From time to time, many a creative person will lose their mojo. Mine has been on walk about of late and coming up with something that I'm happy to share with you has been a challenge. Usually to get out of a rut like this you can use an
inspirational sketch, play around with some gorgeous
new products and papers from Tanyah or, like I did this week - just have a play. With no project in mind and therefore no pressure, you can get back to having fun and might just come up with something that you love.
So what did I play with....Daubers! These are great and have so many uses. You can colour fabrics, lace and ribbon, give some colour to chipboards and like ink you can use them on stamps. Daubers have a sheen to them so when your dauber inked project catches the light, your project glows. With the daubers, I created my own stamped patterned paper...and I'm going to show you how I did it.
You'll need:
- White, or another pale colour, cardstock
- Radiant Rain Daubers. I've used three different shades of the one colour - Apple Blossom, Pink Azalea and Ginger Flower.
- Versa Colour Inkpads. I've used an old heavily used VersaColour Pine Cone and a new one
- Stamps. I've used three, a Basic Grey Flower, KaiserCraft Butterfly and a Prima Script stamp
HINT: When using daubers, make sure you shake them up until you feel your arm is going to fall off. All the particles that give the daubers their sheen settle on the bottom of the bottle and you need these mixed into the ink if you want your project to catch the light and shine.
1. The stamp you use first is going to create a repeating pattern covering your cardstock. Using the palest colour dauber, ink up your stamp and start stamping until your whole cardstock is covered. I used the Basic Grey flower stamp and Apple Blossom dauber for this first step. Don't worry if the dauber ink looks heavy on your stamp in some places, this will add to the whole affect when your finished.
2. Clean the dauber ink off your stamp and then with your old heavily used Versacolour ink pad, ink up the same stamp again. Lightly stamp over your first dauber inked stamps with the second colour. Get as close as you can to an exact stamp over the top of the first but slightly off will not matter. This will add some depth to the first stamp.
3. Moving onto your second stamp and second tonal dauber colour, (Kaisercraft butterfly and Pink Azalea for me), ink up your stamp and imprint around your cardstock randomly.
HINT: My stamp had an intricate pattern. With the dauber inks, if you want this pattern to show through, stamp onto a scrap piece of paper first and the stamp onto your project with the second application. Your pattern will show up better. On the below, the left is first application and right is the second. I wasn't concerned with the pattern of the stamp applied with the dauber as the next step brings it out...
4. Clean the dauber ink off your stamp and then with your new or
re-inked Versacolour ink pad, ink up the same stamp again. Go over your first dauber inked stamps with the second colour. This will add a bold definition of your stamps intricate pattern.
5. Moving onto your last stamp and the darkest dauber tonal colour, in my project this is the Prima Script stamp and Ginger Flower dauber. Randomly ink up your stamp, heavily in some parts, light in others and do not cover the whole stamp. You don't want the entire stamp to come through onto your project. Randomly stamp your paper.
6. Finally, using both your heavily used and new versa colour ink pads, randomly brush across your project. Both along the sides and randomly across the middle, this will dirty up your pale cardstock background and make your patterned paper look a bit more grungy.
There you have it, your own patterned paper. Use it straight away on a project or add it to your stash. So if you're feeling creatively challenged, take the pressure off yourself and go and have a play. You never know, after a play, your mojo might just come back!
Enjoy your Sunday everyone.
