Letterpress = Love Stampin’ Up! Style!

Hi All,

Here’s 3 cards that all proclaim I’m in love with Stampin’ Up’s new letterpress plates.   I have a post in the works that shares a lot of what I’ve discovered about using them but for now I thought I’d share the results.  One thing I have discoverd I’ll share now…Letterpress is all about the paper and then the ink!  Stamps aren’t really required except as an adjunct embellishment!  Shocking I know – LOL!

Whether you use this as a Valentine – yeah I know its early for that just yet –  or just to tell someone how you feel, the Letterpress look adds a touch of elegance.  My thought was that Lots of Love would work well not only for Valentines but Wedding, Anniversary, or really any occaison where you want someone to know they are loved.  Even Christmas a true feast centered on love. 

I borrowed Di Gibbs idea found here along with an excellent video tutorial for using Versamark as my ink of choice for this set of cards.  Then I started out basic, then tweaked, then tweaked some more!   Yep with me its all about the tweak!   Something I learned from my friend Cheryl.  If something is good it can usually be made still better!

Here they are:

Basic:

All images © Stampin' Up!

First Tweak:

All images © Stampin' Up!

Second Tweak:

All images © Stampin' Up!

 

There is actually another tweak possible that of adding the Ribbon piece to the last tweak but I decided that was over the top for a Stamp Camp project given the cost of the components.  One other thing I’m noticing.  My scanner appears to have converted the Very Vanilla layering pieces to white!!  So sad since the Very Vanilla adds to the vintage feel and elegance.

Here’s a fairly basic inside using the Northern Hearts Hostess set and another a tad more Valentines using the flower from Three Little Words (available free during this years SAB – hee,hee) and a sentiment from the Hostess set Occasional Quotes.  Can you see the impression that went all the way through?  It’s even on the section under the Very Vanilla layer piece!

All images © Stampin' Up!

All images © Stampin' Up!

And lastly, here’s the shiny backside of the card a bit hard to see but in real life it looks all satin shiny like silk:

Supplies List:

Stamps: Northern Hearts (inside), Three Little Words & Occasional Quotes (inside) otherwise none used

Ink: Versamark, Real Red Classic Ink (inside image)

Paper: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Real Red Textured Cardstock

Other:  Big Shot, Northern Trim Letterpress plate, Lots of Love Letterpress Plate, Pinking Hearts Corner and Border Punches, Pearl Basic Jewels, Dimensionals

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I started out by running the folded card base through the Letterpress plate Lots of Love inked with Versamark.  Cool thing was that it left not only an impression on the front of the card but on each page/side or whatever you want to call it.  All the way to the back somewhat shiny looking impression of letters!  

Tip: Using two sheets of paper when using regular Cardstock makes for a deeper impression.  Spritzing the paper makes it even better but I forgot that little trick until after these samples were made.

I then inked again with Versamark and this time I just put through a smaller piece of Real Red textured cardstock with a backing scrap piece just centered over the large Love section of the plate.  I then trimmed down the piece to show the exact amount of Letterpressed impression I wanted.

Next I ran a narrow strip of the same Real Red textured Cardstock through the Northern Trim Letterpress plate.  Then I punched, matted and added pearls as needed for a simple but I think WoW card!

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Duh Moment shared:  Finally realized today that all the Holiday mini product with Northern in the title are coordinated!  Same or similar images and style!!  How’s that for a very long aha time to notice!  Only took me 3 months!!  Northern Trim – Letterpress plate, Northern Frost – Sizzix Decorative Strip Die, Northern Hearts – Hostess Stamp Set, Northern Flurry – Textured Impressions Folder.   Given Stampin’ Up’s penchant for coordination I really should have figured that out sooner…Duh!

Edited to Add:

A few of you asked what the plates look like  here’s a view of the two used for this project. And of course you can order them and the rest of the supplies from my online store link in the sidebar!

Lots of Love Letterpress Plate

 

Northern Trim Letterpress plate

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If you’ve read this far you really, really need a reward……

Blog Comment Reward:

Drop me a comment with which version of the card you prefer and why or what other tweaks you might suggest and I’ll put all comments through the number selector and send the winner a selection of cardstock Letterpress images to play with.

That’s it for this edition of Letterpress Playtime – have to prep for Saturday’s Stamp camp when we’ll be making Tweak # 2 along with 4 other fab projects.  If you are in the Medford, Oregon area give me a call and come join us  – there’s always room for one more and lots of fun to be had!

Hugs and Blessings – Jean

7 Responses

  1. Oh Jean, these are all so LOVEly!! I have yet to use the Letterpress plates, but hope to one day. Have a good Friday!

  2. Hi Jean,

    I liked the “Love” card with the stripped grosgrain ribbon the best. It really makes the card pop!

    I’d like to see the ribbon added to the bottom “Love” card with the white heart trim. Is that too much white?

    Stephanie McKinnon in Florida

  3. […] For a deeper impression with regular cardstocks use a backing piece of cardstock paper on top of your imprinting paper.  And no you don’t necessarily need a clean backing piece every time.  This allows a depth of paper that imitates in part the thickness of the watercolor paper and gives the letterpress plates something more to work with as it cushions the actual piece you want to use in your project.   One of my happy discoveries was embossing the full front of a folded Base Card.  Place your folded card onto the plate and voila you have your backing paper built in!  And the cool thing is that the embossing transfers not only to the inside of the card but also leaves a shiny almost satin inked look on the back of the card as well.  Very cool.  You can see this effect in my Letterpress Valentine in Black card shown in an earlier post here. […]

  4. Wow, Jean – lots and lots of information about the Letter presses and I for one am so very thankful for all of your tips as well! I have to vote for the middle card – I love the clean and simple of the first one but the double ribbon and the brad really make it pop even more!!!! Thank you for sharing so much of the time and information that you garnered during your trials!

  5. Thanks for all this info on Letterpress. I, too, have been hesitant to try it because I didn’t know enough about it.

    I LOVE the look of versamark on the crumb cake CS. Or versamark on any color CS.

  6. Hi Jean, I’m new and find you very informing, Thanks. I inked my Love letterpress with a red craft ink spot and can’t seem to get the plate real clean. Wish I had just used versamark, but might want to use red again someday. How do you cleam them?

  7. […] Plates are also 50% off?   To see what you can do with these lovelies check out my post here and […]

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