masquerade

Happy Thursday all! I hope you are all having a fabulous day!

Today I have another project for the Creative Inspirations DT blog. Our challenge was "Clearly Sparkling!" *or in other words, use the CI paints on something clear like acetate, acrylic... you get the idea*. So, I chose to do a very simple yet elegant acetate card.

And laying down flat for better photo viewing pleasure...

Paper: My Minds Eye, Acetate

Ink: Staz-on, Memento

Stamps: Studio G, Inkadinkado "Hello Hummingbird", Basic Grey "Filagree"

Creative Inspiration Paint colors: Tanzanite, Buttercup, Winter Frost, Evergreen

Other: ribbon

I stamped my image directly onto the acetate with the Staz-on ink. I then painted on the back of the image with CI paint *painting on the back just helps keep your stamped image lines nice and clean*. With non-porous surfaces, you need to put on a nice thick coat for even coverage... however, for the petals of the flower, I used a thinner coat and applied it in a dabbing motion. This leaves it with a textured look.

I painted a white/sheer ribbon with Tanzanite CI paint to match my flower. *to find out more on that technique, see here or here*

So, there you have it. Quick... Simple... Stunning. The shimmer of the paint looks fabulous on the acetate! *it looks even better IRL!!!*

There are more amazing projects over at the Creative Inspirations Blog here. Go check them out and leave some love for the hard working girls on the DT.

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Ok, so I know I haven't done a B2B in a while... That is why I thought I would do one today. Yup, a B2B using the CIDT challenge project as a sample project. So, for today's B2B, I give you...

MASKING (with stamps)

I know this is an old technique, but I thought I would share it for those who may not be familiar with stamping, or as a refresher for those who have learned this before, and maybe forgotten to use it in a while.

I love this technique because you can achieve so much dimension with little effort! It also gives you endless ways to combine your stamp images for a very personal touch. *and as a bonus, it doesn't require fancy tools... yay!*

So what do you need?

Your choice of stamps

the paper/project you want to stamp on *yes, that is kind of a "duh" thing, but thought I would be thorough =)*

your choice of ink

a good old fashion pair of scissors *you may need to go hunting for these... I sometimes think people may be forgetting how to use them with all the punches and die cutters.... hehehe*

and, the secret weapon...

Sticky notes

Step 1: Stamp the image you want in the foreground on to your project.

For this example, I used Staz-on in to stamp on my acetate card.

Step 2: Stamp that same image onto the front of a sticky note. Make sure that you stamp at least part of your image over the part that is sticky on the back *this will serve as the adhesive that will hold your mask in place*

Step 3: cut out your image. Do this as neatly as you can. Some people like to cut slightly on the inside of the line to insure that there is no haloing *that pesky white line you can get around your finished image if your mask covers beyond the stamped line* Using a pair of sharp precision scissors makes getting in the tight places easier.

Step 4: Place your mask on top of your project. Take the time to line it up as exactly as you can.

Step 5: Now you can stamp the next layer of stamps right over the mask. When the mask is removed, this layer will appear to be directly behind the first image.

Step 6: Leaving the first mask in place, you can continue stamping and adding masks for as many layers as you want. Just remember to work from foreground to background.

Step 7: remove all masks.

See, told you it was simple! It is very effective though. Give it a try on your next stamped project!