Theme Thursday + Exciting Opportunity!

This is my first time to participate in the Theme Thursday challenge - I always want to, but it seems like I run out of time the later in the week it gets. This week's theme is vintage tho, so I made myself do something! First I had to clean off my desk . :-(

Ack! Am I the only one with such a horrible looking work surface? I saved all of the little bits and pieces that were lying around, added some pieces that I've been trying to work into projects and it evolved into this!

The stamps are both from Oxford Impressions - the woman is from the Venezia plate and the tag is from the April in Paris plate. The French Laundry hanger is available at RockCandy Studios and the paper flowers are from Walmart. Everything else is vintage.

Now, for the big news! Oxford Impressions is looking for new Design Team members! This is a wonderful opportunity to be a designer for one of the best stamp companies in the business. I am really excited - I know there is so much talent out there and I can't wait to see what amazing art will come our way! Click HERE for the details. Also, since OI designers are required to demonstrate an ability to work with photo stamps, make sure you check out Suzanne's tutorial on getting the best images from this type of stamp. I will give you a few of my own tips too!

From my experience there are three absolute rules you must follow to get the best impressions from your stamps. First and foremost - you must use the right kind of paper. I can't stress this enough. It needs to be coated paper - glossy is fine, matte coated (like Suzanne sells) is great too. I usually use the matte coated, but the for the piece I made above I used glossy because it's what was close at hand. If you try to use plain cardstock you will not get the detail required for this type of stamp. Second - you need to use the right kind of ink and the right amount of ink. My personal preferance is black Archival ink by Ranger. You also need your pad to be on the dry side. I've seen lots of images ruined by overinking the stamp. You end up with a big splotch of goo and not a beautiful photo image! Third, you need to have a firm base to stamp on and some sort of cushion. I prefer to mount my photo stamps on cling foam. I have seen fabulous impressions made with unmounted stamps that are stamped using a mouse pad as a cushion too. Mostly what you have to do is experiment a lot. Sometimes I stamp an entire sheet and end up with just a few good images (depending on how picky I am that day!). Find the best combination of paper/ink/cushion and you will be a pro in no time. Good luck!