Heat embossed card

This ornate stamp is new from Stampin' up! it's in the "Elegantly said" Set.  I think it's a corner stamp, but I created this card using it to stamp a background in Versamark ink and heat embossed it in gold detail embossing powder.

 

A Bit Of Heat Embossing

 I haven't done the  heat embossing resist technique for a very long time and I was reminded of this technique after watching a video  by Sarah Hardy,  where she created a rainbow effect on white card with sponge daubers, stamped and  heat embossed  images over the rainbow card using clear embossing powder.  Then the whole piece of card was brayered over with  black ink.  The  heat embossed images stay the original colour because  they are protected by the clear embossing.

 Inspired by Sarah's video, I decided I'd  give it a try. I inked up my card stock and while I waited for my multicoloured piece of card  to dry off little, I decided to  heat emboss a white piece of card with clear embossing powder and  brayer over the embossed images. The card above is  what I ended up with.  I quite liked the green and white piece so I turned it into the card above. 

I rubbed an anti static bag over the card before stamping to make sure any unwanted particles of embossing powder didn't stick to the card.

Using Versamark ink,  I stamped leaves randomly over the card and heated the powder until it melted.

With a sponge brayer I covered the entire piece of card with mossy meadow ink.. it took quite  a while to build up the density of the green background...  I have to say I wasn't too impressed with this piece of work. Then I had another idea, which I thought might speed things up a little.

Instead of using the white card stock I always use,  why not use coloured card stock.

So I took some yellow card stock and added a few patches of peekaboo peach ink before stamping and embossing  the leaves. Looking for another short cut.... ( my attention span seems to have dwindled a lot since lockdown)  It dawned on me it would be far quicker to paint over the embossed card with re inker rather than building up the layers of ink with a  brayer. 

I mixed  two  or  three sprays of water and four  or five  drops of ink, using  a 1" brush the card was painted in  a matter of seconds. Admittedly it took a little longer to dry out than a  heavily brayered  piece of card. But having said that,... I did over wet the card. It would have been better to give the card two  lighter coats of ink rather the heavy one I gave it.

While that piece was drying  I tried another colour combo, .. a little pixie pink ink daubed onto blue card and I repeated the  heat embossing process again until the last step, I mixed a few drops of Night of  Navy ink with a little water and painted it over the embossed area over the  heat embossed images in a few seconds.

This is how the blue and pink combo turned out. I will add a sentiment and maybe a fussy cut  an embossed  leaf or two before this  one is sent out.   I didn't want to hide the effect of this technique with a sentiment. I will add a sentiment later.
Then I wondered what stripes would look like over the heat embossing.....So  I  started experimenting  masking over  the heat embossed area to create stripes by  brayering over the exposed area in different colours  each time creating the stripes on the card below..

  I used post it notes to mask off the areas either side of the stripe before applying the ink with a sponge dauber. I didn't use the diluted ink as I thought it might be a little to wet and maybe seep under the post it notes.

In the card below, I worked  a little Merry Merlot ink  into the top left corner over  the mossy meadow ink for a more shadowy graduated look.   I'm not sure I want to clutter these 4x4 inch cards  by adding  sentiments. I just might use them as small notelets rather than a greeting card. 

My last card on this post and  using this technique. This one I turned into a notelet for a colleague.

The stamp I used for the sentiment is a two line stamp. The second line was inappropriate for this card,  so I masked off the second line. You must make sure your stamp is clean and dry before attempting this technique

 Sticking a strip of Sellotape over the unwanted text prevents the ink pad from making contact with that part of the stamp..   see example photo below. 

Then ink the stamp up as usual ......REMOVE the now inky Sellotape and stamp. 

 IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER TO REMOVE THE PIECE OF SELLOTAPE BEFORE STAMPING.

 See the inky Sellotape below.

Hey Presto!! the final image minus the unwanted text.

flourish card

 I saw a card made using this stamp from Hero Arts and I fell in love with it instantly.   It's one of those  stamps to die for,  it's so beautiful. So I went on a hunt for it and eventually found in the USA direct from Hero Arts. it was  reasonably priced so I just had to order it. 

It arrived yesterday much later than the given delivery dates. 
It's arrival  meant  PLAYTIME!!! 

These cards are the end result of my playtime. The first I heat embossed in gold , which is really hard to photograph well.  

The second card is also heat embossed in gold on white card stock and I applied   stampin' ups Pool Party  and Crumb Cake ink with a sponge afterwards.




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            




The last card I heat embossed in white on  Stampin' up's Cherry Cobbler  card stock.

Petite Petals Birthday Card.

Today's post is a card I have CASE'd from another SU demonstrator from Germany.

 I saw  this card on her blog and thought it was beautiful so I  just had to CASE it.

  I think what drew me to this card was her use of the Gorgeous Grunge splatter stamp.

She has stamped the splatters and heat embossed them in silver.

 The card looks a bit flat and uninspiring without this addition.

My card is not exactly the same  but its as close as I could get it without actually copying it stamp for stamp.   I will post the link to her blog

 at the end so you can pop over and see the original versions.  

You will notice  a few more changes that I haven't mentioned.

I am not sure what colours Annmarie used on her card as she doesn't list her colours on the first version of this card. She does list her colours for the second version.

I can tell you the colours I used. 

They were Blushing bride, Night of navy, and Raspberry  ripple.

Stamp set used were  Gorgeous grunge, Petite petal and Flower shop.

 The paler images in the top and bottom corners I inked up the small flower with Blushing bride ink and stamped it off once onto scrap paper before applying the stamp to the corners for a softer image.  Then inked up the stamp with the same ink and applied it directly to the card, which gave the stronger image.

Then I stamped the flower again in Night of navy directly onto the card and I stamped two images onto scrap card and punched them out with the corresponding punch for layering up. 

Using Versamark ink I inked up the splatter stamp, wiped down my card with an embossing buddy ( anti static pad) and stamped the image in the top left corner and the bottom right corner, covered the splatters in embossing powder and heated until shiny. 

The sentiment was also heat embossed in silver before punching it out with the word window punch and mounting it on to Blushing bride cardstock.

The central flower is a stamp from the Flower shop stamp set. I used Raspberry ripple ink to stamp this image on to scrap card. Then used the same ink along with a water filled paintbrush to colour in the image.  Once the  ink was dry I punched out the large flower with the corresponding  punch and  added the smaller flower to the center with a small, thin sticky foam pad placed a sparkly in the  center of the flower and adhered it in place on the front of my stamped background. 

The final steps were to add the rhinestones and  mount my finished work onto a piece of Blushing bride cardstock, then onto  Night of navy cardstock and finally onto the 7x5 white base card.  

All that's left for me to do now is create the insert and get this in the post to a special lady for her birthday.

But before I go here is the link to Annmarie and Andrea's  post for this beautiful and  inspiring  card.

http://firsthandemotion.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/petite-petals-in-pastell.html

Butterfly card for Sheila

It's my sister in laws birthday  on Saturday and as usual I have left making the card to the last possible minute.  I started this before going to work this morning,  continued it at lunchtime, then finished it when I got home from work. I had just enough time to take a photo of it before putting it in the envelope and posting it. I do hope she gets it on time.

For this card I used the Touch Of Nature Stamp set from Stampin' up along with  Concorde crush card stock, some  matt finish  gold card stock, whisper white card stock, a Versamark ink pad,
gold  embossing powder, for the gold springs,   black embossing powder for the butterfly, an SU marker in Pumpkin pie,  a blender pen and lavender ink pad  to colour the butterfly.

Basic Instructions.

Handy tip.... Before heat embossing anything,  make sure you give your card stock a good wipe over with an anti static pad. Stampin' Up call these little pads embossing buddies and they really are your best friend when doing heat embossing.

They  help to reduce the amount of embossing powder  that sticks to areas you don't want it to stick too if not eliminate it altogether.

I stamped the butterfly onto a scrap piece of whisper white card stock  in Versamark ink and heat embossed with black embossing powder and coloured the wings with a  the pumpkin pie  SU marker,  the purple spots I coloured with a retired ink  called  Almost Amethyst and a blender pen as I wanted the colour to fade out a little towards the bottom of the spot. 

When the ink was dry I  cut out the butterfly carefully but  cut  off  antennae, YES, I said  cut off the Antennae,  these are far to fiddly to cut out. 

Once cut out, I took an ink dauber with a little black craft ink and daubed around the cut edges to conceal the white edges of card stock.

On the a square of whisper white card stock  which had been cut to 3" x 3" ,  although on reflection I think this square could actually do with being a little smaller. Maybe 2 1/2" X 2 1/2" would look better.

I stamped the sprig of foliage and the butterfly for a second time . I  heat embossed the butterfly and the sprig in  gold.
Most of this butterfly will not be seen but it plays an important role as you will see later.


Then  I sponged over the embossing and the sides of the square in Almost Amethyst ink to take away the starkness of the white card and give just a hint of  a purple sky.

I cut alternate layers of  purple and gold card for mounting the butterfly  topper on,  added a piece of whisper white ribbon  between the layers and added a bow.

The base card I stamped around the edges again using Versamark ink and the sprig of foliage and heat embossed in gold.
The topper was then glued to the centre of the base card.

The last step was to attach the coloured butterfly on top of the gold embossed butterfly with very tiny   dots of glue on the under side of it's body and four  small double side foam pads on the tips of the wings.
Match up the  the coloured butterfly over the top of the gold butterfly exactly press the body down firmly  with blade of a craft knife or edge of a rule until it has stuck firmly.  make any minor adjustments to position of wings before pressing down on the foam pads.

Now you will see why I stamped the base butterfly....... 
So I didn't have to cut out those blessed antennae!!!!  
I did think about adding a greeting but then  thought this might look nice in a frame, but not with a greeting on it.

Hubby's Birthday Card.

It was  Hubby's birthday last week and I had left his card to the last possible minute.  Not through lack of time, I had plenty of time for a change. 
I just didn't have  any idea's at all that would fit him.

The night before I suddenly  remembered he used to have a thing about watches. Arh!!!! I have the Dapper dad stamp set and the Well Worn DSP which is a lovely masculine paper.....but what on earth am I going to do with them.


I tried several things but didn't like the results.
 At around midnight on the eve of his birthday I finally came up with this  7 X 5  card.

I stamped and heat embossed the watch in gold embossing powder.
 Stamped it a gain in black craft ink and allowed the craft ink to dry thoroughly then punched out the clock face with the 1" circle punch and stuck it onto of the gold clock face.




I added a  1" resin  bubble/ domed circle thingy... ( what are these things called?????)over the clock face then set about cutting my layers.

Using  oval dies I cut out some layers to mount the watch on. 
I used some thin sticky  foam pads in between the scalloped layer and the card to bring the watch forward a little.











I love this  sheet of designer series paper it's my favourite in  the Well Worn pack.
But it was  to plain for this card.  

 So I dragged out the  retired,  Sense of Time stamp set and used the cog stamp and black ink pad  to add a little more interest to the background.
Besides I really like over stamping on printed paper, heat embossing is even better.


I stamped, punched and sponged  my greeting and glued it in place.

For the inside   I made up an A4 sheet of paper  on the PC  with quotes and sayings that all related to time .  I printed it off then over stamped with the large clock faces  from the Sense of Time  stamp set.
It was then cut to size and stuck into the card with some narrow DS tape ..... All ready for the morning.

World Map Card

A bit of CASE ing going on here I saw  Brenda Keenan s version of this card and  I  loved it so much I had to CASE it for my Dad.
 Brenda used a different sentiment and tags. I don't own those so had to improvise on that bit.
 I especially liked the fact that Yemen  is just above the tag.  This is because my dad was in the RAF and we lived in Yemen / Aden as it was then for two years. My brother was born there but a short time after his birth we had to come back to the UK as the heat was too much for my baby brother and the doctors thought  he would die if he stayed there. So my brother went back to the UK with our mother and I flew back with my dad  a bit later.

 I guess this card would suit my brother too, if not more so.

The colours I used were more mustard, wild wasabi and ballet blue sponged randomly over  the heat embossed in black embossing powder over world map image which was stamped with Versamark ink.

Sweet Cake Card 3

Another card using the Sweetcake stamp set from SU.
For this creation I stamped the central image on to close to cocoa card stock using Versamark ink and heat embossed  with Early Espresso  embossing powder and cut out the image.
I then repeated the process on Very Vanilla card stock and cut out the cake topping and stuck it on top of the cake I embossed of the first embossed image.
I dry embossed a square of Very Vanilla card adhered the cake image to the embossed Vanilla card mounted that onto Early Espresso card then onto crumb cake card , then onto the polka dot DSP (Crumb Cake) then onto Vanilla and finally onto the Early Espresso Base card.
Wow! a lot of layers in this one. If I were to do this one again I would miss out the layer of plain crumb cake card.

Sweet Cake

 Two different cards one stamp set.
This is the Sweet Cake Stamp set from S.U
The first was created by stamping the image in Wisteria Wonder  then stamping the image again using  pretty in pink ink,  cutting out the just the pink cake   image.
Then colouring  over the cherry and over the pink cake base using  a chocolate chip marker pen.

I stamped the greeting in cherry cobbler ink using the stamp-a-ma jig to  get  the greeting in the right place.
I used a quickie glue pen over the white area s of the cake topping and applied  Dazzling Diamond glitter.
When all this was done and dry I glued the cupcake onto of the  Wisteria Wonder image I had stamped earlier. 
Then added some layers of cherry cobbler, crushed concord  card and Wisteria Wonder DSP for the background and mounted onto Whisper white card stock.

The chocolate & vanilla version  was done in the same manner , but this time I stamped the the first image using Versamark ink pad and heat embossed with Early Espresso embossing powder onto Close to Cocoa card stock and cut out the embossed image.

I stamped the image again using a Chocolate Chip ink pad this time on to Vanilla card stock.
Added the greeting and stuck the second image on top of the first embossed one.
Then placed the  image on top of a layer of Vanilla card stock which I had embossed.
 Then mounted onto a layer of Close to Cocoa card stock Finally mounting  all the layers onto an Early Espresso  base card with a  little Chocolate chip grosgrain  tied in a knot.

Christmas card

Final one for this weekend is another one I have cased.
I came across this one one another demonstrators website and again I had to try it. I am totally useless at remembering who created what and where I found it.  So if I have cased a card that you designed  please take as a compliment. It means I love your work.
For this card I inked up the new parlour prints  background stamp from S.U with versamark ink and  heat embossed using gold embossing powder.
 I then cut a strip of designer paper and mounted it onto a piece of choc chip card which I had already punched the edge using  the lace edge punch from S.U.

 I used very vanilla seam binding  to create the pleated ribbon effect before adding the greeting.
The greeting came from one of the Stampin' up Christmas sets which I think is now discontinued. NOT sure on that one.

Faux torn paper birthday card.

It's Sunday night and I am tired after a day of shopping, gardening and baking cupcakes, then cleaning up the mess after each of activity. So I am pretty tired which makes it a poor time to do blogging. So these following posts will be brief.

Faux torn paper effect with some gold embossed leaves from the autumn splendour stamp set from S.U.

card colours cajun craze, choc chip, and real red. Inks : Cake crumb, close to cocoa and cajun craze. plus versamark for the gold embossing.

Embossed in satin pearl embossing powered after being stamped using a wheel stamp and versamark ink.

White Pillow Box

The white tissue I stamped using the so swirley wheel  stamp and a Versamark ink cartridge.

For the box I used the the same wheel stamp with versamark ink but this time I embossed it with satin pearl embossing powder.

Added a white satin ribbon and bow, stamped a greeting and punched it out using stampin up s oval punches.