How to Get More From One Stamp: 3 Celtic Card Ideas with Colour & Embossing

How many different cards can you make from one stamp? Quite a few, as it turns out!

I love finding ways to take one design and make it look completely different simply by changing the colours, the background or the way I use embossing powder. It's a great way to get more from the stamps you already have rather than feeling that you need a different stamp for every card.

For this post, I'm using my Shady Designs Celtic Circle Stamp Set and creating three very different looks simply by changing the background colour and embossing powder.

The starting idea

The Celtic Circle stamp is part of the Shady Designs Celtic Whispers Collection. I've loved Celtic designs for years and when I designed this collection, I wanted the stamps to give you the freedom to create your own Celtic-style frames and arrangements.

The same stamped design can feel soft and romantic, bright and pretty or much more dramatic depending on the colours you choose.

For these cards, I started with a very simple idea: take the main Celtic Circle image and stamp it twice into each corner. That's it.

The stamping stays essentially the same for all three cards. It's the colour and embossing that changes the finished look.

A Spectrum of Possibilities:

The starting idea

Taking the main image from Shady Designs Celtic Circle stamp set, stamp twice in each corner. This will be the same design we will use in all 3 cards ...

Change the background, change the card

One of the easiest ways to make the same stamped design look different is to change the background.

You don't necessarily need to change the stamps or the layout. A different colour can completely alter the feel of the finished card.

For my three cards, I created backgrounds using Pretty Gets Gritty Explosion Powders, choosing colours that would work with the embossing powders I wanted to use.

A little tip if you're making your own backgrounds: make two at the same time.

Use one as your card background and keep the second piece for stamping and embossing the extra elements you want to add to the card. Because everything has been created from the same background, your colours will automatically coordinate.

And if you don't have time to make a background, don't worry. Coloured card can do exactly the same job - and you'll see that further down this post.

Embossing adds another layer

Embossing powder is another really easy way to change the personality of a card. There are so many colours and finishes available now, but you don't necessarily need a huge collection of embossing powders.

If you have a coloured ink pad, try stamping with that colour and then embossing with clear embossing powder. You'll get the appearance of coloured embossing without needing a matching powder.

For these cards, I chose embossing colours that I felt complemented each background:

• Green/blue background + gold
• Pink background + white
• Blue/purple background + silver

You could, of course, go in a completely different direction. For a more dramatic look, try black instead of silver, copper instead of gold or even a strong pink instead of white.

Sometimes a very small change can completely alter the finished card.

Card idea 1: green, blue and gold

Main supplies:

• Shady Designs Celtic Circle Stamp Set
• Pretty Gets Gritty Attis Explosion Powder
• WOW Metallic Gold Rich Embossing Powder
• Shady Designs Celtic Squares Die Set

For this card, I created the background using Pretty Gets Gritty Attis Explosion Powder.

Once it was completely dry, I stamped the Celtic Circle design with Versamark, deliberately allowing some of the stamping to go off the edge of the card.

I then embossed the stamped outlines using WOW Metallic Gold Rich.

As I mentioned above, I had created two backgrounds at the same time. This meant I could stamp and emboss additional elements onto the second piece, then simply cut them out and use them as embellishments.

No colouring needed – the background had already done that job for me.

I arranged the pieces over two die-cut corners from the Shady Designs Celtic Squares Die Set and finished with a few faux pearls.

The basic design is really quite simple, but the combination of the background and gold embossing gives it a much more elaborate feel.

Card idea 2: pink and white

Main supplies:

• Shady Designs Celtic Circle Stamp Set
• Pretty Gets Gritty Cupid Explosion Powder
• WOW Opaque Bright White Embossing Powder
• Shady Designs Celtic Whispers Sentiment Collection

For my second card, I used Pretty Gets Gritty Cupid Explosion Powder to create the background.

The stamping and layout followed exactly the same basic idea as the first card, but this time I used WOW Opaque Bright White embossing powder.

Again, I created two backgrounds at the same time and used the second piece to stamp and emboss the additional elements.

Once cut out, I arranged these around a sentiment from the Shady Designs Celtic Whispers Sentiment Collection.

It's essentially the same starting idea as Card 1, but the pink background and white embossing give it a completely different feel.

This is why I love experimenting with colour. You can use exactly the same stamp design but make it look as though you've started again from scratch.

Card idea 3: blue, purple and silver

Main supplies used:

Shady Designs Celtic Circle Stamp Set

Pretty Gets Gritty Hades Explosion Powder

WOW Metallic Silver Embossing Powder

Shady Designs Celtic Whispers Circle Die Set

For the third card, I wanted something much more dramatic, so I chose Pretty Gets Gritty Hades Explosion Powder for the background.

Again, I used the same stamped arrangement but changed the embossing powder to WOW Metallic Silver.

I followed the same process of creating two backgrounds and using the second one to stamp and emboss additional pieces.

This time, though, I also stamped and embossed some pieces onto plain card. I wanted to introduce some uncoloured areas to break up the darker background and stop the finished card from becoming too dark.

I arranged the finished pieces onto a Celtic Whispers Circle die cut, adding a few of the uncoloured pieces amongst the coloured ones.

And suddenly we have a third card that looks completely different again.

Don't want to make a background?

You don't have to!

If you're short on time – or simply don't fancy making a background – coloured card is an easy alternative.

I created three more card ideas using the Shady Designs Celtic Circle Stamp Set, stamping and embossing the images directly onto coloured card.

 

For these examples, I used gold embossing powder and then coloured the stamped images with Tsukineko Delicata inks.

The process is much quicker because the background colour is already there. You can concentrate on the stamped and embossed elements and then use them to build your card.

Again, the stamp hasn't changed. The colour has.

And that's the point I really wanted to share with this post.

Get more from the stamps you already own

I think it's very easy as crafters to look at a stamp and think, "I've used that one already." But changing just one element can make it feel completely different.

Try:

• A different background colour
• A different embossing powder
• Stamping onto coloured card instead of white
• Creating your own background
• Making two backgrounds so you have coordinating pieces for embellishments
• Changing the arrangement of your stamped elements
• Introducing some uncoloured or plain pieces to break up a busy design

You don't always need another stamp to make another card. Sometimes you just need to look at the one you already have a little differently.

And that's probably one of my favourite things about designing stamps – seeing how many different ways people can take one idea and make it their own.

Until next time,

Lou

xxx