There’s more to masking than meets the eye! And masks are more useful than a disguise at a party. But we are talking about making greeting cards and masking is a useful technique. In today’s blog, we are “masking off” or hiding parts of our card to create a space where we can put a sentiment or to call attention to a rubber stamped design.
Take a look at these cards:
In the first one, I’ve created a torn paper mask with irregular outlines to call attention to the center.
In the next one, another torn paper mask blocks off part of the bottom of the card to leave a space for the sentiment.
And in the third, two torn paper masks create space for the background stamp of music which ties in with the sentiment of “just a note.”
This is what the masks look like.
Here’s how I did it. I’ll give the instructions for the “Just a note” card here. Instructions for the other two will eventually be in the library.
What You’ll Need:
- Soft Suede card base – 5 ½ x 8 ½, folded in the middle
- Very Vanilla layer – 4 x 5 ¼
- Piece of copy or notebook paper
- Scraps of pink card stock for flowers
- Scrap of pink ribbon for the “knot” bow
- Background stamp – music
- Sentiment – Flourishing Phrases
- Soft suede ink pad
- Melon Mambo ink pad
- Rhinestones for flower centers
- Flower punch
- glue dots, Tombow glue
As usual, the important thing is to learn the technique, not necessarily to create a duplicate of my card. So feel free to use whatever supplies you have on hand.
Instructions:
- Tear the copy paper to make a piece with a raggedy edge with largeish ups and downs
- Do it again for the second mask
- Put the masks on the Very Vanilla layer leaving a space in the middle. I used small bits of tape on the outside edge of the masks to keep the masks in place
- Ink up the background stamp with Soft Suede, and stamp it on the vanilla layer over the masks and the center space. I just carefully placed the large stamp over the paper, and then rubbed and pressed it firmly, especially in the middle.
- Remove the stamp and clean it. Remove the masks.
- Ink up “Just a note” from Flourishing Phrases and stamp it on the upper left corner with Melon Mambo ink. Do the same for the second part of the sentiment on the lower right corner.
- Remove and clean the stamps
- Tie a “knot” bow and fasten it in the upper left above the sentiment .( Full disclosure: I hadn’t planned on having a bow here, but I got an ink smear and couldn’t get it off. So I covered it up.)
- Punch out the three tiny flowers, “cup” them by pressing down in the middle with the blunt end of the paper piercer or something similar, and then place the rhinestones for flower centers.
- Glue the flowers in the upper right or wherever it looks right to you. I used glue dots.
- Glue a piece of 4 x 5 copy paper on the inside of the card so you can write a message.
We’re Done!
This is a very simple technique, but it makes an unusual and lovely card. Try it out and see what you think. Any large patterned stamp could be used for the background stamp. I’m thinking of creating another card using a rose stamp. A geometric patterned stamp would work well too, as would filigrees or flourishes.
Have fun with this technique! And thank you for you loyal support. I truly couldn’t do it without you.
Blessings,
Carole