Ink Smooching is quickly becoming one of my favorite techniques this month. This technique is a great way for beginners to create beautiful backgrounds with few supplies.
Beginner stampers tend to only have a few colors of ink pads and some color cardstock, right? You want to make the most with what you have before investing in more supplies! I get it! I’ve been there and would have loved to see more techniques that would utilize the supplies I had. It’s a big step to but a $100+ die cut machine or even punches that may only get used periodically. Keeping that in mind I wanted to share Ink Smooching with you.
In the above photo, I used two different ink pads on the cards on the right and four in the card on the left. I have seen this technique done with the little square ink spot ink pads and I think those would work a little better than the bigger ink pads, so save those Paper Pumpkin ink spots if you are a Club Paper Pumpkin member!
It is always good to have one good black dye ink pad on hand. I use Momento Tuxedo Black ($6 Item#132708 AC Pg. 147) for most of my cards and love how crisp it leaves my images. When stamping an all black image, like the tree above, try not to press too hard on the stamp. Do some test prints on a blank sheet of paper to get an idea of how much pressure you need to put on the stamp for the perfect stamped image. Also, be aware of what is under your paper. Is your table textured? Does it have any give when pressure is put on it? I use a glass mat on my desk (only because I hate staining my desk which is very firm and perfect for stamping). I have also used the Stamparatus Deluxe Foam Mat ($6 Item #150866 AC Pg. 164) alone as a stamping surface when I am not working at my desk. It measures just over 7″ x 7″, so it fits perfectly in my supply bag. It’s great to have when you are at classes or other gatherings where they use those plastic folding tables which have a lot of give and make your stamped image look incomplete.
I wanted to try this technique with fall colors to mail out to friends this season. I like how they turned out and they are very different from the tropical cards above! Different color combinations with one stamp set can totally give you a different look and feel. Add some die cuts, stickers, ribbon, or other embellishments you might have on hand, like the card in the video, if you feel the need. Otherwise, send it out just as naturally beautiful as it is to make someone smile!
$7.50 each
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$67.50 for a 10 Count Color Family Set
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PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SET
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Let It Snow Stamping 
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