Today's "one stamp, five ways" post is using one of my all time favorite SSS stamp sets called Sketch Lotus Flowers. I prepared this post a week ago and now the stamp, die, and bundle are all out of stock! So this is a really bad time to try and promote the set, but if you already have it (and apparently quite a few have sold), this might be a helpful post for you! I have six cards to share with you!
Here is an image of the stamp set - it looks simple, but I found lots of ways to use that one image!
Card 1:
I always like to start with my favorite card. This is my random stamped card I always include. This technique worked quite well with this stamp as I just hung it over the edge in different directions and embossed it with white embossing powder. Then I was able to use watercolors to bring the flowers to life!
Tips and techniques used:
- Arrange the flower stamp going in all different directions and hanging over the edges - I noticed they fit together so well it seemed like this was planned when it was designed - very fulfilling puzzle effect here haha
- I embossed all of the flowers with white embossing powder - this stamp set has such fine liens that they showed up so nicely with the paint around them
- I used very saturated color for the flowers so they really pop and a wide variety of colors (great way to try out any new colors you haven't used); I started by adding water to the petals so that I could drop in the most color to the edge closest to the stem and then let it run outward making the color lighter along the edges
- I used a soft wash of blues around the flowers - you can see that the background has a white tint to it as I used Ranger Watercolor Paper - it isn't my favorite paper, but it is the only one that is pure white, so I like to use it for cards
- I die-cut a stitched rectangle with rounded edges using the PPP Stitched Pieces die for the sentiment; I stamped it with Ranger Cactus Flower embossing powder to match some of the flowers
- After all that color, I used some PPP sparkling clear sequins to finish the card
Card 2:
This card has a product from the new release about to take place (tomorrow I think) for Stamptember - do you see what it is?!?! That amazing background stamp with lines on it! I stamped it with MFT Natural Ink and then colored it with blue and green colored pencils. After it was done I added some white lines with a white uniball and some blue lines with a Kaiser Craft gel pen.
Tips and techniques:
- When coloring the background, overlap your colors where the lines overlap - colored pencils worked nicely for this blending the two colors together, but watercolors or Copics would work this way as well
- If you want your lines to be really straight, you can use a straight edge when using colored pencils; I did this when adding my gel pen after it was done
- I colored the word Thanks (Script Thanks Wafer Die) with darker blues on the top and then greens on the bottom to match the background
- I embossed the sub-sentiment (I love that word that I made up) (or is that a real term?) (don't want to take credit if it's not mine!) with white embossing powder on black so it really pops against that busy background; the stamp is from Messages for Everyday
- I stamped the image with MFT Natural Ink on white cardstock so I could do a no-line coloring look; I used colored pencils to color the flowers; I kept them soft with lines showing instead of coloring them in solid for a more pencily look (that's not a word either)
Card 3:
I had this background in my stash for probably two years now! I finally found a way to use it! I paint all kinds of backgrounds when I'm in a painting mood and these stripes made a good canvas for these beautiful flowers!
Tips and techniques:
- This time I stamped the flowers on white cardstock with MFT Natural Ink and colored them with Copics. But I added details and shading with colored pencils, so they still look like them were colored with pencils.
- I used an old banner die and I die-cut it twice. I stamped the sentiment on the right side of one (with Forget Me Knot Embossing Powder), slid it under the flowers and then slid another one under that one to extend it - great tip for getting more out of your banner dies! (called "fake the length" haha)
- That's really all the tips I have for this one - just remember to have lots of backgrounds all ready to go and it makes card making so much easier!
Card 4:
After two cards with the flowers die-cut and sitting on the front left side of a card front, I was running out of ideas. So this time I put it in the middle of the card and framed the flowers with a white stitched circle. The background was another one I had painted a long time ago and just pulled out for a card front. You can tell it was painted on Fabriano paper, not Ranger Watercolor paper so it has more of a cream undertone instead of white even when painted. I was a little bugged by this, but I tied in the white with the circle, the card base, and the background for the word friend so hopefully it works ok!
Tips/Techniques:
- Should I mention watercoloring backgrounds ahead of time? hahaha This one had some small circles painted on the upper corner - I was having fun that day and really breaking out of my usual boring washes!
- I used Copics to make the word friend (Big Friend Wafer Die) look like it matched the background - can I fool you?
- I actually stamped the flowers in black ink this time and colored them with Copics and pencils - I actually like the black outlines on these flowers as they look doodled with two fine lines. I usually hate black outlines, especially when they are thick on stamps.
- Again, I used white embossing powder on black cardstock for the sentiment sub-title to match those black outlines with a stamp from Messages for Everyday
- I found a Tonic Nuvo Drop in Party Pink that matched my card perfectly to finish it off
Card 5:
Once I had made three cards with the flowers as they were all die-cut out, I wanted to figure out another way to use them. So for this card, I stamped them twice and overlapped them. Now for the crazy part. I stamped them with MFT Natural Ink as first I planned on them having no black outlines and second, so if you overlap images when stamping, you don't care if you are using a light ink that won't show up - not necessary to block part of the image when stamping the second time. But then after they were colored, I added black outlines with a pen anyway! ha
Tips/Techniques:
- When you want to overlap images without using sticky notes to cut out images to block them with (what is the term for this - I cannot remember!) you can just use a light color of ink so it doesn't show through ( for me)
- I used Fabriano watercolor paper here - I think when I edited it it turned a little white, but the paper is definitely more cream - but oh that paper - it works so good - one more dash should finish this run on weird sentence!
- I painted the flowers and the background with watercolors and then added pencils over it - not necessary, but adds some nice texture and shading
- I used some Orange Soda Tonic Nuvo Drops around the flowers to finish the card; I also splattered some green and orange paint over the background
- I stamped the sentiment in black ink - love this one! There are lots of great ones in this stamp set!
Card 6:
I've actually already blogged this card before HERE so you can see the directions if you are interested. I stamped it directly on the watercolor paper and then use painted it and the background. Simple way to use the stamp in a one layer card.
See how versatile this one little set is? You can do so much with that one stamp and then the set has so many salutations to pick from. I hope you enjoyed this post and IF you have the set, you now have some inspiration to make you want to play with it and IF you don't have the set, I know SSS will be restocking it soon! Have a great holiday weekend friends and as always thanks so much for visiting! All supplies I've used on this post are linked to the SSS store below. Suzy
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