Quick and Easy Tone-on-Tone Stamping and Ink Blending

Hello there, Michelle here, and today I have two quick and easy tags to share with you using tone-on-tone stamping and ink blending.

I am creating tags today for my Terrific Tags with Michelle series, but you could create anything with this technique – cards, scrapbook pages, art journals, bookmarks – the sky's the limit!

Tone-on-Tone Stamping and Ink Blending

For my tags, I thought that I would create one tag where I did the stamping first, added ink blending, and then stamped again. On the other tag, I ink blended first and then added the stamping. It worked well for the different parts of the image but I did also get slightly different results. I first die cut two tags from Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock using the Terrific Tags Dies.

Stamping then Ink Blending

For my first tag, I started off by stamping the beautiful lily image from the Craft Your Life Feathered Lilies Project Kit. This is a large image, so I just used portions of it for my tags. I inked up the stamp first with Sunray Crisp Dye Ink and stamped it onto the tag a couple of times (to get a nice impression). I then took the Snapdragon Crisp Dye Ink and added the color to the stamp, above where the Sunray color was, overlapping slightly.

Using a Small Ink Blending Tool, I feathered out the edges of the ink to create a blended look. This gets rid of any harsh lines between the colors. I then continued with Rubellite and Razzleberry Crisp Dye Inks, blending the colors in between with the blending tool.

I removed the tag from the MISTI and using the same Small Ink Blending Tool, added ink blending on top of the image, using the stamping as a guide for where to add the colors. This did fade the image slightly, so I took it back to the MISTI and re-stamped it, as I did the first time. This gave a beautiful tone-on-tone look!

Ink Blending then Stamping

For my purple tag, I thought I would try ink blending first and then stamping on top. This works well for this tag, as I used monotone inks. Using a Small Ink Blending Tool, I added Enchanted Garden Crisp Dye Inks to the tag, fading to white at the top. I then placed the tag in the MISTI and stamped it with the same four shades of ink.

I made sure to use the ink blending tool where the darker color overlapped the lighter, to get a smooth blend. I really like the look with one color. It gives a lovely ombre look! I do, however, think that I got a crisper impression on the first tag, compared to the second.

Sentiments and Finishing Touches

Taking two of the sentiments from the Craft Your Life Feathered Lilies Project Kit stamp set, I stamped two of them onto black cardstock with Embossing Ink. I applied Pure White Crisp Embossing Powder and heat set. They were cut into strips and added to the tags with Instant Dimension Foam Tape. I then added twine through the top of the tags and tied in bows at the front.

To finish off, I added Cherry Blossom and Pocketful of Sunshine Enamel Dots to the first tag and Essential Black & White Enamel Dots to the second. I think these would also look pretty with some added shimmer or splatters but I kept them simple for today!

I really hope I have given you some inspiration for tone-on-tone stamping! You can watch the full process video below, or on YouTube.

Supplies Used:

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