November Technique Blog Hop

NOVEMBER - Masking Magic

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique. We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas.

This month we’re going to explore masking techniques.  There are so many variations of masking, it would be difficult to list them all here.  But, since pictures speak louder than words, we’ll let our team show you the masking techniques they opted to try. Hopefully, we’ll inspire you to try one yourself.  If you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop this month
• April-Stamp Set Showdown
• May-World of Watercolor
• June-Basic Card Folds
• July-Bleaching Your Card
• August-World of Watercolor
• September-Inlaid & Lifted Die Cuts
• October-Waterfall Cards

Our amazing sponsor this month is Jodie Park of Close to My Heart. Please take a moment to check out her store here. The awesome prize this month is:

We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today. The winner will be announced on Sunday, November 26, 2017 on A Piece of (my) Heart’s blog, so be sure to check her blog on Sunday. The winner will have until December 14, 2017, to claim his or her prize.

You should have arrived here from Kim's blog, Katydid Cards.  If you're visiting here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don't miss a thing and increase your chances of winning by commenting on each blog.

Now, let's get on with it!!

Masking is a simple technique used to give the impression of depth. You can mask with pretty much anything...copy paper, post-it notes, scraps of card stock or washi tape, etc., and you can mask stamped images or shapes. This is a card I stamped recently for a friend in Alaska. The llama and skunk were stamped first, then masked so the mountains could appear "behind" them. Then the closer mountains were also masked and the farther mountains added. 

 

Here's how I put this one together:

For small images I use post-it notes for the masks, but for larger or more complex images, I like using this removable tape. Stamp your front image(s) on cardstock and also on the removable tape, then cut out the shapes from the tape. 

Place the mask over the stamped image to protect it.

Next, stamp images that will be in the background.

It's going to look pretty messy with all the layers of masks and ink...

But the scene is revealed when the masks are removed.

I colored this with Copic markers, then cut it out with my Scan 'n' Cut. (The insides of a couple of clouds disappeared in the process, but I wasn't about to start all over again!!)

For this card I used Fun Stampers Journey sets Creature Comforts (SS-0308), No Prob-LLAMA (SS-0481), and Climbing Mountains (SS-0322).

I really like using masking when I make simple, one-layer cards. It seems to take the stamping up a notch. For this card, I just taped off both sides and sponged color down the center of the card before stamping.


Here the yellow bird was stamped first, then masked. The other two were stamped over the mask, then all I had to do was color.


I made this one quite awhile ago - the masking is subtle, just torn paper held in place at different angles with a little color sponged over the edge to create a background.


I hope you enjoyed these samples - and I know you'll love Amanda's as well when you hop over to her blog next. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by.  See you next month with another great technique!

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost along the way:

Sharon
Kim
Wilma
Amanda
Jodie
Debbie
Claudia