I have had several of you ask me about sponging and how to achieve a nice, soft sponged edge on your cards.  In today’s 2-Minute Tuesday Tip video, I want to share some sponging tips with you and soon you will be sponging your heart out.  Let me share it with you!

For my card, I used the Healing Hugs stamp set in Blushing Bride and Soft Suede.  I love that rose!

To recap, here are my sponging tips:

• Dab off a little ink before you sponge on your cardstock.
• Start of with a very light scrape on the side of the cardstock.  Go heavier with the scraping as you go.
• Rub the sponge along the edge of the cardstock.  It picks up more color and allows the color to pop more.
• When you are at a corner, add a little more color to round off the corner.  It makes for a very nice look.
• If you want to sponge the entire card, same process.  Dab off and go lightly.  You can always add more but you can’t take it away.
• Practice!  Start off on some scratch paper and see how it looks before you sponge on your stamped cardstock.
• Sponged Glossy cardstock is gorgeous if you haven’t tried it. 

Here are the Stampin’ Up products I used on my GET WELL SOON card.  Want to recreate it?  Just click a pic to add any of the items you need to your next order. 

*Also available in Wood Mount

Here are my measurements for my card.  Feel free to use them or get creative with your own

• Blushing Bride – 8 ½” x 5 ½”, score and fold at 4 ¼” 
• Soft Suede – 3 ⅞” x 5 ⅛”
• Glossy White – 3 ¾” x 5″ and 2 ½” x 2 ½” 
  

For those of you who have been following Ginny’s Locked Jaw saga, we saw the specialist yesterday.  There’s good news and bad news (isn’t there always?).  The good news first…. it’s something that can be corrected with a minor procedure.  They will give her some mild sedation (laughing gas) and a little Novocain to numb her jaw and force the dislocation disc back into place.  Ugh.  Sounds awful, doesn’t it? They said she wouldn’t really feel anything but she will be aware of what’s going on.  

Then they will create a ‘cast’ to set it and this is in the form of a mouthpiece that she will wear for at least 6 months.  It looked a lot like the Invisalign braces that I had – just a clear retainer that will sit on the bottom teeth (she will have an upper retainer too but will wear that only at night).  Because we are leaving for vacation in a couple weeks, they are moving quickly for us because they want her to enjoy her trip (and they don’t want to let this go until we return). 

I can’t even begin to tell you how much we loved this doctor and his staff!  Ginny left grinning and excited to come back (so did I).  We were there for 2 ½ hours because they gave her the most thorough work up I have ever seen.  The doctor was super sweet and made sure we knew everything that we needed to know.  Turns out, most of his staff are either involved in musical theatre or their family is.  The doctor’s wife was a performing arts & dance major and recently retired so he knew how important singing is to Ginny and wanted to get her back to what she loves to do.  Oh, and get this…. they saw on Ginny’s chart that her birthday was last week so they had a rose in a pretty vase for her.  They made her feel so special.

Did I mention the bad news?  Do I dare mention the bad news?  Insurance doesn’t cover this in the state of Oklahoma.  It turns out, insurance doesn’t cover this in most states. I was floored that insurance doesn’t see a locked jaw as a medical condition that needs to be fixed. The bill was a shock, that’s for sure, but on the bright side, it’s not major surgery and just a minor procedure.  Ginny suggested we do another stamping tutorial fundraiser for her jaw.  lol  That kid is smart, isn’t she?

Thank you so much for joining me today.  I hope that you learned something new or maybe it inspired you to use your sponges more.  There are some stamped images that  just need the edges softened and sponging tends to work every time.

Have a wonderful Tuesday my friends!  I hope you know how much you are appreciated!!!

QUOTE OF THE DAY – “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” —Margaret Thatcher

Thank you for shopping with me and for your loyalty to Simply Simple Stamping!  I know there are a lot of demonstrators out there to choose from… THANK YOU for choosing me!  To show my appreciation, I have something special for you!

If your order is over $30* and you use the JULY HOST CODE 9C7W2X4U, I have a SURPRISE for you in your hand stamped thank you card!

If your order is over $50* and you use the  JULY HOST CODE 9C7W2X4U, you will receive a SURPRISE in your hand stamped thank you card plus next month you will receive a pdf filled with some fabulous tutorials! (email will arrive around the 1st of August)

If your order is over $150* please don’t use the code because there are Stampin’ Rewards waiting for you!  Stampin’ Rewards start at $15 and I wouldn’t want you to miss out on those!  You will also be a Spoiled Stamper VIP as well!

*before tax/shipping – (1) gift per month per customer

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