Peace Deep Impressions Card

My favorite newer technique is the Deep Impressions technique from the fabulous Fran Seiford of Stampendous. I first saw her demonstrate this at the summer CHA in Chicago and since then have created many deeply embossed pieces for my cards. For this card I am teaching to my local stamp club next month, I started with a Sizzix die cut ornament cut out of chipboard. I placed the chipboard ornament on a piece of teflon hot sheet (like the craft sheet by Ranger) on an electric griddle heated to 300 degrees. I sprinkled ultra thick clear embossing powder (available from Ranger and Stampendous) and let that melt. Then I sprinkled on Seasonings embossing enamel (from Stampendous) and a red glitter embossing powder (from Stampamania) and while that was molten, removed the ornament from the heat and stamped with an older words background stamp. This technique works beautifully with die cuts or stamps that are not super detailed like this ornament from Sizzix. Here is a picture of the deeply textured ornament: 

I embossed the white card base with an embossing folder from Darice and added a "peace" wish from Ellen Hutson. The ornament is hung on a piece of thin washi tape.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and the Embossing with Dies challenge at Scrapy Land ( I used a Sizzix die.)

Vintage Faux Leather Friends Card

Happy Saturday and Halloween and Set your Clocks Back an Hour Day! It's my turn to post a card on Die-Version's blog and mine.  Today I am sharing a vintage style friends card featuring the Vintage Clock die and a faux leather technique. I found a video here on how to make faux leather book covers and have adapted the technique to make gorgeous card backgrounds. I suggest watching the video for the specifics, but basically you apply a water and glycerin mix (1 part glycerin to 4 parts water) to a thick piece of kraft cardstock (I used Stampin’ Up’s crumbcake.) Rub the glycerin mix in and repeat to both sides. Then crinkle the piece up, flatten and repeat. Flatten out and emboss the wet piece with an embossing folder (I used a Tim Holtz for Sizzix embossing folder). Heat set to dry and sponge on Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger) to highlight the embossing and all over the faux leather piece. Then add some sponged Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink in the center. The piece will look and feel like real leather! I attached it to a cream card base and then glued on the Vintage Clock and Friends die cuts from Die-Versions.

**Remember you can get a 15% discount on any of Die-Versions great dies by simply using my discount code karen15 when you check out at the Die-Versions website.**

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and the Embossing with Dies challenge at Scrapy Land (of course I used Die-Versions dies.)

Deep Impressions Happy Birthday to You Card

It’s Crackerbox Palace Friday and today I am sharing a musical birthday card I made with Crackerbox Palace’s awesome stamps and a technique called Deep Impressions from the fabulous Fran Seiford of Stampendous. Vicky Briggs of CBP took me and a friend to the summer CHA in Chicago this year and it was there I first saw Fran demonstrate this technique. I was fascinated and immediately bought a bunch of awesome aged embossing enamels from Stampendous. Usually you start with a die cut out of chipboard, but one day it occurred to me that a simple stamped shape would work as well as a die cut shape. I stamped Crackerbox Palace’s guitar on chipboard twice and cut them out. I placed the chipboard guitars on a piece of teflon hot sheet (like the craft sheet by Ranger) on an electric griddle heated to 300 degrees. I sprinkled ultra thick clear embossing powder (available from Ranger and Stampendous) and let that melt. Then I sprinkled on Aged Gold embossing enamel (from Stampendous) and while that was molten, removed the guitars from the heat and stamped with Crackerbox Palace’s guitar stamp. This technique works best with die cuts or stamps that are not super detailed. I stamped CBP’s musical “Happy Birthday to You” with several shades of blue ink, and attached the card front to a blue card base. The beautifully textured guitars were attached with strong scor-tape.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Crafting from the Heart and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Believe in Who You Are

I love the sentiment on this card from Dylusions and made it the focus on this card on a background created with blue Brushos on yupo paper. I also stamped waterdrops from Designs by Ryn and highlighted them with white enamel accents. The colorful porpoise was created with a stamp from Door County Rubber Stamps and brushos on regular watercolor paper.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Crafting From the Heart, Simon Says Stamp,  and Love to Scrap! 

What If? Wed. Sketch Challenge Card

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's time for another fun sketch challenge at The House that Stamps Built and we are challenging you to make a card using the sketch below and link it up for a chance at some great Repeat Impressions rubber! For all the details on what you can win and to see the other Rock Stars cards using this sketch, please visit our blog.

I created a colorful piece of watercolor paper with my favorite colors of Brusho Coloured Crystals (violet, turquoise and orange) which are available here on the Repeat Impressions website. I spritzed with iridescent gold Glimmer Mist to activate the Brusho Crystals instead of water for a sparkly shimmer over the gorgeous colors. I stamped Repeat Impression’s Compass and Portland Lightship and die cut the circles in various sizes to complete the sketch card.

Here is the sketch for you to follow when you create a card for our challenge. You do not need to use Repeat Impressions stamps to enter our challenges, but you get an extra chance to win if you do!

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at 613 Avenue Create and Craft Your Passion.

**Don’t Forget: for a 10% discount on any size order at Repeat Impressions, make a note of my discount code (rr10kh), click on the blog badge on the side of my blog and go to the website here to shop and save!**

Mixed Media Joy Card

I was playing recently with mixed media backgrounds for my cards and came up with this Christmas card for my stash. I started with a piece of watercolor paper, sprinkled on green and yellow Brushos and spritzed with water. I stamped some holiday text and created circles with several sizes of caps and found items with red 3D Stamp Paint from Viva. I also spattered red dots with a paint brush and diluted distress ink. I die cut an ornament (Memory Box) out of the piece and popped the ornament back in the negative space. I also die cut the ornament and the "joy" (Tim Holtz for Sizzix) out of shiny red paper and attached. The completed card front was attached to a red card base.

I am entering this card in the Mixed Media challenges at That Craft Place and Love to Create.

Boo! I'm Back!

The last couple weeks have been scary busy but lots of fun! I hosted a couple technique workshops with a friend and then hosted a large family gathering celebrating 3 major anniversaries. But now life will get back to normal which means blogging more frequently and playing with stamps, dies and other toys:) Halloween is this week so I am posting a card I made with black Bister powders and a spooky stamp called Crowscape from Stampendous. Black Bisters sprinkled on watercolor paper and spritzed with water creates a spooky stormy sky perfect for a Halloween card. After the Bister watercolor background was dry, I masked off most of the sky leaving a circle for the moon and applied bleach on that circle. I love creating a moon this way - it looks much more real this way than masking first leaving a white moon. I used my MISTI and stamped the Crowscape stamp from Stampendous several times, then layered it on light yellow and black cardbase. I added a "Boo" cut with Die-Versions alphabet dies and a couple small bats cut with an IO die.

I am entering this card in the Halloween challenge at Sweet Stampin' and the Anything Goes challenge at 613 Avenue Create.