Ideas and Inspiration

Last Minute Father's Day Project Ideas

2008-06-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

We took a blogging hiatus but we're back - just in time to post some Father's Day projects. These Father's Day gift ideas are inexpensive. You can customize these projects to match the interests of the lucky man who will be receiving the gift. And if you want a project to do with a child, these gift ideas are easy to make.

To make this project you will need a photograph, a picture frame, a photo mat, a set of word stamps (in this case Big Mouth) and 2 or 3 inkpads.

To help you figure out how best to position the stamps on the photo mat, place several clean clear stamps along one edge. For example, for this project, Eileen (the freakishly Creative Director at Technique Tuesday) placed the "Simply the Best", "Dad", "Ever", and "You are Incredible" stamps along one edge to determine the stamps' positions. Once you've figured out a stamping plan, you can either mark the stamp positions using a pencil or just remember the stamp positions relative to the edge of the photo mat. You may also want to start by stamping on the back of the frame to make sure everything will really fit.

One of these picture frames will make a great gift for your husband, dad, grandfathers, uncles, a stepfather, or even big brothers. If you have children, each child can create their own picture frame. Or let each family member stamp one or two sides and sign their name next to their artwork. No matter how you do this project, the man who receives it will cherish this gift forever.

To see a bigger picture of this project or to see the products used to make the Happy Father's Day Picture Frame, click here.

When Eileen went looking for a cube of sticky notes, she couldn't find any. Instead she bought a package of eight thinner stick notes and stacked them together to make a cube.

Start by removing the slick backing sheet on all but one of the pads. Then stick them together to make your own cube. You can use your ribbon (or masking tape) to provide extra stability. Lay the cube on its side so you can stamp straight down onto it and then flip it over to stamp the other open side. Move your ribbon (or masking tape) to expose the two un-stamped sides and finish stamping.

Eileen used the Grid Iron and Big Mouth stamp sets to make this sticky note stack. If you'd like to see a bigger picture of this project, click here.

Here are some other stamp sets that that you might want to use to make a gift to match the interests of a man in your life:
· construction or woodworker
· world traveler
· soccer fan
· Vegas enthusiast
· military man
· rocket scientist
· farmer
· sports car lover, pilot, or heavy equipment operator
· zoo keeper
· or simply a man who is loved.

Dad's going to love it! Who else can you make one for?

Celebrate Mother's Day and Get Free Shipping!

2008-04-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

Here in the USA Mother's Day is May 11 - just 3 weeks away! Although Mother's Day is celebrated on different days throughout the world, in every country it is a time to honor and give thanks for mothers, to take time to reconnect with the woman who cared for us as a child, and perhaps to give her a sweet, handmade gift.

Let your mom know how much she means to you by giving her the gift of Technique Tuesday Clear Stamps. When you place an order from now through April 25 on our website and enter the code "Mom2008" at checkout, you'll receive free shipping within the USA on your order.

Click Here to learn more about the products used to make the Mom tag book.

Place your order soon - free shipping is only available for 1 week!

New Stamps!

2008-04-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

Our newest flower stamp set is called Pocket Full of Posies. If you prefer a simple style, you can stamp these beautiful flowers and leaves directly onto cardstock. For a more embellished look, like the "Delight" layout, stamp the flowers and leaves onto a transparency using black ink. Then apply acrylic paint to the back side of the transparency to add color. To attach the flowers, we used pretty brads to mimic flower centers. To learn more about the products used to make this layout, click here.

The large flower in the Pocket Full of Posies stamp set is 3-inches across and makes a beautiful accent on a layout or card. The smaller flower is just under 1-inch wide and can be used to create a petite bouquet or fill in around the larger flower. Check out the card gallery on our website for additional projects made with this new stamp set.

As with all our stamp sets, a Pocket Full of Posies is made in the USA using environmentally friendly processes. For only $9.99, you can be confident that you are getting the best quality stamps in the world.

If you'd like to see more of our Spring 2008 new products, ask for them at your favorite store. Or go to the "New for Spring 2008" page on our website.

World Autism Awareness Day

2008-04-02T15:18:00.001-07:00

Today is World Autism Awareness Day.

Autism Speaks was our Tuesdays Child Foundation charity for 2007. We will be continuing to donate 50% of the proceeds to Autism Speaks from the sale of two of our products:

Pieces of the Puzzle Stamp Set

FUNdamental Pieces Technique Tiles

To Autism Speaks through the month of April 2008.

A note from our owner Bev Grey:

In 2007, our Tuesday’s Child efforts were focused on autism. I've seen our creative director, Eileen Collins, search for answers, challenge the status quo, and share quiet moments of joy with her son
who has autism. Through her, I learned that autism affects 1 in every 150 children. It is more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. There is no known cause or cure for autism. Based on these statistics and the impact that Eileen and her son have had on me, I decided to try to help change the future of children and families who are affected by autism by focusing our first Tuesday’s Child program on autism.

In April of 2007, we released two products—a stamp set called Pieces of the Puzzle, and a set of 12x12-inch Technique Tiles called FUNdamental Pieces—in support of autism awareness. Although we designed these products to include some images and words associated with autism, these products were also intended to appeal to those who may not even know what autism is.

We asked our customers to join us in this fight by sharing their stories about how autism had impacted their lives, by supporting a friend who has a child with autism, by raising awareness in their communities, by donating directly to a charity of their choice, or by purchasing these two Technique Tuesday products. We have been thrilled with the response.

Numerous scrapbookers sent layouts to us that we highlighted during 2007 in a gallery on our website. People from all over the world called us, wrote email, and tracked us down at scrapbook conventions to tell us about how autism has touched their lives. A number of our wholesale customers had fund raisers in their stores or events to promote autism awareness. The response has been astounding. We are also thrilled that we were able to donate thousands of dollars to Autism Speaks so far and we’re not done yet. We will continue our commitment to this cause through April (Autism Awareness Month) 2008.

New Products for Spring!

2008-04-02T11:27:00.001-07:00

We hope that you had a very HOPPY Easter :)

These new stamps were released a few weeks ago and should be arriving in your favorite store now!

We are SO-Eggsited about this little treasure. Perfect for capturing the joy of the Easter holiday at only $2.49 MSRP, this stamp set is sure to be a hip hoppity hit!

Most scrapbooker's and paper crafter's stories begin at home. Our new Home is Where Your Heart Is stamp set will help you celebrate your family, your stories, and your home.

Fresh off our victory for the best journaling tool in Creating Keepsakes Magazine’s Ultimate Product Guide, we’ve added another journaling stamp to our collection. Today is a great little journaling spot is the perfect addition for just a dab of details.

From the Mailbag!

2008-03-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

I just love to open my email - it is so much more fun than the bills and junk mail that I get in my snail mail!

We received this STUNNING layout from Tamera in Valencia, CA.

"I used some stuff we had at my LSS for demos and made a page based on some of the pages I had seen in your gallery. It is a display LO for use near our TT stamp area."

Tamera used Technique Tuesday Petal Tiles, and Loves me Loves me Not Large image stamps.

Thanks so much for sharing Tamera!

I would love to see your favorite project using Technique Tuesday stamps too! Email me any time at challenges at techniquetuesday.com

Angela @ TT

Do you receive our monthly newsletter?

2008-03-25T00:35:00.000-07:00

If not sign up today! We have a new one going out soon and you don't want to miss it! We pack them full of new product announcements, layout and card ideas, tips, tricks and more! And we never give out your information to anyone - so no spam! :)

To sign up just go to our website: http://www.techniquetuesday.com/

And type your email address into the little box on the left side of the page - and follow the directions from there!

Make sure Technique Tuesday is on your "safe senders" list if you have a strict Spam Filter to make sure not to miss a single issue!

Angela @ TT

Happy Saint Patricks Day!

2008-03-17T18:44:00.001-07:00

No pinches for us! We've got our green on! :)

Spring has sprung!

2008-03-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

The signs of Spring are all around us! The daffodils and crocuses are peeking through the dirt, green is slowly replacing all of the brown, and there is a sweet smell in the air. We know it won't last though - here in Oregon we have two more months of rain to go, and more snow isn't even out of the question for many of you!

So lets celebrate the beauty of Spring together here on the blog - no matter what the weather actually looks like outside your window!

We've chosen a few of our favorite flower clear stamps and Technique Tiles to feature over the next few weeks! We hope you play along and capture the beauty of Spring on all of your scrapbook pages.

Sam created these adorable flowers using Technique Tiles Scalloped Circles.

This is another page of Eileen's that I have scraplifted many times over! I love how she stamped Irony images with orange ink on the orange cardstock to create her own tone on tone patterned paper. The title was created with Serendipity Capital and Lowercase Extra Large and Savannah lower large alphabet stamps.

The flowers started as Petal Technique Tiles, she first stamped the solid flower image in yellow, then then stamped over the top of that in either orange or teal ink with other petals from the Loves me Still Stamp set. Before adhering the petal tiles to her page, she used a light green ink to stamp images from WhispyGigs directly onto the white background paper.

Jamie Harper really took her stamping to the next level with this page!

Using Petal Tiles, Loves me Still, and the curly bracket from Read All About it - she stamped onto the white Cardstock, leading your eyes to the picture of an adorable Tee Shirt, which was stamped with Serendipity Capital Extra Large!

So cute Jamie!

Whatever the weather is in your neck of the woods - we hope you are inspired to bring Spring to your pages!

Angela @ TT

Organized and Inspired!!

2008-03-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

Its not just the name of our stamp set its a way of life! :)

If you are like me - Organizing your scrapbooking supplies is almost as much a part of scrapbooking as the actual page creating is!!

Thats why I love one of our newest sets: Organized and Inspired! We love to label, organize, and arrange everything from photos to craft supplies.

We were inspired to create these organization word stamps by the book The Organized & Inspired Scrapbooker published by Simple Scrapbooks™.

These practical stamps will play a key role in keeping you organized and inspired.

These 43 Clear stamps will help you label everything from cardstock to adhesives to stamps!

Eileen Collins used the Organized and Inspired set along with the Loopy Labels set to make the tags on this adorable shelf.

I usually say "Happy Stamping" but I think I will sign this off with "Happy Stamping AND Organizing!!"

Angela @ TT

Spotted on the web!

2008-03-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

Way back in the early days of Technique Tuesday there was a store that really gave us a step up. That store is Portland-based Scrapbook Attack. In 2003, Bev started bringing these new fangled clear stamps into their store to test out and teach classes (back in the days when stamps were red rubber, and most scrapbookers didn't stamp). They were the first store to give us a shot, and for that we are so grateful! The rest, as they say, is history.

Now, two of our design team members (Samantha Kangas and Crystalyn Thorsen) work and teach at this great store, and they have featured Technique Tuesday in some pretty great ways. They teach a monthly Technique Tuesday class, and as a direct result of their commitment to featuring the highest quality clear stamps and accessories, they have a large and loyal Technique Tuesday following. If you're lucky enough to live in the greater Portland Metropolitan area, we suggest you check out the great selection of Technique Tuesday products, as well as their monthly classes.

As a customer of theirs, I check out their blog regularly, and love their recent suggestion about innovative uses for FUNdamental Swanky Frames. You can check it out >>>here<<<

If you're proud of your lss for the ways in which they feature or promote TT, I'd love to hear about it! Maybe we'll feature them next!

Angela @ TT

Textile Challenge!

2008-03-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Firstly, I want to say thank you for all of the beautiful entries!! There were so many stunning submissions that it would take me a week to post all of them! It was so hard to narrow down just a few to feature here - but we want you to know that we poured over the entries and thought each one was beautiful!

Megan from Texas sent us this fabulous layout! Here is how she did it:

From Megan:

"The background paper is created from plain tan cardstock that I customized with the Botanika stamps and Distress Inkpads.

The title is stamped with a mix of TT fonts--Provence and Main Street. I hand cut the letters and coated them with Glossy Accents.

The quote is stamped with Underground Caps Small stamps.

The Textiles were personalized with stamps from Borderline: Live for Today.

I used a circle punch and created a reverse mask to stamp the dates in the textiles, then outlined the date with a black marker. I hand sewed french knots in the scallop edges of all the textiles, then added accents of a clear acrylic butterfly outlined with a paint pen and prima flowers layered with a stamped flower from the Kabloom! floral set with brads in the center.
The entire layout has stamped zigzags from the Hanging By a Thread set, then I punched holes along the stitch marks to give them more dimension.

I really enjoyed this challenge and I look forward to more of them in the future!"

Erin was inspired by the video tour of the CHA booth to create this adorable card:

"I used the little doggy from 'Dog and Pony Show' and stamped directly on the textile. I colored him in with Copic markers.

I have to admit that after watching your video from CHA, I decided to use the doggy because Eileen said he was her favorite and wished she had a dog that looked like that! :)

The inside of my card says, 'Thanks for being such a loyal friend.' Goes to show that the stamps don’t have to be used for animal themed projects."

And finally - I love the simplicity of Julies layout.

"Here is my page I did with the textiles.

I inked the edges of them lightly and stamped my journaling spot onto the bigger one and used the two smaller ones as part of the flowers."

Thank you again to each and every person who sent in a card, page or project! I loved getting all the fun email!!

Each of the participants featured in this post will receive the entire line of textiles and our new stamp set "You've Got Mail."

Even if you didn't get your entry in to me in time to be considered for the challenge - I hope you continue to create with the Textiles and I would love to see what you create with them. Please keep your creations coming to me! Email any time: challenges at Technique Tuesday .com

Angela @ TT

Last Minute Textile Inspiration

2008-02-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

The Textile Challenge deadline is quickly approaching! Email me your entries by the end of the day Friday February 29th - which is also Eileen's son Griffin's birthday (he is going to be 2!! Ok - really 8, but I love the whole leap day baby thing!) You can email me your entries to challenges @ techniquetuesday.com either as a .jpg picture or scan or a link to where you have posted it online. I will reply to your email that I got it, so if you have sent something and not heard back from me, then I didn't get it!

On this page Jamie Harper used the Textile Squares, Big Timber Line Tall, Extra Large and Large to design the border down the left side of the page. She stamped the letters first, then colored them in with a red watercolor pencil. She accented along the letters in the title with Borderline: Straight and Narrow.

Eileen used blue paint to change the color of the textiles. She used Key Lime Tsukineko VersaMagic ink to color the green Textile Scallops. She stamped on each textile to add texture and dimension using Metro Squares, Swiss Dots, Hanging by a Thread and Backgrounds Medium.

Jamie really went above and beyond for this page!! On the picture Jamie printed 2 of the same photo, adhered one to the layout and the second she cut around the adorable little girl and used it as a mask to stamp over the background with the word background stamp from Olde World Squares.

Jamie used ink to change the color of the Textile Scallops and layered them to add depth to her flowers. She used Boulder Skyline for the title. Finally she stamped the butterfly from BoHo Buzz onto a piece of paper and then cut it out to add the adorable embellishment to the top right corner of the page.

Textile Challenge Inspiration

2008-02-20T10:43:00.001-08:00

We know you are all working hard on your projects for the Textile challenge!! I have received some fabulous stuff so far - keep them coming!! We will be awarding prizes to more than one entry - because there are so many great ways to feature these textiles that it will be too hard to choose just one winner!!

So - we decided to go through our samples to provide you with a little inspiration for your textile project.

On this page Sharyn Tormanen used the Textile Circles both on their own directly onto the page and also mounted on the Circle Technique Tiles.

She used ink to change the color the textiles by just wiping them across the textile while it is still attached to the backing sheet. She used images from the Hanging by a Thread stamp set and the "B" from Savannah Capital Letters Extra Large to decorate the textile embellishments.

On this tag - Eileen stamped the Savannah Large letters individually in orange to create the Script look onto a Square Textile. While keeping the textile on its plastic backing sheet, she cut around the words, then peeled them off the backing sheet to adhere to the tag.

I LOVE the technique Heather Binnie used on this page! For the title Heather stamped with the Brooklyn Bridge large alphabet onto the Textile Squares and adhered them to their corresponding size of Square Technique Tiles.

For the little embellished squares - she stamped the bubble image from the Metro Squares stamp set onto the textile and then adhered it onto the square technique tile.

And finally (the coolest part!!) First she sized her picture in her photo editing program to match the size of the largest square textile. Next, she sent a piece of paper through her printer to test the placement, then she adhered a Square Textile to the piece of paper over the top of the printed photo and printed the photo again through her printer to print the photograph directly onto the textile!! Great job Heather!!

Angela @ TT

From the Mailbag!

2008-02-20T10:27:00.000-08:00

One more Valentine!! This adorable card was in my email while I was at CHA from Laura O'Donnell. She wrote:

"I saw on your blog that you are looking for Valentines cards using Technique Tuesday stamps. I've attached one I made using Savannah XL alpha stamps (love these!) and the hearts from Love Notes. Other supplies used are 7 Gypsies papers and a border punch from Martha Stewart Crafts. The card measures 4"x8"."

Thanks so much for sharing Laura!

Angela @ TT

Tour of the CHA booth!

2008-02-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

The great folks from Nth Degree and Creative Express stopped by the booth and posted all of the raw footage online here:

Technique Tuesday Booth at CHA

I think Eileen did a great job with the tour! Thanks to Creative Express for stopping by!

Textile Challenge!!

2008-02-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

It's that time!!! A couple weeks ago we sent out samples of our Textiles. Hopefully you should all have them by now. And - just in case you were wondering - I also included the "Getting Started with Clear Stamps" guide. I know if you are reading this blog you probably have some idea about what clear stamps are and how to use them - so pass it along to someone who would like it if you can!

Now - in the future our challenges will be more "challenging," but, since this is our first one on the new blog - this one is going to be easy.

Are you ready?

Make a project using the Textiles.

Thats it.

Really.

We will be doing a drawing for the complete line of Textiles and one set of stamps from the eligible entries. You need to either send me a picture of your project (please resize to 500 pixels wide) to: challenges at technique tuesday dot com or post your creation to your favorite online scrapping community and send me an email to the above address with the link. Deadline for entries is LEAP DAY February 29th.

Easy Peasy!

We can't wait to see what you create!

Angela @ TT

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

From all of us at Technique Tuesday :)

More details on the Textile Challenge coming right up!

Angela @ TT

Love pages, FUNdamentals of Love

2008-02-13T07:34:00.001-08:00

What better time to focus a page on the one you love than today? Technique Tiles FUNdamentals of Love are a great way to get both pages and cards done, quickly and easily.

The first page is designed to be a complete 12x12 page. the pieces all fit together like a puzzle, allowing you to pop out each piece, decorate however you like, and then pop the pieces back together, add pictures and viola! Finished page.

This is one of my all time favorite pages from Creative Director Eileen Collins. I have scraplifted elements from this page more times than I can count!! First, she covered the inside of the frame background with velvet polka dot paper. The outside edge was created by stamping with the largest stamp on the Irony set in red, then very lightly dragging a Seabreeze VersaMagic ink pad over the top.

You really don't want to know how she made the title - lets just say she really lived up to her unofficial title of "Freakishly Creative" Director. SO - the more sane way is: stamp Serendipity letters individually onto pink cardstock and cut out. If you would like the letters to stand out a little more, mount with pop dots.

On this page - Eileen left the middle of the background blank - the best part of the Technique Tiles are the fact that they are a beautiful Vanilla white color - equally nice blank as well as embellished.

The outside edge is the same concept as "My Funny Valentine." She stamped images from the Casablanca set in black, then swiped Tea Leaves VersaMagic ink over the top.

The title was stamped first with Savannah letters in Tea Leaves, and then stamped over the top with Serendipity in black. Using the phrase "With all my Heart" from the Small Talk Word set, she
stamped along the edge of the heart.

On page two of the FUNdamentals of Love - there are not only a ton of little hearts and swirls, but there is also a really cool Curly Bracket Frame! Tiffany Tillman painted the frame black and then used Whispygigs on kraft cardstock to create her own patterned paper!

The title was stamped with Big Timber Line Lower Letters - Tall, Big Timber Lower Letters - Large and finished off with a heart from page two of the FUNdamentals of Love and an arrow from the Stars and Arrows Technique Tiles set.

CHA Day 3!

2008-02-12T22:14:00.000-08:00

Another fun day in the booth!

Cathy and Chrissy from Treasured Memories in Reno stopped by to place their order and reminisce with Mary about her time teaching a class at an event last year.

I told them they could join our 5' 10" and over club :)

Fellow Oregonian Ali Edwards stopped by the booth as well.

We had an interesting dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney! Our waiter Nathan "Tramp" was quite the character. The manager told us that we might be the very first customers to ever blog about our waiter - so here you go Nathan! :)

Just one more day!

CHA! Days 1 and 2

2008-02-12T09:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our 2008 Winter CHA booth!

Here is Eileen with Britney Mellen from Creating Keepsakes Magazine.

Here is Mary and Eileen showing off their day one shirts. We have a different Technique Tuesday shirt for each ay of the show - they are all available on Cafe Press - click here too see the Star Shirt.

Eileen - as the Creative Director shows all the magazine folks around the booth - here she is with Michelle Rubin from Scrapbooks Etc.

That night we went out to dinner with the lovely Cath Edvalson and Stacy Croninger from Paper Crafts Magazine.

And finally - Donna Downey stopped by our booth and I had to get a picture with her and my favorite camera bag! This is the shirt I have on - my favorite! And so appropriate for Valentine's Day - TT Heart Shirt.

More tomorrow! :)

Angela @ TT

One quick day of fun in Southern California

2008-02-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

Before the opening day of CHA - we took a little time to explore "The Land." Our booth was set up by noon - so we had the entire rest of the day to go on rides, eat and have fun. Mary (our Sales Manager) is like a little kid at Disney - she really thinks it is the bes place in the whole world and loved showing us around.

I grew up down here - but haven't been back in a long time - so a lot of the rides were new to me! Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters was so much fun!

This is the picture they email to you - don't Eileen and I look so serious??

I loved the addition of Johnny Depp to the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Shellys favorite attraction at Disneyland is the Tiki Room! Eileen had never been so Mary and I agreed to go... I will admit - It was really cute :)

And finally - a nice man took our picture all together right before Sunset.

Homemade Valentines

2008-02-10T21:32:00.000-08:00

We have a February tradition at our house in that we like to make our own Valentines. There’s something about the cold winter months, creating with the kids and enjoying a little homemade over store-bought that keeps us doing this year after year.

This year was fun for me because our Wendy (7) has really been taking an interest in all that stamping I’m doing. In hindsight, I don’t know if this was such a good idea after all because now the little upstart wants my job – to say she’s completely hooked is an understatement.

But I digress.

After Wendy was able to fit me into her social schedule, we gather some supplies: Some 3” ziplocks, Valentine M&M’s, the Zoology set, white cardstock, patterned paper and assorted inks.

Then we began. Chocolate first, I always say. We worked together (the best part about these types of projects) and put a scoop of M&M’s per bag and set them aside.

Next I had cut all the white cardstocks to 4 x 6” and the strips of pattern paper to 1 ½ x 3” and ½ x 3”. Once I had cut these, it was easy to have Wendy use a gluestick and adhere the pieces to the cardstock as per the sample I had made for her. This is where I had to really let her be and keep telling myself that this is her project – their satisfaction in their work, pride in doing it

themselves, and the look on their faces is worth just letting it be and not worrying about matching corners and straight lines. She actually did amazing well.

Next came the stamping. Now I had this image in my head of having the images be black with just a touch of color for some *pop* and…well, I had to remind myself again to just let her enjoy the process as I do. She wanted brown monkeys, yellow tigers, orange lions and green crocodiles. Who am I to say no, and really..that’s why my kids enjoy this tradition so much because I do just let them be and create their own.

What I did do tho was teach Wendy proper stamping. Straight up and down, don’t wiggle, don’t rock, pull straight up – and for a first timer – I gave her two thumbs up.

After she got all her animals stamped she then did the corresponding messages. Here we realized we hadn’t left enough space for a few of them and I taught Wendy how easy it is to curve the stamps to fit the spot, boy…did her eyes light up!

And I wonder why she’s hooked. If that alone didn’t do it, the next step did for sure.

I nearly forgot that she has to let her classmates know who these are from. Rather than having her sign all 34 of them I just created her name out of the Mainstreet small alphabet, added a little heart stamp from the LMLMN set and she had her own signature (7)

Lastly – to keep things simple we just stapled the bagtoppers to the treat bags and called them done. She can hardly WAIT for the Valentines Party at school!

Sharyn @ TT

We're Taking CHA by Storm!!

2008-02-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

We're in California this week for the annual Craft and Hobby Association Trade show! We'll be posting updates all week! Let your favorite store know that you are looking forward to seeing the latest and greatest from technique Tuesday in your store! We are in booth #2357 - stop by and say hi - and get your picture taken with us for the blog! :)

I really wanted to wear this hat because along with being the blog-mistress, I am also the Canadian Store Representative and I want them to be able to spot me! But Creative Director Eileen Collins told me I would clash with the color scheme of the booth. But I am going to sneak it onto the show floor anyway. Shhh.

(I am on the phone with TT World Headquarters in the picture)

So - stop by the booth and say hi! We can't wait to meet you!

Angela @ TT

Big Timber Meadow

2008-02-04T10:07:00.001-08:00

One of the most popular pages that we have posted from this release has definitely been "Dandelion Dreams."

This page features Big Timber Meadow Capital Letters Tall and Lowercase Tall, Borderline - Bijou Borders, Savannah Alphabet - Medium, Loopy Labels and Technique Tiles - Scallops.

To make the "Dandelions" Eileen first inked the Scallop Tiles with "Sunlight" yellow ink from the Earth Essentials Ink set. She started at the outside edges and dragged the ink pad lightly in towards the center of the tile, keeping the edges a vivid yellow, with lighter yellow towards the center.

She then wrapped the tile in yellow yarn, attaching the edges at the back of the tile, and adhering a small section of ribbon for the "leaves."

For the title Eileen stole her sons colored pencils to color in the letters. If, like me, you don't have a child to steal colored pencils from, you can stamp the letters first in different colors with Big Timber Letters Tall - and then stamp over the top in brown or black with the Big Timber Meadow Letter stamps.

Eileen used the Big Timber Meadow Capital Letter "B" as a Monogram on this adorable Valentines Day card. She stamped the letters m, i,n,e from Main Street Lower Letters Large on 2" squares and mounted them on a 4 1/2" square of light blue cardstock. She then stamped the "B" on white paper, and, again stealing from her son, colored in the flowers with red crayon. She mounted the "B" to the center of the card using popdots. To finish the card, she inked one of the frames from the Technique Tiles FUNdamental Swanky Frames and mounted it on the card.

Organizing your Clear Stamps!

2008-02-03T10:23:00.000-08:00

One of the most popular questions I get is: "How do you store your clear stamps?"

I put that question out to the whole team and almost everyone had a different way of storing their stamps at home - but for on the road we all use the Technique Tuesday Portfolio.

If you have a small collection of stamps it is perfect for keeping the stamps away from light and dust and all in one place.

If you have a larger collection of stamps, the portfolio is great for choosing only the stamps you want to use at a crop at the lss or at a friends house.

The outside zipper pocket is perfect for carrying inks, small stamps, blocks, cleaner and scrubber.

For home storage - the options are endless! The most popular seems to be large three ring binders. Every large set of Technique Tuesday Stamps comes on a clear sheet imprinted with the image and three hole punched.

Sharyn's solution is to store each set alphabetically in big three ring binders.

Heather also uses three ring binders for home storage but organizes a little differently. She says, "I store them by release date. I have binders that I have labeled with what show they came from. It’s how I remember things.I also use clear CD cases to store some of my frequently used stamps. That way, I can have them stored right up next to my work space."
Sharyns small stamp storage solution is a wire box to keep her ink, small stamps and blocks together and organized!

So really - it all depends on how you remember best!

Our warehouse manager Traci has a completely different storage solution for her stamps. Traci likes to take just what she needs when cropping away from home in her Portfolio, but when she crops at home she likes to have it all within reach! She used the Clip it Up system, with large stamps on the bottom and small stamps on the top.
The most important part of storing your clear stamps is using a system that woks best for you! Don't store them so well that you can't find them or so tucked away that you forget you have them! :)

Love is in the air!

2008-02-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

February is a month of love... you may be spending time in the next couple weeks making cards of love and adoration for friends and family. Over the next couple weeks we'll be focusing on love - cards, tags, and layouts galore!

On this tag - Eileen used the new Big Timber Meadow Capital Letters - Tall and the journaling lines from Storytellers - Well Worn Journals to create this adorable tag to use as a journaling block on a page or as a tag on a gift.

The stamping on this page comes from one little set - the Limited Edition Try Technique Tuesday Oh L'Amour. This little set of stamps not only comes with eight clear stamps, but it also comes with a 1.5" x1.5" clear block - perfect for a first time stamper or hard core Technique Tuesday collector.

By the way, when we run out of these limited edition stamps, we're not making any more so get them while you can.

If you would like instructions on how to make this adorable page - and two other projects - click here - to download the entire project sheet. It does open as a PDF file, so I suggest right clicking on the link above and choosing "save as" to save the document to your computer.

I'd love to see your valentines too! Send pictures of your Valentines stamped creations to challenges @ techniquetuesday dot com and we might feature them right here on the blog on Valentines Day.

Spotted on the Web!

2008-01-31T14:12:00.001-08:00

A Peek into Yesterday is one of the many online stores that carry Technique Tuesday Clear stamps and Accessories. Today the whole design team posted tons of different layouts featuring the latest and greatest from our 2008 Winter Release! Way to go guys!

I love this one from Jenny K - she took one of the brand new Tile Toppers - Classic and used it to showcase her journaling.

See what each of the members of the Peek Design team came up with here >>> Technique Tuesday Layout Gallery at APIY

I like to think that I have seen the whole internet - but its just not possible! I would love it if you could help me out! If your favorite store (online or local) has done something cool to highlight Technique Tuesday in some way - I would love to hear about it!! Please email me at angela (at) techniquetuesday (dot) com and give me a heads up!

We have also revamped our store locator! If you would like to find a store in your area - or online - please stop by the Store Locator on our website.

And - LAST CALL!! Check out the textiles entry below for details and how to get some FREE Technique Tuesday Textiles to use in an upcoming Blog Challenge!

- Angela @ TT

Zoology!

2008-01-30T12:51:00.000-08:00

Some time ago - my mother in law asked if I would teach a group of her friends at church a crafting project. I thought - no problem - I am sure I can come up with something. Months went by, and I forgot all about it. Early last week, she calls to tell me there are 14 people in the class and that she couldn't wait to see me on Saturday! Argh.

I stood in front of my scrapbooking table staring at the paper, stamps and inks covering the entire surface. What could I do that would satisfy the scrapping needs of the total newbie to the complete addict? And then I spotted them - Zoology - my favorite new set from the Winter 2008 release. It was perfect! An image and its corresponding phrase were all I needed to create an adorable set of cards.

All 14 ladies loved their cards - we made these four in the class - but the whole set of stamps was passed around and they all stamped the rest of the images and phrases so they could complete the entire set when they got home.

In the most recent newsletter there was a great scrapbook page by Eileen Collins made with these stamps - so they are not just for cards! To make embellishments like those on the "Sidewalk Chalk Talk" layout, stamp animal images from our new Zoology stamp set using black ink. Then use colored pencils to enhance the stamped images. You can learn more about the products used to make this layout on our website.

If you didn't receive our newsletter last week, go to our website: www.techniquetuesday.com and enter your email address in the little box on the left side of the page.

Happy Stamping!

Angela @ TT

Scrapbooks Etc Features FUNdamental Rings!

2008-01-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

I forgot to check the mail on Saturday. And by the time I remembered yesterday, there was about a foot of snow on the ground. To some people that isn't a big deal. But here in Oregon - its a rare occurrence! I thought I should trudge down the road to check the mail - and I thought the whole time "This better be worth it." And it was!!! The new Feb/March issue of Scrapbooks Etc was in there! Yeah!!

As I was flipping through the issue - devouring every page like I usually do, I came across page 59. SB etc has started a new feature called "Make it Work: 2008 Creative Team Challenge" in which they give their (fabulously talented) design team the same three products and let them each show their own personal style. And which product was chosen to be featured in this inaugural issue? Technique Tuesday's very own - FUNdamental Rings 12x12 technique Tiles!!

There were so many fabulous pages featured! So I will let you look through your own issue - I don't want to ruin the enjoyment of the entire article, but here are some of my thoughts on a few selected pages:

Sande Krieger - "Motherhood" I love how Sande "Thought outside the box" with
this round layout. The bright and cheery colors along with the offset rings
really draw your eyes to the photograph in the center.

Valerie Salmon - "Five" I love how she covered the ring surrounding her main
photo with patterned paper and used smaller rings to accent her sub-title.
The larger ring with the title on it really helps to draw your eye around to
the top right corner of the page to the smaller adorably silly pictures of
her son really showing off his personality!

Miley Johnson - "Friends" Miley brought the fun from the black and white pictures
out with the bright colors of the polkadots in this page. She repeated the polka
dots from the inside rings to the outside corners. I also like how she
journaled on the skinniest outside ring.

Thanks so much to the entire Scrapbooks Etc design team! I hope their pages will bring you inspiration for your own memories!!

Here are a few from our own talented creative team to help you spark that creativity in the meantime!

On this page Eileen used the FUNdamental Rings on their own to create a round page. She stamped
images from the Vroom! set around the outside of the frame and colored them in with Glaze pens to get the vivid colors. Click here to learn more about the products featured on this layout.

On this layout Sharyn used many different sizes of the rings to put the focus on each member of her family - including herself! Great job Sharyn! Click here to learn more about the products featured on this layout.

Happy Stamping!

- Angela @ TT

Textiles!

2008-01-24T08:52:00.000-08:00

In addition to stamps - we have loads of great products for stamping onto. One of my favorites is the textiles - they provide dimension, without adding bulk to your pages. Textile shapes are made of 100% cotton material backed with acid-free permanent adhesive. You can stamp directly onto them - or use ink, paint or dye to make a perfectly coordinating embellishment for your page. The textiles also fit perfectly on our Technique Tiles for added dimension.

On this layout our creative director Eileen Collins used the textiles to create the title and unique fabric buttons to add dimension.

To create the title Eileen stamped using Savannah Capital and Lowercase Large. Stamping one letter at a time, she was able to connect the letters to give it a perfect script look. For the word "Graders" she stamped the title onto the largest size of the Square Textiles in two parts "Grade" and "rs" but cutting around the two parts while the textile was still on its plastic backing sheet - she was able to combine the two parts seamlessly. She used blue ink and Main Street Large Capital and Lowercase letters stamped and cut out individually to finish off the title.

To make the button embellishments Eileen stamped images from the Skin Deep set and adhered the Circle Textiles to the Circle Technique Tiles. To finish the button look - she used a tiny hole punch to create 2-4 holes and threaded ribbon or thread through the holes.

Next month we will be doing a "Reader Challenge" to inspire you to use Textiles and Technique Tiles in new ways! We want to see what you come with! Of course there will be prizes, and we will feature selected entries in our newsletter, our website and right here on the blog.

***Giveaway is Closed*** Thank you all SO much for emailing me to request a sample!! These are now in the mail on their way to you!! Don't worry - if you didn't get your samples - we will have plenty more opportunities to win in the future!! Watch the blog in February for details on the Textile challenge - it'll be easy! We can't wait to see what you come up with! :)

Please feel free to email me anytime with comments, suggestions and ideas that would help you use your stamps!

2008-01-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year again! Time to ring in the new year with new products from Technique Tuesday to enhance your scrapbooking pages, cards and home decor projects!

We are introducing brand-new alphabet styles, new sizes of some of our most popular styles of letter stamps, new contemporary and classic image sets, new Technique Tiles and several new word sets.

On the Everyday Sisters layout, Eileen used the Start Me Up Broadway stamp set to make the page title. She also used one of the new FUNdamental Postage Stamp Technique Tiles to frame the layout. She added color around the photo and the edges of the Technique Tile using the new Bijou Borders image stamps and Whirly Words stamps. Finally she made the flower embellishments using the new Tile Toppers Technique Tiles .

You can see all of our new winter product releases on our website.

2008 Product and Idea Guide

Our new 2008 Product and Idea Guide is packed with information! You'll find tips on how to get started using stamps, amazing projects that will inspire even the most experienced papercrafter and answers to frequently asked questions.

You can download the entire catalog on our website: www.techniquetuesday.com At 156 pages it is our largest product and idea guide ever! We suggest saving the catalog to your computer for fastest and easiest browsing.

We are shipping to stores NOW! So check your local store or favorite online site for everything thats new from Technique Tuesday Clear stamps!

Greetings from Technique Tuesday!

2007-12-19T11:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our new blog! We are looking forward to posting new and fun techniques and projects to help you make the most of your Technique Tuesday Clear Stamps!

A little bit about us and how we got our name - Bev Grey left high-tech management when her daughter was born. Shopping for baby-photo albums led her to scrapbooking. She'd use new techniques on every layout, which brought friends to her house each Tuesday to learn them. Kids anticipated the play time cheering, "Yay! Technique Tuesday!" Bev's Technique Tuesday Clear Stamps vision: innovative tools that let people create pages that complement their photos, share sentiments with those they love, and create art that reflects their unique style.
Homepage: www.TechniqueTuesday.com

Please keep in touch and let us know if you have any questions, comments or ideas about what you would like to see us do here on the blog! Email us at customercare@techniquetuesday.com any time.

Also - stop by our website www.TechniqueTuesday.com and sign up for our monthly newsletter. Its filled with designer challenges, news on new releases and retirements, sales and much more.