Who Are You Calling Crafty?

So I am taking a class from Craft Tech University on Saturday with Samantha Star.  Since it has been over 4 years since I bought anything stamp related I needed to buy some supplies.  I figured no problem I would just go to the scrapbooking store.  Did I mention it has been close t0 4 years since I last stepped foot in the scrapbooking store?  Well it is closed, it closed in March 2009.  So Savannah no longer has a scrapbooking store (at least according to Google or my knowledge) to buy items I needed.  Yes we have Michaels but I would much rather have a root canal than drive out to Michaels and beat off little old ladies for scrapbooking supplies.  I turned to Ebay for all my scrapbooking needs.  I found an awesome store Simon Says Stamps and purchased almost everything from them (I need to get a heat embossing gun by Saturday). 

The package came today and I was thrilled until I realized they sent me the refills instead of the pads for the Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I checked my order and they substituted but they knocked $10.00 off my bill and gave me a coupon for the next time I shop.  I wasn’t upset, a little disappointed but knowing me I would have still ordered it anyways.   I figured there had to be something I could do.  I did call the company just to see if they had them in stock, they were super nice, apologized for not having the pads and offered the following solution, after I figured it out .

Before I called the company – I Googled how to make an ink pad and there was nothing.  I wanted the raised ink pads so it would be similar to the pads they will be using on Saturday.  Then I remembered that I had some old dried Dollar Store ink pads that I never got rid of.  I took those to the bathroom sink and washed them out with soap and water.  I let the “pad” dry and then glued it back down to the platform with Quick Dry Tacky Glue.  One it was set I added the ink to the ink pad.  To my amazement it works GREAT!!!  I now wish I would have bought 15 more or at least one more for the blue.  I might run to the Dollar Store and see if they still sell these ink pads and if they do pick several more up for future Tim Holtz Distress Ink purchases.

I do have to play with them a little more I think I might have added too much ink to them but I am pretty sure they will work nicely for Saturday.  My daughter tested them out and she loves my “new” stamp pads and the “glimmer mist”.

The other thing I needed was Glimmer Mist – I have a hard time spending $5 – 7.00 for a 2 oz. bottle of something that I’m not sure I am going to like (call me cheap, I don’t care).  I think glimmer mist is cool but I personally am not a glimmer type of girl (shiny but not glimmer).  I once again turned to Google and found The Frugal Crafter.  I was so excited but there was one problem, I needed Pearl Ex.  When I made my order on Ebay I also bought some Perfect Pearls by Ranger, they were on sale for $1.50  I figured if nothing else I could add them to my watercolors.   I was not expecting them to be just like Pearl Ex a beautiful fine powder.  I figured I would try it with hairspray and food coloring – I added about a teaspoon of the powder to the hairspray and several drops of food coloring.  Shook the bottle and tested it – I am happy with it. 

The picture really doesn’t do it justice – very shiny and pretty.  The “dark” specks was the sprayer (operator) trying to spray too quickly.  I made two more colors a white one and a blue one (my daughter requested blue).

I have no idea if it is archival but many artist use hair spray to seal pastels in a pinch (myself included) and I have never had the paper yellow or anything funky happen to the pastels.  Having background in Historic Preservation I know nothing is truly archival – archival in paper means it needs to last at least 50 years in “normal” conditions.  I also know if it didn’t work the paper would have started to yellow within 2 hours – a college mid term gone horribly wrong.

My daughter’s Thank You card made with the “new” stamp pads and the red glimmer mist.  It is really shiny and pretty, according to my daughter.

I had to make “blue glimmer mist” it is not as blue as my daughter wanted it but I like it.

I am pretty happy with everything and maybe if I see “real” Glimmer Mist in action on Saturday I will be able to bring myself to buy a bottle but I am liking my “cheap” Glimmer Mist.