GD: Keren Baker Project #2 Watercolour Microscope Slide Card

"Hello all, Keren back again for another post about making your own embellishments. I've been visiting a few arty blogs and fell in love with this blended watercolour technique shown by Tim Holtz".

I wanted to use this stencil of Lin Brown's; it's completely my favourite of them all (except the poppy one, but I haven't inked that one up yet!) The fact that I'd already cut it out was really useful for this technique- the only down side is that if you're wanting to add the shape to a larger area, it's very hard for there not to be obvious 'edges'. A good bit of extra ink & misting would help soften them, but I liked the finished result. Back to how to do it.. you'll need a few distress ink colours, the stencil & some water in a spray can.

Add ink in little parts of the stencil. I just used the edge of my ink pad, but a blending tool or sponge would work too. Once you've put ink all over (& as there are small parts to this stencil- you do need to make sure the ink is on every part) get ready to mist.

Spray over water, do it on a different surface other than what you intend to add the stencil onto. You may need to experiment a little to work out the best amount of water. I just sprayed a whole bunch of droplets on and hoped for the best! Carefully flip the stencil over and place it straight onto the card/paper. The Smoothy cardstock worked perfectly for this- and is robust enough to cope with water without pilling or warping.

You will need a tissue to blot up the escaping ink from under the stencil as you are smoothing the stencil onto the cardstock. When you're happy that the ink has made sufficient contact with the card, carefully remove the stencil and blot away any excess colour. Leave to dry. The effect becomes a little sharper once the ink is completely dried. 

So onto the embellishment. I'm back with the shrink plastic again- such a useful medium for echoing the images already stamped but giving a different look. I love the white opaque look so stamped, trimmed and shrank it. If you are wanting to suspend it from something, don't forget to add a punched hole so you can attach something through it. I've used this birdcage image from Hot Pick 1103.

Hot Pick 1103

 Here's the contrast in size. Such a cute little bird cage now!

In my Aladdin's cave of a craft space, are items that haven't seen the light of day in quite some time- these flexible metal frames with two thin microscope slide type of glass pieces were perfect. I didn't want the metallic look so painted a thinnish layer of Snowflake paint.

I stamped out the birdcage again on pieces of graph paper cut down to the size of the glass slides. I couldn't decide which colour to go for!

 I then printed out the phrase I wanted onto printer paper and cut out.

 I wanted a partial image of the bird. Again, following the watercolour look, I chose the same colours and the water spray

 Now I just needed to put it all together. I did make a bit of a faux pas- in that I forgot how thin the printed words paper was and added some wet glue which then allowed the printer paper to suck up the distress ink colour. Fortunately it doesn't ruin it too much!

Now to add some seam binding ribbon. I love this stuff and chose some colours that matched (although you can colour it yourself) and wet it, scrunched it, left it to dry and then you end up with a gloriously messy set of ribbons, ready to thread through the mini bird cage and into the frame.

Then I simply needed to add the embellishment onto the card base. I'd cut out the stencilled panel so I could both have a completely flat panel but also so it added an extra set of lines into my card and helped give it a cleaner look.

I hope I've inspired you a little- even to dig out those old slide mailers or frames and make yourself some teeny works of art. It has the added benefit that your card also doubles as a gift.. which has to be a good thing. The only better gift on here would be a cupcake- but it wouldn't look as good!

I'll see you tomorrow with my last project for this month- a simpler state of affairs you'll be glad to hear!

~Keren~ 

Leandra Says: Ohhh a watery wonderland! Great ideas Keren, and fun to explore what adding a little water can do in lots of situations! Thank you!

Gillian Says: Love the watercolour effect background and the delicate colour palette. the slide looks fab as an added embellishment.

If you would like to join in this week's challenge and play along with Keren's techniques, then do link up your creativity here, and go in the draw to win some PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by 17:00, Sunday July 13th 2014.