Printing on Tissue Paper, DIY tinted Versamark, & Altered brads

You blogging ladies may feel my pain: I have A LOT of passwords. They're all crammed on the pages of my snail mail address book, so I made them a new home.

I've just gone back to school, after a semester's break, and now have even more passwords to remember. I'm taking a computer course--in which we have to make a webpage etc... from scratch all XHTML (no wysiwyg!?!) I am excited, but to be honest, I'm more terrified. Hopefully this fake XHTML as a d.p. pattern will get me in the mood for code. (Fat chance!) But at least when it comes time to login to the online component of the course, I'll be able to find my password. ;0)

If you are a computer genius, you will want to look away NOW! I altered this XHTML sample brutally! (I found it online & took out all of the spaces and made it red):

This page above is done by printing on tissue paper. It can be wrinkled and given a sheen like silk. Just follow these 3 simple steps:

1...take a piece of cardstock 8 1/2 x 11 " and cut a similar sized piece of tissue paper. use a glue stick to attach the tissue paper to the cardstock. I like to glue all around the outside (that way you can cut the center out if you want it loose. [Please NOTE: if you have a finicky printer (that eats things) maybe avoid this technique I don't wanna be the jerk that broke your printer.] :0) mine was okay though...

2....Smooth it down; let dry a little.

3...Run the glued on tissue paper through your printer, et voila! You have a sheer printed page.

WAYS TO USE IT: Printing on tissue is great for making your own textured d.p. (You could even print your favourite quotes, scan your favourite book of fiction or illustrations, or your own freehand or typed creative writing...photocopied love letters from your grandparents to each other (or your own mushy missives!) :0) It's also an ideal technique for printing photos to use as a unique scrapbook element or for adding to tiles and custom candles.

After embossing the @ symbol (from the Supersize Symbols set) in black, I stamped with a homemade tinted versamark pad. This is really easy to make: just add classic ink to a very juicy versamark pad. I had already accidentally inked one with red while stamping a huge amount of posters. Tinted versamark gives a neat sheer ink effect. It's great for embossing. I used it here, because I wanted to see the text though the ink.

After stamping I trimmed the paper, peeled the tissue off and crinkled it. Then I used Mod Podge (with sparkles in it to adhere it to the cardstock that I peeled it off. If you want your embossing to still have a little shine, then just be careful not to go over it (or wipe with a damp paper towel.) Mod Podge (also known as Mat medium) is water soluble, but you may want to use low quality brushes and wash them out immediately.

When it was time to add the hardware, I realized that my shiny brads clashed with the metal frame. If you have this problem, and you want to get brushed steel brads, just take sandpaper (or a nail file) to them. You can kind of see the difference above. The one on the left is before sanding, and the one on the right is after.

This is also a great preparatory step for embossing brads to get brads in any custom colours that you want. (Just sand the brad well, stick in the top of an old cork (or hold with pliers), cover it with versamark or craft ink, and then cover in embossing powder, heat, cool and repeat.) If anyone wants a tutorial on this, just let me know. I looked for one online, but couldn't find any...

Next, I wanted some tabs, so I chose a few letters that the majority of my passwords began with and then I made 5 tabs.

I just used a small oval punch, folded them in half and then wrote the letters with a silver pen (dollar store item, but silver sharpie would have the same effect.) In hindsight, I should have used a Sakura glue pen to write them and then emboss them.What was I thinking? Well, I guess I still can. :0) Here's a close-up (just for fun, 'cause it's sparkly, caw!):

This technique for this project is inspired by Beate's faux silk tutorial on scs. The cards being made with this technique on scs right now are stunning. Faux silk uses stamping alone (versus using your computer to print on tissue paper.) I just wanted to show you the computer bit, cause I've talked about it before, but have never done it. :0)

Thanks for checking this out!
:0)
Mel

P.S. Why can't Blogging be a University course? Or stamping!?! If we ruled the world...