Un-Masked

When I was little, my oldest brother, Leo, had one of those clear Halloween masks--the kind that don't really hide the face, but instead give it a creepy, distorted leer. 

 He'd put it on and scare me to death every time.  

In cardmaking, masking is anything but scary.

There was various ways of masking (both true and mortise masks) as just as many reasons for using this technique.  Often, I will use a mask to create a bouquet of flowers or to give the impression of depth on a single-layer card.  Today, however, I'm going to show you several ways I use one simple too:  masking tape.

First, I'll use it to make my greeting stand out on an understated card.

Pictured below is my piece of cardstock cut a little smaller than the finished card front.  I tore off a piece of masking tape about four inches long.  

***I take out some of the stickiness by sticking it to myself a few times!

I applied it about two-thirds of the way down on this panel.  The torn edge was just the look I wanted.

I used this discontinued stamp from Hero Arts with the Denim Kaleidacolor inkpad from Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts, alternating direction.  Each inking gave me two good stampings with varied darks and lights.

When I finished stamping my brushstrokes, I carefully peeled away the masking tape.

That gave me the perfect place to stamp "Happy Birthday."  I liked this one from Flonz.  I bet you have a favorite on hand that would fit just fine.

Below is the card I sent off to my cousin Rik.

Next, for all three cards below, I used two longer strips of masking tape to create colorful panels.  The first two were sponged with Radiant Neon Yellow and Orange into VersaMagic Turquoise Gem all from Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts.

Here, I stamped the tree in brown chalk ink and then added dabs of Radiant Neon Yellow Amplify.

Below, I tried my first stamped reflection!

These two cards below were sponged with all colors of Radiant Neon  4 Warm from Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts.  I applied Orange Amplify to flower centers.

Come back for more masking tape fun.

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I appreciate your comments!