving Artistamps: cowhide (background), bronco, cowboy, howdy sentiment.

praying for you cards

Two new cards I made today....

Products used:

All stamps Starving Artistamps www.starvingartistamps.com

Simple vases set and  sweet and simple sentiments set

Paper used Basic Grey blush

Flower Soft colors bright pink, baby pink, shamrock green

Stamps:

Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory "Snoop" the lamb (Easter collection)

Sentiment from sweet and simple sentiments set.

Easter

Poor Sven he comes home from a hard day working in the field to find Freckles his only daughter being courted by Georgie the town heartthrob.  At least they can agree on one thing, Freckles is some bunny special!

All stamps Starving Artistamps Easter DoodleFactory Collection www.starvingartistamps.com

I did this for the paper craft planet Starving Artistamps paper piecing challenge.  

All the stamps are Starving Artistamps (fresh and funky farm sentiment, Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra Starving Artistamps DoodleFactory Animal collection) www.starvingartistamps.com

There are a couple of neat things about this card. 

First is the go wild letters.  They are quickkuts alphabet dragonfly. I cut them twice, glued them together offset, and then coated them with diamond glaze to make them look like expoxy stickers.  

Another cool thing about this card is the matching animal print buttons. I used a circle punch to punch out discs from the paper under the animals, then glued the discs under the clear button.