Last weekend, I went shopping for scrapbook supplies. I found something that I really wanted to use for today’s post…Tattered Angels‘ Glimmer Screens - Garden Ironworks. One particular screen caught my eye - the iron gate! I had the Raven Glimmer Mist at home that would be a perfect match so I “had to have it.” LOL!

Using the screen and Glimmer Mist, I would put them into the Wizard™ to letterpress into an orange cardstock that was in my scrap pile. Beware of dripping Glimmer Mist after spraying the screen (MUHAHAHAHA!!!), my first try was a mess! Let the excess mist drip off the screen first and then place into the sandwich.

Quickly letterpress the cardstock by using the following sandwich (from the bottom):
White Master Mat
Copy paper (for protection)
Screen (Glimmer Misted side UP)
Cardstock
Tan Embossing Pad
White Master Mat

Next, I misted a big white flower. I suggest misting two coats (dry between coats). The front of the flower was dark but didn’t have the glimmer I was looking for. So I flipped the flower to see what happened there - it had all this glimmer, so pretty! I will be using the back of the flower instead. Note to self: mist the back of the flower next time! LOL!! For the center of the flower, I cut/embossed four of S4-227 Pumpkin Nestabilities® die template #2 (#1 being the smallest size). Fold each pumpkin in half and with wet adhesive, adhere each side of pumpkin to the next. For more details, please refer HERE. 

After I stamped “Happy Owl-Oween” from Hero Arts Owl-Oween set, I cut/embossed one of the S4-234 Ribbon Tags Trio Two over the sentiment. I love how this set can accommodate wider ribbons. The black organza ribbon I had in my stash is about 5/8″ wide and the slot still had room! Using the same stamp set, I stamped an owl image onto Core’dinations ColorCore cardstock, cut out the image and glittered its eyes.

Adding more embellishments, I cut out a Halloween image from Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Cuts. For texture, I cut S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf #1 with fabric paper and orange felt (note: an extra shim like a piece of cardstock may be needed for the cut to go through or cut twice if it’s thick). For a journal “box,” I cut/embossed the largest maple leaf (die #3) with Core’dinations cardstock and sanded the edges. I inked the edges of my mat and page with Clearsnap Queue Ink. Adhering all the elements as shown onto Fancy Pants Treat or Treat Collection made this layout one of my favorite Halloween pages!

Don’t forget all this month, we are showcasing our designers who used their talent to come up with beautiful projects using Spellbinders™ and Tattered Angels‘ products. Please take a look at what Holly Simoni has inspired you with today! Come back and visit us so that you know who else will dazzle you!

Have a great day!
MargieH

A very cool Savvy Saturday from Eli on how to put all the techniques covered in the last couple of weeks into one project! So I thought I’d try my hand at making a project with letterpressing, partial impressing, chalking and adding to the equation with flocking!

Today I’d like to share my altered piece - an 8×10″ artist canvas panel that I had for awhile. I used a fall theme and plan to display it in my hallway during the season and through Thanksgiving!

Here’s my list of Spellbinders™ goodies I gathered for the project: I2-1009 Impressabilities™ Flourish, I2-1010 Impressabilities™ Pebbles, S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf and S5-019 Labels Eight die #6 & #4 (die #1 being the smallest).

First I cut and letterpressed my frame with the S5-019 Labels Eight die #6. I used the I2-1010 Impressabilities™ Pebbles to press with and inked with Clearsnap Colorbox Ink in Warm Red. For more details on this technique, please click HERE for Beth’s helpful tutorial. I also chalked the frame to give it some yellow coloring to match with the leaves in the picture. Then I cut my picture using the S5-019 Labels Eight die #4.

I used the Partial Impressabilities™ technique for my border at the bottom of the canvas using Core’dinations The Chocolate Box collection. For more information and helpful tips on how to do this technique, please see HERE.

Then I cut all the S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf (all three die sizes) with My Mind’s Eye Fall In Love collection. As you can see I have cut and partial impressed two of the leaves. To keep the chalking in the equation, I used the chalk technique that Eli had done on the largest S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf (die #3). I first cut the leaves. Then covered the I2-1009 Impressabilities™ Flourish piece with embossing ink and embossed with the S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf. I used the embossing ink because I was too slow (my pigment ink I wanted to use was a little dried out) and the ink kept drying up on me! LOL! So I thought why not embossing ink and it worked like a charm for me.

Embossing sandwich (from the bottom) is:
White Master Mat
Copy Paper (for protection)
I2-1009 Impressabilities™ Flourish (inked side up)
S4-228 Nested Maple Leaf with paper embedded (ridge/cut side up)
Tan Embossing Pad
White Master Mat

For the flocking part, I used Sparkle’N Sprinkle Burnt Orange Flock. Moving quickly, I removed the die from the I2-1009 Impressabilities™ Flourish and covered the inked area with flock. Then I removed the excess, the result is a subtle flocked image in the leaf. The rest of the leaves were a straight cut and emboss process.

I painted the edges of my canvas panel and the edges of my layout page from My Mind’s Eye Fall In Love collection. Adhered all the pieces as shown. Note that I used foam tape to give dimension to some of the leaves. Lastly, I added my title which was originally white fabric letter stickers but added fall colors with chalk and done!

You can make these canvas panels as personalized gifts for loved ones during the upcoming holiday season. Can you believe it’s almost October? Happy Fall!
MargieH

We’ve had almost a whole month of awesome posts on Impressabilities™ and I thought it would be fun to remind you of a few techniques you might have learned this month, teach you a new one and use it all on a card…with Partial Impressabilities™, Impressabilities™ Letterpress, Chalk over Ink and using one of our most popular Limited Edition die templates…all in one card. Sound like too much?

Naaaaah, we like to put it all together.

So, just to remind you, Beth put together this tutorial on how to use Impressabilities™ as a Letterpress and Margie put one together last Saturday on how to use a Partial Impressabilities™. So I used both those techniques but also want to share with you a technique that Stacey Caron created. It is simply called “Chalk over Ink”. It’s not too challenging but gives a great “wow” effect. Let’s check it all out, step-by-step.

Gather your supplies: Wizard™, S4-227 Pumpkins Nestabilities®, I2-1001 Impressabilities™ Paisley, S4-235 Fancy Tags, The Robin’s Nest Halloween Swirl patterned paper, Cosmo Cricket “Girl Friday” patterned paper, Clearsnap ColorBox cat eye inks in Chianti and Picante, Taylored Expressions sentiment stamp, Creative Impressions ribbons, 3L SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES–Black 3-D Adhesive Squares and Photo Tape, Decorating chalks, Hole punch, Green staples, Stapler

Next you might want to go review the techniques in the links above. You’ll need to cut one of your Impressabilities templates and letterpress some paper using a slow-drying pigment ink. I started by using green ink as in this example but tried orange and used it for the final card.

Then just color away with your decorating chalks. I like to use my bare finger to rub color over the inks and around on the smooth cardstock. You’ll notice the ink seems to grab onto the chalk, intensifying the color. I used several colors–red, orange, green and yellow–on this to get the desired effect.

Next, cut the letterpressed paper using the largest Pumpkins Nestabilities™ so that the letterpress image shows right where you want it. I do not emboss over letterpress as it tends to flatten the image.

The rest is up to you…After creating the Letterpressed pumpkin, trim a background mat to 5-1/4  by 5-1/4″ and add it to the card base (11×5-1/2″) folded in half. Punch a hole in the stem of the pumpkin, thread the ribbons through it and staple to secure. Stamp a sentiment onto paper and cut/emboss it with S4-235 Fancy Tags. Adhere the pumpkin by placing a double layer of 3-D adhesive squares down the middle. Add 3-D squares to the sentiment tag and add to the card: VOILA a lovely, fall friendship card, using several techniques.

Eli

For most, we are in full swing of “Back to School” mode - the early mornings, the bag lunches and the routine. Here in an empty (and quiet!) house, I was cleaning my closet and found a box of pictures of my boys in their younger years…they were so cute! What happened? They grew up…a little! LOL!

As the theme is ”back to school” today, I am learning something new. I thought I’d try my hand at Karen Taylor’s technique of using the Impressabilities to make a “Back to School” layout of my oldest when he hit first grade. Then add into the mix, my favorite technique of letterpressing.

First I gathered what I needed from my Spellbinders’ stash: I2-1010 Impressabilities™ Pebbles, S4-230 Labels Six die #5 & #6 (#1 being the smallest size) and a retired tag die template.

I had some foam shapes and letters in my sticker binder for awhile so it was a great excuse to use them! After reading how Eli and Beth heated the Impressabilities™ to emboss, I thought what about heating the foam instead?

Before I started my experiment, I had everything for my Wizard™ all set up so I can make that mad dash to the sandwich of (from bottom):

White Master Mat
Favorite Impressability
Foam Shape or Letters
Tan Embossing Mat
White Master Mat

Using my tweezer, I heated the black foam arrow with its white backing intact (I cut the shape from its sticker sheet) and the surface turned into a shiny coat. Quickly I put the heated foam face down, placed the Tan Embossing Mat and White Master Mat on top. Passed the sandwich through the Wizard™. Repeat the process for the foam letters that spelled out “Back To School.”

After heating all that foam, I used the letterpress technique that I had posted last month by using Clearsnap Queue ink (notice the frame behind the journaling box?). The journaling was written on S4-230 Labels Six die #5 and the letterpressed frame, I used S4-230 Labels Six die #6. For more details on how to letterpress, please refer HERE.

With Cosmo Cricket “Boyfriend” collection (papers, ribbon and rub-ons) and chalking the edges with Clearsnap Fluid Chalk Ink - Chestnut Roan, I was able to complete a real fun layout for my first grader of long ago! LOL!

Today’s Savvy Saturday is all about  Letterpress.  This technique dates back to the year 1450, with thanks going to Johannes Gutenberg, as the main method of printing until the invention of offset printing. That is today’s history lesson.

You can do this technique with Spellbinders’™ Impressabilities™!  I started by playing with ink.  I rolled my brayer across an ink pad, then onto the I2-1004 Impressabilties™ Flowers.  I built my sandwich this way:

• White Master Mat
• Inked Impressabilties™ (ink side up)
• Paper
• Embossing Mat
• White Master Mat

Feed the sandwich into the Wizard™.  One pass in the Wizard™ will emboss the paper and transfer the ink into the debossed areas. This is the result with Clearsnap ColorBox White Pigment Ink and black cardstock:

Then I tried acrylic paint. This is the result with Ranger’s paint.  This is a fast drying acrylic paint, and despite working quickly, I am not 100% happy with the coverage in this example. We’ll come back to paint another time.

So then I got to thinking, if ink works, what about ink and embossing powder? I used the brayer to apply Clearsnap Top Boss Watermark Ink to the Impressabilities™, fed the sandwich through the Wizard™ and then applied Sparkle and Sprinkle’s Outerspace Embossing Powder. I heated the paper to melt the powder. Oh my! Its beautiful! Check this out:

Then I did the reverse stencil technique with Clearsnap Black Pigment Ink and S4-234 Ribbon Tags Trio  2, the oval shape. I stamped “thank you” from Hero Arts onto the label with the same ink, and added ribbon from my stash.  It needed just one more thing, so I cut an oval using S4-112 Classic Ovals, Small #4, from the same patterned paper, which is Fancy Pants Caroling.  I mounted that onto black cardstock.

I love the texture and sheen from the embossing powder, don’t you?

Spellbinders™ Die Templates used: S5-019 Labels Eight, S4-112 Classic Ovals, Small #4, S4-234 Ribbon Tags Trio 2, I2-1004 Impressabilities™ Flowers.

Here are a few examples from our Design Team Members:

 Janine Blackwelder also used Impressabilities™ Flowers for this bookmark.  She cut the Impressabilties™ apart and letterpressed a small section.  Clearsnap ink, Hero Arts stamps, and the S4-112 Classic Ovals, Small as well as S4-113 Scalloped Classic Ovals, Small were used on this project.

Julie Overby embossed her chipboard letters with Impressabilities™ Flowers. On the card she used S5-019 Labels Eight; 12-1004 Impressabilities™ Flowers;  Cardstock; Patterned paper; Cosmo Cricket and Maya Road chipboard; ClearSnap Colorbox Ink.

Have a wonderful Saturday!
Beth

PS. Don’t forget to go over to “When Creativity Knocks!” - and vote for Impressabilities™ in the Great Crafter’s Tool Hunt…you could win something cool and we would win ultimate fame and glory (maybe even a trophy? who knows). Click HERE for more info.  Voting closes September 8 at midnight PST.