As promised, I'm going to show you how I stamp on the road. Well, I'm not actually going to show you me stamping -- that would be about as exciting as watching paint dry. No, I'll just answer the questions posed to me by my very talented buddy, Amy Sheffer. In an email exchange this weekend, she asked:
By the way, Carole, how do you stamp on the road? What do you take with you without renting a UHaul just for stamp supplies??? Do you have a secret? You make it look effortless. And to think you did all that DD stuff last fall! HOW?!?
(I could have edited out the complimentary stuff there at the end, but I want the record to reflect Amy's generous nature and make all you out there reading this think I'm hot snot on a gourmet platter. Did it work? Please don't tell me you think I'm more like cold booger on a paper plate; that would wound my fragile psyche. It's bad enough I'm living out of a shabby hotel room, isn't it?!)
I don't have any secrets, but I have gotten pretty good at whittling down stuff to the essentials. I still don't use 85% of the consumables I bring, but they aren't what takes up most of the room.
Anyway, I'm going to quit telling and start showing. All of my stamping stuff I brought with me fit into these two crop totes, the small green tote bag, and this unwieldy Ott Light.
And here's what's in the bags...
Two 12"x12" containers of patterned paper and cardstock, and a GLUE 4-section tray. As for what paper to bring? I bring several sheets of my neutral basics (the various white/cream shades of Neenah, MFT Perfect Paper Panels, Kraft, black, Prism Suede Brown Dark and Blush Red Dark), a package of 12"x12" bright colored Wausau cardstock that I bought at Target the last time I was out of town, the latest patterned paper I've purchased over the past couple of months, and any specific papers I've been sent to use in design work.
A bag of stamps. It may not look like it, but this is one area that I limited myself this time! I only brought new release stuff from MFT and TCP, and my latest order from Stamping Bella.
A bag of ribbon (this was probably the hardest to decide on). I ended up just going with my latest from a recent Jody ribbon share, some MFT ribbon, and a few basics like ginghams in all colors, and grosgrain in red, black & white. If I'm desperate, I can always color the white grosgrain with my Copics. (Hey! There's a little secret you might not be aware of!)
Some Flower Soft, and a travel bag of miscellaneous embellishments. Including lots of MFT hot fix crystals. But I forgot my hot fix tool... D'oh!
My Copic Markers. A few people have asked about the cases I keep them in. They're Copic Sketch Cases from Hobby Lobby, and they each hold 36 markers. The little bag on top holds my Copic Spicas and some other pens, like a black artist's pen, an opague white pen, a Glaze pen, etc.
A few sponges, my favorite ink -- Memento Tuxedo Black -- and a bunch of little inks, mostly Colorbox Pigment Ink Brush Pads. I don't used colored inks too terribly often, but I like to have a few options, and there's enough in there to do the trick if I need 'em. Case in point: I used the Scarlet Colorbox ink on my TCP Tuesday card a couple of days ago.
My Scor-Pal (I prefer this when I'm on the road because it's much lighter than the Scor-It. At home, though, I'm a big fan of the Scor-It because I love its deep scoring), a clipboard with my Copic chart, and some sketches underneath, large and small paper trimmers, and a calendar (made for me by my Dirty Dozen roomie, Denise Marzec :) ) containing all of my design obligations.
Cuttlebug with plates, a CD case containing all of my Nestabilities, and a few punches.
This thing I keep on my desk that houses all of my mounts and some odds and ends up top. I could have whittled this down some, but it would have been a bigger hassle than just bringing the whole thing.
Another Ott light (I'm kind of a freak about having good lighting -- probably because I have bad eyes...), Prismacolored pencils, blending stumps, odorless mineral spirits, and a carousel to put the pencils in by color family.
Last but not least, here's a look insider the little green tool tote. It's mostly carrying adhesives and a few must have tools (paper piercer, Stamp-a-Majig, Eclipse masking tape, teflon bone folder, etc.).
Let me know if you have any further questions -- I'd be happy to help! But for now? I'm bushed and hitting the hay... Nighty-night, peeps!
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