Shadow Stamping

I figured I better get this page up on the blog today while we actually have sun outside.  Our forecast here is calling for rain and possibly SNOW over the next few days!  I just can't believe the weather we are having this year.  I have seen snow before in June so anything is possible.

I knew that I wanted to use this song title by Timbuk3 (I had no idea who sang this) as the title for my page (changing 'the' to 'my') and do some fun things with it.  I love this super fun lined square stamp but knew that I wouldn't have enough room to do my whole title with it.  I decided to use that stamp to highlight the two most important words in my title, 'bright' and 'shades'.  Outlining the letters with a black pen really help those words stick out.  After punching them out with a square punch and rounding the corners I added a small piece of chipboard to the backs of these letters to help them stand out even more.  

I wanted to try something fun and something I've never tried with the rest of my title.  I love using shadow letters on my Cricut but I wanted to use a stamp for these words.  I decided to try to create shadow letters with two colors of ink and it worked!  After I put my letters on my acrylic block I inked them in the blue ink, stamped them on some paper, covered them with clear embossing powder, and heat embossed them.  Without removing the letters I then inked them with the grey ink.  I then lined my stamp up with the embossed letters, moved it slightly, and stamped.  (Having a Stamp-a-ma-jig would have made this much easier and I have since purchased one).  Then I dabbed the wet ink off of the embossed letters and I had a shadow!    I'm sure there are other ways to get a shadow effect but this way worked for me.  I just love the way it turned out!

I used some really bright paper to add to my theme.  I used only one piece of the patterned paper to make both of these layouts and four birthday cards!!  (I'll try to share those tomorrow).  A little ink around the edges and my pages were done!  Super fast and easy.  Don't forget that you can use patterned paper in place of photos in a sketch too.  It is a great way to fill up a page and still keep a clean look to your page.  

 I hope you enjoyed this fun technique and will try it on your pages and cards.  Thanks for stopping!

Supplies:

• cardstock- misc
• patterned paper- I got this from a friend sorry I don't have a manufacturer
• stamps- Close to My Heart (Atomic Caps B1175, W189), Autumn Leaves (Snickety Alphas)
• ink- Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Wild Honey, Pumice Stone, Broken China)
• embossing powder- Ranger (Superfine Clear)
• tools- We R Memory Keepers (corner chomper 1/8"), Fiskars (square punch 1.5")
• pen- American Crafts (Project Life Journaling Pen Black 03)