feeling flexible...

Last night, I was playing with some of my new stamps from the ScrapbookUSA expo... I fell in love with this sweet tree from Fancy Pants "On a Whimsey" set. It is such a fun image, and it screams for a clean simple card.

*Alika... you have have all the stamps needed to make this card!*

Paper: My Mind's Eye, watercolor paper

Stamps: Fancy Pants "On a Whimsy", "Delight"

Ink: VersaMagic, Distress ink, Archival

Other: buttons, Waxy Flax, acrylic paint

To color the tree, I watercolored the trunk with distress ink. I then used white acrylic paint with Shabby Shutters Distress reinker mixed in. This is a great way to get paint that matches your projects without having 20,000,000 paint bottles. =)

I used this masking technique to stamp the border behind the tree trunk.

One thing I love about clear stamps is that you have more freedom to manipulate them.

This is the way the stamp comes... fairly straight.

This is the way I stamped it... like it's blowing in the breeze. You can adjust the curves of thinner areas of clear stamps. Simply place it on the acrylic block then rearrange. It won't hurt your stamps, and they should bounce right back to their original shape as soon as you take them off the block. This works well for swirls, borders, and thin words.... It gives you more flexibility and milage out of your stamps.

A few accent buttons.... I love buttons right now. =)

Oh, and a quick word on large stamps... Fancy Pants has FABULOUS large clear stamps.... the problem is that some of them are BIG! *ok, let me rephrase...* I personally love the huge stamps, but my sister (who is newer at stamping) just got her first sets of FP stamps a few weeks ago, and was trying to figure out how in the world to use them as she doesn't have any acrylic blocks big enough.

Here is what I do... I used to use a sheet of glass. (I think it was a left over from my Grandmother's stained glass making days...) I put making tape around the edges to protect both my fingers and the glass, and it word ok... However, I have since changed what I use. I now use Fiskars Stamp Press. I picked mine up at Michaels, but I have seen them other places as well. It is a great size (not too big, but big enough), it stamps well, and it is super simple to use.

*please note: I do not work for Michaels, Fiskars, or Fancy Pants. I was not paid in money or product to say any of this... I just wanted to share what I love!*

Well, I've got to get working on Monday's tutorial. Have a fabulous weekend!

~Kassi