Weeks of Wonder: Backgrounds, Front and Center

For our final Weeks of Wonder entry, we’ll be looking at some different ways to use background stamps in your artwork. Just because they are called background stamps, doesn’t mean that they are less beautiful or less important than accent images – they can be used to great effect in a variety of ways, let’s take a look!

The butterflies on this birthday card owe their chic looks to a variety of background stamp images. Pairing background stamp images with Cricut shapes is a great way to quickly add design and interest to them. And since we’ve used background stamps to create the accents on this card, why not use a sentiment stamp to create a background? I would say this reversal works wonders, wouldn’t you?

Background stamps work great with masking techniques, as in this decorated drink container. Using cardstock to mask off space for a border and a sentiment, fill in the other areas with your background stamp. When stamping on the edges of the mask, be sure to use enough pressure to get your image to stamp completely.

We have so many great background stamp images to choose from, why limit yourself to just one when creating a background? The complex (and might I add gorgeous?) background on this card is a composite of two different background images that come together beautifully. Here’s how to replicate it:

For this project, sand a piece of Goldrush cardstock. Sanding the cardstock first adds a layer of interest to the paper, but also makes the stamped images stand out that much more.

Stamp your selected background image in Colonial White pigment ink. You may want to heat set the pigment ink with a craft heater after stamping it, since it can take some time to dry.

Now stamp your second background stamp in Goldrush ink. Just like that you have a multi-layered background for your cards, scrapbook pages, or other projects. Let your background images take center stage in your artwork – you’ll love how well they perform!

Stay tuned for a new twist on my artwork features in 2012 - I'll be changing things up so that you, my blog readers, will be able to participate as well. Have a happy New Year!

Weeks of Wonder: A Fabulous Duo

If there’s a product in Close To My Heart’s line-up that I love almost as much as My Acrylix stamps, it would be the My Reflections B&T papers. I love the beautiful colors and patterns, and, I don’t know about you, but I still love the newer, heavier weight of the paper as well. There are already so many fabulous ways to use your B&T papers, but today I’d like to talk about good ways to stamp on them, too!

The paper from the Sonoma paper pack looks just beautiful on this card. The neutral tones accented by that ribbon of Cranberry cardstock really do melt my heart. Although the Snowflakes stamp set (D1480) is featured with the Wonderland paper packet in the Idea Book, it blends perfectly with this paper, too! Using 3D foam tape to pop the stamped image up helps it to stand out just enough to not get lost in the pattern.

Can you pick out the B&T that was used on this project? That’s right, it’s the Cranberry sheet from the wonderfully versatile Elemental paper pack. And the small snowflake image from the December 25^th stamp set (C1469) fits right in here. It’s one of the hallmarks of Close To My Heart that our products are designed to coordinate with each other, and the stamps and B&T papers are no exception!

Start with a B&T paper that you want to embellish. The papers from the Elemental kit are all great choices, but other patterned papers lend themselves to this technique as well. Then look through and find a stamp image that coordinates with that pattern. The sets that are featured with the paper packs in the Idea Book are a good place to start, but branch out and look at other options, too!

Ink your stamp in your desired color and stamp onto your B&T paper. You can choose the same color to blend into the pattern, or you could choose a coordinating or contrast color, as well.

Make sure you stamp your image off the edges of your piece to maintain the integrity of the new pattern. Sponge the edges of your piece to finish it off.

Have fun mixing and matching your stamps and B&T’s to create your own patterns and backgrounds!

Weeks of Wonder: Tone-on-Tone

With the onset of winter, we see a lot of white around here. Isn’t it breathtaking some mornings to see snow covering everything with uniform whiteness? There is something so lovely about white branches over white fields against equally white mountains. And it’s a perfect reflection of the technique we’ll be using today: tone-on-tone stamping.

Juniper has been one of my favorite colors since its introduction to our color palette in 2009. This card puts this beautiful shade to good use using a variety of tone-on-tone techniques.

Start by stamping the flourish in second generation Juniper ink on a circle cut from Juniper cardstock. Stamping second generation ink gives you another shade to add variety to the finished product.

Now you can stamp your sentiment over the second generation images, to give it additional dimension.

When doing a lot of tone-on-tone pieces, try lightly sanding the edges to make the edges more distinct.

When using tone-on-tone techniques, even the smallest contrasting color elements will go a long way to balancing your colors.

This card features more colorful choices, but you can also see a lot of tone-on-tone stamping. On the poinsettia, the Tulip cardstock was lightly sanded, which results in a stronger stamped image.

Take your tone-on-tone work to B&T papers as well. This wall hanging uses a trio of solid-colored B&T papers from three different paper packs along with our signature coordinating ribbons, brads, and inks to pull off a beautiful décor piece.

Weeks of Wonder: Embellishing Embellishments

There are so many adorable accessories you can add to your holiday projects. Ribbons, sparkles, brads, and so much more! But when you are looking for just the right accessory, or when the budget is tight – and whose isn’t this time of year? – you can customize your accessories using My Acrylix stamps.

Take this advent calendar for example. The numbers from the Trinity Alphabet stamp set (E1021) are stamped directly on our canvas badge buttons for an irresistibly dimensional and textured effect.

Sometimes you have some extra pieces left out of an accessory kit that can be repurposed. The sentiment on this card has been stamped on the back of one of the milepost corrugated shapes. Having the shape already cut saves you a step and adds that much more dimension to the project.

Colonial White grosgrain ribbon really fits the bill for these stocking gift tags. Ribbon is easy to customize using border stamps, like this one from the A Holiday stamp set (A1115).

Lay your ribbon flat and ink your stamp image in your desired ink - Olive works with this project's color scheme.

Press firmly when stamping on the ribbon.

Be sure to heat set the ink using a craft heater, as it smears easily when it is fresh. Afterward, add it to your project for the look of a custom ribbon that looks tailor-made for your piece.

You have my warmest holiday wishes as you celebrate this magical season!

Weeks of Wonder: Perfect Blends

There are times when I want some elements to jump right off of my artwork and make a bold statement. But there are also times when I want a more subtle touch, and my main goal is to get the items to blend in to the overall design. Today we’ll look at a tool that can help you make your stamping do both: the blending pen.

This layout shows a few ways that the blending pen can bring a softening touch to various elements of your artwork. The shading on the cork alphabets and Milepost shapes and the touches of Crème Brulee on the moose and bear images are some examples. These elements don’t jump off the page, but they do make a big difference in the appearance of the final project.

The blending pen shines a little bit more in this circle card. It is a great choice when you want to soften the border that you get when you stamp a Cricut shape with a coordinating image. Both of these Cricut flowers were filled in using the blending pen dabbed in Crème Brulee ink. The control you have using the pen makes it easy to shadow images and even words, like the word “smile” in this card, which has a Crystal Blue shadow to emphasize the Cocoa stamping.

And here’s another beautiful card that shows the blending pen in action. There are a number of ways you could achieve the multiple colors of leaves in this wreath, but the blending pen may just be the simplest. After stamping all the leaves in a light color, such as Crème Brulee, you can then go through and colorize them individually using the blending pen and some darker ink colors, such as Olive and Sunset. Let’s look at how this is done on another card.

On this card, you can see the multicolored technique applied to the clustered leaves. There are a few other effects going on here that deserve a closer look as well.

Start with your stamped image – again, start with your lighter ink colors when you are looking to add color to parts of the image.

Swipe your blending pen across another color of ink – such as Sunset here – and add the color to the desired portions of your stamped image.

If you use the blending image with no ink added to it, it will do a wonderful job of softening hard edges. You can also use the blending pen with the same color ink as your stamped image to add depth and shading.

This versatile tool is a must-have for any stamper. There are so many fun ways to bring it to bear whether for a big effect or the perfect finishing touches. Don’t let your artwork blend into the crowd – make it uniquely you!

Weeks of Wonder: Multi-color Stamping

Autumn’s dramatic colors make this time of year great for all sorts of crafting projects. There are holiday decorations to be made as well as precious memories to preserve and cherished relationships to celebrate and share. Today’s technique will have you pulling out your stamp pads in droves and stamping in multiple colors.

Why stamp an image in just one color, when you can stamp it in three (or even more)? In this Thanksgiving box, for example, you can see how the colors on these leaves blend together to bring them to life. The secret to getting the images to line up perfectly is to ink the stamp in three colors before stamping it.

To get the same effect, choose three colors from the same color family and choose your stamp image. Ink your entire image in the lightest of the colors first.

Have your mid-tone color ready next and, without stamping your image first, ink just two-thirds of your image in the second color.

Next, ink the last third of your image in the darkest color. Using our clear blocks makes it easy to see exactly how much ink coverage you've got on your stamp.

Last of all, stamp your image! Try to get all your inking done quickly so the ink stays fresh on your stamp, giving you a cleaner final image.

If choosing color combinations doesn’t come naturally to you, try using our cardstock shade packs as a guide. The colors in the leaf come from the Dark Yellow & Orange shade pack: Honey, Autumn Terracotta, and Barn Red.

This technique applies to larger-scale stamping as well. You know of course that a good background stamp goes a long way for adding interest to a page. While you’re at it, mix up the colors to add even more! You’ll notice that the layers blend together seamlessly, and it is thanks to double-inking the image using the same technique listed above. When stamping a lot of times, remember to continue stamping your image in each color in order to keep the color tone consistent, and always ink in the lightest color first.

For a more precise ink placement, try applying the ink to the stamp with a sponge, or a dauber. Just look at the shading on that plump pumpkin. You can achieve this type of beautiful, soft, and blended look using this simple but breath-taking technique.

Weeks of Wonder: Make Stamping Shine

The golden light of autumn makes these shorter days feel more precious somehow. I love the challenge of bringing that same shining quality to art projects, too. Today’s technique gives you another option for adding beautiful sparkle to your projects using My Acrylix stamps and glitz glitter gel.

This wreath captures the feel of an autumn afternoon quite nicely. See how the leaves, the pennants, and the letters all have a nice touch of shine to them? That effect comes from combining glitz glitter gel with re-inker to make a solution that is both rich in color and very stamp-able. Take a look at one of the ways you can use this mixture.

Start by stamping your pennant image in Desert Sand ink.

Pour some Bronze Glitz Glitter Gel on the tray from your distressing kit, or any plastic, non-porous surface. Add Cocoa re-inker until you’ve got about two parts glitter gel and one part re-inker. Once you’ve got it mixed, spread the mixture in a thin layer so you don’t pick up too much with your stamp.

Ink your stamp by setting it in the mixture and tapping it up and down a few times to ensure it gets even coverage. Then press firmly onto your project. You’ll want to test your mixture out on scratch paper first to make sure you have the right ratio of glitter gel to re-inker, and to make sure you’ve spread it thinly enough.

This technique lends itself to a lot of experimentation to find out just how much coverage you like, or what degree of glitter will look best. For example, in this card stamping the mixture in second generation achieves a much softer version of the same look.

The glitter gel perfectly accents the harvest colors on this card. You can see that both the flowers and the background stamp were inked in the mixture. Try a variety of stamp designs and see how the touch of glitter makes even your most-used stamps new again.

Have fun trying out this fun way of making your artwork shine this season. After all, nothing combats the gray skies and long nights like a little glitter!

Weeks of Wonder: The Cutting Edge

Want your artwork to be on the cutting edge? Well, in today’s post, I’ll show you how to do just that with one tool: our handy cutting knife. This week’s technique adds delicate detail and dimension to your art and is sure to have people saying, “How’d you do that?”

I just love the fall color scheme on this beautiful harvest banner. The simplicity and elegance of its accessories, Cricut shapes, and stamps turn this into a lovely wall hanging. But there's another effect that brings even more life.

If you take a closer look at the leaf border across the top of each pennant, you’ll see the intricate detail that’s been added to the leaves. I’ll show you how to achieve this look.

First, stamp the leaf border from the Harvest Happiness stamp set (C1463) across the top of each pennant.

Then, randomly choose which leaves you want to pop off the art and carefully cut along the border of the image. Make sure the lower portion of the leaf and stem remain intact.

Finally, gently lift the tip of each cut leaf with the tip of your knife or your finger. What a simple technique; it really adds a delicate look to the artwork. Let’s take a look at a few more examples using the cutting knife.

I love how the gold leaves seem to be floating on this gratitude card. Getting this look is easier than you might think. To make this card, the leaf image was stamped twice in Goldrush ink so that they would be connected at one point but still leave a lot of white space. Then, with a ruler for a guide, the white space was cut away with the craft knife to leave a frame. The leaf image was stamped again in Cocoa ink on a separate piece of paper to show through the frame, adding dimension to the end product.

One of the obvious benefits of the craft knife over scissors is that it is much easier to cut around an image without cutting through the border of the paper. This feature finds another practical application in this place card. When cutting around the outside of the leaf image, the very edges on either side were left in tact, creating a hinge that allows the card to stand up. Beautiful and functional!

And finally, this candle is a perfect companion for any autumn mantelpiece. Add some fun dimension by stamping the same image on two pieces of cardstock, layering them, and then popping the edges of the image on top to reveal the image below.

It’s easy to show off how sharp your style is with this fun popping technique; all you need is the cutting knife!