Tuesday's Tip at Ten-10 Must Know Stampin' UP! Terms

 

The crafting world speaks sometimes in a completely different language and unless you are thick into this world you may not be familiar with some of the terms that are used to describe certain Stampin' UP! things. There are many, many terms, but below are my top 10 that I think are "must knows"

1. Masking

Masking my be confused with putting on a mask before entering a story. But in the paper crafting world it is what you do to help create layers with your stamped images. Most masking includes post-it notes. You first would stamp your image onto your paper and one of the same image onto a post-it note. You then fussy cut your image out and place it over the first stamped image you did. Then you stamp over that first image ( safely covered in the post-it note) and remove the post-it note. You then find it overlapping and creating layers of that image. OR you use masking when sponging areas and want to keep that area clean. Like when making sun and moon images. 

2. Stamp Off

Stamp off is what you do to make the ink you are using look lighter. First you ink up. "Stamp off" onto a scrap paper. Then without reinking your stamp, you stamp your image onto your project. This is a great way to get different shades of color with just one color. 

3. DSP

DSP stands for Designer Series Paper which is Stampin' UP!'s double sided patterned paper. It is lighter then cardstock and is used all the time when making cards. Each set of DSP has a name. The sample below is from the In Good Taste DSP. Stampin' UP! DSP comes in two sizes: 6 x 6 or 12 x 12.

4. CS

CS stands for Cardstock. Cardstock is the paper card makers use to make their cards with. It is thicker then printer paper and is what is used for card bases. 

5. EF

EF stands for Embossing Folder. Stampin' UP! sales embossing folders that are used to give texture to paper when you run them through your Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine. I love embossing folders because you can use it over and over again and they really add so much texture to any paper crafting project that you create. They are often called "dry embossing" because it requires no ink like the Heat Embossing does.

6. CASE

CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything. Stampin' UP! really encourages you not to reinvite the wheel every time you sit down and stamp. But they want you to use the catalog as an idea book. They want you to copy exactly or use the layouts you see from their catalogs or even from other idea sources. I LOVE it when people CASE me. Why else would I share if I didn't want someone else to make it too? Stampin' UP! is super friendly this way and gives their ideas freely for you to recreate! 

7. Clear Block

Clear Blocks is what we use to attach our stamps to. SU (Stampin' UP!) no longer carries the old style of stamps on wooden blocks (that once are mounted on are stuck there forever). Now they carry only stamps that need a clear block to attach to in order to stamp. Clear blocks are such a space savor and you literally only need a couple different sizes to stamp 90% of the stamps from the Catalog. However, for large background stamps I do recommend the Stamperatus (check it out here  https://www.stampinup.com/products/stamparatus-(imperial-measurements?demoid=2130375 )

8. Dies

Dies are what we use to Die cut something out with the Stampin' Cut and Emboss Machine. We have shapes like circles, squares, triangles. Then we have dies that will cut out the image of a stamped onto a piece of paper. Dies are an investment because you need to machine, but once you have them it opens up a whole new world of crafting to you. 

9. Heat Emboss

Heat Emboss is what you do to melt the embossing powder using a the heating tool. It creates amazing, shiny stamped images and literally like magic! When heat embossing you will also need ink or versamark ink (clear ink) to attach the powder to. 

Heat Tool

Embossing Powder

VersaMark clear ink

10. Fussy Cut 

You will hear this saying all the time. It is what we stampers do when you need to cut out a stamped imaged or piece of DSP by hand with your paper snips (aka scissors). Some stampers love it and are really good at it. Others dread it and avoid it at all cost by using their punches and dies to cut out their paper for them. I neither love or hate it, but do it often without making much "fuss" about it! 

There are many more terms that could be added to this list but here are my top 10 and I hope you have learned something new and feel a little more about of the SU world! 

Happy Stampin' Everyone!!!