Acrylic Block Stamping

This card features a monoprint technique. Basically you smoosh inks all over an acrylic block (normally used to stamp with) and then press cardstock over the inks to lift a print.

I chose to make a sympathy card. The background was created with regular Distress Inks (dye based). I used the same technique on the heart, but used Distress Oxide Inks (pigment), which provided a smoother blend. I like the contrast of the two mediums. The heart was die cut with a My Favorite Things Stitched Heart STAX die.

I stamped the meadow below and again with the heart in place. A stamp positioner makes exact placement possible.

I clear heat embossed the Quietfire Design sentiment after stamping in black Versa Clair ink. Matted on white, then placed on a pale aqua card. Thanks for visiting today!

Thinking of You

Sympathy cards - always hard! This is an Inkadinkado stamp that I heat embossed on watercolour paper and I watercoloured with Zig markers. The scalloped flourish is a Spellbinders die, as is the frame.

Rinse and Repeat!

I did the same Zig Scribble technique as my post from yesterday to make a sympathy card today. I used a pink and purple colour scheme, and white pearl embossing powder. The florals are Altenew's Peony Bouquet.

My uncle passed away recently and he was a gifted pianist. After masking the flowers, I heat embossed sheet music on the card front. On the inside, I stamped piano keys and this calligraphy stamp from Quietfire Design:

Here you can see the heat embossed sheet music a bit better:

I am happy I was able to create a card that reflected a bit of my uncle's gift for music with stamps I had on hand. These cards are always difficult to make, but this watercolour-ish technique makes it more enjoyable. The YouTube video where I learned this technique is here.

Sympathy Card in Gold

The CFC165 CAS-ual Fridays challenge is "Everything Turns To Gold". This is a large (5.5 X 8.5) card that I made for a group condolence card.

I put a number of folded pages inside to allow for a lot of notes and signatures, and enclosed them with a pamphlet stitch.

I embossed the flowers with gold embossing powder. The flowers and butterfly are from Altenew, and the sentiment is from Verve Stamps.

I stamped a matching envelope in Delicata Gold ink. Thanks for visiting!

Vintage Sympathy Card

I think if we polled card makers, they would say the most difficult cards to make are sympathy cards. And the difficulty seems to be in direct proportion to how well you know the family or cared about the person who passed away!

I wanted to make a vintage-themed condolence card for a friend, and I recently picked up the Botanical Tea designer paper by graphic 45, which helped set my direction. These toile-inspired birds were especially nice with the matching Nantucket Blue background paper.

I die cut some kraft cardstock doilies and stamped a doily pattern from Waltzingmouse Stamps on them (see upper right). I distressed edges with Vintage Photo distress ink. I created a tag by using an interesting Tammy Tutterow paper transfer technique of placing paper on the adhesive side of a Tim Holtz ideology mirror sheet, then wetting and rubbing away the back of the paper. I distressed the edges of the tag, too. Unfortunately I ended up covering up most of the mirror tag so you cannot see how cool it is - but please check out Tammy's tutorial for more info.

I tied some mottled hand-dyed seam binding around the top of the tag and some lace and paper twine around the bottom. The flowers are Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms die cuts, surrounded by assorted leaves. I added a bit of glitter to the flowers. The sentiment is a Quietfire Design stamp that I stamped in black Archival Ink, then pounced Versamark over top and clear embossed with a couple layers of clear embossing powder. I cracked the surface and then ran Broken China distress ink over the cracks to add some character. Here is the finished card, ready for a padded envelope:

Delicata Golden Glitz

Tsukineko has a fairly new pigment ink on the market called Delicata. I picked up this stamp pad and a reinker (Wherever possible, I buy a matching reinker when I purchase an ink pad. Nothing worse than running out of ink and not being able to find a reinker!) at my local stamp store and had a chance to try it out this weekend. The product info on the label says this will not fade or tarnish over time, and is best used on porous (uncoated) cardstock and most stunning when left unembossed.

I tried it out on white cardstock and was very impressed with the shimmer of the gold. It takes a few minutes longer to dry than, say, Brilliance, but I think it is worth the wait. Of course my new pad is very juicy, too, and my basement studio is cold, so that may have slowed the drying time.

I inked one side of an embossing folder (Sizzix Flourishes Floral Large) so that the gold would sink down into the impressions when it was run through the machine. I then sanded the high points of the olive cardstock to add a little more interest. 

I used the pad to edge the sentiment banner, then added a couple of thin accent strips of pindot green paper. I affixed all to the background and ran through the Cuttlebug machine to diecut the label shape. Then I ran the pad all around that edge to highlight the shape. After that dried, I mounted it to a 5.5x4.25 inch white card.

 I also tried it on black cardstock. That looked pretty good, too. Even though this is a pigment ink, it seems a little less thick than, say, Brilliance, and seems to handle fine lines fairly well. (Please ignore my wonky banner edging below!)

And lastly, I will leave you with a side by side comparison of the Delicata on the left (I wish you could see the shimmer in person)  and a freshly re-inked Brilliance Galaxy Gold on the right, which is paler and the coverage is not as fine and smooth. EDITED TO ADD: I have since tried stamping and then colouring with Copic markers and it does not smear!

Left: Delicata. Right: Brilliance.

I cannot say that I have ever noticed tarnishing of Brilliance over time, but that's mostly because I give all my cards away so I have no idea how they are holding up! I do know my gold embossing powder routinely needs to be replaced every few years as it tarnishes with age and loses its lustre, so I imagine that happens on the gold-embossed cards I have sent out, too. Delicata is a pretty neat alternative. The only drawback is you have to wait a bit for it to dry fully and you won't have the shiny raised image that heat embossing renders. Have you tried this ink? Please leave me a comment to tell me about your experience with it!

Sympathy Cards

Sympathy cards are something one should have on hand at all times. I never do! So when the time comes to make them, I reach for something simple and quick.

Starting with designer paper or pre-printed cards seems to work well. Minimal stamping and layering, but still enough to say "I care."

A Stampin' Up! bouquet on a scalloped circle.

 

A Stampin' Up! sentiment on a Fancy Tag die cut.