Tag Archives: Stampington

Spring Faux Postage #2

Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Card and envelope decorated with spring faux postage

Fake “postage stamps” are a lot of fun to make and are good decorations for greeting cards or mail art!

Make the Template

Tools and Materials
Square Faux Postage Template PDF or Rectangular Faux Postage PDF
Acetate
Tape
X-acto knife or Mat knife
Self-healing cutting mat
Metal Ruler

1. Download and print out one of the faux postage templates.

2. Tape a piece of acetate over the printed template.

3. Using a metal ruler as a guide and with the self-healing cutting mat underneath, use your mat knife or X-acto knife to cut out the squares on the template. You will cut through both the acetate and paper layers as you do so.

4. Remove the paper from the acetate. Now your template is ready to use.

Make the stamps

Tools and materials
Dye-based rubber stamping ink
Light colored cardstock
Colored pencils
Faux postage stencils
Sponges
Water container
Palette
Rubber stamps in a spring theme such as flowers and butterflies
Word rubber stamps for backgrounds
Tiny faux postage rubber stamps or other tiny word and number stamps
Decorative edging scissors
Heat tool

1. Tape a piece of light colored cardstock down on your work surface. Tape your acetate faux postage stencil in place over it, hinging it at the top with tape so you can lift the acetate between steps.

2. Squirt a few light analagous colors of rubber stamping ink on a palette. For example, light yellow, ochre yellow and light orange, or light pink and light peach. Sponge these colors inside the openings in the stencil while blending. Try to get the colors lighter toward the middle and darker toward the edge.

3. Lift the acetate (this is so that you don’t melt the stencil) and dry well with a heat tool. Stamp a word stamp as a background in a light taupe or light tan color. Dry the ink again.

4. Outline the inside edges of each opening with an analgous color of colored pencil – for example orange with the yellow inks, magenta with the pink inks.

5. Select a stamp for the main part of your image and stamp it toward the middle of each opening in burgundy ink.

6. Select some tiny faux postage stamps and stamp them in black around the edges.

7. Cut stamps apart with a decorative paper-edging scissors.

Following are the stamps I used in each sample.

faux postage with butterflies

The background stamp is by Stampington. Butterfly stamps are from 7gypsies then in black I stamped the following stamps from Carolyn’s Stamp Store:

faux postage with flowers
The background stamp and flower are both by 7gypsies. In black I stamped the following stamps from Carolyn’s Stamp Store:

faux postage with flowers
The background stamp and flower are both by 7gypsies. In black I stamped the following stamps from Carolyn’s Stamp Store:

faux postage with bee
The background stamp, bee and Fig. 13 are by 7gypsies. In black I stamped the following stamp from Carolyn’s Stamp Store:

If you would like to read my first spring postage tutorial, here is a link:
Spring Faux Postage

Flowered Card in Shades of Blue

Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Flowered Card in Shades of Blue

Here is a card project that mixes an analagous color scheme with neutrals. An analagous color scheme is one that uses colors that are near each other on the color wheel, in this case blue, blue-green and blue-purple. The colors are so close together that it’s nearly a monochromatic color scheme – a design that uses tints and shades of one color. My samples were made as birthday cards, but you can make the card for multiple occasions by changing the sentiment stamp. This card helps you to use up paper scraps!

Tools and Supplies
Paper cutter
Ruler
Cardstock
Scoring tool
Folding tool
Rubber Stamps
Rubber Stamping Ink
Waterproof ink in light to medium neutral colors
Pigment or chalk ink in white or very light blue
Dye inks in various shades of blue
Dye ink in black
Clean scrap paper
Brayer
Freezer paper or temporary palette
Old lid
Flat sided white eraser like a Magic Rub
Paper scraps in neutral shades and blue shades
Flower punch
Circle punch that is a good size for the center of the flower
Thin navy blue marker
Glue stick

Directions

1. Take an 8.5 x 5.5″ piece of cream colored cardstock, score down the middle and fold in half.

2. Using some of your favorite background stamps, stamp in light to medium neutral waterproof ink colors in the four quadrants of the front of the card. Make the axis about three inches up from the bottom of the card so that the lower quadrants are taller than the upper quadrants.

Front of card with background stamps
Front of card with background stamps. The stamp in the upper left quadrant is by Inkadinkado and the lower right stamp is by Carolyn’s Stamp Store. The stamp in the upper right and lower left quadrants is by Hero Arts.

3. Place your folded card face up on some clean scrap paper. With your brayer roll out some very light blue chalk or pigment ink onto a palette or temporary palette made of freezer paper. I only had white ink so I tinted mine slightly with some blue dye ink. Roll the ink over the front of the card several times until designs on the front of the card are subdued by a light blue semi-transparent tint.

If you don’t have a brayer or suitable pigment ink you can make a wash out of acrylic paint or gesso and brush that over the stamped images.

Front of card with layer of ink brayered over the background stamps
Front of card with layer of ink brayered over the background stamps

4. Let the ink dry. Most pigment and chalk inks dry slowly so if you have to speed up heating use a heat tool or hair dryer. Heat tools are hotter than hair dryers so use caution. To test whether your ink is completely dry, place a piece of clean scrap paper over it and rub with a bone folder. Lift up the scrap paper. If no ink comes off, it’s dry.

5. Cut out an assortment of 1.75″ x 1.75″ squares of medium neutral shades and different light to medium blues. Stamp backgrounds with an assortment of neutral inks and inks in shades of blue. Leave a few blank. Make more than you think you will need so you can mix and match later on to get combinations that please you.

6. Outline the squares in blue ink by squirting a bit of ink onto an old lid and dipping the edge of your eraser in it. Use the eraser to transfer the ink to the edges of the squares. In the image below, the stamp at the lower left is by Inkadinkado and the stamp at the lower right is by Stampington.

Squares with background stamping

7. Assemble a collection of paper scraps in neutral shades and shades of blue. You can use both plain and patterned paper. Punch out a bunch of flower shapes and circles for the insides of the flowers out of these scraps. Make more than you think you will need so you can mix and match to find good combinations as you’re assembling the cards.

8. Take some of the solid color center dots and stamp on them in neutral or blue inks.

Punched out flowers

9. Take some of the solid color flower shapes and stamp on them in shades of blue.

flowers_web

10. Lay four squares down on the front of your card and select four flowers and centers that you like to place within the squares. You can mix and match solid and printed colors if you like. A solid piece here and there gives the design a little breathing room.

11. Draw “stitches” with a navy blue marker around the inside edges of the four squares. Do the same with the insides of the circles.

12. Glue the circles to the flowers, then the flowers to the squares. Glue the squares down in the upper 3.75″ area of the card. Place a piece of clean scrap paper over all and burnish with your bone folder so the glue has a nice tight seal.

13. Cut out a .75 x 4.25″ strip of cream colored card stock. Stamp a sentiment in black ink on it. The Happy Birthday stamp I used in my samples is from Carolyn’s Stamp Store. Apply blue ink to the edges with your eraser. After the ink is dry, glue the strip to the front of the card and burnish well. Trim if needed. You’re done!

Optional embellishments: Sew small buttons in the flower centers or add a decorative flower blue eyelet or brad to each flower center. If you decide to sew on buttons, you may want to sew the stitch marks in step 11 instead of drawing them on.

twocards_together

Make a decorated seed packet

Gardening, Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamping, Tutorials, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Do you have any garden seeds left over from your spring planting? Seeds can make great spring gifts for gardeners, especially if attractively packaged.

Front and back of decorated seed packet
Front and back of decorated seed packet

Here is how to make a seed packet like the one shown above.

1. Download and print out the PDF file Seed Packet Template. Cut out the template and if you like laminate it for durability.

2. Take some decorative paper with a subtle pattern on it and stamp some background stamps on it in complementary ink colors to make it more interesting.

3. Place decorative paper back side up on your work surface. Place template on paper and trace around with pencil. Cut out envelope and fold in tabs. Tape or glue all the tabs except the top tab. Leave that one open so you can add seeds later.

4. Cut out a narrow strip of paper with a decorative scissors and stamp on it the word “Seeds” surrounded by small brackets. Glue it across the top of the envelope about an inch down or whatever looks right to your eye. Trim the ends if needed.

5. Punch out a flower shaped piece of decorative paper and punch out a paper circle for the middle. Glue circle on flower and glue flower to front of envelope.

6. Stamp large brackets around flower.

7. Turn the envelope over and cut out a piece of paper that will fit on the back. You can stamp it with a rubber stamp that emulates lined paper like I did in my sample or use paper with lines printed on it if you like.

8. Stamp the words “Species”, “Harvested”, “Location” and “Notes” on the paper, then glue to the back of the envelope.

9. When you fill with seeds, write out the information about the seeds on the back where indicated. Then glue or tape down the top tab or seal with a sticker.

Here are links to some of the stamps I used in this project:

Memory Craft Helpers
Journaling and Planner Words

Other stamps I used in this project are from 7gypsies, Inkadinkado, and Stampington.

Here is where you can get more of my free paper crafting templates:

Free Paper Craft Templates for Download

And here is a link to a similar seed packet project that uses the same template:

Seed Packet with Collage Insert