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I have read that years ago many of you made your own designer paper. What weight paper did you use? And where did you buy it.
SU has designer paper that matches their ink. However I don't always like the patterns they sell. If i buy paper at Michael's or Hobby Lobby it doesn't match the ink I have . I want to make designer paper so it matches my ink
Thanks
I used SU whisper white or very vanilla, if you look under resources for the technique called One Sheet Wonder or do a search under OSW you will see lots of samples.
I just did this yesterday using colors that were close to another pattern paper in making a purse tote.
If its for cards I use Domtar smooth 32lb bond. Its a nice weight paper, bright white, & very smooth. If its for scrapbooking, I've used Bazzil smooth white and SU white. Here is an example of one pattern paper I made for Valentines & a couple cards I made with it:
Thank you !! So some use card stock and others use 32 # smooth paper .
I will need to see where I can find 32# paper here in the USA.
The Valentine DP is great
I bought my paper at Staples (Canada), but I'm sure any office supply store will have a similar product. I just happen to like Domtar papers. I believe HP has a similar paper (but more expensive).
If its for cards I use Domtar smooth 32lb bond. Its a nice weight paper, bright white, & very smooth. If its for scrapbooking, I've used Bazzil smooth white and SU white. Here is an example of one pattern paper I made for Valentines & a couple cards I made with it:
That paper is fabulous! I love it- must have been a bit of work to make it, it looks incredible. Thanks for sharing!
I'm so glad this thread was started! I've been wondering the same thing. Another question to add...how do you achieve a random effect if you're using a bunch of single stamps and not a wheel? Is there a "rule of thumb" to use about how many colors? What about if you want to make paper that doesn't have a white or vanilla background? Do you brayer or sponge around your randomly stamped images?
Thanks for letting me add on questions to this great thread!
If you want a paper that has a color other than white or vanilla; start with a piece of colored card stock and stamp on that. Or, brayer the whole sheet the color you want first, than stamp. Sponging or brayering after the fact will be hard to cover all white space and you could change the color of your stamped images without meaning to.
I don't know if there are any hard and fast "rules" but it will help to make it look more random if you make sure to go off the edge with your images. As for how many colors to use I find three to be a good amount. I usually use two to match with my main stamped images or other layers of colored card stock I'm using; and a third just as an accent color.
I'm so glad this thread was started! I've been wondering the same thing. Another question to add...how do you achieve a random effect if you're using a bunch of single stamps and not a wheel? Is there a "rule of thumb" to use about how many colors? What about if you want to make paper that doesn't have a white or vanilla background? Do you brayer or sponge around your randomly stamped images?
Thanks for letting me add on questions to this great thread!
You may want to take a look at some of the designer paper that you like and get inspiration in terms of the # of colors and randomness of patterns from there.
If its for cards I use Domtar smooth 32lb bond. Its a nice weight paper, bright white, & very smooth. If its for scrapbooking, I've used Bazzil smooth white and SU white. Here is an example of one pattern paper I made for Valentines & a couple cards I made with it:
If you want a paper that has a color other than white or vanilla; start with a piece of colored card stock and stamp on that. Or, brayer the whole sheet the color you want first, than stamp. Sponging or brayering after the fact will be hard to cover all white space and you could change the color of your stamped images without meaning to.
I don't know if there are any hard and fast "rules" but it will help to make it look more random if you make sure to go off the edge with your images. As for how many colors to use I find three to be a good amount. I usually use two to match with my main stamped images or other layers of colored card stock I'm using; and a third just as an accent color.
If you want a colour other than white for your background, then you would use coloured card stock.
I'm so glad this thread was started! I've been wondering the same thing. Another question to add...how do you achieve a random effect if you're using a bunch of single stamps and not a wheel? Is there a "rule of thumb" to use about how many colors? What about if you want to make paper that doesn't have a white or vanilla background? Do you brayer or sponge around your randomly stamped images?
Thanks for letting me add on questions to this great thread!
I used a wheel stamp (the red ink - unmounted of course) and then a single stamp for the heart (pink). I think getting the randomness takes a little practice, but as long as you turn your stamp and don't have it going in the same direction too often helps. Also, its not completely random - the spacing is sort of uniform, but that's just so you can get even pattern all over.
Another poster asked about how many colours. My answer would be use as many as you want - its your design. I just happen to use only two (well 3 including white) because my cards were those colours.
I have several friends that scan their favorite papers and then print it off. Not sure what type of paper they print on but I'd never know the difference in the stuff I have received from them in swaps and from their cards!
__________________ ♥ Katie ♥ Take a peek at my gallery and Etsyand BLOG :)
"Look into your heart and you'll find that the sky is yours." - Jason Mraz
If its for cards I use Domtar smooth 32lb bond. Its a nice weight paper, bright white, & very smooth. If its for scrapbooking, I've used Bazzil smooth white and SU white. Here is an example of one pattern paper I made for Valentines & a couple cards I made with it:
I LOVE YOUR DESIGNER PAPER! I would buy that paper in a heartbeat (lol.. no pun intended).
What kind of ink do you use? You are a pro, that's for sure. I wish I could stamp with such precision and get such crisp and accurate impressions. And that kissing card is darling. (you just gave me an idea for a valentine card with your designer paper with x/o on top instead of flowers and a frog that says: free kisses)...8-)
Thanks, everyone, for such helpful responses to my additional questions. I'm definitely going to try it this weekend when I get a chance to go back to my craftroom. :-) And I might just have to copy that beautiful custom Valentine's DP...it turned out just perfectly!
I would also like to thank every one who responded with tips and techniques.
I am going to order the Dontar paper
I have SU plain colored CS and the ink that matches so now I am going to practice making DP to go with those
I LOVE YOUR DESIGNER PAPER! I would buy that paper in a heartbeat (lol.. no pun intended).
What kind of ink do you use? You are a pro, that's for sure. I wish I could stamp with such precision and get such crisp and accurate impressions. And that kissing card is darling. (you just gave me an idea for a valentine card with your designer paper with x/o on top instead of flowers and a frog that says: free kisses)...8-)
thanks so much for sharing!!
Thank you for the compliments on my cards. I don't upload pics of my cards because most of the time I don't think they're that great, but they're getting better.
For the inks I used on those papers. The red ink is craft ink (real red I think) and the pink is dye ink ( pixie pink). The craft ink took a couple days to dry before I could handle it without it smearing, so the next time I make some, I will only use dye ink.
I have stacks and stacks of "out-dated" papers from the slabs you can pick up cheap on sale. I'm going to flip them over and stamp all over the unprinted back - they're a good weight and acid-free.
As far as the random stamping goes, I've heard a couple of tips that I'll pass along: Start with your largest stamp and then fill in with smaller ones; stamp a group of three (leaving space), then another group of three next to the first group, etc. As was mentioned earlier, make sure you go off the edges, too. One trick I use often is to cut the paper/cardstock to the size I plan to use, then stamp. That way you can put things exactly where you want them to be seen, and - if you're layering something else on top of it - you don't even have to stamp the center!
This is a good way to try out new techniques, too. I've attached a thumbnail of the bandanna technique card I made, as well as a cherry card that shows the "exact placement" option I referenced above...
Traci Bautista in her book "Collage Unleashed" has a great technique for making your own DP. And, occasionally, The Stampers' Sampler magazine has a feature called "Masterboard" where artists showcase their DP and the cards they made with them. Very inspiring!
Sue I love the idea of using the unprinted side of DP you don't like to make your own !!.
I'll bet everyone has DP in their stash they no longer like . This will be a great way to use it up
Joanns frequently has DP on sale at 4 for $1, but the patterns are not great. It is only printed on one side so it is another source of plain paper .
Also when I started doing this last year I found some paper at a yard sale that has an unprinted back. I didn't like the patterns, but I was going to use the plain side to make envelopes with my Crafter's Companion
( the road to hell is paved with good intentions :rolleyes I have since realize the Crafter's Companion is not my favorite purchase. That paper will be perfect!
I saw a video where the person made envelope liners to match the card that would work with this idea too!
Sue I love the idea of using the unprinted side of DP you don't like to make your own !!.
I'll bet everyone has DP in their stash they no longer like . This will be a great way to use it up
Joanns frequently has DP on sale at 4 for $1, but the patterns are not great. It is only printed on one side so it is another source of plain paper .
Also when I started doing this last year I found some paper at a yard sale that has an unprinted back. I didn't like the patterns, but I was going to use the plain side to make envelopes with my Crafter's Companion
( the road to hell is paved with good intentions :rolleyes I have since realize the Crafter's Companion is not my favorite purchase. That paper will be perfect!
I saw a video where the person made envelope liners to match the card that would work with this idea too!
I love your DP .
Thanks, Barbara! Yeah - I'm totally trying to "downsize" (an eye roll of my own here...), so I figured this would be one way to wade through the stash. Besides, I've been going through all of my stamp sets that have never seen ink, and a lot of them would be PERFECT for making dp! Thanks for starting this thread to remind me...
Sue I love the idea of using the unprinted side of DP you don't like to make your own !!.
I'll bet everyone has DP in their stash they no longer like . This will be a great way to use it up
Joanns frequently has DP on sale at 4 for $1, but the patterns are not great. It is only printed on one side so it is another source of plain paper .
Also when I started doing this last year I found some paper at a yard sale that has an unprinted back. I didn't like the patterns, but I was going to use the plain side to make envelopes with my Crafter's Companion
( the road to hell is paved with good intentions :rolleyes I have since realize the Crafter's Companion is not my favorite purchase. That paper will be perfect!
I saw a video where the person made envelope liners to match the card that would work with this idea too!
I love your DP .
HEY!!!! Now that is a great idea. I buy big packs of designer paper on sell all the time because I love at least 3/4ths of it. But there are always those odd designs and colors that I don't care for. I never thought of using them to make envelopes. The envelopes are usually torn open and go right in the garbage anyway, so who cares what the inside looks like.
I love getting new ideas because I hate wasting anything. Thanks!
I'd just like to add my 2 cents here. I find when I'm trying to create my open designer paper that I will usually start with my background stamps and usually do this on white or vanilaa. I usually start by first stamping off the paper so that I get more of a subtle effect as I want the other "main stamps" to be the focus. This is a great way of using up the white space and also to use those background stamps that I still love.
I really don't know why or how DP got to be such a big thing in stamping. When I started stamping we didn't use DP at all, we made all the backgrounds. It was really hard for me to use the DP, it didn't feel like I was really stamping but cheating. I mean if there is only 1 stamped image is that really stamping? LOL
Use whatever paper or cardstock you want. I wouldn't use anything to thin like copy paper though. Use colored or white. To get a random look, make sure you stamp off the paper like someone said and figure where your image is, you can plan where you want to stamp your background. We used background stamps a lot way back then, not many wheels either! The biggest advantage of doing your own (besides saving money) is you will never run out. If you like to color, you can stamp and color your own background paper. I saw some awesome paper someone did after stamping a bunch of animals on a card size sheet and colored them all in. It looked like great DP. So, don't cheat stamp your backgrounds. Study your favorite DP and see what you like about it and see if you can make something similar. I would love to see more people stamping more on their cards.
My one cent, 'cause it's not really worth two...lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by Betty
I really don't know why or how DP got to be such a big thing in stamping. When I started stamping we didn't use DP at all, we made all the backgrounds. It was really hard for me to use the DP, it didn't feel like I was really stamping but cheating. I mean if there is only 1 stamped image is that really stamping? LOL
Use whatever paper or cardstock you want. I wouldn't use anything to thin like copy paper though. Use colored or white. To get a random look, make sure you stamp off the paper like someone said and figure where your image is, you can plan where you want to stamp your background. We used background stamps a lot way back then, not many wheels either! The biggest advantage of doing your own (besides saving money) is you will never run out. If you like to color, you can stamp and color your own background paper. I saw some awesome paper someone did after stamping a bunch of animals on a card size sheet and colored them all in. It looked like great DP. So, don't cheat stamp your backgrounds. Study your favorite DP and see what you like about it and see if you can make something similar. I would love to see more people stamping more on their cards.
hey, not only - who started all this designer paper business; but who started all the ribbon on every single card? (don't shoot me please. I respect your right to love ribbon and i love ribbon). but i get tired of seeing every card with a piece of ribbon wrapped around it. almost in the same exact spot on every card. like someone published a "recipe" for a card and now every single card looks alike.
I'm not a great stamper and don't have THAT many stamps, so making my own paper is pretty limiting with my stash, LOL. I never even thought of making my own! But I love Sue's examples, especially the HOPE card. Just awesome!
I like the idea of trying to imitate my favorite papers. Great idea. Though I can't mimic foil and that glittery effect...if I use glitter it doesn't stick as well as it seems to on the paper I buy (like Mariposa from DCWV).
I use the back of paper I don't like as the background for layouts all the time, it's a great way to avoid buying 12x12 white paper. I stick with my 8.5x11 cardstock at Meijer that is much cheaper
__________________ ♥ Katie ♥ Take a peek at my gallery and Etsyand BLOG :)
"Look into your heart and you'll find that the sky is yours." - Jason Mraz
I'm not a great stamper and don't have THAT many stamps, so making my own paper is pretty limiting with my stash, LOL. I never even thought of making my own! But I love Sue's examples, especially the HOPE card. Just awesome!
I like the idea of trying to imitate my favorite papers. Great idea. Though I can't mimic foil and that glittery effect...if I use glitter it doesn't stick as well as it seems to on the paper I buy (like Mariposa from DCWV).
I use the back of paper I don't like as the background for layouts all the time, it's a great way to avoid buying 12x12 white paper. I stick with my 8.5x11 cardstock at Meijer that is much cheaper
Thanks for the compliment! I hear you on the foil and glitter (Mariposa is gorgeous - just bought the mat stack last week!). Have you tried Heat n' Stick powder? You apply it the same as embossing powder, but when it melts it gets tacky and really holds glitter well. I haven't tried it with foil, but maybe I will...
What a great way to continue to use some of those retired inks we still love. You guys are so clever. I have made my own mats to match my paper by drawing around the edge of white paper with a marker until I get a good smooth color. It's not quite as good as the real thing but it works in a pinch.
What a great way to continue to use some of those retired inks we still love. You guys are so clever. I have made my own mats to match my paper by drawing around the edge of white paper with a marker until I get a good smooth color. It's not quite as good as the real thing but it works in a pinch.
I do this a lot with Christmas cards cause gold/silver foil paper is soooo expensive. I just use a gold/silver marker.
I'm not a great stamper and don't have THAT many stamps, so making my own paper is pretty limiting with my stash, LOL. I never even thought of making my own! But I love Sue's examples, especially the HOPE card. Just awesome!
I like the idea of trying to imitate my favorite papers. Great idea. Though I can't mimic foil and that glittery effect...if I use glitter it doesn't stick as well as it seems to on the paper I buy (like Mariposa from DCWV).
I use the back of paper I don't like as the background for layouts all the time, it's a great way to avoid buying 12x12 white paper. I stick with my 8.5x11 cardstock at Meijer that is much cheaper
I really like to use Iridescent Ice embossing powder from SU! for this as I too have had the problems with glitter not sticking. Heat & stick is good too - especially if you want other colors of glitter but with a craft pad/pigment ink you can essentially make it look like you used a different color of glitter just by the ink pad you use.
Thank you for the compliments on my cards. I don't upload pics of my cards because most of the time I don't think they're that great, but they're getting better.
For the inks I used on those papers. The red ink is craft ink (real red I think) and the pink is dye ink ( pixie pink). The craft ink took a couple days to dry before I could handle it without it smearing, so the next time I make some, I will only use dye ink.
I LOVE the look of craft inks!!! (I didn't really realize it until my club that started had scrapbookers in it so we use those on our scrapbook pages - before I'd only used them to color chipboard and emboss with.) They look just a touch softer, almost chalk like - gorgeous! Anyway a tip if you want to still use those but don't want to wait is to heat the ink with a heat tool - you will see the ink "change" as it becomes dry so you know it is done! I love dye inks but sometimes craft inks just make such a special touch on a card.
Ok my last comment (for now anyway) - if you're making cards I LOVE to use background stamps to build a designer paper look with extra dimension. Like gregzgurl's first card had the Sanded background stamped and then individual stamps over the top of it. I always have better luck with the BG stamps than wheels but if you're scrapbooking and need to cover a larger area wheels like SU!'s texture or sandy speckles would be good ones to add this extra dimension. I'm also really enjoying stamping something and then running it through my Big Shot with an embossing folder or texturz plate like this card: http://www.cardscraps.com/forum/loca...catid=11&id=86
hey, not only - who started all this designer paper business; but who started all the ribbon on every single card? (don't shoot me please. I respect your right to love ribbon and i love ribbon). but i get tired of seeing every card with a piece of ribbon wrapped around it. almost in the same exact spot on every card. like someone published a "recipe" for a card and now every single card looks alike.
OH I SO AGREE on that one! Everything has to have flowers and ribbon and hardware and more stuff so you can't mail it without a padded envelope or box!
I'm so mad at the PO in Midland TX I could SCREAM. I send cards to DD all the time when she's in school in MT now she's working in TX this summer and they keep sending them back, even though they fit through the width slot and aren't overweight. Over HALF my cards are coming back and I don't over embellish or layer! Never got one back from MT.
It's becoming a trend to make cards more like scrapbook pages without photos...very embellished, lots of detail. I like it but I think it makes the simple cards I make look like I didn't do enough work on it. It looks TOO simple sometimes. So I'm into the embellishing. I'm up to sending in a bubble envie if I must, I don't send cards much, so it's not so bad. But for those who mail a lot, then I totally understand where you're coming from!
__________________ ♥ Katie ♥ Take a peek at my gallery and Etsyand BLOG :)
"Look into your heart and you'll find that the sky is yours." - Jason Mraz