Fabulous Finds Friday — Spellbinders

I’ve had Fabulous Finds all week as I recoup from the Craft & Hobby Association winter show! (Yikes … this never got posted on Friday…)
Today, it’s Spellbinders’ turn to shine.

If you love the embossing of Spellbinders’ double sided M-Bossabilities, you’ll be ga-ga over the deeper, more sculpted looking 3D M-Bossabilities.
Here is one example:

These folders are a tad thicker than the others, so your sandwich will use the pink embossing plate and the raspberry adapter plate, rather than the normal base plate. Also, mist your cardstock first to loosen the paper fibers for an even deeper impression. The folders snap apart, making it easy to ink the plate itself for a letterpress look. Check out this video:

Here is a finished card:

And a closer view:

For this project, the embossing plate was inked first with gold Delicata ink from Tsukineko.

Then there’s the exciting collaboration between Spellbinders and Susan Lenart Kazmer, creator of ICE Resin, who has designed the Media MixageTM line of bezels, papers and dies to use with Spellbinders new Artisan X-plorer MachineTM. Here is a sample of a pretty bezel:

Besides bezels and blanks, there are matching templates, metals and more. The new Artisan X-plorer Machine, which I have not played with yet, is a multi-purpose high pressure machine that cuts, embosses and presses a variety of materials, including metal.

Stay tuned for more samples, examples and projects … including Valentines! Thanks for stopping by.

More Fashionista

In my last post, I played with the Fashionista set from Close to My Heart.

In this trio, I went for simplicity. I stamped one of the models on white cardstock using VersaFine black ink, layered her and added her to a premade card (from a pack I found on clearance!). But I wanted a pop of color — red. Check her out:

To create the red dress and bag I stamped her again, this time using VersaMark clear ink and red embossing powder from Judikins (it was the purest red I had and it was just perfect!). I then cut out the red embossed dress and bag and ran them through my “Baby X,” my small Xyron sticker maker:

So easy! I just peeled and stuck the dress and bag in place. I made two more cards using this technique, each time adding another element … a piece of red ribbon here:

… and a Spellbinder’s border here:

Fashionista was a fun set to use and I can’t wait for these gals to hit my card runway again!

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Ink Potion No. 9

A while ago a reader asked for some tips on using Tsukineko’s Ink Potion No. 9 (anyone else want to hum the song “Love Potion No. 9″?). I did a little research on the product, but the best way to undestand the product is to play with it.

The Potion is a blending solution that works with water-based ink – think of how you use alcohol blending solutions with alcohol inks.

No. 9 is touted as making paper less likely to curl, although I have found the curling depends a lot on the type of paper you use.

My two favorite ways to use No. 9 are to create backgrounds and to create watercolor effects. Here are some of my experiments. First, the backgrounds:

For these backgrounds I spritzed glossy cardstock with No. 9, then dropped some ink (from re-inkers) into the mix. I spritzed another piece of cardstock with No. 9, then smooshed the two pieces together. (I used two Memento inks, Opalite pearlized Orchid Ice (all Tsukineko) and Metallic Green Iridescent from Dr. Ph. Martin‘s. (I used both dye and pigment inks.)

The piece in the upper left hand corner is watercolor paper. For that one, I spritzed No. 9 on my craft sheet, added re-inkers and plopped my cardstock on that. The watercolor paper gives it a very different look, much more subtle.

With these techniques, I like to make several pieces at a time. Here’s what happened:

I think the one above is my favorite. I stamped Hero Arts’ gate stamp in black pigment ink, then clear embossed.

Another similar version:

I put this piece on top of a box I made (using my Ultimate Crafter’s Companion scoring section). Here’s another view:

For my next experiment I used the Potion as I would use alcohol blending solution. I dropped inks onto my felt pad dabbing tool, spritzed it with Potion and dabbed it all over my cardstock.

I stamped my images using StazOn.

And one last photo — here’s what I do with scraps:

To be cut out and used at a later date!

Here are some ways to use Ink Potion No. 9:

— Stamp with  water-based ink, then spritz to get a soft, watercolor-like blend.

— Spray on an inked stamp for the same effect as above.

— Mix with water-based ink (re-inkers) and then spray on your project for backgrounds. This is especially nice if you use a sparkly re-inker.

— Apply to a stamped image with an applicator, such as Tsukineko’s Fantastix, to blend specific areas.

— Ink up a brayer, then spritz with Potion to help blend the ink and give a smoother application.

— Spritz it first on your paper, then stamp.

— Drop ink (from re-inkers) on a craft sheet, then spray with Potion. Drag card stock or press card stock into the mixture for colorful backgrounds.

– Use to blend watercolor crayons and pencils.

Have fun, and let me know how YOU use this blender!

Fabulous Find — Delicata Gold Ink

What? A mid-week post??? Yes! I have so much to share over the next few days I thought I would break it up.

First….

Delicata — sigh. I love this new gold ink from Tsukineko. It’s a pigment ink, but fast drying on porous papers. It’s a thick, rich gold that won’t tarnish or dull. And although you CAN emboss it, it’s designed to look its shimmery best without embossing.

Here’s a sample of how it looks on white and on dark cardstock:

I hope you can see the shimmer. I hope to work more with the Delicata this week and post some projects. But I couldn’t wait to give you a peek.

Come back Friday for more Fabulous Finds! I’ll soon be posting some Halloween cards … and check out the December issue of Crafts ‘n things magazine — my Basics & Beyond column is all about mixed media. I’ll be sharing some extra projects here, too.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled week….

Fabulous Finds Friday — Fireworks! and Goosebumps

(Warning — long post!!!)

I’ve recently been playing with color misters.  This week, I tried the new Fireworks! sprays from Tsukineko. The spray bottles are small (only .05  oz.) but pack a lot of punch. The water-based sprays come in 24 Memento colors and have a delicious dash of shimmer. (Also shown: Goosebumps, a clear texturing spray.)

So let’s spray! I started by spritzing Fireworks! on scrap cardstock cut to ATC size (using this handy tool from European Papers — a great source for everything ATC). Be sure to spray in a “spray box.” (I used the nifty Color Catcher from Clearsnap.)

Here’s the finished ATC:

(Stamps by Purnima Girouard for Stampington & Co.)

Naturally, when you spray there is spray leftovers. Can’t let all that extra spritzy goodness just dry up, right? So I took a piece of ATC-sized watercolor paper and smooshed it into the overspray:

I repeated this process a few more times, using cornflower blue and then walnut antique spray (also from Tsukineko.) The darker colors took over, but I liked the aged look.

I played some more, and finally stamped:

(copper embossed images by Judikins; quote from Tweety Jill; butterfly punch from Martha Stewart, text stamp from Hero Arts)

Then I started playing around with the Goosebumps, and went a little crazy, spraying the Goosebumps on cardstock and then on a piece of scrap plastic, as seen here:

When the Goosebumps dried, I covered the left half of the sheet with Clearsnap’s Smooch pearlized paints and the other half I covered with Ranger alcohol inks. Here’s a close-up to show you the texture from the Goosebumps:

I punched flowers using a Tim Holtz die and my Sizzix Big Kick:

The flower looked too flat to me (and it was too big for the ATC), so I CAREFULLY and gently warmed it with my heat tool (holding the flower with a tweezer) just until the plastic softened and started to curl.

I affixed the flower to my stamped ATC using a Glue Dot, then added Judikins’ Diamond Glaze and beads to the center. Here is the finished ATC:

(TIP: I used Judikins’ Tidy Tray to catch those teensy beads. The plastic tray has a spout. Background stamp by Stamper’s Anonymous; sentimet and frame by Technique Tuesday.)

Tired yet? Wait, I’m not done playing! This time I spritzed a bit of Fireworks! directly on my craft sheet, which was placed in my Color Catcher:

Smooshed the ATC around to pick up the color and here we have it:

(stamps: Prickley Pear)

Before putting away my spray box, I sprayed cornflower blue, cherry blossom and walnut ink antiquing sprays and added a spritz or two of Ink Potion No. 9 blending solution, all by Tsukineko. And so I leave you with this:

(All images: Tweety Jill.)

Whew! Thanks for sticking around so long!