Chessman's Birthday

My husband Igor is a rated chess player who, despite memory issues, still knocks the socks off almost anyone he plays.  While there don’t seem to be a lot of chess-themed stamps out there, I’ve collected most of what there is and enjoy changing them up for his birthday cards.

The background on this one came from one of Blockhead’s recent excellent online tutorials.  It’s super-easy, very quick, and works the first time out of the box.  This goes especially well with Kraft or other soft-hued cardstock, although you can get interesting effects with other colors as well.  Using a non-detailed image having a goodly amount of open spaces within the design, stamp it at random over your background with VersaMark.  Color in the open spaces with a White pencil.  Done!  The effect is subtle but looks good enough to be mistaken for pre-printed watermark paper.  As an amateur, I call that a good thing!

Cardstock:     Bazzill Black, Bazzill White, Quest Putty

Stamps:          Art Impressions Chess Rook, Chess King, Unknown ’Journey’

Inks:                VersaMark, Archival Black,  Judikins Opaque White

Pencil:             Prisma White

Emb Powder:  Judikins Detail White

Dies/Punches: Spellbinders Fleur de Lis, deckled scissors

Doo Dads:        Black brads