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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Virtual Stamp Night -- Preparing in the Okiya

On splitcoaststampers we're celebrating a VSN mini, or virtual stamp night mini, with five challenges to get your appetites whetted for the big weekend November 14-15 (I hope I have the dates right).

The theme for this VSN is masquerade, and each challenge had to fit in with that theme somehow. We also have 'masked' messages, so inbetween the <> marks below, see if you can figure out the secret. :)

I am one of the hostesses for a mini this evening and here are the details for my challenge:

One of the best books I've read in the last decade was Memoirs of a Geisha. Always hard to believe that it wasn't actually a biographical novel, but fiction. The geisha or maiko in the book spend a good deal of time preparing every evening for their work entertaining clients in the city's tea houses.

Their visual appearance is striking--the elaborate hairstyle, the gorgeous kimono and the white makeup that covers the entire face and most of the neck. The white makeup is all part of the costume, a mask of a sort that doesn't conceal the personality beneath.

The challenge to you this evening is to create a card that wears a mask, one that enhances the main image without hiding it, an accent.

You will need acetate and white craft ink. If you're very careful you can use your heat gun to speed up the drying time on the white ink, but make sure you don't hold it too close or hold it in one spot for too long, you'll melt the plastic.

When you stamp in white on your acetate, a few things to remember; first make sure your pad is nicely inked up.

Second, do a practice stamp on a piece of scrap paper.

Third, don't touch the white ink on the acetate until it dries or it will smudge! <(Ask me how I know this!)>
Fourth, if you do smudge it, a damp tissue will wipe off your first attempt at white stamping. <(Ask me how I know THIS! Sorry, I won't tell.)>

Another hostess suggested that if you don't have white craft ink, you could also < use another color, or use a white rub on.>

If you get a chance to play, check the thread in the VSN forum for details on how to post. Thanks for looking!

5 comments:

Grace said...

Wow PeggySue this is really pretty! Stamping on acetate is a trick but you gave some great tips! Love your pretty card! Never read the book... need to get back into some of those fun things again!

Davi said...

This is oh so pretty!! The image is lovely and all your perfect color and little treasure embellishments are wonderful surprises around the card and I do love that ms punch!!

Kristine said...

BEAUTIFUL!! Love the colors and your stitching here. And I love that you made a little wooden easle like with the gold knobs and piece at the bottom. That's really neat! :)

Michelle L. said...

What a gorgeous card, PS! I also love that book. Sorry I couldn't play along this round of VSN - things are crazy busy right now!

Helen said...

This is so pretty!
Blessings!
~H