WATERCOLOUR TISSUE PAPER

The last class of the year is always a Christmas theme with a technique thrown in for good measure.  The technique this time is Watercolour Tissue Paper.  Tissue paper can be a little temperamental to handle when it's really wet but by doing this technique directly onto your craft sheet, then drying it in place until you can move the tissue easily without it tearing, makes it a whole lot easier.  Virtually anything that can be diluted down with water to make a wash will work.  I used Distress Stains and Distress Sprays. 

I have found some of my Distress Stains have totally changed colour so I am always cautious about using them straight away and test them first on a scrap piece of paper to see if it has altered.  My Pumice Stone looks like Forest Moss!  My Tumbled Glass looks like Broken China.  But you work with what you have.  After colouring the white tissue paper and then drying it, I've stuck it down to a piece of white cardstock using a Xyron.  You can either stick the tissue paper down flat or scrunch it up first to add extra wrinkles to it.  

Merry Christmas everyone... see you in 2018!

"I don't smell".... (this is my FAVOURITE!!!)

"I like your balls"...

"Happy Yule"...

"Wreck the tree"...

"Fleece Navidad"...

VELLUM OVERLAY

I bought myself a Stamp Positioner (Stamp Master one) some time ago and I wanted to use it in a class as I know that others have bought them and there they sit, in the box, unloved.  Whether you have a Misti, the Tim Holtz Stamping Platform, the Stamp Master or whatever, they all do a wonderful job of creating a really great, dark impression by stamping over the same image time and time again with no blurring.  Of course, you need to use unmounted stamps with these as the wood block ones just don't work.  There are lots of Youtube videos on how to use one so if you have one and haven't tried it out, give it a go!  

These atc's have the background stamped on plain white card using the Stamp Positioner to get a really dark image.  Then I have used a Xyron machine (puts sticky onto the white card face) and then pressed vellum down over the stamped image.  An alternative is to use a sewing machine (as in the sample below - Courage to fly) to stitch both the vellum and white card together.  The final layer on top of the vellum is die-cut shapes cut from plain black card and these are then stuck over the vellum to continue the story.  It's important to have the underlying stamped image suit the die-cut shapes to continue whatever theme you are going with.  Wording and maybe a little extra embellishing by way of crystals, Stickles, foil, Liquid Pearls etc will finish it off.  

"Unpleasant dreams"...

"Courage to fly"...

"Gardening"...

"Observe Life"...

"Black fixes everything"...

LEAFING FLAKES

Leafing Flakes or Gilding Flakes as they're also known are making a come back in the craft world.  They will stick to anything that's sticky and some would have you believe that you must use a specific type of glue for them, nope...untrue.   A tacky surface is all that's required for the flakes to adhere to but some work better than others.  If you look at my samples below, the first 3 and last 1 all have used die-cut shapes cut out of JAC paper (double-sided sticky paper) and this is the absolute easiest way to use the flakes.  I have a tub of gold, silver & copper all mixed together but I also have one of just gold and one of just silver.  I store them in a 1.5-litre lunch box as it's really easy to just dip your card in with the sticky exposed, press the flakes on and brush off the excess, all within the confines of the container.  This stuff floats EVERYWHERE!!!

The 4th sample below (Music speaks) is one that I have used by Zig glue pen to trace around the edges of the drips, wait a good 10 minutes for it to get tacky and clear (it goes on blue), then press on the flakes.  Perfect!  Of course, double-sided tape works really well with gilding flakes.  

As an experiment, I also tried out using clear embossing ink and the sticky embossing powder with a stamp.  I was the least happy with this as it was a little patchy in areas though if you were after a random background effect it'd work ok.  Just be really careful to not overheat the sticky powder as it won't be sticky if you heat too much.  It's a fine line.  😉

"Enchant"...

"I'll wear black"...

"Life is short"...

"Music speaks"...

"Stay creepy"...

ALCOHOL INKS & METALLIC PAINTS

Even though alcohol inks have been around for years now, they are still a favourite medium of mine.  When you combine them with metallic paints as the base, it creates a different and unexpected background.  Your wash of metallic paints needs to be wet for this to work so the alcohol inks have something to repel against.  The added bonus is the beautiful shimmer that can happen as the inks and metallic elements in the paint react together.  This is one of those techniques that you need to play around with yourself to see the reactions.  I used both Yupo and gloss card for the backgrounds, both react differently.

"Hakuna Moscato"... (gloss card)

"Landscape Painting"... (Yupo)

 

"Fly"... (Yupo)

"In the face"... (Yupo)

"So stupid"... (Yupo)

DISTRESS OXIDES & WEBBING SPRAY

Webbing Spray by Krylon is a fantastic product that has been around for a long time and has such a grungy look and feel to it that it just adds that something extra to an existing background.  Once again we'll be using the new Ranger Distress Oxide inks but this time on gloss photo paper.  They do react very differently when you do the "smoosh" technique with the Distress Oxides onto the photo paper and then when dry, wipe them off with a baby wipe.  This removes the oxidisation from the pigment inks and leaves a more vivid looking background.  Over the top of these backgrounds I've sprayed black webbing spray.  

You really only need the one colour of webbing spray (it's available in black, white, gold, silver, green and red) because if you have some embossing powder at the ready, as soon as you've sprayed your colour, quickly dump on embossing powder in a different colour, tap off the excess and heat.... voila, a different colour of webbing spray!  Make sure your background is really dry to prevent the embossing powder from sticking to the Distress Oxide inks!

"Kiss my sass"...

"Pitch Black"

(how awesome are these baby black spiders!)

"Bend in the road"...

"Paper cut"...

"Underestimate me"...

DISTRESS OXIDES & GOOSEBUMPS

As we've just received our new 12 colours of the Distress Oxide inks I thought we should have another play with them.  I also wanted to touch again on a product we last used about 5 years ago, Goosebumps Texture Spray.  The Goosebumps acts as a textured resist when sprayed onto a plain white card and allowed to dry before applying inks (or indeed other methods of adding colour).  After you've applied your colour you will find the Goosebumps will have dulled but they simply need a wipe over with a baby wipe to remove the excess ink and they are back to brilliant white again.  Obviously, if you have coloured a card first and then spray the Goosebumps, the colour will be whatever is under the Goosebumps as it simply acts as a resist, but with the added bonus of wonderful texture!  

The last card, Art of Drawing, doesn't have any Goosebumps on it.  After colouring the card using Distress Oxides I have then used a Perfect Pearl Spray (water in a spritz bottle with some Perfect Pearl in the white colour mixed together) and flicked large droplets on and allowed to dry.  This creates shimmery droplets on top of the Distress Oxides for a different effect.  

Once again I'm wishing the computer screen allowed you to see how these cards look in real life. 

"Power of Glitter"...

"People will stare"...

"Too alien"...

"Look up at the stars"...

"Art of Drawing"...

WEBBING EMBOSS

Many years ago I stumbled across the use of Hemming Web Tape to make amazing embossing textures.  As I come from a sewing background, of course I had this little roll of tape in my sewing stash.  For this class I have purchased the fusible webbing by the metre.  This is the exact same product as Hemming Web Tape but the tape is only around 15mm wide, by the metre it's about 45cm wide!  This can be used on a pre-made background as I have done in samples below, it just adds a little more texture and interest to your background.  I found it best to place a piece of the fusible webbing on the background (it can just be a strip or a larger piece), heat with a heat gun (the low blow one works best!) until it starts to melt and shrivel, then working quickly, add your embossing powder.  Tip off the excess powder and heat.  It should create a lacy texture as the embossing powder melts and the fusible webbing shrivels and makes holes.  Take care not to overheat as you don't want to melt your embossing powder totally into the background!

"Salty but sweet"...

"Medicine & Poison"...

"Reality"...

"Life is short"...

"Dark & Dreadful"...

Finally, the last sample from the shrink plastic class last week.  The cat and dog are from the Stampotique cat & dog cubes so yes they are small to start with and they are even smaller when shrunk!!!

"Today the dog"...

SHRINK & ALCOHOL INKS

Shrink Plastic (or Shrinky Dinks) has been around for many years and every now and again it gets dragged into the spotlight again as a whole new slew of people are amazed at how this product contorts and shrinks to around 1/4 of the original size of whatever stamp you use.  I have used both the clear and the sanded for this class but in both cases have used only alcohol inks to colour.  If using the sanded, one side has a roughened surface to take colour before you shrink and the stamping goes onto the smooth side so you have depth with the stamped image being on the top and the colour showing up underneath.  If colouring before shrinking, you must use very light colours as the colour intensifies dramatically when shrunk.  So for this reason, I like to colour with the alcohol inks after I've shrunk.  Obviously, it depends on what type of stamp you use as to if you can do this.

"Too Human"...

(clear shrink & coloured after shrinking)

"Nature's Graffiti"...

(Clear shrink & coloured after shrinking. The

weeds on the shrink were added after shrinking

to continue the design from the stamp on the background)

"No Imagination"...

(Clear shrink, alcohol ink added before shrinking.

Alcohol ink was spread using rubber puffer to blow

the ink around, can also use canned air or straw.

Mounted on silver foil to bring out design)

"Lazy Rule"...

(Sanded shrink coloured before shrinking - very

light application of colour!)

Finally, this is the last sample from last week's Dot Liner Embellishing class.

"Gene Pool"...

DOT LINER EMBELLISHING

It's surprising how many office supplies can be multi-purpose in the art & craft world.  I remember many years ago using one of the white-out correction tapes to add random white areas to an atc and as it was an old tape, it didn't work very well but the more scratchy and grungy look suited perfectly what I was trying to achieve.  In this class we'll be using the Dot Liner tapes that are adhesive tapes but not in a solid block, they have little dots or even hearts on them as the adhesive.  The brand I found at Officeworks here in Australia was called Kokuyo and here is a link to the dots, this is the link to the hearts.   You can get refills for both too!

So because they are sticky I applied 3 different techniques to them.  The first one was embossing powder, the second was foil (absolutely gorgeous!!!) and finally Perfect Pearls (this was the most subtle).  Of course, you don't have to use the dot liners, you can always just use your normal adhesive rollers but then you just get a plain solid line (which may suit your specific piece), these just give you an alternative.

"Scars are tattoos"

Embossing powder

(I used some rub-ons on this background, suited perfectly!)

"Rainbow"

Foil

"Live for the moments"

Perfect Pearls

"Once a beginner"

Foil

BRUSHO'S & METALLICS

I thought it was time we dug out the Brusho's and had another play with them, this time incorporating metallic colours with them.  I have used both the Ken Oliver Color Burst Liquid Metals (Heavy Metals set) as well as my Schmincke Gold & Silver powder.  The Liquid Metals are already a liquid but the powder must be activated with water first and they both behave quite differently.  For the samples with the faces I've used Jane Davenport's gorgeous face stamp sets which just give you the basic facial features and you add the rest.  I've also tried to leave some white open space on most of my samples as I love the colour contrast between the brightness of the highly pigmented Brusho powders and the white space.  I've also used a fine black Sharpie to add details to the hair on the two face ones.  The green ocean one was simply to use up extra of the Schmincke powder that I had made up and I blended it with a couple of colours of Brusho powders in green shades.  

"A little sparkle"...

(The lighter area in her hair is the Platinum Heavy Metals)

"Inside the box"...

(Copper Heavy Metals in the sky and Platinum Heavy

Metals for the moon)

"Love the sound"...

(Pewter Heavy Metals over Brusho's)

"Broken crayons"...

(this one is using the Schmincke gold over Grey Brusho)

"Salt water"...

(Schmincke gold splattered over a Brusho

& Schmincke gold background)

Lastly, these final two are both the covers, neither are finished but I wanted to show the different ways of using the Brusho's and how effective the white space can be.  These are 20cm x 16cm (or 8" x 6").

Really lastly, these two are the final samples from the previous class, Translucent Alcohol Inks.

 "Limited Edition"...

"Auto correct"...