Stampin’Up! has recently introduced stamp sets that are reversible, the latest one being ‘Mountain Air’ (which is in the 2020 Mini Catalog). One side of the stamp is solid and the other side is detailed. Have you tried using any reversible stamps yet? They are not hard to use, and the Mountain Air stamp set especially gives a certain level of depth to your design.
I’ve made a couple cards using this set, and you can see how the difference in the stamps gives it a 3D look. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your Mountain Air stamp set.
First of all, since this is a larger stamp and is photopolymer, it is important to place a foam mat or silicon mat under the cardstock you are stamping. I like to use the Stampin’ Pierce mat. It gives you even pressure and ink coverage when using photopolymer stamps. Also, because it is a larger stamp, hold the stamp on the cardstock just a few seconds longer to give the all ink time to transfer to the cardstock.
Use the solid side of the stamp first in creating your design. To give the mountains the illusion of depth, you should stamp several layers of color starting with the lightest color first. For the card with the purple mountains, I actually stamped the solid stamp of mountains four times. For the first layer, I chose to use Highland Heather ink.
Next, I used Gorgeous Grape ink and stamped off on a piece of scrap paper before stamping the cardstock. Stamp this layer a bit lower than the first layer, overlapping slightly.
For the third layer of color, I used Gorgeous Grape ink, and again, stamped the solid stamp a bit lower onto the cardstock.
For the final layer of the solid stamp, I went with Blueberry Bushel ink, which really provides a nice contrast to the purple colors of the previous layers.
Now, we will clean the stamp and flip it over on the block so that the detailed side will be stamped. For this layer, I chose to use Night of Navy ink which balances out the blue and purples of the previous layers. I stamped the mountains on a scrap piece of cardstock.
I used the coordinating dies to crop the mountains.
I attached the cropped mountains with dimensionals to give it even more depth. (You will have to trim this piece to match the size of the cardstock you are using.)
The rest of the card was finished using other stamps from the Mountain Air stamp set.
Note that you don’t have to use exactly four layers of the solid mountain stamp to create the illusion of depth! For the next card, I used Sahara Sand ink stamped off for the first layer, Crumb Cake ink for the second layer, and used the detailed side of the stamp with Gray Granite ink to make two layers with the detailed mountains stamp. I snailed the detailed mountains onto the card rather than using dimensionals, and it still gives you a 3D effect. I added a top layer of the small poppies from the Painted Poppies stamp set to really make the mountains seem like they are far away.
Try using different colors for the mountains, or even go with several layers of one color for a different effect. I hope you give reversible stamps a try, and I would love to see how you used this set!
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