Background OMIT Tutorial

I don't know what this is called so I'm going to call this the Background Omit Technique.
I don't know where this came from - I just did it one day and already someone has cased this idea from a card of mine.

So I decided to share it on my blog as a tutorial. I hope you enjoy it!

It's really very easy. I use this technique instead of or in addition to sponging and/or swiping to add interest around a focal point.

This is how it's done:

1. You need a piece of cardstock with a stamped focal image. I'm using this tulip stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Pocket Full of Posies coloured with Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery.





2. Ink up your background stamp - I like to use Stampin' Up! CANVAS background and I'm using Certainly Celery ink again.

You may ink up the whole stamp or just the area that will cover your piece.

In this next photo I am holding the piece OVER the stamp to get an idea of coverage.

3. Take a baby wipe and wipe out a space big enough for your focal image. I then like to take a tissue and dry that space.

4. Next I HUFF on the rest of the inked area to re-moisten it. Yes that's me HUFFING! LOL!

5. I then lay my focal image piece ON the stamp (face down) carefully positioning it so that the OMITTED area lines up with my stamped image.

I press down around the outside edge of the piece to make contact with the stamp as much and as hard as I want.

6. Remove the piece from the stamp and there you go! A nicely edged background stamped focal piece.

Here are 2 samples of the finished piece.

Even though I used the same ink (Certainly Celery) in both samples the first one is darker than the second because I applied more pressure to more area around the focal image.

Experiment with it and see which look you like best for your project. Sometimes you need more (apply more pressure and cover more area around your focal image) and sometimes you need less (apply less pressure around the focal image). You can also add some sponging and swiping around the edges too if you like.

It's up to you!

PS. I used this technique on both of my challenge cards that I did for Diane's Sunday Sketch challenge.

Here are the links to those cards:

http://marielovestostamp.blogspot.com/2007/05/i-feel-start-of-something.html

http://marielovestostamp.blogspot.com/2007/05/stamp-with-diane-sunday-morning.html