One of the easiest things you can do to make sure you get a good image when you stamp is to test stamp on a piece of scrap paper before committing to your project.

Case in point: Check out these images from a test stamped piece of paper.

If you notice, the top image is very, very blotchy. That’s because I was trying out using distress stain as an inking medium on a clear stamp. Definitely NOT a good choice for that particular stamp. The bright blue image a little bit below it is a test to see how well Distress Inks would work with the stamp. Still not good enough. Finally, at the bottom, the red is Hero Arts Shadow Dye Ink. That, if I do say so myself, is a gorgeous transfer. So Hero Arts it is!

One more thing. Check out the upside down image in the middle of the paper. Notice how it’s mottled pink and blue? Some ink colors are more difficult to remove than others. Apparently the red colorways in the Hero Arts Shadow Inks like to really cling to a stamp. Wash your stamp and stamp onto scraps until the ink no longer transfers. Otherwise you’ll get some odd colored images.

Final product:

This is such a simple card. But this is one of my faves so far this month. Wouldn’t this make a really cool insert into a pocket page?

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You may not know this already, but No Excuse Scrapbooking has a fan page on Facebook. Last night I asked my wonderful fans which background I should start with for today’s card.

I had been inspired by this pin, but when I started pulling things together, I really got stumped with how I wanted the card to go, and which background was more visually appealing.

Luckily, I have YOU. The background on the right was the favorite, so off I went to make it work.

One of the things I loved about the card I pinned on pinterest was the contrast of the black with the gorgeous colors. Keeping that in mind you may see how I got to this:

One of the people who had an opinion about which background to use hails from Australia and suggested a fall theme, which led to the leaves and the British version of color. Which brings us to the tip for today:

If something isn’t working, get another set of eyes on your project. Ask a friend who scrapbooks what they think. Quiz your family. Talk to someone who’s design sense you trust because their home is gorgeous, or they are always well dressed. That ability to put a beautiful outfit together often translates into other arts.

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While I had my heat gun out I decided my next card needed to be a variation on a technique I learned years ago at my local stamp store. (Which is now closed. I miss them so much!)

We did this technique with water color crayons originally I think, but I thought I’d see how it worked with the painted backgrounds I had left over.

What you’ll need to do this:

• Clear embossing powder
• black embossing powder
• A clear embossing ink like versamark or the perfect medium
• Black dye ink (Tim Holtz’s distress ink in black soot worked great)
• a foam sponge or applicator
• a paper towel or tissue
• a couple pieces of patterned paper or altered paper
• A stamp with a lot of rubber to cover. I used a background stamp from Judikins that was mostly rubber, with small dragonflies carved into it.
• A heat tool
• Another stamp that relates theme wise with your background image
• Distress inks in three colors
• A non-stick craft mat

First card background:

Ink up your large background stamp with the clear embossing ink, and stamp it onto a piece of your patterned paper. Cover the stamped image with the clear embossing powder, tap off the excess, and use a heat gun to melt the powder. With a foam applicator or sponge, apply black distress ink to the unembossed parts of the image, and rub off any excess ink with a paper towel.

Second card background:

Ink up the large background stamp with the clear embossing ink, and stamp your patterned paper. Cover the image with the BLACK embossing powder, tap off the excess, and use your heat tool to melt and set your embossing powder. If you have any spots with incomplete coverage you can color them in with a black marker.

To make the focal image, stamp your distress inks onto your craft mat, and then use the ink beading up on your craft mat to ink the stamp. Give the stamp a little twist to help the colors blend together when you’re inking your stamp. Stamp the image onto white cardstock and trim it closely. (aka Fussy cutting it!) Attach it with foam adhesive, and you’re all done.

This is another example of cards that didn’t quite turn out as I wanted or expected. They are fine, but I expect more from myself. 😉 After all, I want these to be good enough to send to all of you!

Once yesterday’s card with the stenciled background was finished, there still was paint left over on the palette. Not one to let supplies go to waste, I proceeded to create a few more backgrounds. Besides another stenciled background, I also made two backgrounds very similar to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s dash background, and then smeared a book page with the last little bits of paint.

In Julie’s True Scrap class, she free hand painted quite a few circles. That reminded me of a circular frame stamp I got in a Studio Calico kit a couple years back, so I added that to this background. And then I went, “wait, I think that just made this ugly.” Rather than throwing it out, I just kept working it.

Since the blue dashes reminded me of water, I added a few shell stamps that were embossed, and then colored them with copic markers. If you’re looking for some ideas on how to use copics, check out Cara  Miller’s class on copics. Very useful if you don’t have access to anyone local who can give you hands on instruction.

It still seemed off a bit, but then my son suggested adding an “Aloha” to the card. Somehow, that one sentiment seems to make it all go together now. Maybe not. This may be a card only a mother could love.

Quick tip for today: Detail clear embossing powder is your friend. If you have clear embossing powder, you can create embossed images in any color pigment ink you have. These images were stamped with Versamagic gingerbread ink, and embossed with clear powder before coloring. You are also less likely to pull the color off your embossing onto your copic markers if you use a clear powder, rather than a colored powder.

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