Masking Today

 Today's commercial card copies are one layer cards but they involve a lot of masking. It was fun to make them and see what I had in my supplies to create the copies.
First card up is the pretty butterfly card. I really liked the background and vibrant colors of the butterflies.

So  I pulled out some stamp sets and started with a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock. First I stamped the large center butterfly using Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz, and Watermelon Wonder.  I made a mask of the butterfly by stamping onto copy paper and then fussy cut that out. I placed that mask over the stamped butterfly and then stamped the flower using Pear Pizzazz ink. Then I used my Chalk Pen to color the open spaces on the flower. I really liked how this turned out... going to have to do some more. Then I stamped my smaller butterflies. I used Pear Pizzazz and Soft Suede on the lower one and Delightful Dijon, Calypso Coral and Watermelon Wonder on the top butterfly. I cut masks of the flower and small butterfly and covered them so that I could stamp the swirl with Versamark ink. Then with the masks still in place I sponged color on the background using Calypso Coral, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz and Watermelon Wonder. Once the background was done I stamped the body and antenna for the large butterfly in Basic Black and the body and antenna of the small butterflies in Soft Suede.  Then I layered on Whisper White card base... I guess technically this isn't a one layer card. This card was a lot of work but I love how it turned out!

The second commercial card that also inspired one layer stamping required the use of mask again so that the lacy edge would be underneath the flower image.

Here's my card. I couldn't really find a floral stamp in my collection that was the look I wanted. I finally decided to use Bloom with Hope set and combined two images to make this larger flower. I used my markers to color the stamp with Garden Green and Watermelon Wonder on Pistachio Pudding cardstock. Then I colored in the flower and leaves with the fine tip of Watermelon Wonder, Garden Green and Old Olive markers. I used my white gel pen to add more lines to the flowers. Then I made a mask for that little flower so I could stamp the white border. If I hadn't had the commercial card as an example I probably would have thought this card was in need of something more.  I learned that some blank space is okay, it's all in positioning the elements.

Technique Week

This week I'm going to focus on some different techniques. This card using a masking technique. I used one of my square framelits to make a rectangle frame on a piece of copy paper measuring 4" x 5-1/2 " overall. You could use a pair of scissors or a square punch (punching multiple times) to also make a frame. Then I used some washi tape to attach that piece of copy paper to the same size of White Shimmery Paper.  I sponged Tip Top Taupe and Perfect Plum to make a background.

You are going to have to take my word on this one. I just couldn't get a good photo to show the shimmer in the paper. This is a white card stock that Stampin' Up! offers that is a little heavier than their regular Whisper White card stock. What makes it really special is the little bits of white sparkle embedded in it.  With shimmery paper you get little bits of white shimmer that pops through the sponged area. Very tiny, hardly visible unless you are looking for it. And of course the white frame around that sponged area has lots of shimmer. I stamped the images with Elegant Eggplant which drew out the subtle Purple Plum areas in the background.

This card is also a CASE from Linda Heller.

Watercolor Paper

For this card I made a frame mask cut to the same size as the watercolor Paper. (Next week I'll give you more details on that technique). Stampin' Up! offers packs of 5 - 6"x 9" watercolor paper. This is great to use when your using Aqua Painters to add color to a stamped image. You want to be sure to use permanent ink for your stamped image. I used StazOn black ink. Then I used Rose Red and Wild Wasabi ink and my aqua painter to fill in the color. I also used some Soft Sky and my aqua painter to color in the background.
After the color had dried I used my 01 tip Project Life Black Journeling Pen to add the black outline to the stamped area, This is the first card I made: I learned it is better to focus on the edge of the paper rather than the stamped image when freehand penning this frame. The second card I made had a more even frame but I liked the colored flowers on this one better so decided to share it since the focus was on watercolor paper. Each card is a unique work of art!