Club Scrap: Team Challeng: A little Rust

Well it is time for the Team Challenge.  We were charged with creating and using Rust elements in out project.  I love Rust and I love metal.  So, I had a great time creating with this kit and Challenge.  Warning this is a long post, as it is technique laden.  

 But first some housekeeping.  You should have arrived from: Jennifer at the "Scrappy Side of Me". If you are lost, you can start at the beginning by clicking: Here.

Each card showcases a technique or two to create Rust.
Lets take a look at the cards, and then dive in!!

Card 1:
This technique used DecoArt Products and is a technique that Andy Skinner demonstrates in several videos.  YouTube: Rust Tutorial.  I have most of his products so, I created several panels the same way as he did, but I did not like any of them.  So I changed it a bit.

I started with embossed chipboard.

Mixed up black acrylic paint, added a glaze to thin it down.

Note that it is not completely covered.

Used Quinacridone Gold paint by DecoArt: Fluid Acrylic to paint the chipboard.  It is easier to see here that the black paint had not completely covered the chipboard.  Next I used a texture paste that had sand in it, and rubbed it in, allowed it to dry.

If you look close you will see the texture.  On another sample I added Teal Acrylic paint to highlight some of the areas.  I added the smallest amount to this card base as well.  Better seen in the finished picture.

Background finished.  I stamped and embossed the license plate with Versamark and mixed an assortment of powders to get that rusted look, then stamped 4 Dad in Black and embossed in clear. All that was needed was a piece of twine, mounted it onto Gold Cardstock and then onto an A2 card Base in Grey.  Finished with a Red Glitter Heart and added the key onto a chain

Close up of the Rust.  

Card 2:

I used the same background that I had created for one of my guest cards as well as Personal Post.  The directions for the background is located Here.

The technique for this card is rust, and this is by far my favorite of them all.  

I started out with an assortment of die cuts in black fun foam.  

Next I pounced brown Acrylic paint on to the fun foam, and sprinkled it with cinnamon, Yes Cinnamon right out of the spice cupboard!!

Make sure to rub or pat it into the paint.  The more paint the more texture.

Next, add Decoupage or Mod Podge and while still wet add more cinnamon.  

Then heat with your heat gun, carefully so as to not melt the foam.  

This causes the decopage to bubble up and traps the cinnamon giving a rough texture. 

After heating they might curl and be misshapen but that is ok.

Next:

Add a touch of teal paint and seal with a matte varnish!

Stamped the Sentiment in Brown, heat embossed in clear, but out with a die from Sizzix, added a key and ribbon.  Arranged the car and cogs, Finished!!

Could that rust look any more real???

Card 3:

This one looks the most complex, but is actually the easiest.  I cheated and used paint that is designed to create rust.  The only trick here, is the paper makes all the difference.  Different papers produce different results.  In this example, I used the grey paper that was included in the Kit.  

This is what I used: Rust Metal Paint and Rust Activator by Modern Masters.  I purchased it from Amazon.  

This Paint is very thin.  I painted it onto white cardstock so you could appreciate the coverage.  Thus, it is important to chose your paper with this in mind.  Since I was making a card, I used grey card stock. 

Two coats of paint, dried between each application

Added solution. Let dry, added more and

Magic!!!!

Stamped and embossed another License Plate:

To get this embossing powder mix: I used 2 parts Orange Blossom by Ranger, 1/2 part black, a touch of Gold, 4 parts Clear,  2 parts Watering Can by Ranger.  Then I added pinch of Bronze chunky,  a little pinch of chunky clear.  Up close it looks rusted and pitted.  

I made more cogs, the same way as in Card 2

Ok for the lettering:

Back to the thin white paper with the rust effect paint, and I added the rust activator.

Then I added Carmel and Jade Patina Alcohol inks.

Backed this with fun foam and die cut the Hello  

On the home stretch.  I die cut "Friend" from Gold paper, Cut an A2 Card Base from the same grey paper that I had used for the Rusted paper.  Using a piece of Wire ribbon created a collage in the corner with the Cogs, Arranged the Hello onto the license plate that was backed with more Fun Foam, glued everything in place!  Done!!!

Another View.  That is a lot of rust:

We made rust embossing powder, embellishments with Cinnamon and fun foam, Painted or Mixed Media Rust, and lastly an amazing Chemical Reaction with Rust Effect Paint and Activator.  I have had enough rust for a while.  

So, Your last stop is at:  Deb at DebduzScrappin

Don't forget to visit; Club Scrap and Pick up your Creative License Kit.

Happy Crafting,

Josette

Sweet Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes: Glittery Snowflake

Well time for Sweet Stamps Monthly Challenge.  This time I am doing the "Anything Goes Challenge".  I decided to continue with my embossing and created a unique Snowflake Stamp.

This started out as a snowflake stamp.  Starflake_Medallion_430.

All Stamped and embossed

Closeup of stamped and embossed image.

The stamp was repeatedly stamped in versa mark on sever different scraps of purple cardstock.  Then they were heat embossed with Fantasy_Gold_Fine_Detail_Embossing Powder.

Each one was fussy cut, following a different part of the stamp.  It is easy to get lost.  So I rough cut around the area and then when back fine tuned.

After they were cut, glue was painted onto the cut edge and they were dipped in white microfine glitter.  Then they were stacked with a foam square between each layer.  

Final layers added and a small purple rhinestone is added to the center.  It is the little details that pull this together.

Now on to the background.  I took a darker purple paper and stamped  Snowflakes  all over the paper in Versamark.  Then they were embossed with a holographic embossing powder.  This gives the glitter, but is more of a tone on tone effect plus sparkle.

The lights and reflection are giving this the color.  It is not so colorful in real life.  But very pretty!

Next I took a set of square dies, and using my grid, aligned them and taped them together.  The background was cut with this die set up. 

Lastly the middle frame was removed.  The outer frame was elevated by using mounting tape.  This was applied to a 5.4" square white card base.  The center was adhered flat to the card base and the Snowflake was mounted onto foam squares.  So the outer layer is elevated and the snowflake, everything else is flat.  

This view shows the elevation better.  The card is stunning in person.  All that glitter and metallic made it hard to photo and capture the depth of the color range.  

Challenge Link

Be sure to stop by SweetStamps Challenge page and blog for more inspiration from the Design Team.

Happy Crafting

Josette

Links:  All supplies can be found at Sweet Stamps

The cardstock was scraps of purple in my left over bin.  The white is 110# cardstock from Neenah.

Links are in the description for the products that were used. 

The only other supplies: ATG, Score-tape, Foam dots, Mountin foam,  and wet glue (I used Zig)

Club Scrap: Blog Hop: Heat Embossing and Moroccan Spice

Welcome to Club Scraps Monthly Blog Hop.  You should have arrived here from:  Tricia Morris
 If you got lost along the way, you can start at the beginning by clicking this link: ClubScrap Blog Hop

Every month it seems I have a technique that I focus on.  This month the theme is embossing or so it seems.  Everything I have made this month has been embossed in one way or the other and this posting is no different.  When I do one technique over and over I learn a lot about the process and tools, so as we look at these cards, I will share my observation about embossing.
Here we go:  Let's take quick look at the cards.

They are all so different but all are embossed with embossing powders.

So lets take a minute and talk about powders.  In my opinion all powders are created equal.  They have some differences, mainly size of the particle and of course color.  But they all react the same way. You stick it down somehow, heat it up until it melts.    There are different grain sizes; from the smallest (fine detail) to largest (labeled as bulky, UTE or deep impression).  I do think that some melt more readily and some melt smoother.  But that is more to do with your heat tool, the ink, how much has to melt, the paper (both type and thickness)   and of course the weather.  When I moved to Texas from Washington State, I had to rethink everything, from glue, adhesives, ink and embossing powders.  The bottom line, look at what you have and test it out.  Use different inks, different amount of heat.  Change one thing and see what happens, did it make it better, the same, or worse.  Often if I can't get a good stamped and embossed image the first thing I do is change the ink.  All ink will emboss if it stays wet long enough.  Mix the ink.  Stamp with versa mark and then layer a pigment over the top or visa versa.  This is a great trick when you have a lot of area to cover and a missed spot will show up.  The colored ink tricks the eye into believing the image is solid.

So let's start with working with the powders.

Here is my set up.  It is a box (Club Scrap Box), a swifter and a coffee filter.  The swifter catches all the stray powder and the filter makes it easier to get back in the bottle.  What isn't shown is baby powder or an powder tool of some sort.  All embossing powders need to have the surface de-magnetized so that the powder only adheres to the inked area.  This is most important with dark paper.  When I am using a very dark paper, I just dump a puddle of baby powder in the center and dust off.  The little powder tools just don't lay down enough powder to ensure no stray particles.  But even with the best prep, on humid days, baby powder doesn't work 100% of the time.  A fine paintbrush takes care of those buggers.  I have noted on days when we are having thunder storms, skip embossing, do something else as the garbage can will fill up fast!!

The next player in this game is the heat tool.  It needs to get hot and not blow too much. I have used almost every brand out there and burned up every brand I have purchased.  I think I am tool challenged.  So, I decided after my last burnout (embossing a lot of butterflies with thick embossing medium and on chipboard) that I needed a professional tool.  Guess what, Home Depot carries heat guns.  They are designed to strip paint and warm pipes.  Go figure. I think if they can hold up to paint stripping they can hold up to my crafting.  I bought the lowest wattage, lowest power one, it was made by Wagner and I  must say, I can emboss to my hearts content and no over heating or worse "burn out".  Turns out it works fabulous on Velum.  I will post a link to my new gun. 

So lets get to the cards:

The simplest in terms of embossing is the Sympathy card:

This is straightforward.  The band was stamped onto a scrap of the background paper, wrong side and heat embossed with Ranger fine detail gold.  The fine detail works wonderful with those images that need crisp lines.  What it doesn't do well with, is an image that is fairly solid like the flower.  If you look close it is not as smooth.  I could have used a bigger grain powder and been happier, but then the color wouldn't match.  I could give a long dialog about Gold color but will save that for another posting.  I will say that the color of gold is a fascinating story and involves the jewelry industry prior to days of marking the piece.  But another day.  

Adjusted the stamping so that the exposed image would be symmetrical and then used the flower to cover the irregularities.  A gold card stock was cut and the band glued onto that.  Wrapper finished.

Gold cord was wound into a circle and using a glue dot held into place.  

Stamped the image and embossed with the same powder, note no stray flecks.  Baby powder at its finest.  I die cut this using a label die and then used  a gold pen to edge the die cut.  Finally added tiny dots of a glitter pen.  This was attached onto a piece of fun foam and adhered over the Gold Cord. Making sure that there is adhesive only on the part that will touch one of the flaps.

This is a tri-fold card, that measures 4.25" X 5.5"finished and closed.  The card base was cut 5.5 X 8.5" and scored on each end at 2.25".  A sentiment was stamped and added to the inside of the card.  

Another view.  Ok, now that you have your primer on Heat Embossing, lets take it up a notch.

I did not photograph the background.  It is very straight forward.  I used a snowflake background stamp with snowflakes by Hero Arts and Kraft paper.  The image was stamped in Versamark ink and Heat embossed using Ranger Holographic embossing Powder.  Then using white and blue pigment ink, lightly enhanced the background.  This was cut down to 4 X 5.25 inches.

Using a Sizzix die, tags were cut out of white paper, stamped with the snowflake stamp from the kit and heat embossed with a white glitter embossing powder by Wow!.  This now is tone on tone with a little glitter.

Using a scrap from the Sypathy card, I stamped the ornament in silver ink and then used Silver glitter embossing powder.  Fussy Cut.  Slightly bent the holder to give it some dimension.

A brushable glue was painted onto the ornament and microfine glitter was added.  This  photo shows what it looked like before the glue was dry.  You can see that I deliberately left brush strokes.  When you see those frosted ornaments in the store, they are not solid, glitter falls off or failed to stick, that was the impression I was going for. 

Here is the finished, see how it looks more dimensional.  This and the package were glued onto the tags.  The package is straight forward.  Stamped onto a lavender sparkly card stock and fussy cut.  Water color pencil and Wink of Stella in clear was used to enhance it further.  The bow was filled in with Icicle colored Stickles.

A small sentiment was stamped onto vellum, die cut and adhered.  

This is an A-2 card.  All were layer onto the card.  The embellishments were popped up with 3D foam dots, the tags threaded with silver cord and glued flat onto the card mat.  See how flat that velum sentiment is.  I believe it was because of my new heat tool, no warping.  Finished.

Ok, now on to the masterpiece, well I think it is a masterpiece.  It was really more of a mental exercise masterpiece.  Once I got the details worked out it was simple.  Good news, you can just follow my lead and not have to think about all the fussiness.  

Stunning isn't it.  But relatively simple.  

Let's start with the embossing powder as that is our focus.  I needed a powder that was not too silver, not too dull.  I was wanting a stained glass look.  I tried a thick mixed powder by stampendous but lost the fine detail of the stamped image.  

See how irregular the stamping and embossed areas are.  Might work if I wanted a distressed antique look, but I didn't.  So how to resolve this issue?

Make your own blend of embossing powder!!!

I mixed 4 parts black, 2 parts Wow! brass, 3 parts Platinum, 4 parts silver.  The black toned down the silver and the platinum and brass gave it some pizzaz.  

You can see it here on this Kraft cardstock.  The light from the camera makes it appear more shiny but the finished card is a better representative of the effect.  Let's talk about the stamping.  This is the card base.  The stamp was 3 rows of the image.  I aimed for any imperfection in the stamping to occur where the image was.  Trimmed the stamp so that the red rubber edge was symmetrical all the way around.  The benefit of unmounted rubber stamps, is you are in control of your stamp.  Adjust, trim, do what ever you need to do to get what you want.  Stamps are simply a tool, take control. Then using a stamping template (acetate with the image stamped in archival ink) positioned the card stock under the acetate, removed the acetate, inked with versa mark and stamped. Repeated this process for as many times as needed to cover the background.  I did use a MISTI for this step.  Any type of positioner would work.  This was trimmed down to 4 X 5.25 inches.

The tile image was stamped onto red card stock from the kit.  Using Twinkling H20's that had been previously activated with water, carefully painted in the image.  I used the thick paint and let it flow between the embossing.  Added very little water and let dry thoroughly.  I was very pleased with the result and it does look like stained glass.  You don't need water color paper to use a water color paint, just use one that requires very little water to activate.  Twinks are perfect here.

All that metallic embossing powder and Twinks makes it hard to photograph, so here are to views.

The sentiment was stamped in versa mark, embossed with Ranger Platinum on Velum.  The focal image was matted onto red cardstock and then onto fun foam and adhered to the base.  A red card base finished the card.  I think it would make a nice Christmas Card.

Well that is it for me today.  Be sure to complete the hop and leave comments along the way.  Your next stop is:  Julie Heyer

Happy Crafting

Josette

Supplies and links:

Club Scrap: Moroccan Spice Deluxe Kit, Stamps, and Embellishments.

Embossing Powders:  Ranger:  Fine Detail Gold, Platinum, Silver, Black, Halographic

                                    Wow!:    Brass, white opaque with glitter

                                   Zing:       Silver Glitter

Glitter:  Micro fine glitter, Cloud Nine by Sprinkle and Sparkle

Ink:  Veramark

         Archival: Grey

        Versafine: Onyx Black

Twinkling H20:   Mango Mamba, Lucky Apple, Teal Zircon, Sunflower

Paper:  All came from Club Scrap except the Vellum, lavender for package  and a strip of Gold Card stock, source is unknown 

adhesive: score-tape, ATG, liquid glue

Fun Foam

Stickles: Icicle

Wink of Stella:  Clear

Various Dies: Spellbinder, Twisted Metal (label), Sizzix, Tags.  

Wagner Heat Gun: Similar one at Amazon