Fiesta Party Card: simple masking technique

Today's stamp set is one that I have used a few times now. A few years ago, llamas were popular for cardmaking (just as gnomes have been popular now for awhile)--lots of stamping companies offered llamas in stamp sets.

One set that I got was Birthday Fiesta by Stampin' Up! What I loved about this stamp set is that it had some other fun Mexico-themed features, including papel picado (cut tissue paper) banners.

Party/fiesta Mexico-inspired card

I grew up in the American Southwest, so the Mexican influence is very strong (they were living in the area before US citizens moved there!). I have to use the colors of the Mexican flag for this card: red, white, and green. (One of the first sentences I learned in grade school Spanish was La bandera de México es rojo, blanco, y verde: The flag of Mexico is red, white, and green. We also learned the US colors: rojo, blanco, y azul.

I can't remember if I added a sentiment inside the card (I felt the front was busy enough). I think I turned this into a retirement card, but I might have left it blank so I could put in an appropriate sentiment later.

The background was one I'd made awhile back--saved for a good use. 

The llama was stamped on vanilla (off-white) cardstock for a more natural look.

I popped up the flower on the cactus by using a small piece of foam.

Birthday Fiesta stamp set/ Fiesta Time framelits dies: Stampin' Up!

Here's a look at the stamp set and matching dies. I die cut the banners first, then stamped onto the squared one--first with a colored stamp (background), then used the designed ones that represent the papel picado style.

For the thinner banner: you can see that the die cuts this banner so that it looks twisted, just like twisting a crepe-paper banner. I chose to color each section in one of those same 3 colors as the other banner, but it would be awesome to use 2 tones (lighter and somewhat darker) of the same one color--so that it looks slightly shadowed, just like the crepe-paper ones do.

I used an easy version of masking to color it:

Simple masking with post-it note pieces

Since I wanted it in alternating red, white, and green, I tore a small post-it note in half--keeping some of the sticky edge on each of the 2 pieces.

I then post-it taped down the part of the banner next to where I was going to color. I used a small blender brush for red, and another for green. 

In the photo above, I covered part of the banner (on the right here), where I needed to cover over a green area I'd already colored. As I added the red ink, the green was protected by the post-it note. The red ink went on the post-it note instead.

You could also use an easily removable tape such as washi tape, too. Since this banner is so thin, I really wanted to use something very low-tack, so I chose the post-it note paper.

So there's a quick & easy way to mask off an area.

Have a great day!