Basic Masking Tutorial

The limited supply challenge for this week on Splitcoaststampers is to use a non-halloween animal stamp to make a halloween tent card. I figured it was a prime time to do a tutorial on simple masking.

I will be using a hippo stamp and adding a witches hat. The easiest way to do masking is to use post-it notes (at least that's the easiest way I've found. So here are the two stamps I'll be using and the post-it notes.



The first thing I'm going to do is make my mask. So I'm going to stamp the witches hat on the sticky portion of the post-it note. After stamping you are going to cut out the mask just inside (or on) the line.



Now...take the same image and stamp it onto your cardstock. Here I've stamped it onto white cardstock.



NOW, you are going to use your mask. Take the post-it image and place it directly on top of the stamped image on the cardstock.



Once your mask is in place you are ready to stamp the next image (in my case the hippo).





Now remove the mask and your image is finished!



I could have stamped a single hat on white cardstock and cut it out and then just glued it on top of the hippo's head. Sounds easier right? But if you are doing multiples (or if you don't want the cut/paste look) then masking is the way to go. If you're using clear stamps then masking becomes even easier.

Masking can be used in many ways and can be used for more indepth techniques. With masking you can place items inside other items (like placing items "inside" a basket), you can make things sit on top of other things (like a dog sitting on a chair) or you can build scenes with items in the front and then build backwards...masking as you go. It may seem daunting but hopefully the step by step pics makes it easier to understand! You can also do "reverse masking". For example you can make your mask, place it on the image and then sponge blue ink around it to make it look like blue sky. Or...I also use a variation of masking to do my coloring at times. I will stamp my image on glossy cardstock and then cut portions of it out (say all the flower parts I want to be red), then stamp the same image again and cut out different portions (say all the flower parts I want to be yellow)...repeat for each color you plan to use. Then you basically use it template. You lay it over the areas you want to color (so only those areas are exposed and sponge on ink), then use the next template. Sometime I'll show that technique. For now...here is the finished card I made with the basic masking!





Hope you enjoyed!

Jane