Sweet Smiles

                    ~ Sweet Smiles

by
Judy Cantrell

 I'll share my card and tutorial that was published in Rubber Stamp Madness Spring 2011.

Supplies:

PhotoStamps

Speedball brayer

Cushion pad

Glossy kromekote cover cardstock 10pt.

Watercolor crayons

Niji waterbrush

Archival Black or Sepia ink 

Tim's Tiny Attacher  

Adirondack Alcohol inks; Pearl,purple, and yellow 

Alcohol felt applicator

Paper glue

Clear rhinestones

Black cardstock

White china plate

Cotton cloth 

Instructions:

1. Before inking new photostamps lightly scrub with soft nail brush and dish soap. Rinse well, and then dry using a lint free cloth. 

2. If the photostamps image still won’t give a good stamped image, it might need a light surface sanding with emery cloth under running water. 

3. Just before inking your photostamps make sure they are free of pet hair, lint or dust. Rinse with water and pat dry with lint-free cloth. 
(I use an old cotton sheet cut in small 12" squares, when they are soiled they can be clean with work clothes or tossed away.)

4. Ink your brayer with a forward rolling position on  Archival black or sepia ink pad. Keep rolling the brayer in the ink until well covered.

5. Roll the brayer in one direction onto the stamp until well inked. 

6. Place glossy paper on cushion pad shiny side up, press inked image down, smooth fingers over the stamp, leave image down on paper and start counting 10-20 seconds and then lift off stamp. 

(If you are new to this is might take you several times to find the right pressure to get a perfect image.)

7. Set image aside to dry. For best results; let the stamped image dry overnight. 

Coloring

8. My palette includes 6 colors; pink, green, orange, blue, yellow and brown watercolor crayons. From these colors you can make all colors by mixing two or more colors together.

9. Use a clean white china plate for your palette.  Scribble each color around the outside of an 8” plate. You will have plenty of room to mix these colors on the plate. Leave the center for mixing flesh tone watercolor. 

Note: when you finish water coloring let the colors dry on the plate, and then cover with plastic wrap until the next time you need to color an image. Add more color as needed before wetting the surface. 

10. Use a wet waterbrush to swipe a very small amount of yellow, orange, pink and several swipes of brown in center of  china plate add droplets of the water to a runny consistency. Picking up more as needed to get the color you need for the face, arms, neck and hands. 

Note: Test the coloring on a scrap piece of glossy cardstock. My preference is to color the face first. And then add color to other areas.

Note: if the image looks too wet, blot with cotton cloth. Actually I keep the cloth in one hand and waterbrush in the other hand. Blotting as needed, adding more color as needed. 

11. Use waterbrush with orange mixed brown or yellow mixed with small amount of brown for the hair.

12. Use a waterbrush with blue and pink for a purple color for clothing. 

13. Use waterbrush to mix yellow mixed with brown for the flowers. Highlight some of the flowers with a little orange watercolor. Set aside to dry overnight. 

14. Trim image leaving a white border or mat to white cardstock. 

(Note: Create the look of a real photo by polishing the watercolor image with a soft cloth.)

To complete this card:

15. Load pearl, purple and yellow alcohol ink onto felt applicator. Apply to 4” X 5 ¼” glossy cardstock. Don’t over mix. Leave some areas light. Let dry. 

16. Adhere photo images to alcohol ink piece.

17. Apply mini-staples to corners

18. Adhere rhinestones. 

19. Mat to 4 ¼” X 5 ½” folded card.

Enjoy! Thanks for Looking!