Create a dramatic hand-made greeting card with a rubber stamp and white pigment ink, using black card-stock on white card-stock. This simple project gets maximum Wow! for only a little effort. The cut-out technique may be incorporated into scrapbook pages for truly impressive results. Just stamp, cut-cut-cut, and glue!

Supplies

• Rubber Stamp (2" or larger recommended)
• White Pigment Ink Pad
• Scrap Paper
• 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" black card stock
• 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" white card stock, scored to fold into 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card
• Bottled Stamp Cleaner
• Paper Towels
• Clean, dry paint pad (optional)
• Craft Knife
• Cutting Mat
• Glue Stick

Lay down scrap paper to protect the work surface. Stamp image onto black card stock using the white pigment ink. Whether the image is centered or placed to one side or the other is a matter of personal preference. No matter where the image is stamped, the card will turn out spectacular. Allow the stamped image to dry, or heat set with a heat embosser or even a blow dryer.

Clean the rubberstamp using the bottled stamp cleaner. Open the bottle, tap it onto the stamp so that the rubber is saturated. Tap the stamp onto a paper towel to remove the pigment. Repeat if necessary. Scrub the rubber stamp on the paint pad to thoroughly remove any pigment residue. Tap the stamp cleaner onto a paper towel to remove any pigment on it. Keeping your stamps clean ensures the next color used will be free of other pigment and

When the image is dry enough to handle, place the black card stock on the cutting mat. Make sure the craft knife blade is very sharp so the cuts will be clean. Holding the card stock steady with one hand, begin making random cut-outs in the card stock around the stamped image. When cutting, hold the craft knife so that the blade is as close to horizontal with the paper as possible--this maximizes the cutting edge contact to make cutting easier. Start about 1/4" away from the image and cut out triangles, stripes or even boxes, keeping the cut-outs similar in shape and size while working out to the edge of the cardstock. Leave about a 1/4" margin for a border. It isn't necessary to measure or be exact, just fairly consistent.

Turn the black card stock over onto a piece of scrap paper so that the image is facing down. Hold the card stock steady with one hand and run the glue stick over the back of the black card stock. Carefully lift the black carstock and position glue-side down on the outside of the white cardstock card. Press firmly in the center and out to the edges, pushing out any air bubbles.

Try the cut-out technique using different colors of paper and ink. This cut-away technique also works nicely to frame a picture, or even overlay an entire image.

Kira Enari is a paper craft enthusiast.

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