April 22, 2023

KISSED CACTUS

There are ever so many wonderful old stamping techniques out there that I, as well as lots of others I'm sure, tend to forget about. But they are so good that we just have to do our best to keep them alive and thriving.

One of those techniques is that of "kissing". I know it sounds really romantic, but it's really not. It's just a great way to add some wonderful texture to a stamped image that might otherwise have little to no personality.

In my card today, that's how I did the pot in which the cactus grows.


The pot would otherwise have been just a plain solid stamped pot. But, a little kissing added lots of unexpected personality to it.

You can see in the images below  how different each of the pots are. That's part of the beauty of kissing, the unpredictability.

To do kissing, ink up a solid stamp with a color that you want your base color to be. Take a dry -- uninked -- stamp with some line work, as you can see in the rubber stamp in the lower right of the photo. Place the uninked stamp onto the base inked stamp and give it a little twist. Not too much. Too much twisting can remove more of the detail than you'd like.Then lift the uninked stamp straight up. And your pot is finished!! The kissing is complete.


Once my pot was kissed, I fussy cut it and glued it to a piece of cardstock that I was going to use as my focal point. Next step was to plant the cactus inside the pot.


Other than the layers of cardstock, this is basically a one-layer card, not much dimension at all, except for the cactus layer popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals on the DSP layer.



Here's a tutorial on how to make a card similar to this one.

SUPPLIES:
White cardstock
Soft Succulent cardstock
Recycled light-colored cardstock
Designer Series Paper

Forever Fern stamp set (retiring)
Cactus Cuties stamp set (retired)

Melon Mambo ink
Soft Succulent ink
Gray Granite ink

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine
Deckled Recctangle Dies (page 163 in the new Annual Catalog)
Stampin' Dimensionals

INSTRUCTIONS:
Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Designer Series Paper that will coordinate with the rest of the card elements.

Set this aside for now while we work on the focal point area.

Using the Deckled Rectangle Dies, die cut from Soft Succulent cardstock a 3" x 4 1/4" rectangle, and from a light-colored neutral cardstock, using the same dies, cut a 2 5/8" x 4" rectangle. Adhere these two together.

On white cardsdtock, in Soft Suffuculent ink, stamp the two pieces of the lined cactus. In Melon Mango ink, stamp the flower. Fussy cut these components, leaving a fine white margin.

On white cardstock, you will be stamping your pot using the kissing technique. Ink up the pot image with Gray Granite ink. Take a clean stamp with lines of interest on it (I used a flower stamp) and place the stamp to the inked pot and give it a quick twist. Stamp the kissed stamp onto white cardstock. This will provide an interesting textured look to the pot. Fussy cut the pot.

On the layered rectangles, lay out your pot and cactus, and, once satisfied, glue the cactus in place and add the pot with a couple Stampin' Dimensionals.

Adhere this completed focal point to the card.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, 
Tomorrow I’ll miss you.
Paul McCartney -


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Kissed
Smiles.











14 comments:

  1. That is an adorable card (and one technique I have used but often forget about!).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Joanne! I'm glad I could remind you again of the technique.

      Delete
  2. A bit of southwest flair~ I like it!
    Thank you for joining this week's party at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-last-of-quilts.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always look forward to what you will share next Linda. I cannot imagine how many cards you have made. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad that you keep stopping by, Cara! Thank you for that!

      Delete
  4. You call it an old technique but it's new to me! This looks great, what a sweet card.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, thanks, Julie! I hope you give this new-to-you old technique a try!

      Delete
  5. This little cactus has a cute personality of its own. I like the layers of materials and colors on this card. Thank you for sharing this post in the Talent Sharing Tuesdays Link-Up 62.
    Carol
    www.scribblingboomer.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. As fate would have it, I'm talking about cactus blooms in my link party this week so you linking this up last week is kismet! Featuring when my party opens. Happy May!

    ReplyDelete