Masking Technique

Thought I'd share a little technique I accidentally came up with (although I'm sure someone else actually intended to and did a better job than me!!) but it kept me amused for a hour or so and most importantly its easy peasy!!

So here goes:

Using some whisper white card stock and the largest nestability scallop circle die, I ran it through my big shot.

Using a circle cutter (I got mine for £1 at a craft fair) I cut a circle to form the 'mask' from some copier paper.

I adjusted mine to just under 9cm but you can measure it against the scallop circle to get a size that fits in nicely. (Which means you can do loads of sizes!)

Then I put it on top of the scallop circle an held it up to the light so I could position the 'mask' in the centre of the scallop. I then used some low tack tape to temporarily hold it in place.

I found some designer paper that I wanted to use on my final card and collected some inks that co-ordinated with it.
I used Stampin' Up!'s Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Cameo Coral and Bashful Blue.

(I apologise for the colours looking drained in the pictures, for some reason I couldn't get the camera to pick them up, hmm?)

I then chose a large image that would roughly fit into the scallop circle and inked with Old Olive.

With the 'mask' held in place with tape, I stamped directly on top of it trying to aim it so the majority of the image would be inside the circle.

I then carefully removed the 'mask' to reveal the stamped image.

Using the Cameo Coral on a sponge dauber, I positioned the circle which was cut away from the centre of the 'mask' and placed this over the stamped image.

It's pretty easy to position with the image already in the centre, you just need to cover this up.
I then colour tinted the scallop edges.

Using my acrylic block as a palette, I picked up the ink with my water brush and applied to the image.

To finish off my scallop circle, I tinted the edge of it with Old Olive.

When I had covered my base card with the designer card stock and some co-ordinating plain card I then positioned my scallop circle to one side of the card, cutting off two sections that would over hang.

I applied (quite a few - lol) dimensionals to the back of the scallop circle.

I then adhered it to my card base and added some ribbon.

I stamped a sentiment and punched out, then tinted the card with Cameo Coral and edges with Old Olive.

(The sentiment used is from a Stampin' Up! set called Fun and Fast Notes. I used some tape to cover the bottom of the image and inked up the wording, then peeled off the tape and stamped onto whisper white leaving just the sentiment - and in the words of Aleksandr Orlov famed for his appearance in the Meerkat adverts - Simples!! Hehe I Love that advert!!)

And finish off by adhering the sentiment!

I love this technique so much already, here's another card I made using the same technique with a different colour scheme.

On this one I didn't use the negative from the mask and opted to sponge the colour freehand for a different look.

On this card I used some jewels and added clear accents to the image.

You can do this with some many different stamps and I think it adds a bit more interest to some stamps you may have used to death!!

I'll photograph a card I made with a Stamping Bella image and upload during the week.

I'd love to see your creations if you decide to give it a go!! Leave a comment with a link to your blog and we can check it out :o)

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