flowers for dead guy...

October 19, 2013

flowers for dead guy...

Hello my wonderfully fabulous friends!

I'm looking out my studio window at golden yellow and orange leaves, and feeling super excited for Halloween!

Don't ask me why, it just kinda hit, and I'm going with it... that's just the way I roll. :)

So, how about a tutorial today just cuz I'm in a crazy-energetic-celebrate kinda mood?

(and I really like sharing the how-to not just the ta-da!)

Step 1: Use temporary adhesive to tape down a mask to your paper and use an ink blending tool to cover your paper with ink.

*I like using Tim Holtz tissue tape... It never rips my paper when I peel it off, but there are lots of options- find what works for you*

**I made my own mask by cutting an image out of acetate with my Silhouette. LOVE**

Step 2: Leaving your mask in place, stamp around the image with a background stamp. I like to use the stamp unmounted so I can use parts and pieces of the stamp and put more or less pressure in various places for a faded look... it also helps get in the smaller areas of the stencil.

Step 3: If you have areas you want to stamp differently (like I did outside the frame) simply use scrap paper to mask off the areas you don't want stamped, and keep stamping.

Step 4: With the mask STILL in place (see why I wanted you to temporarily tape it down!), cover the whole thing with a clear embossing ink

Step 5: Remove the mask, and cover with clear embossing powder. (you may need to use a dry paint brush to brush off powder that wants to stick where you had your tape.)

Step 6: Heat your embossing powder. Now all your inking and stamping up to this point are safe and sealed beneath your embossing. YAY!

Step 7: Add some color to the area that was masked with your ink blending tool. Any ink you get on the embossed area should wipe off with a little water, so don't worry about staying in the lines. If you are using Distress Ink, you can flick a little water on it for some fabulous splotchy effects.

Step 8: Line up your mask again and tape it down. Use your ink blending tool to pounce on some acrylic paint around the edges of your piece.

Step 9: Remove the mask. Before the paint dries completely, use a dry cloth or paper towel to wipe off the paint. This will remove almost all the paint.

What you will be left with is paint caught in the texture of the embossing powder... Super awesome! Also, because the paint wasn't quite dry (this will very greatly on how wet the paint is when you do wipe) it blends onto the masked area for a slightly softer look.

Step 10: Using a permanent in such as Ranger's Archival ink or StazOn ink, stamp over the piece with a focal stamp (in this case a bunch of flowers). You have to use an ink that will be permanent on non-porous surfaces so that it will dry on the embossing powder, and stay at the for-front of the card.

*For my flowers, I stamped the image multiple times without re-inking in between (aka: generation stamping). This gives the appearance of depth without having to use multiple colors of ink. *

**I love stamping on top of clear embossed area... such great layering options!**