Darkroom Door - Masked Stamping ATC Swap

The September theme for the Darkroom Door ATC swap was to use masked stamping as a technique. I thought this would be a perfect way to use my all time favourite butterfly stamp and a new favourite, the Journey wordblock. As this technique can be a bit tricky I thought I might do a step-by-step for the blog.

I prepared each ATC base using some Distress Stain and later when they were stamped I added a bit of sponging to fill in the gaps. I usually make my bases 3 1/4" x 2 1/4" so I can mat them with a contrasting colour & still end up with the required size of 3 1/2” x 2 1/2”.

I then stamped the butterfly image into the centre of each base.

For masked stamping you need to create a mask - a post-it is perfect for this job and they work really well. Stamp the image over the 'sticky' bit and cut it out really closely. Place over your image, making sure you line up the image as closely as possible to avoid ghosting. Remove the post-it after stamping and apply to the next image.

I then stamped over the masked butterfly with the Journey wordblock using Distress Chipped Sapphire ink.  Once I finish a batch of ATC's I usually dispose of the mask as it is very inky but if you are only stamping a couple of images - keep it with your stamps for next time.

To finish the image I coloured it with some Copics and sponged the edges a little more with Distressed Chipped Sapphire ink. I stamped the word 'Nature' using one of the images from the Garden Inchies set and applied it over the middle of the wings with some foam tape.

The final step was to mat the base with some cardstock sized 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" and they were done!

Bloom

Today I completed my latest swap ATC’s for the September Darkroom Door swap.  They turned out so pretty!

The base was embossed with the Swiss dots Cuttlebug plate and the background image was the large roses background stamp.  I clear embossed it onto white cardstock and then sponged with dye inks to bring out the colour.  The flower images come from montage sheets and words from the Viva La Flora wordstrip.  The punched strip is a Martha Stewart punch.

It's been a while....

It's been a while since I last posted - but I didn't realise it was 4 months!  Life seems passing so quickly lately but I have been busy so stay tuned for pics of my latest projects. 

Firstly to some swaps.  As usual I have been playing the in Darkroom Door ATC swaps and have marvelled at the returns.  You can see them all on Rachel's blog here.  Just click on 'swaps' in the categories and it will take you to them.

Last month we had a Red, Black & White swap.

January was the month featuring the Essentials 4 Collection.

We missed December but November featured the Yuletide sets of Christmas images.

All were fantastic swaps so make sure you check out the slide shows on Rachel's blog.

Fabric Stamping

Today I have been playing with a bit of a different technique - fabric stamping. Instead of traditional stamping ink this time I used Riso Gocco Ink. I think it worked rather well.

Unbleached calico was firstly painted with black Neopaque paint and ripped into the right size for ATC's. I made a temporary stamping pad for the ink and stamped away. The effect turned out much better than I thought but the lines are still a bit thick & splodgy. I wanted a finer effect so will have to try a few other products. If anyone has any suggestions - please let me know!

 

I created this ATC for a fabric stamping swap so it will be interesting to see what the other girls create.

Stamps used are Inkadinkadoo & Just Johanna.

DD Filmstrip Swap Returns

Here are the returns I received in the Darkroom Door swap - all are fantastic! If you want a closer look at any of them, check out the gallery Rachel has created on her blog.

Nature's Beauty

 

The focus of Rachel's swap was to use the filmstrips to make ATC's. I chose the lovely floral ones as they match one of the stamp sets I already had.
The background was created by stamping matching images from the Full Bloom plate and colouring with watercolour crayons. A strip of Bazzill bling was embossed with the Cuttlebug writing plate and sponged with a bit of purple ink to bring out the embossing.
The natures beauty words were done on the computer - too easy! Selected images from the filmstrips were trimmed and distressed with one of Tim's tools and attached with foam tape.

08 Tim Holtz Inkurable Swap

While on the subject of swaps, I thought I would share these images from the ATC's I made last year for the Tim Holtz Inkurable Stampers swap. The background was made using melted crayon, overlaid with the image stamped onto tissue paper and embossed. The harlequin panel was coloured with some dabber paint to add some colour to the top layer and bring it all together. The image is taken from one of the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous plates.

Darkroom Door Swap

Well Rachel is about to sort and send her swaps for the first Darkroom Door swap so I thought I would share my contributions. We needed to do an ATC or a card utilising the fabulous DD products (http://www.darkroomdoor.com/). The first is my ATC, using the Wildflower stamps.

And here is my card entry. It is my take on the Cuttlebug Collage technique described by Annette in her blog http://goannafive.blogspot.com/. The picture doesn't really do justice to the textures and the pearlescence of the copper sections. The card was made using the DD Venetian Vol 2 plate. The face image was stamped with Stazon on a transparency and overlaid over the map image. I was quite pleased with the effect.