Paper Piecing with
Digi Stamps
I really enjoy paper piecing, and especially paper piecing
with digi stamps. It’s a great way to
add extra dimension and match your image to your background paper. I also enjoy it because my coloring skills
are still “under construction” and this is way to use images that normally
would require large areas of coloring and shading.
I like to paper piece but I don’t like to waste my patterned
paper. So here’s my method (this works
if you just want to print a sentiment on special paper too):
1.
Print the image on
regular copy paper first. Then decide how many different patterned papers
you plan to use and print that number of images on the copy paper.
For my example I am paper piecing
Opal
Owl from Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps.
I
printed two complete owls (one for a base and one for background paper). I then
cropped the image in Word and printed two heads (one for the eyes and one for
the beak) and two bodies (one for the belly and one for the feet).
When paper piecing, always print one image on
cardstock. After cutting out the pieces from the patterned paper, glue
them to the cardstock image.
2. Cut a piece of
patterned paper bigger than the image and apply adhesive to the wrong side on
just the edge of the paper that will go into the printer first. (All
printers are different but for me this is the top edge.) Adhere the piece
of patterned paper over my image on the copy paper. Try to make sure that
the adhesive is above where the image will print. Run the copy paper back thru the
printer. By adhering the edge that goes into the printer first, I've
never had a problem with jams.
3. Cut out all the separate pieces. The little pieces can be tricky so leaving a
bit of a “tag” on them can be helpful (see the feet in the picture below for an
example of this). For now, don’t cut out
the full image that is printed on cardstock.
To keep the outlines, run a black marker around the edges of each cut
out piece. This also colors the white
edge and gives a more finished appearance.
4. Now it’s time to glue the pieces to the base image -- a
pair of tweezers and a Quickie Glue pen are very helpful for small pieces. For the example image, the feet were put on
first, then the main body, then the stomach, then the eyes and lastly, the
beak.
5.
Now it’s time to
complete your card or project.
Treat the
paper pieced image just as you would a stamped and colored image.
In my sample project, the tree was also paper
pieced (it’s from the
Enjoy
the View digital stamp set also by Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps).
The tree top was run thru an embossing folder
before being glued to the tree trunk.
I originally posted this card on my blog
here. You can find full details on the supplies I used in that post.
I hope you’ll give paper piecing a try. It’s a lot of fun and can add some pizzazz to
your next project. Thanks for stopping by today.
