Kindred Stamps - Center Stage!

I've had this idea for a spotlighted stage rattling around in my head for a while - so excited to share it with you, using Kindred Stamps! Their character stamps are perfect for this type of masked scene.

Whatever defines an old soul, I have one. My Dad loved sharing his favorite old radio shows and movies with us, and I'm just really drawn to everything vintage - I'm even listening to WWII music while I type. When the Golden Age set came out, it immediately went on my 'need' list. Here's how I made this 'Center Stage' card!

I started by stamping one of the characters from the set, and cutting out a mask to cover him up. A horizontal line across the card makes the back of the stage - that needs to be above his feet, and other than that, there's no rule. The higher the line, the further back it will appear to be.

Next I picked a 'vanishing point' - mine is on his little hat above - and marked it with a pencil. This should be somewhat centered horizontally but it can go anywhere above the floor line. If the point is lower, the floor will look more eye-level and the boards will have a wider spread. 

For each floor board line, I lined up my ruler with the vanishing point and with a 1/2" mark on my grid mat, then drew the line from the horizontal line down. 

Keep drawing lines until the floor is full - you'll need 1/2" (or whatever increment) lines to the left and right of the card panel to fill the space. I added a second line across so it looks like there is a baseboard behind him.

Color in the floor, following the grain of the wood.

Add some wood grain lines lightly, with a slightly lighter brown.

Color in the background with a light or bright color ( not sure why I chose green on this one, but I love it).

Die cut a long oval to use as a mask for the stage light. I cut mine out of removable contact paper, but a paper mask is fine. Place the mask so that the character’s feet are in the center.

Mask off the panel at that baseboard line, then sponge or brush grey ink around the whole floor, and black around the edges.

Mark two points at the the top of the panel for your spotlight. They can be centered or off set, and 1/2" to 1-ish" apart. No need to measure. 

Mask a straight line from the left mark to the outside of the oval.

 Sponge or brush grey ink outside the mask, then add more black ink from the edge in.

Repeat on the other side.

Remove the masks and color in your image. Make sure to add a shadow - the light is directly above them, so the shadow will be small and vaguely shaped like a squished version of the character.

Add a sentiment and whatever other details are needed to complete the card!

Here's another card I made with a few little tweaks - on this one my vanishing point for the floor boards was about 1/2" above the top of the card panel, so you can see how it looks like we're looking down on the stage. The character is off-center, so I angled the spotlight too.

Around the spotlight I used a battery-powered eraser to remove some spots of ink, and also spattered in some pearl metallic ink for a little shimmer.

That's all I know! Thanks for visiting me today!

USA - it's your day!

Happy Fourth!

This card was so much fun to put together - I actually took some time the other night to just play with some neglected stencils, so this USA background was already on my desk when I saw the American Hero promo go up! This little guy is a digital stamp from Kindred Stamps, offered as a fundraiser for Pets for Vets. The image prints out in multiples on a pdf sheet, so I colored him up with pencils, and popped up a shield from a second image on a little foam tape - he's pretty darn cool. I think the sentiment is from Impression Obsession - I just pulled out one that fit the card!

Here is the stencil in case you need one of your own - it's a great size (3" x 6") and very easy to mask off. Remember to use code DinaFan10 for 10% off your order!

Speaking of discounts, I have been collecting information on holiday sales!! You can find those HERE - this is a permanent page on my blog that I try to keep up to date with specials when I see them, so if you'd like your purchases to help keep my blog and art alive, please check there for shopping links! Thanks so much!

Have a safe and wonderful day!

Thanks - ALOTL!

I needed a big stack of thank you cards this week - 35 of them! I had intended to send them before Christmas, but thankfully my Distress Oxide backgrounds turned out to be more versatile... because that didn't happen.

I made these backgrounds while visiting with my friend Amy at her store the Craft Lab - I'm so blessed to have a local stamp store near to me! It was nice to be able to spread out and work on a whole bunch of backgrounds at once. 

The focal stamp I used here is the most adorable and ONLY axolotl stamp I've ever seen, from Kindred Stamps - if you're new to their little company, click below for a 10% discount code! Yay! 

Kindred Stamps

I switched out part of the sentiment and used a Simon Says Stamp clear 'thanks' stamp instead - I love how that worked out! The die is also from SSS - pretty sure both products are discontinued.

Hope you're having a good week - we ended up having an extended weekend with wintry conditions, so my normal is a little bit off. :) I've been working on a trio of portraits for a customer in California - here are the two I've finished, and I should finish up the third today.

Happy Tuesday!