Impressabilities resist card (+pins & buttons)

The Dirty Low-down on Impressabilities and resist:
(my take on 'em anyhow)

I'm still experimenting with the ideal medium and method to get the best resist effect with Impressabilities...Meanwhile it's a lot of messy fun to toy with 'em.

Some crafters (who are used to the very deep embossing of Provocraft embossing folders) have found these a disappointment. I will admit that at first glance they had me stumped, but I quickly fell in love with their ability to act as a stencil and the intricate embossing they give.

You all know that I'm as frugal as they come (they broke the cheap-oh mold when they made me!) ;O) but I think (for me anyhow) the real key to enjoying Impressabilites is not to baby them. Everyone says they're so delicate, but I've knocked mine around (like a real stamping-ruffian) and they still emboss just fine. (I've covered them in gesso, gel medium, ink, polymer clay...)

Thankfully, although they're sparkly and delicate looking, they are affordable enough to be tools not jewels. When they finally do give up the ghost, it'll be such fun to cut them into bits to play with (emboss & use as embellishments)--guilt free.



1-making a fancy smancy pin
2-creating layered stitched flowers
3-cheap tricks with Copic markers
4-tool talk: some blah-blah about buttons
5-enabler alert-new cardstocks at Paper Garden Projects!
(and free(US) /cheap(Can) shipping deal!)

make a fancy smancy pin

• Decorative pin
• Beads
• Ribbon
• Adhesive
  

I got these sweet pins from marvelous Maria and was excited to try my first pin on a card. I've always been intimidated by 'em. If you are too, here's a really easy way to make pins without a lot of hardware:

A) Take your fancy topped pin
B) Slide on a couple of beads & tie on a bow.
C) Affix with adhesive if it needs it.
D) To attach it, I just slid it through the stitching on my sentiment. If you have no where to anchor it, you could just add a dab of adhesive behind the bow, so it won't go anywhere.

The sentiment is printed on vellum from the computer & embossed then glued onto a layered tag (that was painted with gesso.)

make layered stitched flowers

Free primas, my fave. I have more time than money, ;o) so homemade flowers are a mainstay for me. The cardstock layer on this makes the thin designer paper sturdy enough to stitch, but it also made the petals easy to shape...

• Flower punch/die (or hand cut one)
  
• Patterned paper
• White & brown cardstock
• Button
• Copic markers
  
• Paper piercer
  
• Needle & thread
• Scissors
• Tombow monomulti

Step 1) Punch 2 flower shapes out of patterned paper. (I used the 5-petal flower punch from Stampin' Up!)

Step 2) Glue them onto white cardstock. (I like Tombow monomulti & I avoid adding any to areas where I'm going to stitch.)

Step 3) To create a thin mat around the flower: just cut around the patterned paper. Nothing revolutionary, but very free and kinda neat since it gives you a nested punch look and you can make as many layers as you like.

Step 4) Pierce & stitch each flower.

Step 5) Layer one flower on top & add a circle of brown cardstock & the button.

Step 6) Pierce holes into the paper layers through the button & stitch it on.

If your button is bad like mine & it won't stay in place, Tombow Monomulti is handy :O)...

Tombow in sneaky areas:


Tombow in really really sneaky areas:

-3-

With Copic Markers

Do you work with a concrete plan? I usually only have a rough plan at best, so a lot of things I end up doing are 'afterthoughts.' I find Copics are one of my favourite mediums for last minute ideas, since they have those brush tips that can get into detailed areas and they'll stick to anything.

Colouring cardstock between stitched areas:



I love to Copic colour edges for emphasis...


but this was the first time I tried Copic colouring the areas between stitching. If you have a machine with fancy stitches this might be extra fun. :O) Of course, any marker would work, but Copics have the advantage of being slightly removable with colourless blender if you slip (which I did.) ;O)



If you're using light coloured thread & you're concerned about getting Copic on it, then you could work in this order:

1) Pierce area for stitching
2) Colour it
3) Stitch

Overly obvious probably, but I always think there could be a beginner reading (or someone who thinks backwards like me!) :O)

Copic marker on buttons:




Colour patterned buttons...



or make Copic distress buttons--add a bit of colour on a colourless blender to bring out the pattern:

and there ya have it....

(free buttons)

If you like buttons but you want to save money, you can cut buttons off of shirts or other clothes that are too ratty to donate. A Martha Stewart trick: anything looks snazzy in plenty, so even the plainest button can be cute if there's enough of it. Neutral buttons get all snazzified with coloured threads. :O) Now I can't wait for C's shirts to wear out, muhaha!

To be really green, you could use the fabric from old clothes for embossing or stamping on (more about fabric in this other post.)

Button Storage idea:

Sliding buttons on safety pins can keep them together for quick use and it prevents scratching. I keep them in this open dish for a quick grab.

Lots of links for
button projects here:


(Stunning Cardstock)

The chocolate-y paper this card was made with Prism cardstock (called "Suede Brown Dark") I'm so excited about it: Paper Garden Projects is carrying Prism cardstock now!!! I'd never used it before now. It is HOT! and what a treat to lift up those poor ol' mojo spirits with new colour combos.

These little squares of it don't do it a bit of justice, so I just have to rave a little bit. :O) The nicest elements of the Prism cardstock (IMHO):

• Yummy texture (like high-end coldpress watercolour paper)
• How well their colours coordinate with each other
• How the colour is saturated and rich but slightly muted so it's ultra classy
• The weight--luxuriously just right! (not too light at all & not too heavy)
• And of course the price--0.35 cents. Especially affordable with the free shipping (US orders over $35.00) or $7.00 for Canadian orders...

I sound like a used car salesman, I'm sure, but I know that you know what it's like to really really REALLY love paper. There are so many colours too. :O)

Whacked out experiments with
Impressabilities resist technique here:

made with Spellbinders' Impressabilities

Thanks so much for visiting;
I've been missing you SO much!!!
:O)