Die Overstamping by Judy Jackson

This technique -- from the current newsletter -- is a creative way to use your cutting dies in a slightly different way.    It seems some  dies are a little easier to use than others for this technique.  The die I chose is this snowman -- and because it has those two solid areas in the arms, those cut out pieces need to saved. 

The stamps are from Stampin' Up (long, long retired snowflakes but I love them!) and TPC Studios.

But now I wonder do you Readers ever wonder if the Technique Junkie Design Team members ever make mistakes in rendering the techniques? I can assure you that we indeed do and most of the time our mistakes are (at least mine!) are because we do not read the directions carefully enough.  I can assure you that is exactly what I did in this next card. I did not read the directly carefully at all -- at first.  About half way through the process, I realized my mistake and tossed my "mistake" aside and then carefully read the directions -- and voila the technique worked just fine.  I was quite pleased with the result.

However, after finishing the above card correctly, I wondered can I fix the first card attempt enough to be able to use it? I pulled it out of the paper trash can in my stamp room. Now this card will not show the correct technique for sure -- and my intent in this part of my post is not to show you a correctly finished "Die Overstamping" technique card but to show you can use your mistakes and this card had a couple of major mistakes.

Can  you see the shadow?  That is because I adhered the "negative" of the cutout card stock die instead of using it correctly.  After adhering it, I realized it was not working right.  OOPS, I better read the directions more carefully!  Then I had the "aha" moment and knew what I did wrong. So I started over creating the correct card posted first above.  So then I stamped this adorable little snowman in the middle and stamped the "Let it Snow" sentiment below.  Both stamps are long retired Stampin' Up stamps from two different sets.

Well, if that wasn't another oops and a big one. I stamped it upside down. That was frustrating.  Now I was determined to salvage this  card and I wasn't giving up!  So I went to my vellum file and used some card stock vellum, restamped and embossed the sentiment one more time. I used my small Xyron machine and adhered it to cover my mistake.  And it worked OK. You can't tell the words below the vellum are stamped upside down. You can see the shadow of the words but not that they are upside down.

So when you make mistakes, don't get discouraged. Remember we all make mistakes but mistakes can often be salvaged. (I won't tell you about all of the pieces of card stock that have mistakes and get trashed immediately because there is no way to salvage them!) Look at mistakes as creative opportunities to do something totally different.

Be creative today, even with your trashed mistakes!

Judy Jackson