| More Tips & Techniques |
| Sponging This is quite a simple technique, often used to cover up unsightly blotches on your finished work, that I have noticed a lot of people don't seem to be aware of. What you need is a sponge & a stamp pad (or 3). I sell a beautiful little sponge that has a soft, open 'weave', that gives you the most control over slowly building up colour. Of course, you can use any sponge you can get your hands on - the corner off the kitchen sponge - a piece out of the car washing sponge. They all give different effects, so feel free to experiment. As for the stamp pads, I find dye inks are the best, as they dry almost immediately. If you use pigment inks, you run a greater risk of creating more smudges, rather than fixing your card. 1. Press your sponge firmly onto your stamp pad several times. 2. Press sponge onto your work lightly, twice. 3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 over & over again until the desired depth of colour is achieved. You can mix a few colours for a more complex look. You can simply turn your scenes into more complete pictures, bu sponging green for the ground & blue for the sky. This technique allows for great scope in experimenting. |
| Decorative Cut Scissors Decorative cut scissors are a great little tool to have in any stamp kit. With just a simple snip, you can add interesting edges to your layering papers & card, & even change the shape of your bi-fold card. There is, however, a trick to using them. Firstly, DON'T spend hours creating that perfect card & then try finishing it off with some fancy edges if you haven't practised using them a lot before-hand. You might find out you end up with a not-quite-square mini gift tag! So, my first bit of advice is to practise cutting all different types of papers & card, just to get the feel of how to produce a neat, continuous, straight cut. To get the cut neat, you need to be quite firm & even with your pressure, whilst pushing the blades together. Also, don't try to cut with the very start of the blades, or the very end of the blades; stop your snip before the scissors close completely - if you don't, you'll find the end bit has a tendency to tear. To produce the continuous effect on those designs which need it, you need to remove the scissors at the end of each snip & place them in the same section of cutting pattern further up the blade & then snip again. Now, for the straight cut, you need to line up the straight line of the paper/card edge with a point on the tip of the scissors & follow this line all the way through. Therefore, you need to start with a straight-edged, evenly cut piece of card/paper before you begin using your fancy cutting scissors. |
| Embossing Firstly, you need to have all your equipment open in front of you: pigment ink pad; embossing powder; stamp; dry paintbrush; cleaning mat; backing paper; bi-fold card. In order to get the best image, dab your stamp onto your pigment ink stamp pad gently but firmly, rotating stamp & moving it along the stamp pad, about 10 times. Position stamp over your card with 2 hands, placing your little fingers down first & holding the stamp above. Check for centreing, & make sure the straight edge of the stamp block is aligned with the straight edge of the card. Slowly lower the stamp onto the card. Now you need to press down on the stamp really firmly, taking care not to 'rock' your stamp. I find I need to stand & use my body weight as a lever, especially on big stamps. Press all over the stamp, not just in one spot. Then carefully remove the stamp straight up (not rolling to one side) & place it onto your cleaning mat. Pour a large amount of embossing powder over your image immediately (empty the container if you have to), then tip your card onto its side & pour your powder onto the backing paper. Gently tap the side of your card with the paintbrush. If you have any unwanted spots of embossing powder, gently brush them away with your paintbrush. Another method I use is to touch them with the paintbrush & gently blow them away. Now all you need to do is to hold youur card over your toaster or stove top, or under your grill or heat with your heat gun. Watch the powder closely & don't overcook. Remove from heat immediately you see theh powder is melted. If there are any corners uncooked, simply hold that section of card over your heat source. Don't touch the card front for about 10 seconds - it burns & ruins your design. Now all that is left to do is to apply a little color with watercolour pencils or textas. |