{"id":3226,"date":"2023-05-23T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/?p=3226"},"modified":"2025-07-19T10:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T14:27:14","slug":"stamp-your-art-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/stamp-your-art-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Stamp Your Art Out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve been scrapbooking or at least purchasing digital supplies for very long you\u2019ve likely run across digital stamps.  And no, I don\u2019t mean postage stamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even way before I discovered digital scrapbooking, I have always loved the way \u201cstamping\u201d looked on cards & layouts.  A very long time ago I tried desperately to be a \u201cstamper\u201d.  I had several beautiful, old-fashioned rubber stamp sets.  But I always found myself frustrated.  I\u2019d either not have enough ink or I would wiggle and get a double image.  Worse was not being able to position things properly (there\u2019s that pesky Type A personality again \ud83d\ude09).  It was impossible to see what you were doing through those old wood blocks.  I believe art should be fun not annoying so I eventually gave up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in the early 2000\u2019s acrylic stamps\/blocks hit the market and I was hooked.  I soon had oodles of cases full of acrylic stamps just begging to be used on projects.  Oh, what a joy to finally master stamping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I \u201clive\u201d in the digital world and I have ever so much more fun with stamps than I ever dreamed.  A digital stamp (also referred to as a digi-stamp) is a PNG mage that may or may not be a solid color.  Some designers call their stamps graffiti, brushes or even paint.  Sometimes you can even mistake a stamp for a mask, especially if its black.  But these images, regardless of what they\u2019re called, can be so much more versatile than you would imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have some digital stamps and just haven\u2019t figured out how to use them.  Well today I hope to help with that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using Digital Stamps<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Using<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There are many different styles of digital stamps.  Some are simple \u201cline drawing\u201d type images that resemble old-fashioned stamps meant for coloring.  And some are artsy\/intricate stamps meant to be used as an accent or even part of a mask or background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to cover both below\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coloring Simple Digital Stamps<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Simple<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Yes, you can color them digitally just as you would on paper.  All you need are some brush tools in your graphics editor.  Everything that follows is done using Photoshop Elements (PSE).  If you don\u2019t use PSE, I\u2019m fairly confident you can accomplish the same with whatever graphics editor you use.  If you need more help just search for tips\/techniques associated with your given software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flower image above that I\u2019m going to use is from KindPng<\/a><\/strong>.  They have a lot of free digital stamp images if you\u2019re looking for some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the stamp open in PSE, I create a new blank layer and place it under the stamp image.  Then I select a nice watercolor brush, and change my foreground color chip to the appropriate color and just start coloring away.  I used a different layer for the flowers than the one for the leaves as you can see here:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Stamp<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what I ultimately ended up with:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Simple<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Yes, it can be tricky if you\u2019re a beginner or just aren\u2019t sure about digital coloring techniques.  But I\u2019d encourage you to play around with it a bit.  Look for some tutorials about digital coloring.  There are so many good ones out there.  It just didn\u2019t seem to make much sense for me to \u201cre-invent the wheel\u201d and explain all of that here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beauty of digitally coloring is you can erase or \u201cmask away\u201d any mistakes you might make\u2026something I could never do with stamps on paper!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you just want to fill the image with solid colors rather than using a watercolor effect that\u2019s easy to do as well.  I\u2019m going to leave the outline black.  Next, I\u2019m going to use the Magic Wand tool to select only the inside portion of the top leaf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Magic Wand tool selected, I ensure that Contiguous & Anti-aliasing are both checked in the tool options.  Then I click anywhere inside the top leaf.  This results in those little \u201cmarching ants\u201d all along the inside lines of that leaf.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Stamp<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Now, I generally like to keep my fill colors on a separate layer just as I did with the painting option above.  So, I\u2019ll create a new blank layer.  With that new blank layer selected I will fill the inside of that top leaf (marching ants should still be there) using the paint bucket tool and a nice shade of green:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Simple<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I can then repeat the process until I have all the parts filled with the colors I choose.  I\u2019m just going to show you a portion of that filled in:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Simple<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As you can see each one of the colors is on its own layer.  The beauty of that is I could now choose to clip papers to those layers to get an even more interesting look.  For now, I\u2019m just going to use a watercolor paper from my stash (origin unknown) to show you what that would look like:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Simple<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I hope you get the idea of how versatile simple stamp elements can become when colored using this fill technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coloring Artsy\/Intricate Digital Stamps<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Metamorphosis<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Not all stamps are created equal.  Some can be very detailed, intricate & perhaps too complex to \u201chand color\u201d.  But that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t re-color those as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image above that I\u2019m going to use for this technique is from \u201cMetamorphosis\u201d by Karen Schulz Designs (retired).\u00a0 Notice how complex this stamp is.\u00a0 Imagine trying to color that the way I colored the simple stamp.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have that kind of patience!\u00a0 So, what\u2019s there to do with this black stamp?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously the first option would be to fill it with a color\u2026any color.\u00a0 But then it\u2019s just one color.\u00a0 I\u2019d like a bit more pizazz than just a single color.\u00a0 I\u2019d much rather see a multi-color, luscious blend.\u00a0 To accomplish this, I\u2019m going to use an overlay that I have from \u201cStratified Overlays\u201d also By Karen Schulz (retired):<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Stratified<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With the stamp open in PSE, I just clip the overlay to the stamp image.  And this is the result:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Metamorphosis<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

How lovely is that?  As pretty as that is I decided to play around with blending modes to see what some other options might be.  This is what it looks like with a blend mode of Hard Light:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Metamorphosis<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is very different but also very pretty.  Don\u2019t ever be afraid to experiment with blend modes whenever you clip something to an image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s more\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also apply a style to a stamp.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to use a style from \u201cStratified Styles\u201d also By Karen Schulz (retired) which matches the overlay I used above.\u00a0 It is going to look different from using the overlay due to the other attributes associated with that style:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Metamorphosis<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Different but nonetheless lovely.  And don\u2019t be afraid to try clipping overlays\/papers or applying styles to some of your stamps, graffiti, brush PNGs, or paint.  You never know what you\u2019ll discover!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this should give you an idea of what you can do to use those stamps you\u2019ve always pondered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Single Most Important Tip About Coloring Stamps<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Experiment\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be afraid to experiment with one or all of the options above.  That\u2019s the best way to learn.  And if you get lost, confused or just need a bit of help, please don\u2019t hesitate to \u201cMessage Me<\/a><\/strong>\u201d for some assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as I have said with so many other tips\u2026the more you play with re-coloring stamps the better you\u2019ll become at coloring.  And you\u2019ll be stretching not only your supplies but also your imagination & creativity.  So, have fun with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading this week\u2019s Tuesday Tip on using stamps.  <\/em>If you don\u2019t want to miss the next post, just click \u201cFollow Me<\/a><\/strong>\u201d to stay in touch.  And as always\u2026\u201cHappy Scrapping!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been scrapbooking or at least purchasing digital supplies for very long you\u2019ve likely run across digital stamps.  And no, I don\u2019t mean postage stamps. Even way before I discovered digital scrapbooking, I have always loved the way \u201cstamping\u201d looked on cards & layouts.  A very long time ago I tried desperately to be a \u201cstamper\u201d.  I had several beautiful, old-fashioned rubber stamp sets.  But I always found myself frustrated.  I\u2019d either not have enough ink or I would…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"0","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tuesday-tip-day"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}