Folded with Care

Well, it’s almost Halloween so of course we want to get out the masks!  For cardmaking you can create some depth and dimension by masking your stamps to show one behind the other.  This AECP lesson showed six different ways to do this masking.  At first, I was struggling with which one I’d do and how to best do it but…I think I got it.

Many of the examples were of flowers and leaves using both negative and positive masks.   A positive mask is one where you cut out the image from another piece of paper or sticky note and put it over your stamped image.  A negative mask is one that you use the part left over after cutting the positive mask.  Both give some really cool effects. I used only positive masks and chose leaves since it is Fall and the leaves in Michigan are turning beautiful colors.

I used a general layout that was in the Inspiration guide that comes with the Altenew Grape Leaves stamp and die set.  First, I decided which would be my top leave, and worked down to the bottom leaf.  I used Distress inks of Ripe Persimmon, Aged Mahogany, and Fired Brick for the main leaves.  Before stamping any on the card front, I stamped them first on Gina K masking magic paper – an adhesive low tack paper just for this technique.  I fussy cut them out so that I could cut inside of the outline.  Because any mask has some thickness to it you want to have your mask slightly smaller than your image or your next stamp will show a gap between it and the original.  Using the mask cutouts also helped me to layout the card and be sure of where I wanted each leaf. 

I chose an ivory card stock as it lent itself more to Fall rather than traditional white.  I stamped the TOP leaf with Ripe Persimmon on the card front then took off the backing of the Gina K masking paper for the coordinating leaf and stuck it on top of that leaf.  Then I stamped the MIDDLE leaf and largest one next with Aged Mahogany.  Part of the masking paper of the first leaf also was stamped.  When the masking paper is taken off it give the impression that the first leaf is on top of the second.  For the third leaf, I first put the masking paper over the second leaf then stamped the BOTTOM leaf with Fired Brick ink.  I applied the coordinating mask to the third leaf keeping all masks on, at this point.  In my Misti stamp positioner I arranged the stamps again to stamp background leaves first in Distress Tea Dye ink then Altenew Forest Glades ink.  I wanted to give even the background leaves the hint of fall with brown in the green.

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I debated about gold embossing the veins and outlines of the leaves but was inspired by Virginia Lu to cut out these with gold paper.  Virginia did this on her example card but used the gold as an inlay to the rest of the leaf.  Inlay is usually for cut out leaves so I couldn’t really use that technique here. I glued the cutouts directly over the stamped images.  As with the inks, I also had to layer the outlines to show the top, middle and bottom leaves…this made them all stand out so much more and enhanced the masking. 

Next, I practiced on scrap paper with the Altenew Woven Stencil to see what ink would look good in making a slight background particularly in the upper and right part of the card.  I practiced with several inks and decided on Altenew Crisp Dye Ink in Sand Dune color.  I taped my stencil to the card on the back and with a light hand added some texture to the background. 

To complete the card, I cut the front down to 4”x5”, applied foam tape to the back, and backed it with deep red cardstock cut to 4.25”x5.25”.   Then applied the whole thing to a white card base and trimmed off the ¼” of the base still showing.  Using the same ivory cardstock, I heat embossed the sentiment taken from Altenew’s Heartfelt Sentiments set.  I used the Aged Mahogany ink to lightly edge the sentiment before adding some foam squares and adhering it to the card.  Since I think my husband and I will be sending this to his friend who just had hip surgery, I did not want to add any addition ‘bling’.  We are sending some

Warm wishes for a speedy recovery!

Before using the Distress inks, I also tried Distress Oxide inks in mostly the same colors but stamping the black outline and veins on the leaves.  It didn’t stand out as well.  I also put some Wink of Stella on the leaves but they turned out a bit chalky since the Oxide ink reacted to the wet Wink of Stella.  I’ll use this in the future and finish out a card with it as well.  Once I got the hang of masking it was fun.  It takes a bit more planning but will definitely go faster in the future. 

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