Paper Crafting with a White Ink Pad

With so many ways to use them, ink pads are a must-have supply for paper crafters. For stamping, inking edges and distressing, ink pads are easy to use, adding color and interest to your scrapbook pages, cards, sarabinder™ surfaces and other projects.

While ink pads come in a full range of colors, deep, neutral colors like black and brown made their mark on the paper crafting world with the shabby chic and ephemera style trends. Now, as the lighter, softer vintage style becomes more and more popular, we’ve discovered a new favorite ink pad: The StazOn Opaque White Ink Pad.

Why do we love this new ink pad so much? First of all, it’s a StazOn. StazOn ink pads are made for stamping and inking any porous or nonporous surface–not just paper. While you can use StazOn ink pads on paper, they’re also great for use on metal (think brads and book plates), photographs, overlays, plastic, glass, sarabinder™ covers–you name it. And since this white ink pad is opaque, you can easily use it on all those dark papers that usually overpower the color of your ink.

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So just what are some of the ways you can use this great new ink pad? On the page at the right, Susan selected a background paper from Vintage sarapapers™ that has faux scuffing already printed around the edges. She used a white ink pad to further distress the page by loosely inking the edges of the background paper, the journaling and the photo mats white. This layout is a great example of mixing vintage style with white ink: You can see how much harsher the page would appear if Susan had used a black or brown ink pad with all these soft colors.

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On Paris’ “Live to Ride” layout to the left, she added a uniquely distressed mat behind the photo, highlighted with a white ink pad. Paris cut her choice of patterned paper to size, then crumpled the paper, smoothed it out and lightly ran a white ink pad across the paper, highlighting the crumpled peaks. This technique is a great way to add a personalized touch to the papers on your scrapbook pages and cards.

Paris also capitalized on the nature of the StazOn ink pad to create customized metal embellishments. She used alphabet stamps and the white ink pad to stamp on top of two big brads, creating personalized embellishments that totally coordinate with her layout. For the blue brads that run underneath the photo and embellish the top of the tag, Paris lightly dabbed the top of each with the white ink pad (Tip: Set the ink pad down on a flat surface and hold the prongs of the brad between your thumb and index finger, then lightly tap the head of the brad onto the ink pad surface for best results).

We love it because it’s versatile, we love it because it’s trendy, and we love it because we can always find great new ways to use it! Pick up your very own StazOn Opaque White Ink Pad and start experimenting today!

Like how Paris used an ink pad to distress brads on her masculine “Live to Ride” project? Head to this month’s Paper Crafting column to learn many more fabulous techniques for distressing brads of all sizes!