Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wednesday Trends / TSG Tips & Tricks- Sandra

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! You are sure to be inspired by these amazingly talented ladies :)

Hello everyone! Sandra here! :)

Over the past few months I've gotten a lot of sweet comments and questions on how I do my cloud backgrounds, so I thought I'd show you all how simple and easy it is to create one!
 
What You'll Need:
White Cardstock
Post-It Notes
Scissors
Corner Punch
Blue Ink Pad
Sponges or Daubers


Step One:-
To create your cloud template, cut an arc or soft curve along the top of your Post-It note. Remove the guard from your corner punch, then, with the punch turned up side down, punch along the arc carefully lining up the scallops at the corners. (With Spellbinders releasing those new big scalloped Nesties, you could probably use one of those for your template instead!)


Step Two:-
(If you need to do this background behind a stamped image, just mask off the image before you start.) Lay your Post-It note template near the top of your piece of cardstock. Apply some ink to your sponge and before you apply it to your cardstock, wipe the sponge on some scrap cardboard or paper so you don't smear a big glob of ink on your project. You can't remove excess ink from your panel, but you can always add more! Start with your sponge on the template and push it off and onto your panel. Do this as many times as you need to until you have enough ink on the panel. (Usually I will sponge on everything else in a circular motion, but with the Post-It note being so flimsy, it sometimes catches on the sponge and crinkles up, and you might ruin your artwork.)


Step Three:-
Repeat step two as many times as you need to, working your way down the panel, remembering to change the angle of your template around slightly to create more interest. To create a grassy knoll, I will either just add a green base to my panel with my watercolor aquabrush or tear another Post-It note in half and cover the lay it down over my sponged sky area right at the point where the sky meets the ground. Then just sponge some green ink again, starting on the template and pushing off onto your panel.




Step Four:-
Now you can just color, stamp or apply your image to the panel and finish off your card. For my card, I used the silhouette images from the Birdie Wishes set. I just stamped the little tweetie bird straight over the top of the clouds for a quick and simple card! :)

I hope this mini tutorial makes sense and takes the mystery out of this technique for you!

11 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tutorial Sandra!!!

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  2. Awesome! I really admire your artwork Sandra, so I appreciate you sharing your techniques with us.

    ~Meredith

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  3. Such an adorable card! I have to say, I used the same papers with the same sketch, mine will be posted on Friday! Great minds think alike!

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  4. Can't wait to try this out. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Fabulous tutorial Sandra! I can't wait to try this out!

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  6. This is gorgeous Sandra! Thanks for sharing :)

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  7. oooo and ahhhh! who knew making clouds could be so easy! great tip.

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  8. THANKS for the great tip. Your clouds are so sweet.

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  9. Makes perfect sense - thanks for the tutorial, it's wonderful, as are your examples! :)

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  10. Thank you for the great tutorial....your clouds are beautiful!!

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  11. Perfection! What colour did she use for the sky?

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