Easy Hack for "Portrait Mode" Cards

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I wanted to share one of my favorite hacks today with this adorable bunny and sketched woods stamp. I call it my "portrait mode" hack. Well it's ONE of my portrait mode hacks. I have another hack here. (You may recognize that card as the cover for one of my community groups on Facebook :) ).

This one is a little simpler, but just as effective!

If you are not an iPhone user, when I say "portrait mode" I'm referring to a camera setting that mimics a low f-stop setting on a traditional camera - where just the focal point is sharp, and the background is more soft focus. You can see an example of this type of photo here. 

My trick is easier than photography though because it's just about ink. All you have to do is stamp the background in a SLIGHTLY lighter color than the foreground.

In this case, I stamped the bunny in a nice crisp black ink and masked him. Then I used this SUPER neutral brown ink - I love this ink for this technique, because it's really neutral and the perfect contrast to black - to stamp this fun sketchy background stamp over him. 

Before removing the mask, I ink blended the background, even adding a little white paint pen for highlights.

Then I removed the mask and colored his ears, his nose and his shadow with OLO Markers.

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Speaking of markers, I decided to bring back an OLD technique for the next card, and I want you to notice something on this card. For the tree in the back, I used the exact same technique as the tree in the front, but see how there's like a granular detail on that tree? That is because the stamp was brand new - it had never been used and so the markers I used were beading. By the time I moved to the second tree, the stamp was conditioned, and so it has a more impressionistic feel.

Stamps are conditioned by stamping. No sanding, eraser etc. needed. USE the properties of a brand new photopolymer stamp as a technique when you first get them! I've never "conditioned" a stamp aside from stamping it a few times, but it still is a common question, so I wanted to show you that you can use it to achieve a certain look.

The markers I used (discount codes below) were Karin Brushmarker Pros and the Decobrush pigment markers. These two work so beautifully together in layered stamping like this - where you add a little color, stamp, add a little more, etc. Impossible without a MISTI, in my opinion, and hey - did you see the new black MISTI that comes with all the features of the 2.0? I can't wait for mine to arrive.

The sentiment is from the same beautiful set the trees are from.

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20% off anything at Glassboard Studio  - UNDERSTANDBLUE.

10% off anything at OLO MARKER
15% off anything at Marker Universe or any of their other sites - Understandblue15.
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10% off the whole store at A Colorful Life Designs - LydiaFan10
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Arkon Mounts - 20% off sitewide with code UNDERSTANDBLUE

There are more critters in that bunny set too. So cute. 

For those of you in Florida and Georgia - I hope you have everything you need tonight and can stay safe for a few days. There's no stress like hurricane stress.

I thought we were going to get through 2022 without a big one. Next year maybe. Be safe.

Loveyameanitbye.