Article of the Month
October 2007 - Layering Stamped Images
Swirls and flourishes are a gorgeous look on stamped projects—and while we love the simple elegance of a single swirl, we’re also delighted with the effects you can get from layered stamped designs!
Katie Ann
By LeNae Gerig
LeNae first matted her photo on brown cardstock, trimming a very narrow border. then matted it again on blue texture paper. She inked the edge of the blue mat with Vintage Sepia to give it subtle color and dimension, and to emphasize the border.
“I like to cut, ink and arrange all my page elements before gluing anything down,” LeNae says. “I cut a 6"x8 1/2" rectangle of brown/blue weave paper and a 4"x9" rectangle of horizontal striped paper and inked the edges of both. I then stamped my layered swirl onto the striped rectangle before gluing it down. It’s just one less uneven surface I have to deal with!”
LeNae first positioned her papers on the floral background, placing the brown/blue weave horizontally and the striped rectangle vertically. She removed the striped piece from the page and placed it onto her work surface in order to have a flatter stamping surface, then visually marked the center point. “If you’re not comfortable marking it visually, measure to the center and make a pencil mark,” she says. “And don’t worry if you don’t get the overlapped image exactly in the center—it also looks good to have the image a little more to either side.”
To create her layered design, LeNae first stamped a swirl toward the top of the striped piece with Vintage Sepia ink. She rotated the stamp, inked it with Coffee Bean and stamped it overlapping the first image at that center point. “I chose two slightly different shades of brown for stamping the overlapped swirl images,” LeNae says. “The difference is subtle, but it makes for a nice contrast.”
After arranging and gluing the paper rectangles as shown, LeNae used Vintage Sepia ink to stamp a smaller swirl at the lower right corner of the blue/brown weave paper, extending onto the floral background paper. She glued her photo slightly overlapping the small swirl and just to the right of the layered swirl. Checked brads secure a large and small blue silk flower to the page.
“When layering images on a page or card, it’s a good design technique to layer and overlap other elements, too,” LeNae says, pointing out the layered papers and flowers. “It helps coordinate the entire design.”
Small brackets stamped with Coffee Bean frame a label cut-out and a piece of blue textured paper, both with computer journaling and held to the page with foam tape and brown mini brads.
“I really like this layout—not just for the layered images, but for its versatility,” LeNae says, adding: “Swap the floral background for another patterned paper in the collection and you’ve got a great masculine design, too. The swirls look great on feminine pages, but also do double-duty for the guys!”
What about cards? “Scale down the paper pieces to fit the front of a card, swap the large swirls for smaller flourishes, exchange the photo for a card message and you’ve got a great card design, too!”Supplies:
- Paper Pizazz® Flea Market Fabrics sarapapers™
- Flea Market Fabrics Embellish-abilities™
- Swirls Acrylic Stamps
- 2"x6" Acrylic Block
- brown cardstock
- inks: Versafine™ Vintage Sepia and Brilliance Coffee Bean
- foam tape
- glue stick
