Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Embossed faux watercolour: ISC "Men of Wisdom" (CAR)d

Happy April Fool's Day to You! No tricks up my sleeve today (other than the usual silliness), but this is something a wee bit out of the ordinary, a rare beast around here: a boy card!


This classic car stamp is from Innovative Stamp Creations' stamp sheet "Men of Wisdom." It's the perfect masculine stamp (a stamp genre that I, for one, never ever have enough of!) I thought it'd be especially nice for my wonderful Papa who really likes vintage cars. To colour this cool car for a (CAR)d, I tried an embossing variation of the faux watercolour technique.

The basic steps to this kind of faux watercolour are usually:
Step 1) Colour on the stamp with markers
Step 2) Spritz with a fine mist of water
Step 3) Huff on the stamp (breathe out heavily)
Step 4) Stamp it

I've just added a heat-embossing step:

Step 5) Sprinkle clear embossing powder on the wet image & heat-gun to melt it.

The water picks up the embossing powder in places, so you get a funky texture--just like water beading on a car that just went through the car wash. ;O)

Embossed Faux Watercolour
(with Markers & Water):


Supplies:
  • A Stamp (this is ISC's Men of Wisdom)
  • Any Water-based Markers (colours here below)
  • Water in a spritzer/mister
  • Clear embossing powder
  • Heat-gun
Optional: Versamark. For Detailing: Copic markers (turquoise, grey, & leather colours); Silver pen; Crystals (headlights.)

Variation: Replace clear embossing powder with an e.p. that has glitter mixed in (like SU's Iridescent Ice) or a little bit of metallic e.p. mixed in. It's so fun to mix your own embossing powders (It helps to write down basic recipes on the bottle if you make custom e.p., so you can recreate them.)




Step 1)
Colour on the stamp with markers:

These are Stampin' Up! water-based markers: Tempting Turquoise, Not Quite Navy, & Night of Navy coloured in a gradiation (dark on bottom to give the image weight.)

TIPs:

A) Cover your stamp with Versamark before colouring to extend your working time.
B) Your markers won't get discoloured if you start with the lightest colour marker & finish with the darkest colour. You can huff on the marker periodically to keep the ink moist.



Step 2) Spritz your markering with a fine mist of water

Step 3) Huff on the stamp (breathe out heavily on the markered stamp, making a "Huuuuh" noise.)



Step 4) Stamp the image (and huff on it again quickly)...

Step 5) Immediately sprinkle clear embossing powder on



Step 6) Heat-gun to emboss the image.

Adding Details:

The nifty part about embossing with water is that since the embossing will be in speckles where the water was, you can still add shading to the solid parts of the image with marker.

Waterbased Marker versus Alcohol-based Marker Detailing:


Water: If you want to use water-based markers, just wipe the excess ink where the embossing will resist it.
Alcohol: Copic markers seem to work especially well for this, IMHO since even the embossed parts will pick up their colour.



Colouring the wheels. Since I was cutting this out, there was no worry about blurring. I used an aquapainter over a grey waterbased marker to try & get a paint-y look on the wheels.



Copic marker over the body of the car- to even out the colour & give it more intensity.



This stamp is perfect for adding silver (or other metallic) details to (on the wheel rims, the steering wheel, the lights & other neato hardware in the image.)



Swarovski crystals for headlights (adhered with Crystal lacquer.) It's so fun to sneak bling onto a boy card. :O)



This classic car image has that funky intricate look, but it was actually really easy to cut out.

The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is also from
the ISC stamp sheet "Men of Wisdom."
Luv that font; it's classic & modern (and so very guy-ish) :O)



To make a Lacquer
Hardware Sentiment:


This is a fun way to change up hodge podge or other hardware, looks just like glass!

Supplies:
  • Crystal Laquer
  • Any hardware, paper, & sentiment
  • Pencil & scissors
  • optional: thread & needle & silver Zig Painty pen

Step 1) Emboss sentiment onto paper (or stamp in very waterproof ink) This keeps the lacquer from making the ink run.

Step 2) Trace hardware. Place hardware temporarily over sentiment & trace it with a pencil. Remove hardware

Step 3) Cut inside of your pencil line.

Step 4) Dry fit to see if the paper is the right fit (or if it needs trimming)

Step 5) Adhere paper to back of hardware (I like to use Crystal Lacquer for that.) An Option: You can add dots of metallic to light hardware with a Zig Painty pen (I added silver dots) :O)

Step 6) Optional: Embellish it. Stitch details if you like (or add gel or glitter pen or maybe actual glitter...) I added a couple of french knots under the phrase for somethin' different.

Step 7) Pour Cystal Lacquer into the frame of the hardware & use something to move it to the edges of the hardware. Removing bubbles as you go. Set to dry in a flat relatively dust-free area.

If your lacquer has bubbles you can't remove, one trick to hide 'em is to distress the lacquer when it's dry (prick the dry lacquer with a pin or paper piercer to create a dot pattern. This will hide the bubbles & add a neat texture... Here's an example of that variation:

Click the pic to see it up close:


Embossing Text Weight Papers:

Hopefully you can get some idea from this photo of the snifty Noir Sparkle Text paper that the road is made of. (Click to see a close up of the sparkle):




Woohoo! A whole new world of affordable paper; it's new to me, anyhow. I used to be snobby about not using text weight (more is more right?) but surprise surprise. Less is more!... Who knew? You probably already knew, but text weight dry embosses with such crisp detail.

PT's sparkle text is 25 cents a sheet & makes for nice, light weight, mailable layers. You can browse the whole Sparkle group here. It comes in lots of colours (and cardstock weight too.) Purists may want to note that it's not acid free.

Like the sounds of Text Weight Papers? Here are other varieties:

Other card info: The road is dry embossed with the Argyle cuttlebug folder & the white lines on it are embroidery thread stitches. Patterned papers retired from Stampin' Up! (Notebook). Card: SU Very Vanilla cardstock (cut to 6x6). Embellishments: Swarovski crystals for headlights. White & Turquoise embroidery thread. Hodge Podge Hardware from SU & silver brads.





Hope you are feelin very CRAFTY today!!! ;O)



P.S. Want a last minute April Fool's trick? Here are some cute ideas. I think I hafta make Charles some of these Reese's Sneezes, ICK! But better than a pretend parking ticket or cat litter cake, heeheeheehee.

19 comments:

Lorraine said...

Amazing as usual Mel you never cease to surprise me with your wonderful creations. Super lady.

Finja said...

this is such a beautiful male card, i love it.... i come every day to have a look at your blog.... keep going on!!!
Hugs from Germany Finja

Peggy Maier said...

What a beautiful card, Mel! I must try your idea. You've done an excellent job on the tutorial too - each step is so clear & easy to understand!

Barb said...

You are a rockstar.

I love all of the different textures, stitching, embossing, everything!

Anonymous said...

WOWZER!! What stunning details in this!! Amazing creation and thanks for all of your tips and tutorial!! Awesome!! TFS!

Kim Etherington said...

The car looks great. Road looks cool too. Great man card. They are so hard to do aren't they!

Anonymous said...

This card is so Amazing!!!! It shouts masculine and will be loved by whoever gets blessed with it!!!!
Penny Duncan

Elena said...

This is absolutely stunning, Mel! I love this techique! The card looks like a real mimi-model car!
Love the road you created too!
Just wonderful!
Thank you very much for sharing tutorial!!!

Debby said...

You my dear are a constant source of creation, innovation and amazetion. Made up my own word :-) Incredible, gorgeous, beautiful. I need a book for Mel adjectives. You rock it baby. You bring it. Is that what Randy says? You brought it!

Anonymous said...

Just beautiful! And wonderful instructions too. Thanks!

Angie Tieman said...

Wow! This is amazing! I don't know how you think these things up!

Sue from Oregon said...

This is just a dandy card. I love how you added bling to this "manly" card without making it "girly"!

Tonniece said...

Another amazing card Mel.
Really trying not to spend right now, but gosh Dan's dad would love that stamp. What to do? lol

Happy thursday Mel

Anonymous said...

This is just an outstanding card with perfect manliness! Love the car, and the road and the stitchin'.... that is getting to be addictive!!! (I went to Michael's to match some floss with some BG DP). I really like the road though, that's great!! Your talent is amazing. By the way those dig-bunnies are so cute! What a great business idea; talent and cleverness all in one package; Whooot Whooot.. You're good!! I saw the golf club and the flowers that you drew for Kim. AMAZING!! I'd love to buy digital images. You go girl!
Beth Greco

Cindy Haffner said...

OMG girl, this is a work of art, fab!!!!!!!!!!!!

Etha said...

Wow! what a most fabulous "boy-card" !!!!

kathleenh said...

Wow! Your vintage card birthday card is amazing Mel! A card even a male could appreciate. :)

lauren bergold said...

HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!

not only do i LOVE every single thing about this card... (the bling...the coloring...the way the road is angled to add perspective! i could go on...but i think ya get my drift!) ...and your instructions are so clear that even *I* understand them!!! :)

ps: welcome to the CAARDVARKS CREW--hope you'll enjoy the team as much as i do!

Debby said...

Stunning of course. Thanks for all the tips and tricks. You are amazing.