Masking for a more realistic image

 There are a few reasons for masking when stamping. I love how it helps to make a final image more realistic.

Brightly Lit Christmas stamp set by Stampin' Up!

(Sorry about the poor lighting--and my fingers--in that photo. It was a sudden afterthought--this stamping was done on the day we got back from our trip, so I was wearing down!).

The stamp & die sets I used (and other materials):

Materials used

I had a few mistakes on my way to making this card. I don't use my stamp platform a lot, but my freestyling method didn't work well.

Incomplete stamping

I didn't stamp the entire lamppost (I think I was trying to stamp the lamppost without the lamp--and I was too short and didn't press enough in one area...).

*If you're using a good-quality paper, you can always use the back side like I did. If you look carefully at the top photo, you can see this misstamped image faintly on the right side. Once I adhered the cart front to the base, it was no longer visible.

The lamppost stamp was very long, and I didn't quite get it straight when I was just eyeballing it as I put it on the clear block. 

2 mistakes here!

The lamp part is crooked. The next time I used the stamp, I placed it on my glass mat--which has lined every quarter inch), lining it up straight!

That was OK--when I tried to 2-step stamp the gift, I was especially sloppy, I guess--leaving ink lines close to the lamp.

I did not give up, though!

2 stamps on one block

The gift was a 2-step stamping image. I put both stamps on one acrylic block--opposite ends and opposite sides of the block. I've found that's the best way, so no ink residue goes where I don't want it. Then I stamped the gift first, and then lined up the ribbon stamp and stamped it in place. I did just eyeball this one, so it isn't perfect, but I think I did pretty well. I love clear stamps & blocks!

Creating the mask

On to the mask! I wanted to make the light glow as if it was on. To do that, I wanted to add some yellow (not too much) to the light, but I didn't think I'd get the look I wanted unless I masked it.

I stamped the lamp part twice onto a post-it note. Then I "fussy cut" just one of the sides of each image (there's a black line between the 2 areas--I didn't want it to tear or not stay tight as I color blended).

Color blending using the mask

They now make special masking paper to use, but Post-it notes work well--and I always have some around.

I put the mask in place on the card front, and then blended some yellow ink in the open area.

Different lampposts

It has been my practice, when buying stamp sets and coordinating dies, to list the parts together so I'll know I can grab the partner set (often I store them together, but this die set was too large).

So of course I had noticed the die set included a lamppost. However, it's quite different from the one on the stamp. Don't believe me? Look at this:

The die won't cut out the stamp image

I'd originally planned to die cut the lamppost after stamping it, but that wasn't an option. I did not want to fussy cut the lamppost. 

I did use the die to cut out the banner, though. So, looking at it, the die set really offers a lot of options on its own.

If you've never made a mask when stamping, I do recommend trying it. I don't do it very often, but I think it really is helpful--and I should do it more often!

Have a beautiful day!