My first Teresa Collins Stamp Maker attempt and MY FIRST EVER BLOG HOP!

I have been very overwhelmed by how many things I brought back from US, and I think that I waste too much time looking at all the pretty things and trying to organize my crafting area.

However, last night - I told myself - I'm going to touch my Stamp Maker and that is all I'm going to do.  And, having that priority worked as I was able to try my new machine.

I designed some modern looking "mod paperie" stamps along with some cute sentiments.  I had to do a negative image of it, such that the written portion stays white (clear) and the rest is printed black.    I was freaked out about using the UV light as it comes with a note saying "may cause injury to eyes and skin, such as skin aging and eventually skin cancer."  Am I a chicken or is it normal to be freaked out when you read something like this?  Come on, it's only a crafting machine!  Do I really need to risk my life?  Anyway, I got over the first anxiety and decided to go for it. 

The process itself wasn't all that hard - except when you cut the photopolymer packets, I had no idea how sticky and gooey this stuff may be.  It is a pain to clean all the gel residue around the "stamp image" and to get it off your hands and your sink.  After few washes (use liquid detergent and warm to hot water), my images became clear. 

I couldn't wait to try doing the stamps.  Here's what they look like:

My thoughts???  Well, it's really neat to be able to design your own stamps.  I think that I'm having a lot of fun finally getting to use all the cool fonts that I have on my computer (over 800!) which until now, just slowed down my SCAL2 speed, but now I can make a use for these. 

However, from my first attempt, I'm not quite sure how I like this for a number of reasons:
1.  The small letters doesn't seem to show up very well - can't seem to do tiny details.
2.  The stamp doesn't seem to absorb or take the ink well like the other stamp companies (definitely nowhere near my fave company ones - Technique Tuesday and Papertrey ink)
3.  It's hard to tell if all the gel residue has been washed off or not, which can result in "unclean (jagged) edge".
4.  You need to push the clamp down and make sure that it's completely flat as even a tiny slant can make a difference in how uniformly it stamps onto the page.
5.  It's messy to wash the photopolymer pack and...
6.  I really don't want to die from skin cancer!!!

Anyway, I'm not going to give up.  I made up more and I decided to make the ones that I had made a little larger.  This should make it easier to clean the gel in between.  Here are some of my new corrected images:  (I had to delete what's in the black area as it was my address stamp!)  I will be trying them again tonight!

My next big news is that I'm going to be a part of a blog hop this upcoming Saturday.  I've been invited by Just Yolie, Just Create and I've been really excited about this! It's the Cutie Patootie Blog Hop and I will be a part of 12 talented individuals to show you all the CUTE things we can make with SCAL2.  Of course, my project will be featuring files from SVGCuts, so make sure you come visit me on Saturday!  I am thinking of having a giveaway as well!

A couple more things that I want to mention here:

1.  My friend Bee (Bee's Hive O'Drama). whom I saw during my vacation, has written the most absolutely the SWEETEST blog post about our day together.  Please go check it out and leave her some love - she has truly become a great friend.

2.  And, lastly, but not least, in case you forgot or haven't seen the free SVGCollection of the week (with $9.98 purchase or more) - here it is!!!!  It's the Waterfall Cards Kit - they look amazing!!!! 

Anyway, that's it girls for today! Catch up with you all soon :)