Shading Solid Stamps with a MISTI

Good Morning!  I hope you did some fun things this weekend.  I spent it making cards and cleaning house.  One out of two isn't bad.  This card I made for the August 22 sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches challenge blog.  I love clean and simple cards, but the name is a bit misleading.  While the design may be simple, there is usually very little else that is simple about them.  Neatness counts big time in CAS!

The sketch was to use a line of three objects and a sentiment.  When making a line of objects, things need to be very precise on them because there is little else to distract your eye if something is off.  First I cut two pieces of white cardstock to A2 size.  I laid down washi tape where I wanted the bottom of the Tiki cups on one of the pieces.  Then I measured the stamps side to side to decide how far apart to place my stamps.  Thankfully these were an inch wide which made the math a little easier!  I marked the top of the card front with tick marks to indicate the area where I wanted to center my stamps.

You can barely see them on this photo.  In retrospect I would just draw grid lines in pencil. With the MISTI you can so easily make multiple cards (I was planning on making two anyway) that you could use one as your "adjustment" card and then make as many real ones as you want. 

This stamp set has two different Tiki cups so I stamped the first two in Delightful Dijon. Then I took a sponge dauber with Soft Suede ink to the edges of the stamps without cleaning the stamps in between.

This gives a nice shaded and blended edge to the solid stamp.

The MISTI makes this super easy to do.  I've shaded solid stamps without the MISTI by loading the stamp with one color and sponging the edges before doing any stamping, but you have to work really quickly with that method so the ink doesn't dry.  This gives the same effect but you can stamp the base color as many times as you need to get a solid image.  And if you need a bit more shading you can always do that a second time as well. When the first two Tiki cups were done I stamped my third one to the right, but only in the base color.  On a separate sheet I did the shading method and die cut it out.

I used Post-It notes to mask off the cup tops for the straws.  Since that stamp was so small I used a sponge dauber to apply the color.  Applying it directly from the ink pad just got too much ink all over my MISTI lid.  On the third cup I stamped both a straw and umbrella.

I used the same methods for the hibiscus flower and played with different color combinations.

There were several reasons I stamped a cup underneath where I was planning to add my die cut cup. First I could get a precise placement of the Tiki cup and I could see where I needed to stamp the straw and umbrella. And I could place my sentiment right where it needed to be. When I assembled the card I used foam dots to pop up the Tiki cup on the right side off the front of the card. Because I had stamped the cup underneath, I didn't have wiggle room for placing my Tiki cup but in a CAS card you really can't fudge with placement anyway.

I hope you liked my card today.  I've had this fun stamp set for some time and never used it.  As my friends know, I'm always looking for the perfect Mai Tai - somehow this layout and these stamps just seemed to go together!

Stamps and dies - Newton's Nook Tiki Time
Ink - Stampin' Up! Delightful Dijon, Soft Suede, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lime Twist; MFT Black Licorice Hybrid

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