Art of the Possible

FIND OUT FRIDAY TUTORIAL: Two Step Stamping and Stamping Off

Welcome to Find Out Friday--Today, find out about two step stamping. 

Many of the Stampin' Up! sets are considered "two step".  This simply means that two or more of the stamps in the set are designed to work together.  This enables the stamper to use multiple colors or even techniques with the same image without having to mask off portions or preform other stamping feats of darring do. (due?)

I also wanted to show you how stamping off works, since that technique is so related to two step stamping.  So here goes:

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Supplies to make this card:

Perfect Plum Cardstock:  8 1/2" x 5 1/2" (one half of a piece of cardstock), 2 1/2 x 3" Pale Plum Cardstock:  5 1/4" x 4", 2 1/4" x 2 3/4"

Whisper White Cardstock:  5" x 3 3/4", 2" x 2 1/2"

Ribbon

Stamp Set:  Heartfelt Thanks

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Step 1:

Ink up the solid stamp.  Press the stamp firmly onto the fabric of a classic ink pad.  Here, I'm using Perfect Plum.  If the stamp is large, you may have to wipe the stamp from side to side to make sure that it has ink on all of its surface.  Just remember to tap the rubber on the ink pad two or three times to "fuzz up" the ink and remove any swirls or drag marks.

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Step 2:

When you stamp with the rubber fully inked, you get a dark image.  If you are using only one color on your two step stamped image, however, you will want ot stamp that first image onto a piece of scrap paper.

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Step 3:

Continue to ink the rubber, stamp off on a scrap paper and stamp the image on your project.  For the background of this card, I did an all over pattern.  Make sure to stamp some of the images off the edge of the card to make the pattern seem to go beyond the frame of the card.

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Step 4:

Now it is time to use the second step stamp.  In this case, it is an outline that looks as if it was done with pen and ink.  I am a big fan of not perfectly lining up the second stamp--I think it adds dimesion and visual energy to have things a little off kilter.  If, however, you really need the stamp to line up, you can use the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig positioner.  I will be posting a tutorial about that tool soon.

When you have stamped all over the first images, your background is complete.

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Step 5:

In order to create an accent that stood out, I used a second two step technique.  Instead of using a stamped off version of Perfect Plum, I used Pale Plum as the background, then stamped the over image in the darker hue.  There are many color combinations that work well for this--just experiment.  Usually, though, the darker color should be the detail or top image.

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Note:

The more times you stamp off, the lighter your image will be, of course.  Experiment to see which shade you prefer.  Stamping off is great because you can use one stamp pad to get as many as 4 different tints of the same color.  That is a good value and it helps to ensure that your projects are color coordinated.

I know that it can be annoying to have to scroll back up to see what we have been working on, so here is the sample card.

If you have any questions or you would like some hands on expereience with this technique, contact me.  Have twice as much fun with this technique!  And if you try it, e-mail me (Jennifer@ArtPossible.com) your sample--I'd love to post some on this website--with proper credit to you, of course. 

All Stamped Images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2007

Heated Pearls

I am in boot camp.  Demonstrator boot camp.  Each week, my fearless leader assigns tasks to help me refine and hone my business skills.  And my stamping skills.  This week, we were charged with finding a technique that we hadn't tried before and trying it.  I chose Heated Pearls.  I love how this card turned out.  I also used reverse masking to make my flower.

To make the background, I swept a big puddle of craft glue onto a piece of black cardstock using a stencil brush.   Then I sprinkled two different colors of Pearl Ex powder on the glue.  Pearl Ex is a shiny, pretty mica based powder that brings a lot of shine to a project.  Many of us, however, just shake our heads when we see it.  How do you use it?  This is a good example.  It has to be set with another medium to keep it from wiping off the paper.  After using the brush to mash it into the glue a bit, I heated the whole thing with my heat tool until the surface started to bubble--hence the interesting background texture. 

The flower was made by creating a mask in a piece of typing paper and stamping and sponging through it.  I used my 1 1/4" square punch and punched two holes side by side.  Holding the window over my whisper white cardstock, I stamped in the flower from the Doodle This stamp set so that some of it went out of the frame.  Then I used the sponge daubers to apply green galore ink to the flowers, tempting turquoise ink to the background and highlights of brilliant blue to both the image and the turquoise layer of the card. 

The heated pearl layer is so thick and curly, I used sticky strip to adhere it to the card--it needed a very strong adhesive.  I think that the little cross hatch of silver cord is the perfect shiny counterpoint to the rich background.

Sometimes it is fun to try a more advanced or simply a less familiar technique.  Contact me if you need any help trying this or any other technique.

All Stamped Images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2007

Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright

This was supposed to be a flower based design, but the more I played with the paper that I made, the more it reminded me of tiger print.  The color scheme is a bit of a departure for me--I usually reserve creamy caramel, close to cocoa and more mustard for masculine cards.  And while this design is strong, it is far from masculine, I think.

This was one of those times where I sat and played (oh how I love the luxury of that) and I made up a sheet of the floral/tiger paper.  To create this design:

• Stamp a sheet of glossy white cardstock all over with the large Macintosh inspired flower from the stamp set Mixed Bouquet using basic black ink.  Give it plenty of time to dry.  I do one big sheet to give me plenty of little pieces to cut out and use for multiple projects.
• Find a white crayon (the kid kind, not the watercolor kind.  You want a nice, cheap, waxy crayon.  I have even known stampers to go to the source website and order a box of nothing but white--Crayola will let you do that).  Go over the design with the white crayon, very loosely filling in areas that you want to highlight between the lines.  If you aren't sure that you've gone over it properly, turn the paper in the light to see the white on white crayon better.
• Take a brayer with a hard (rubber or acrylic) wheel installed and run it repeatedly over a so saffron classic ink pad.  Once it is nicely inked up, run it back and forth over your stamped glossy paper.  When you first apply the color, you are going to shriek "Oh, no.  What have I done!  It is all blotchy."  Ignore yourself and continue to layer on color, going over it again and again and reinking the brayer as necessary.  As you add color and mush it in with the brayer, the tone will even out and the color will blend together beautifully.  In my design, I had this cool serendipity effect that happened.  The black ink was not heat set or even completely dry and the brayer picked up little ghosts of the image and redeposited them with the color.  If you don't like that, make sure to let the ink dry or use Stayzon black to make it more permanent.
• Use a paper towel to lightly buff off the waxy residue from the crayon.  The crayon will have resisted the brayered ink and you should have a cool variegated pattern. 

Stay tuned for two more cards that I made with the paper from this experiment.  Tomorrow, I'll tell you how I made the striped detail.  Please contact me if you have any questions about this technique or for any information. 

Butterflies Card--Three Step Stamping

Sometimes I get bored with a flat, rectangular card front.  My solution here?  Fold it over to make a lapel, if you will. 

One interesting thing I discovered as I was making this card was a technique for using the same image in the foreground and the background.  This butterfly, which is from the Simple Sketches stamp set, is a three step image.  I only stamped two of the images on the background piece, reserving the more defined three step for the featured space on the front of the card. 

When doing two (or three) step stamping, the easiest way to make sure that your colors coordinate is to use the same ink for all the parts of the image.  Decide which image needs to be in back and which one screams to be the main event.  Ink your background stamp and stamp it off on a scrap piece of paper before stamping the image on your project.  Stamp the foreground image full strength.  Both parts use the same color, but the image has different intensity because you stamped off part of it.  This is a great way to get more value from your ink pads--for each color, you have more than one tint of the ink if you stamp off one, two or even three times before stamping your "good" piece of paper.  Experiment with this--it is like magic.

Paper Mosaic

Ever looked around and realized that you were way too stocked with paper scraps?  Here is one solution.  This is the background paper that I made for a layout of Renaissance Festival photos.  I just cut up a bunch of pieces of cardstock and then drew pencil lines lightly on the paper to guide my design.  Then it was just a matter of fitting in the little pieces to glide in the lines.  This is a great technique for scrapbooking, for card making and for paper crafting.  Paper mosiac looks great on boxes, notebook covers and other 3-D projects.  Yes, it took a while.  But it didn't take as long as it seemed to.  Don't have any scraps?  Call me--I just cleaned out my scrap storage box and I'm happy to share.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day.  This card was featured as a Stamp Club project in January 2006.  The soft, pretty effect is achieved using the popping pastels technique.  The image is stamped in versamark--a clear, sticky ink.  Then chalk pastel is daubed over the surface and like magic, the areas with the ink take more of the pigment and darken.  I think anyone would be charmed to receive a card like this.

Despite the peachy tone of this copy, the original of this card is made with So Saffron cardstock.  The Image is stamped on window film with black Stazon ink.  The back is colored with a zig painty pen and then filled in with gold reinker.  Once it is thoroughly covered, the back is doused with dazzling diamonds glitter.  Sandwiching the window on white cardstock completes the effect and helps to secure the glitter.  I love how this card turned out--and this scan only does it a very little justice.  This is a very fun technique to play with.

Stamp Club News For December 2006

I have so much fun with my Stamp Club that I've decided to give everyone a present this year  (Hint:  Who wouldn't want a free stamp set?).  Want details?  They'll be in my Newsletter (sign up now if you aren't already on the list).  Isn't the suspense killing you? 

Want more details about Stamp Club? E-mail me now so I can send them to you.

This is one of the projects we did last month.  I love this little box.  Inside, there are square envelopes attached together to form a file for gift tags--and that's the real gift that the box conceals.  I love the fun, unusual closure that we worked out--the yo yo yellow circle, secured with a brad, fits perfectly into the oval punched into the gable green strip.  Also, we created a weathered background by putting the cardstock down onto the Canvas background stamp after it was inked and placed face up on the work surface.  Then, instead of pressing firmly, we flitted our fingers over the back of the cardstock so that the image transfered unevenly.  This creates a rustic, aged look that I love.  Who says an image has to be perfectly inked and stamped to be "right"?  Sometimes uneven is enchanting!

Tip for October--Things Aren't Really The Color That They Are

We all do it.  We assume that we know what color things are.  We've been taught since we were little that apples and fall leaves are red, frogs and spring leaves are green, the ocean and blueberries are blue.  But is it as simple as that?  If we pick up a marker and color something the color it is supposed to be, it won't look as natural as it could.  Why is that?

The next time you're in the supermarket, pick up an apple and really look at it.  Or when you are raking leaves (sadly, that's coming up all too soon), stop to really look at some leaves.   You will find that an apple is often a mix of reds with an undercoat of yellow.  Leaves have streaks of creamy gold highlighting their reds.  The ocean can flicker from balmy blues to steely greys to pacific greens under wavering sunlight.

So how do you capture this in your art work?  The first skill of art is observation.  How can you
represent something without looking at it first?  So look at real life objects as if you have never seen them before.  Before your mind can yell "Apples are red", let your eyes discover the colors that are really there.

The easy answer is to use more than one hue when you are coloring a project.  Take the sample abovre, one of our Stamp Club projects for September.  The frog was colored all over in yo yo yellow before being touched up with green galore.  Or in our October club project, pictured at the left, I colored the leaves all over with more mustard before highlighting with close to cocoa.  You'll be amazed how real and beautiful that simple step will make your projects.