Happy Soul

#stampinup   #faithfulinkspirations   #ProtipTuesday   Hey there! I have a confession to make: my stampin' studio is a mess. It's got boxes everywhere--NEW! product from the Holiday catalog is strewn all over the floor, boxes of retired product are stacked on one of my work tables, and there are birthday presents all over the place. My twins turn 20 this week! Ack! I can't believe it. And they return to college on Friday. If you think my stampin' room sounds messy--you should just try to imagine their rooms. There are clothes all. over. the. floor. of both rooms. It's so bad that you cannot (I kid you not) see the floor. All of those clothes need to be washed and sorted and packed. I'm a little bit panicked.

So I'm taking a bit of time to do what makes my soul happy--and that's creating (which also adds to the mess in my stampin' room). Today's card is one that we made at the Proverbial Stampers & Friends gathering--but that I added some embellishments to it so that I could share the Tuesday Protip with you. (I apologize that the picture is so dark--see the previous paragraph about my studio being a mess--including my photo area.)

We started with a 3-3/4" by 5-1/8" Pacific Point Card Stock panel and cut out the flowers with the Tasteful Backgrounds Dies. We also stamped the smudgy pattern from the "Tasteful Textures" stamp set onto this piece in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. We adhered this to a 4" by 5-1/4" Basic Black Card Stock mat and then onto a Thick Whisper White Card Stock card base.

Next, we stamped an image from the "Silhouette Scenes" stamp set and a sentiment from the "Tasteful Textures" stamp set in Pacific Point Ink onto Whisper White Card Stock and cut it out with a square Stitched Shapes Die. We adhered that to a Basic Black Card Stock square that we cut with a Layering Squares Die. We adhered this piece to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I added three Frosted Epoxy Droplets to the card and then colored them with a Light Basic Black Stampin' Blend Marker for a little pizzazz.

Let's pretend that the droplets weren't adhesive-backed and let's pretend that we wanted to adhere them to the card with the Fine-Tip Glue Pen. And let's pretend that the Glue Pen was clogged. Do you know how to fix that? If you don't, here's today's Protip for unclogging the Fine-Tip Glue!

The first thing you need to do is unscrew the top from the bottle and then unscrew all four pieces of the top. Next, clear the "goo" off the top of the bottle. I just pick up a piece and it peels right off. Set the bottle aside.

You'll need two special tools for the next steps. First, my special "patent pending" tool (top left) (which can also be used to poke out the hanging chads from your die-cuts if you're too lazy to go get your die brush--ask me how I know) and a straight pin.

Use my special tool to dig out any "goo" (AKA "boogers" from all parts of the components of the top of the glue bottle (top right--see how clogged that piece is?). Next, slowly insert a straight pin into the metal top of the Fine-Tip. You might not be able to do this if the Fine-Tip is clogged. If that's the case, hold the assembly with a pair of tweezers and melt the "goo" with your heat tool. Pump the straight pin in and out of the tip. You may have to repeat the heat-and-pump step a number of times to really clear that Fine-Tip.

I usually blow into the two black pieces and the yellow piece to make sure air can get through--if air can get through, then so can the glue. Use the straight pin to keep the Fine-Tip open, or insert the pin from the white lid into the tip.

And there you have it!

Come on back tomorrow for another entry in the Christmas in August card extravaganza!!

tams# 36032

Product List

Silhouette Scenes Cling Stamp Set [149223] $23.00	Tasteful Textures Bundle [151081] $48.50	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $6.00	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad [147098] $7.50
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [140272] $8.25	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100730] $9.75	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121045] $8.75	Pacific Point 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [111350] $8.75
Stitched Shapes Dies [145372] $30.00	Layering Squares Dies [141708] $35.00	Frosted & Clear Epoxy Droplets [147801] $9.00	Basic Black Light Stampin' Blends [147940] $4.50
Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $4.00	Fine-Tip Glue Pen [138309] $7.00	Heat Tool (Us And Canada) [129053] $30.00