Using September's Stamps with Dana Fleckenstein

Hey hey, everyone! Thanks for joining me on the Studio Calico blog today! I'm here with a new card I created using the Lost River bicycle stamp add-on, and I will also show a little trick on how to stretch your dies. Here's how to do it step by step:

First up, cut a sheet of watercolor paper to the size of 4.25 x 5.5 inches and start to stamp a random pattern with the different bicycles in black ink.

Did you get that fabulous brush pen set from the Studio Calico pen pop up shop a few weeks ago? Get those out (or any other watercolors of your choice), and start coloring the bicycles. To achieve lighter hues with the Clean Color Real Brushes you can use, for example, a watertank pen to spread the color around.

Pick a sentiment from the stamp set and a craft die to go with it. Use the craft die with black card stock and stamp your sentiment with Versamark Ink, then heat emboss the sentiment with white embossing powder.

Now for the die-cutting trick: Once you've heat embossed your sentiment, you can adapt the size of your sentiment mat by running it through the die-cutting machine once more with the die slightly off-set. Use washi tape or Post-it tape to hold the die in place during the process.

Cut a card base (4.25 x 5.5 in), and adhere the watercolor mat on top. For added interest, I took off 0.5 inch from the watercolor mat before, and added a 0.25 inch strip of glitter paper on the bottom.

Pop up your sentiment mat with foam dots and attach it to the card.

Thanks so much for checking out my card tutorial today! I hope I've inspired you to take your stamps and watercolors out to play.

Supplies: Kits - Lost River 4X6 Bicycle Stamp Set by Jasmine Jones; Craft Die - Nested Speech Bubble; Cardstock - More Solar White, Watercolor Paper Pack; Ink - Hero Arts Dye Ink Black, Versamark; Other: Clean Color Real Brush Pale Colors, Clean Color Real Brush Pop Colors, Zig Watercolor Brush Detailer Tip, Zap heat gun, white embossing powder, foam dots