What Can You Do With Solid Image Stamps?

Hi, everyone! It's me, Leslie, here to share some thoughts and ideas with you about using solid image stamps. There's a lot of versatility to these stamps since you can do a little or a lot with them. Many prefer solid images for their ease of use, and that's primarily what I'll be focusing on today.

When I need a card in a hurry, there's generally no question as to which stamps I'll turn to -- solid images. I might be the world's slowest stamper, but the first two cards I'm sharing today were made very quickly in the evening after work. I kept the layouts simple and the stamping even simpler.

I love this foliage image from the Summer Blossoms set. I stamped it twice in pink, and a few times in green, added a sentiment, and my main image was done. By doing the pink first, I didn't even have to clean the stamp between colors. I just stamped it off a few times and went straight to the green. The BasicGrey Perhaps designer paper (one of my favorite collections) helped determine my colors. Plenty of white kept it sweet and summery looking.





You may notice this next card uses the same basic layout as the first card but, rather than designer paper, I did a little Cuttlebug embossing and replaced the entire center with the stamped panel. I used the Versamark resist technique, which I love for the ethereal, dreamy, soft and lovely quality of the image. It gives a card a very special look with very little bother.




To accomplish Versamark resist, you need only the most fundamental supplies:

• Your choice of solid image stamps (I used images from Spring Ephemerals)
  


• Glossy cardstock
  


• Versamark stamp pad
  


• Regular dye-based ink
  


• Wadded facial tissue (bathroom tissue...TP)

Stamp your solid images on the glossy cardstock with Versamark ink. The images will be clear, but you'll be able to see where you stamped them. Glossy cardstock is slippery, so hold the paper firmly as you lift the stamp, and do your best to avoid slippage. Let the ink set for a few moments -- no worries about it drying out. Use the wadded TP to take up ink from the dye-based ink pad and simply rub it over the panel and watch the image emerge. You can also use a brayer to apply the ink if desired. A spectrum pad gives a very nice effect, too. Or, experiment with blending different areas of color with the wadded TP or brayer. Today I used just one color for simplicity. The sentiment from Many Sentiments, stamped in Palette Umber, finished off the panel.



I'll finish up here with just a few more quick samples of ideas for solid image stamps... On this card I stamped the image, then stamped it again slightly offset, without reinking, to create a shadow:







An embossed image gives an elegant result:

I stamped this solid image from Thinking of You in Palette Cognac (waterproof) and colored it very simply with regular Stampin' Up! water-based markers. No special shading...just very simple coloring. Really...not the least bit difficult, and not even very time consuming, but it gives the opposite impression:

Pretty fun stuff! I know you'll enjoy seeing more samples, so take a peek at what the rest of the team is sharing today:

Christine, Cindy, Faith, Julie, Latisha, Laura, and Stacy

I'm so glad we could have this visit. Now, let's go stamp something!