The House That Stamps Built; Project of the week: 9-28-15

Hello stampers!  The Crafty Nurse here with some creative play for The House that Stamps Built project of the week.  I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see the new Sentiment Stamps, by Repeat Impressions because they are FANTASTIC!  There are two sets out now with two more to be offered soon.  They have one big sentiment word with a great choice of smaller sentiments that can be combined in a ton of different ways.

For my project of the week, I’d like to show you a couple of different ways to use sentiments stamps.  Let’s get started!

For this project the supplies I used are:

• Water Bottle
• Black Waterproof Ink (I used Hero Arts)
• Distress Ink or any other dye based ink.
• A large stamping tool, either the Fiskars or the Misti
• Brusho’s
• An acrylic block
• Versamark
• Embossing Powder
• Micron .01 Pen – waterproof
• Paper – I used 140 lb Watercolor but you can use your favorite.
• Repeat Impressions Stamps of your choice, I used: Happy Cling and Hello Cling

Both projects today are great for making multiple cards for gift sets or donation.  To allow my cling stamps to stick, I apply a bit of Alene’s Spritz-on Tacky Glue and let dry overnight.  I then grabbed my Fiskars Stamp Press as I don’t own a Misti (sure wish I did), and centered it over the press.

To ensure that you get a good inking when using the press, I added my acrylic block underneath the press before I inked which allows the flexible stamp press to become firm and not buckle or bow causing uneven inking.

I then inked up the entire stamp and stamped it on a white card base.

To finish off the card I added doodling…..

Then inked up with some color and sprayed with a bit of shimmer. How easy is that???

My next card uses the Hello Sentiment Stamps after they had been cut apart.  I used the super fun Brusho’s watercolors now in the Repeat Impressions store so I could show you a different, softer way to use them as actual watercolors.

I like to use the Tim Holtz Tonic scissors to kit out my cling stamps.  I also cut them close so you don’t have any over stamping issues.

To get placement, I layout the stamps the way I want them on my card.

I then turn the stamps over in the same placement so they can be picked up all at once with the stamp press.

I ALWAYS give a test stamp first when I’m stamping text blocks so that I know the words are facing the right way and even.  Take this time to reposition any words you don’t like or became uneven.

Once tested and all is looking good, I stamped the front of a card base with Versamark ink and white heat embossed.

Now, let’s have some fun with Brusho’s.  If you want to “tone down” the colors, you can use the Brusho’s like a watercolor.  I shook out a small amount of pigment onto my craft mat and sprayed with water making two areas of pigment for coloring.  You can also apply pigment directly to the stamps or put your stamp in the pigment (like a stamp pad) for a more watercolor feel. If you have watered it down enough, using text blocks make a great background for another focal image.

I thoroughly wet a 140# watercolor paper around the words only with a flat brush.  I then picked up the color from my mat and applied to the card.  Don’t you love this soft look?

I finished off the card with a My Favorite Things border die and a Simon Says Stamp card base die and called it done.

I hope you enjoyed how to get more out of your sentiment stamps. The holidays are a great time to use this technique as once your stamps are on the press, you can duplicate easily.

Please join us in the weekly challenges here at The House That Stamps Built for your chance at a $25.00 gift certificate.

Beginning Wednesday, September 30th, we are having an “Anything Goes” Challenge!

I wish you a wonderful rest of the week!

The Crafty Nurse