Creative Medium Play And Cards

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a great week. Roni at Inkstains with Roni introduced me to Creative Medium through her blog. When I saw that it could be used with inkjet prints I just had to have some. Alas it did not come until Friday and I was getting ready to go see my sister so it had to wait until this week.

Of course now after using it I now have to go and order the Shimmer. I bought the Vintage. Right now through Amazon the Vintage is an add on product so if you want to spend over $25 you can get it for $2.27 which is a bargain. Since I needed to buy ink for my printer and it is considerably less through Amazon I saved a lot of money. Not only did I get my ink for $20 less but I got a lot of crafting goodies that I've been wanting to try. If you can afford to spend over $25 do look for the add on products if you want to try things but not necessarily pay the full price.

I decided to go with a Dover Sampler image that has really vivid colors. I figured the Vintage would mute them.

For this card I brushed the Creative Medium over my print which was printed on copy paper. I used a foam brush and got brush strokes  but I like the effect. I was surprised at how fast this dried and it did not buckle the paper like Mod Podge has done on me. Nor does it have a tacky feel to it. It does have a little bit of a sheen to it. The directions said to use "Ink Blushers" with it so perhaps there would not be the brush strokes.  I have more experimenting to do with applying it using different things.

I decided to mat the image with black card stock before putting it on my sage green blank card.

 The first thing you will notice looking at this next card is that the image is reversed. That is because I transferred the image onto a piece of canvas. I've tried before doing image transfers with inkjet prints and it has been disappointing to say the least. I am so pleased the way this turned out. I brushed the image on the printed side with a generous layer of the Creative Medium.  Then placed it glue side down on the canvas. I smoothed it out with my hand and then ran my brayer over it several times to make sure it was down tight.  You need to make sure that there are no air bubbles or loose places or the image will not transfer. Then comes the time to be patient and wait until it is totally dry.

Once it is totally dry wet with a finger the back and carefully start rubbing off the paper.  I would rub and then let it dry and then wet and rub again until I was pleased with the way it looks. A tip that Roni gave that really helped was to then brush the medium over your piece. Not only does this seal your image but it also will make any white haze disappear.

I cut the frame out with my Cameo and then brushed a brown paint over it and once that was dry I brushed a Walnut Gel Stain over to give the frame a wood look.  I forgot to change the blade depth so the one corner of the frame got mangled a little bit when it cut but since this is Vintage I didn't go and cut another one out before painting.

I played with a label maker I bought at a thrift store and printed the sentiment using the clear with black print tape.

 This is a closeup of it where you can see the texture better. I am so excited about the possibilities of transferring onto other materials ink jet prints. If you want something which is machine washable you will still need to do heat transfers but this is a neat way to transfer an image onto a card or layout. Especially if you want to transfer an image onto something which will not fit into your printer.

I give Imagine Craft Creative Medium a four star rating. It is easy to use, easy to clean up, affordable even if paying full retail price and quick drying. Besides the Vintage and Shimmer it also comes in a Matte formula.

For those who are wondering I had a wonderful weekend playing with my sister. I did a lot of embossing of things for her. As well as showed her some of the things that can be done with gelatos. Since they don't  own a television we spent Saturday night having a looming party while we worked on knitting hats on looms. Lol! Knitting on a loom may just become my next addiction and I definitely am going to take more time to unplug from all electronic equipment.

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!