Techniques Galore

I decided to make a special thank-you card for someone who was extremely generous to me and my family this Christmas. Let's just say that when I received it, I cried and cried. So, I thought a beautiful thank-you card was in order. It didn't matter how much time I spent on this. It was worth it. 

I started out by stamping a grey card with a music stamp. I prefer to take the ink to the stamp when I'm using a large background stamp.

I place the card on the stamp.

And I like to put something over that like a very messy piece of non-stick craft sheet, or a piece of card stock. And yes, I just did my manicure yesterday, but now it's all messed up.

I decided to use my MicroGlaze, which I've had for about a year and have never used. NO JUDGING!!! I'm sure YOU don't have anything laying around like that. 

It acts like a mask, which I've discovered is lots of fun.

I used my Oval Boulders stencil, which is available in my Etsy shop here.

I just rubbed some MicroGlaze into the ovals. 

However, I used a little bit too much. A little goes a long way.  

You don't need ridges like this. I pulled the excess toward the center of the ovals to smooth it out.

Then I lined up a piece of Washi tape along the center line so my next step wouldn't seep into the back of the card.

I used some Claudine Hellmuth paints. I don't really like any of the colors as is, but I do love mixing them. I added a little bit of matte medium to extend the paint, and then I sprayed a few spritzes of water to thin it out. 

Then I gently washed the paint over the front of the card, using a brush.

I used a heat gun to dry the paint.

Then I pulled the Washi tape off of the card, which I applied to the front bottom. 

Then I used my Leaf Stem Tag Stencil. I masked off the area with tissue tape that I didn't want the paint to seep through. 

I just dabbed some green, blue, and white paint through the stencil with a make-up sponge. Remember, when stenciling, dab, don't swipe (unless you want a totally different look, then if that's the case, GO for it!).

I stenciled two more leaves, then I dried them with the heat gun. I added two pieces of tissue tape on the bottom for a border. 

I stenciled a contrasting green leaf stem onto white card stock, then I fussy cut it. 

A rub of Distress Ink and a few drops of water, then a blast of the heat gun.

I dabbed the leaf stem into my Versamark pad, which is pretty dirty. NO JUDGING!

I didn't take a pic of the next step, which was to put clear embossing powder on the leaf and heat the powder until it was shiny (use your embossing imagination).

Then I put tissue tape along the right edge, leaving a small margin. 

I inked the edge with Versamark. This is one of my fave techniques....

...using aged ochre, which is one of my fave embossing powders because there are different colors, so there's lots of dimension.

You can see here that some of the tissue tape is covered, which is very cool. 

I pulled the tissue tape off at an angle, leaving a crisp, straight edge. 

I put the adhered the tape to my craft mat and heat embossed the "leftovers", which I will use for another project.

I then heated the edge that I had just created.

I cut several "inerds" of my pop-dots (sorry, but I'm a nurse so that's a "normal" word around here).

I put pop-dots under the leaves, but adhered the stem directly to the card using Glossy Accents. And, I added a colored lace knot.

One always needs a vintage button and some Stickles.

 And, here's the final outcome. I believe the recipient will like it.

I'm liking the depth. I stamped a Thanks sentiment in the upper right corner with Versamark, then I embossed it with black embossing powder. 

And again, thanks so much for looking!

Fondly, Tami