Last Saturday was the Autumn Happy Stampers Show at Port Sunlight and I had a trip across with my friend Emma. It's a fair trek of 2.5 hours drive from here which is a bit much for me these days, there and back with a show in between so we went the night before, stayed in a cheap Travelodge, had breakfast in Port Sunlight's Garden Centre then went to the show in the beautiful hall across the road, another bite to eat before we left and back in Mansfield for 6.30. We had a great time and as always the show was fab (apart from being too hot in the hall).
I was quite proud of myself as I pretty much stuck to my shopping list for once (just a few extra stencils and 1 set of PaperArtsy JoFy stamps snuck into my basket) and the item I had at the top was a stamping press because I am finding that as I get older my hands occasionally don't do what I tell them, lol, and most importantly I have always had trouble getting really good silhouette images. There are quite a few on the market now and for various reasons I had decided on the Be Creative one from Once Upon A Stamp. Today I'm sharing my first little test using it.
As it was just a test and I didn't intend making anything with it I just stamped the cute image from Lavinia stamps onto a piece of scrap card. I forgot to photograph the first impression too and have to say it wasn't too bad actually but it still had a few bare patches in the middle so I inked up again and repeated the stamping and voila! A perfect silhouette image with no gaps! Of course, I then thought it was too good to waste so I made a mask and used Distress Oxides and a stencil to create the sun rays. I turned the post it mask round to cover the rays then used Oxides again to blend greens onto the bottom bit.
I dripped some water and dabbed it off for the speckles and I did the leaves and flowers stamping the traditional way and inked around the edges. Then I used the stamp press again to make sure I got the tiny word stamp in just the right place....perfect! Finally I added various colours of Stickles before matting and layering onto the base card.
I was delighted with my little card and I have to say I'm very pleased with the stamp press so far. I was a bit concerned it might be another gadget that would end up shoved to the back of a cupboard but I now think it's going to become one of my most used tools.
Have a good day everyone and see you again soon.
Hugs
Lesley Xx
5 comments:
That's a sweet card - isn't it lovely when an idle bit of experimenting turns into a lovely finished project?! Glad you're finding the stamp press useful - too many gadgets end up tucked away and unused, I know too well!
Alison x
That's great Lesley. Your card turned out perfectly. I have that stamp as you know and the leaves too I think. I have had a MISTI for quite a while. They really help with those solid images and also positioning sentiments which can often be the bit I muck up when a card is almost finished. I quite often use the clear sheet from my old fashioned stamp positioner to help me get sentiments just right on my art work before the final stamping in my MISTI. They really come into their own if you want to make batches of cards too, maybe for Christmas. Elaine xxx
This is lovely and a great try out for your new stamp press. I've had one for a while and sadly paid a lot more money than they are now that there are so many being produced by lots of companies, nevertheless I've certainly found it a great help and a really useful piece of kit for many techniques including stamping accurately onto matching die cuts. Quiet a few ideas on YouTube of course. Thanks for your kind comments today - Mrs A actually chose the colour damson for this challenge. Well done for sticking to your list at the show!!
love your elves Lesley - love my stamp press too, apart from getting decent silhouette images, I don't need to cart different sized acrylic blocks about any more, just the one press, and considering the only thing i usually leave behind is the sink, that makes a difference. Well done on sticking to your list, I usually fail miserably on that score!
xxxx
A beautiful card Lesley and well done for sticking to your list (wish I could at these events). I must admit to investing in the Tonic stamping press but have only used it a couple of time since I've had it. I just forget to get it out with the stamps.
Sue xx
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