Tuesday Technique

I had heard about stamp rolling for quite awhile before I learned what it actually was. I ended up asking about it on a consultant message board and couldn't wait to try it. Now I'm gonna tell you, you just need to stop right here and go get some of your supplies because you are gonna want to try this out!

You will need:

• an acrylic stamp set and block (see through - I've never tried this with a rubber stamp, but I would think it would be next to impossible to get it right.)
• 2 or 3 stamp pads in like shades - yellow and lighter and darker greens, for instance.
• spritz cleaner and double scrubber
• scrap or project cardstock - white, colonial white or light neutral color
• tissue or paper towels to wipe off excess ink from the stamp or block

Now, choose your stamp and mount it on the block. Use simple images - 1 object only - like a leafe or heart. You can use either solid images or intricate ones, and one of my favorite things to use is a solid leaf stamp that has a separate stamp of veins. Whichever you choose, ink it up in the lightest shade of ink that you have. Stamp the image onto your cardstock and clean off the stamp.

Next, (this is where the rolling part comes in!) roll the edges of your stamp in the next darker shade. If you are only using 2 different inks, skip this step and go to the next one! Make sure you get a little more than just the edges of the stamp when you roll it. Ideally, the center-half of the stamp will be left clean. Line up the stamp with the image you've already stamped. If you are using CTMH acrylix stamps and you've taken proper care of them, you won't have any problem stamping the new image directly on top of the first one.

Finally, you will do another stamp-rolling image using the darkest color, but this time only get the outside edges of the stamp. And voila! You've done your first stamp rolling!

Bonus technique! Try using the bottom of the acrylic stamp as a base and then stamp your image on top of it. Now it won't match up perfectly, but that is part of the charm. I've used this technique with sentiment stamps and loved the effect. I used a light color with the back to get a random shape and then stamped the sentiment across it in a coordinating color. Here, I used the back of the leaf to give a broad area of color to accompany my stamp rolled images and regular images. Using these techniques, I actually can make my own background paper.