Rock and Roll

After getting totally sidetracked in my aim to make a series of cards and tags from the Nature's Walk stampset I have again become distracted by the lovely technique known as Rock and Roll in the stamping world.
But before we explore how to do it and what it looks like let me just stand up for the beautiful Natures Walk images! I have been using them and will - promise - show you some more of the cards and altered art projects that showcase them. They stamp very well with the fine and delicate lines of the images reproducing exactly to give a very satisfactory end result. This is where Stampin' Up! products really shout quality: once you have stamped with SU rubber stamps you will not want to use any inferior products ever again.
OK - now to Rock and Roll! This is a way of getting a great effect where two colours of ink are used simultaneously on the same stamp. In my opinion it works most effectively with a solid image on your stamp and I have been using it with the little heart from the Spring Sampler set from the new Stampin' Up! seasonal catalogue on the tag here.

Isnt it cute? And shows just what can be done quite quickly with a very simple stamp.
 Here is how you go about it: I used two shades of blue ink - Baja Breeze being the paler one and Midnight Muse the darker. You can use any two colours that tone or compliment each other but do ensure that one is clearly paler than the other. Start with your paler colour and ink up the stamp in the usual way - tap tap tap - then open your darker ink pad and carefully roll the edge of the rubber image so it catches the ink. Be fairly cautious to start off with. then stamp your image. If you were too delicate in you rolling there will only be a slight edge of the darker shade, too bold and there will be hardly any of the pale ink showing. I advise cleaning the stamp ( handy dandy Stampin' Scrub at the ready!) between each inking or you may transfer some of the dark ink on to the pale pad which would be a shame. Pale ink on the dark pad (when you roll) doesnt show so you will not ruin your lovely ink pads. I really like the slighly shabby mottled look so do give it a try.
To make tag in the picture I stamped three hearts using the Rock and Roll technique on Very Vanilla cardstock then cut out the tag shape using one of the apothecary accents framelets dies on my bigshot. I trimmed off the semi circle from one end and then rounded the corners off before inking the edge with Midnight Muse. The greeting was stamped in Midnight Muse using a stamp from the Sale-A-Bration set.  I added ribbon and a securing brad and topped it off with a bit of bling in the form of three rhinestones!