Colorful Paint Rings using MISTI, Distress Inks and Color Burst Powders

Good Morning!  Chris here today, sharing a colorful card using the new background stamp, Paint Rings and the greeting stamp, Stay Humble.

Today I started ,my card with a panel of Canson cold press watercolor paper.  I've recently been having lots of fun using Color Burst powders to paint with, so this is where I began my card.  I added a small area water to the center of my panel and using a wet brush to pick up turquoise Color Burst powder from a craft mat, dropped into my wet panel.  I used a heat gun to dry the panel and added more color twice, building up color slowly, and controlling the area.

I let this dry fully then stamped the Stay Humble greeting with Versafine Ink.

I then did a bit of selective inking using my MISTI.  I placed my panel of cold press watercolor paper and the Linen Dots background stamp in my MISTI and using Distress ink cubes, I selectively inking and repeatedly stamping small areas of the background stamp with Distress ink.  Often I had to double stamp to get the intensity of color and coverage that I wanted on the textured paper.    I used a number of bright colors of ink moving throughout the panel, grouping them by area or size of the rings.

I loved the colorful look of the paint but wanted a bit more intense color, so I added a bit of matching Color Burst using that same painting technique of picking up powders with a brush.  I made sure to "color outside the lines" just bit too to add to the painty-ness!

When dry, I trimmed the panel to 4.25" x 5.5" and adhered it to a card base with liquid glue and pressing it under a book to dry flat.

30 Days of Christmas Day 5

Good Morning, it's Chris here today.  Thanks for joining me for Day 5 of the Technique Junkies 30 Days of Christmas cards!  All stamps in the Christmas category at Technique Junkies are 20% off during these 30 days!  Just add them to your cart and the discount is automatic at checkout.

Today I am sharing a watercolor frosty holiday card using Let It Snow.

This is such a sweet image and so much fun to work with.

I chose to use Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.

To create this card, I stamped with Versafine Black Onyx ink on Artistico 140# cold press watercolor paper.  I then scribbled Zig markers on a craft mat to create a palette from which to paint from.  Using my Silver watercolor brushes to pick up the ink from my craft mat a was able to easily and simply paint the image.

I slowly and carefully tore the edges from my watercolor panel but slowly altenating tearing tiny bits from front to back of the panel.  I added a festive red striped patterned paper to a red top fold A2 card base and then adhered the watercolor panel using lots of 3M foam tape.

Thanks for dropping by today, and come back each day for more Christmas and holiday inspiration!

Happy shopping!

GIve Thanks: Using MISTI to Heat Emboss over your Prismacolor Pencil colored images

Hi everyone.  It's Chris here today, sharing a card made with one of the new October release stamps, Give Thanks.

Today I used Prismacolor pencils on kraft cardstock to create my colored image, and heat embossed in gold after coloring.

Give Thanks

To create this card, I used my MISTI stamping tool.  First I stamped the image onto my kraft cardstock panel with kraft ink.  I left my stamp set up in my MISTI so I could restamp after coloring.

I used Prismacolor pencils to color within the kraft stamped lines, taking care to use a good variety of colors and intensity of color so that the contrast would show through after heat embossing.

I tried to create highlights with color since the size of the images would not lend terribly well to just variation of pressure.

Once I was happy with my coloring, I simply reinserted my card panel into the corner of my MISTI and stamped exactly over the kraft ink, using Versamark ink.  I then added gold embossing powder and heated with my pre-heated heat gun.  I love how the gold looks on the pumpkins!  It really highlights this gorgeous image.

The panel was then trimmed using a scalloped die, and added to a charcoal brown card base.

This Give Thanks stamp as well as all of the new October release stamps are still 15% off through October 8th!

Blame it on the Christmas Kitty

Hi everyone!  Chris here, sharing a Copic colored Christmas card using new September release stamps!  I've made a number of these cards to send to my cat-loving friends in December.

This card reminds me so much of the holidays at my house.  There is a reason (actually three reasons), why our tree doesn't go up until Dec 15th or so, and comes down December 27th.  

Cats.

Three.  Gray.  Cats.

So I decided to use this sweet image in commemoration of the holiday damage they can cause with trees, tinsel, glass ornaments, gift wrap, stockings... you name it, at my house, they've made a mess of it.

Today I chose to use this sweet santa-hat-wearing feline stamp, Christmas Kitty and The Stockings Were Hung greeting stamp for my card today.  The details in this stamp are amazing.  Look at those eyes!  They are fascinating. I used yellow-greens to add a bit of color to his eyes, being very careful to leave that highlight white.  

I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and added just the hint of additional cool grey copics to color him just like my kitties.  His hat was colored with the R22, 27, 29 and R59, as well as "texture" added to the hat with dots of warm greys.

Christmas Kitty, The Stockings Were Hung

I added the greeting with Versafine ink.

(Red Copic marker past-tense emphasis mine)

Don't forget!  All new TJ Stamps are 15% off through tomorrow, September 8th!  

Happy stamping everyone!

Art Journaling for the holidays!

Hi everyone!
It's Chris here today, and I'm sharing my art journal page that I used one of my new September release stamps on.

I love this new Too Grown Up sentiment stamp.  It's such a great size and font!

I thought this sentiment would be perfect in my art journal.  So I had to try it.

Too Grown Up

First I coated my pages with a thin layer of gesso.

Then I painted a night sky and trees using acrylic paints.  I added a bit of water to thin the white paint, then spattered my snowflakes from a wide flat brush by holding it several inches away from my pages, and tapping that brush with the handle of another to "shake" out droplets.  I let my pages dry overnight.

I used my Memory MISTI, the really large one, to stamp the sentiment twice with Versamark ink and coated with white embossing powder.  I was quite nervous about heat embossing the Too Grown Up sentiment to my painted page.  I was afraid the acrylic paint would bubble.  But I let my heat gun get really hot, then embossed quickly and I had no problems!

And I loved my finish pages!  So much so, that I decided to make another similar project as a gift!

I used basically the same process, only on a 11" x 14" piece of 300# Arches watercolor paper.  The gesso coated the paper well, so I could paint on the surface with no absorption of the acrylic into the paper.

Hooray for me!  One gift done!

That's it for me!

Just a reminder though!  The new September Technique Junkies stamps are still 15% off through tomorrow, September 8th!  

Have a great day!

Chris

Head Up!!

Good Morning!  Chris here today with a simple encouragement card using the new stamp, Head UP.

Every one needs a crown once in awhile, right?

To create this card, I masked off the greeting, so I could stamp the girl only onto Hammermill paper with Memento ink with my MISTI.  I then simply added a bit of skin tone and hair color with Copic markers.  I used a Gold Wink of Stella pen on her crown and added tiny adhesive rhinestones to bling it up.

The greeting was stamped separately, masking off the girl, with Versafine ink on black cardstock, and heat embossed in white.

The simple striped background and the yellow frame make both the image and the greeting really pop.

Head Up

Thanks for visiting today!  I hope you adjust your crown and wear it proudly all day!

Until next time,

Chris

One Cool Cat

Hello everyone!  Chris here, sharing a card created with the new August stamp Do Rag Kitty and the Create Joy sentiment stamp

Do Rag Kitty

Do Rag Kitty, Create Joy

 A Colorful Life Stonework stencil, Nuvo Moonstone Glimmer Paste

Construction and products used for this card are found in this video:

Colorless Calendula!

Hello!

It's Chris, sharing a card today featuring the new July stamp, Calendula!  Calendula is such an amazing background stamp!  I had colored it with Copic Markers for the Release hop, (if you missed it, you can see if fully colored here).

But today, I chose to use a variation of the chalkboard technique along with a pop of color.

I stamped the Calendula stamp with white pigment ink and heat embossed using a glittery white embossing powder.  I added some faint coloring to the highlight areas with a white Chameleon Colortone pencil.

Calendula, Things I Want to Do

The card was assembled on a bright yellow card base.  I added a greeting on a matching piece of deckled trimmed cardstock.  The sentiment is from the set Things I Want To Do.  I added a doodled border with a Copic Multiliner pen.

Thanks for stopping by today!
Chris

Find your Zen!

Good morning!  Chris here, sharing two cards created with a few of the new July stamps!

Today I am focusing on the new July Zen Waves background stamp.

My first card uses Zen Waves as my background panel for a peaceful shaker card.

I stamped the background in a medium blue ink, and overstamped it with Versamark ink and heat embossed it in clear.  I then added color to the waves with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.  I used a scalloped die to create a decorative opening in my light blue panel for my shaker card.   I trimmed a flag from lavender cardstock and added a greeting from Dream Quotes.  I attached this flag to the back of my shaker front before assembling the shaker with clear acetate and two layers of foam tape.

My second card uses a Gel Press, acrylic paints and the Zen Waves background stamp for a more intense and active background.

I used Bristol Smooth card stock and three shades of acrylic inks to create the background with my Gil Press.  Once my panel was dry, I stamped Zen Waves directly over the paint with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  I also used another of the new July stamps, Be A Mermaid.  To create the focal image, I stamped the Be A Mermaid in Versafine and colored her with Chameleon Colortone Pencils.  I truly love how simple these pencils are to use.  They make coloring so quick and easy!  The small mermaid focal image was trimmed, matted with black cardstock and added to my card with dimensional foam tape.

That's all from me today!  Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time,
Chris

Mermaids

Good Morning!  

It's Chris here today, and I am sharing two cards featuring the new June stamps  Mermaid on Rock and Wild Sea Air.

This example was stamped with Antique Linen Distress ink and no-line watercolored with Prima watercolors with the added shimmer in the tail added with Daniel Smith Luminescent Pearlescent Shimmer watercolor. The Wild Sea Air sentiment is double stamped with my MISTI with black Versafine ink.

I used the same two stamps for this card.  The background for this card was created by with a Ranger ink blending sponge with Cracked Pistachio and broken China Ranger Distress Oxide Inks on a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper.  I used a separate piece of card stock to mask off and ink sections at a time to create the illusion of the sun's rays filtering through the water.  Water droplets were spritzed on the panel to reactivate and lift the ink.  I used an absorbent paper towel to absorb away the lifted ink to create the tiny bubbles.

The Mermaid on Rock image was double stamped on an XPress It blending card in Memento Tuxedo Black ink using my MISTI, and was colored with Copic markers. A light coat of clear shiny glitter was applied over the mermaid with a Glitter Brush pen.  The image was hand-trimmed out with scissors, partially cutting the along the tail, so it could be lifted away from the rock.

The card was assembled with a piece of actual extra-fine grit sandpaper.  The sand paper was torn by hand and slid underneath the tail of the mermaid and adhered.  This was then adhered to the inked panel, and the panel adhered to a prepared A2 white heavyweight card base.  The excess sandpaper was trimmed with scissors along the edges of the card base.  

The sentiment was added last. It was again double-stamped using my MISTI for a crisp black impression.

You can find these stamps and all of the new June Stamps at Technique Junkies by clicking HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!
Until next time, happy stamping!

Chris

Happy Father's Day

Good Morning!

Chris here with a bit of Father's Day inspiration for you today.

Today I am highlighting both the Happy Father's Day stamp and a portion of the Call the Girls stamp.  I created this card first by misting spray stain onto watercolor paper then using my Misti stamping tool to repeatedly stamp the sentiment on the right side with distress inks to give the loose watercolor look.  

The drink is from of the Call the Girls stamp.  It was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copics.  I then cut a mask for the lemon, so I could cover the whole glass with Versamark and dip it in clear embossing powder and emboss to give the shine of real glass.

I was playing with my gelli plate and some acrylic paints the other day, and loved these warm gray  backgrounds that I had made using some crinkled plastic wrap to create a subtle texture.  I loved the contrast of two of the backgrounds pieces and decided to make a simple Father's Day card for a husband who's out of this world.

And while creating some backgrounds I was using this A Colorful Life Texture stencil with my Gel Press.  When I peeled up my Bristol paper I had to do a double take.  This is one of a series of pieces I'd started when I could help but see something totally unexpected.  Do you see it?

I couldn't help it.  It was in my head.  

The Gel Press plate got pushed aside and the paint brush came out.

I had to get my Monet on.

Speaking of stencils...  There's a new stencil challenge that just started on Technique Junkies!  If you haven't seen it, you can check it out HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoy your day!