Wednesday Trends/TSG Tips and Tricks - Holly

What is Wednesday Trends / TSG Tips & Tricks? Every Wednesday the featured Trendsetter will either share a stamping trend that they love or will show you new ways to use their favorite TSG stamp sets! I hope you are inspired by this tutorial, and that you will try it out for yourself! :)

Hi Friends! Holly here :). Today we're going to talk about making your stamps work harder. When I first started stamping, I thought the ''creativity" part of the art came from layout and color, etc. Then one day, I needed a Happy Birthday stamp that had the Happy over top of the Birthday. I didn't have one like that. So, I bravely got my scissors out and cut apart a Happy Birthday sentiment stamp and reworked it to my needs. Ever since then, no stamp is safe! :)

Stamps can be manipulated in different ways. You can:

• Manipulate their shape (unmounted)
• Embellish the image
• Use portions of an image

.... and so much more.

For my samples today, we're first going to see how you can embellish an image. I wouldn't normally think of a flourish stamp as a focal image, but with a little (very little!) work, it can be!



First, stamp your image (solid line).. in a dark ink so that it shows up vividly.



Next, take a gel pen (white used here, but you could use gold or silver as well) and place tiny dots all around the image.


Use your newly embellished image on a card or project. There She Goes' Flourish set used here.



My second sample is using the same "embellish" theory and the manipulation theory. For this sample, I first stamped the sofa image (from Tastes Like Chicken) onto a card base and again on a scrap piece of paper.

Cut the image out of the scrap piece. This creates a reverse mask.

Next, place your mask over your card base image, using sticky notes to hold it in place.


Next, take an image or background stamp (I used the small flower from the Dance set) and stamp randomly over your image.

I then picked a piece of patterned paper that I wanted to use and pulled the colors from it to color my image (leaving the mask in place to help keep within the lines!)



For the "manipulation" portion, I took the "Mi sofa es su sofa" stamp and cut it in half. Then I lined it up on an acrylic block with a bit of a space between it and stamped it onto the base. I then added a few "...." between for dramatic effect.

I used Aleene's Tack It and the tip of a Q-Tip to create the stuffing on the couch.


Voila! There you have it. Next time you look at a stamp, think of a new way to use it!

Happy stamping!