Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday: Creating A Stamped Masterboard

Creating a Masterboard is a fun way to create your own background papers.  You can choose any assortment of stamps and inks to create your own personal paper, which can come in handy for special crafts you may have in mind.  Later on I'll show you ways you can use your Masterboard, but for now let's get to making the actual board.


Pictured above and below are the necessary items.  I've chosen an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of Stardust cardstock.  You can certainly use a 12x12 piece of cardstock or even a colored one if you'd like.
I have a few basic rules I follow when choosing my stamps.   I like images that are different but also seem to belong together.  I choose between 5-7 stamps and I'll vary the sizes.

Since I'm only working with  an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper, I'm not going to choose any stamp that's too big.  It's good not to choose an image that if torn in half will look strange.   Choose stamps that even if you only see a part of it are still pleasing. My masterboards usually include some kind of text or script, but they don't have to. For inks I am going with the Palette inks.

I'll identify the specific stamps and colors inks I'm using as we proceed along.


Another rule I follow when I start stamping is not to over think the placement.  I'm always happier with the results when I just go for it.  I do remember to stamp off the page so I get a full sheet to work with later on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


For my script I am using this quote from the All Things of Nature set and I am stamping it in Cognac.  Notice how I have varied the direction of the stamp and also stamped off the top, bottom and sides of the page.


I'm drawn to music stamps so I added this set of notes from the Vintage Backgrounds Set.  That I stamped in Jardin Moss.  I varied the shade by sometimes stamping on another piece of paper before my masterboard.   Notice how I stamp over some of the text I had previously stamped.  One thing you do not want to do is try to place your stamps entirely on empty space.


I'm now adding my largest image which is this flower from the Be Fabulous set.  I have stamped it appropriately in Sunflower.   This image fills in a lot of the white space, but I still make sure to stamp off the page with it.








Now comes one of my favorite little additions, and that is the bee stamp from Be Fabulous.  I have stamped that in Charcoal.  I add a lot of these -- mostly because I like them.
See how it's starting to fill in?   We are almost done.







I adore this bird's egg as well from the All Things of Nature set.  I'm adding it in Beaux Arts Blue.  That really seems to pop off the page.








The last step for this masterboard is to use a small fill-in stamp just to bring everything together.  I've chosen this small background stamp from Fly Fairy which basically looks like spilled drops of ink.  It's perfect for the final touches on this piece.  I stamped that in Cognac again.



That completes my Masterboard!
You can use this original in your art projects or make a color copy of it to get multiple pages from it.
Below you can see the cards and tag I made by tearing, cutting, punching pieces of my masterboard.






10 comments:

  1. Wow, very cool! Thanks for the tutorial. I'm not very good at collage type backgrounds!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Louise, you do these with such ease and such wonderful results. I need a lot of practice!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful ideas - love the tutorial! Thanks Louise!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Easy instructions, Louise, and very practical way to use a variety of stamps and make patterned paper for use in any papercrafting project. Great tutorial.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great idea and one I have done it in the past too, but I like your different color choices as that way you can use it with more than one colored base card too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is great Louise! I love the way you pulled all together - and love the finished look in the projects!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for this especially the ideas of how to use it afterwards. BJ

    ReplyDelete
  8. I thought we are not supposed to make mechanical copies of the stamp images. Does this not apply to a masterboard? You had posted "make a color copy of it to get multiple pages from it."

    ReplyDelete
  9. Betty, Louise is talking about just making copies of your stamped masterboard for your own personal use as patterned paper. She's not suggesting that anyone make mechanical copies of the images themselves. I hope that helps. If you or anyone else has any questions about this, you can email me at info@redrubberdesigns.com.

    ReplyDelete
  10. love your tutorial looks so great when you can see how something was created from nothing, just so detailed
    Hugs Kate x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your feedback - we love to hear from you!