Silhouette Stamps: Tips & Tricks For Stamping

Today, I thought it would be fun to talk about some tips & tricks for using silhouette stamps. If you are not familiar with silhouette stamps, they are usually solid images, such as flowers and leaves. Additionally, it can be a more detailed stamp, such as a landscape or forest with a mirrored image that appears to be a reflection or shadows. One such stamp set with these types of images is Quiet Reflections by Stampin’ Up!

In the Quiet Reflections Stamp set, there are two stamps with trees and forest-like images. Both of these images are mirrored, thereby, suggesting the reflection of the trees in water or shadows on the ground. I love to create blended backgrounds and experiment with different ways to use silhouette stamps. So today, I am going to share some “tips & tricks” I used with the Quiet Reflections Stamp paired with the Radiating Stitches Dies.

Creating A Blended Background

The Radiating Stitches Dies are solid images, meaning the dies do not cut the center out of the shape. Therefore, I needed to come up with a way to create my blended background without getting ink on the stitched edges. In the video below, I demonstrate two different ways to do this. First, I die cut my rectangle, Next, I taped the die cut with the die in place to my work surface. Once, I was done with blending, I removed the dies and tape. The second way was to tape the die in place on a piece of Basic White card stock. Afterwards, I add my blended background and then die cut the rectangle. Both ways worked equally well. I was able to easily remove any ink from the die by wiping it off with my shammy.

Silhouette Stamps And Two-Tone Stamping

I first created a blended background using Crushed Curry, Calypso Coral and Flirty Flamingo with Blending Brushes Next, I inked the stamp with Pool Party on the bottom of the image and Lost Lagoon on the top. I, then, used a dauber to gently blend the the center where the two inks overlapped. Finally, I stamped the image on the blended background. I fussy cut the sentiment and popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. For embellishment, I chose Classic Matte Dots.

Silhouette Stamps – Stamping in one color

In contrast to above, this card is, definitely, bolder. Here, I chose to matte the layer with the silhouette image on Pebbled Path. Similar to the first card, I added a blended background, but stamped the image with Tuxedo Black Momento Ink. While I like the boldness of the image, in hind sight, I would have tried either “stamping off” of using a lighter color ink such as Pebbled Path or Gray Granite. I used another of the Radiating Stitches dies for the sentiment and finished off with the Classic Matte Dots, as before.

In the video below, I demonstrate how to use your dies as a “mask” to add blended color for a background. Additionally, you will see two different ways to use ink to stamp the silhouette images. Further down in the post, you will find the measurements, supplies and a downloadable PDF for the cards made during in the video. Leave me a comment as I would love your thoughts on the tips you received for using silhouette stamps or the cards.

supplies

Online Products Available March 5, 2024: Flowering Zinnias Designer Series Paper (163469) and Adhesive-Backed Shiny Sequins (163484)

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