Quick Collage Stamping

One night after dinner at my sister's house, she asked for a quick demo of this emboss/resist technique I kept telling her about. We moved into the craft room and I had fun raiding her stamp stash. Isn't it fun when you get to play with other people's toys? I picked out a background stamp, a focal image tag stamp, a birthday definition, a sun, and an accent image of letters and postcards. I set up near the heat gun, got out the clear detail embossing powder, located a versamarker pen and prismacolors and a few inkpads in my favorite colors. Now we were ready to roll!

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This is a true one-layer card - this started off as a plain cream card front. There is no patterned paper or pre-colored images. When you stamp with the emboss/resist technique, you stamp the items in front first and move your way to the background. So the order here was:

1. Envelopes
2. Birthday dictionary definition
3. Tag image
4. Sun
5. Diamond background

I stamped the envelopes near the bottom of the card front and colored them in with Prismacolor pencils. Notice that I colored in some gray shadows where one envelope overlapped another; this adds a lot of dimension without adding any layers. Then I colored over the whole stamped image with a Versamarker pen, which writes with clear watermark/embossing ink. I sprinkled clear detail embossing powder over the whole colored image and heat embossed. Now this layer of stamping will not be affected by the stamping that will come after it, as the embossing will repel future applications of ink.

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Points for perfection: This card shows several flaws that happened with the Versamarker step. I was trying to move too fast and should have taken a bit more care. See the bottom corner of the envelope just to the left of middle?  I missed coloring in one little corner with the Versamarker, so the brown sponging that came later was able to stain the unprotected corner.  On several of the other envelopes, my Versamarker coloring went just outside the lines, so the subsequent brown sponging left white gaps where the embossing resisted the ink.  To avoid these problems, color the Versamarker up to the lines but not on or over the lines. It is better to be inside the lines than out of them.

I stamped the birthday dictionary defintion at an angle, colored a rectangular area with a Versamarker to encompass the text and heat embossed with clear detail powder. Next I stamped the tag. Although it is actually stamped on top of the envelopes and birthday definition, the glossy embossing does not accept the ink and easily wiped clean.  I colored in the tag with Prismacolor pencils, covered the entire surface with a Versamarker and heat embossed with clear detail powder.

Then the sun was inked with bright copper, then a dark brown inkpad was dabbed onto the eyes, nose and mouth, then stamped and colored in with Prismacolor pencils.  I colored with a Versamarker on the sun face and yellow rays, but NOT over the copper radient lines. Then I heat embossed the sun with clear detail powder.

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Last, the diamond background was stamped with ochre ink over the entire surface. The open areas of the pattern were sponged with turquoise blue. Dark brown was sponged all around the edges. Notice how you can see the diamonds through the sun's radient lines but not in the yellow rays.  A slightly damp paper towel was used to wipe all the embossed surfaces clean of ink.  Shadows were added with a gray Prismacolor pencil around some elements to give a more 3D look. Voila!
Once you get used to the steps, this is a really fast technique, without the hassle of making masks out of paper. About 30 minutes for this card, not counting the stash raiding time! ;-)

I am entering this in the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #89: Casino Royale. Although this man has a moustache, he reminds me of Bond lounging on the Mediterranean coast while he was happy with his love, before the betrayal. The European locale, the travel implied by the map, it all makes me think of the movie. The envelopes remind me of all the nationalities of the players in the poker game in the beginning. I know I am missing a silhouette, I just couldn't figure out how to work it in!

I hope you'll give the emboss/resist technique a try!  Please leave me a comment, I love to hear from you!

Stamps: Tin Can Mail (Inkadinkado) - tag and envelopes; Hero Arts - birthday definition; A Stamp in the Hand - sun; Stampin' Up! - Print Pattern (background).
Paper: Value Pack - 5 x 6.5 inch ivory card and envelope.
Ink: Marvy Matchables - black, copper, brown, turquoise and ochre; Tsukeniko - Versamarker; Prismacolor - colored pencils.
Miscellaneous: Ranger - clear detail embossing powder; heat gun; sponges.

Tweet! Heard it was your Birthday!

Now that my nieces are home for the summer, we are belatedly celebrating their friend Karlie's birthday. She is so bright and cheerful and animated, and the bright eyed bird in Flourish's "Home Tweet Home" set makes me think of her! I also wanted to enter the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge FTTC67 which is to use chipboard.



I stamped the branch, bird, and birdhouse with brown ink on the blue cardstock, then I stamped the bird and birdhouse again on white cardstock. I colored in the branch, leaves, and bird's legs with Copic markers. Then I sponged blue around the edges and in the sky area, and green across the bottom.  I colored the bird and birdhouse on the white cardstock and cut them out. Because I had also stamped the images on the blue cardstock, I did not have to worry about trimming around the bird's legs or the spirals at the edge of the birdhouse roof - I trimmed them off when I cut out the images. Much easier!! I adhered them in place on the blue cardstock.  I stamped "tweet!" in black and heat embossed it with clear detail powder.

I save cereal boxes and other packaging, do you?  I especially love it when you find items packaged in white chipboard, and that is what I used for my clouds. Clouds are a very hot trend right now! I drew some clouds on the printed side of the chipboard, then ran it through my Cuttlebug in an embossing folder. Then I cut out the clouds and sponged a little blue around the edges.  I also stamped the "little bird" sentiment on a piece of blue cardstock and trimmed it out, sponging the edges with green.



Now to assemble everything! I cut a slot for ribbon on either side of the birdhouse and ran yellow satin ribbbon around the panel and through the slots, tying it in a square knot.  I rounded the corners, then adhered it to my pale yellow cardbase. I added the sentiment on regular dimensionals, and the clouds on ⅛ inch thick dimensionals to really lift them up! I aligned them all with the edge of the card base, not with the blue panel. I like having elements that break through the boundaries, must be the rebel in me!!

Can't forget the inside!



I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed it with clear detail powder. I cut out a few more clouds, again having some floating off the edge of the paper, and sponged some blue where I planned to put them. I adhered these flat against the cardstock.

I hope Karlie will enjoy receiving this birthday card at dinner tomorrow night. We are having a big meal and cake at my sister's house, gotta love a big family meal!  Happy belated birthday Karlie!

I purchased this stamp set at the Flourishes booth at a scrapbooking & stamping show in Perry, Georgia! I can't tell you how exciting it was to be able to do some stamp shopping in my own town, which is tiny!!  I got to meet two of my blog heroes, Silke Ledlow of My Life, and Dee Jackson of Stampin' Cuz I Luv 2 and made them pose for a picture with me - my sister Janet is behind the camera!  I was so excited as I have subscribed to their blogs for years, and there they were doing Copic coloring make-it-take-its at the show. Of course I recognized Silke immediately because of the picture on her blog, and the minute Dee told me her name, I said "Stampin' Cuz I Luv 2" and then we all squealed and jumped and hugged! It was just like being ten years old again!

Stamps: Flourishes -  bird, branch, birdhouse, tweet from "Home Tweet Home" set; Inkadinkado - little bird sentiment; Waltzingmouse - belated birthday sentiment from "Fancy Phrases" set
Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock - Cool Carribean, pale yellow; Georgia Pacific - white cardstock
Ink: Memento - Rich Cocoa; Ranger Distress - Black Soot; Marvy Matchable - Salvia Blue, Yellow-Green; Copic Markers
Embellishments: Hobby Lobby: Double-faced satin ribbon; Recycled chipboard packaging
Tools: Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles; Corner Chomper (½ inch side); Tack sponges

Great Gifts - Stamped Picture Frames

You can take a dollar store frame and turn it into a wonderful gift by stamping on it! I have several examples here that I made for my niece, who is in the Chi Omega Sorority. Their mascot is an owl, and their colors are cardinal (red) and straw (yellow). Check out these charming picture frames ready to hold some of her favorite college memories!



This first frame was from the Dollar Tree. It was really nice for the price - it is real wood stained black and has openings for four pictures. The great thing is the surface of the frame is perfectly flat - excellent for stamping. I stamped the owl (Birds Galore 97625 - Inkadinkado) and Chi and Omega Greek letters (Greek WP32 - IO) in white pigment ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then I stamped my favorite flourishes (Flourishes 97495 - Inkadinkado) set all around the edges with white Stazon. Then I added some fun googly eyes on the owl and black and white ribbon to complete the frame. It is much cuter in real life than in this photo!



This frame is from IKEA, and its face is also flat - perfect for stamping! I used the same Flourish set as on the black and white frame, which also includes this cute owl on a flourished branch! The flourishes and owl are stamped with black Stazon. The Greek letters and the word "SISTERS" (Alphabet set - Martha Stewart) are heat embossed with black powder.



Another IKEA frame - they come in lots of bright colors! No embossing on this one - it is all stamped with red and black Stazon. The cute owls (Hero Arts) are from a little boxed set of wood mounted stamps.



This one is different as the stamping was done on cardstock first. The frame is from Dollar General, and it has a raised rim. The area within the rim is flat, and I glued all kinds of words, ribbons and buttons. The words are all from a single large background stamp (Word by Word - Stampin' Up!) that I colored with Prismacolors and cut into separate words. One thing I would do differently is select a different glue - my tacky glue dried white rather than clear. :-(

Picture frames make wonderful gifts, and are especially fun if you tailor them to your recipient! It would be fun to do some for Mother's Day and Father's Day. Deer and nature sets or tools for Dad, Fashion or Flowers for Mom!



And just in case you were wondering, my feline photographer's assistants are still on the job! Beignet is scrutinizing the whole setup with an eye to every detail!  Now you know why I crop my photos so closely, LOL!!!

Do you have any fun frame decorating techniques to share?  Please leave a comment!

The Angels shouted for Joy - What a difference an ink color can make!

I was invited to dinner by a couple in my Sunday School class and brought these cards as a little hostess gift. I went with a musical theme as my hostess is the choir director at my niece's school. This is my favorite verse from Job, where God is talking about when he made the world. How fun to think about stars singing! I stamped the same image on both cards, first card in dark brown and second in medium gray. What a difference an ink color can make!

The index image on this stamp (Inkadinkado) was really deceptive. It looked like the shading was much lighter. No matter how sheer an ink I stamped with, the shaded areas still closed up. I stamped the first one in brown (Rich Cocoa - Memento) because that is a better pick for faces and skin than black. I used a Copic Multiliner to outline the letters and colored it in with Copic markers. The stars were highlighted with a glitter pen (Clear - Copic Spica). The background (Sage Shadow - Stampin' Up!) was embossed with a musical score (Allegro - Cuttlebug), then I highlighted the raised areas by brushing a shimmering Dazzle pad (Frost - VersaMark) over the top. I love the way this brings out the embossing. I wrapped a pink ribbon around, mounted the angel panel, tied a bow (Bow-Easy) and tucked in some punched foliage (Branch - Martha Stewart).



For the center, I stamped some musical symbols (Stampabilities) in gray and the sentiment (All Year Cheer - Stampin' Up!) in black (Tuxedo Black - Memento).



I decided I was on the right track in adding detail back with a Multiliner, so I went much lighter with the ink on this second try. After stamping with gray (London Fog - Memento), I sketched in line-art detailing throughout the image, especially where the shadows closed up. The gray made the shadowed areas much less distracting, and I am a lot happier with this card. I really want to get Memento Desert Sand - it is a light tan color that would have been even better for the faces.



This is the same as the first, except for the sentiment (Sincere Salutations - Stampin' Up!).

I am going to try lighter inks on a lot of images just to see, how about you? I think it might be particularly effective on florals! Which card do you prefer?

Nativity Starburst - one last Christmas card to share!

We are still in the twelve days of Christmas, so I thought I would share one last card that didn't make it onto the blog before the big day.

I stamped the Indadinkado nativity scene on color laser paper (Memento ink, Rich Cocoa). I colored it in with markers (Sketch, Copic). The color laser paper really allows you to blend the colors without having to use so much ink to saturate the paper, and I was very pleased with the results. It is also much less expensive than the cardstock varieties that work well with Copics! I mounted it on Really Rust cardstock (SU) after punching a border (Arched Lattice, Martha Stewart) and gilded the border with a gold leafing pen (Gold, Krylon). The background is Mellow Moss cardstock (SU) that has been embossed with the Fleur de Lis folder (Cuttlebug) and edged with the leafing pen. A gold organza ribbon was tied into a multi-loop bow (Bow-Easy). I cut a slit just wider than the ribbon in the fold of the card, so the ribbon passes all the way around the card front, with ends taped under the Nativity panel.

The color is more accurate in the first picture, but this one shows the shiny stuff better! I am still loving the sparkle, and I used a blue gel pen (Sakura, Metallic Blue/Black)in the sky around the starburst. The star itself was accented with a glitter pen (Sakura, Stardust Clear), as was the halos on Mary, Joseph and the Baby.

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful twelve days of Christmas yourself! I hate it when people think it is all over after Dec. 25th, as the twelve days of Christmas are not the days leading up to Christmas, but the time from the Nativity to the arrival of the wisemen on Epiphany.

Your comments mean a great deal, and thanks for looking!