Touching up light stamps

So how many times has this happened to you? You are finishing up a layout and your last step is to place a stamp on a corner or edge. When you lift your stamp part of it has not inked dark enough and now you feel like you LO is not quite perfect. Well, I have found a super quick and easy fix for that problem! It's called Pen Nibs!!


Just dip the tip of your per nib in your matching ink so it is nice and covered.


Then you can use the fine tip of the nib like a pen to carefully fill in the area of your stamped image. Voila...you are fixed up and your stamp looks just how you envisioned! It was a total fluke that I bought these. They sat in my drawer for a good 6 months until I remembered them, and figured out that is what they were for, and now I love these little guys!

Re-positioning stamps

If you have rubber stamps that you have cut and trim and positioned on the blocks and realized it was a little bit off here is a quick tip

PUT IT IN THE MICROWAVE FOR APPX 10 SECONDS. IT WILL PULL OFF LIKE A CHARM AND YOU CAN REPOSITION IT

Distressing

Distressing is a technique that adds alot of character to your layouts. You can achieve this look by sanding or inking. Sanding creates the distressed look of wear. You can use sanding blocks or sandpapaer. You can sand: paper, pictures, chipboard, stickers, metal or cardstock.
Gently sand your paper/picture where you want distressed. Keep sanding until you have achieved the look you want. It is a little messy you will have residue, just wipe away.

My favorite is inking. I inked most of my layouts, there is just something I love about it. Must be that you can tell where one pattern paper ends and begins. Or just that it gives it a very bold look. Well whatever it is, I know I am not going to stop inking.

Inking is so easy to do. Take the ink pad and rub it around the edge of your paper . Use as much or as little as you want.

Just Paint It!

When I discovered paint, I discovered the endless possibilities of my supplies. With paint, it doesn't matter what color alphabet I buy, or what color my chipboard embellishments are in the box. If I need a different color, I simply paint it! For me, it makes more since to invest in a good supply of paint--including lots of colors instead of buying one chipboard alphabet in every color. For instance, when I decided to do this layout about my favorite color, I wanted all the elements to be some shade of purple. Problem was, I didn't have the right letters in that shade. So I took some blue and red chipboard letters and painted them purple. And when I decided I wanted to use the mesh on the page, I knew it would need paint since it was bright red!

I often use paint for acrylic accents as well. By painting the back of these letters, I created the look of ready made blue acrylic letters.

And by painting the heart on this layout, I created the look of a ready made red acrylic heart.

Use paint to modify any of your supplies--the colors we use aren't always what's sold at the store, but you can customize any of your embellishments to fit your layout perfectly!