Dyes - Not Ties - for Dad's Card

Hi - Jean Okimoto here - and we're taking the spritzy background idea in a different direction this time on this Father's Day card.    Rather than simply plopping your inkpads onto the acrylic block for a random act of dye-ness, color your background to match your stamp.

Pull the Nautical Blue, Golf Course and Lemon Drop "petals" out of the set and set them aside.  Wipe an acrylic block with a damp cloth so the inkpads won't stick to to the block.   Turn your stamp over and place the acrylic block on the upturned stamp.   Press the Nautical Blue, Golf Course and Lemon Drop "petals" onto the acrylic block to correspond with the areas of the stamp.

Spray the smoother side of 140# cold-pressed watercolor paper with two spritzes of water.  Spritz the acrylic block three times, let the inks begin to blend, then firmly press the inked block onto the damp watercolor paper.

Without removing the block, lift the block and paper up together and press them together to fill in any uninked areas of the paper.  Carefully flip them over, set them down and pull the paper off the block.  Tilt the paper carefully to distribute any big pools of ink.  Cover the paper with printer paper and heat-set the inks with a dry iron on the cotton setting.

Repeat the process again - without using the stamp beneath the block - to color a background to stamp the pennants.  Ink a soft rubber brayer with Moody Blue and roll it over the Thick and Thin Mat to create a striped pattern on the brayer.  Roll the pattern onto the second piece of inked paper, dry the ink,  and cut it with the Simple Banner Die from Poppystamps using the Metal Adapter Plate (for intricate dies) and the plates required for thin metal dies.

Cut another banner from a scrap of uninked watercolor paper.  Cut the inked pennants out and glue them over the white pennants to create patterned pennants strung with a white cord. (I know, I know...details, details!)  Ink the edges of the pennants with Khaki Green.

Stamp Memory Box's  On the Lake over the background with Wicked Black and heat-set.  Color the rowboat, oars and treetrunk with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush.  Trim it and ink the edges using a Stylus, Tip and Khaki Green.

Cut a 1.5" x 4.5" strip of Meadow Cardstock.  Cut, fold and score a 5.5" square card of Aqua Cardstock.  Assemble the card.  Attach bronze or copper mini-brads.

Clearsnap Products - View the 2012 Catalog* here

• ColorBox Circus Petal Point Archival Dye Inkpad (*Page 30)
• ColorBox Wicked Black, Khaki Green and Moody Blue Archival Dye Inkpads (*Page 31)
• Thick and Thin Mat Molding Mat (*Page 78)
• ColorBox Stylus and White Blending Tip (*Page 81)

Other Supplies

• Memory Box On the Lake Stamp
• Poppystamps Simple Banner Die
• Memory Box Metal Adapter Plate
• Diecut Machine and Plates
• Memory Box Aqua and Meadow Cardstock
• 140# Cold-pressed Watercolor Paper
• Acrylic Stamp Block (approximately 3.25" square)
• Spray Bottle and Water
• Watercolor Pencils and Waterbrush
• Iron
• 4" Soft Rubber Brayer
• Screwpunch and Mini-brads

Have fun with this idea.  Think of all the new coordinating backgrounds you can create for your stamps - just chose your favorite colors from the Classic, Playful and Circus Petal Point Sets.  Visit us again tomorrow for a great project!

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