Let's Talk Masking!

My post today is part of a blog hop with some of my fabulous Creative "Card-iology" teammates.  Its our first one ever, and I'm so excited to be a part of it!  After checking out my blog, you can hop on over to the other blogs for more creative inspiration!

In the middle of preparing my blog post for this hop, I was reminded that my parents will be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary next week.  And that changed what I was planning to post here.  But I still wanted to share a little of how I've been using the masking technique in my card, and masks really are a hot topic these days!  

I've found it somewhat difficult to carry on conversations and really connect with people wearing a mask, but in reality we often figuratively wear masks.  As I worked on my anniversary card for my parents, I thought how important it is for any lasting relationship to be intentional about caring for each other and connecting in meaningful ways.  And that requires shedding our figurative masks and being honest, kind and forgiving with each other.  That can be very hard to do, but the dimension and depth to those kinds of relationships are so worth the risk.

So what is the masking technique?  Well, as best as I can explain it as it relates to stamping, it is covering up a stamped image so that you can stamp another image over top of it.  The second image then appears to be coming out from behind the previously stamped image creating a beautiful new image with more dimension to it. 

I used the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set for my anniversary card because I just love the detail in it, and the masking technique allows my leaves to peak out from behind the sunflower.

I used Whisper White Thick Cardstock for my card base and folded it in half.  I embossed a piece of  Whisper White cardstock with the Brick & Mortar 3D Embossing Folder and adhered the layer to my card base using the new Stampin' Seal adhesive.

My sentiment was stamped onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock where I had already printed "65 years together."  I used the Just Jade marker from the 2020-2022 Stampin' Write Marker Assortment to ink up just the "Congratulations ON REACHING" portion of the sentiment and stamped it above the "65 years together."  I used the Label Me Fancy punch to punch out the sentiment and punched another piece of Just Jade cardstock using the same punch.  The Just Jade piece was then cut in half and adhered to the back of my sentiment in such a way that the Just Jade pieces framed the Whisper White sentiment on either side.  I used the long hole punch on the Label Me Fancy punch to make a hole to slide a piece of Just Jade ribbon through and tie a bow.  Stampin' Dimensionals were then added to the back of the sentiment, which was then set aside to be adhered later.

I then stamped the sunflower image in the new InColor Bumblebee ink onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock using the Stamparatus as I knew I wanted to restamp my image several times to get a nice dark impression.  I love using Classic Stampin' Spots to ink up my stamps when I use the Stamparatus as I find that I have more control over where the ink ends up and don't get ink on the edge of my stamps as much.  Since there is not currently a Bumblebee Classic Stampin' Spot available, I inked up an Uninked Stampin' Spot with the Bumblebee ink refill to then stamp my image.

The next step was creating the mask to cover up my sunflower image so that I could stamp the leaves in Just Jade ink.  I stamped the sunflower on a 4x6 sticky note, making sure to stamp on the end backed by the sticky stuff (very technical description, right?).  Then I cut the sticky note right along the edge of the stamped image.

I placed my cut out sticky note image just inside the outline of the image already stamped on Whisper White.  It was important to place it just inside the outline so that my stamped leaf images would line up right next to the sunflower.  If I had lined up the edges of my mask with those of the already stamped image, there would have been a space left between the flower and the leaf.

Once I stamped my leaves where I wanted them, I cut out the whole image and put Stampin' Dimensionals on the back and adhered it and my prepared sentiment to the embossed layer on my card base to finish my card front.

I hope you've enjoyed visiting my blog today, and I am so grateful you stopped by!  I love reading and replying to responses on my posts, so feel free to leave a comment!  And don't forget to follow the links below to check out my fellow bloggers' posts!

jessbcreativecardiology

createwithbonnie

stamp4funwithdiana

Supplies used in my card today:

Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set (152517 - also available in bundle with dies 154065)

Brick & Mortar 3D Embossing Folder (149643)

Whisper White Thick Cardstock (140272)

Whisper White Cardstock (100730)

Just Jade Cardstock (153079 or 153074 for InColor Assortment)

2020-2022 InColor Stampin' Write Marker Assortment (153125)

Just Jade ink pad (153115)

Uninked Stampin' Spots (141822)

Bumblebee ink refill (153122)

Just Jade 1/4" Ribbon (153621)

Stamparatus (146276)

Stampin' Seal (152813)

Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Who doesn't love sunflowers?

It pays to be careful what others in my family hear me say or see me do repeatedly during the year.  We have had a history of making Christmas a unique opportunity to highlight some of those things through gifting.  One year we all noticed my brother was never without his sunglasses, so each one of us wrapped up one or more pairs of sunglasses to give to him at our family gathering.  My mom never passed up a coin on the ground, so one year we all saved up our pennies and wrapped them up in different ways.   Which brings me to the year of the sunflowers.

One of my sisters wasn't fond of sunflowers and wasn't afraid to say so.  Now, really, who doesn't like sunflowers?  So we all decided to gift her with sunflowers in as many different forms as we could think of - if I remember rightly I gave her cheap foam sunflower placemats.

Well, the next year the joke was on us.  Each of us received our gift repurposed in some way, in a much nicer form than what was given - the sunflower placemats ended up as the padded bottom in a trinket box.  I don't remember what all my sister received or how she repurposed it, but we still laugh at how she turned the tables on us.  

So when I saw the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set, it brought back some fond memories and I knew I had to try it out.  The Celebrate Sunflowers bundle includes the stamp set and dies and is part of the larger suite of products called Flowers for Every Season.  I used one of the new In Color ink pads, Cinnamon Cider, to stamp the outline of my sunflower, the leaves and my sentiment and colored my sunflower and leaves with several colors of the Stampin' Blends alcohol markers.  I used the coordinating Sunflowers Dies to die cut  my sunflower and leaves.

My card base is Cinnamon Cider cardstock, with a matted layer of Whisper White cardstock embossed with the Brick & Mortar 3D Embossing Folder.  I stamped the sentiment "wildly grateful" (from the Lovely You stamp set) onto a piece of the new In Color Bumblebee cardstock and punched out my card front greeting with the Label Me Fancy punch.  I'm loving the new Stampin' Seal adhesive, which I used to first attach my ribbon to my embossed mat and then adhere that layer to my card base.  I used Stampin' Dimensionals and Mini Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere my sunflower and punched sentiment to the card base and create a bit of dimension to my design.  I then adhered my leaves with Mini Glue Dots.  My final touch was the addition of a couple of the Flowers for Every Season Gems using the Fine Tip Glue Pen.

The Flowers for Every Season suite of products has so many beautiful products in it.  I'm sure you're going to want to use every part of it, especially the Celebrate Sunflowers bundle.  I mean, really, who doesn't love sunflowers!

Here is a list of products used in this card.  I love that Stampin' Up! now has a number that you can use to purchase an entire suite of products, and that's what I'm listing here for the stamp set, dies, ribbon and gemstones.  All of these products are available individually as well, and you can find them all at my web site here: my store.

Flowers for Every Season Suite (154132)

Cinnamon Cider Cardstock (153078)

Bumblebee Cardstock (153077)

Whisper White Cardstock (100730)

Cinnamon Cider Classic Stampin' Pad (153114)

Cinnamon Cider Ribbon (152482)

Lovely You Stamp Set (152525, also available as a bundle with a great new punch-154070)

Label Me Fancy Punch (151297)

Brick and Mortar 3D Embossing Folder (149643)

Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo (154883)

So Saffron Stampin' Blends Combo (154905)

Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Combo (154906)

Petal Pink Stampin' Blends Combo (154893)

Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends Combo (154902)

Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends Combo (154889)

Stampin' Seal (152813)

Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals (144108)

Fine Tip Glue Pen (138309)

Mini Glue Dots (103683)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!  Would love to connect with you, so don't forget to comment, like or follow my blog.  If you're new to stamping or don't already have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator you're working with, I would love to assist you with products to get you started or help you in any way I can!

Happy Stamping!