Tis the Season

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. Thought I'd share the cards I made for my DH to send out to his clients. It is almost like an example they had at Achievers (which I visited when I was in Minneapolis), they were very generous to share the how to's with me.
For the main image, stamp with chipped sapphire Distress ink, swipe with corner of ink pad to get some ink off the night sky, let dry. Ink same stamp with Versamark,use clear embossing powder over image and heat set. Next ink only edges of stamp with VersaMark and emboss with holographic embossing powder.
Then I attached the main image to white card stock, stamped saying with the chipped sapphire Distress ink. Wrap ribbon around white card stock, added a white ribbon poinsettia and attached all to a dark blue card.

"I" Technique ATC

For December, the letter of the month is "I" on ArtVentures group. For my ATC background I used the ink wash faux bleach backgrounds made earlier. The embellishment uses the intaglio technique. Colored the ribbon with tumbled glass Distress Ink. Stamped the word with black Archival ink on the ribbon and attached with purple brads

Intaglio Embellishment

 I'm playing with "I" techniques, I wanted to give the Intaglio technique another try and use it as an embellishment.
Used a die cut to cut out butterfly shapes from thin cardboard packaging. Colored the white side with light blue Distress ink, covered with clear embossing powder (ep) and heat set. When ep cooled, covered surface with VersaMark ink, then clear ep and heat set again. Did a total of 4 layers of ep.

Before the 4th layer of ep, inked a flourish stamp with VersaMark ink, then pressed the stamp into the hot ep of the 4th layer. Left the stamp into the ep until the ep cooled.
Used light purple metallic rub-ons to color the surface and dark purple StazOn ink to color the edges.
 Here's the finished embellishment:

Book Study - Plaster Gauze

 On NGS group, we're doing a study of Darlene Olivia McElroy & Sandra Duran Wilson's book "Surface Treatment workshop" . This weeks' section is using plaster gauze. I had lots of fun playing with this.
In the book the authors used plaster gauze over a mask. I mainly work with ATCs and wanted to try the gauze with smaller objects, I started with two butterfly charms. Cut the plaster gauze into strips long enough to cover the surface.

 One strip at a time, dip them into warm water and place them over the surface, overlapping the edges. Use your fingers to press the plaster gauze down , smoothing them and blending them together. Allow it to dry completely.

 

 The outside doesn't look like much,

 But the inside image picked up more detail than I thought it would, cool!!!!

 The authors mentioned that you can create "sculptures" using plaster gauze and molds. Do the same method as with the charms above. Remove when the plaster as dried.

 I love how the plaster gauze picks up all the detail and it's light weight.

 I had some wing charms that I also had made molds out of . The top two sets are the plaster gauze over the charms and the bottom two are the plaster gauze in the molds.

 Another technique mentioned in the book, is to cut the plaster gauze into shapes and adhere them together (by getting them wet). Let dry.

 You can see the dried  shape on the left, on the right, I painted gold Lumiere paint over the surface.

 On the other, I painted with blue acrylic paint, and when it dried, painted the raised areas with gold Lumiere paint.

 Another technique in the book is to use gel mediums over the plastic gauze to create a waxy faux encaustic look. Took one of the plastic wrap backgrounds made earlier and placed a wet strip of wet plaster gauze over the surface. I pulled the plaster gauze apart a bit and used a paper towel to soak off some of the plaster.

 Once the plaster gauze dried, painted with q. nickel azo gold.

 When the paint dried, coated the surface with soft gel medium.

I enjoyed all these techniques and there are more ways to use the plaster gauze in the book.

Happy Thanksgiving 

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue,

but the parent of all the other virtues." - Cicero  

May everyday be filled thanksgiving!

I is for Ink Wash Faux Bleach

 Another great technique from Trish's site.
Trish recommends starting with cream or tan card stock. I used a piece of a Manila folder. Use VersaMark ink to stamp an image on the card stock and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. If you want crumple up the card stock and then re open the card stock. I skipped this step.

 Use a brush to soak card stock with water.

 Place inks in a paint palette (or I used a plastic lid).

 Using the brush, pick up one color of ink and wash the ink over part of the card stock. Wash brush.

 Repeat with other ink colors, continue until the card stock is covered.

 Heat set to dry.

I like this method of washing the ink colors onto the card.

I is for Ink Spots Alcohol Inks Backgrounds

 This is another fun technique on Trish's site. She has great instructions and many great samples. She had some vibrant samples on glossy photo paper, so that is what I used. (Or use glossy card stock).
Randomly spot & swirl alcohol inks directly from the bottles to the paper, let dry.

Apply and dab of blending solution to a pompom or cotton ball. Quickly squirt 1 color of alcohol ink on the cotton ball and use to cover over the entire card stock.

 Here's my sample.

 Tried another sample with some spots of gold metallic mixative.

 Finished sample, most of the gold metal mixative wiped off, but I've been having trouble with my bottles of metal mixatives.