Monday, November 12, 2012

Challenge: stamp without ink!

Is the challenge this week really to stamp without ink? The answer, is yes! For the purposes of this challenge I’m talking about traditional ink pads - so what could you stamp with? I like to use mist (put some on a slick surface, then tap the stamp through it and 'stamp'!), acrylic paint or paint dabbers, marker pens, distress markers, distress stains, perfect medium with perfect pearls, and also using embossing inks and powders.
   
Of course anything else you can think of is welcome too. I’m including embossing ink in here as not traditional ink pad, because if you’re like me you don’t emboss nearly enough. The key is to step outside those lovely normal ink pads we all know and love and mix it up! Before you get creating, here are more ideas from our design team!

Paint Dabbers were the obvious choice for Tracy this week, inspiring her to create an inky seasonal canvas.
I always find it a challenge to work on a larger scale and without using my trusty Distress Inks too, so this week was really thinking outside the box for me. My inky canvas has been coloured with Dylusions Ink Sprays Postbox Red, Cut Grass and Melted Chocolate, and has even been showered with a little rain to give me those random splatters. Tim's background stamp from the Season's Silhouettes stamp set came to my aid for the background stamping using Paint Dabbers Snow Cap and Pitch Black. I think this is destined to be my son's alternative Christmas card.

 
Candy tried something she's never done before; stamping with bleach, to create the background for her beautiful vintage pocket tag.

I've stamped with paint and Perfect Pearls before but I'd never tried bleach.  So, that was my inspiration this week in creating this pocket tag.  The background of the #8 Manila Tag was heavily distressed with Wild Honey, Squeezed Lemonade and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks.  The Kaisercraft Tigerlilly Butterflies stamped with bleach create such a beautiful contrast. Artistic Outpost's Melange provided most of the lovely vintage images that were colorized with the same Distress Inks and a Small Sakura Water Brush.


Sandra Mouwen finally got her stamping with paint technique down.
It was quite a challenge for me to stamp without ink, but a great opportunity for me to practice some techniques, like stamping with paint. I've tried it several times before, but now I've got the hang of it. Finally! It's all about how and how much paint you apply to the stamp. I had so much fun practicing in my art journal. I've stamped with Lettuce, Pool and Espresso Paint Dabbers. I also stamped the text stamp of the Papillon stamp set with VersaMark and Perfect Pearls Perfect Gold and Sour Apple. Love that technique! It gives such nice clean prints.



Stamping without ink is something Trace seldom does.
I choose to stamp with paint for this mixed media board. I find that using stamps that have larger solid areas like this Dylusions basic backgrounds stamp set from Ranger and my Claudine Hellmuth paints worked really well for me. Stamped images using paint would be as perfect as ink, but that is perrrfect for this board! My ragdoll kitten "Niko" was paper pieced using different patterned papers from Basic Grey 6X6 pad Konnichiwa and Authentique 6X6 Lively collection. LOVE these paper packs!


Ashli wanted to challenge herself this week, so out came the embossing powders!
Stamping with paint is one of my most favorite techniques. So, that wouldn't have been much of a challenge would it? I have a drawer full of lovely embossing powders. I never use them. Time to step outside my comfort zone and give that a go! After stamping on some dots with my Hero Arts Cling Dots Stamp, I used teal, gold and white embossing powders to accent my lovely Basic Grey Plumeria paper. Once my photo and embellishments were layered on, I wanted a little more sparkle. A scrap sheet of paper embossed with gold and cut into strips sure did do the trick!
 
 
Suzz  loves to use sprays and mists and stamping with them can give a messy but lovely effect:
I knew I wanted to ink up a stamp using the Dylusion Ink Sprays as I haven't inked up a stamp with these lovely bright colors.  This image actually is stamped twice with a shadow effect using the Vibrant Turquoise and Lemon Zest Dylusion Ink Sprays.   I am in love with the  Stampers Anonymous - Classics #1 dragonfly stamp and couldn't wait to showcase it in a beautiful bright color palette. I added a bit of tulle, some gems, and Stampendous Glitter Kit Treasures - Silver to sparkle up my card.   This card will be sent off to my niece for her birthday!

 
Anna-Karin loves stamping in any form and made three ATCs using different techniques:
I wanted to ink up this new Stamper's Anonymous Classics #3 set and stamped the images on manila cardstock with white paint, since I love the look of paint resist. The ATCs were inked with distress inks and to add another layer of stamping, I stamped with Versamark and brushed with three colours of Perfect Pearls, which gives such gorgeous shine to a project. Sticky back canvas was adhered to grungeboard and the bird, heart and butterfly were die cut and inked. The cards were finished with some lovely quotes about flying and dreaming.
 

Since it won't take that long before Christmas is here Terry thought of making a Christmas Bag.
I had so much fun making this Christmas Bag.  I was playing around with the Blue and White Acrylic paint and worked with the Silhouettes from Tim Holtz onto the painted background. The white embossing powder really gave the Snowflakes more effect and the 25 has some Crackle on top, now I think they pop out of the bag, don't you think? On top I placed a gem and to finish I wrapped a rope around it. You can make this cute bag quickly whenever you want something for a special person.
 

Dan stamped snowflakes in water and gesso while making this ornament for his Christmas tree.
I've decided I want Christmas this year to have more of a "hand-made" feel to it, so I've started by making some decorations for my Christmas tree using some blank beer mats I had lying around.  I really like the nutcracker on the Christmas Blueprint stamp set, I think I'll also use him on the home-made crackers I'm going to make for the family table.  He doesn't usually have eyes and a mouth, I added those with a black Distress Marker. Other products I used included the Mini Holidays 2 stamp set, Distress ink pads in Broken China and Faded Jeans and lots of Rock Candy Stickles.

 
Sarah wanted to create a male motivational card and found her inspiration in the Autumn mood and tones of October.
 A male card can be difficult, especially a motivational one, but these Tattered Leaves were the perfect surround to the great sentiment. I wanted to add some extra detail and contrast to my layered card and thought that this foliage stamp from Tim's Floral Tattoo set would look great stamped in Gesso. I like using segments of stamps for a touch of extra wording and interest so I partially stamped the leaves. I was almost done but things felt a little bare, so call in the rustic string, eyelets and a Philosophy tag to finish things off.
 
 
I encourage you to check out each of the design team member's blogs for more photos, supply lists, and more. Simply click on their name (above the photo of their project) to visit their blog.

Now that we've shared the team creations - we're ready to see yours! As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at 11:59pm Eastern time on Sunday, November 18th and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here.
For the full rules, read the "challenge rules" posted in the side-bar here on our blog.
 
 




6 comments:

  1. Fabulous inspiration from the team. Thanks everyone. xx

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  2. Brilliant challenge and fabulous inspiration!!
    Hugs Hazel xx

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  3. Great inspirations from the DT for this challenge. I hope I get chance to join in this week.

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  4. A very interesting challenge this week. I love playing with my stamps and this gave me a bit more thought provoking moments as I went about working on my design. Happy to play along.

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  5. Great challenge, and the usual amazing inspiration from the DT - thank you!
    Alison x

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  6. I so think inside the box...cards cards cards.....love all the interesting creations from the team !
    Laura

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