Tutorial: reflection stamping using Grassy Grove from Stampin’ Up!®

 

Today I want to show you how to use a really fun – albeit unpredictable and a bit messy – technique which I showcased at last week’s Crafty Friday online class.

Mix It Up Monday: Waterfront (yes, again!)

Yep, it’s Waterfront again! Sorry! Not really sorry, as it’s a fabulous stamp set and I wanted to show you one of our projects from last Friday’s Hygge Night. 

Inspired by Lydia Fiedler’s Waterfront projects using Brusho, I wanted to see if I could make something similar using just inks (as I haven’t caved in and bought the Brushos yet).

Last Monday’s Mix It Up Monday project used an all-purple combination from my In Color charts. This week it’s almost an all-green combo. It’s fun to play with these “close harmony” combinations, I think. 

To get the effect, we inked our stamps with at least two colours each, then spritzed them with water before stamping onto dry watercolour paper. It really is as simple as that. It’s messy but a lot of fun. 

Come back later in the week to see the framed images we made using the same stamp set. 

Jingle all the Way night sky card

First of all a reminder that if you want to take advantage of the four-day stamp set sale, please either get your orders to me by Friday at 9am, or use the hostess code on the left. If you email me your order and can collect from me, please add £1 for shipping; if you order through my online store, it will cost £4.95 shipping and I’ll send you a small free gift as a thank you. 

I’m typing this on Tuesday evening and it’s soooooo windy. I really don’t like it - it does something to my brain and makes me unable to think, irritable, tired and anxious. My downlines are probably saying “so what else is new?” but my response to them would be: “Imagine me at my hungriest… then multiply by 10.”  So excuse me if I struggle to string a sentence together. 

Today’s project is a bit of blast from the past, from my Christmas workshop way back when, only the sample went astray before I could photograph it. Anyway, remember this project? If you remember, the piece of Whisper White cardstock from that card made another card, too - and this is it. More bang for your buck, as they say Stateside. 

The background is very easy to create, with a piece of watercolour paper and some Night of Navy ink mixed with water in a spritzer. For extra effect, I first stamped some snowflakes and a moon with Whisper White ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder (only because I couldn’t find my white embossing powder… which has now turned up). This then resists the Night of Navy ink solution; any which remains can be rubbed off with a paper towel when the rest of the paper is dry. 

It’s a simple card and one which you can churn out in bulk for your Christmas cards. And the good news is that any of my customers waiting for Sleigh Ride Edgelits won’t have much longer to wait as they’re on their way! 

Jingle All The Way Clear-Mount Bundle [140862] £26.25	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock [106577] £6.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25	Watercolor Paper [122959] £4.50	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad [101731] £7.25
Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder [109130] £4.50	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970] £6.00	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [103033] £3.00	Stampin' Spritzer [126185] £2.75

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Ways to use Irresistibly Yours DSP (Sale-a-Bration)

I promised to show you several ways to use the new Irresistibly Yours Designer Series Paper and here they are... I’d love to hear of more ways that I haven’t covered if you know any. There is one other way to use this gorgeous paper that I haven’t mentioned... and that’s to leave it completely untouched for a really subtle and classy look. But if you’re looking for subtle and classy, you’ve come to the wrong place!

For those who haven’t yet seen this paper, it’s white with a glossy white pattern, opening up a world of possibilities because most inks will stick only to the matt section. So you apply your colour then polish it with kitchen paper to expose the white pattern again. It’s like magic!

Let’s take a look at the methods I’ve used in more detail. Clockwise, from top left...

Stamp on it
We’re stampers, right? So why not stamp on this fab paper. I particularly like combining methods for this, eg brayering a background on the flowery or leafy pattern, then stamping with Hardwood on top. Here, I’ve simply experimented with stamping some solid flowers and leaves.

Spritz it
I used six drops of reinker in a half-filled spritzer bottle; Coastal Cabana at the top and Old Olive at the bottom. Use more drops (or less water) for a more intense colour. This does take a while to dry but you could speed things up by using alcohol instead of water.

Colour with markers
I tried both kinds and decided this method was probably best for the striped pattern. Both types of marker worked well, although you do need to clean off the glossy areas quickly if you’re using Blendabilities.

Brayer it
Perfect for larger areas and, if you’re after a uniform colour, you can forget all those pesky brayering rules about starting at the edge of the paper and working your way in. Just brayer away until you get colour saturation. If you prefer a graduated look, then you need to remember all those rules about starting off the edge of the paper. Just play around until you get something you like!

Sponge it
Sponge Daubers are perfect striped paper; for other patterns, use an actual sponge. You can sponge just one area, various colours, or do the whole lot. Although, personally, if I was going for a uniform colour, I’d brayer it instead (see above).

DTP (Direct-to-Paper) it
This is a grungier technique but I had fun here creating a night sky using various blue ink pads (Lost Lagoon, Coastal Cabana, Marina Mist). I find the old-style ink pads are easier to use as they slide along the cardstock better. But, for fun, I tried simply dropping the new-style ink pads onto the cardstock, which created quite a pleasing effect.

So, now it’s time to get yourself some Irresistibly Yours DSP - which is FREE with a £45 purchase before the end of March. And don’t forget to let me know if you come up with any more methods of using it! My challenge now, I suppose, is to make all of these pieces of paper into finished projects. Don’t hold your breath!