The most popular workshop I teach each month is a class I christened 'Take One Stamp' some 12 years ago. Each time I simply take one stamp, or one set of stamps, and create three to five different projects with it to hopefully inspire customers to take another look at the stamps already on their shelves at home. Good quality stamps are relatively expensive but they can represent really good value for money if you can keep using them in different ways, with different techniques and products.
So, the stamp I am featuring today is an old favourite, Delicate Blossoms by Hero Arts, which I have owned for around five years, and I hope to persuade you there imay be lots of life left in your older stamps just by trying different techniques with them. Earlier in this journey I showed you this card with these poppies.......
.....now I will share a few more.
I always feel the test of a good stamp lies in being able to just stamp it and do very little else to it. This sample is just stamped and embossed with a fine detail black powder.
I often make stencils for my stamps as this allows me to colour the image really quickly with Distress Inks. This one layer card was really quick and easy, cheap to post and looks quite effective using the flowers I cut out when making my stencil as a mask!
If you want real dimension you can always stamp the image several times, colour using your home made stencil, and layer up using foam pads or silicon glue. It really pops on the dark background.
Of course you can simply paper piece the flowers, and in this sample I made my own background from a text stamp embossed in white detail powder on red card, which I also used as a background layer in black ink on white card as a contrast. Simple but effective and you can ring the changes with different text/script/pattern stamps to suit the occasion.
Finally, stamps are absolutely not just for cards and I often use them on layouts too. Here I again paper pieced the flowers but this time used a photograph of poppies I took at the Tower of London printed out on copy paper.
So, my own custom embellishments for my layout too.
Go on, take another look at some of your older stamps and see what you come up with!
Thanks for stopping by, see you again tomorrow with another frugal project, same time ,same place xx
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I try to buy stamps that have multiple uses Val, your idea of stamping and cutting out the flower to use as a stencil just made me go Doh!
ReplyDeleteEach card has something different, my faves are the one layer, the book pages and the digital one.
I love to use my older stamps, there was a reason i bought them, sometimes you forget why lol.
The temptation for new designs is still strong but i don't duplicate. I find it a bit of a con when the same stamp company issues the same stamp just in a different font. If i wanted that i would print if off using my own collection of different fonts lol. Off soapbox now...
Same time same place tomorrow Val, another fab post:-) xxx
Thank you Mo, sometimes I feel we get so carried away wth new things we forget to use what we already have xx
DeleteThese are gorgeous, Val! I love poppies of all kinds, and have loads of different stamps, I don't mind duplicating!! A great idea to use the Tower poppies to illustrate.
ReplyDeleteOh me too Helen - I was very envious of your real TOL poopy yesterday, beautiful xx
Deletelovely set of cards
ReplyDeleteThank you Paula, trying to challenge myself back into the swing of things x
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