New Fragment stamps by Glenda

It's that time of the month again- yes I'm talking about palpitations and chocolate cravings ... it's new stamp time! We have two new A4 sets this month to add to our ever popular fragments range.

 Here is Nature Fragments

and here is Abstract Fragments.

Both sets are just fabulous for creating interesting backgrounds.  Try stamping over Distress or Dylusion sprayed backgrounds or go for a little embossing.  Try using them for mark making on Gelli plates and of course the paint you pick up can be used to stamp over another project.

They're great to add an extra touch to die cut shapes - think frosty snowflakes, psychedelic flowers, woodgrained trees and brick lined paths. And the abstract, pattern making nature of both of these means if you pick the right colours, you can very easily use them to make Christmas or other seasonal cards.

Because we use high quality deep etched rubber, these really come into their own when you start working with texture.  They will give super results on polymer or air dry clay, shrink plastic, friendly plastic and deep embossing.

These are the sort of stamps that are surprisingly versatile and they've been a pretty permanent feature on my studio table since we got the first prototypes to test.  I decided to use them on some chipboard baubles which I'd painted in shades of blue.

The deer trio die cut is stuck over one of the frosted crackle backgrounds and the other large bauble is simply stamped with Archival ink, but the two smaller baubles are both done with deep embossing powder.

If you've not tried stamping into deep embossing powder, here's a quick run through of the technique.

After the paint was dry, I patted Versamark over the whole bauble and covered it with a layer of clear UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) and heated to melt. I repeated that twice more so I had three layers of UTEE which is a good depth for creating texture.  I used two of the abstract fragments side by side on one acrylic block and inked them up with Versamark.  After heating the final layer of UTEE, I stamped gently into the warm, molten embossing powder and let it harden for 30 seconds before removing the stamp.

I then dusted a little Perfect Pearls over it and turned it over and rubbed gently on a wet wipe.  That left the pearly powder in the crevices, but removed it from the raise surfaces, letting the original painted colour show through.  (I'd started with a purple and blue pattern, so that's what the variation in colour is.)

The second bauble started out as a much more uniform turquoise colour.  I did exactly the same technique, using copper PanPastel to highlight the texture.  However this time, after wiping off the excess, I reheated the UTEE until it went smooth again, leaving the copper image looking as if it is floating on the surface - it has a look of traditional powdered glass enameling.

We couldn't choose between the two sets, so they are both our Stamp of the Month for November which you should know by now means that they are at introductory prices for one month.  And yes, there is a multi-buy deal as well so you can save even more if you want them both.

Let me know what you think of them and don't forget to come back and see what the DT have been getting up to with these stamps.