July Club Card Photo Tutorial

Hello to everyone - it's Helen N here with a quick photo tutorial for this month's Little Claire club stamp card.  

For anyone who isn't part of the club, members receive a brand new Little Claire stamp each month together with the materials and instructions to make a card.  There are also instructions for two more cards and exclusive news and special offers.  You also get a 10% discount on all purchases online, by phone or at shows and free postage!  For more information click here to go to the Little Claire website for all the details.

On to the July club card.  I find that I get the best results with silhouette stamps when I stamp using a Versafine ink pad - for this card I used the Onyx Black pad which is available here on the Little Claire website.  It's a 'juicier' pad than the Memento ink (which needs to be used with alcohol markers) but still gives very clear and fine detail.  When you're inking the silhouette make sure you move the ink pad round as you ink the stamp - this avoids any lines from the edge of the ink pad appearing on your stamped image.

I also find it easier to use some padding under the card I'm stamping on to - the stamping mat sold by Little Claire here is ideal for this.

1. The base card is a square 14.5cm square card blank.  Open it out and then cut one panel of the card so you are left with a piece measuring 5cm high as shown in the photo above.

2. Next mat together a piece of black paper (14cm square) and a piece of patterned paper (13.5cm square) as shown above.

3. I've used the sentiment 'best wishes on your birthday' stamped direct on to the patterned paper.  To make it easier to stamp, I put the entire sentiment on the acrylic block at once and also used on the lines on my cutting mat to line up the stamps on the block.  This is a great way to ensure your stamping is straight - line the acrylic block up with one of the lines on your stamping mat and then use another of the lines to get your stamps in place straight as shown in the photo above.

4. Use the dots on the paper and a ruler to line up the sentiments on each side as shown above.

5. This is the completed stamped paper.

6. Mat the paper on to the inside of the card as shown in the photo above.

7. Next stamp the floral border twice on a piece of white card measuring 13.5cm by 4cm.  You will be stamping one complete border and part of a second one so make sure you stamp on to scrap paper.  Stamp the 'celebrate today & everyday' sentiment on to a piece of white card measuring 4cm by 2cm as shown above.

8. Mat the floral border on to black paper measuring 14cm by 4.5cm and the sentiment on to black paper measuring 4.5cm by 2.5cm as shown above.

9. Attach the border image to the front of the card and the sentiment panel in the middle of the border image as shown above.

10. Stamp the main image on to a piece of white card measuring 7cm by 7.5cm.

11. Mat the image on to a piece of black paper measuring 7.5cm by 8cm and attach to the inside of the card - close the front of the card across to make sure you put the image high enough to be seen clearly.

And here's another view of the final card.

Make sure you have a look on the website to see the card samples from the rest of the Design Team!

Helen N x