A photo, a project and a tutorial!

Hello All!

Welcome to our new subscribers! Here's a photograph and another project by our fabulous Design Team:

Heart Pots by Doris Stahl

Love Hearts by Emma Sims

Emma says: The text background was used using the stamp from the set Call Me. The hearts were cut out of red card and stamped with Swirls andFlourishes stamp and then embossed with Gold Rich  Wow! powder. Beads were threaded onto gold wire and wrapped around the hearts. The hearts were mounted with 3D tape to give dimension. The LOVE greeting was stamped with the Alphabet/Months set and embossed with  Wow! Gold Powder.

Tania Ahmed here today to show you a photo tutorial on how to make your own background image using several smaller stamps! I will be using the How Does Your Garden Grow stamp set:

Step 1

Step 1:  I'm working on an A6 size of cardstock. I chose the outline flowers from the stamp set and mounted them on an acrylic block. Then randomly stamp all over the cardstock with embossing ink.

Step 2

Step 2: Place a sheet of printer paper underneath the card and then liberally dust Bright White embossing powder in Superfine all over the page.

Step 3

Step 3: Carefully pick up the cardstock and let the excess powder fall back on to the paper underneath. Lightly flick the back of the cardstock to remove extra granules. Tip the excess powder back into the pot.

Tip: I prefer to put the powder back in the pot and secure the lid before proceeding. I have knocked over my embossing powder pot several times!

Step 4

Step 4: Heat set the powder with a heat gun. If you are using the heat gun for the first time, let it run for a few seconds to get it warmed up. Start from one corner and slowly melt the powder and move to the next spot.

Step 5

Step 5: Choose any watercolour paint, Distress Inks or Distress Stains. Anything that is watersoluble. I chose a non-toxic, acid free children's watercolour paintset from a pound shop which has some surprisingly vibrant colours!

Step 6

Step 6: Here's the fun part, start colouring in your spaces! The embossed parts will "resist" the water based paint and there is less margin for error as the paint will not bleed over the edges of the image!

Step 7

Step 7: Once the flowers have been painted in, add a colourwash to the background. A colourwash is where a lot of colour is added to paint to give a softer look.

Step 8: End result!

Step 8: Trim down the image to fit onto a card. I added Victorian Velvet Distress Ink to the edges to give definition. With a fine liner, I added dots to the flowers and added gems the the flower centres.

I used the "with love" sentiment from the stamp set, stamped it with embossing ink, used Ebony Superfine over it and then set it with my heatgun.  I used the solid flowers and randomly stamped with embossing ink all over the card base. I dusted Clear Sparkle embossing powder over the card and heat set it as well.

Adhere the watercoloured panel to the cardbase and add Victorian Velvet Distress Ink around the edges if desired.

Thanks for stopping by everyone! Do check out our January Challenge and enter to win 6 powders of your choice in a handy carry case!