Enter to win a free Woodrowe gift set!

Visit this link and enter in your name and address by August 28, 2008, and you could be the winner of this great promotional package, worth $49.30.
The material is provided by The Angel Company™. You'll be notified by email and phone if you win!

Alison's Collage

Supplies

• It’s Always Springtime (2x2 acrylic handle)
• Script Background (4x4 acrylic handle)
• White Glossy Cardstock (you must use glossy cardstock for the full effect)
• Green Cardstock
• Earthtone Brilliance Dew Drop Set
• VersaMagic Four Corners Dew Drop Set
• Willoughby Ribbon
• Antique Spiral Clips
• Adhesive and tape
• Paper trimmer
• Scratch pad

Instructions

1. Begin with the lightest shade of ink from the VersaMagic set, Wheat. Ink up one of the square stamps from the It’s Always Springtime stamp set, and stamp a checkerboard pattern on a white 4”x5.25” glossy panel. Be careful to not to rock the stamp, and be extra careful to use an up and down motion when using glossy paper, since it smears easily. (This project works best on glossy paper, since the chalk ink dries to a nice, matte finish.) Start with a single stamp on the cardstock, and then attach iterations, re-inking each time you stamp the image. Be sure you stamp off the edge of the card as shown in my example.
2. Next, change to another block, and use the next darker color, Niagara Mist. Start in another place and do another checkboard pattern, ignoring the first pattern. You will overlap the first pattern some, but do not cover all your white space.
3. Ink up a final square with Sage ink, and make another checkerboard pattern, beginning in another spot on your card. Your card should be getting fairly densely covered at this point, but you should still have some white showing.
4. Now, switch to Brilliance ink in Pearlescent Olive and the Script Background stamp. Ink up the stamp well, and start stamping in the upper left corner on about a 45 degree angle, as I show in the picture.
5. Continue covering the entire card with the script stamp in columns, re-inking each time. When you finish the first column, you’ll want to continue on to the side columns as well, until the entire card is covered with the script, as shown.
6. Next, ink the outer edges of the card using Coffee Bean Brilliance ink. You can either lightly drag the edges of the card across the ink pad’s surface, or brush the ink lightly across the edge of the card.
7. Set the glossy panel aside to dry.
8. Meanwhile, stamp the sentiment (“Brighter Place” fits nicely) on the small strip (0.5" x 4") of glossy white paper in Sahara Sand ink. It should line up perfectly.
9. Ink the edges of this strip with Coffee Bean ink and let dry.
10. Line up your ribbon about 1/3 of the way across the front of your stamped white card front, or as desired.
11. Turn the card over to the back, holding the ribbon ends. Using tape, tape the ends of the ribbon to the back of the card.
12. Apply adhesive to the back of stamped glossy panel, and attach it to the folded green card base (cut to 8.5" x 5.5"). It is cut slightly smaller than the card base, so it should leave a perfect narrow border.
13. Next, attach the sentiment as desired--I put mine towards the bottom right of the card with the sheer ribbon slightly overlapping the sentiment.
14. Finally, attach a spiral clip as desired for the final touch.

Paper Piecing #2

Supplies

• The Arts rubber stamp set(1x1, 2x4 acrylic handles)
• Catelyn Fly With It™ cardstock kit
• Wine cardstock
• White cardstock
• Brown ink
• Black ink
• Mini File Tab punch
• Black marker
• Gray marker
• Scissors
• Dry adhesive
  
• Paper trimmer
• Scratch pad

Instructions

1. Ink the edges of the 5.25" x 4" large floral print panel with brown ink and let dry.
2. Ink the edges of the 1" x 5.5" striped strip of cardstock and let dry.
3. Stamp the geisha image several times in black ink: first on a 1.75" x 3.25" white cardstock panel, then several partial scraps (she doesn’t need to fit on all the scraps, since you’ll be cutting out pieces of her outfit in a moment). Let these pieces dry.
4. Adhere the large floral print background to the wine card base (8.5" x 5.5").
5. Adhere the striped strip to the floral print base as shown.
6. Begin cutting out pieces of the geisha’s kimono, cutting on the stamped line. Don’t worry about getting it exact--the pieces will fit together perfectly if you cut on that line.
7. Adhere each piece to the white stamped image, being careful to line up the images as you go.
8. Keep cutting out pieces and adding them in layers to the white stamped image as shown. I left the geisha’s hands bare.
9. If you have white edges showing through from scissor cuts, fill them in with black marker. I also colored the geisha’s hair in with black marker.
10. Next, using the broad, brush side of the gray marker, go around the entire image. This gives the image a softer look, and blends the pieces together.
11. Ink the edges of this panel in brown ink, and adhere it to main card as shown.
12. Stamp the “beauty” sentiment in black to the punched tab, ink the edges in brown, and adhere to the card as shown.

Paper Piecing Tutorial

Supplies

• Kallioppe (2x2, 2x4 acrylic handles)
• Uptown Girl Wing It™ Kit
• White cardstock
  
• Black ink
  
• Mega rectangle punch (or you can trim pieces to 1-1/8” x 2-1/4”)
• Silver leafing pen
• Silver Stickles
• Black marker
• Gray marker
• Scissors
• Dry adhesive
• Pop dots
• Paper trimmer
• Scratch pad

Instructions

1. Shake the leafing pen well with the cap on. Remove cap, and press the marker tip up and down several times on scratch paper to start the paint flowing.
2. Place a 4” x 5.25” panel from the Uptown Girl paper on the scratchpad. Line up the flat side of the leafing pen with about half the marker tip on the edge of panel and half on the scratch paper. Draw a straight line along the edge of the panel. You should have an even silver border. Pick up the panel and turn it to do the next side, till all four sides are complete. Let dry.
3. Ink the lady holding the purse from the Kallioppe stamp set with black ink and stamp her once on a 2” x 3” white rectangle, and once on the dot/stripe print from Uptown Girl. Let dry.
4. Stamp the shoe greeting on a rectangle punched from Uptown Girl. Let dry.
5. Being careful to cut directly on the black stamped line, cut out just the dress from the dot/stripe stamped image. Don’t worry about the curls on the design. You’ll want just the dress as shown. For best results, turn the paper and keep the scissors straight as you cut.
6. Apply a bit of adhesive to the printed dress and adhere it to the stamped image on the white cardstock. It should line up perfectly. If you have any scissor marks showing, fill them in with black marker.
7. Outline the entire image with the brush side of the gray marker.
8. As in step 2, use the silver leafing pen to outline the white stamped image and the greeting. Let dry.
9. Adhere the 4” x 5.25” to the white card base, leaving an even border around all sides.
10. Adhere the white image to the card as shown.
11. Use pop dots to adhere the greeting as shown.
12. Add silver Stickles glitter glue (up and down motion makes dots, or smear slightly for more coverage) to accent your card. I added glitter to the woman’s flowers, shoes, nails and purse, the letters on the words “shoes” and “skinny,” and finally the horizontal line that goes across the card on the printed panel. Be sure to let the Stickles dry completely.
    

Hostess Benefits and New Stamps

It's not yet posted on our interactive catalog, but you can see the full-sized stamp sets at the link above.
For orders placed through me of $30 or more, we have (15) brand new Gift with Purchase stamps to choose from, which I've shown here. Click on the images to enlarge the stamps.
If you host an online FunShop, you can earn hostess benefits, starting with just $100 in retail sales (or your own purchases). Choose one of the hostess sets labeled TA- as part of our generous hostess benefits. You also may choose a half-price item with each $100 in sales.
When your party sales reach $250, in addition to your level A benefits, you may also choose a level B stamp set (from the selection labeled TB-) and you may choose an addition half-price item.
For our complete hostess benefits, check out my website here.
If you've purchased $50 or more with me within the past six months, you should received a free hard copy of our full-color catalog within the next two weeks (I'm still waiting for my shipment to arrive). Otherwise, you can purchase a new catalog here.

June Stamp of the Month and Vintage Stamp of the Month

These two sets can be yours with any $30 purchase (before shipping and handling), only through June 30.

June's Stamp of the Month, Butterfly Boxes, is a whimsical set of 4. You can purchase this set for a limited time at a discount price of just $5.95. Be sure to check out The Angel Company's website for some samples on how to use this set. Click on the thumbnail images on the right to see more full-size sample cards and projects.

Our Vintage Stamp of the Month is the classic TAC Bear My Hugs stamp set of 7 for just $10.95. Stamp these cute little bears and have them "bear" your greetings for any occasion. Classic TAC lovers, your time has come!

When I checked today, these sets weren't yet posted on the TAC website. If you'd like to order these sets, email me with your order instead. You'll qualify for a free Gift with Purchase stamp as well when I place the order for you!

Discontinued stamps...

As you may know, we have a new catalog coming in July. With each new catalog, we retire some stamps to make way for new sets. Get these sets while you can--they won't be seen in the next catalog:

• T-2746 A God Thing
• T-2660 Abundance Is
• T-2333 All Season Skinnies
• T-2680 Animal Blocks
• T-2604 Autumn Smiles
• T-2265 Be
• T-2181 Be Authentic
• T-2656 Beach Fun
• T-2605 Beautiful Place
• T-2358 Birthday Buggies
• T-2321 Blossom Builders
• T-2515 Buggie Christmas
• T-2202 Calendar
• T-306 Chicken Scratch
• T-2573 Distressed Designs
• T-2124 Diva Dresses
• T-2619 Don't Bug Me
• T-2755 F is for Family
• T-441 Faith Hope Love
• T-2283 Fanciful Flowers
• T-2562 Fangtastic
• T-2650 Forget Not
• T-2623 Friendly Goblins
• T-2611 Friendly Note
• T-2791 Giggly Goblins
• T-2328 Hang Loose
• T-2728 Happy Celebration
• T-2713 Happy Holiday Squares
• T-2769 He Said She Said
• T-2406 Heart-itude
• T-2325 Hip Hardware
• T-2370 His Angels
• T-2794 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns
• T-2704 License To Chill
• T-2560 Lily Pad Pond
• T-2375 Little Inspirations
• T-2615 Live Inspired
• T-2372 May Your Merry
• T-2548 Mini Sampler
• T-2334 More Season Skinnies
• T-2578 My Favorites
• T-2874 My Spiritual Journey
• T-2821 My Story
• T-2649 Needed Numbers
• T-2661 Nurture Your Soul
• T-2643 Old Friend
• T-2357 Pals
• T-2858 Party Notes
• T-2690 Party Time
• T-2683 Playful Paisley
• R-2027 Pretty Posies
• T-2540 Ragdolls
• T-2774 Remembrance
• T-2797 Retro Christmas
• T-2788 Retro Halloween
• T-2787 Retro Reindeer
• T-2789 Retro Treaters
• T-1232 Rub A Dub
• T-2353 Sassy Cats
• T-2712 Sentimental Boxes
• T-2152 So Girly Swirly
• T-2288 So Silly
• T-2639 Stipple Bet
• T-2221 Sweet Sayings
• T-2695 Swirly Seasons
• T-2327 The Buzz
• T-2800 The First Thanksgiving
• T-2618 The Only Thing
• T-2566 Tip Toe
• T-2602 Too Spooky
• T-2301 Truly Blessed
• T-2360 Wedding Wishes
• T-1205 Wishing You
• T-2569 Write It
• T-2823 You Are Mine
• T-2809 You're A Hoot
• T-1203 You're Invited

Also, please note that all the gift with purchase stamps will be retiring as well to make way for new items. And the hostess sets are usually moved into the general catalog to make room for new hostess sets.
Please note: This list is as complete as possible, though some sets may be added or removed at the company's discretion.