Sweet Summer

 

Hi Stampers! I have a sweet summer card to share with you today, and a touch-up technique that I use from time to time as needed.

As I stamped and assembled this card, I thought I was happy with the results of my stamped image. After all, I prepped this unused bold stamp just yesterday. ( Can you believe that this stamp has been on my stamp shelf since 2009 and only see an ink pad once? ) I have since learned that bold rubber stamps hold ink better if they are sanded, just a tad, with a nail buffer. It's kinda like painting a car, you know? It just makes the ink blend on the rubber better. Anyway I did all that before stamping my image and thought it didn't look bad, until I took a photograph with my digital camera. Leave it to a camera to bring out all the little flaws, huh?

Anyway I didn't like how the letters looked like maybe my ink pad was drying out!

Not good! And certainly not blog worthy! So I unpacked my ink pad and my blender and got to work on filling in the stamped image by picking the ink up directly from the ink pad. I have got to admit that I have tried many blender pens, but I think that Stampin' Up!'s blender pen works best. The brush end is just the perfect size for getting into small spaces, and the pens last for a long, long time. If you're careful with your marker nibs you can freshen them up with a few drops of glycerin (found in the cake decorating section of your local craft store). I've been using the same $5 bottle of glycerin for a looong time! And I think the after shot shows this is a technique that works:

Here's a close-up of the strawberries. I'm not sure if they count as punch art, I used my Big Shot and my Quickutz Heart Die:

The flowers and berry tops were made with the SU Boho Blossoms Punch. The gingham ribbon is also from SU - no longer available but oh so timeless! I love these little wooden buttons. I found them at Life's Memories & More - I'm sure if you called Tanya you might be able to arrange to get a few ;) The little wood veneer birds are from Studio Calico. If you're nearby and you would like to make a set of these cards for yourself, I am offering them as one of the cards we'll be making at my Stamp A Stack on Thursday at Life's Memories and More!

Thanks for stopping by today!
~Katherine