Saturday, March 10, 2012

Painted Distress Ink emboss-resist technique (on a P.O.D. Challenge card)

Purple Onion Designs Harlequine card

Here's a simple wedding card or an anniversary card
or just a schmooshy-mooshy love card...
(with a painted emboss-resist technique
using Distress Inks and stain).

-1-



Do you love challenges?
It's been ages since I've played along with one, so...

Lilly Pad Cards has a colour challenge going:

(until Thursday March 15th)

with one of my very favourite companies as the sponsor:


Definitely different colours than I'm used to
(since they're not turquoise) ;-)
but such a good challenge & such a soft combo.

Though I did add a little touch of blue like some
of the sample cards from their design team.

Purple Onion Designs Harlequine card DIY acetate tag

(The tag is made using: a metal rimmed tag with the paper removed;
A piece of printable acetate cut & glued onto the metal rim; a rub-on from the Cosmo Cricket Ever After line; and teensy little flowers left from a Fiskars edge punch that I pierced holes in and glued on with clear lacquer).


-2-


(Distress Ink heat emboss resist
blended with white Picket Fence stain)

I'm still learning how to work with Distress Inks &
I realized that (so far) I don't really use them very much.

It's the blending that throws me a little, so I was excited when
I tried the Picket Fence white distress stain over them &
it turned out to be an easy and fun way to blend Distress Inks quickly...


1a stamp POD diamonds in versamark heat emboss in clear embossing powder

Step 1) Heat emboss in clear: Stamp in clear Versamark ink, sprinkle with clear embossing powder & heat set with a heat gun.

(Traditionally, the "emboss resist" technique is done on glossy cardstock, but I much prefer it on regular white cardstock.) I used Purple Onion Designs' background set Harlequin.

3a ink all the diamonds up empty diamond in the POD set lets you use any stamp you want with the other diamonds

Step 2) Ink over the clear embossing with distress ink colours & let the ink dry a little.

For these diamonds, I used Antique Linen & Brushed Corduroy and Iced Spruce (the seasonal Christmas grey-blue which was an oh so thoughtful gift from the ultra lovely Lisa) as well as Brushed Corduroy & Victorian Velvet.

There's no need to worry about blending:

3b ink diamonds up no need to worry about blending

You can have inking that's nice and dark and messy,
since the next step will tone it down...

4 Soften ink & blend with picket fence distress stain over it a little or a lot since you can build the layers

Step 3) Swipe over the Distress Ink with Picket Fence white Distress Stain
(just wipe the excess stain off of the clear heat embossing to remove any stain that is sitting on top of the glossy bits and won't dry).

If you don't have Distress Stain, you could use white paint or gesso watered down, but I find that the distress stain is nice since it doesn't warp the paper as much as more watery mediums might.

The stain can give you an interesting wood grain
or streaked texture:

painted emboss-resist distress

And you can add more stain if you want it lighter, since it
becomes increasingly opaque as you layer it.

-3-

(rubber stamps used here...)

P.O.D.'s Harlequin:



One of my favorite things about the P.O.D. Harlequin stamp
set is the blank diamond:

2a empty diamond in the POD set lets you use any stamp you want with the other diamonds

you can use it with any of your stamps. I used it
with an older P.O.D. calendar stamp that
still works despite the date because it gives the most unique texture:

2b calendar POD stamp as a texture stamp



And with my favourite script background
(it's from Purple Onion Designs too).





Hope you can play along
with the challenge too!



P.S. I also used the new Hero Arts Large Floral Background stamp with the blank Purple Onion Designs' Harlequin stamp (on the pink diamond pieces).

19 comments:

JEROSHA Ă„RETUN said...

Thanks for the great and clear tutorial. I have distrain inks but never tried.....now i will :-)

Unknown said...

Such a perfectly pretty card Mel, love this technique and you've got some results here! Gorgeous! Those stamps are really awesome! Have a lovely Sunday, Ira

Silke said...

This card is so lovely, I really love the colours. Thanks for sharing this tutorial!

Ruth S said...

What a gorgeous card - you made it look so easy with your tutorial, but it still packs a big wow factor! TFS, Rx

Dawn said...

Fabulous! all those teensy flowers made a beautiful frame!!!
hugs kiddo!!

Tiffany said...

Beautiful!! So inspired to create something today b/c of you!! =)

Vicki Dutcher said...

What a great tutorial! Your card is a lot of work, but it sure is pretty!!

Julie@ The Crafty Quilter said...

Thank you for that great tutorial! I have 5 distress inks sitting around that never get used because I don't know what to do with them. I'll give this technique a try - it looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

YOU ARE SO TALENTED AND MAKE ME VERY ENVIOUS OF THE THINGS YOU DO

Kim Etherington said...

Beautiful card! So elegant! Can I buy it off of you to use for a wedding this coming July? :o)

Bonnie said...

Lovely muted card Mel! I have the picket fence but have not used it much,this is great inspiration.

Nancy K said...

Oh wow, this is one seriously gorgeous card design! I love the process you used to create such pretty muted color and the harlequin design is so perfect. Your little tag is just the most brilliant bit of detail ever! I'm so glad you were able to join us at Lily Pad Cards with this stunning card!

Bobby le Tile said...

Lovely card. Also this might sound odd but don't the stamps look like deliciously ornate chocolates?

alexandra s.m. said...

What a fantastic Card Mel!
Thank you so much for your generous explanations!
I love that idea!
You are always such an incredible source of inspiration!


Merci <3

Carole said...

I've been having a great time visiting your blog. You are an amazing talent and so generous with tutorials and templates. I signed up to follow your blog.

Erum Tasneem said...

wowa Queen Mel this is gorgeous. I looooooove how shabby chic this looks. Awesome explanation too :)

Kathy said...

Hi Mel, I have to tell you that I was so delighted and so happy to see your post in my "inbox" that you played with "Kathy's Lily Pad Palette Color Challenge" :) I always admire what you share about each card and the rockin details. So yes! I love your smoochy, gushy love card. Thanks again and if you ever way to suggest a color palette we would love it. You can email me kathyrac@mac.com

Unknown said...

What a fantastic card and tutorial - you rock! (You have one of my votes, lol!) Thank you so much for sharing at the Lily Pad!. Hugs & Blessings....

Anonymous said...

So, I'm looking at this card thinking "How can I recreate it" and I realize I have those POD stamps haha!