Tutorials

Background Tutorial - Water Stamping

I have been asked by a few people how to do the subtle negative resist background that I used in some cards I have made recently. So I decided to have a go at a mini tutorial. I haven't figured out how to have a separate page for this so I will do it as a normal blog post. This is a card I made several of last Christmas when I got this lovely little Hero Arts bauble.
So here we go: 
Cut a piece of thick white card 13.5 x 13.5cm (I use Southfields 290gsm White card)

Blend 3 shades of a similar colour palette onto the card using Cut'n'Dry foam. I used Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Chipped Sapphire. 

Mask off the bottom 4cm with Post-it notes. Ink up a background stamp with Versamark and spritz with water. The Versamark helps keep the water on the stamp. Stamp onto blended background, press firmly then lift off. The water removes some of the ink to reveal the negative resist. Heat set with your heat gun.  

Mask the top section and spatter a few drops of water onto the blended background to create some distressing. Then stamp with another background stamp. I have built up a few larger stamps over the years as I love to create my own backgrounds. You can of course use smaller stamps to build up o background.

 For my pine branch to hang the baubles I have used Stampendous Ponderosa Pine and used it 2 or 3 times to build up the branch. For the colours I have used Tombow brush markers directly on the stamp and spritzed lightly with water.

I stamped a bauble onto a scrap of white card that I blended at the same time as I blended the main piece. Cut this out.

 Stamp a couple of the baubles onto the main panel in you chosen colour. A strong colour ensures that they stand out. I have used Versafine Deep Lagoon. Also add your ribbon trim and stamp your sentiment. I also drew the lines to hang the baubles.

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 To finish off layer onto a piece of coordinating card stock 14.5cm square. I sponged all the edges with Deep Lagoon before mounting onto a 6" white card blank. I applied crystal glitter to the cut out bauble for a bit of sparkle and attached with foam tape. A few gems to finish and your done.

I tend to batch these in 4's which is great for building up your Christmas stock.
I would welcome any feed back. I will try and figure out how to keep tutorials in a separate section so that they are easily accessible.
Pamela this one is for you!!

Tin Foil "Faux Metal" Embellishments 

A few years ago I was trying to sharpen a punch with tin foil. It kept getting stuck in the punch and tearing. So I folded it into 4 and passed it through a paper corrugator to mesh it together. I liked the texture so I put it through the other way to get a criss cross and so it went on. So as well as being able to punch shapes you sharpen your punch at the same time! How cool is that!!

First of all can I apologise for the poor quality of photos....no daylight just now!

 

•  Fold your tin foil in half, the half again so you have 4 layers. Cut to a piece that will fit your corrugator.

Put it through the corrugator.

Turn 90 degrees and put through again to get a criss-cross pattern. Then put through twice more on each diagonal.

Punch out your shape or die cut

To alter ink with pigment ink or Versamark and cover with powder. Then heat with gun. Here I used "Stardust" powder.