Stamping With Gesso And Folded Flower Card

Over at My Creative Classroom there is a free class called "Use Every Stamp 2013" as well as a blog by that same name where Jeri shows the stamps she is going to use on Monday and on Friday posts her projects. On the blog there are also posts with Give-A-Ways for a seat in one of the classes.  Also sometimes techniques are shown of how to do something.

Well for me it would be a piece of cake to use every single stamp I own as I don't have that many. However, I made it my challenge to use stamps more often. As well as to try new techniques.  I was watching a video where a woman was using gesso to stamp on transparency and that lead me to experiment.

Here is the card I made.(Click on image to enlarge)

I could not find my transparency so decided to experiment and see if it would work stamping on glossy photo paper. The consistency of the gesso was perfect for my first try. Alas,I ruined it when I went and stamped a sentiment on it.(Don't worry being the frugal person I am you will see it in a future project as I gessoed over the photo paper. I will be using it for a grunge card.) This one the gesso was a little too thick and in one section the paper stuck to the stamp pulling some of the gesso  off. I did color the gesso with Butterscotch alcohol ink which gave me the pale yellow before coating my stamp. Instead of throwing out my photo paper because the gesso image wasn't perfect I decided to go ahead and stamp with a green pigment ink using the same stamp. I love the shadow effect that resulted. I then took Seafoam chalk ink and using a facial tissue rubbed the ink over the paper in a circular motion.

O.K. Please don't laugh I flunked 101 paper folding. Of course I think it might have been easier if I would have cut the squares out of paper instead of double pattern card stock. Also if I would have had a video to watch instead of trying to follow written instruction. I have to admit that this is a one of a kind flower. Since one of my resolutions was to stop being a perfectionist when crafting I went ahead and used it instead of tossing it.

If you do decide to try stamping using gesso you want to make sure that it doesn't dry on your stamp. As soon as you stamp immediately go in and run water over your stamp. Because this was a detail stamp I also used a soft brush. If you stamp with paint it is the same thing. You want to immediately clean your rubber or clear stamps as otherwise you will ruin them.

Have you tried gesso? Have you tried any techniques with your stamps besides using ink? In what ways are you challenging yourself?

I must confess that my muse has left me.  Hopefully she will return soon as I need to make a masculine birthday card. At least while she has been gone I've gotten some much needed organizing done.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Friendship Challenge Card

Over at Silhouette Plus for this month is a challenge to make a card using "friend" as the theme in honor of International Friendship month. I have a friend who has been my best friend for decades now. So when I saw this image about friendship among my ton of images I knew it was perfect for a card for her. We don't live close but when we do manage to get together it is like we have never been apart.

(Click to enlarge image)

To make this card I first took my image into Studio and resized it. Then I drew my rectangle. Very basic stuff. Then came the fun part. I've had printing on gesso card stock on my want to do list for over a year. I decided to see if I could do a print and cut. I put a little bit of my gesso and some Butterscotch alcohol ink on my craft mat. I did not mix the ink in all the way. Then I took an expired plastic card and spread it over my gray card stock really thin. Not totally covering but letting some of the gray show through. Usually I'm not as meticulous as I was this time with spreading the gesso. As you spread the gesso the ink will mix in but I kept adding ink to my mixture on my craft mat. (If you don't have a craft mat you can use a piece of foil to mix it and then have decorative foil you can use for something else.)

The gesso will dry fairly quick. I helped my along since it was curling a little bit by ironing with my iron on the cotton setting. Just make sure if you do this that it is not tacky. My printer has a rear loader as well as a front one. For this I put it in the rear tray.  I was worried after I printed it that the registration marks were not going to be detected as they were not as crisp. No problem though as Cameron my faithful cutting machine detected and cut perfectly. Since I was using heavy card stock I used that setting and no problem cutting.

I inked the edges of the quote panel with gold ink and inked the rectangle panel with Distress tea dye ink. I then went and brushed Rock Candy crackle on the rectangle panel. While I was brushing it on I noticed that the gesso was mixing more with the ink and giving a more even coverage of the panel. While it was crackling I noticed that the panel was rippling in places. After it finished crackling I rubbed Distress tea dye ink over it. Unlike the White Picket Fence crackle the ink seem to color the panel more than seep into the cracks.

I have these small doilies and for some reason never use them. I thought since the quote image looks old fashioned that a doily would be perfect. I inked just the edges of the doily using a cotton ball with gold ink

I love how this card turned out. The gesso softened the printed image without making the quote hard to read. As well as gave the image more of a distressed look. I'm not that good with graphic programs to get the same effect. I will definitely be doing more print and cut with gesso covered card stock.

So what are you going to do for a friendship card? I would love if you were to join in the challenge. Do you have a friend who you love but don't have the chance to see often?

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Now I'm off to cleaning and organizing so I can make room for a bookcase later this week.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Heat Embossing On Fabric Card

You may have noticed I'm haven't been blogging as much lately. The reason being that I've been busy organizing my craft supplies. I've also been busy experimenting and watching some videos on some more art like techniques. One of my intentions for this year is to use my supplies more often. Especially my stamps and art supplies.

My most recent experiment was to see if I could heat emboss on fabric. I also noticed while organizing some rubber stamps that I have a Hero Arts stamp that I've played with a couple of times but never used in a project. At one time Michaels had a stamp of the month and this Hydrangea stamp was one of them. I happened to buy the last one that was in the store. Making one customer very unhappy when the clerk told her they were out.

Although I've read about it I've never stamped on something that was heat embossed so I decided to play with that also. I don't know why I've never done it before.


I'm a loving how this card turned out. Unfortunately because I heat embossed with silver it was more difficult to get a good picture of the stamping on the frame. This really is gorgeous in person.(click image to enlarge)

I bought a fat quarter of the fabric when it was on sale for $1 a few years back. I had the idea that I was going to make a quilt. I was only fooling myself but it was a good excuse to buy the fabric. Because fabric is porous you are going to want to have your stamp really wet. I used embossing liquid which has a dauber.

The first time I used my Vintage lilac glitter embossing powder but it ended up being more impressionist looking. So I decided to use my silver embossing powder. I decided to see if I could use chalk on my first try. I discovered that I could not just rub the chalk on with a cotton ball or q-tip. I had to apply the chalk directly and then with my fingers blend it. This is a really detailed stamp and this technique worked for the effect I was after but I think that normally a less detailed stamp would work better.

Cameron my cutting machine was glad that he was asked to cut the frame. He feels left out if I make a card without his help. Yes, machines do have feelings. That is why when you leave them cutting and you walk out of the room they misbehave. Or at least Cameron does.

I cut the frame out of a scrap of gray card stock. I love how I can use scraps of my card stock with my cutting machine. Although I could have used my embossing pad I went ahead and used my liquid embossing liquid and heat embossed the normal way.

I played on scrap first to see what was the best color to use over the embossing. I was going to go with using a pink but both my pigment  ink and my Stazon Candy Cherry were both too light. Although my Stazon Royal Purple looked great I really wanted to use another color.

Now don't ask me why  my Forest Green Stazon ink did not work well at Christmas time. I decided to give it another chance before I tossed the pad. As you can tell it stamped perfectly both on my scrap and on the frame.  Perhaps I need to threaten more of my products with being tossed so that they work like they are suppose to.

The stamp I used is from Inkadinkado Inspiration Lift Set. I had only used a couple of sentiments from the set so decided it was time for me to use one of the stamps that was not a sentiment.

That is all for now. Thank you for stopping by and do come back. My next project will be a card for the card challenge over at Sillhouette Plus. The theme is friendship and it should be a fun challenge so I encourage you to join me. I will be doing an experiment for this card. I have things laid out in Studio and it will be a print and cut but perhaps with a twist. I will let you know whether it works or not.

I'm off to walk in the sunshine to the library I only have six books waiting for me to pickup. One is for this month's book club. The one I'm really excited about is painting on paper for use in scrapbooking and card making.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!