I've been using the Your Paper Insider Watercolor Paper quite a bit lately. It's a heavy cold press watercolor paper, 140 lb, 300 gsm. This paper can handle a lot of water, I've been using it with Distress inks, dipping and spattering, it works great! Today I'm used watercolors to make a quick background. Here's a 1 minute video on how I used different shades of blue to create a sky.
The trick is, lots of water. I painted on horizontal stripes of blues, then go back and soften the edges for a blend. I added a bit of white in the lighter areas and pulled the blue paint to blend it in. I dried the panel a few times. Then I used the fine tip of the paintbrush to add a few lines to define the clouds. It really is simple.
After the panel is dry, I stamped the trees in Black Archival Ink. This stamp is an old one by Tim Holtz, I originally bought it several years ago from Michaels or JoAnn's. The stamp I had was a bit short, so I stamped part of it again on the left. I used a black alcohol marker to fill in the missed spots.
Here is a quick 1 minute video:
I used a white cardstock mat to frame my panel, then adhered it to a black card.
That's it for today, thanks for visiting!
Supplies are listed below with direct links to the stores that carry them. If you use my link to make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my links, it really helps and encourages me to continue providing creative content.
Acetate is easy to emboss. The one I used is from an assorted paper box from Your Paper Insider, but I have also used some from We R Memory Keepers which comes in a 12x12 pad, it's very thin and can be run through a diecutting machine with whatever sandwich you would normally use for a piece of paper in an embossing folder. I use a Sizzix Big Shot, so my sandwich is the platform, the folder with acetate and one top plate. The acetate is cut to the size of the embossing folder (not just the design), in this case about 4.5x6.5". This will leave a border around the image which I score and burnish to fit the panel on the top and bottom. It should be longer than the panel, that way I can fold it over to fit the panel after I paint it.
After the acetate is embossed, I flip it over to the debossed side. The areas that are inverted, or have tiny wells are where I place the acrylic paint. I used inexpensive gold acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby. The gold is a brassy gold, a bit antiqued. The bottle I have is a few years old, Anita's Metallic Craft Paint by Rustoleum in Antique Gold.
I use a thin brush, mine is by Altenew and has a fine point to be able to reach into the tiny lines and wells. I apply 2-3 coats letting it fully dry between coats. After it's fully dry, I will adhere it to the base.
Score the top and bottom of the acetate to fit the panel, folding it behind the panel and attaching it with red line tape to the back. Trim the sides of the acetate with a guillotine trimmer or scissors to fit the panel. Attach this to a card front.
On the second panel I ink blended I used Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry and Lumberjack Plaid. I didn't end up finishing this card yet but showed it with an acetate embossed panel, I have to finish painting.
That's it for today! Thank you for visiting.
Supplies are listed below with direct links to the stores that carry them. If you use my link to make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my links, it really helps and encourages me to continue providing creative content.
On today's card, I'm using the Spellbinders Grungy Background BetterPress Plate from the Beautifully Imperfect Collection. It includes dies, embossing folders, BetterPress plates and some gorgeous paper products. I didn't receive the paper products but I'm thinking about ordering a few and the gorgeous butterfly! Youcan see the entire collection HERE.
I made the background using a black piece of Scrapbookcom's Mixed Media cardstock. I covered the entire panel with Ranger's Lunar Paste by Simon Hurley in a combination of Refined Copper and Slippery When Wet. I swirled it on with a flat Distress Blending Foam. The cardstock is heavyweight, able to stay flat even with all the paste on it. It took about an hour to dry.
After it was completely dry, I inked the Grungy BetterPress Plate with BetterPress ink an ran it through my BigShot with the BetterPress system. The ink worked perfectly.
The sentiment, "Beautifully Imperfect" is included with the background plate. There's one other sentiment included, "Embrace the Mess". I took a small scrap of the Mixed Media cardstock and swiped some of the Lunar Paste on it and BetterPress inked it. There isn't a die included to cut out the sentiments, but I have a lot of the strip dies for sentiments, you can also hand cut it out.
I had some paper already covered with Lunar and Solar Pastes in my stash, so I used those to diecut some leaves from a Simon Hurley set. I glued them together and attached them to my card. I used thin foam strips to pop up the sentiment. That's it!
Here's another card I made using the Beautifully Imperfect Collection, you can see that post HERE.
Thanks for visiting!
Supplies are listed below with direct links to the stores that carry them. If you use my link to make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my links, it really helps and encourages me to continue providing creative content.
Supplies are listed below with direct links to the stores that carry them. If you use my link to make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my links, it really helps and encourages me to continue providing creative content.
You can see the entire Beautifully Imperfect collection at Spellbinders HERE.
Here is my second card using Simon Hurley's HO HO HO stamp and matching Spellbinder's dies.
I stamped and gold heat embossed the snowflakes, then using a blending tool I blended some Distress Oxide ink in Scattered Straw/Fossilized Amber, Kitsch Flamingo and Salvaged Patina. My brushes weren't clean so there may be a bit of residue from other colors. I used the matching die to cut out the snowflakes (the stamps connect the 3 snowflakes together). In the end I stamped another cluster of snowflakes and cut them apart because I felt like it needed 2 more snowflakes in the corners.
For the background, I took a piece of Your Paper Insider cold pressed watercolor paper, cut down to A2 size. If you cut the 8.5" x 11" piece of paper in half at the 5.5" mark and then each of those pieces in half at the 4.25" mark, you end up with four A2 size pieces. The pack comes in 50 sheet packs, so if you cut them all you'll have 200 A2 size panels. Economical at $37.95! Available HERE.
Here is my YouTube Tutorial:
Using my 5"x7" Gelli Plate, I rubbed Distress Oxide inks on it. I used Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber, Saltwater Taffy, Spun Sugar and Kitsch Flamingo in straight lines on the long side of the plate. I used a brayer to smooth out the colors. I repeated this 2 more times, adding more ink and brayering the colors. The final time I lightly spritzed (no big droplets!) the Gelli Plate and pressed the paper onto it. The colors will look uneven but let it dry before judging it. Once dry it looks better! To add more texture, I spritzed the paper and pressed a paper towel onto the panel to pick up some of the ink.
I took the Streamline 3D embossing folder from the Simon Hurley Ski-sons Greetings Collection and ran the panel through my diecutting machine. The embossing folder is made to look like the marks skis make in the snow on a ski hill. I thought it looked perfect with the snowflakes, it looks like swirling snow, even matching the "strings" on the stamped snowflakes. Here's a card I made using the Ski-son's Greetings Collection (I have a blog post HERE):
I decided to spatter some Spellbinders Sparkle Splatter Effects over the top of the panel. This Sparkle Splatter comes in a nail polish bottle and has a pretty irridescent glow. You can skip the spatter or use whatever you have.
To finish off my card, I diecut some fun foam using the snowflake die, trimmed off the "strings" between the snowflakes and glued the fun foam to the back of my snowflake cluster. You could also pop it up with foam dots or cut a few layers of scrap cardstock, or leave it flat, you choose. For the 2 snowflakes in the corners, I didn't add any dimension, just glued them down. I used the sentiment Let it Snow from the stamp set, there are matching dies for the sentiments too, YAY! I cut an extra layer of the sentiment and glued it to the sentiment before gluing it on the panel.
I added a few clear gems to the center of the snowflakes. I think gold ones would also look pretty. The ones I have are very old and are no longer made.
That's my card. I hope you try a Gelli plate with Distress Oxides. It's a great way to add colors to a card without have to ink blend. Sometimes it's exhausting to use blending brushes. With my shoulder fractured I can't do the ink blending.
Thanks for visiting!
Supplies are listed below with direct links to the stores that carry them. If you use my link to make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my links, it really helps and encourages me to continue providing creative content.
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