RESIST STAMPING

STAMPING RESIST

We used to do something very similar to this with crayons in grade three, but this is the "grown up" version.

Colour the base paper with permanent markers - I've used really bright colours and a swirly pattern just to make the sample obvious, but you can be more subtle.

Stamp on an image (one with lots of solid area is most effective, this one is from G45) using embossing or watermark ink (I used Versamark) and heat emboss using clear powder.

Go over the whole thing with a dark dye ink , and then gently wipe off the embossed areas to reveal the colour beneath.

ALUMINIUM FOIL EMBOSS WITH NAILPOLISH HIGHIGHTS

BANDANA STAMPING

BANDANNA STAMPING

This is not my idea but there are so many examples on-line that I don't know who to thank for the technique.   Have a look and you will find many better examples that this so thank you to everyone who has posted their work for us to enjoy and be inspired by.

Begin with a watercolour background.  (I've used my favourite smooshed distress inks applied with an acrylic block - see the last post).

Stamp on some images with blank ink.  I arranged them on a single block and stamped them all at one time so I could do a test run first.  Next just colour in a section or two of the stamps with white gel pen and add a few lines and  a little dotted border here and there. No skill needed for quite an effective result.  This is one example which looks better in reality, and is fine as a sample.  I'll definitely be giving it a go a little more carefully (to get the dots more evenly sized and placed, and the straight lines straight etc) in the future.

ACRYLIC BLOCK DISTRESS INK BACKGROUND

ACRYLIC BLOCK "PRINT" BACKGROUND

One of my very favourite ways to make a watercolour background (because its easy and almost always looks good) is to ink up an acrylic stamping block with distress inks, spritz on a tiny bit of water and then "print" it onto dampened paper.

I have done a post about this before, but thought this might be worth a view as it shows how easily one can suggest sunset scene via colour selection and an appropriate silhouette stamp.

You obviously won't get precise colour placement with this technique but its worth spending a little time thinking about the placement of  the various inks on your block to correspond to your stamp e.g. sand, sea and sky; flowers, leaves container etc.

(The stamp is from Darkroom Door)

EASY LAYERED BUTTERFLY CARD

LAYERED BUTTERFLY CARD

This is a simple layering technique that doesn't involve complicated cutting.

Die cut the number of layers you want  from background card - three seems to work well, then chose a stamp large enough to cover them all.  (I've used a Kaiser butterfly)

Stack them up, centring each on the one below and stamp the stamp over all layers.  (You might need to put a bit of extra pressure on the outer edges as they will be a bit lower than the middle)

Colour in the image if you want to.  I've used Tombows( but haven't bothered with shading and blending - this is almost like a guilty admission nowdays but its OK you can just colour in without getting too fancy about it).  I've added some highlights with a gold glitter gel pen.

You don't have to add borders but I think it looks best if you do (and it helps hide edges if you don't get your layers super straight when assembling).  If you have appropriate dies cut the mats to fit.  If you don't, just do what I did, and stick the butterfly layers to the matting (purple) card and cut around with scissors leaving a small border.

Now stick the layers together with foam tape underneath so that each layer is raised about the one below, stick the whole thing to a background card, or scrapbook page or whatever you want to use if for, and you're done.

Someone asked me today about a tunnel card/book I'd made ages ago and I promised to find where it was hiding.  I forgot to add any labels to the post from a couple of years ago, but the situation has now been rectified, and you can find it by looking under "books".  Cheers!

FOILING WITH DIES

FOILING WITH THIN CUTTING DIES

I have been enjoying the chance to play with a go press and foil machine, made by Couture Creations, who have a couple of very watchable videos on YouTube that will show you all the "how tos" if you are interested.

One of the appealing bits about the machine is that you can use thin metal dies as well as the specially made foiling dies.  The only thing to remember is that if you use them face up, the bit that will be foiled will be the raised cutting edges rather than the "solid" shape of the die, so its important to chose one that is appropriate and doesn't get "lost" through lack of detail.  This spider's web worked quite well - probably better than it did as a traditional die!

COLOURING WITH EMBOSSING POWDERS

COLOURING WITH EMBOSSING POWDERS

I don't think that I'll do much of this as I was a bit underwhelmed with the result, however this might just be a function of lack of practice so I probably should give it a few more tries before I give up.

I stamped and embossed the fish with black powder, then used a versamark pen to colour in the silver bits of the fish, then the copper, gold and white in turn, heating between each addition, and finally covered the brown background with clear embossing powder.

You can see on the back that the silver powder is "overcooked" and patchy, whilst he white powder has "escaped" its borders, spreading more that the copper and gold which, if anything, seemed to shrink when heated.

If I try this technique again, I think I'll try just heating the powders until they are stuck in place until the final layer to try to avoid the overheating issue, and I might also choose a design that's larger so that I can space out  the embossed areas a bit between heating,  A sensible person would also do a little trial to determine the properties of each of the different embossing powders before throwing them onto the main project!

Still....it kind of looks OK, and is quite nicely raised and textured (even if the latter is not quite in the "supposed to be" category) so I've probably talked myself into trying again during the course of writing this entry!

GOLD EMBOSSED IMAGE COLOURED WITH TOMBOW PENS

EMBOSSED AND COLOURED IMAGE

Back in the day.............and I'm talking 20+ years ago, this is how we did our stamping for greeting cards.

Emboss the outline with gold and reach for the marker pens!

It still looks nice, and is ironically less "old hat" today than it was five years ago.

I've used Tombows and a blender pen for the colouring, and cut the lovely design (from Paper Roses) in half to fit over the aperture, mounting the top on some foam tape to add dimension.

A final "retro" touch is the gold outline sticker that I've carefully stretched around the edge of the oval cut out..  This is a little reminder to myself that no matter how exciting new techniques are sometimes the "oldies but goodies"are worth dusting off too.

GLITTER "STAINED GLASS" TECHNIQUE

COLOURED GLITTER PICTURE IN PROGRESS

This is an easy technique but a very effective one,

Just chose a die with a lot of open spaced suitable for colouring.  I cut this Art Deco parrot with double sided adhesive on black card so all I had to do was peel off the backing
to stick it onto Kaiser crystal glitter card.

The next step is to use some Tombow pens to colour the image.  (You can experiment with different types of pens but I was happy with these).

The glitter stays glittery and the end result is a cheery "stained glass" effect,

GLITTER "STAINED GLASS"

USING LAYER MASKS IN STAMPING

LAYER MASKED STAMPING

This shows the traditional way to "layer" stamping.  It was one of those things that people probably don't do so much today, but in past times it was one of those basic techniques.

On the off chance you haven't come across it yet........

Decide which stamp you want to appear in the front,(in this case top hat man) stamp it on a piece of paper (you could use a post it note - the removable adhesive will help hold it in place in the next step).

Cut out the image.  You might like to cut around the edge leaving a little border as I have done (this certainly make the cutting easier around highly detailed edges), or you might prefer to cut more precisely around the outline.  Experiment to see what suits you best.  Repeat with all the images except for the very back one.  In this case I've only used three pictures so I only need to stamp and cut around the compass image.

Stamp the front image where you want it to appear, then mask (cover) it with the cut out image.  Stamp the next image in place, and over the edge of the mask.  Remove the mask and repeat with the next and any other layers.  Keep the masks with your stamps so you don't have to cut another every time you need one.

These stamps were foam mounted cling rubber so I could position them accurately enough for this project.  Clear stamps are a lot easier.  You might need to use a stamp positioner for block mounted stamps if you are doing a more involved project

I've just used a single colour and three basic stamps but you can get really impressive effects, especially with landscapes by adding more colours and layers.

EASY LAYERED STAMPING USING VELLUM

EASY LAYERED STAMPING

Here's an easy way to get a layered look without mucking around with masking or resist techniques.

It just involves stamping on the base layer then adding a vellum (parchment paper) sleeve over the top, with stamping on both sides.  When assembled there is a real sense of depth.

I've used black Staz-on (a lot of inks don't dry very well on vellum) so there is a real dark to light effect.

I've just stuck to one colour and one stamp but you could obviously experiment with combinations. I do intend to get around to doing this - I'm thinking maybe words in one layer, small stamps at the front and a background stamp on the base

For the base layer of this example I've used a textured white card, the vellum has been folded around it and secured with twine tied through two holes (made with a darning needle), centred on the fold.

MAKE A BORDER WITH SMALL STAMPS

A BORDER OF SMALL STAMPS

Here's another idea for your small stamps - combine them to make a border.

I guess the technique is pretty self-evident, but there are a couple of things that might be worth mentioning from my experience.

The first is that drawing a light pencil shape that can be erased later, is very helpful.  The second is that it might take a couple of goes (by couple I mean about five) to get the colour and shape combo working to your satisfaction so playing around a bit on paper or a piece of cardboard to be later mounted onto a base card is a good idea.  Better still, photograph the result and file it away or put it on your blog to save you some time in the future!

Another point worth mentioning is how much colour "colours" how we see things.  I showed someone this and they immediately thought "Christmas Card" which wasn't my intention, but it does work for those who like a neutral seasonal greeting.

You don't have to use flowers and leaves of course, a border of  the little men I used in last month's post would work well for father's day for instance, and you could carve your own easter egg stamps from erasers etc etc etc

SMALL STAMPS AS A BACKGROUND

SMALL STAMPS AS A BACKGROUND

Its been a while since I've posted - no bad reason, just busy with other things, but I will do my best to put up something new at least once a month for the rest of the year!

I seem to have accumulated a lot of little stamps.  Often they come as part of a larger set.  I often add one to the back of a card, but thought it was about time to get them out of the cupboard and see what else I could do with them.

Making backgrounds is one idea.  These little chaps were part of a Kaiser set, and using different coloured ink for each design I've just more or less randomly stamped them over the front of the card, overstamping some of the edges.

 I used an oval cut-out to mask an area towards the top of the card to leave a clear space for a couple of larger stamps.  The result is slightly dodgy as I deliberately wanted a handmade look (honestly this time, although often I "achieve" this when I don't want to).  If you want a cleaner look, draw in some guidelines lightly with pencil to make sure the mask and stamps within it are straight and centred, and be sure to press very lightly and not overink your stamps to stop unwanted edge lines (which are harder to avoid with little stamps).

I made this card as an example rather than one I intend to give to anyone, but like it enough to want to play around a bit more with the technique