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Author name: Chala Frank

Perfect Pearls/PearlEx Backgrounds

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Hello again! It’s Chala and I am here to show you what I have created using the popular Perfect Pearls/PearlEx technique and Versamark ink.

To get started grab your favourite stamps and stencils. Today I am using PearlEx. However, you can use Perfect Pearls and get the same effect.

I pulled out my Beautiful Branches stamp set from Concord & 9th and stamped the branch, leaf veins and flower with Versamark ink onto an A2 size panel of Lawn Fawn’s Black Licorice cardstock. I like to use a stamp platform when doing this. My favourite platform is the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform because you can turn the lid to fit clear or thick stamps. I then use a stiff brush (like the one you get in the Perfect Pearls Letter it set) and apply the powder to the images. You can pounce on or use circular motions to apply the pigment to the Versamark ink. The colours I am using are from the PearlEx Series 1 pack. For the flowers I use the Duo Red-Blue, the branch is Super Copper and the leaves are Sunset Gold.

Once you have your pigment powders applied you can tap and wipe off any excess powder using a soft microfibre cloth or Swiffer.

I treat the bottom right hand corner with antistatic powder, careful not to rub it on the newly applied pigments. I stamp my sentiment again with Versamark ink and heat set white embossing powder with my heat tool. I then apply the panel to an A2 size card base and the first card is done.

If you want to set your stamped powder image to ensure it does not rub off you can use a spray lacquer like Krylon Crystal Clear. However, I prefer to use something a little less toxic and with a better smell……hairspray! Just make sure you hold it approximately 12″ away and apply an even coat. Some people will also spritz with water and heat set…but, I like to use the hairspray method as I am afraid of over spritzing the water and having my project run!

For the second card I stayed with the Lawn Fawn’s Black Licorice cardstock but this time used a stencil. You can use any stencil you like! For this card I am using the Hero Arts Peacock Feather stencil. I temporarily tape down the black panel onto my Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat with some removable adhesive. I then tape the stencil down with a masking tape. I prefer to use the Purple Thermo Web Removable tape, but I ran out and only had some painters tape on hand. Tape the top of the stencil in such a way that you create a hinge so that you can easily lift the stencil to check on ink coverage. Once you have that adhered down to your work surface all you need to do is apply the Versamark ink directly down overtop of the stencil making sure you apply a good amount down.

Now you can remove your stencil and apply your pigments as we did above. I used Super Russet for this copper look. I then wipe off with a soft microfibre cloth. I give a blast of my heat tool and spray with hairspray. The shine is AMAZING!!! I cut the panel down with my Fiskars sure cut paper trimmer and adhere it off centre onto a rust coloured cardstock and then onto the card base itself. I added a delicate stacked “hello” scripty die cut sentiment by running it through my Xyron sticker maker. I trim off any of the overhang with my Cutter Bee Scissors. I embellished with some sequins in complimentary colours. I like to adhere these with Glossy Accents so that if any of the adhesive squishes out it will dry clear and it has a strong hold!

This card reminds me of the crushed velvet artwork from the 70’s!

I LOVE IT! LOL!

For my final card I wanted to show you that you can use this technique on light/white cardstock as well.

I am using the Dream stamp set from Lawn Fawn. I stamp out several of the feathers on the background leaving room for the Dream sentiment which I stamped with Versamark ink and heat set with Gold embossing powder on the bottom right hand corner. Again, I apply the pigment like I did for the first and second cards. After I was done I wasn’t totally in love with how it looked…so, I pulled out a stitched square die and cut out an area I liked. I can save the leftover pieces for another project.

I then adhered the square with 3M foam tape onto some Lawn Fawn Mermaid cardstock, re-stamped and heat set the sentiment with the same Gold embossing powder and embellished with some complimentary sequins. Here’s a look at the final card. I like the subtlety of the shine these feathers!

I hope you enjoyed today’s cards and it inspired you to try this technique. Check your stash for stamps or stencils or treat yourself and take a look at what Scrap’N Stamp has in stock. There are always great deals to be had!

If you like seeing exactly how these cards were put together you can watch the video here.

https://youtu.be/fhbcXaoP2H0

Thank you so much for spending your time with me today!

Happy Crafting!

~Chala


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Lawn Fawn Interactive Easter Card

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Hey Guys!  Chala here for today’s blog post.

Today I am using a bunch of Lawn Fawn products to create this fun little Easter card.

I am using the following stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn:

Stitched Hillside Boards, Meadow Borders (however you can also use the Grassy Hillside Borders or Simple Grassy Hillsides), Easter Party and the Let’s Toast Pull Tab die set.

I stamped out the images and coloured them with my comic markers then I layed out the elements I wanted to have in my card.

Now, this is not the exact way the card ended up…but it gave me an idea of where I wanted everything to be.

I use two different shades of green cardstock to die cut the hills this helps to add some visual interest to the card and the illusion that one hill is much closer than the other.   I also cut out some of the tulips from yellow and pink cardstock and the butterfly from some light blue cardstock.

I set these pieces aside and work on the sky background.  I use the amazing Picket Fence Blender Brushes and the Cloud stencil from My Favorite Things and Distress inks in Tumbled Glass and Broken China.  I create the clouds by alternating these colours and turning the stencil to give a layered cloud look.

The next step is to die cut the track of the slider portion….I seemed to have misplaced this part of my die set…😬….so, I ended up using one from the Slide on Over set from Lawn Fawn….  I cut the track in both the background cloud panel as well as the larger background hill.

I then adhere the larger background hill to the cloud panel ensuring the panel’s line up.  I insert the slider mechanism and adhere the little critter with some Scor Tape.  I decided I wanted the cute little bunny character to pop up from behind the grass instead of the little flower girl.

Now I add some foam tape to the grassy cardstock that I die cut earlier.  Making sure that it lines up on either side of the slider mechanism and doesn’t interfere with how the slider moves up and down.

Next I can add the other little critters to the front as well as the tulips and butterfly with some glossy accents.

I trimmed off the excess overhang from the grass and the pull mechanism, die cut the notch, added the decorative pull and stamped “pull here”.  I add some more foam tape to the back of and on either side of the slider mechanism and adhere it onto my card base.

My last step is to add the sentiment.  I did this by stamping the Happy Easter sentiment onto some purple cardstock with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder and popped it up with foam tape.

I felt the sentiment lacked something…so I added some stitch lines with white gel pen and clear Wink of Stella to the petals on the little girl.  Here’s the finished card.

Due to some technical difficulties there is no video today.  Sorry about that guys!

Be sure to stop back here on Saturday to check out what Kia has in store for you!

Thanks so much from stopping by and I hope the Easter bunny is good to you all!

~Chala

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Alcohol Ink and Acetate Backgrounds

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Hi Again, Chala here for today’s blog!

I was looking around my craft area and realized I have a lot of craft supplies that I have not even used yet!  Something new will come out and I just HAVE to have it….but, sometimes the chaos of my life takes over and these supplies will sit for weeks, months and sadly even years before I get a chance to play with them.  That is how I feel about my alcohol inks.  I have used them a bit, but not nearly enough!  So, I decided to pull them out along with some acetate and a few stamps and dies that I have purchased but have not yet used.  Some of the dies have been sitting so long I don’t even know how, when or where I got them from!  But I am glad I am using them now!

To start, I gather all of my alcohol inks.  The colours I currently have are Patina, Pool, Aquamarine, Amethyst, Coral and Flamingo.  (However, I have also seen the new Pearl Alcohol Inks and I think I might need to purchase some of those!!)  I also grab my Blending Solution and my Starbucks reusable straw to help mix the colours.

I have some acetate cut down to standard A2 size (5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″).  I start to drop colours onto the acetate.

I then add some of the blending solution to help move the colours around. I will pick up the paper and move it back and forth to get things flowing.   I also grab the straw and blow air to help move the ink in particular areas  (To see how each background was created I suggest you watch the YouTube video). I add more of the alcohol inks and blending solution as I go along until I get the look I like. This is not something you can necessarily “teach”.  I recommend you just play around until you get something that you like.  Each person will have their own preference of when to stop or keep going.  If you absolutely hate the result you can do one of two things.

1.  Set it aside!  Chances are once it dries you will like it.

2. You can use some rubbing alcohol and a paper towel and wipe it all off and start over!

 I suggest you try to set it aside first.  That is what I did with some of mine.  I will even show you in my YouTube video what I did with the ones that did not work out or I did not particularily like as a background.

I will make a few backgrounds using different colour combinations and blowing techniques with the straw.  I will also add silver and gold deco foil to a couple of them before they dry completely to add a little shimmer and shine!  Here is a close up of one of those backgrounds.

The picture just does not do it justice!  They turned out super cool!

From here there are SO many things you can do!  I begin trying out the Alcohol Lift Ink.  I tried using some detailed stamps and some with larger surface stamp areas.  I like to use the Tonic Stamp platform because you can turn the lid around to use with clear or cling rubber stamps.  I apply the Alcohol Lift Ink liberally onto the stamp, close the lid down onto the inked acetate and apply even pressure.  I then open the lid, slide out the acetate and re-stamp onto white cardstock.

Then I bring back the acetate and with a paper towel I dab up the excess alcohol ink and then buff the surface with a clean area of the towel.  The detailed stamp didn’t give me the results I had hoped for on the acetate… but the stamp with larger surface area turned out well.  Here is how that one looks.

I encourage you to take a look at the stamps you have and play around!  I even tried using a stencil and  lifting the ink with a foam ink blender and the Alcohol Blending solution.

The possibilities are absolutely endless!

I was also able to put some of my unused die cuts to good use!  I created some trifold cards (a Jennifer McGuire technique) as well  as some window cards to give a stained glass feel!  Here is how those cards turned out.

This first one is with silver deco foil and a trifold card.  I used one of my “not so good” backgrounds to stamp a sentiment on the inside using the Alcohol Lift Ink.

This second card I used the stencil background and a top folding A2 size card.  I sandwich the acetate between two pieces of cardstock so that when you lift the card it has a stained glass look/feel.  I left enough room at the bottom to adhere a die cut sentiment and this will also allow me a space to write on in the inside of the card and not be seen through the window.

The last one I am using is another background with deco foil, this time in gold.  These colours reminded me of Easter….and I had a die cut that reminded me of a Ukrainian Easter Egg design.  So, I pulled out an oval die set I had, some gold foil cardstock and made a card that used the window card and trifold card ideas together.  Again, I sandwich the acetate and the gold cardstock between the card base and the card panel.  I heat embossed a sentiment with gold embossing powder on a banner and popped it up with foam tape.  Here is how the last card turned out.

I kept these cards simple, but if you like you can add embellishments such as sequins and pearls.

I will save the other backgrounds and stamping that I did to create cards at another time.

I encourage you to watch the video below as it gives greater detail on this technique and the assembly of the cards.

https://youtu.be/IAhHIlwZZs8

Thanks for stopping by for today’s post!

Remember to check out all the amazing products and sales at the Scrap ‘N Stamp site!

Happy Crafting!

~ Chala

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