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

Ultra Quick Tags For All Those Christmas Presents.

 As promised here is my tutorial  on  making these ultra quick tags.

To make the Tags I cut strips of heavy white card stock into 2" wide strips. Then cut them  in  to 3 3/4 "  lengths.

 I used a label top punch from S.U to punch the tag tops.

Once all my tags were cut I was ready to decorate them. I had planned on sponging them, but realized I only had about half an hour before hubby got home from  and sponging would be too slow. So some experimentation was called for.

I took a baby wipe, really nice wet one
( If yours are not that wet, spritz them with a little water one or two squirts should be enough.)
I used Stampin' Up s dye based inks, but any  water/dye based ink will do.

I started at the top of the tag and gently stroked down the tag stopping  about 3/4" from the bottom.
 Try not to use more than 3 or 4 strokes  as you will run the risk of furring up your card stock.  If you're not getting good coverage spritz your wet wipe with a little  more water. But don't soak the tag.
Do the same to all your tags.  By the time you have done the last the first will be dry enough to work on the bottom.


Turn the tag sideways and stroke across the bottom of the tag with your second colour.
No more than 4 stroke . It doesn't matter if the effect is streaky as this only adds to the depth and gives the appearance of snow drifts.


Tip, if your card is too porous it will soak up the ink too quickly and give a patchy result. Use a heavy card that the ink takes longer to dry on.

Ink up your tree stamp with dark brown ink and stamp the images where you want them.

I used the trees from the Happy Scenes stamp set from last years S.U  winter catalogue. I have to say I cut this stamp down as I didn't like the extended lines below the trees .

Once I had stamped the images I took a Quicky glue pen the fine line one and drew thin lines of glue and spots of glue wherever I wanted to highlight the snow.

I can tell you, It has taken me considerably longer to type up this tutorial that it took me to make 24 tags.

I hope you will have a go at this technique.

I did get asked if using a baby wipe on your stamp pads ruined the pads. I can honestly say I don't really know.  But I seriously doubt it.  As  I only dabbed my baby wipe on one small corner of the ink pad, My ink pads are refillable so I really don't think think is going to cause a problem. If you are at all worried about ruining your pad. dab the ink pad onto an acrylic block and take the ink from the block. If you use S.U ink pads you should know that,  if you squeeze the lid down while  pad is closed some of the ink will transfer into the lid, so you could use the inside of the lid as your palette.