Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Dry Embossed Wax Resist Tutorial

Hello everyone! Today I am sharing a step-by-step tutorial for a very easy and effective technique to use with your Sizzix embossing folders. I am very fond of resist techniques and wax crayon resist is fun to do with stamps, so I was thinking that there might be a way to do something similar but with embossing folders instead. This dry embossed wax resist tutorial is what I came up with.

I used Tim Holtz Sizzix texture fades and made a whole bunch of backgrounds. Three were turned into cards, one into a tag and some I kept for later.


 Let's get started:

Emboss watercolour paper in different embossing folders. I also embossed a manila tag (not on the photo), you can try other surfaces as well.

Starting with the cool Subway folder. Use a white wax crayon and 'colour' all the embossed areas. I used the crayon sort of on its side, and quickly went over the whole surface. The crayon I used was a white Caran d'Ache Neocolor wax oil pastel, but other wax crayons should work too, test them on a small piece of paper first. You will see that the paper turns a bit shiny where you have applied the crayon. Don't worry too much about getting a little bit on the recessed parts too, but it easier to work with an embossing folder that doesn't have too many open areas.

Place your paper on your craft sheet and swipe Distress Stains over it. I used two colours (Gathered Twigs and Peacock Feathers), alternating for each line. The areas with wax crayon resist the ink. You can also use Distress Inks, for example, by smearing them on your craft sheet, misting with water and dipping the paper into the inks. The technique will work just as well with watercolours.

Leave to dry and blot off excess ink from the waxed areas. Cool isn't it, and very easy.

For the next background, I used the Rays embossing folder and inked the rays with Mustard Seed. As you can see I got quite a bit of ink in between the rays, but that didn't matter for this technique, so I wasn't careful.
 
Go over the embossed areas with your wax crayon. No need for perfection since we are looking for a distressed result. Since the crayon is white, it will cover some of the ink and make it much lighter. I added some extra rays with the crayon too and covered some of the area below the rays.

Colour with Distress Stains (Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade) making it lighter towards the top and see the magic happen.

The finished rays, meant to look like a sunset.

I embossed a manila tag with the Woodgrain folder and another piece of watercolour paper with the Patchwork folder. The woodgrain was inked by swiping Antique Linen Distress Stain from top to bottom and adding just a bit of Frayed Burlap. The Patchwork was inked with Distress Inks and an ink blending tool.

Apply the crayon over the embossed areas, working from top to bottom aiming for a bit of a streaky appearance.

Colour with Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain distress stains in a streaky motion. Love how this one turned out. I didn't worry about the unembossed part at the bottom since I was planning to cover it up.

A close-up of the woodgrain textures.

I inked a second Patchwork panel, using darker colours Distress Ink.

As before, apply the crayon to the embossed parts.

The lighter Patchwork panel was covered with Gathered Twigs Distress Stain and the one with the darker inks with Black Soot.

For the Bubbles, I again applied the wax crayon to the embossed areas. Then I squeezed out a little bit of Distress Stains on my craft sheet (Bundled Sage, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap), misted the paper with water and pressed into the ink. This gives a lighter, more fluid, watercolour look.

Here's another example using the Bricked folder and Barn Door and Fired Brick Distress Stains.

You can make embellishments too. I wanted some dimension, so I glued watercolour paper to grungeboard and when the glue was dry I die cut a bird and two butterflies from it. The bird was embossed in the Swirls folder and the crayon applied on top of the embossed areas, as before. On the butterfly, I simply dragged the crayon around the edges and along its body and made some dots on the wings.

Colour with Distress Stains. The bird was coloured with Gathered Twigs, Evergreen Bough and Peacock Feathers, the butterfly with Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass.

Time to finish some cards:

For the first card, I wanted to continue the New York city theme of the texture fade, and cut some gears and a mini jalopy from grungeboard, as well as a Cargo Stencil number 7. The car and the number were painted black and the gears were coloured with metallic Distress Stains. All the pieces were sanded and inked. The car and the number were coated with Glossy Accents for a shiny look.

I also added a piece of filmstrip ribbon, a light bulb, game spinners, a washer and a chitchat sticker.

A close-up of the car. A piece of mica was placed behind it as windows. The car was attached to the card with foam dots for dimension.

The gears and the number were glued in the upper left-hand corner with the game spinners pointing to the car. I also distressed the edges of the embossed panel.

A totally different effect on this bright and happy card. I didn't want to cover up too much of the rays, so I just used two butterflies, adding twisted wires and chitchat stickers to them. The card was wrapped with two pieces of twine.

A close-up of the resist butterflies, adhered with foam dots.

The edges of the embossed paper were distressed, inked and the corners rounded. I had a left-over flower from my Love ATC Box tutorial, made with Eileen Hull's Wrapped 3-D Flower and Flower Layers w/Heart Petals dies. Flourishes were die cut from Core'dinations Kraft-Core cardstock, sanded and covered with a bit of Antique Linen Distress Stickles. I also added a piece of lace and a strip of Vintage Lace die cut from red kraft-core.

This flower was too large for my ATC box, but was actually my favourite, so I was happy to use it here. There are step-by-step photos for how I made in the Love ATC post.

I loved the way the technique worked on manila cardstock. I am always thinking of different ways of getting a woodgrain effect, since I am very fond of it, and this is one of my favourite results so far. I used the On the Edge Twigs die to die cut a border from kraft-core cardstock, sanded and inked it.

A piece of lace and some Tim Holtz trimmings roses, aged with Antique Linen Distress Stain, were glued to the bottom of the tag, creating a nest for the bird.

The tag was finished with a die cut and stamped ticket and two wood veneer birds.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I had lots of fun playing around with the technique.

Thank you for looking!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Surfaces: Ranger manila tag; Tim Holtz Idea-ology grungeboard; Core'dinations Tim Holtz Kraft-Core cardstock; Canson watercolour paper
Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Odds & Ends
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink: Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Peacock Feathers, Antique Linen, Evergreen Bough, Walnut Stain, Gathered Twigs; Ranger Archival Jet Black
Stain: Ranger Distress Stain: Peacock Feathers, Gathered Twigs, Salty Ocean, Evergreen Bough, Walnut Stain, Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Bundled Sage, Spiced Marmalade, Black Soot, Frayed Burlap, Brushed Pewter, Antique Bronze, Tarnished Brass
Stickles: Ranger Antique Linen Distress Stickles
Crayon: Caran d'Ache Neocolor wax oil pastel white
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings ribbons, Light Bulbs, Game Spinners, Film Strip Ribbon, ChitChat stickers, Paper Twine; Studio Calico wood veneer birds; US ArtQuest mica; lace trim

Monday, February 25, 2013

Stamps want to get inky

Hello! The challenge theme this week as Simon Says Stamp and Show is 'the stamp I love but don't use'. Time to ink up those uninked stamps! I love rubber stamps, and most of my stamps have seen ink, but there were still quite a few that wanted some attention, especially newer stamps.

I was happy when I got hold of the Darkroom Door Home Sweet Home set, and wanted to use the stamps on this project since I am very fond of house stamps. I paired them up with Eileen Hull's Sizzix Caddy Bag, to make a homely caddy with two compartments for some of my pens and bits and pieces. I used BasicGrey Serenade papers for the background, and stamped it with different coloured inks.

The Birds on a Wire were die cut from manila cardstock and inked and a sentiment was stamped on a Tattered Banner.

The houses were stamped on scraps of manila cardstock which had been coloured with Distress Stain and embossed with Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder which gives a great texture to the houses. I stamped them one more time on top with Jet Black Stazon, wiping some off the ink off the stamp before stamping. The window was cut out and a piece of mica, on which the window had been stamped was placed there instead.

For the door and roof, I covered glossy cardstock with foil tape and painted it with Juniper paint. Then the house was stamped on top with Stazon ink. When dry, I distressed them further with a needle tool. The flower on the house is a part of the Caddy Bag die.

Here's the other side of the caddy, with a smaller house. I loved the tree and birds on the patterned paper and didn't want to cover them up. The sentiment translates 'home best' and comes from a Swedish saying. All the edges were inked with Gathered Twigs.

On this house you can see the effect of stamping with black ink over the Vintage Photo embossing better. It gives a great distressed and layered look.

I stamped the open areas of the patterned paper with a Tim Holtz number stamp. Another sentiment was stamped on a tattered banner and I also added a little keyhole.

Love this sentiment. The little hearts were die cut from patterned paper with the Hearts Set die.

The second side of the caddy bag with more stamping and an inked flower.

Here you can see the caddy from the top. It is really cute, and would work for lots of themes, use it for storage, or as a gift holder.

Ink up those stamps this week and show us your projects. As always, our sponsor Simon Says Stamp gives a $50 gift voucher to one random participant (so you can get some new stamps!).


Thank you for stopping by!

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin 

Supplies:
Stamps: Darkroom Door: Home Sweet Home; Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge; Hero Arts Printer's Lowercase
Paint: Adirondack Juniper dabber

Saturday, February 23, 2013

CSI case file #60: Winter walk

Happy Saturday morning! And of course a new CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration case file, and a gorgeous one it is:


My layout:

From the evidence items I used: hearts, birds, white background, something glossy, icing (snow on the berries), and from the testimony, I was inspired by 'sweet' and several words on the Valentine's Day word list that Debbi linked to the case file. I had a different layout in mind first, using one of my parents' wedding photos, but when I looked for it, I came upon this photo of them, me and our dog out on a winter walk. It worked so well with the colours and I was immediately inspired to use it instead.

I used a 12x12 sheet of Specialty Stamping paper for the layout and built up a scene with stamps and ink, extending the landscape in the photo. I used mainly Stampscapes stamps, as well as the wonderful Snow Bird stamp from Stampendous, that arrived the same day in a parcel from my stamping friend Jan. First, the branches, fences and little birds were clear embossed. I stamped the winter trees and the Snow Bird with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. After the ink dried, I sponged dye inks on the scene, starting with the lightest yellow (Adirondack Lemonade) and gradually adding a darker yellow (Scattered Straw) and browns (Gathered Twigs and Vintage Photo). I left much of the paper white, but sponged some brown ink behind the fence, to make it stand out more.

The bird was coloured with the same inks, using craft nibs and a Colorbox Stylus tool. The red ink is Barn Door.

Close-up of the clear embossed branches and birds. The embossing resists the ink.

Before stamping the winter trees, I wiped off the bottom of the trunks with a tissue, to make it look like they are standing in the snow. I also die cut four snowflakes from a scrap of Specialty Stamping Paper. One of the snowflakes cover up an ink smear.

Three hearts were die cut from shrink plastic using the new Heart Bag die from Sizzix (Eileen Hull). I love the shape of the heart, but needed it to be smaller. A hole was punched in each heart and the hearts were stamped with three different bird stamps and coloured with alcohol inks at the back (Red Pepper and Currant). The middle one got a bit too dark, the colour intensifies when you shrink the pieces. After shrinking them, I gave them a coat of Glossy Accents.

The Snow Bird again, but in a much smaller version. The Glossy Accents gives a really nice finishing touch to shrink plastic pieces.

The title was die cut with the Inside Out die, from red Core'dinations paper and the second word was stamped with Gathered Twigs. The journaling is on the back of the layout and I just wrote about how much I like this sweet photo and about my parents, their first year with me, the dog, the pram, etc.

Thank you for the visit! Have a fun weekend!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampscapes: Prickly Branches 272G, Three Bare Trees 269G, Old Barn Fence (right) 336D, Old Barn Fence (left) 337D, Eagle Sm. 339A, Eagle Soaring Sm. 340A, Hanging Branch 355G, Snowy Rocks Sm. 365A; Stampendous Snow Bird, Bluebird Branch; Hero Arts Wise Bird H5719, Printer's Lowercase
Dies: Sizzix: Heart Bag, Inside Out Sizzlits, Mini Snowflakes
Ink: Distress Ink: Scattered Straw, Gathered Twigs, Vintage Photo, Barn Door; Adirondack Lemonade; Stazon Jet Black
Alcohol ink: Adirondack Red Pepper, Currant
Embossing powder: Ranger clear
Surfaces: Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper, Shrink Plastic; Core'dinations Color-Core cardstock
Adhesive: Glossy Accents

Friday, February 22, 2013

12 tags of 2013 February

Happy Friday! Today I am sharing my version of Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2013 February. I still need to do the January tag too, which I missed doing since I was away.

I used Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry and Barn Door Distress Stain for the background. When dry, I stamped it with the Art text stamp from Classics #4. using Barn Door ink. After just having done some Valentine's projects, I felt like something different and since I am waiting for the new Blueprint stamps to arrive in my post box, I used the dragonfly stamp on the Classics #1 set instead, which is also a sketchy type of stamp, similar to the blueprints. It was stamped on the tag with Archival Jet Black, and then I happened to find a piece of acetate on which I had stamped the dragonfly for another project, with Stazon white ink. I decided to layer it on top of the black stamping, placing it a little bit to the side to create a shadow.


The dragonfly was stamped on watercolour paper and watercoloured coloured with Peacock Feathers and Iced Spruce. I used the same inks to colour the circle label. I coloured a second circle label with Shabby Shutters and adhered it together with a ChitChat sticker under the acetate.

I made my own epoxy type tag, by die cutting a circle tag from grungeboard, painting it silver and gluing the circle label from the stamp on top. I rubbed the ink with Judikins MicroGlaze since I didn't want the two shades of teal to blend when Glossy Accents was applied on top. A chitchat sticker was placed in the center and then I coated it with Glossy Accents.

A strip of green kraft-core cardstock was embossed with a grass folder, sanded and inked. The little ticket was stamped on a piece of scrap paper.

Thank you for looking!

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:
Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Classics #1, #4, Going Somewhere
Die: Sizzix: Tiny Tabs & Tags
Embossing folder: Sizzix: Springtime Background & Borders set
Ink: Distress Ink: Peacock Feathers, Iced Spruce, Gathered Twigs, Black Soot, Shabby Shutters, Barn Door; Archival Ink Jet Black; Stazon Cotton White
Stain: Distress Stain: Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Barn Door
Paint: Adirondack Silver dabber
Surfaces: Core'dinations Kraft-Core; Tim Holtz Idea-ology grungeboard; manila tag; acetate; watercolour paper
Embellishments: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Symphony tissue tape, ChitChat sitckers, Paper string stripes; pearls