The painter was a sub-contractor on a large remodel of kitchen and 2 baths, and painting of the entire 1st floor. I ended up having my contractor fire him before he was completely finished, and the contractor also made him cut $500 of his final bill for the problems he caused. I was planning on heading to Joann's or Michael's this weekend. Thanks, Pam

Well, the first thing you really shouldn't be using a sponge brush. You should be using a nice firm flexible bristle stencil brush, one with lots of bristles and has a nice chisel edge. 2nd when you obtain a good stencil brush you should dip your bristles straight down into the paint "JUST ENOUGH" to get the round head of the stencil wet with paint. The next IMPORTANT thing you need to do is "OFFLOAD" the paint onto some folded paper towels to get rid of most of the paint. You only need to have a very small amount of paint left in the brush. Practice on some posterboard first to get the feel and movement. You can tap lightly, pounce or lightly swirl the paint. You need to build up the depth of color instead of trying to accomplish this the way you have been doing. Practice some before you begin your project again. You can also practice some shading and highlighting as well.

For those lucky folks who have been blessed with Minnie's brass stencils and want to use them for dry embossing, here's an idea... you don't need a fancy, expensive light table - you can make your own with * a sheet of glass or Plexiglas * a light source * a couple spacers A pane of window glass works great. Just tape around the edges so you don't get cut. Or a piece of Plexiglas. A little high-intensity light is fine. Or get a cheap "stick fluorescent" light - the kind you usually put underneath kitchen counters. Or even a flashlight in a pinch. Use a couple bricks to support the glass so that the light will fit under the glass. Or a stack of books at each side. Or a couple chunks of 2x4 wood - just look around your house... maybe in the kids' toybox! Something will work. Use low-tack tape to hold the stencil and paper in place on the glass. Put the glass on the two supports, then slide the light underneath and turn it on. Bingo! You've got a light table!

I love these stamping poems. Someone must have sent them to my ex-stamping teaching since she recently sent them to me too. thanks for the post.