The Observation Car

Rubber Stamp Tapestry makes adorable teeny stamps of flowers, leaves, and ferns to arrange in all sorts of floral bouquets.  They are on wooden peg stampers and easy to store.  I thought “what fun!”.  But let me tell you, they are not as simple as they seem.  After taking Sonya’s class, here is what I stamped.  Much better than teaching myself.  For one thing, I didn’t realize that there is a line on each stamp indicating where the design is right side up.  Keep that line facing the center of the design and it helps with positioning.  Second, turn the paper as you work.  Stamp the main theme images at 12o’clock, 6, 3, and 9 for a balanced placement.  Then fill in between these images with lighter colors and some of the smaller stamps.  The company reccomends that you stamp off to get a lighter shade, but we just used a lighter color of ink and it worked well.  Masking the shape for your center helps, like the hearts used here.  When you remove the mask stamp a few ferns or vines that hang into the center of the design for a more realistic effect.  The double heart card used chalk applied around the mask first, then was stamped on top of the chalk.  Sponging or airbrushing could also be used.  E-mail us if you have questions.  Once you know the tricks of these little gems, you’ll LOVE them!

Stamps: Rubber Stamp Tapestry
Inks: Tsukineko Memento
Cardstock: The Paper Cut
Tag Die: Sizzix
Chalk: Craf-T

I wanted words, and dimensional flowers, but felt like I needed a large leaf or pumpkin, or some fall related item to go with them.  Below is the card I came up with.  First I stamped the pumpkin from an Impression Obsession clear stamp set.  Then I stamped it on scrap paper and cut out.  Cut on the lines or a little bit inside.  If you leave paper around the image, you’ll get a halo when you mask.  Attach  this scrap pumpkin over the stamped image with removeable tape.  Then stamp the words with the flowers from a different Impression Obsession set.  Remove the scrap paper mask and it looks like the flowers are behind the pumpkin!  Color and blend.  I stamped mine on a diecut of Nesties curved rectangles.  Then I cut out the next size smaller curved rectangle and used it for a mask over the entire image.  I attempted to airbrush the exposed edges with the Copic markers.  I need more practice at that, but it is presentable.  The tiny flowers are from Hero Arts.  I stamped, colored, and mounted them on pop dots.  Put the card together with layers and eyelets, and you have a great fall greeting.

Harvest Card

Pumpkin stamp & word stamp - Impression Obsession
Small Flowers - Hero Arts
Curved Rectangle Nestabilities - Spellbinder
Memento Rich Cocoa inkpad - Tsukineko
Alcohol Ink Markers - Copic
Eyelets - Creative Impression
Designer paper - Karen Foster
Cardstock - Core’dinations & Paper Cut
Tools - Scor-Pal, Crop-a-dile, Copic air brush system