Technique Tuesday - Smoothing Out Stamped Images...

Hi there and welcome to Technique Tuesday.  Do you ever stamp an image on your card and it just doesn't end up smoothly inked?  Don't you hate that?  Do you wad up that cardstock, throw it away and start over?  Now you won't have to - I will show you how to easily smooth out those splotchy images.  Let's get started.....

  

Here's what you will need:

• Your solid stamp (I used the flowers from Upsy Daisy)
• Classic Ink of your choice (I used Not Quite Navy)
• Blender Pen
• Cardstock

 Ink your stamp and stamp your image.  Here's the point that you say "Oh rats!", wad up that cardstock and throw it away.  But wait!  Keep reading and you won't be wasting that piece.....

See here where my image isn't very nice.  In fact, there are several areas of this image that are not inked well.  The first thing to do - although you need to do it BEFORE you stamp - take your sanding block and gently sand the rubber working left to right and then up and down.  This removes a light coating on the top of the stamp image and the ink adheres better.

Take your ink pad while it is closed and squeeze the center of the pad so you place some ink into the lid of the ink pad.  Open the ink pad and pick up some of the color with your blender pen.  Color the image where you need to fix it.

 Here you can see that the four flowers in the top left have been fixed.

 Continue working until your entire image has been fixed.

Here's my completed card.  On More Mustard cardstock, I stamped the same image using Versamark to get the subtle repeat of the image.  I used the new Edgelit die and Adorning Accents Embossing folders from the Occasions Mini Catalog at the bottom.  A button from the Regals color family and some pearls finish this card off.