Tutorials: Stamping Over Stencils

Welcome to the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Blog Hop!

This hop should  be filled with stampy goodness, so if you stumbled here accidentally, be sure to start back at the beginning at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog.  

And be sure to hop on over to Anna-Karin's blog next!

For my project, I have to say that I am loving the Simon Says Stamp Extra Large Dots Stencil, which I used to create this notebook cover.

I tried a new technique for this project and that was to stamp over a stencil.  It was a lot of fun and worked better than I thought it would.  Here's what I did:

I started out with a large stamp, a piece of paper, the polka dot stencil and some ink.  

I laid the stencil over my paper, inked up my stamp, then stamped right on top of the stencil.

When I lifted off my stencil, the stamped pattern was in a polka dot shape!  Cool!

Without cleaning my stencil, I moved it over and repeated this process until my paper was filled with the polka dot pattern I'd created.

As you can see, after stamping on top of my stencil a few times, ink had accumulated there.  Instead of washing it off, I put the stencil on top of a manilla tag and grabbed a baby wipe I'd used earlier.

Using the baby wipe, I swiped the ink diagonally across the stencil so that it colored in the holes.  It created a beautiful polka dot pattern on my tag that I could use for another project on another day.  I'd cleaned my stencil and made a second background pattern at the same time.  Multitasking bonus!

Back to my first stamped paper!  I cut it down to size, then smeared some green ink onto some of the polka dots for more visual variety.   I then dribbled watercolors down from some of the dots.

Next I added on some fabric scraps and paper butterflies, which I cut out of a piece of patterned paper.

I inked up the fabric scraps and finished it off with a "Fearless" sentiment from the stamp I used earlier.  I also added a safety pin and another fabric scrap. 

 

I attached this collage to the front cover of my notebook, which was put together with the Cinch machine.  I added tabs, which I made using a tab punch, and embellished it with a few bits of lace.

I hope you enjoyed my project and I can't wait to see what my fellow Design Team members came up with!  And I especially like how big the circles are in the Simon Says Stamp Extra Large Dots Stencil.  It's just perfect for stamping through!

Here are the materials I used that are available from Simon Says Stamp:

Simon Says Stamp Extra Large Dots Stencil	Tim Holtz "Individual" Rubber Stamp	Peacock Feathers - Distress Ink	Mowed Lawn - Distress Ink	Squeezed Lemonade - Distress Ink	Mixed Media Sponges Bars	Loew Cornell WATERCOLOR CAKES 24 Paints
Kaiser Kaleidoscope Paper 6.5 x 6.5	Prima A4 Sunrise-Sunset Paper	Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Fabric - Documents	Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet	Walnut Stain - Distress Ink	Black soot - Distress ink	Timber Brown StazOn
File Tab Punch-We R Memory Keepers	Cinch - We R Memory Keepers	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	Tim Holtz 12x12 Wallflower Paper Pack	Circle Pop Dots	Colorbox Rain Forest Ink

So what will you create using a Simon Says Stamp exclusive product?  Upload your project to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog so that we can be inspired and so that you can have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!
 

Tutorials: Stamping on Paper Towels

Welcome to the Stamptember Celebration at Simon Says Stamp!  

Our celebration starts with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme of being BOLD with our stamping (use bold colors, a big bold stamp, etc).  I decided to boldly stamp where I'd never stamped before: on paper towels!  But it was only fun when I added water...and that also kicked up the "not a conducive material to work with" factor.  So I will show you what I did to make this collage, but quite honestly, there may be much easier ways to achieve this visual effect!

I started by dabbing different colors of Distress Ink on this background stamp (Decorative Grate by Stampendous) and stamped it on my textured paper towel.

I spritzed the stamped area with a good amount of water, which caused the colors to spread and bleed together.  The longer you leave it, the more the colors will spread out.  It will also turn more "pastel-y" (totally not a word) as the intense color dissipates.

Before it completely dried, I dabbed on some Distress Paint to give it more variety (Distress Paint has a bit of a "chalky" look to it when wet). 

Once my paper towel dried, I added some light teal polka dots and adhered the paper towel to a burlap panel using Gesso.  I kept forgetting that my paper towel would be hard to work with every time I added something liquid-based.  I found that Gesso and paper towels don't really mix, but modeling paste and paper towels REALLY don't mix!  I smeared some modeling paste through a Tim Holtz latticework stencil and had to gently (emphasis on gently) pull the stencil off my paper towel surface. 

I used Distress Paint to color the modeling paste.

Because I hadn't been challenged enough by paper towels yet, I decided to try and punch some shapes out of my excess colored paper towel scraps.



I can't say I'll be using a hand punch with paper towels again anytime soon, but I do like how these tattered flowers turned out.  I adhered them to my background.

From here on out, it was just a matter of filling in my canvas.  I did an image transfer onto fabric and adhered it to a vintage dictionary scrap page.  I added a hat and some Washi tape and made the sentiment, "Go and Do."

   
The phrase "Go and Do" has special meaning to me because I'm the type of person that dreams big and plans big, but who doesn't always take action.  So I try to remind myself to not only dream, but to go and do something about those dreams.

Here are some of the products I used from Simon Says Stamp to create my piece:

Stampendous Decorative Grate Stamp	Fiskars Acrylic Blocks	Peacock Feathers - Distress Ink	Squeezed Lemonade - Distress Ink	Picked Raspberry - Distress Ink	Spiced Marmalade - Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Broken China
Adirondack Aqua Acrylic Paint	Tim Holtz Squeezed Lemonade Distress Paint	Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Picked Raspberry	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE GESSO	Liquitex - Modeling Paste	Tim Holtz Distress Paint In Spun Sugar	Tim Holtz Latticework Stencil
Heat Embossing Tool	Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet	Martha Stewart Hydrangea Punch	Aleene′s Original Tacky Glue	Timber Brown StazOn	Black soot - Distress ink	Walnut Stain - Distress Ink
Tim Holtz Burlap Panels, 6x4 Inches	My Mind′s Eye Pretty Things Record It Washi Tape	Doodlebug Rainbow Stripe Washi Tape

What will you go and do to be bold with stamps this week?  I can't wait to see your creations, which constantly amaze and inspire me.  Plus, when you upload your creation to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog, you'll be automatically entered to win the drawing for a $50 voucher to Simon Says Stamp.  That's a win and win!