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Rubber Stamping – Enhancing with Age

The element of age in rubber stamping projects adds dimension, zest and your own unique sparkle, when you are looking for something new and distinctive. Aging (also known as distressing) your rubber stamping creations can be done simply and inexpensively with common household items. In this article you will learn how to use things like sandpaper, ink pads, candles, scissors, and glue to enhance your rubber stamping projects with age. Use these techniques on their own or in combination with one another to achieve different distressing results. BEFORE YOU DISTRESS First, before you distress your paper, do a layout of the card or page you wish to create. With everything cut to size you are ready to age your rubber stamping project. You may wish to stamp any rubber stamping images where you desire them before you distress. Keep in mind it will depend on the project as to whether to do your rubber stamping before or after the aging techniques. SANDING Heavy colored paper with a white core shows this technique well. Using medium rough sandpaper or a sanding block, lightly sand the edges of the paper you wish to rubber stamp on. Sand all other edges where you wish to have an aged look. INKING Using a dye based or pigment ink – these are your rubber stamping ink pads – brush the ink pad across the edges of your paper. Hold the ink pad at a 45º or smaller angle as you do this. The smaller the angle the more ink you will see around the edges. You may wish to use the same color that you are rubber stamping with. CRUMPLING Try rubber stamping a faded image randomly over lightweight paper. Crumple into a ball and smooth out. At this point you may wish to do some inking over the uneven surface you have created. Complete your rubber stamping project as planned. TEARING For this technique be sure to do your rubber stamping first. Tear somewhat unevenly through the image in a couple of places. Ink the edges. Put the image back together on a solid background. This will give the rubber stamping image the look of being broken or cracked. You may wish to run a bead of white glue on the seams. BURNING For this method, be sure you practice first. Do not use your finished rubber stamping images on your first attempt. Using a candle, hold your paper horizontally above the flame, high enough that it does not catch fire, hold in this position just until it begins to smoke. Burn edges as desired. Complete your rubber stamping project once the desired effect is achieved. SCISSORS Using your scissors as you would to curl curly ribbon, gently curl the corners of your rubber stamping images. Once the desired effect is achieved, complete the rubber stamping creation. FOLDING Using heavy paper, fold randomly, sand the folded edge, ink, and unfold. Do this repeatedly until the desired effect is achieved. You may want to do some rubber stamping before unfolding. At this point, smooth out the paper and emboss your rubber stamping image in a contrasting color in the center. Rubber stamping is a fun and creative hobby. Whether distressing with ink, flame, water, crumpling, tearing or folding, rubber stamping projects can be enhanced in many exciting and different ways. To view pictures of each of these techniques go to http://www.clearlyrubberstamping.com/page/distressing

Shadow Stamping – Quick Elegant Creations

Shadow stamping is a new, fun, and simple way of stamping cards and pages. Shadow stamping allows you to craft your very own setting and theme for your projects. Beauty is found in the color combinations, choice of stamps and the moods you create. With shadow stamping you can create elaborate, detailed projects with very little effort. WHAT IS SHADOW STAMPING? Basically, shadow stamping is the process of using geometric shapes or solid stamps to create a background for your project. Shadow stamping always includes the use of two or more colors, usually pastels, to create the background. This is your shadow. Once your shadow is created, you stamp your desired image over the shadow in a contrasting color. As you can imagine, this technique has vast possibilities. Shadow stamping has many techniques for varying effects which you may wish to use collectively or on their own. INKS: There are special inks for shadow stamping, but you can do shadow stamping without them. The key to remember is that you need light images. To do this with regular inks, use a second or third impression. The shadow will get increasingly lighter with each impression. BASIC SHADOW STAMPING Ink the entire shadow and stamp on card or scrapbook page. Stamp your image over the shadow with a contrasting color. ELEGANT EDGES Ink only the edges using the sides of your stamp pad or a sponge. Shadow stamping with this technique will add depth to the project. This method may be combined with Basic Shadow Stamping. SHADOW IN A SHADOW Ink your shadow but do not stamp. Using a smaller shadow, press the uninked stamp onto the inked one to remove ink, stamp the results onto your paper. Continue shadow stamping until the desired results are achieved. MONOPRINT SHADOW STAMPING This method is just like the “Shadow in a Shadow” technique only instead of using a smaller shadow, use an image. Shadow stamping with this method is great for creating a themed page. STAMPING ON STAMPS Ink your shadow stamp. Ink a smaller stamp in a darker color and stamp the image onto your inked shadow stamp. Stamp the results on paper to see your shadow stamping creation. STYLUS SHADOW STAMPING Ink your shadow, then using a stylus, draw lines or curves through the wet ink. Stamp on paper. TRIPLE SHADOW Ink the first shadow and stamp. Ink a second smaller shadow, turn 90º and stamp; ink a third even smaller shadow, turn another 90º and stamp. Stamp your image over resultant background. Shadow stamping is a technique as diverse as the imagination. Whether doing basic shadow stamping, stylus shadow stamping, or stamp on stamp shadow stamping, you will find that shadow stamping methods will help you quickly and simply theme and enhance your own distinctive projects. Susan has been making things with paper since the time she was small. She takes particular delight in stamping and designing new card layouts with her results. Susan also enjoys learning new things and often comes up with new ideas as a result of the things she has learned. Susan’s card layouts and ideas can be seen by visiting http://www.clearlyrubberstamping.com/card_making_idea_pages

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