Yet More Placemats and Napkins

Okay, so I am addicted to stamping on fabric. I have added craft ink refills onto my next Stampin' Up! order (the little spots only have so much ink) and I walk through life looking for my next victim--um--I mean--project.

Now, I have gotten e-mails, posts, and private messages wanting more information. Really, I have told you everything I know in the last two posts (Happy Mother's Day and Aprons). The only other think I can think to tell you is how to get the craft pads "going". Some (especially spots) seem dry, well a little fine mist with water, a couple of mists if it is really dry, then take a butter knife or the back of a spoon and moosh (sorry about the technical jargon) the pad till it is visibly juicy. This only works with a fully inked pad that happens to be a little dry.

Here is my lastest project:


This set is for friend of the family's wedding. All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.
It uses the Bodacious Bouquet stamp set. The craft ink (pigment) colors I used were, Taken with Teal, Barely Banana, Regal Rose, Rose Red, and Certainly Celery. The first try at a place mat for this project, I made a mistake. So while it was still wet, I pretreated it, washed it in cold water on the gentle cycle. There were only faint traces of the Taken with Teal and Rose Red, which was fine since I had planned on re-stamping the images in the same places. You cannot tell which is the one I made the mistake on.

I would also like to share Stampin' Up!'s advice for stamping with craft ink on fabric:

Q: Does the Craft ink work on fabric?

A: Yes, you can use the Craft ink for stamping on fabrics. You'll want to educate your customers about fabric stamping, explaining that the colors are less vibrant on fabric than on paper. Also, even after heat-setting, fabric inks fade slightly. This is true not only of Craft pads but other fabric pads available in the retail market as well. For a more vibrant image, try stamping the same image twice (one on top of the other) using the Stamp-a-ma-jig®. Here are some important tips to remember when stamping on fabric:

• Prewash the fabric.
• Tightly woven and smooth-finished fabrics work best.
• Test a small area of fabric first.
• Heat-set immediately after stamping.
• Wash as normal or hand wash, but air or line dry.
• For best results, re-ink pad frequently.

Note: The Whisper White Craft pad requires very high levels of pigment to get the opaque look on paper our demonstrators and customers love. To achieve this level of opacity, we had to give up the fabric option. Therefore, the Whisper White Craft pad is not recommended for use on fabric.

Now if you have any questions, please post them here, and I will make a new post answering as many as I have the wisdom and experience to answer.

Basically my advice is to look around your house, do you have dish towels, dust cloths, t-shirts, old pillowcases, etc. that you can practice on--try it! Experiment! It isn't scary. I now know, if I mess up before heat setting, I can wash it and start over again.

If you have done a project that you have done because of what I have shown you please send me a link (julesimama at hotmail dot com--you know how to really do the address, I am just trying to avoid spam).

Thanks for stopping by!!