All Kinds of Embossing

This card was inspired by the Tuesday With the Team: A Watercolour Card post on the Canadian Scrapbooker Blog this week. I loved the look of the card on that post and decided to try to recreate it with my own twists. I love the watercolour technique used for the focal point on the card and I had a new stamp that I thought would work perfect for it.

I cut a 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 piece of Watercolour Paper and stamped it with the flower from the Best Thoughts stamp set using VersaMark. I then sprinkled it with White Emboss Powder and set the powder with my Heat Tool. It's hard to see the image on the paper but it's there.

Then I used a paint brush, water, and ink pads to colour the image. I squeezed my ink pads before opening them to get a little ink on the inside cover and then used my paint brush to mix a bit of water in with the ink to use to watercolour. Someday I'm hoping to get the Aqua Painters for this, but my paint brush works for now. I used two of the 2014-2016 In Colours, Mossy Meadow and Lost Lagoon, and two of the 2015-2017 In Colours, Watermelon Wonder and Delightful Dijon.

I cut a 8 x 5 1/2 piece of Watermelon Wonder card stock and scored it at 4 1/4 to make a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 card base. I stamped a greeting from the Best Thoughts stamp set onto the card front using VersaMark. I then sprinkled it with White Emboss Powder and set the powder with my Heat Tool.

Then I embossed the card front with the Lovely Lace Embossing folder using my Big Shot. I stamped and heat embossed the greeting before using the embossing folder because it would have been harder to get a clean, clear stamp and heat embossing on top of the textured surface created by the embossing folder.

Before adhering the watercolour piece to the card, I ran all of the outer edges of the piece over the VersaMark ink pad and then dipped each edge in the White Emboss Powder and set the powder with my Heat Tool. This gave the piece a nice finishing edge all the way around. I adhered the watercolour piece to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.

The Best Thoughts stamp set I used on this card is one of five special stamp sets that are exclusively available for purchase by those that host a Stampin' Up! party. You can see all five of the Exclusive stamp sets on pages 179-181 of the 2015-2016 Annual Catalogue.

If you would like to host a party and become eligible to purchase either one of these beautiful sets, let me know and we'll set up a party. All you have to do is invite your friends and provide a snack. I'll do the rest. We could even make this card at your party. I'd love to hear from you.

A card for the artsy type

This is definitely not a card that would appeal to everyone, but I do think there are people it will appeal to. It has a definite artsy/grungy look. It is the result of a few inspirations all mixed together.

The focal point of this card was created way back in April when I did the Watercolours Ways to Use It Challenge Part Two: Embossing Folder Stamping. For the card featured in that post I used one side of the embossing but I also decided to try the same technique on the other side of the embossing folder, but I just used regular card stock instead of watercolour paper. The card stock curled and twisted and didn't lay flat so I just laid it aside thinking I might find a use for it some day because I did think it was kind of cool. Today was the day.

Way back in April I used my sponges to add colour to the Lovely Lace TIEF. Then I misted the folder with my water using my Stampin' Spritzer before pressing the 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 piece of Whisper White card stock on top of it. When it was dry I stamped the greeting using a stamp from the Butterfly Basics stamp set. I laid it aside in my scrap box until I picked it up today.

I liked the little rumpled look of it and decided I didn't want to try to flatten it so I adhered it to a 5 x 3 3/4 piece of Crisp Canteloupe in such a way that it retained it's rumpled look.

When I got that done I remember that there was a challenge on SpiltcoastStampers recently that involved rolling the edges of papers on a card. It was the Try a New Technique Challenge the week of June 8th. I decided to try that technique on this card. First I rolled the edges around a pencil but I wanted the roll to be tighter so I tried the skinny end of a paint brush. That looked a little better.

I adhered the matted piece to a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card base and inked the edges of the card base with my sponge a little with Crisp Canteloupe and Blushing Bride.

As I said, it's not a card for everyone, but someone would definitely appreciate it.

Watercolour with markers and water

Today I made use of another of the Works in Progress I posted about a little while back. I showed how I used the first one in my Waste not, want not post.

As I explained in my Works in Progress post, the focal point of this card was inspired by Heather Telford's Distress Stain Watercolour tutorial at SplitcoastStampers. I didn't have the stains, markers, or paper that she used in her tutorial, but I decided to try her techniques with the supplies that I had.

I started with a piece of Stampin' Up! Watercolour Paper. I used Stampin' Write Markers to ink up one of the stamps in the Butterfly Basics by colouring right onto the stamp. Then, before stamping on the watercolour paper, I gave the stamp a few sprays of water with my Stampin' Spritzer.

I cut the Watercolour Paper to 3 x 5 and scored it 1/4" all around to give it a little added punch.

I cut a 5 1/4 x 3 1/4 mat of Midnight Muse card stock and adhered the watercolour to it.

I created a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 Summer Starfruit card base by cutting a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 piece and then scoring and folding it at 4 1/4. I adhered the matted watercolour to the card base.

I cut a 1 1/2 x 4 1/4 piece of Window Sheet and stamped a greeting from the All Shook Up Paper Pumpkin kit onto it with VersaMark. Then I sprinkled that with Gold Emboss powder before heating it with my Heat Tool. I adhere this to the card by hiding Mini Glue Dots under the letters and putting a little strip of Snail down the right side of the window sheet and down the middle where I knew the ribbon would cover it on the left.

I cut a 6" piece of ribbon, wrapped it around and adhered it inside the card with snail. I cut a 3" piece of ribbon and tied it in a knot on the ribbon at the front of the card.

The ribbon, markers, and card stock I used on this card are all from the 2012-2014 In-Colour Collection and are no longer available but you can find similar colours in the other Colour Collections.

Because the All Shook Up Paper Pumpkin kit is a past it it is now only available to current subscribers. One of the perks of being a Paper Pumpkin Subscriber is that you can purchase past kits. Now is a great time to become a Paper Pumpkin Subscriber. Until June 10 new subscribers get their first two kits for half price! You can not get the All Shook Up kit for half price but you can get the upcoming June and July kits for half price, and then order the All Shook Up kit for full price. Join Now!

Waste not, want not

Some might think it's weird, but the first work of my three works in progress pieces that I decided to make use of is the one that turned out the worse. I almost threw this watercolour piece in the garbage, but I'm glad I didn't. I like how it turned out.

As I explained in my Works in Progress post, the focal point of this card was inspired by Heather Telford's Distress Stain Watercolour tutorial at SplitcoastStampers. I didn't have the stains, markers, or paper that she used in her tutorial, but I decided to try her techniques with the supplies that I had.

I started with a piece of Stampin' Up! Watercolour Paper. I used Stampin' Write Markers to ink up one of the stamps in the Butterfly Basics by colouring right onto the stamp. Then, before stamping on the watercolour paper, I gave the stamp a few sprays of water with my Stampin' Spritzer. Unfortunately I sprayed it a bit too much and a bit too close causing the image to totally lose it's definition when I stamped it. I was bummed, but I recognized what I had done wrong and decided to try again, but I also decided to keep this particular piece and see if I could redeem it some how.

The more I looked at the piece, the more it grew on me and I finally came up with a plan. I cut the watercolour piece to 4 x 5 1/4.

I cut another 1 x 2 piece of watercolour paper for the sentiment. Using Baked Brown Sugar I inked up one of the stamps from Butterfly Basics stamp set and I misted it just a touch with my Stampin' Spritzer before stamping it.

I cut a 1 1/4 x 2 1/4 piece of Summer Starfruit card stock and adhered the stamped greeting to it.

I cut a 6" piece of ribbon and adhered the matted greeting to it before adhering the ribbon around the watercolour piece.

I cut a 4 1/4 x 11 piece of Primrose Petals and scored it at 5 1/2 to make the card base and adhered the watercolour piece to the base.

I decided to add three Pearl Basic Jewel Embellishments as an extra touch but it still seemed to be missing something. I didn't like how the flowers lacked detail so I decided to add some details with my Dazzling Details. It was the finishing touch I was looking for.

The colours I used in this card are all past In Colors and are no longer available, but comparable colours can be found in the current Stampin' Up! Colours Collections.

Works in Progress

No finished product to show today, because I can't decide what to do with these. I have some ideas, but can't seem to settle on a plan.

The creations were inspired by this week's Technique Tuesday at SplitcoastStampers - Distress Stain Watercolour by Heather Telford. Heather used Tim Holtz Distrain Stains and Markers in her tutorial, but I just used Stampin' Up! Stampin' Write Markers. The one on the left was the first one I did. I misted it way too much, but I think I will probably still use it sometime. The one on the right I did next, and I still misted it a bit too much. The center one was my third attempt and it turned out the best.

The stamp I used is from the Butterfly Basics stamp set.

Hopefully I'll come up with a plan to use at least one, if not more of these in the next day or so.

Watercolour Ways to Use It Challenge: Part One - Embossing Resist

The Ways To Use It challenge this past Thursday at SplitcoastStampers was to use a watercoloured background and the challenge contained links to a number of different technique tutorials and I just had to try a couple. Today's post is about my attempt to try one of these tutorials. Tomorrow 's post will be about another one.

One of the tutorials was the Watercolour Embossing Resist tutorial.  The card above was made using that technique. It involved stamping an image on watercolour paper with versamark, sprinkling it with white embossing powder, heat embossing it using the heat tool, and then colouring it with markers and water and a paint brush.

I decided to mat the finished piece with Wild Wasabi, and I wanted to give it a framed look, so I cut a 4 x 5 1/4 piece of Wild Wasabi and then cut the middle out of it and adhered the watercolour paper on the back of it before adhering it to a whisper white cardbase.

I used stamps from the Butterfly Basics stamp set. This set is so versatile that I can't imagine anyone not wanting it. It is so much fun to play with.

A New Way to Use Stencils

The Wednesday Tutorial at SplitcoastStampers today was a Stencil Monoprints Tutorial. At first I didn't think I would be able to try it because I didn't think I had any stencils to use for it, and then, while I was contemplating using my Big Shot to somehow make stencils to use, I suddenly remembered that I did have two stencils! 

The stencils, or masks as they are sometimes called, were a part of the Hooray It's Your Day Card Kit I purchase a while back. 

One of the reasons I purchased the kit was because of the stencils that came with it, and also because of the spritzers that came with it. It's a great kit that was fun to work with.

Anyway, once I remembered that I did have stencils to use I got to work. I decided to try both of the stencils. I used both full sized ink pads and ink spots. It was so much fun, and so easy! 

One thing that I didn't like is how I got different coloured inks on my ink pads when I pressed the different ink pads on the already inked stencil. That's when I decided to try the ink spots to lessen that happening. I was fairly careful and didn't get a lot, just mostly around the edges of my ink pads but I still didn't like that. I think I might try sponging the ink onto the stencil when I try it again. 

I've only used one of the pieces in a card yet. Still not sure what I'm doing to do with the other. 

For the card at the top of this post, I decided to just cut the watercolour paper 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 and use the whole thing as a card front. I inked up the sunburst stencil with my Real Red and Daffodil Delight ink spots that I got in Paper Pumpkin kits. I spritzed the stencil with water using the Stampin' Spritzer before pressing the stencil on the watercolour paper. I dabbed the access water off with a paper towels before adhering this to a card base.  I stamped the greeting using a stamp from the Butterfly Basics stamp set using Baked Brown Sugar.

As a finishing touch I decided to add a butterfly I had sitting with my scraps. I had cut the butterfly out of Very Vanilla cardstock using my Big Shot and one of the thinlits from the Butterfly Thinlits Dies*. I had sponged the body of the butterfly with Baked Brown Sugar, sponged around the edges with Daffodil Delight, and dabbed a bit of Pistachio Pudding here and there on the wings. I thought I might use it on a card I made yesterday but decided I didn't like it with the card so I put it in my scraps, and I thought it looked quite nice on the card I made today.

This was so much fun! Now I want more stencils to play with!

* the Butterfly Thinlits dies are still not re-stocked! They are expected any day so keep checking the store.

Happily Ever After Water Colour Emboss Resist

I did the center piece of this card quite a while ago but didn't incorporate it into a card until today.

I adapted the technique from the Watercolour Wonder With Stampin' Up! post on the Canadian Scrapbooker Blog. I stamped the greeting from the Big News stamp set with versamark onto a piece of watercolour paper and then sprinkled it with white embossing powder before using the Heat Tool to emboss it. After that I squeezed my Coastal Cabana ink pad before opening it to get some ink in the cover and I picked up that ink with a water soaked paint brush and made a few brush strokes across the embossing.

The piece is matted onto a piece of Coastal Cabana card stock. I adhered a piece of Best Year Ever DSP* across the bottom of the Whisper White card base and then adhered the matted greeting on top of it. The ribbon is from the Best Year Ever accessory pack*. The sequins are left overs from the All Shook Up Paper Pumpkin Kit.

*The Best Year Ever DSP and the Best Year Ever Accessory Pack were special Sale-a-bration items and are no longer available.

Bokeh Card Class

At my sister's request, I had a Bokeh Card Class at my place during her visit. It was so much fun! The picture above is the one I used on my Facebook Event page to let people know they would get to try Bokeh three ways during the class.

Bokeh is all the rage lately. Here's a definition from Wikipedia:

In photography, bokeh (Originally /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ BOH-kay — also sometimes pronounced as /ˈboʊkə/ BOH-kə, Japanese: [boke]) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".

Stampers have come up with many different ways to create a similar look. In my class we experimented with three different ways:

1) Bokeh with Watercolour - One of the attendees didn't get a chance to finish her card so she's coming back to finish it another time, but two left with beautiful cards using this method.

Everyone was given a 5 1/4 x 4 piece of watercolour paper, a paint brush, a water bowl and told to pick whatever colours they wanted to use from my ink pads. First we used the paint brush to soak the paper with water. Then each person took one of the ink pads they had chosen, squeezed it to get some ink on the cover, dipped their paint brush in water, and then picked up some ink from the cover and used it to do circles in different spots all over the paper. They repeated that with each colour they had chosen to use until they were satisfied with the look, adding extra water to the paper as needed. We laid it aside to dry and later went back and added the finishing touch by sponging white craft ink through different size circle stencils here and there. They each picked a colour of card stock to create a card base for their card and each picked a sentiment and whatever embellishments they wanted.

2) Bokeh with One Colour -

My "almost double digiter" decided to join us for this card and she actually used two colours on her card, but everyone else used one. I posted a video on this method in my blog post Bokeh Technique with Just One Ink Colour. Once again, one of the attendees didn't quite get her card finished and is coming back to finish it another time. I let everyone pick whatever colour they wanted to use and guided through the steps to complete it.

3) Bokeh with Sponging -

I posted a video showing this technique on my Birthday Bokehs blog post. Once again I let everyone choose the colours they wanted to use and guided them through the process. When they were happy with it they chose the card stock they wanted for the card base and whatever sentiments and embellishments they wanted.

I loved seeing how each one turned out so different. It is such a fun technique, no matter which way you do it, and it turns out different every time.

If you missed this class but you are interested in trying the technique, let me know. I am planning another Bokeh card class for sometime this month if I get enough interest.

Bokeh Technique with watercolour paper and re-inkers

For this card I started with a 5 1/4 x 4 piece of Stampin' Up! watercolour paper. 

First I sprayed the paper with the spritzer before squeezing drops of ink from three different re-inkers randomly over the card. I used Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana, and Daffodil Delight. I spritzed the card again and tipped it a bit to help the colours run and spread over the page.

Using a piece of paper with circles punched out as a stencil and placing it randomly over the card, I used Stampin' Up!s Whisper White Craft ink pad to sponge circles. Finally I used the splat stamp from the Perpetual Calendar stamp set to place random splats.

I let this dry for a long time before continuing.

I cut a piece of 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 piece of whisper white card stock and stamped the sentiment on it with a stamp from the Best Day Ever stamp set using Coastal Cabana ink pad. The Best Day Ever stamp set is one of the Sale-A-Bration items that can be earned for free when you spend $60 during Sale-A-Bration.

I cut a 1 3/4 x 3 piece of Coastal Cabana card stock to use as a mat for the stamped image.

I cut a 2 x 2 1/4 piece of Pistachio Pudding card stock to make it a double mat. I adhered the whole thing to the card front.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

I am hosting a Bokeh Card Class Saturday, February 28 at 7pm at my place. You will get to try the bokeh with one colour, bokeh with sponging, and bokeh with watercolour. $15 charge. Use the contact form at the right to let me know if you are interested or join the Bokeh Card Class FaceBook Event.