One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

Hi friends! Happy Sunday! I’m so excited to share this “One Stamp 5 Ways” special feature by the fabulous Suzy Plantamura with you today! Read on for all the fun details and enjoy!
One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

Hi, Simon Says Stamp friends! I’m guest blogging today with one of my “One Stamp, Five Ways” posts using the Simon Says Stamp Best Friends stamp and die set. I have a series on my blog where I use one stamp set in five different ways to show its versatility and to motivate us to use our stamps in more ways! Today I picked the Best Friends set as I loved all the little animals in this set and the number of images and salutations to pick from. I’ve created five cards to share with you and I have some tips to go along with each one.

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

I love using my new Distress Oxide Inks for backgrounds as they give me such a saturated look! I used Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon for the sky and Lucky Clover and Twisted Citron for the grass.

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

Here are some tips for creating this card:

• Use a natural color ink such as SSS Barely Beige to stamp your images so you can color them with a no-line look
• Use colored pencils OVER Copic Markers to add shading and details on your colored images
• Create a “ground” for images using any of the SSS border dies such as the Twisted Stitch Borders die I used here
• When you use Glossy White Tonic Nuvo Drops over Distress Oxide Inks, they pick up the color of the background

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

This card shows another way to use the four critters holding hands in a shaker card. I changed the look of the stamped images by stamping them in black before coloring.

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

Here are some tips for creating this card:

• Use any of the SSS background such as this Evergreen Circle one for shaker card openings
• Cover parts of the background with Tonic Nuvo Drops to add dimension as I did here with the trees
• Paint a soft watercolor wash background around the opening by adding lots of water to your watercolor paper first and then dropping in several different colors around the design so they run outward and blend together

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

Who says animals have to be painted in natural colors? I love color, so I used quite a bit of it in this card that shows a random stamping technique.

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

Helpful Tips:

• Stamp all of the stamps in a set (or in this case the four animals that were individual) randomly over a card background for a topsy-turvy look
• Mix some black paint with each of your watercolors so the colors have more of a gray-cast and are less bright
• Mix coloring mediums – here I used colored pencils over watercolors to shade
• Add shadows behind each image with a gray colored pencil or marker to give the look of dimension

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

To get more use out of the animal grouping in this set, I stamped it twice and then cut the animals apart using two sets so I had enough hands.

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

Here are some tips:

• By stamping the images in a light color of ink and coloring over the outlines, I was able to cut off or color over any of the areas that didn’t belong to that animal
• Use a die-cut with lots of openings such as this Repeating Circles one to ground small images so they don’t get lost on a card
• I tucked part of the animals under each circle and then used foam tape behind the animal so they looked like they are coming out of the openings
• Rub Distress Inks over the openings moving outward so you create a soft background around the die-cut openings

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

This card only uses one of the animals, but by using a background die, he doesn’t get lost on the card front. I also went with a totally different color scheme to change up the look of the stamps.

One Stamp 5 Ways: Best Friends

Here are some tips for this card:

• When coloring this image, I used some light blue and light pink Copic markers blended in with my grays to make the elephant have a more colorful look
• Outline images with colored pencils when you use a light color of ink to stamp so they have soft colored outlines
• When painting a background, paint just around the die-cut so the color runs outward using a wet on wet technique; add drops of saturated paint by flicking your paintbrush over the background

And there you have it – five ways to use this adorable Best Friends stamp set! Come visit my blog to see more of my “One Stamp, Five Ways” series and thanks so much for visiting today! – Suzy

SUPPLIES:

Simon Says Clear Stamps BEST FRIENDS…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp BEST FRIENDS Wafer…
[ SSS ]
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad…
[ SSS ]
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad…
[ SSS ]
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad…
[ SSS ]
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad…
[ SSS ]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad TWISTED…
[ SSS ]
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MOWED LAWN…
[ SSS ]
Ranger MINI ROUND INK BLENDING TOOLS…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp Embossing Ink Pad…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER…
[ SSS ]
Ranger Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powder…
[ SSS ]
Ranger Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powder…
[ SSS ]
American Crafts Zing! CHESTNUT Opaque…
[ SSS ]
American Crafts Zing! WAVE Opaque…
[ SSS ]
Precision Heat Embossing Tool Gun…
[ SSS ]
RESERVE Simon Says Stamp REPEATING…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp STITCHED RECTANGLES…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp TWISTED STITCH…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp EVERGREEN CIRCLE…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp FAR AWAY FOREST…
[ SSS ]
Lawn Fawn LARGE STITCHED RECTANGLE…
[ SSS ]
Copic SKETCH 72 PC SET A Markers AAAS72A
[ SSS ]
Tonic GLOSS WHITE Nuvo Crystal Drops…
[ SSS ]
Tonic SUNLIT MEADOW Nuvo Glitter…
[ SSS ]
Tonic BOTTLE GREEN Nuvo Crystal Drops…
[ SSS ]
Tonic IVORY SEASHELL Nuvo Crystal…
[ SSS ]
Tonic METALLIC COPPER PENNY Nuvo…
[ SSS ]
Tonic MORNING DEW Nuvo Crystal Drops…
[ SSS ]
Tonic BLUE CRUSH Nuvo Glow In The…
[ SSS ]
Pretty Pink Posh MINI SPARKLING CLEAR…
[ SSS ]
Pretty Pink Posh MARSHMALLOW CONFETTI
[ SSS ]
Pretty Pink Posh 4MM MOSSY GREEN…
[ SSS ]
Pretty Pink Posh 4MM ESPRESSO Cupped…
[ SSS ]
Hero Arts Daniel Smith WATERCOLOR DOT…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp Daniel Smith DEBBY’S…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp Daniel Smith SHARI’S…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp Daniel Smith YANA’S…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp Daniel Smith HOLIDAY…
[ SSS ]
Prismacolor PREMIER COLORED PENCILS…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp Premium Ink Pad…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp Premium Ink Pad…
[ SSS ]
Simon Says Stamp WHITE CARDSTOCK 120…
[ SSS ]
Ranger WATERCOLOR PAPER Inkssentials…
[ SSS ]

Thanks for reading today, and thanks to Suzy for being our guest!

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  1. Nicely done. I love that stamp set. You really showcased lots of cute ways to use it. Thanks for sharing your talents.

  2. OH I LOVE!! These cards are amazing!! Your critters are fantastic and I love the fun little scenes you created.

  3. These are such beautiful cards! I love them all, especially the one using the Repeating Circles background (love the comment “so I had enough hands” – the animals look seamless!).

  4. Fabulous cards! So
    fun using the same
    set but in all the
    different ways.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Carla from Utah

  5. Very interesting post, lots of idea’s for me to make so much more out of the stamps I have especially as my budget is near nil at the moment. Thanks for reminding me to think more x

  6. Fantastic cards Suzy. I am all for stretching my supplies and getting the most out of every set and you have certainly shared a lot of tips and ideas. They are all so cute I can’t even pick a fave…L♥VE them!

  7. On man, Suzy, your coloring is superlative, as always. I love how you managed to cut apart the all-together stamp to make for extra animals to populate your world. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. I love this series both on your blog and here.

  8. Super cute cards! You really found some creative ways to showcase these adorable critters. All of them turned out fantastic! Thanks for the inspiration!

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