Hello and happy Friday, Crafters! One of my favorite backgrounds to create is to just stamp an entire stamp set or a group of images onto paper and then go from there:
After adding a few colorful touches, this is what happens . . .
Fun, right?!! Not all stamp sets work as well as others. When I was flipping through some stamp sets, trying to get ideas, this Essentials by Ellen Bear Ware stuck out. All the stamps were nicely spaced, turned in the right direction, and just generally pleasing to the eye ... WIN-WIN! I just slightly adjusted the bottom row of stamps upward a little, so all the images would fit onto a card front. You can always just pick and choose a few stamps from a set, or select stamps from several different sets, and arrange them however you'd like. Maybe all different types of flower images, for a Springtime birthday or get well card? Or different types of cake and cupcakes, gifts and balloons, for a birthday card? The possibilities are endless!
Getting a good ink impression with a large background stamp (or group of stamps) can sometimes be difficult, so I was sure to use my Misti stamping tool. I simply adhered the entire stamp set, still on its acetate packaging sheet, with temporary adhesive onto the lid of my Misti and stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink onto an A2 Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White panel:
Notice the little basket in the lower left corner above, in fact, did not stamp well in the center (either not enough ink, or I didn't press down well enough on it). So I just inked it up and stamped again! Alternately, you could ink the stamps with different colors of ink pads.
Next, to give the card some color I used the small 7/8" circle die (coordinating die for the ball) from the Bear Ware Die set to create a circle mask, by die cutting a piece of X-Press It Stencil Sheet. This material is a wonderful extra thick vinyl, which has a low-tack adhesive on the back, is repositionable and reusable. It die cuts very well, either by dies in your manual die cutting machine, or in your computer/electronic die cutter! I just placed the circle stencil over the image I wanted to color and inked through the mask with Distress Inks, using a 1" mini Ink Blending Tool:
The Distress Inks I used were Spiced Marmalade, Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar, Twisted Citron, and Squeezed Lemonade:
This was a very quick way to get some color onto this card. Alternately, you could quickly color the images with markers or pencils.
Next, I stamped this fun sentiment from Warm Fuzzies with Versamark ink onto Taylored Expressions Oreo cardstock and heat embossed with Ranger White Super Fine Embossing Powder. The flag shape was hand-trimmed.
To finish the card, I cut a piece of diagonal striped Black Shape 'N Tape and adhered it to a Neenah 110 Lb. Solar White card base. Then I trimmed 1/4" off the left side of the stamped panel and mounted it to the card base using X-Press It 1/2" Foam Mounting Tape. The final touch was to scatter and adhere Pretty Pink Posh 6mm Clear Droplets with Glossy Accents.
Fun, quick, and easy! What stamp sets do you have that will work for this technique?
Happy Weekend! ~ Sharon
