Wheel & Guide

I LOVE using my wheels in my scrapbooks and cards. I have had several of my customers recently purchase SU wheels, so I thought I would create a tutorial to make using them easier! If something doesn't make sense or is unclear---e-mail me and I will see what I can do to make it easier. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. If you would like to purchase any of the products from this tutorial click the shop now link at the top left side of this blog or email me at andersonshel@gmail.com.  

Products Needed

Stampin' Around Handles -Regular or Jumbo
Stampin' Around Wheel Guide
Inked Cartridge (if desired, not necessary but makes it very easy)
Uninked Cartridge (if desired)
Stampin' Up Wheel of your choice
Grid Paper

Inserting Your Ink Cartridge

It is very important that you insert your ink correctly. I leave my 'lid' on my cartridge until I have completely set up the handle. Lay your cartridge in the handle, with the tab pointing up to the ceiling.

Clicking it in place

Continue to push your cartridge into the handle until it 'clicks' in place.

Insert Your Wheel

Lay your rubber wheel into your handle, lining up the tabs on each side. Gently push down until your wheel 'clicks' and is firmly in place. Your wheel should freely turn without any resistance.

Remove Ink Cover

Now that you have your cartridge and wheel firmly in place, you can remove the cover from the ink cartridge. It should just slid up.

Engage Ink Cartridge

Once you have removed the lid, you need to push the tab on the cartridge towards the wheel until the ink is touching the rubber. It will sort of 'spring' forward. You now have ink for your images.

Inking Your Wheel

When I first start a wheel, I like to run it 3 or 4 times over a scrap piece of paper to 'ink-it-up'. You want to go in ONLY one direction. I find pushing forward is the easiest for me. I also find that I absolutely CAN NOT do this sitting down. You need to press firmly and evenly and when I am sitting down I tend to press harder on one side or the other and the image is not even. So, using the scrap piece of paper allows me to practice while getting my wheel inked.

Stampin' Around Wheel Guide

I love, love, love my Stampin' Around Wheel Guide. It is so easy to use and it guarantees a straight line every time. It is 12 inches long, so you can use it for scrapbooking, but it also has an extension to increase your line to 22 inches. To use your guide, you line up the guide with your paper exactly where the wheeled image will go.

Inking Your Image

You then line up your wheel with your guide. I always like to do 2-3 inches of wheeled image on the scrap paper before continuing onto my paper. You get more ink and clearer image on the actual page.

Wheeled Image

Wheeled Image with 2-3 inches of image on scrap paper.

Stampin' Around Wheel Guide

You can use your SU Wheel Guide for perfect placement for background paper. To get even placement, place the guide over your previous image and line the edge up evenly with the image.

Using Your Wheel Guide Extension

The wheel guide extension clicks on easily and allows you to get up to 22 inches of a straight line.

Wheeling on a Diagonal

This is also a fun way to create a pretty background. Wheel on the diagonal instead of straight across. Use your guide just as you would on a straight orientation.

Diagonal Background Completed

This background is tone-on-tone. Mellow Moss Ink on Mellow Moss Paper. It gives it a very delicate and light background (almost a watermark effect) for cards and scrapbook pages

Placement of Your Wheel---Left Handed

Many of the wheels have an orientation---a definite bottum and top---some of the wheels it doesn't matter. For the wheels that have an orientation, it is important how you place your wheel in the handle. If you are Left Handed----when you place the wheel in the handle, make sure the bottum is pointing to the left.

Placement of Your Wheel---Right Handed

If you are Right Handed----when you place the wheel in the handle, make sure the bottum is pointing to the Right. Nothing it more frustrating to get your whole handle set up and inked, only to realize it is upside down and you need to redo it! (Been there and done that---many times!)

Coloring Your Wheeled Image

I use this technique for my scrapbook page a lot. It is kind of like creating your own 12 inches stickers. The wheel I used here is retired.
You ink your image in black ink and then use your SU Markers or Ink Pads to color the images in.

Coloring Your Images

I like to use my Aqua Painter--a very good basic tool to have for so many projects and squeeze my ink pads together so that ink is transferred onto the lid and I can color my images.

Cute Border

Once I have colored my images, I add a background piece to my strip and I have a super cute border for a scrapbook page.

Embossing Your Wheeled Images

I love to do an embossing image across the bottum of a scrapbook page. It gives some dimension and with the 'shiny' appearance, looks similar to a sticker. SU does not make a VersaMark cartridge (which you need for embossing) for the Wheels. To create a VersaMark cartridge, you need an Uninked Cartridge and VersaMark Pad Refill .

The uninked cartridge obviously comes without ink, so you use the VersaMark refill to ink your cartridge. You want it very 'juicy', but it should not be running out of the cartridge. I have found with the cartridges that I have made, you need to always add just a little bit more VersaMark each time you use it. Once the cartridge is inked, you can not change the color, so make sure to right VersaMark on the outside.

Removing Cartridge

Once you are done using your wheel, push back on the tab until the cartridge clicks into place.

Covering Your Ink

Make sure to replace the cover in your cartridge.

Cleaning Your Wheel

Once the cartridge is clicked back and the cover is on, you can clean your wheel. You clean your wheel just like any of your stamps. Rotate your wheel across your Stampin' Scrub in ONE DIRECTION (do approximately 10 times)---then 'dry' on the opposite side. With your wheel clean and your cartridge closed, you can begin to disassemble your handle and wheel.