Having had several questions on Tuesday's Giga Guide Lines post about stamping with the PaperTrey Ink Guide Lines stamps, I thought I would stamp another background and share it step-by-step. First, I have used Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, and Sweet Blush inks; it is important to note that I used the new formulation of ink (with the spongy ink pad). The initial formulation of inks won't be this bright, most likely. Besides having better ink color saturation, I've noticed that the new formulation of ink has some resist properties too, and I'll show you that after the stamped grid. (Edited to add: If you purchased the first formulation of Sweet Blush, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, or Spring Rain, you still have until November 7 to return any original pads for a refund. See this PaperTrey Ink forum thread for details.)
I've used the Guide Lines II gridded cardstock here and stamped a medallion image from Giga Guide Lines in the center of every other circle with Aqua Mist ink. Using a gridded acrylic block is the biggest help in getting the pattern straight. I place my stamp on my block very carefully so that the center of the stamp is in the exact center of the block, and is as close as I can come to perfectly horizontally and vertically straight according to the grid on the block as well. That way I can count on the grid on my block to help me get the image lined up with both the stamped images and the printed grid lines.
Here I've added a second medallion shape in Spring Moss ink. These inks are still fairly wet, so they are darker now than they will be in a few hours.
In this picture, I've added a smaller medallion (the same one as I used in Spring Moss, but smaller, from Guide Lines II), stamped in Sweet Blush ink. Because the Sweet Blush is the new formulation, it has some covering properties; it isn't sheer like it was before, so I can cover part of the Spring Moss without creating muddy color.
After the ink dries throughly, you can see that it is a bit lighter. Here I've added dots of Diamond and Cotton Candy Stickles. (Rhinestones would have been pretty too.) My grid is not stamped perfectly, even with the use of gridded cardstock and gridded blocks. Still, it's close enough to work.
Now, for a few miscellaneous Giga Guide Lines backgrounds: this background is stamped on Ripe Avocado cardstock with Spring Moss (first layer), Ripe Avocado (second layer), and Vintage Cream ink (last layer). The poinsettia is from the Peaceful Poinsettia set.
This piece is stamped on Sweet Blush cardstock, with Fresh Snow ink first, Sweet Blush ink second, and Berry Sorbet ink last. Again, the poinsettia is from the Peaceful Poinsettia set.
While these are hard to see on the screen, they are actually my favorites in real life. They are stamped on Berry Sorbet cardstock with a layer of Sweet Blush ink first and a layer of Berry Sorbet ink second. I had mentioned that the newly formulated inks (the ones with the spongy pads) seemed to resist the first formula of ink. You can see it best here where I stamped the Berry Sorbet Giga Guide Lines after stamping the Sweet Blush images. See how the Berry Sorbet has the ghosted lighter images peeking through? It's much more noticeable as you turn the cardstock to different angles; it reminds me of a holographic effect in which you see one thing an one angle, and a different thing at a different angle. Of course, the differences were too subtle for me to be able to capture well in a photograph, but if you play with the same papers and inks, you'll see what I mean.
I hope that this was helpful to some of you who are ready to break out your Giga Guide Lines set. Thanks for visiting!
