Stamping in UTEE

If you saw the card and lay-out yesterday I promised to share how I made them today :)

I wanted to start out by saying this will NOT hurt your stamps. I have used this technique many MANY times without it ever harming either my red-rubber or clear acrylic stamps. I have never attempted to use any foam stamps for this but I don't think it would be a good idea. I'm pretty sure that most all foam melts fairly easily so the UTEE may be too hot.

Another bit of info on stamps ~ I have found that the texture stamps sold in the Polymer Clay isle work GREAT for this technique. They are large enough to cover most any chipboard piece and they are far less expensive than Background "Rubber Stamps". I paid $6.00-7.00 for each 4"x6" Polymer Clay stamp as opposed to $15.00 - 30.00 for a background stamps from the popular stamp companies!! You don't have to use texture or background stamps for this technique either. You can use just about any image you want. Fine detail or photo image stamps don't work well with this technique as there is just too much material (UTEE) for the stamp to handle.

Well, on to technique....

Supplies:

UTEE - Clear or Pearl work best - Ranger

Perfect Pearls - Ranger

Perfect Medium - Ranger

Heat It Craft Tool - Ranger

Non-Stick Craft Mat - Ranger

Embossing Pan - Club Scrap (or any will do - just happens to be what I have)

Mini Spoon - (to mix & sprinkle on additional UTEE) Art Glitter

Small Container (to mix the dry UTEE & Perfect Pearls)

Chipboard Pieces - various (Maya Road, Basic Grey, Fancy Pants, etc.)

Texture Rubber Stamp - Crafts Etc.

Instructions:

1. Pour the UTEE into the small container. Add a bit more than you think you will need. It's hard to match colors once you have used up an entire batch.

2. Scoop up a small amount of the Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder in the color of your choice. Usually one scoop will do the trick. (NOTE - try mixing 2-3 colors to see what you come up with, experiment!! It's fun trust me!!) Add the Perfect Pearls to the container holding the UTEE.

3. Mix the Perfect Pearls & UTEE until all of the UTEE has been coated.

4. Pounce the chipboard piece onto the Perfect Medium Ink Pad making sure to coat the entire piece.

5. Place the chipboard piece into your embossing pan & sprinkle with the colored UTEE.

6. Remove the coated chipboard from the pan and place it on the Non-Stick Craft Sheet. Begin heating.

7. As the UTEE begins to melt you will see areas that need additional UTEE. Alternate sprinkling UTEE onto the hot embossing powder & heating until you have a nice thick coat over the entire piece.

8. After you are satisfied with the coverage, IMMEDIATELY press the texture stamp into the molten UTEE and let it cool. (Note, if your piece has cooled simply heat the entire piece up until it is once again molten.)

9. Once your piece has cooled (about 1 minute) carefully peel the stamp off of the chipboard piece.

If you pull your stamp off too soon you will end up with bits and pieces of the UTEE stuck to the stamp instead of the chipboard. If this happens, (trust me it will if you're like me) wait until the UTEE has completely cooled and pull the UTEE off the stamp. Reheat the chipboard and try again....remember it's better for it to cool a bit longer than you think so you don't have to pick the UTEE out of all the little cracks & crevices of your stamp ;)

10. You may get little bits of UTEE that seeped out along the edges of your piece...this is called Flashing. Simply trim off and discard.

You have now stamped in UTEE!! I love this technique because it is fairly quick, creates stunning results and doesn't the melt pot :) Yes, I'm lazy - LOL!!! Try layering a couple pieces together....

It makes for a great finished project!

I hope you have enjoyed this technique and give it a try yourself! Once you get going it really is very fun to see what combinations you can come up with!

Tomorrow I'll share a couple more examples using this technique - one using hand cut chipboard shapes you won't want to miss :)

Till then...Happy Stamping!!