I’ve never done this technique before and wasn’t sure how it would work.

Task: Stamp a background stamp using white pigment ink on white cardstock then overstamp with images to get the background stamp to “bleed through” the images.
My take: I did just that.
Results: Interesting. I wonder how different it would look if the background stamp where done right over the top of the image. Right now the impression this technique gives is that the images is in the background. It may be different with different backgrounds and/or images. And on a technical note,  my background stamp was not completely clean when I stamped with it so my white ink had a slight pink tinge to it.

Task: Adhere die cuts to same color background to mimic embossing.
My Take: I did just that.
Results: Looks pretty good. My only issue is that my die cut machine cutting plates are a bit thick for the wafter thin die I was using and I got some unintended impressions from the die.

A couple of days ago I posted about using a single stamp to get more than one style out of it. I got 2 when I posted and today I am here with the third. Today’s style is artsy with a watercolor resist technique.

Task: Use one stamp set to get different looks.
My take: Before I used this set to get a funky retro color vibe, an elegant/formal card and today is watercolor/artsy.
Results: I used embossing ink and clear powder on the smooth side of watercolor paper to stamp my images and then used ink pads and water to blend color around the embossed images to create the water color resist. I’m very happy with how it came out. Initially I had stamped the sentiment and then spritzed some water over the sentiment to get it to soften it, but it bled out in jagged, fractal like patterns that was unpleasant. So I just made another sentiment flag to cover up the ugly. Done!

Okay, I have my one stamp but I only got two ways out of it so far. But I do have plans for a third way so stay tuned!

Task: Take one stamp set and use it to make 3 different styles of cards.
My take: Make a retro funky style, an elegant style and an artsy style.
Results: I didn’t get to the artsy style yet. This stamp set seems to really fit that task well since it is already distressed in nature. I plan on a watercolor look. Watch for that post. For this challenge I wanted to see how different I could get. So I used some highlighter markers to ink my stamp and get funky color and movement. Getting everything lined up (I ended up using a stamp positioner) was a pain. Clear stamps would have made this job WAY easier. The elegant card came out very well I think with the fruit stamp being shadded with ink and embossed with thick embossing powder. Adding a touch of gold washi finished it off. I’m happy with how I got different looks out of this same set. Good challenge!

Just a couple of quick pictures of what I’m working on.

Task 1: Die cut fun foam and use it as a stamp.
My take: I didn’t have fun foam so I looked around for anything textural I could use that was thin enough to be cut with thin dies (although steel ruled dies and thicker materials were an option). I found thin cork (top heart), rubber shelf liner (middle heart) and sticky-back felt (lower heart) to cut. I used them as stamps then adhered them to the project too.
Result: Well the card layout is just too busy, but that is another problem altogether! Stamping with each material was doable but needed a little finessing. The felt and cork both absorbed a lot of color from the ink and became very dark, so using them as accent pieces made the color too heavy. I would have used them to stamp light colors of ink instead. My favorite was actually the rubber shelf liner it have fun texture and held the ink fairly well. I will try another design layout with these same materials for a cleaner and simpler design. Fingers crossed.

Task 1: Use ink pads direct to paper to create custom paper colors to match stamping.
My take: I used ink to create a paper strip that would highlight the negative space of the leftovers from the first card. I then stamped the message with the same ink for a balanced design.
Result: I really like the texture and color of this card. The subtle xoxo stamping was done with Versamark achieving tone on tone movement and balance. Very happy with the results here.

If you read my last post you know I am taking a class and prompt #1 is to play with embossing. I didn’t have most of the items needed so tonight I tried some alternative ideas. Here is the report of what I tried.

Task 1: Make a multicolor embossed background. Use Post-It tape to mask off areas after inking with embossing ink. Add color 1 of embossing. Remove some masking. Add color 2. Repeat for all masking.
My Take: Use washi tape instead of Post-It tape.
Result: Washi tape was too sticky. It left sticky residue which clung to the embossing powder. It also lifted some of the embossing ink and thus get crisp images. (I used black, copper and silver embossing powders. Can you see all the colors? That part was lovely.)

Task 2: Make a faux ceramic tile. Using a chipboard element called Inchies, mask it, then die cut the whole thing with a wafter-thin die to just cut the masking paper while embossing the Inchie underneath to allow texture and different masked areas for inking. Cover the whole tile with clear embossing powder to get a ceramic look.
My Take: I used Avery label paper sheets as a masking paper replacement. I tried to reduce the sticky factor by running the sticky on my pants before using it. To replace the Inchies I simply cut chipboard into circles using a steel-ruled die.
Result: Masking paper was still too sticky. After running it through the die cutter, it adhered to the chipboard and peeled off the top layer when I tried to remove it to ink. This left an unpleasant fuzzy texture. The chipboard was just too dark to get the bright pops of color that the technique had. I do have thinner white chipboard so I may try again with that. (However, it may be too thin and the die may cut through it instead of embossing it.)

Task: Use different colors of embossing powder to create cool backgrounds.
My Take: Since I don’t have many different colors of embossing powder I tried making my own using clear embossing powder and Pearl Ex (an old, old stash item).
Result: I started with about a 2:1 ratio of powder to Pearl Ex and that was too much Pearl Ex (the white piece was stamped at this ratio). It did not allow a nice texture with the emboss. For the black paper I added more embossing powder for a 4:1 ratio. That worked better, gave nice color and nice embossed texture. As you can see the colors of Pearl Ex acted differently on white paper than black paper so this is important if you want a specific color for a project! One other note about the Pearl Ex: use an anti-static powder liberally before embossing because the Pearl Ex is VERY staticky and will stick to everything. After using the anti-static it still stuck to everything but was easy to wipe away using a baby wipe AFTER the heat embossing was finished.

Experiment with these things for yourself and see what you think!