(click on the pics to en-biggan)
Faux embossing. Faux embossing?! How can it be faux???!!! *chuckle* This fun (and surprising!) technique has been around for a long time--I thought it would be fun to share it again. It's one of my favorites because people always have to run their finger over it to prove that it really is an optical illusion!

NOTE: More often than not, this technique is applied to mid-tone or darker colored card stocks; you begin by stamping the image in a tone-on-tone fashion, i.e. stamping the image with a red ink that is slightly darker than the red card you're working on, such as cranberry ink over red paper.
But, I've found I also love the look on KRAFT card stock, and when I played around with different colors of ink, I found I didn't have to stick within the tone-on-tone rule of thumb! I could start with different colors of ink, such as Tangelo, Bahama Blue, and Pear Tart all on the Kraft paper, just as I did on this particular card!

This technique tends to work best with bold/solid type images, as opposed to outline or detailed--the Savvy Stamps Cityscape is PERFECT for achieving this effect! As you can see, I first stamped it with Bahama Blue Memento Ink onto Kraft card stock.
The next step is to thoroughly clean the stamp--use a good stamp cleaner like Ultra Clean, and after cleaning, tap the stamp against a piece of clean white typing paper to make sure there is no residual ink of any kind remaining on the surface of the stamp. This will eliminate any contamination of blue ink into your Snow Cap pad. Trust me, you'll be extremely glad you did this because a clean white Snow Cap pad is a happy Snow Cap pad! And, when a Snow Cap pad is happy, it stamps mo'h bettah.
Just ask me how I know... !
Now you're ready to re-ink the stamp, but this time with Adirondack Snow Cap, a fast-drying white pigment ink! I love this particular white ink because it does dry fairly fast on porous card stocks (on glossy/coated card stocks, you will need to heat emboss it because it is a pigment ink and will never dry on non-porous surfaces). I also love that it looks very bold and striking against dark colored card stocks and it's become a staple ink that I always keep handy right on my work surface!

Stamp the cityscape a 2nd time, right over the top of the previously stamped blue cityscape, BUT don't worry about being precisely/directly on top--you want the 2nd stamping to be slightly "offset" from the first. You can stamp it slightly higher and to the right, or lower and to the left--whichever direction you prefer. I usually eyeball it by crouching down to eye level with the stamp so I can easily see and align the bottom edge of the rubber image to the bottom edge of the image stamped on the card, and I typically offset the 2nd stamping (Snow Cap ink) slightly high and to the right.
Here's a closer shot of the end result:

The Cityscape was first stamped with Bahama Blue Ink, and the speech bubble with Tangelo ink. "HEY" was used (stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black) from the same Studio Calico/Hero Arts "Hey Y'all" stamp set

Inside the card, I stamped the "Miss You" with Pear Tart first.
The colored inks, beneath the Snow Cap, create a sort of "drop shadow", giving the illusion that the images are actually dry embossed onto the paper surface--a fantastic and cleverly deceptive way to create a "dimensional" look!

A smidge of patterned paper, some corner rounding and detailing the edge with a the White Gel Pen complete the look.
To re-cap:
- Bold/solid images work best
- Stamp your image with a mid-tone or darker colored ink first (if working on Kraft card stock; on colored card stocks for a monochromatic design, stamp with an ink color slightly darker than the paper)
- Clean stamp thoroughly
- Ink stamp with Snow Cap Ink
- Stamp over top of previously stamped image, slightly off-setting
Have fun playing around with this technique and thanks for hangin' with me in the CLASSroom today!
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