Tutorial Tuesday: Masking Technique

Happy Tuesday, Friends!!!  Can you believe that we are already NINE days into 2018!?  Wow!  Didn't I just gorge myself on pizza while ringing in the New Year?  It feels like it to me!  Well, anyhoo, here's the first Tutorial Tuesday of 2018!  Today, I'm going to show you how to use the Masking Technique!

For our Newbie Stampers, you may be asking "What is the Masking Technique?" (You may have also been wondering this when I have used this technique in past tutorials, and I do apologize if I lost you somewhere in translation!)  The Masking Technique is a method which you overlap stamped images without the entire image being transferred a top each other.  In other words, it looks like you've layered images by cutting them out one by one and placing them on top of each other, when you really didn't!

To show you how to create the Masking Technique, I am using one of my favorite stamp sets that I think "masks" images super well---the Pop of Paradise Stamp Set.  The combination of the fun flamingo with big tropical leaves and some playful phrases makes this set one of my very favorite stamp sets.  I've used it tons for modern/whimsical thank you's and also for scrapbooking tropical vacation pictures!  You'll find its versatility a must-have in your arsenal of stamps!

Okay...seriously onto the show!

Supply List:

• Ink Pad (Classic Stampin' Pads in whatever color you're using)
• Paper Snips #103579
• Sticky Notes (yes, those wonderfully classic little 3"x3" pads that I have an overabundance of!)

Directions:

Start with your sticky note on your workspace.

Stamp the image you'd like to mask on your project as close to the "sticky" part of the sticky note as you can.  (This pineapple works perfectly because its size is nearly the same as the sticky part of the sticky note.  It doesn't matter if your image is big or small, though, as long as part of your stamped image has some of the "sticky" from the sticky note.)

Fussy-cut the stamped image out.

Now, stamp your image that you want to stand out first onto your project.

Place your "mask" (that's the fussy-cut image from the sticky note) directly on top of your image to cover it completely.

Stamp additional images that you want layered exactly where you want them.  Yes, they will stamp on top of your sticky note "mask", but that's what you want!!

Ta-Da!  See!  When you remove the "mask" your original stamped image is fully intact with the other images appearing as if they were in the background!!  How easy!

Here's a final product using the Masking Technique (specifically with the pineapples I stamped in the tutorial!)

Yep, Friends, that's truly all there is to it!  You can use this Masking Technique to create some wonderful dimension without actually adding bulky layers to your final product!  Plus, you can move your "mask" all around so you can create lots of illusionary layers all over!

Here's another example of using the Masking Technique:

Can you see where I used this technique?  Yep, with the "Thank You" sentiment and also with the daisies on the left-hand side!

There are so many possibilities using this technique and I just love it!  What do you think!?  Are you going to try it out?  Let me know how it worked for you!