imperfections make life interesting

Hello there!

Happy Saturday! I hope that you are all safe and well and enjoying your day! I’m back today with a tutorial for a card that I created using a background that was rejected by me last week…LOL! Funny story… As I was creating last weeks Vintage Frame Vignette, I was putzing around with an idea to use white embossing powder as a resist and then watercolor in the flowers. Well, I started making it and decided I didn’t like it and I pitched it into my “maybe someday it’ll work pile” and forgot about it.

So, the other day, I was cleaning my room and happened to glance over at the pile and see it and I thought, hmm, I wonder…

Funny how sometimes something isn’t hitting you quite right one day, you leave it alone, go on with life, come back, and it’s right up your alley. Anyways, that’s how this card came about. I used the same stamp set (Lady Rose CMS255) that I had used last week.. plus a few others. 😉

Here’s an upclose look at the watercoloring with-in the white embossed areas.

let’s get to it!

I stamped the floral images onto a sheet of Watercolor Paper and sprinkled the areas with White Embossing Powder, then embossed it with my embossing gun.

I spritzed the paper with a little water and spritzed it with Antique Linen and Speckled Egg Spray Stains. Then dried it with my heat tool.

I colored in some of the open areas of the flowers with a variety of Distress Markers, then, using a detail water brush, watercolored the areas and blended the colors.

Here’s the up-close look at the watercoloring. 🙂

When both areas of the flowers were colored in, I took my steel wool blending tool and scuffed the shine off of the embossed areas. This creates more of a matte look to the area.

Another idea I had after the fact, was to possibly iron off the heat embossed  areas..a fun thing to try another time. 😉

Next, I cut out and stamped a butterfly from the Flutter CMS294 stamp set and coordinating Flamelit set.

Here’s a little trick that Tim shared on one of his Saturday Demo Days a few weekends ago. In order to get the stamped image perfectly aligned on the cut out shape, simply cut your shape out of a piece of watercolor paper. Then lay the paper that you cut out the image into a stamp platform.

Line the matching stamped image over top of the empty shaped area. The stamp will align into the cutout area.

Shut the door of the platform and let the stamp cling to the door.

Add the cut out shape back into the open area.

Then stamp you image…it lines up perfectly!!! How swift is that??? I hadn’t even thought to do that…EVER!! Love that little tip.

The butterfly that I stamped below in Hickory Smoke was only done as a sample so that you could see how the image matched up. In real life, I stamped the butterfly with Distress Embossing Ink and then embossed it using White Embossing Powder…you’ll notice that in the next photo below.

I lightly scuffed up the butterfly using the steel wool blending tool, then colored the butterfly with a variety of Distress Markers and a water brush.

Then I blended Frayed Burlap Distress Ink around the edges of the butterfly and found additional paper to use for the card in my scrap box.

I stamped the phrase “imperfections make life interesting” onto a scrap of paper. I thought that phrase was a good one, since this background wasn’t so perfect for me a week ago. LOL! (Tiny Text CMS394)

…and began arranging the layout of the card.

I cut some greens out of some scrap paper…

(Wildflowers, Wildflowers 2 thinlet sets)

and messy stitched around the edges of the background paper.

The body of the butterfly was sewn using my sewing machine and the leftover bits of thread were used to create antennae, then they were rubbed with collage medium to add stiffness.

I stitched on some buttons, scraps of lace and mummy cloth. Then wrapped the ends of the phrase with some thread.

All the layers were then attached to the background and added to a card base.

With that, my card was complete!

Thanks so much for stopping by..have a great rest of your weekend!

Creatively yours,

Stacy

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Gather Your Supplies-

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous- Lady Rose CMS255, Flutter CMS294, Tiny Text CMS394, Field Notes CMS396

Tim Holtz/ idea-ology- Mummy Cloth

Tim Holtz/Sizzix- Wildflowers, Wildflowers 2, Flutter Framelits

Tim Holtz/Tonic- Stamp Platform, Tonic Guillotine Paper Trimmer, Tonic Shears,

Tim Holtz/Ranger-

Distress Ink- Frayed Burlap

Distress Sprays- Antique Linen, Speckled Egg

Distress Markers- Variety of Colors

Distress Tools/Mediums- Distress Sprayer, Media Mat, Heat it Heat Tool, Blending Tools, Distress Collage Matte Medium, Foam Tape, Distress Watercolor Paper, Distress Texture Paste Crackle, Embossing Gun, White Embossing Powder

Other- Sewing Machine and Thread. twig, vintage lace and buttons