Paper and Fiber Arts: Masking Unleashed on Card Making

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Masking Unleashed on Card Making

Have you made masks for stamping images on your projects? It is a fun technique that allows for adding the illusion of depth while stamping on one layer. Today's post shows two cards made from one stamped surface and then die-cut using all of the pieces. The inspiration comes from the Masking Unleashed class through the Altenew Academy. My personal goal throughout Level 2 of the Altenew Educator Certification Program has been to use the same stamp set throughout all of the card-making projects. Once again, these cards are made with the Build-A-Flower: Primrose set.

The first step is to make the masks. I stamped the three floral outline images on Altenew's masking paper and fussy cut them. There is a die for each of the images, but it leaves a nice white border around the perimeter. That is great for certain applications, but not when you want the images to appear layered on top of one another.

The next step is to randomly stamp the images on a 6.5" x 4.5" piece of white cardstock switching out the ink colors and images. I was going for a rainbow color spectrum.

Though this looks a little messy while working through the process, it is very easy to do. The fun part is pulling off the masks and seeing the finished piece.

This card front panel was planned for a 5 x 7 card base. I eyeballed the Mega Love die onto the center of the stamped piece and saved the negative off-cuts. To create dimension to the card, I also cut it three additional times out of white cardstock. The die-cut 'love' and the tiny pieces were glued and stacked together. The large stamped card front piece is raised on foam tape and placed onto a 6.75" x 4.75" piece of green cardstock. It is important to add foam tape near all of the edges so that the card doesn't sag in the middle. The small pieces are glued into place to create the letters. This panel is raised with fun foam onto the white top-folding card base.

To add some sparkle and reinforce the rainbow color scheme, I added Pinkfresh Studios Crystals with iCraft Mixed Media adhesive. And because my Stardust Gelly Roll pen was sitting nearby, I outlined the stamped panel to add a subtle sparkle-shade line. The last step was to add a die-cut, stamped image over another die-cut, inked image. This provides some extra interest, balance, and color to the card.

Bonus Card

The original die-cut 'love' piece, from above, is glued atop a 5.25" x 4" rainbow washi tape background with the same 'love' die cut from it. The washi card front is glued to a black piece of cardstock with the same measurements and then glued, a bit askew, onto a standard A2 card base.

It makes the card a little more interesting when the front is placed at a bit of an angle. Using a plain white piece for the die-cut sentiment seemed too stark. The random stamping adds some color but still lets the white offer up the necessary contrast to make this work well.