Thursday, July 12, 2012

Using Graphic Stamps (SYS Day 4)

Hello blogger friends!

I've just come up for air from my craft area to share my creations for day 4 of the Stretch Your Stamps class. Today's lesson was using graphic stamps, which I must admit is my favorite style of stamp. They really work for the clean and simple style that I tend to enjoy.

Here's my creation:

I used a piece of vellum card stock to emboss my graphic print onto and layered it onto a shimmery eggplant colored card base. I embellished it with 2 different shades of purple bling and popped a sentiment across the bottom. 

I really liked how it came out...so much so, that I created a few more...

Here it is in Shades of green...


...shades of pink...


...and shades of red.

I'll be rummaging through my stash to find supplies to create on in shades of "Grey"...lol.
(I know at least ONE of you will get that joke!)


Anyway, here's a group shot for good measure:


P.S. I wanted to share a couple of tips/tricks that I discovered while creating this set.

I'm sure you noticed the wayward embossing powder on the purple birthday card in the set...
Trust me, it was much worse before I did a little work to it, which leads me to:

Tip #1: Use a white gel pen to fill in missing spots on images that have been heat embossed in white.
The solid petal shapes on the purple card were full of holes and spaces! All I did to fix it was go crazy with a white gel pen.
  (I was looking for a crisp bold image, not a distressed one)



Tip #2: Use a VersaMarker watermark pen to fill in any holes/spaces before you apply the embossing powder.

Before filling in
After filling in

Can you see how nice and solid the petal shapes look in the after photo?!?
It really made a HUGE difference in the end result...just check out the green, pink, & red cards.

Lastly,
Tip #3: Removing wayward embossing powder is a "breeze"!
(Excuse the pun...lol)

Don't you hate it when you've used your powder tool, inked the stamp ever so carefully, took care not to press too hard, and STILL end up with embossing powder in unintended areas?!? I know I do! Well I have a solution...use a dry paintbrush to brush it away.
 I'm sure you're saying "Duh, I already knew that! Tell me something new!" 
Well here it is...gently blow on it at the same time! (Hence the breeze pun above) I found that just using a dry paintbrush was just moving the powder around versus actually getting rid of it. A gentle blowing while moving the paintbrush over the loose particles works wonders. YAY!


That's all for today folks! Thanks ever so much for checking me out. I hope you learned something from my long-winded post today.
*Please comment/join*
Hope your day is marvelous!







7 comments:

  1. Oh I love your set, all are beautiful. And will go back and try out your Breezy Easy embossing powder remover tip. Appreciate your sharing.

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  2. Love these cards! Such a great idea to make several at same time. Thanks for the tips!

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  3. What a beautiful set of cards! I really love the effect of embossing on vellum! Gorgeous! And thanks for the tips:) I love to hear about the process. Hope you have a great weekend!

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  4. Wow your cards are gorgeous! Love them all!

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