Acrylic Block Stamping.

After creating and sharing this card on social media I was asked to do a tutorial on this technique, so this is for you Sarah  Hardy.

I find this technique to be a little hit and miss at the best of times, but in the main most pieces can be used for something.

Choose three colours of ink pad, I like the colours in the  photo best for this technique. Earthy colours seem to look best. Starting with the lightest colour, dab it onto one end of an acrylic block, repeat this with the next two colours.  You will also need some water colour paper for this technique.

I recommend starting with the lightest colour so you do not contaminate your light colour ink pad with the darker ink as you dab the pads on the block. lighter colour will not affect your darker ink pads.






Spritz the inked up block with  a fine misting of water 2 or 3 squirts is usually enough, but a lot depends on how fine the mist is from your bottle.
You don't want your block so wet that all ink water runs off as you turn it over.



                                            You will need some  water colour paper to stamp on for best results, although I have previously tried this technique on a heavy cartridge paper with limited success.
Once you have misted  your block flip it over and lay it on the water colour paper. Press the block down gently to spread the ink /water mix underneath.


Don't press too hard or it will ooze out the sides.  If you're lucky  and get good coverage, you will be able to remove the acrylic block and allow it to dry before stamping over it.

If you're not so lucky you could try the following to avoid or filling in those dry patches.
Spritz the water colour paper with water and wipe off the excess water with kitchen tissue before stamping with the block.



Another thing I do to improve the coverage is to  lift the opposite end of the block to the dry patches very slowly until a puddle forms at the other end, but  do not take the block off the paper completely. 






If necessary, I will lay the block back down and then lift the opposite end of the block until the puddle forms at the opposite end.


 Once I am happy with the coverage and with some kitchen roll in hand,  I lift the block off and mop up the excess moisture from the block and the puddle left on the card stock.



When the card has dried out  you can then stamp over with the images of your choice. My favourite stamp set to use with this technique is the retired Happy Scenes stamp set.
The trees are a perfect for the size blocks I stamp with.










To finish  I apply a little glue using the two way glue pen and sprinkle with white glitter. Then  bush off the excess glitter with a soft brush.







Too much glitter  can over power these little scenes, so it's important you only apply the tiniest amounts of glitter.



If you find you have too much glitter on your project, you can remove it using an adhesive remover.










All that's left to do now is turn your image into a card. I like to keep the card clean and simple so as not to distract from the focal point.
For me that means  mounting the image onto some dark card with a very narrow border  then adhered to either a white of cream base card with a simple sentiment