Creativity and Art

Happy day after Christmas!   Are you feeling the post Christmas lag?   I am  as I have had family for three different meals and three different sets of gift opening.  It was all good, but all tiring.  One adult son-in-law was ill so he and his family stayed home while the elderly relatives were here (age 89 and 90) so they would not get the virus.  Then after the elderly folks went home, they came out and opened gifts. Now my daughter and kids are here for a couple of days.  That will be fun. And in between gift openings  I had the opportunity to craft a couple of cards.  I will post one today and one on Wednesday. 

I used a variety of Technique Junkie stamps -- Veined Marble (http://techniquejunkies.com/veined-marble/), Return to Sender (http://techniquejunkies.com/return-to-sender/), and Art Mistakes (http://techniquejunkies.com/art-mistakes/).  I also used a dirty Versamark pad and Pan Pastels.  Pat Huntoon talked about this in her blog post on Friday - http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com/2016/12/pan-pastel-backgrounds.html.  The dirty Versamark ink pad helps you to see the image you have stamped much easier.

Pan Pastels are unique in several factors.  You  can layer them and still see the individual colors as they are more transparent than other  pastels.  I have used both.  The fact that these are more translucent adds to their uniqueness.  Like nearly all kinds of pastels they are fragile and easily crack or break.  However, unlike traditional artist grade pastels, these can be repaired.    I was so impressed by the Pan Pastels that I bought a LOT of them at the York Heirloom stamp show in September.  One of the deciding  factors for me was how easy they can be repaired.  I have a LOT of other artist pastels in my craft room.  I used artist pastels in high school in art classes.  They are easy to blend with.  But we did not have  Versamark ink for the pastels to adhere to in those dark ages so long ago.   

To repair the Pan Pastels is relatively easy but it does take a bit of patience.  You need a toothpick or something thin and sturdy that you will not mind using for this or that you can throw away.  Add small drops of distilled water to the cracked pastel container.  You can start with a teaspoon drizzled slowly over the pastel pan. Add tiny amounts (drops) of water allowing the water to soak in.  Continue this process stirring carefully with the toothpick  until you have a thick soupy mixture.  You want to add the water slowly so you do not cause the (not cheap) pastel powders to overflow the container. Continue to stir until it is as smooth as you can get it.  There may still be some lumps left and the surface may not look the same as it did originally.  But it will work the same!  So if you are looking at these, choose the colors you want and ignore any cracks as now you know how to repair them.  (And I learned at the York show that you can do the same thing with your cosmetic compacts!)

Now for my card.  I first stamped the Veined Marble stamp on white card stock.  I used a sponge and a  purple Pan Pastel  and rubbed the pastels over the stamped image.  Then I just sort of heat set the ink with the pastels.  I don't think it is necessary but since I knew I was going to  stamp an image to heat emboss I wanted to be sure I didn't have embossing powder  sticking to the Versamark ink under the pastel powder.  Then I inked up the Return to Sender stamp without it being on an acrylic block. That way I could bed the stamp and apply the ink in sections which is what I did. I continued this process all over the card stock.  I applied a deep blue Pan Pastel over the purple. And I heat set it again.  My final stamping was with the Art Mistakes stamp.  I used Versafine Black ink and a detailed black embossing powder and heat set the powder.   I sprayed some pearlized  glimmer spray over the final card. 

The focal image was trimmed and layered with two different shades of purple card stock.   The ribbon was added before adhering to the base card stock.  A few Mylar snowflakes were glued down with  liquid glue.

So now, I am curious did you get any stamping stuff for Christmas?    Now you may have some time to get inky!

Judy Jackson