Group of Cardmakers - Acrylic Block Stamping

Hi everybody.  This month's technique over at the Group of Cardmakers is acrylic block stamping which essentially means tapping/rubbing the pad over an acrylic block and adding water before laying it down on a piece of card to transfer the ink.  This is a good old technique but one I have neglected for a long time but it is fun and a great way to build up a stash of pretty inked backgrounds with an added stamped, stencilled or a die cut image over the top.

I have used this technique in a couple of different ways and for the first I used a rectangular acrylic block and added Salty Ocean at the top and Stormy Sky below but overlapping a bit, both Distress Inks, and then spritzed with water..several sprays so it beaded nicely, and laid it down onto the card.  I was lucky that the horizon line remained fairly straight.  I then added the yacht over the top stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.  I then coloured the sails with Ripe Persimmon DI and the hull with Faded Jeans but decided to add some coloured pencil work on the sails and hull and also defined the horizon line and added some yellow there too.  I decided to cut it out using a Crealies Nested Squares with Small Squares die as it had left a very rough looking edge which I wasn't so keen on..my eyes didn't like it..lol.  Finally I added it to a 6" square card and added the birds and the birthday sentiment using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.  The boat and the birds came from a recent magazine purchase from Creative Stamping Issue 161 with stamps by Phil Martin called Ahoy These being used for the first time.  

I am entering the following challenges with the above card:

We Love Stamping Challenge - June '26 Sports and Hobbies/Anything Goes.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 86 For Boys.

 

I am entering the above card in the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - No. 852 Bees, Blooms and/or Birds/Anything Goes.

Triple B Challenge - Birds, Butterflies and Blooms (using 1,2 or all 3).

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - No. 42 Anything Floral Goes.

This second card used a smaller block and I added areas of Wilted Violet DI and Picked Raspberry DI and this time I spritzed with a little less water so that it stayed in a better shape, although on saying that it was a bit lopsided even though it did cover the whole of the block area, and it did leave some areas of white but I decided that was OK.  I then stamped some flowers, masking the bottom first and let them trail over the edge of the shape one side.  These came from another recent magazine purchase a Simply Cards & Papercraft Issue 284 with stamps and a stencil from IndigoBlu called Wings and Things.  I decided to take the randomness a little further and enhanced the edge with a line and some doodled dots and oblique lines.  I follow a lady called Sam and her blog is called A Crafting Niche and she does a lot of extra penwork on her creations and so I thought I would try this framing idea.  I used a purple marker from. Papermania set in a similar Violet shade.  To finish I added the silhouette butterfly which is part of a set by Chocolate Baroque called Baroque Meadow, sadly not available now, and then added the sentiment.   All the stamping was done with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.

I hope you give this lovely technique a go and if you visit the Group of Cardmakers you will find there are three suggested videos you can watch and also a Linky so you can add your cards using this technique so that we can all see and enjoy them, and of course you will also get some brilliant inspiration from the other ladies too.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

 

Tissue Paper Travel Theme

Hi all.  This card was supposed to be for the travel theme over at Addicted to CAS but I again missed a deadline, but also this card was a bit of an experiment at stamping on tissue paper which I haven't done before although  I have used bits of napkins glued on a card.  I'm not sure that this was a totally CAS look either as although there is white space not quite as much as I had intended originally.   I used an Indigoblu Map stamp and some background stamps and an Eiffel Tower which came from a Phil Martin Magazine Box Set a while ago, and apart from a sentiment and the map stamp and one or two of the postmarks which I have used the others have not been inked before.

I found some tissue paper and stamped the map using Versafine ink in Deep Lagoon..I did use my stamp positioner and managed to keep it still and flat enough with the magnets, and coloured it using my Lyra Pencils and then decided on the area I would use and with a waterbrush I marked the area and it tears really easily and leaves a softer edge when you glue it, and for this I used Mod Podge.  I then stamped the Tower using Versafine Majestic blue and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and used the die to cut it but I think with this particular die it would have been best to cut the piece and then stamp onto it as it didn't work very well and I ended up using my scissor to recut around the edges, and I decided to cut off the piece of music added onto the edge which in this instance I thought didn't really go.  I then used some of the postmark stamps which are part of the set and also a silhouette aircraft and added them around the perimeter of the bit of map using Distress ink in Weathered Wood, and finished with the bits of spatter stamped using third generation Majestic Blue ink, and also added a sentiment using this ink stamped and cut into a strip.   I also decided to add a bit of white Posca pen to try to make the tower stand out from the background better which probably wouldn't have been necessary if I had die cut it more successfully and so had not cut the white off.  I think it is a little better and doesn't merge into the background quite as much. 

The jury is out on this one but I thought I would show it as it is something different and stamping on the tissue paper did go well, and perhaps things to do differently next time.

Thank you for joining me here today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - June '26 Sports and Hobbies/Anything Goes.

Allsorts Challenge - No. 852 Bees, Blooms and/or Birds/Anything Goes.

We Love 2 Create Mixed Media Challenge - June '26 Ch. 4 Anything Mixed Media Goes.

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 519 Any Occasion.

NBUS Challenge - No. 87 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Stampscape Birthday

Hi everybody.  It was our son's birthday nearly a couple of weeks ago and I have only just got around to showing it here.  At the time I made this I hadn't been back from my holiday very long and my mojo was being very uncooperative,  so I had a trawl through some Pinterest sites to get some inspiration, and I saw some cards using this set by Stampscapes with ink blended backgrounds and I do love these shades of yellow, orange and red so decided this is what I would do.  

I started by positioning  the cabin, then moved on the boulders, and then added in the reeds and finally the trees.  I stamped them using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and then started applying the inks which are all Distress Inks - Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, Ripe Persimmon, Barn Door, and to darken Ground Espresso, and all applied with a blending tool.  I finished by adding the geese, I didn't heat emboss them though as I thought they were a little bit softer tone without which makes them look more distant, and then added the sentiment which I did heat emboss.  I did also add some small touches of white Posca pen on the windows of the cabin and also on the rocks on the foreshore in front of it.

I did debate whether to use the embossing powder as there are many layers at the bottom, but I was afraid without it that when applying the ink over the top the outlines would become indistinct, but I feel that the bottom looks a bit grey and not black, maybe overheated, but I did allow the tool to heat up well so that it would be quick so as not to overheat what was already there.  The trees which do come down over the front of the boulders really do not show up and look just like they appear behind them which was not quite what I wanted, but as this card had to go to Australia and the arrival times from the UK can be anything up to three weeks, and also as I had done quite a lot of work on it, I decided it hopefully looked good enough, so off it went.  He did say it was a lovely card so all good. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll be back soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - June'26 Sports and Hobbies/Anything Goes.

Allsorts Challenge - No. 851 Anything from the Garden/Anything Goes.

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 519 Any Occasion.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Add a Sentiment.

The Male Room Challenge - No. 211 The Outdoors.

AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 86 For Boys.