Tutorial: Mirror Image Stamping

EDIT: I just saw an even better and easier technique for mirror imaging stamps!!! Go over to Jessica Witty's blog to see how it's done.

Hi everyone!

 

I did promise a tutorial on how to stamp an image and turning it into a mirrored image (i.e. horizontally flipping your stamped images). Here is the final product which I will be showing you how to make today :)

   

   

Now, unfortunately I have no means to reliably take a video for the tutorial so I just had to make-shift with serial photos. Hopefully it will make sense. This is my first tutorial in the field of cardmaking! Exciting.

 

Ok, so let's get started.

 

(STEP 1) Get yourself any sheet of tissue paper. You should all already have some sitting around from PTI packaging or from this week's PTI Make-It-Monday! Here, I have some scrap tissue paper I've had lying around in my drawers.

  

  

(STEP 2) Find a stamp you'd like to "mirror-stamp". Here, I've got the giraffe from Stampin' Up's Fox & Friends set.

  

  

 (STEP 3) Stamp onto the tissue paper like you would for anything else (not hard now, was it?).

  

   

(STEP 4) Flip the tissue paper over. Ta-da! The ink has gone right through and now you have a mirror-image of the original stamp image! Now, wasn't that just magic? Not really. LOL.
  
 I can't say how well this will work on lighter shades, but you can always experiment with different inks before you start :) I can tell you for sure that SU! ink pads work a charm in darker shades.

    

  

(STEP 5) I need two giraffes facing each other, so I went an stamped another image on the opposite side from the first giraffe (i.e. after flipping over the tissue paper).

  

  

(STEP 6) In case you hadn't figured it out, tissue paper isn't all that sturdy. I'm sure you knew that already. So I glued the tissue paper onto a scrap white cardstock. I used a normal glue stick here. 

  

I found that having a lump of glue accidentally leads to not only lumpy tissue paper over cardstock, but also starts to separate out the colours out from the ink and smudges it. From this, I concluded that wet glues probably won't be the best thing to use (I suppose unless you are using a solvent-based ink). You can also use double-sided tape, but sometimes these have a tinge of colour (mine was a little yellowish) which will show through later.

   

But if you are using SU! ink pads, then everyday glue stick is a fairly safe bet.

    

  

(STEP 7) Here's my giraffes glued onto a cardstock. Now you just have to cut them out with your handy-dandy scissors (since SU! won't come up with dies to cut these cute images out!).

  

  

(STEP 8) Ta-da! All cut out. And now you have two giraffes - one normal stamped image and the other, a mirror image of the original ;)

  

(STEP 9) Just for completion, the rest is how I put together my card.

  

I had a fairly good idea before I started that it would be yellow over kraft cardstock. This is just me, trying to figure out what to do next. So I grabbed out Mat Stack #1 die and a heart stamp from Night Night Moon set, and laid them out. 

  

I couldn't believe I did not have ANY heart stamps!!! Only the one in Night Night Moon set. I was shocked. Haha.

  

  

(STEP 10) Now, I made the cut with the Mat Stack #1 into the Lemon Tart cardstock. I also used my Corner Chomper to round the corners. Then I got out A Little Argyle stamp set and off I went. I used SU! Daffodil Delight ink here.

  

   

(STEP 11) Then it's the dotted lines over with SU! Early Espresso ink. Looking pretty good now. I did think it sort of diverted your attention away from the giraffes a bit too much, but you have to work with the colours you have.

  

    

(STEP 12) It was looking a tad too bright, so I went and used the Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo and distressed the edges a bit just to tone them down.

   

Then, I got my brown satin ribbon and wrapped it around the Lemon Tart cardstock. Can you tell I like having ribbons around the bottom 1/3 of the card? 

   

Initially I placed it a bit lower, but then I experimented with a sentiment (SU! A Word for You set - "Congratulations on finding each other!" stamp) just above it - it was disastrous with all the argyle images underneath. So what do you do? You hide it by pushing the bow up! I even double-side taped it so that the ribbon won't move. LOL.

  

 

    

(STEP 13) I foam mounted the Lemon Tart cardstock, as well as the giraffes and the stamped heart. Now, we're all done!

  

I did go back to the sentiment and stamped it inside instead. It was just the right sentiment to go with the heart and... kissing(?) giraffes ;) There was just a tad too much outside to have a sentiment as well.

   

      

Hope you all enjoyed the tutorial and that it made some sense. Now, it's your turn to go stamp-happy!

     

I think I need to stop procrastinating and actually do some work.. otherwise I might just fail my final exams (which would be VERY VERY bad - academically and financially!).

    

Thanks for coming by!

   

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

STAMP: SU! Fox & Friends, PTI A Little Argyle, Night Night Moon

INK: SU! Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, PTI Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo

PAPER: PTI Kraft, Lemon Tart, Stamper's Select White Cardstocks

OTHER: Corner Chomper (Aqua), Celebrate! Brown Sating Ribbon, Tissue Paper, PTI Mat Stack #1 die