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Today I'm sharing a group of cards that feature how to create a stamped background using multiple stamps & the MISTI ... click on over to the My Sweet Petunia Blog to see them all.
I'm featuring Technique Junkies Snowflakes stamps and gorgeous Shimmering Bliss Sprays for an easy Emboss Resist Technique.
On a cold icy morning, it's good to have a nice warm studio to create. I decided to join the SplitcoastStampers Inspiration Challenge from a fabulous site - Unique Vintage. I chose this vibrant floral top with a bow to inspire my design.
I stamped Technique Junkies Small Poppies Background in Gina K. Designs White Kraft Ink on Watercolor Paper (which has more of a fabric texture) using my MISTI to get great coverage ... then I clear-embossed.
I started with Brilliant Red Brusho Powder and sprayed with water, but didn't get the vibrant resist I was hoping for ... so like any great crafter, I experimented and added a second layer of Thalian Pink Shimmering Bliss Spray ... and Voila.
I cut my panel in thirds and mounted it on a vibrant blue to pull some of the blues from the floral pattern and of course ... finished with a big beautiful bow. Sentiment is Just for You from Technique Junkies stamped on a scrap of the pained & sprayed paper. Remember you can use my discount code TJ10Stephanie to receive 10% off everything at the Technique Junkies Store.
While I was embossing and spraying, I decided to try a second one using just the Shimmering Bliss Sprays with the Small Poppies Background again ... this time I combined Thulian Pink & Mardi Gras Purple for a different color combination. I just love the overall shimmer and vibrant resist you get with these sprays (and the nozzles don't clog ... love that).
I cut this one into two pieces and added a big purple bow with the same Just for You Sentiment (perfect for so many occasions. This time I embossed the font after stamping on a scrap of my sprayed paper.
Since the Small Poppies Background was a new stamp for me and it was the first time using that color of Brusho, I'm also linking-up at the Something New Challenge at My Time to Craft.
Today I'm sharing four different Emboss Resist Designs using the Technique Junkies Batik Background Stamp and Shimmering Bliss Sprays at the Design Junkies Blog.
The sprays produce such a luxurious background ... click on over to see the finished cards ... and remember, use my TJ10Stephanie discount at check-out for 10% off your order.
Lisa Arana shared a great video in the Unity Stamp Company e-mail today of a Quick Background technique using the MISTI. She challenged us to use the technique and post it in the Unity {show & tell} group on Facebook.
I realized as I surveyed my Unity inventory that I definitely lean toward Itty Bitty stamps and sentiments, so it was a little challenging to find an image to repeat ... so I got creative with the technique using the Wine & Friends Itty Bitty Stamp. Using my MISTI made it easy to move the row of glasses around. I used my Spectrum Noir markers to color the large glass of wine & trio of hearts.
I stamped three rows of glasses & finished with a snarky sentiment from Unity Stamp Company She Used to Care.
The theme for Tag #4 of the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist is Embossing.
I created an Emboss Resist Tag by stamping Joy Clair's Ugly Sweater Background Builder Stamps with my MISTI using White Ink on White Cardstock and embossing with detail embossing powder.
The I applied Peacock Feathers Distress Ink with my favorite blending brushes starting at the bottom each time to achieve an ombre effect.
I took my inspiration from the Joy Clair December/January Challenge photos by adding layered yellow flowers with a large pearl brad center and coordinating yellow ribbon ... creating my own feminine Winter Wonderland.
This is our third year of Lauren & I playing with Gel Press Printing at our New Jersey Art Camp (aka playing with art supplies at her house). For my birthday, Lauren bought me a set of the R&F Opaque Oil-based Pigment Sticks that Sally MacDonald assured would produce successfull Fashion Magazine Transfers ... but alas we failed.
We could see the lovely print on our Gel Press surface ... but we couldn't get it to pick-up on the paper. Here are the only two reasonable prints I achieved from the technique. At least we were doing it together ... and failing together ... so we didn't get nearly as frustrated if we had been failing alone.
Of course we didn't let that stop us ... Lauren moved on to other play with the oil sticks, and I moved on to playing with paints.
I had several large new stencils from Carabelle Studio I wanted to try ... but I mostly became obsessed with Carabelle Studio Art Mask Large - Collection of Circles (Accumulation de Ronds).
When I Gel Print, I tend to do a variation on a theme ... and clearly I buy my paints from the same family too ... I need to add some reds and greens to my color palette.
Next I moved on to Darkroom Door Large Polka Dot Stencil with the same paints (mostly on white cardstock but a few texty pages).
I really felt like I needed more primary colors, so I borrowed some red paint from Lauren (note to self, buy red paint).
I had fun printing on some vintage papers, water color paper and even some index cards using some zig zags and dots.
Seriously, I'm not sure there is a more therapeutic creative process than printing layers upon layers ... and doing it with your crafty besty (who will oooh and ahhhh with you as you pull magical prints) is the best.
For our first artsy adventure at our annual Art Camp, Lauren and I tried a variety of foiling. I won a Gina K. Designs prize package at Junkiefest and another Therm-o-Web prize package after Junkiefest, so we were well-stocked with products to try.
We started by applying Decofoil Transfer Gel with stancils so they could dry overnight ... we just kept going until the jar was empty. We made two fo each stencil, so we'd both have one to foil.
For some we applied the past precisely ... for others we went for more of a grunge effect. When we were finished, we laid them out on the painter's cloth to dry overnight.
We we worked, we washed the gel medium off of our stencils (we thought they were kind of pretty all hanging-out together in the kitchen sink).
While those were drying, we moved on to foiling some of the many toner sheets I had in my winnings with a Royal Sovereign Laminator.
These are Gina K. Designs' Ornamental Holiday in Twinkling Pink and Dazzling Orange.
After Foiling we used the Xyron to attach the reverse of the Foil to White cardstock (2nd Picture) ... we couldn't decide which one we liked more, but loved the double design possibilities.
Luaren was getting a little itchy from using only new products, so she added some vintage book pages and stitching on top of one of our foiled transparencies. We also played with inks and Color Burst painting.
This morning, all of our Transfer Gel was dry, so much more foiling commenced. Foiling is sort of magical every time you peel back the foil ... it reminds me of the feeling I got the first time I did heat embossing.
The AlteNew Kaleidoscope was one of the more precisely gelled stencils ...a nd it was absolutely gorgeous with Gina K. Designs Sparkling Silver Fancy Foils ... the iridescent beauty of this foil is hard to capture ... it's stunning.
What we really loved was the grunge-foil effect we got when we left lots of texture in the Gel.
I used a View Master from The Crafter's Workshop, a Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis Stencil we picked-up at one of his art exhibits a few years ago, a man hole cover stencil from The Ink Pad and Carabelle Studios Stars in the Round.
By the time we were finished, we had a large pile of gorgeous foiled designs ... can't wait to create things with these pieces. Seriously, if you haven't foiled ... you're going to want to give it a try.
I am having such a relaxing birthday morning ... rain outside, but it is light enough to have the windows open and let in the cool autumn air ... Premier League Soccer on the television ... and lots of ink in my studio ... nothing better.
I'm still joining the Winnie & Walter World Card Making Day Challenges. For my next card, I made a Clean & Simple Card Design. I used my MISTI to do more ink blending with the Morse Code Stencil from A Colorful Life ... I used Dusty Concord, Broken China & Seedless Preserves Distress Inks and my Make-Up Brush on Water Color Paper.
I used the same three colors of Distress Ink with my MISTI to ink the sentiment from Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold and You.
For my next card, I used the Winnie & Walter Coordinating Die Cut Coloring Challenge with Kelly, since it was a technique I had never seen before. It was a very fun & easy technique and produced a great background for my card.
As I mentioned, my Winnie & Walter Stash is limited to sentiment sets, so I had to pull out a Stamp set with Coordinating die from Reverse Confetti Hey Sugar for my card (because it's my birthday, I have cake-on-the-brain).
I used Wilted Violet Distress Ink for Stamping and Shaded Lilac Distress Ink for the stenciling. I added a Hugs Sentiment from Winnie & Walter's The Big, the Bold and Comfort. I'm also joining the Stock Your Stash Challenge at Reverse Confetti with my Friendship Card (because true friends are the ones who take you for some cake).
Remember ... it's my Birthday & I'm giving away goodies.
I wanted to join in the Winnie & Walter World Card Making Day Challenges (you can see my CRAFTIE photo here) ... only one slight problem ... I only have 3 stamp sets from Winnie & Walter & 2 of them are sentiment sets (they do make amazing sentiment sets). So clearly, I need to win this challenge, so I can add to my stash.
I started with inspiration from today's Featured Stamper at SplitcoastStampers ... the talented Jennifer Jackson. I took my inspiration from her lovely stenciled design.
Unfortunately, most of my stencils have been mailed to New Jersey for the Gel Press Extravaganza that Lauren & I have planned for this week, so no pumpkins or leaves ... but I did have this lovely Classic Harlequin Stencil from Technique Junkies by A Colorful Life. Remember, there's a World Card Making Day sale going on at Technique Junkies.
I pulled out my MISTI because it's not only a helpful tool for stamping ... I also use it for Stenciling. I positioned my water color paper and held it in place with my long magnet. Next, I placed my stencil in the corner of my MISTI, so it stays in place in place and then I only have to add a single piece of tape at the top (rather than taping down multiple sides).
Iliana is having a great WCMD Sale Too.
I used my make-up brushes (life changing) to Ink Blend three colors of Distress Ink for the Winnie & Walter Ink Blending Challenge with Lea.
I started with the lightest shade and moved to the darkest, going back with some Mustard Seed at the end. That is one of the make-up (aka Stencil) brushes from this Set of 6.
Another great thing about using this MISTI Technique for Stenciling, is it's easy to lift up your Stencil and see how things look, and then put it right back in place to add more ink ... look at that gorgeous blending of color.
For my finished card, I used inspiration from Jennifer to mat my card with gold (I normally would have reached for a darker brown) and added a wrap of twine, as well as some glittery autumn leaves. Rather than stamp my sentiment on a strip of paper (I felt like it covered-up too much of that gorgeous ink-blending) I used Acorn Versafine Clair ink to stamp the Sentiment from Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold, and Comfort on top of my blended Distress Ink. I also used Jennifer's inspiration for a combination of a bigger & smaller word for my sentiment.
I'm also linking-up at the Trees & Leaves Challenge at The Paper Players.
AND remember ... Stop by and leave a comment on my Birthday Giveaway for a chance to win a Medium Size Flat Rate Box stuffed full of stamps & coordinating dies.
Joy Clair is offering a chance at a Grand Prize for participating in four of their World Card Making Day Challenges, so I had to give it a try (the first was my Studio Post Here).
I started with the Rainbow Colors Challenge. I stamped my new Joy Clair Coffee To Go Background in Monarch Versafine Clair ink on white cardstock and clear embossed.
Next I painted with a rainbow of watercolors. Sentiment is from Joy Clair Coffee Talk using this week's Freshly Made Sketch on a kraft card base.
Next Challenge was Make & Mail - to make a card and coordinating envelope to put in the mail.
I incorporated the Simon Says Stamp Tag It! Challenge and stamped on a kraft tag using Joy Clair Coffee Talk Stamps and Versafine Clair Inks.
I stamped my Envelope with the Joy Clair Coffee To Go Background Stamp.
My third challenge was to use the Ink Smooshing Technique ... I used two colors of Pink Distress Ink and instead of water, I used my Technique Junkies Iridescent Shimmering Bliss Spray for a gorgeous all-over shimmer.
I used Joy Clair Creeping it Real Stamps for a Pink Halloween with the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers ... because Later Witches.
I'm also linking-up at Simon Says Stamp for World Card Making Day.
I have had a fantastically creative World Card Making Day ... I did some shopping (with my Impression Obsession Winnings and their 20% off sale) and lots of creating ... so fun!
