2021 Topic 10: My Favourite Colour with ESC {by Ellie Knol}

  2021 Topic 10: My Favourite Colour

The plum-russet shades contrast beautifully for these 2 journal books that Ellie has created. I think turquoise seems to be one of those colours that can go with everything else so easily. Ellie has made an autumnal option with mushrooms and a Spring option with flowers using the beautiful stamps from Scrapcosy -  this colour scheme looks perfect for both!
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Ellie Knol with you today, and I'm here to share with you the making of two easy-to-make notebooks; basically it's folding 10 white copier paper sheets for each notebook in half, 3 holes for the binding and some awesome covers. That's easy isn't it? To emphasize the teal I added some teal beads to the waxed thread.  

As I chose teal (Fresco Finish Paint Beach Hut) to be my favorite color I decided to use one other color (a brownish red: Fresco Finish Brown Shed) to make the teal color pop.

I must confess, I have several favorite colors; I'm sure you can relate!

I have created 2 journals: Mushrooms, Birds & Flowers.

To begin with I had a look through my stash and found 2 gelli prints that spoke to me. Both have the teal color and also the moody red color (which was quite difficult to photograph as my camera changed it to a more reddish color). I used ESC22 mostly for this journal.

To be able to stamp onto these backgrounds I needed to think of a solution to make the stamped images pop. This technique forms the core of both projects, so I will explain it here and then go on to show you pictures of each journal.

A stamping platform comes in very handy. I stamped the image with a dark brown, then added watered down Snowflake Fresco Finish Paint within each of the images. After letting the paint dry, I then stamped the image on the surface again; I had to ink it up twice. {Tip: if the surface is not smooth after painting the white, you can sand it back a little first before stamping, just take care not to nudge the position of the paper}
You will understand that you have to leave the project in the stamping platform for all of these above steps; one stamp at a time as you add more colour to the image.

  

OK, so now you understand how the colour was added, let me show you the 2 projects in more detail.

 

Project One: Mushrooms Journal

 

I used the beautiful (quite new) stamp set ESC26 from Scrapcosy.

 

 

I fell in love with this stamp set right away! Autumn is coming up soon here in the northern hemisphere, and toadstools are popping up everywhere. 

 

The teal on this background is so splotchy, and moody as far as I am concerned, and these stamps are just right for this project. This picture shows the depth of the red as well.

I will love using these notebooks, or maybe somebody else will... 

 

The beads added to the waxed thread adds to the feel of it, it makes the book classy.

 

The words 'JUNK JOURNAL' were heat embossed in white. It's an easy way to add detail to a dark background as well. 

So that was project one. Onto the second one... 

 

 

Project Two: Birds and Flowers

 

 

I used ESC22 for the cover of the second notebook. 

I did not expect this second one to turn out this beautiful. 

I started both projects to be able to have at least one to show, but they both had to end up in this post as I could not choose just one!

 

Using the same steps mentioned earlier these flowers got a beautiful underlayer of muted color from the background. 

All the stamping being one layer : it's pretty amazing how much depth one can achieve by using this process. 

 

 

 

To create the pattern in the background I used stencil PS096.

 

I've added stencil PS096 to my collection quite recently and have, and will use this one a lot.. it is so versatile!

 

Even the back of the notebook has been stamped on with a stamp from set ESC26.

A close-up of all the beautiful detail : the pop of red from the Brown Shed Fresco Finish paint is very nice on the berries too! 

 

To add color to the images I used watered down Fresco Finish Paint, Brown Shed and Beach Hut.

I assume I don't have to mention that all the stamping and coloring on the dark backgrounds has taken a while, but I enjoyed every minute! It's been rainy the last few days, so lot of time to play.  I certainly like this technique, and for that matter, the colors too!
Have a go yourselves; try something from this post you were inspired by; at least tell me about it.  

Take some time to be creative today, every day... happy creative play. 

Ellie Knol

Blogs: http://elliecreahoekje.blogspot.nl/
and     http://ellieatcs.blogspot.nl/ 
Owner of : https://www.facebook.com/groups/DutchArtJournal/  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008479362838 
Pinterest: https://nl.pinterest.com/ellieknol/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellie.knol/ 

2018 #16 Reinkers: Shaving Cream and Reinkers with EKC {by Wanda Hentges}

2018 Topic 16: Reinkers

Ohhh this technique takes me back! I love it when our bloggers revisits a crafty idea from back in the day! Wanda has many cracking ways to manipulate shaving foam !! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Wanda Hentges with you today, and I'd like to share some cards with you that start with a shaving cream technique background.

I had several different ways to use reinkers on my mind and finally decided to focus in on using them with shaving cream but also touch on a couple of other ways. Marbling with shaving cream is so much fun!!!!  If you've been stamping a long time, you have probably heard of the technique.  Today we are going to focus in on using reinkers with the shaving cream but you can also use sprays and paints.  This is one of those technique where I like to cut a stack of paper and then just play for an hour.  You can learn so much with that play and at the end have a big pile of backgrounds (or the beginnings of backgrounds) to use on future projects. 

For this post I chose to use Distress Ink reinkers but you can use any kind you want and I would recommend trying different kinds and also trying different kinds of paper to see the differences and determine what you like.  I put some shaving cream on a styrafoam plate and spread it out with a palette knife.  I didn't realize until I started that the can of shaving cream I had was almost empty.  Even though I shook it well it wasn't as light and foamy as usual but a little heavier and a bit airy.  It still worked fine.  I dripped 2 light colors on the foam to begin with.  

When I lay the paper into the shaving cream, I hold both ends, bend the paper some, place the center in first, and let the ends down into the cream.  If you lay it down flat you could trap air under the paper that would hold it from the shaving cream creating voids on your paper.  Unless, of course, you want voids on your paper.  I make sure the paper is pressed in everywhere, peel it out of the cream and use a palette knife to scrape the shaving cream off and put it back on the plate.  Then it's important to wipe the rest of the cream off both sides of your paper using a paper towel or old cloth.   

I did use this first piece, as is, to make a simple card.  I stamped images from Kay Carley's set, EKC17 with Archival Ink. 

On a scrap of paper I stamped the small butterfly from EKC02, added color, cut it out and glued it on drawing on an antenna with a black pen. 

I inked the edges of the panel with Distress Ink and then added Metallic Glaze to the edges with my finger.  The Metallic Glaze looks fabulous as you turn the card!!!!

I like to continue using the same shaving cream, just adding more colors, until it's just not good anymore.  I spread what was there back out, dripped on the blue, and swirled with the skewer again.  It's fun to try different patterns of swirling.

I was spreading the shaving cream back out to add color and swirl again but thought it looked cool at this point and took another pull.  

For this pattern I moved the palette knife in a circle and I think it made a really cool pull.

I just had to use that one!!!  The plants are stamped along the bottom with Archival Ink.

Another way to use reinkers is for adding color to pastes.  Here I've added just a drop to some Grunge Paste....

shaving foam... and then I put it through an image from the Kay Carley stencil, PS076.

 

After I'd stenciled it, I wished I'd gone darker or used another color.  The great thing is, after the paste is dried, you can put the stencil back on and add more color and since the color of the paste was pink, it blends more with the card.

I had more paste then I needed so I added some around the edges with a palette knife.  This makes a great dimensional edge!!!

I still had more paste left so I added more reinker, mixed it up, and grabbed a stencil (PS036) and different background just to use it up.

I didn't use this piece yet but it's always great to have extra backgrounds around.  

I finished this card up with just a splattering of Metallic Glaze and a bow from twine.  

I had set the plate of shaving cream aside and a few hours later this is what it looked like.  I took a pull to see what it looked like.  I laid the paper in just like I had before....  

... It gave a kind of dreamy, airy look to the print.  

I did not move the shaving cream at all.  No going over it with a palette knife and no swirling with a skewer.  I took another print but this time I set the end of the paper down first near the edge of the plate and pressed the paper working from that end to the other end.  I loved the soft blending I got!!!!  

I repeated that same thing a few more times turning the plate a bit each time.  Way cool!!!!!

This time I made a more complex card starting first with braying some colors on - another way to use reinkers.  I love to brayer Distress Oxide reinkers.  I put a small amount of reinker on the craft sheet and with a very light hand run the brayer through the ink and then, again with a very light hand, brayer it onto the paper.

You get a very different look brayering the Oxide reinker verses regular Distress because of the opaque quality of the Oxides.

Here are the same colors on a piece of white cardstock although a bit more of the reinkers squeezed out onto my sheet when I did this piece.

Using stencil, PS042, I added stamping and sponged ink to the piece masking either with paper or tape as needed.

Here I've mixed just a drop of Sunflower Archival Ink reinker with some Transparent Gloss Texture Paste and I'm going to put this through the stencil.  I wanted just a hint of color to the paste so I chose a very light color.  I used Archival reinker because I didn't want the ink to mix with the ink already on my panel.  

Here it is after the paste is all dry.  Cool, huh!!!!

I used a Pitt pen to outline the sections.  Metallic glaze dots were added using the end of a paint brush and Metallic Glaze is added around the edges.  An extra butterfly was stamped, cut out, and glued on. For more dimension, some leaves were added....

I die cut the leaf branch from another background, cut up the branch, used flower tools to create details and shaping, added some ink for more detail and glued them on.  

Bottles of reinkers tend to just sit in a drawer or on a shelf until we have to re-ink the pad that they match but they can actually be a larger part of our creating.  I hope this topic helps you to pull out those bottles and get more use from them.  I look forward to seeing what you create!!!!!  Don't forget to link up in the original topic post.  And if you happen to have a can of shaving cream around, have a play, it is a whole lot of fun!!!!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read to the end of this post!!!  

Hugs, Wanda

Blog:  https://artbywanda.blogspot.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/wanda.hentges
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/WandaHentges
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/wandahentges/ 
Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/wandah/

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