Article of the Month
May 2008
Artsy Lettering With Stamps
They’re perfect for simple lettering on cards, pages, tags and more, but did you know that alphabet stamps can also give your projects a great artsy look?
From a fabulous page title to a cool card focal, alphabet stamps are great for more than just simple labeling. The key is selecting a unique set of stamps that works for a variety of looks. An example? Our HOTP designers love these Artsy ABCs because this one set includes several different fonts that work together to create an artsy style.
Once you select the stamps, it’s all about experimenting with them. Try staggering or angling your letters on the acrylic block before stamping to draw added attention and interest to a word or phrase. Or, stamp individual letters on your paper, then cut each letter into its own block to create cool, personalized alphabet tiles like Susan did on this page below. Vary the sizes of the tiles, and arrange them at different angles with foam tape to make them “pop” even more.
Another fun technique from Susan? Stamp a word with alphabet tiles, then continue the message with your own handwriting for a mixed media look. Add a small embellishment to break up the two different types of lettering and give the area even more style.
Check out examples of these great ideas on Susan’s page below, then get ready to craft a page, card greeting or an artsy, personalized tag of your own—you’ll love the look!
Saturday Mornings Family Style
By Susan Cobb
To create this artsy layout, Susan selected a chocolate brown background paper with thin stripes of light browns and blacks and inked the edges black. She matted one 4”x6” black and white photo on dark brown textured paper and trimmed it to 1/8” before matting again on a thin layer of black textured paper. Susan then matted the photo a third time on tan textured paper, trimming the top and sides to 1/16” and the bottom to 1 1/8”. She inked the edges of this tan mat black, then stamped the word “Family” in brown on the left bottom of the mat. Susan added a small dark brown silk flower with a white mini brad to the right of the stamped word and used a black pen to journal “style” on the right bottom of the mat. She glued the matted photo 3/4” from the left edge of the page and 2 5/16” from the top.
Susan matted two 4 1/4” x 2 3/4” black and white photos on white cardstock and trimmed closely, then she inked the mat edges black and arranged the photos overlapping at an angle across the bottom of the page.
Next Susan arranged the stamps to spell “Saturday Mornings” on the acrylic block, leaving a little space between each letter, and stamped in brown ink onto tan paper. She cut the stamped letters apart and into small squares or rectangles. She then inked the edges of each black and adhered them with foam tape at the top left of the page, leaving space between each of them and arranging at angles as shown.
For the journaling: Susan computer journaled on tan paper, leaving space between her “Saturday morning favorites:” title and her list, and journaling the date separately. She cut the list to a rectangle, trimming to 3/8” on the left side and adding a mini brad to the left of every other item on the list to represent bullet points. Susan cut a 3/16” strip of dark brown textured paper and glued it in the space under her journaling block title, trimming the ends even with the rectangle edges. She inked the edges black, then glued it to the page about 1/2” to the right of the large photo mat. She inked the edges of the date, glued the left edge overlapping the large photo and used foam tape behind the rest of the strip to attach.
To finish her page, Susan stuck a dark brown brad through a small light brown silk flower and layered it over a medium-sized dark brown silk flower, then a large white silk flower. She added the flowers to the page in the top right corner, above the journaling block.
Supplies:
- Use 'Em For Anything Chocolate Papers
- Chocolate Silk Flowers
- Chocolate Brad Pack
- Artsy ABCs Acrylic Stamps
- Acrylic Block
- black ink pad
- brown ink pad
- black, white cardstock
- glue stick
- foam tape
- Small Zots™
- black, brown pen (computer printer optional)
- font: Oliver
