Tag Archives: cardmaking

Silhouette Mint – My thoughts about it

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Good evening guys. On today’s post I want to talk a little about the Mint which was on my wish list. Why I decided to put it on my wish list? Well because I’m a crafter and what crafter wouldn’t like to be able to create their own stamp in the comfort of their own home. Hehe, well yea that was the main reason. I watched a few videos on youtube about it and I just had to have it. So I received it on christmas but didn’t really play with it until like a week or two after the holidays (busy playing with the kids toys :p)

  
So lets now move on to that day. I opened the box and loved how small and lightweight the machine was. I love that I could leave it right next to my computer and that it didn’t take up much space. As for instructions, pretty straightforward. Insert the disk, download, plug and turn on. The software includes a few free images but I decided to create my own only because I had two stamps included with my mint so I wanted to make the most out of them. If you have the silhouette software for portrait , the mint software is the same just slightly different options. I created my Happy mail v’s sweet ideas stamp and clicked send. Once you click send the software tells you when to insert and how into the mint. Once I slid the stamp in the machine it took seconds for it to print out (AMAZING!!!!) How cool!

 
Ok, now for the ink part. That is probably one of the downsides I have about the mint. The stamp is meant to hold ink so you can’t just use an ink pad(like how you would with clear or rubber-stamps) and stamp  away. You have to add ink directly to the top of the stamp and wait for it to soak in. Then after about 5 minutes you stamp on paper to get rid of the excess ink. After that your stamp is good to go for about 50 stamps.

 
Yea yea it sucks but hey YOU GET TO CREATE YOUR VERY OWN STAMP!!!!!! After that you add your stamp to the wooden block to make it easier for you to use. I found that you can stamp fine without the wood piece I also experimented with another brand of refillable ink (from work) and found that it worked like a charm. (That means you can save a few bucks and buy non silhouette black refillable ink) Why did I experiment with the ink? Well because I plan to send my cousin a stamp and had to find an ink I can send her so that she can use to refill the stamp after it runs out of ink.

 
 So overall thoughts? Love the Mint. Its fast and easy to use. It’s not perfect but then perfect would be too boring lol. The size and weight is ideal especially for my limited desk space. I hate that I can’t just stamp it on an ink pad but I can live with that. It just means I can take it with me and not have to worry about carrying an ink pad for it (just gotta make  sure to refill it :P) Almost forgot to talk about pricing of the stamps. So I’ve read that people feel the stamp is pricey but I don’t think people realize what it really cost to order a custom stamp, not to mention the wait time( ughhh hate waiting) shipping cost and the time you spend looking out the window waiting for the mailperson to bring your package.

If you’re debating on getting one I recommend you do your research and check out some youtube videos. The price of the Mint is reasonable and I’m sure you will get a good use out of it.Let me know if you got a Mint and what you think about it. Would also love to hear any tips. Well thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

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Bokeh Effect Technique

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Hi! I am back with another card I would like to share with you. I have been seeing this new technique called the Bokeh effect and as a photographer I am familiar with the term but just recently learned how to incorporate it into card making. I headed over to YOUTUBE to check out a few ways people have tried this technique and decided to try it out. So the first thing I did was take a piece of watercolor paper (cut down to 4.25 by 5.5) and saturated the card with water. I then used my peerless watercolors to make a background. The next step is to add the circles which is what will give the Bokeh effect. To stamp the circles I cut a piece of acetate paper using my circle spellbinders. I then used this as a stencil. Since I didn’t have white ink I used what I had in hand which was white acrylic paint. So for the larger circles I used less paint and as the circles got smaller I used more paint and that is how to create that effect. I then cut out a digi image from A Day for Daisies (I loveeee these stamps) and used one of there new fairy stamp release. I added some new mini sequins, moonshine sequins and star sequins(sequins coming soon to the shop) on the card near her wand so as to look like it’s coming out of it. The sentiment is from a papertrey ink stamp set I had and voila here is the card…..

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Thank you for stopping by and Happy Crafting!!!