Made 2 Craft: Bike Ride

How to use a stamping aid to create a card using stamps with multi layers

Sometimes stamp sets have 2 or 3 layers - for example there may be one stamp with an outline of a flower and another stamp that colours in the petals. You have to stamp them one ontop of the other to get the finished flower. It produces a very pretty result but can be a bit fiddly to get them to line up. I used Stampin Up's Bike Ride stamp set to create this weeks card to show you how it's done.

Stampin Up's Bike Ride Stamp set used to create this birthday card

That's where a stamping aid such as a Stamparatus or Misti comes in. These stamping aids have magnets to hold down your piece of card and a plastic tab that your stamps cling onto. The plastic tab folds across your piece of card and allows you to ink and then stamp your image as many times as you want in exactly the right place.

If the image doesn't stamp very well, you can open the tab, re-ink your stamp and re-stamp your image. As long as you do not move the stamp off your tab or move your card, the tab will always align your image up in exactly the same place. So you can keep re-stamping until you get the perfect image.

I use a Stamparatus to create this card but all stamping aids work in a similar way. I have used Stampin Up's Bike Ride stamp set to show you how to use a stamping aid as it has lots of stamps to create a bigger picture.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

You will need

Bike Ride stamp set by Stampin Up
Greeting stamp (I used one from Stampin Up's Circle of Spring stamp set)
Black, blue, grey and purple ink pads (I used a black ink pad from The Range, and the coloured ink pads came from Stampin Up - island indigo, smoky slate and perfect plum)
Thin blue ribbon
Grey patterned paper (I used a piece from Stampin Up's paper set called Frosted Floral)
Stampin aid (I used Stamparatus)
Shaped rectangular die - big enough to cut out your bike image
White card
C6 white base card
Die cutting machine
Double sided tape and foam pads

Put a piece of white card onto your stamparatus platform right into the top right corner and use the two magnets to hold it down. (By putting your card into the right corner, should it move at all, you can put it back into the corner and it will all line up again). I am using clear cling stamps so I need to keep the foam pad on the stamparatus platform (this is the foam pad that comes with it). If you use stamps with a foam backing, then remove the foam pad

Place the bike frame stamp onto your piece of card in the stamparatus so that the stamp part is face down and the flat back is face up. Line it up where you wish to stamp it (allow plenty of room around it for the other stamped images).

Bring the plastic hinged tab over the white card on the stamparatus platform. Tap the plastic tab down slightly so that the back of the stamp sticks to it. Open the tab back up. The stamp will now be stuck on the tab.

Ink the stamp with the blue ink pad, move the tab back over your card and press lightly on the back. Open the tab again and your image will now be stamped onto the white card.

Sometimes your first stamped image doesn't work - there are feint bits or bits that haven't stamped at all. In my case below, I felt that the back of the bike hadn't stamped well enough. Maybe I didn't press down on that bit. It doesn't matter. Just re-ink the stamp and press the tab over your card again. Hopefully second time it has stamped better. Because the card is held down with strong magnets and your stamp is on a hinged tab, you can keep re-inking and stamping it and it will always stamp in exactly the same place. Clean your stamp and remove it from the plastic tab

Line the wheel stamp in the correct place on the front spoke of the bike image (with the stamp side down and the flat back face upwards). Pull the plastic tab over to pick up the stamp. Ink it with the black ink pad and close the tab down over your white card to stamp onto your white card. I never find my black ink pads work particularly well, so I had to repeat the stamping process 3 times to get a decent wheel image.

We now need to stamp the same wheel but on the back of the bike. Clean the stamp. Pick it off the tab. You need to line up the stamp in the right place on the back of your bike but first put a piece of acetate over your stamped image first. This protects your stamped bike image being marked from a slightly inky or wet stamp. Line up the wheel stamp on your bike image in the right place at the back of the bike as you would do normally. Remove the acetate before stamping the wheel.
(I have a small piece of washi tape in the top corner to remind me which side
is clean and which side may have ink or water on so I don't get marks on my image)

Next line up the bike rack on the back of your bike and stamp it using the blue ink pad

You can stamp a few images at the same time. So this time, place the outlines of the dog onto the back rack and the basket onto the front of the bike. Stamp them both using black ink

Place the dog filler stamp and basket filler stamp onto your image ensuring they line up with the image you stamped in the last point. Ink them both with grey ink and stamp them.

Line up the dog bandana over the previously stamped image, and stamp it using the purple ink pad

Put the pile of book outline stamp so it looks like it is pilled on the basket on the front of the bike. Stamp it using the black ink pad

There are two further book stamps that colour in the books. Take the first one and line it up over the outline on your stamped image. Use the purple ink pad to stamp it. Then line up the second stamp and ink it with the grey ink pad

Use the shaped rectangle die to cut out your stamped bike image

Put the bike image back into your stamparatus. I have found that if you want to stamp anything too close to the hinged edges of the stamparatus, it doesn't always work very well. So I have put my image into the stamparatus upside down so the top of the image, where I want to put my greeting, is not near the hinged edge. Make sure your greeting is upside down though when you line it up on your image. I used the purple ink pad to stamp my greeting

Cut a piece of grey patterned paper so it is just smaller than your card base.

Attach some thin ribbon down the left hand side of the patterned grey card by sticking it to the back of the card with double sided tape. This leaves the ribbon on the front loose so you can use another piece of ribbon to tie a bow around it