Author Archives: Heather

Nov26

Happy Accidents

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Happy Accidents

One of the things that will really make you happier as a crafter is learning how to let your mistakes marinate, and figuring out how to use them as a creative catalyst.

As I may have mentioned on numerous occasions before, I make a LOT of mistakes. Many of those mistakes are the result of simple user error. I either was not paying attention, or was fumble fingered, or just plain careless. It happens. It’s no big deal when it happens, unless I decide to let mistakes and errors stop me. Where’s the fun in that?

Today’s card is one of those mistakes that’s become a happy accident. I really like how it turned out, but you may not like it. The effect is very subtle. It’s really pretty hard to see in person, let alone in a picture.

subtle wheat

As I was making the background for this card, I was aware that I might have trouble with it, simply because I have been using different types of inks on different surfaces for ages. I experiment! It’s fun. 🙂

This is mirror cardstock. It has a very smooth, coated surface that resists most inks. Alcohol inks or solvent inks work fine on this. Other inks? Not so much.

Since I haven’t tried Memento ink on this surface yet, I decided to give it a whirl, and see what happened. Memento says it will dry on most surfaces, although some surfaces may require heat seating the ink. So I stamped this stamp in Memento black ink on the alcohol marbleized cardstock.

It wasn’t a perfect transfer (stamps tend to slide on super smooth cardstock like this) but it worked. I set it aside to dry and worked on other projects. After awhile I came back to it, and it wasn’t dry, so I heat set the ink for a little bit. Set it aside, and after waiting a bit more, checked to see how the ink was. Rubbed a tiny corner, and smeared a bit of ink. So I set it aside again, this time for a few days while I got other things done.

I find letting troublesome projects rest allows me to come back to a project with a fresh, optimistic, and creative eye.

In this particular case, I decided to just try to remove the still tacky ink with a paper towel. First I blotted it, and then I gave the background a quick rub. As I did so, I noticed that the spots where I had removed ink, had also taken the alcohol ink underneath off as well. The result? Ghostly wheat grass all over the background.

Cool!

A quick embossed, colored and matted wheat stamp, and the card was done.

What do you think? Can you see the ghostly grass? I’m having a hard time getting a good shot for you.

ghostly grass

Ah! That’s better!

 

Nov25

Simple and Gorgeous Technique

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Simple and Gorgeous Technique

Most stamping techniques aren’t hard, but they can seem intimidating until you try them. This is one of those techniques. Let’s break this down into steps, so you can see just how easy this can be.

shadow block technique card

1. Start with the shadow stamp. (This is a stamp with a solid shape like a square or rectangle or circle on it.) Choose a pigment ink that’s very light. Do a test stamp first to make sure the ink is light enough to stamp over. This particular image was stamped three times, reversing top and bottom each time. If you have a bigger stamp, you won’t need to stamp it multiple times, but this was the effect I was looking for.

2. For the main image, choose a stamp with a solid surface, not an outline.

3. Choose dye inks for the main image stamp. If you have small ink pads, that will make it easier to keep the colors separate, but the normal sized ink pads will work as well. If you turn your stamp upside down, you’ll be able to see where you’ve inked, and where you haven’t more clearly.

4. After you’ve applied your dye ink to your stamp, very lightly stamp in onto a piece of scrap paper, and then stamp it firmly onto your shadow block image.

5. Finish up the image however you want. In this case, I trimmed the image, inked the edge, and mounted it onto a couple pieces of patterned paper, with a piece of ribbon and rhinestones to finish it off.

It really is that easy to do. Try it! You’ll like it!

Don’t forget if you want to get a card in the mail from me, make sure you’re on my email list!

 

Nov24

You Are a Superstar!

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You Are a Superstar!

You really are! Thanks for joining me on this crazy card making frenzy.

superstar card

 

This was a quick and easy card to make. The background is Heidi Swapp color shine mists spray over a stencil that was laid on top of the background paper. Do you see how some droplets cover up the white lines left behind by the stencil? That’s because spray mists are very fluid, and will travel underneath stencils if you spray too heavily. The stars are kraft stickers from Studio Calico, and a punch from Fiskars. A few rub-ons and a label from a label maker, and voila! A card!

Today’s quick tip: If you use spray mist on a regular basis, you need a place to spray it. Re-using a shipping box gives you a place to contain the over-spray, and a safe place to let your project dry. Just make sure the box is big enough to let your project lie flat.

Don’t forget, if you want to get a card from me in the mail, make sure you’re on my email list!

Nov23

Bringing Multiple Inspiration Ideas Together

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Bringing Multiple Inspiration Ideas Together

Today’s card started with one idea, added another, and then finished with a third. It was rather a struggle putting it together, not because the techniques were hard, but because I kept running into mental roadblocks and making mistakes.

Inspiration from multiple sources

The background was done first, inspired by this pin on pinterest:

sea urchins pin

That part was finished fairly quickly. And then I ran into my first mental roadblock. I needed a focal image for the card. For some reason I felt I needed a round floral image, but didn’t have anything that really worked for me. So the background sat there for awhile while I worked on other cards.

And then I re-watched Bev Grey’s True Stamp class, and one of the things she used was technique tiles. I have some of those! So I dug those out, and happily colored one that was the right size to fit on the card. And then decided I’d use a rub-on on the colored tile. That didn’t work. Either because the ink was still slightly damp, or because the ink acted as a sealer, for some reason the rub-on wouldn’t adhere. So I flipped the tile over, and applied the rub-on to the reverse side of the tile, which didn’t have as smooth a surface as the front. Then I applied the color over the rub-on, because frequently rub-ons resist ink. Then I started wiping the excess color off the rub-on, and the rub-on started peeling right off the tile. Sigh. The mistakes just kept piling up.

After peeling off the rub-on, I was left with an interesting ghost image of the rub-on, but that wasn’t what I wanted, so I flipped the tile back over to the front. And then it occurred to me that I could use a partial image on the tile. A brief search through the stamp drawers led to my favorite butterfly stamp. I stamped it with versamark ink, and then applied white embossing powder to it. Which adhered to the ENTIRE front of the tile, because the ink STILL wasn’t dry.

Argh!!

Yes, it was one of those days.

I brushed the embossing powder off, and heat set the ink with my heat gun, and then stamped the butterfly in versamark, again, and added the embossing powder. This time it was mostly okay, so I heat set the embossing powder, and added the tile to the card.

Not one to leave well enough alone, and wanting to actually use some of the rub-ons on the card, I added a sentiment and a few doodles, and finally pronounced it done.

So what do you think? And what do you do when things go wrong? Feel free to vent in the comments!

Nov22

Zentangling a Card

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Zentangling a Card

Have you ever tried Zentangle? It’s a combination of drawing and doodling, and a bit of meditation as well. At least it can be. How about a card using some zentangling as decoration?

zentangled card

This card started with the zentangle border. A bit of handmade paper, a few Stampin’ Up rub-ons, a bit of baker’s twine, and a card is done. I think it looks pretty cool myself, but I may be biased. 😉

If you want to try some Zentangle yourself, check out One Zentangle a Day by Beckah Krahula. (affiliate link) I haven’t taken a class on it yet, but used this book to learn a bit about it. The book is broken down into daily patterns to practice, as well as a bit of discussion about techniques that can help your zentangle drawing even more elaborate and realistic. It’s simple enough that my eight-year-old son can follow along, and detailed enough to keep me occupied.

Don’t forget, if you want to get a card from me, make sure you’re on my email list!