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Thursday, July 15, 2021

VIDEO: Specimen Cards + MIX442

*Compensated affiliate links used where possible at zero cost to you. No posts are ever sponsored or paid.*


Happy Friday! 

Today I decided to do a blast from the past - a.k.a. the late 1900s when I started stamping. We did all sorts of fun swaps back then, because stamping instruction on the internet was just getting started - so we learned new design ideas by exchanging actual finished projects, which we then kept in books as inspiration guides for us. 

In the really great ATC swaps I was in on Splitcoast, I was WAY out of my depth. The people making ATCs had been at stamping a lot longer than I had, and their work was amazing. They were all really nice about my amateur trading cards!

One of the things that was all the rage were specimen cards. During the time period I started stamping, the card style was heavily vintage. Tim Holtz was born into the world at just the right time, because the mood of the stamping community in the late 90s definitely favored what became his signature style, and his inks and color palette were spot on with what everyone was creating and trading. 

I remember some of the groups I used to stamp in locally then and there were SUCH great mixed media artists in.

The BIBLE a few years later in the early 2000s reflected that - this marvelous ATC book - looking through that is like walking back through those years.

Some of the best swaps I ever received were specimen cards though. Remember - this was before personal die cutting - LONG before personal die cutting - so anything that required a window, required hand cutting with a craft knife - UGH - and punches were not common yet. See how much better the world is for stampers?

Anyway, in cards of that time, the "specimens" were usually ephemera, and I received some with transparency windows, some with glassine (rarer) and a few with waxed paper (more common), and I loved them all.

So when I found these stunning, clear botanicals on Etsy, my mind raced back to that decade, and I had to try reviving these fun swap items. 

I started with these pre-cut and scored slimline cards, because they are sized perfectly for the stickers. I used these rounded rectangle dies to create the openings - they do need to go through both sides of the card - but see my notes in the video about what I think would make even more fun openings.

I blended Tea Dye and Vintage Photo all over them and stamped them with a variety of these stamps, and then splattered them all with Salvaged Patina. I used these acetate sheets for the windows, Scor-Tape and these mushroom stickers and these botanical stickers for the specimens. How fun are these?



I love them SO much! I hope you try this. It's such a beautiful throwback project, AND it's the MIX-ability challenge today, so if you do make some, please upload them to the challenge gallery. You can find all the details here

Here is the video! PLEASE NOTE - this is not in HD and I'm sorry - 
major difficulties with Facebook Live are killing me. 


Here are all the supplies I used today.
Summer 2021 Buy It All Bundle...
[ WPL ]
Stitched Rounded Rectangle Dies -...
[ PNK ]
Hero Arts Acetate Sheets
[ HA ]
40pcs Flower transparent stickers...
[ ETS ]
40pcs Flower transparent stickers...
[ ETS ]
Artist Trading Card Workshop: Create,...
[ AMZUS ]
Life Changing Blender Brush: 2-Pack
[ PFS ]
Flower Stickers Ferns Eucalyptus...
[ ETS ]
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad 2021...
[ SSS ]
Tea Dye Distress Ink Pad - Tim Holtz
[ ACH ]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad VINTAGE...
[ SSS ]
Scor-Tape 0.125 Inch Crafting Tape at...
[ SSS ]
Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two...
[ SSS ]
Understand Blue MINI Slimline Folded...
[ CTC ]
Understand Blue Slimline Folded...
[ CTC ]
Understand Blue Card Making Bundle #3...
[ CTC ]
Understand Blue Card Making Bundle #1...
[ CTC ]
Understand Blue Card Making Bundle #2...
[ CTC ]
My Sweet Petunia
[ MSP ]
Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473
[ SSS ]
Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -...
[ BLIC ]
Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC
[ ELH | SSS ]
Crafter's Companion GEMINI...
[ SSS ]
Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring...
[ SSS ]
Storage Envelopes, Medium 25pk,...
[ ELH ]
CheckOutStore Stamp & Die Clear...
[ CHC ]
Extra Large -50 pk, Avery Elle Stamp...
[ ELH ]
Mermaid tidy towel case and glue...
[ ETS ]
Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045
[ SSS | CST ]
Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies
[ ART ]



Loveyameanitbye.

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