scrappy wheely fun tutorial

I know you were probably expecting a challenge, but I was so excited this morning I had to take pictures for this tutorial before I could even think about writing up a challenge. (Don't worry -- the challenge is still coming and I think it's going to be fun!)

But we'll start off today with a tutorial on how you can isolate sentiments from the new All About Birthdays and All About Gratitude Jumbo Wheels. This is a great way not only to get more uses out of your wheels, but your scraps as well (and we all know how much I love my scraps!)

The first thing you need to do is grab a piece of scrap card stock slightly wider and longer than you wheel and wheel yourself an index print.

Here is my index print. The eagle eyes amongst you will notice that it's not the same as the piece I started wheeling in the above photo. Unfortunately, I did not line that one us correctly to get the entire wheel design on one page, so I had to turn the scrap card stock over (thank goodness for the second side, right? Waste not, want not!) and wheel the design again, doing a better job of lining things up this time.



Measure the sentiment you want to isolate with a ruler and grab a piece of scrap card stock that is slightly larger (you can always trim it later). You can see in this photo that my scrap piece is covering the entire "Make a wish" sentiment.

Clean your wheel very well before going on to this step. I cannot emphasize that enough! After the wheel is clean and dry, use your stampin' write marker to color in your desired sentiment, being very careful about not getting ink on any of the adjoining sentiments.

Take you scrap piece of card stock and press it onto the wheel over your chosen sentiment. Make sure you are holding one end securely as you wrap the card stock around the wheel, and then hold the card stock on at both ends, as shown in the photo below.

Once your entire sentiment is covered, hold the scrap card stock at both end with the fingers of one hand while using the fingers of the other hand to gently press the card stock into the wheel -- similar to the way I recommend stamping background stamps. You may wish to breathe or "huff" on your wheel before covering it with the card stock to make sure the ink is active.

When you release the card stock from one end you can see that the sentiment made a perfect impression! If yours did not come out perfectly the first time, just re-ink your wheel with your marker and grab another piece of scrap card stock.

Here is the "Make A Wish" sentiment on top of the original index sheet. If you're using this stamped piece along with the rest of the wheeled images, you can now trim the card stock to more closely match the size of the sentiment. You can see on my card from last night how I "featured" this sentiment on a background made with the rest of the wheel. Or, if you prefer, just use the sentiment by itself on a card that doesn't make use of the rest of the wheel.

If you have a lot of time on your hands and love playing with markers as much as I do, you can use this technique to color in the entire wheel. Here I used stampin' write markers in real red, brilliant blue, green galore, only orange and yo yo yellow.

Because ink from the markers dries quicker than ink from the ink pads, you might have to "huff" on the entire wheel and you may not get a "superb" impression from every sentiment on the wheel. However, you can always go back and add a little color with your stamping write markers. Because of the time factor, I would not recommend using this technique when you have to make many copies of the same card, but the unique effect would make a great card for a very special someone.

Also, learn from my mistakes and if you invest the time to color in each individual sentiment with markers use the wheel guide when wheeling so that your design is wheeled perfectly straight. In this photo you can tell that my hand wavered a little towards the end.

Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and can now see even more possibilities with this exclusive hostess set (available exclusively to Stampin' Up! hostesses between July 1-December 31, 2007). Call or e-mail me to save the date for your party so you can earn one of your own!