FAUX LEATHER BACKGROUND

 The very first time I did Faux Leather as a class was in 2008, so it's been a while since we've done this easy, but effective background technique using a staple in many homes, masking tape.
Acrylic paint is what gives this tape the colour, and I find it works better than using any inks on top of the tape, as they have a tendency to wipe off, whereas the acrylic paint sticks very well. Dry-brushing the paint on means you are much more in control of how much colour you add, although it's easy to wipe/scratch some paint off if you've applied too much.
My first three samples are dedicated to my current obsession. IYKYK. 😉

"Yee'd your last haw"

"Obsession"


"Gimme kiss"


"til death we do art"

"Imagination"

"Heart sing"

SIMPLE WATERCOLOUR CIRCLES

 I have a reasonable collection of metallic watercolour paints and love using them as accents. Still, for this technique, I've used the metallics to paint the circles, then hand-drawn or stamped simple botanical designs over the shapes and accented them with some really sparkly metallic watercolours. My favourite sparkly ones are my Lisilinkas. But I do have some beautiful MAB watercolours from Etsy, and I have used my Supervision Mica Watercolours, which are also granulating. The Supervision ones are available from different sellers on Ali and come in 1ml, 2ml, or tube sizes. All of the paints listed above have links to their pages.

"CTRL ALT DELEAF"

"Talk dirt to me"

"Stay wild"

"Shiitake"

"Entwined"

"Choose to shine"

3D BOTANICAL POTS

 I've always enjoyed making botanical fodder for ATCs and cards, and wanted to incorporate them in a way I hadn't done before. I used my watercolour markers to create the botanicals, the backgrounds, and the pots/vases on these samples. I think the girls will appreciate the control they have using watercolour markers when working on small botanicals and pots as opposed to watercolour paints, where it can easily get away from you with being too wet, as these images and backgrounds are so small.
No stamps were used for any of these botanicals, pots or grass, all hand-drawn (sorry girls 😉).

"Feeling cute"

"Pollen"


"Lily"

"No rain"

"Thriving"

"I paint flowers"

STAMPED ACCENT SHAPES

 For those who don't want to do much fussy colouring on a main focal image, this is an easy way to add colour by using accent shapes in various colours. Some of the shapes I have made myself using craft foam with dies (the ghosts, circles & squares) and other times I have just used stamps that suit the main focal stamped image. You also have the option to colour in part or all of the main image. I tried out this technique on an Easter card for my granddaughter just recently, and was happy with how it turned out, so I thought we could easily do the same thing on ATCs. I also used one of my spinny bearings for the first time on the skull ATC. They are so cute and easy to use! Her card is right at the bottom of this post. I used an egg-shaped die to cut craft foam for the coloured shapes on her card. 

"Bone appetit"

Spinning skull on Bone appetit

"Butterflies with no make-up"

"Fragile like a bomb"

"Ghosts don't give a sheeet"

"Rainbow of chaos"

"Just winging it"

Easter card

WHITE STAMPING

  Kraft paper makes a great neutral base for many techniques, but none more so than this stark white colouring with simple black stamping. This is a minimalist style that doesn't need a lot of fluff to make it look good. Thanks to Andy Skinner for coming up with this style, and his stamps suit it perfectly, although other stamps work equally well. I added a little colour to the last one to see if it'd work, and yes, it does.

"Let things go"

"Cyanide"

"I don't care"

"Magic"

"Oldest thing"

"Math"

WHITE HIGHLIGHT EMBOSSING

 An easy technique that combines a few elements that, if chosen carefully, will work well together. Patterned paper is the base; this is then dry embossed with an embossing folder, which is then coated carefully with white pigment ink to bring out the design of the embossing folder. Lastly, an image or die-cuts and words are added to complete the look. The main criterion is choosing your patterned paper and embossing folder so they will both work together, with neither overpowering the other. 

"I do lie"


"Moister"


"Note to self"

"Hustle & grind"

"Full bloom"

"Endless possibilities"

LAYERED FOIL TAPE

 It's been a while since we last used foil tape as a technique, 2017, and the first time was way back in 2009. The tape I use is the non-reinforced aluminium foil tape that is used in the aircon industry. I like the 72mm-wide one as it will cover an atc completely, although the 50mm size is more readily available, and you can just overlap a small piece on one side, and it will blend in with your background anyway. For this technique, I have attached various chipboard shapes beneath the foil tape directly to the cardstock base, which gives extra dimension. Don't forget to click on the pictures to give
a more detailed view of them. Computer/phone screens are not the best at capturing detail. 

Pickles are fantastic

Necromancer

A close-up of the Washi Tape feathers I made
for the embellishment on this one.

Hollander
(IYKYK 😏)

Get together


Sadness

Craptose intolerant