Stamping 'how to' - Unmounted rubberstamps

Today is my day for working on a few sheets of unmounted rubberstamps I am behind on getting ready for use.

I use "Aleene's tack it over and over" adhesive and spread a thin coat over the back of each sheet of rubber.

Let dry.

Once dry, I cut out the images and put them into CD cases for storage.

I, currently, store them in a CD roundabout. I take the sheet of images and store them all in a 8 1/2x11 - 3 ring binder and can just flip through to see what I might want to use.

The majority of the materials used in this project are from ClubScrap. TFL DebDuzScrappin

Project Tutorial - Conversation Starters

How fun is this idea? I had been researching ideas for helping my kids learn more and ran across an idea of having "family dinner conversations" to discuss everyday events. Well that got my mind going - I thought why not more than just everyday events? Throw in a few odd facts, in sort of a "did you know...?" format, ask common everyday questions, etc. So I did an indepth search on the web to come up with all sorts of fun things to get the conversation going.

The first night I brought it out at the table - the kids were SOOOOO all over it - they LOVE it and even hubby told me afterwards that it was a wonderful idea!! I think because the kids get to pick the cards out - they love being personally involved in that part and wanted to just keep doing card after card.

Supplies:
Small box (picked mine up at dollar store)
Patterned papers
Modge Podge
Embellishments (tags, brads, buttons, flowers, etc)
Cardstock (to print cards on)
Rubberstamps
Inks

1. Measure box and cut papers to fit, modge podge onto box using a foam brush. Let dry.

2. Add embellishements - I added a tag and paper flowers with brads on top, brads along lid edge, and buttons in lower right hand corner front.

3. Print out sayings, quips, questions, etc onto cardstock. Trim to fit in your box.

4. Rubberstamp the cards with various images, just to spice em up a bit.

If you want a copy of my Word Document that has the sayings, questions, etc - just leave a comment or email me and I will email you a copy.

Good luck and have fun!! Debbie Weller

Cards - New Baby cards

Well I had a fantastic time making these cards - didn't necessarily stick with exact traditional baby colors but hey why always stick with the same old thing, right?










Supplies:
ClubScrap Greetings To Go card making pack (15 card backs)
Rubberstamps
Clear embossing powder
Ink pads
Vellum
Sponging tool
Stencil (ClubScrap)
Shrink Plastic
Hole punch
Colored floss & needle










1. Take stencil and sponging tool and ink two different colors of inks in various spots all over the card front.

2. Rubberstamp images onto vellum, clear emboss if your ink doesn't dry quickly. Tear images out. Ink edges of torn images.










3. Rubberstamp images with permanent ink onto shrink plastic. Cut images out. Punch holes in them. Using Heat gun - shrink the images.

4. Take floss and sew the vellum images onto the card front.

5. Tie the shrink plastic image onto the card front.

6. Add any additional stamped images to card front. Ink edges of card front.

7. Adhere card front to the card back. Stamp sentiment inside.

Hope you enjoy!! Have fun and good luck!! Debbie Weller aka DebDuzSrappin

Cards - Alcohol ink'd cutouts over windows

These are some fun cards. I really like the open windows - gives the cards a whole new look and feel from a generic card.

Supplies
Alcohol inks & Applicator
Rubberstamps
Pigment or permanent ink pad
Glossy cardstock
Black pen
Scissors

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of glossy cardstock the size of the image you intend on stamping.

2. Apply alcohol inks to the glossy cardstock.

3. Rubberstamp image onto glossy cardstock.

4. Trim out image.

5. Take card back and cut out window of choice.

6. Overlap trimmed out image over window and adhere.

7. Use black pen and mark dashes around the edge of the cut out window.

8. Stamp sentiment inside window or embellish as desired.

Have fun!! DebDuzScrappin'

Card - Grafitti Technique

I love this simple and effective technique. All you need is lots of similiar 'sentiment' rubberstamps and vola' you can create some great fun cards in just about any theme!!

Rubberstamping 101_Alcohol Inks on Transparencies

This is always a fun technique and thought it would work well with the images from this months' Artifacts kit from ClubScrap.com.

Alcohol Inks on Transparencies Technique

Supplies Needed:
Alcohol Inks (Ranger)
Dabber (Felt pad on applicator)
Rubberstamps
Ink (stazon, pigment, or something that works on porous materials)
Transparencies
Brads
Cardstock

1. Rubberstamp image(s) onto one side of transparency. Let dry or heat set if needed.
2. Flip transparency over. Use applicator and color in image as desired, or just dab&twist on the alchy inks. You can also tap the bottle and sort of sprinkle dots of color onto the transparency. Let dry.
3. Flip back over and adhere transparency to cardstock using brads. Mat onto card back.

Thanks for stopping by...deb

Rubberstamping 101_Embossing Resist

To me, this is just a gorgeous technique, very subtle and a bit shabby, just too snazzy!! Supplies used here are all ClubScrap - cardstock with windows are from the Artifacts "Greetings to go" kit.

Embossing Resist

Supplies needed:
White cardstock
Versamark ink
Clear (or white) embossing powder
Complimentary dye ink pads
Rubberstamps
Heat Gun
Sponge

1. Rubberstamp images onto white cardstock using versamark ink.
2. Emboss images with embossing powder/heat gun.
3. Using sponge, dab onto dye ink pad and in a circular motion, color in images. Make the center of the images the darkest color and work your way out. Works best with darker ink or a fairly heavy coat of ink, the images stand out more.
4. Lightly sponge a little more ink into all white areas.
5. Mat onto card back.

Thanks for stopping by. Have Fun!
Debbie Weller
AKA DebDuzScrappin'

Rubberstamping 101_Alcohol Ink Trifecta

I am a huge fan of bright bold colors - so I am totally loving these projects...the are really much more vibrant in real life, but you at least get the idea.

Alcohol Ink Trifecta

Supplies:
Glossy Cardstock
Alcohol inks (3 colors)
Applicator
Rubberstamp
Permanent Ink pad (black)
Cardstock
Scissors

1. Cut a piece of glossy cardstock. Cut up piece into various smaller pieces as shown. Be sure and keep your pieces together, so you know how to put them back together.

2. Using applicator, apply alcohol ink to the pieces as shown.

3. Put all the pieces back together (tape on the backside if necessary) and Rubberstamp your main image in black permanent ink, let dry if needed.

4. Spread the pieces back out and adhere to cardstock and mat on card back.

Have fun!
DebDuzScrappin'

Using & Storing Unmounted Rubberstamps

Oh this is one of my favorites.

What are unmounted rubberstamps you ask? They are just the pieces of rubber with the image and no padding or wood mount. Many places online, sell unmounted for half the price of the mounted stamps. You can buy single images or entire sheets of images for a lot cheaper than mounted images.

How do you work with unmounteds?
You find a mounting system that works for you. There are a couple of different ones that I am familiar with, there may be others but these are the ones I have some knowledge of…

1. Vinyl Clings. I believe you can buy cling sheets and attach them to your rubberstamps. I have never tried this, but have gotten a few clear vinyl rubberstamps and they work great.

2. Halos (Velcro). I started out using this, but found it difficult to use very small images or alphabet letters, as they wouldn’t stay clung tightly to the Velcro and regularly fell off. Worked fine for large images, but I do a lot of alphabet letters, so it wasn’t working for me.

3. Padding only. You can take your sheet of rubber and attach it to a sheet of padding and then trim out your images. Peel the backing off your padding and you are good to go. I have a couple of these and they work fine.

4. Aleene’s tack it over and over. This is my method of choice. Now keep in mind this doesn’t work well will all companies rubber. I have rubber from Leave Memories and Rusty Pickle and both of them do NOT work well using this method.

Most of my unmounted stamps are from Club Scrap and Club Stamp and mounted using the Aleene's Tack it over and over method and works absolutely perfect for them.

Here is how to do it:
1. Flip rubber over so the backside is up. Squeeze a little bit of the glue onto the back side, spread around the rubber using a foam paint brush. I only put enough glue on to leave a very thin white coating on the back of the rubber. Less is better, you can always add more if need be.

2. Let this dry until you no longer see white, I generally leave it over night.

3. Now it will be fairly sticky, I usually stick it to my hand (or maybe my pants, it will pick up a lil lint) a couple of times to make it not quite so sticky.

4. Now is time to cut out your images. I use a pair of non-stick scissors by Tonic. But if you do not have non-stick scissors you can use regular scissors, just rub them on some embossing ink and that will keep them from getting too sticky. If they get all gummy, you can use UN-DO to remove the goo. I trim out the images fairly close to the image but not too close. I do not want the edge showing up when I stamp my image, so I cut close enough to ensure that.

5. Now I store my "images" (that is the sheet of paper with the images that comes with your unmounted stamps) in a 3 ring binder.

6. The Unmounted stamps themselves, I store in CD cases. I label the case using my label maker, and then store them in a turn-style storage unit. Eventually I will run out of space but for now this is working for me.

So that is about it, other than if you do not have padding permanently on your rubber, I recommend doing your rubberstamping on a foam pad (like a mouse pad) or even an old magazine, just something that has a little give in it. This will allow you to get a much cleaner image when you stamp it.

Hope this step by step tutorial helps!!

DebDuzScrappin - Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Joseph's Coat Technique

Supplies List:
~Glossy cardstock
~Brayer
~Rainbow Ink pad
~Dark ink pad (black or navy the darker the better)
~Clear embossing ink
~Clear embossing powder
~Rubberstamp (one with more solid image works best)
~heat gun

1. Using a rainbow inkpad, ink up brayer.
2. Cover entire cardstock with brayered ink.
3. Stamp an image using embossing ink, sprinkle embossing powder on image and emboss image right on top of colored cardstock.
4. Then ink your brayer with dark ink, cover the entire card again with the new color.
5. Let the overcoat of ink dry.
6. Buff the card with a paper towel to remove the excess ink off of embossed image.

This buffing will allow the rainbow colors to show through very nicely. Works really nice on landscape images.

That's about it...good luck!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Using Ranger Alcohol inks...I LOVE them...

Ranger’s Alcohol Inks

These are my favorite new product. Here is some great information I gathered about working with Alcohol inks.

1. They are acid free, so no problems with using it in your scrapbooks.

2. They are permanent, although if necessary you can remove with a solvent agent.

3. They are transparent. Works great on glass such as ornaments, microscope slides, and acetate (transparencies), and still allows you to see artwork behind it.

4. They dry extremely fast. This allows the artist to finish up their tasks quickly.

5. Large variety of colors. There are currently 12 colors available, and the color combinations you can make are just breathtaking. Not sure when, but it sounds like more colors will come out eventually.

6. Works fabulously on non-porous surfaces such as glossy paper; metal; acrylic; shrink plastic; mica; game pieces; Mohong tiles; actetate/transparencies; glass microscope slides; and Ceramic tiles to name a few.

7. You can create your background paper or scrapbook page elements using the inks on glossy cardstock. Once the inks dry, you can rubberstamp over the inks, thus creating beautiful works of art.

8. Ease of color coordinating scrapbook elements. You can easily color coordinate the metal brads, metal hinges, and metal photo corners all on a single layout.

9. You can create works of art well beyond the scrapbook. You can make beautiful necklaces, magnets, earrings and pins out of dominoes. You can make fabulous magnets, coasters, and trivets out of ceramic tiles. You can cover a plain wooden or plastic frame with metal tape and then apply the inks to create gorgeous one of a kind photo frames.

10. You can recycle old items. Take an old altoid tin (or nut can, popcorn tin, etc) and use the alcohol inks to recolor covering the current label (printed directly on the metal).

When working with alcohol inks, I highly recommend the method that Tim Holtz uses. You take an old wooden rubberstamp – the kind with a handle attached to the base – and put a piece of Velcro on it. Then you cut small strips of felt to attach to the Velcro. (Club Scrap does carry the hand tool right now as well as the inks). A little alcohol ink goes a long ways. So you just squeeze a little bit – YES it comes in bottles only, not an ink pad – onto the felt. You can use one color at a time or mix them. You can use blending fluid to lighten your project. You just sort of dab up and down. If you want lots of dots, once the first coat is dry, dab just a tiny bit more here and there and the spots will show up.

Rubberstamping 101: Wax Resist Background

Wax Resist Background

Supplies:
~Wax paper
~Glossy cardstock
~Iron
~Stipple brush/sponge/brayer
~Dye ink pad

1. Crumble a piece of wax paper and straighten it out but leave lots of wrinkles
2. Sandwich wax paper between two sheets of glossy paper
3. Iron (no steam) the waxed paper "sandwich."
4. If you hold the paper up to the light, you can see the wax left on the surface. If not enough, repeat ironing.
5. Stipple, sponge, or brayer color on card

Note: You must use dye ink as pigment will not dry on glossy paper.

That's it...good luck!!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Tissue Paper Photo Transfer

Tissue Paper Photo Transfer

Supplies:
~Tissue paper (like you wrap gift with)
~copy paper
~removable tape
~Modge Podge
~Glossy Accents

1. Using either laser or ink jet printer, print your image on regular copy paper.
2. Tape a piece of tissue paper that's a little larger than your image over top of the image you just printed on the copy paper. Tape all four sides down using removable tape. We are going to run this back through the printer.
3. Print image again (this time on the tissue) and remove the tissue paper from the copy paper.
4. Apply a thin layer of Modge Podge to a CD, domino, whatever and carefully lay the tissue paper down, smoothing surface. Be very careful - as the tissue tears very easily.
5. Then apply another thin layer of Modge Podge over top of tissue image and let dry.
6. You can also cover with a coat of Glossy Accents for a final finished look.

That's it...good luck!!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Tissue Paper Stamping Background Technique

Supplies List:
~Tissue paper (like you wrap a gift in)
~Scrap piece of paper
~Acrylic paint
~Plastic coated paper plate

1. Squirt some acrylic paint onto a plastic coated paper plate.
2. Crumble up a small piece of tissue paper - use one piece for each color
3. Dab tissue into paint, "stamp" on scrap paper to get rid of some of the paint, and dab onto your paper.
4. Repeat with other colors until you have reached the background look you desire.

That's about it...good luck!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Shaving Cream background technique...

Shaving Cream Background

Supplies List:
Cheap shaving cream
Cookie Sheet
Cardstock
Knife or Spatula
Wooden stick or spoon (for stirring in paint or ink)
Newspaper
Metal edged ruler

1. Squirt some cheap shaving cream onto a cookie sheet in a rectangle as large as your card.
2. Smooth the shaving cream flat kinda like frosting a cake with a knife or spatula.
3. Dot the shaving cream with acrylic paints or reinkers, using up to three colors
4. With the handle of a large paintbrush or wooden spoon, swirl the paint together. This may take a little practice. If you swirl not enough there's not going to be a lot of design on your paper; if you swirl too much the colors will get all muddy.
5. Lay the paper on top of the shaving cream and press down a little to be sure the entire card surface makes contact with the shaving cream.
6. Pick up the paper from one edge and slowly lift. Note: a lot of the shaving cream will come with the paper, that is ok.
7. Lay paper on newspaper and take a metal edge ruler (or spatula). Start on one corner of the paper and scrap the shaving cream off, sweeping the ruler across the cardstock to the opposite corner. Try to do this in one sweeping motion, if you stop in the middle, you may get some extra unwanted lines.
8. Let paper dry and use to layer, or stamp on.

That's about it...good luck!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Using Fun Foam

This comes in thin sheets or in various shapes and is found in most craft stores, and has several uses:

Texture Stamps

1. Cut piece of fun foam to size and heat with heat gun.
2. It will shrink a little and darken a little in color
3. Press into an item such as a pile of buttons, fabric, rubberstamp and the texture or image will transfer to the fun foam.
4. You can at this time glue the foam to a block of wood and make a stamp.
5. Ink the fun foam and use as a stamp

Card Embellishments

1. Have an inked stamp ready.
2. Heat fun foam until it shrinks a little and darkens in color.
3. Immediately press the stamp into the foam and hold about 10 seconds.
4. Cut out your embellishment and attach to face of card.

Note: you can re-heat fun foam and the current image will disappear and you can create a new one with the same foam.

That's about it...good luck!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Dry Embossing How to...

Embossing - Dry

Supplies:
brass stencil
embossing tool
light table (you can use a window)

1. Put stencil on light table and place the paper you are going to emboss on top. Secure it with removable tape. Make sure the tape is not on an area that you will use as it may tear the paper when you remove it.
2. Rub a piece of wax paper over the paper (helps the tool glide more smoothly)
3. Rub the embossing tool along the edge of the stencil, following the lines. You don't need to rub the area between the lines.

TIPS:

*Your embossed image will be the OPPOSITE of the way your stencil is facing, so be sure you face the stencil the right way before putting the paper on top
*Embossing shows up much better on light colors. You would have to trace your image onto dark colored paper as the light will not show through.
*Don't rub too hard with the tool as you may tear the paper
*You can make your own stencils by tracing an image onto mat board or acetate and cutting it out.

That's about it...good luck!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Using a Blitzer

Using a Blitzer

This is a tool that produces a sort of airgun effect on your creations. This is sort of similar to blow art, but you pump a bladder with air rather than blow with your mouth. The blitzer has a spot to hold a marker and a bladder for pumping air onto the top of the marker, causing the marker to splatter a mist onto your creation.

1. Lock the color marker of your choice into the blitzer holder. Be sure to use a new, well inked color marker for the best results.
2. With a quick squeeze, pump the bulb of blitzer. Air is forced through the tip of the marker, blowing out a mist of color.

That's about it...good luck!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Some Brayer ideas. to try....

Using a Brayer

Brayer Techniques:
There are 4 basic types of brayers, sponge, soft rubber, hard rubber and acrylic. Each has very different uses and each (except the hard rubber brayer) is a wonderful tool for rubber stampers. Speedball has come out with a plastic handle that works with snap in brayer rollers in each of the 4 types -- one handle, 4 brayers!

Sponge Brayer: The sponge brayer is for getting a nice, even sponged looking background.

Soft Rubber Brayer (red rubber): The soft rubber brayer is my most indispensable tool.

1. Great for inking up fine stamps
2. Make rainbow backgrounds (by running the brayer directly onto the cardstock)
3. Make backgrounds by inking a stamp, stamping the brayer and then running the brayer over the cardstock
4. Applying Liquid Appliqué directly onto the cardstock for that suede feel
5. Running the brayer through a rainbow pad and then over bubble wrap on cardstock
6. Smoothing out the tissue paper after I've covered my cardstock with it for a cool background
7. Smoothing shrink plastic down on the inked up stamp so that the image won't have any air pockets in it
8. Running the brayer over a rainbow pad, spritz the brayer with just a little water and then apply the color to the cardstock for a watery looking background.
9. Running the brayer over an ink pad (rainbow or single color), running it over wet cardstock and then putting rock salt on it. Let it dry 24 hours, wipe off the salt and you have a great background.

Hard Rubber Brayer (black rubber): The hard rubber brayer is used in print making (I think). I don't believe this is use in stamping as far as I know.

Acrylic Brayer: It's great to put either rubber bands or cellophane around and make really cool backgrounds using either rainbow or single color inks.

A brayer is a small rubber paint roller. They have different sizes depending on your needs. Depending on how you ink your brayer you can create different results, including:

1. a wash of color
2. borders and edges
3. repetitive patterns
4. mirror images

Simply roll the brayer over your ink pad, using a roll-and-life motion. Note: running your brayer back and forth will only ink up the same section of the brayer, leaving some of the brayer without ink. Roll the brayer onto your project as desired.

Cleaning a Brayer
Usually good old clean water or stamp cleaner will clean pigment and dye inks from a brayer. If you've got something sticky on your brayer you can clean it with Goo Gone and then clean THAT off with soap and water.

Some more Fun Ideas
for using your Brayer

Rubber Brayer:

*Create stripes: using markers, make stripes on your brayer (this works best if you lie it on its back and turn the roller while holding the marker) all the way around until the beginning and ending stripe meet. Roll brayer across your paper.
*Create wavy lines: using markers, make wavy lines on your brayer (this works best if you lie it on its back and turn the roller while holding the marker) all the way around until the beginning and ending stripe meet. Roll brayer across your paper.
*Create Confetti/Dots/Raindrops: Using markers, make marks randomly on your brayer (you can use different colors) all over the entire roller. Then roll away.
*Create Plaids: Using markers, draw straight lines on brayer. Roll brayer on paper in a criss-cross pattern. You can also outline the stripes for your plaids with the smaller tip of your marker to make the plaid/stripes stand out more. You can also use Rainbow/Kaliedacolor (a.k.a. KC) plaids using a brayer rolled over a KC pad several times then brayering over your paper. Repeat as necessary for the desired depth of color and surface coverage. Then repeat the process in the opposite direction.
*Rainbow Backgrounds: using a brayer rolled over a multi-colored pad several times then rolling over your paper. Repeat as necessary for the desired depth of color and surface coverage. This works great for those scenery & landscape cards.
*Reverse/mirror Image: You’re your stamp rubber side up, color/ink your stamp, and roll the brayer over the image several times, then roll over your paper (works great with trees, flowers etc). Roll the image onto paper, creating a reverse image. If you have an image that you want to face each other (perhaps an animal nose to nose, or kids holding hands, etc), you would brayer over the stamp and roll onto paper, then stamp the original image nose to nose with the first.
*Kissing: Brayer over a background stamp (one with a design of some sort) then use another solid stamp and stamp onto the background stamp then stamp onto your card stock - your solid stamp now has a design.
*Ghosting: Stamp an image on your card several times in clear embossing ink. (Do NOT emboss) Then brayer over your invisible images with regular dye pad and your images will start to appear.
*Resist: Works best with glossy paper. You will need to choose your resist medium (see list below). You color on the glossy card stock with the pens in any way, or pattern you choose then you use the same technique as the ghosting by brayering over with a different color. The pattern that you drew or colored will not let the brayered ink absorb through the card stock therefore becomes the "resist". Possible mediums to try: oil colored pencils (work best with regular matte finished papers); crayons; wax paper; metallic pens; ink; resist ink; emboss ink (try the emboss pens to write a hidden message); rubber cement; masking fluid; white out/correction pen; Gel pens; wax resist sticks; Delta paint.
*Wax Paper Resist: crumple a piece of wax paper; iron (on hottest setting/no steam) wax paper onto white card stock (be sure to use an additional sheet of card stock between the wax paper and iron); press for only 2-3 seconds - this will transfer the wax to both sheets of card stock (if you iron too long the wax will be absorbed into the paper) Ink your brayer and then brayer over card stock. The brayer will resist laying color where the wax paper has left its design (makes a great background paper). Another variation to this technique is to use your stylus tool and with the wax paper on the card stock use the tip of your stylus to write your own message or draw your own design - brayer over to reveal your design or message.
*Use your brayer on those large background stamps to get an all over inking.
*Put a piece of cheesecloth down and brayer over the cheesecloth for a different effect. Try the same on lace doilies, lace, or bubble wrap.
*Brayer over a leaf (two ways to do this: place card stock over leaf or other nature finds and bring out the textured surfaces below; or use the reverse/mirror image technique to pick up the pattern of your nature find.)
*Joseph's Coat: Brayer with a rainbow pad and cover the entire area of your card (glossy cardstock works best). Emboss your image with clear embossing powder/ink on top of the area colored (this technique works best with the more solid image stamps). Then ink your brayer with Black or Navy (the darker the better) and cover the entire card again with this new color. Let the overcoat of ink dry, and then buff the card with a paper towel to remove excess ink off embossed image. What happens is that your rainbow color will then show through. (Great for a landscape card)
*Watercolor brayer: Ink your brayer with a rainbow pad or markers, then spritz with a water bottle, then roll out for a very pretty watercolor look.

Foam Brayer:

~Use your foam brayer for an all over airbrush effect.
~Use your foam brayer with your stencils.
~Use with the KC pads for rainbow effect.
~Use your foam brayer with markers for an interesting look. I've heard that you can make some great tortoise shell, leopard or gemstone looks on glossy card stock.
~You can also use the spritz technique with the foam brayer for a watercolor effect.

Lucite or Acrylic Brayer:

~Put rubber bands around your brayer, roll on ink pad, then roll onto paper for unique background
~Wrap saran/plastic wrap around your brayer, roll on ink pad, then roll onto paper for unique background.
~Wrap fabric netting or the netting from bags of cheese, fruits or marbles around brayer, roll on ink pad, then roll onto paper for unique background
~Wrap cheesecloth around brayer, roll on ink pad, then roll onto paper for unique background.
~Wrap string, yarn, crochet yarn, or fibers around brayer, roll on ink pad, then roll onto paper for unique background string
~You can use your acrylic brayer to roll out paper clay.
~You can use your acrylic brayer to make sharp creases in your card stock
~Crinkle up a piece of Mulberry paper, ink up your brayer with the new Encore pads and give your Mulberry paper a guilded look.
~Faux Suede - squeeze brown liquid appliqué on wax paper or aluminum foil. Roll the brayer until it is coated and smooth. Roll and even coat of the liquid appliqué on your cut out image or a diecut, let it set for a minute then heat with heat gun. This will give you a nice suede feel. Try it with different colors. But be sure to clean your brayer right away.
~Use your acrylic brayer with pigment ink on glossy (takes a little while to dry) don't roll use a quick sliding motion to brush the inked brayer across the card stock, you can also wiggle the brayer. You can make some cool looking plaids or sunbursts. Try the same technique, but tap the brayer around in different areas for an all over color burst.

That's about it...good luck!
Debbie Weller

Rubberstamping 101: Distressing paper by sponging on ink....

Sponging

This is a fun and easy background to try. Try experimenting with all different kinds of sponges to create unique backgrounds or even feathered edges. There are a number of different sponges:

1. Cosmetic
2. Sea sponge
3. Kitchen sponge
4. Finger sponge or dauber

You can use them dry or wet, depending on the look you want. You can cut them into different shapes and sizes. Apply ink or pat on a stamp pad to pick up color and then dab onto the card or paper. Sponge over masks, around edges only, or over entire backgrounds. You can even sponge inside of a “reverse mask” or a stencil to create unique effects.

I love using the sponge dauber for edging, keeps my fingers nice and clean. You can also use them to color in images. I highly recommend keeping a separate sponge for each color family.

That's about it...good luck!
Debbie Weller