in the Sharp house
Josh and his classmates will be graduating from High School very, very soon. Where did the time go?!? So, I need to be making some graduation cards to give to his friends. I’m also the technique coordinator for a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator web site, so I decided to get double duty out of this project. It’s a card that I can give to one of Josh’s male friends, and I used the masking technique for the balloon images, which is my technique of the week. The masking technique is a great way to create a 3-D look in your stamped images. See how the vertically striped balloon looks like it is in front of the diamond patterned balloon? I also used the masking to have the birds and the (crooked) clouds appear behind both of the balloons.
I also used some of the goodies from my new catalog pre-order for this card, too. The dark blue and yellow cardstock are two of the new In-Colors featured in the new catalog; they are Midnight Muse and Summer Starfruit respectively. The DSP on the left panel is also new for this catalog. It is called Comfort Café, and I love the blend of patterns on this paper. Several of the designs feature floral patterns, but this one is perfect for more masculine cards.
I created this layout from the current sketch from Mojo Monday. I really enjoy using sketches to design my cards; I use them to give me a boost to get started. And, I have to say that Mojo Monday is one of my favorite sources for sketches. If you haven’t tried using a sketch to create a layout, I encourage you to give it a shot. It isn’t for everyone, but if it works for you it can really be very helpful.
I used the following materials to make this card:
- Stamps: Up, Up & Away, Teeny Tiny Wishes
- Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Pool Party
- Ink: Cajun Craze, Pool Party, Soft Suede, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit
- Accessories: Comfort Café DSP, Adorning Accents Edgelit die, 3″ Circle die, Scallop Circles #2 die (retired), Crumb Cake seam binding
Here are the steps to do the masking technique:
- Stamp the image that you want in the foreground on your paper.
- Stamp the same image again on a Post-It or printer paper.
- Cut the Post-It image out, and adhere temporarily over the stamped image on your project.
- Stamp the image(s) to appear in the background so that they overlap the Post-It note.
- You can keep repeating to create multiple “layers” in your stamped scene.
