Layered Stamping with Few Ink Colours

I am a big fan of layered stamping. I even have a few stamp sets - somewhere at the bottom of my craft stash. Why bottom? Because I never use them! And why would I love them but not use them? Because I don't have a rainbow of inks to create those pretty images I see in blogs and videos.
But crafting is all about being creative (and resourceful) so I picked up the only set of 4 ink cubes I have (Desert Sun from Hero Arts) and started experimenting. I used layered rose clear stamp. I already knew a couple of ways to use layered stamps and I hoped I'd come up with a few more.
I'll start with two methods I've learned from Jennifer McGuire. The other 3 methods are results of my experiments.

• Adding white ink 

This is a great way as you only need one colour of ink (well, two if you count the white). I happened to have Hero Arts Unicorn White ink, which I recently got in My Monthly Hero card kit.  The great thing about this method is that it really stretches your supplies - you can invest in different colours of inks rather than different hues of the same or similar colour.
How:
After stamping each layer of coloured ink stamp the full image (the first one) on top of it with white ink each time in between the layers. This softens the ink already applied without covering it making it appear as different hues of the same colour.
You can watch the video here.

• Stamping on vellum

Again - only one colour of ink needed. I found it works better with vivid colours.

How:

Stamp each layer on vellum separately. Once dry, line up the layers and adhere them on top of each other. Now all you need to do is cut it out and voila!

Video here.

Sorry I didn't have my own examples of the techniques this time. I'm sure Jennifer explains it much better than I could anyway!

• Stamping on coloured paper

Ok, you do need more supplies for this one - but who knows, maybe it just happens you have some light colour cardstock (or any kind of paper for that matter) and a similar ink - just like I did.
How:
In this case you can skip the first layer and let the paper be your background. Then stamp second layer and double stamp the third. It works best if the paper is lighter than the ink. If you have matching dies cutting the shape out should be easy. If not - you can stamp the first layer with watermark ink so you can see where to fussy cut.
The leaves on my card are made with this method - could you tell if you didn't know?

• Colour mixing

I had most fun with this one! There are so many possibilities here, even with just 4 ink cubes.  And who said layered stamps have to be all the same colour? It really helps that ink cube sets usually come in well matched colours.
How:
Use the lightest colour for the first layer and add darker colour for each layer.
I used Dandelion (yellow), Tangerine (orange) and Strawberry (red) from Desert Sun ink cube set. And just look at the results - I love how colourful those roses are.

Another way of mixing the colours is adding neutral ink - greys and light browns work best. They show the colour behind and darken it a little. I love the vintage effect I got with mixing in Carmel with the other three colours.

• Double stamping

Probably well known method, and great for using two colours of ink (or even one for triple stamping). I used a combination of yellow and orange and orange and red.

You can also experiment with combining double stamping and colour combinations or double stamping and adding neutral shade (both should work with just 2 colours). There are so many options!

I ended up with a lot of roses ready to be used on the cards. And since I liked the vintage yellow, orange and brown colour combination I've decided to make those into a card. I mounted a rose and a couple of leaves on each corner of the card. I used foam squares of different thickness and mounted some leaves directly on light blue notecard to add some dimension. I cut out "Hello" from gold glitter cardstock and placed it right in the middle.

This Wednesday Simon Says Stamp challenge is Floral Frenzy - so I've decided to join in, since I've stamped all those roses.
If you'd like to have a look at the beautiful creations submitted to SSS challenge or even submit your own entry have a look here.