Stamping & Ink Splat Tutorial with Andy Skinner: Blowing Bubbles

Choose your inks
For this project, use Cosmic Shimmer Water-Based Inks in the Art Pop colours: Hot Magenta, Golden Green, and Turquoise Blue.
Add an extra colour, Marigold, for variety.
Mix each colour in a palette with 50% water and 50% ink to make them flow more easily.

Prepare your tools
Use finger sponges for applying the ink. Mark each sponge with the colour it’s dedicated to so inks don’t get contaminated.

Create colourful splats
Start with Turquoise Blue: soak up some ink with the sponge and press it firmly onto your card or tag to create a splat.
Repeat with Golden Green, Hot Magenta, and Marigold, spacing the splats around the surface.
Aim to leave some white space in the centre – this will give room for stamping the image later.

Try a more subtle background
On a second piece of mixed media card, add fewer splats to leave extra white space.
You can also press the sponge more gently with less ink to create a bubble effect. Layer Turquoise Blue and Golden Green this way for a softer look.
Allow all pieces to dry fully before stamping.

Stamp the Blowing Bubbles image
Place your card in a stamping platform and secure it with magnets.
Position the Blowing Bubbles stamp where you’d like it to sit, then add the sentiment along the side.
Ink the stamp with black archival ink.
Press down firmly and release. On textured mixed media card, you may need to stamp twice for full coverage.

Stamp onto the softer bubble background
For the version with lighter sponge prints, stamp the image again with black archival ink.
A firm press should give a clean impression in a single pass.

Finishing touches
Add silk ribbon or string through the tags for presentation.
Experiment with other background stamps like Typology to add extra layers of detail.
Try out other Cosmic Shimmer ink packs too – such as the Elemental set (French Mustard, Cold Steel, Olive Green) – to explore different colour combinations.

Your finished tags will have a playful, colourful background with striking stamped detail – perfect for journaling, card making, or mixed media projects.