Embossing Resist Christmas Cards

As soon as I saw the Darkroom Door Christmas word block I knew it would work perfectly for this technique.  I love how the words disappear into the background, except for where the embossing is.

For these cards I stamped the word block and heat set it to make sure it was really dry. I then dusted with an embossing buddy and stamped the reindeer image with clear ink and embossed with clear powder.  To bring out the contrast around the stamped image, I sponged with inks or paint.  The embossed design resisted the ink and after a quick wipe with a tissue to remove any ink build-up the image was done and ready for layering.

For this one I used warm red Colorbox chalk ink for that real Christmassy red in both the stamping and sponging. A few pearls added a bit of bling to his antlers. The die cut is from Spellbinders.

This card was done a little differently.  I stamped the word block with distress Ink and once the reindeer image was embossed, I scraped over some Precious Metal Colour with a gift card.  The close up doesn’t do the effect justice – it really shimmers! Once dry, I die cut the reindeer & layered it onto a panel stamped with Darkroom Door dots background stamp in pearlescent blue Brilliance ink. The panel was raised on foam tape before adding to the card front.

This one was done a little differently again. The word block was stamped with wild honey distress inks and instead of stamping with another image, I die cut a stencil using the Spellbinders ornament die, laid that over the word block and used a direct-to-paper technique to apply the clear ink. A quick sponge with some more distress ink and it was done.

I finished the card with a little punched tab stamped with the tree image from the Darkroom Door Christmas sentiments plate.

January Copic Oz Challenge

This month Copic Oz is running a Summertime challenge.  We are to use yellows and greens and create something Summery.
I chose to use this cute Magnolia image.
Colours used:
Hair/skin – E51, E33, YR14, YR24
Dress – BV02, Y02, Y04
Tulip/socks/bow – YG05, G07, Y17, Y35, Y38, YR16, YR68
Colourless blender was used with tip to tip colouring of the prune colour on the dress.
Embossing is done using a Cuttlebug Jamara plate & die cuts are Spellbinders.

Copic Oz Challenge

Today is the last day for the current Copic Oz challenge and I finally found the time to finish my card.  It has been sitting all coloured on my desk all week but I couldn’t decide how to finish it.

The challenge was to create a card with feathering and this lovely stamp was certainly a challenge to feather! But it turned out how I planned so that was a bonus. Since the certification course I did back in June I have been working on mastering this technique and this stamp shows it off really well.

Here are the colours I used:

Just a few!

Stamps - Hero Arts, die cuts – Spellbinders

Special Treasures

I thought I would have a go at the sketch for the October challenge on Inkurable Stampers.  There is still time to enter – you have until midnight tomorrow night.

I stamped Darkroom Door butterflies all over a 9cm square piece of white cardstock and then coloured them with Copics.  I then cut the cardstock into four 4.5cm square pieces and arranged them over a lime piece of Bazzill.  The border was punched with one of the new EK Success large border punches, this was attached to the left hand side and layered with a bit of pink ribbon.  To complete the card, I stamped a Hero Arts greeting onto an oval and layered that over a Nestibility tag with foam tape.  A couple of pink pearls on the flourish ends completed the card.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Earlier I mentioned my spot as a guest designer at Inkurable Stampers, here are some images of the samples I created for the challenge this month.

Journey

This arch was a good opportunity to try a new technique – beeswax.  I was really happy with the results and the arch smells so good!

· The arch was hand drawn after looking at a few images online.  It is based on a template by Belinda Schneider but I changed the dimensions a bit.  All images were from Darkroom Door. 

· I started with a white cardstock arch.  The background was made by first stamping the French Script background with Versamark ink & clear embossing.

· The arch was lightly sponged with Distress Wild Honey & Barn Door inks and excess ink wiped from the embossing.  I dripped a bit of water onto parts of the arch and allowed them to dry.

· I stamped the cars from Vintage Automobiles and the words from Prague Vol 1 onto white tissue paper and cut images out roughly.  These were adhered to the arch with gel medium.  The tissue paper allowed me to alter the orientation of the top car.

· The gentleman is from the Photobooth Hats sheet and I used a grey pen to ink the edges so the white cut marks wouldn’t show.  He is also adhered with gel medium. 

· Once everything was dry I melted some beeswax and painted it all over the arch.  Additional heating smoothed the surface a bit.

The next is one I called Destination. 

I came across this sheet of Basic Grey patterned paper at my LSS this week and it became the perfect background.  Once again stamps are Darkroom Door.

· Cut arch from patterned paper and paint with white acrylic paint.  Allow paint to dry for a few minutes and remove parts using a baby wipe.  This will allow some parts of the design to show through more than others.  If you remove too much, just repeat the process until you get the required effect.

· Once dry, paint with Ranger Distress Crackle paint in Rock Candy.  Allow to dry and lightly sponge with Distress Frayed Burlap.  Check out the before & after pic to see the change painting & sponging makes to the paper.

· To highlight a couple of the cars, I used my Copics to go over two of the car images to deepen the colour and then applied a bit of glossy accents to make them pop.

· The border is punched and stamped with the border stamp from Ornate Elements with Distress Chipped Sapphire ink and then affixed to the bottom of the arch.

· The words are from Vintage Automobiles and die cut using a Spellbinders label die.  The diecut was then sponged lightly on the edges and towards the centre with Distress Chipped Sapphire ink, folded slightly and affixed at an angle over the border with foam tape under each side. 

If you aren’t too familiar with the technique of painting over patterned paper – give it a try.  This pic shows you the difference painting can make before & after.

Butterfly Wishes

I thought I would share a card given to a friend recently for her birthday.  She has a particular fondness for butterflies.  The image is coloured with Copics.

Stamp:  Hero Arts; die cut:  Nestibility

Copic Backgrounds

Did you know that aside from colouring with your Copics you can stamp with them as well?

Just colour in your stamp as you would if using dye based markers, spritz your cardstock with blender solution or rubbing alcohol and stamp.  The blender solution/alcohol reactivates the ink on your stamp to create the image.

Usually you get a paler image so it is best to use stronger colours that you normally might be used to.

This card background is a bit splotchy looking as it is stamped onto textured cardstock – just the effect I was after.

 

Stamps:  Darkroom Door, Hero Arts; die cut edge:  Nestibility

Copic Play

Lately I haven’t had much time to play with my Copics so I made a special effort at the weekend. 

Stamps:  Darkroom Door, embossing folder:  Cuttlebug, punch: EK Success, die cut:  Nestibility.

Welcome Baby

My cousin had a baby recently and this is the card I made to welcome the new addition to our family. 

Medallian Cards

 

The last few weeks seem to have been so busy with the run up to end of term. Thank goodness we now have 2 weeks of school holidays!

Lately I have been playing with the Spellbinders pendant dies and have mastered the medallian style cards. These are so much fun to make.

Thinking of You

 

Hi Readers, my blog stats tell me I have had quite a few visitors in recent weeks - sorry you had nothing new to look at :). My inlaws moved in for a while as they waited for their new home to be ready and that didn't leave much crafting time.

Here is a card I made for a class recently using Nestibility dies and a really cute mini Basic Grey stamp, coloured with Copics. I love all the cute owl stamps around at the moment!

Caardvarks Challenge

This week I decided to enter a sketch challenge at Caardvarks. Such an easy sketch to use.

The background panel was created by laying 3cm wide strips of patterned paper over some Jac paper and then cutting them acrossways into more 3cm wide strips. Each strip ended up with panels of paper. Once they were arranged, I added some faux stitching around each block of paper.

The birdie is from Inkadinkadoo and the THANKS from Hero Art.

Your friendship ...

I just love the range of greetings you can get on stamps nowdays. Here is one of my favourites.

I also used my Nestibility dies for this card. I will share some more using them soon.

You will also notice that I got a watermark to work - finally figured it out!