It’s Stamp Giveaway Time & a Watercolor Letterpress Tutorial!

Hi folks! Another busy summer week around here, whatever happened to the lazy days of summer? Anyway, this week I will be giving away this beautiful pansy collage stamp from About Art Accents. Leave a comment and next Monday I will pick a winner. Easy as pie!

I love using my watercolor markers to stamp! You can be specific with your coloring then all you need is a damp brush to give it a painterly feel. Watch the video to see how I made this card. You can also see my homemade letterpress in action!

I know you are going to ask so the paper I used is Rives BFK, it comes in 22″x30″ sheets and most art supply shops will carry it for about $8 a sheet but it is cheaper to get it online from Cheap Joe’s Artstuff (5 sheets/$22.) The paper is smooth, thick and soft but it handles water very well so you can stamp, watercolor, and letterpress on it. I always loved the look of letterpress (although try to get  a decent photo of it!) so when I started seeing the expensive Lifestyle Crafts plates go on clearance everywhere I snagged them for about $5 a kit. I guess it was a trend that never took off for the home crafter.

Here are the homemade letterpress tutorials I mentioned:

Home Letterpress Part 1

Homemade Letterpress Part 2

You can open an embossing folder and use it with the Rives BFK to letterpress too, it is the same plastic as the plate , well near enough anyway, the plates a bit more rigid. Another cool thing about using markers to stamp is that you can get 2 impressions from one inking! In the next example I misted the stamp with water and restamped, look how much ink is still on the stamp. Get more stamping for your effort!

Here are close ups of the cards:

Be sure to leave a comment for your chance to win this beautiful stamp from About Art Accents and if you decide to shop you can use my coupon and save 10% on your regular price order: Lindsay10% Good luck and til next time happy crafting!