May Basic Training-Heat Embossed Resist

Summer is well on its way and in honor of all the May flowers those April showers brought I am sharing a fun resist technique using heat embossing.

Michele here with a super easy background technique.
Here is what you will need:

I used watercolor paper.

Stamp your image with embossing ink and sprinkle with clear embossing powder.  I used Viva Las VegaStamps! high gloss embossing powder.  Now heat it up.

Spray your paper with as many colors as you would like.  I used four Colorations from Art Anthology.

Wipe the color off where is has beaded on the stamped image.  This  one is a VLVS! stamp from a new release,  Wildflower Silhouette

Move the pooling color around and dry with a heat gun.

The Coloration colors used were Waimea Bay, Timeless, Salted Carmel and Guacamole.

You will be able to see the finished card I made with this background over at Viva Las VegaStamps! on May 21.  Visit http://vivalas.blogspot.com/ to check it out.

I hope you are inspired and join us in our challenge drills this month!!  There is a great Spring mood board up right now!!

April Basic Training - Ink Splats for Backgrounds

April showers bring May flowers and this months basic training... Michele here to share a super quick and fun technique with inks.

I used mostly inks but you can also use high flow acrylic paints or fluid acrylics mixed with water.  You will als need a spray bottle with water and a piece of watercolor paper.

Spray you paper with a generous amount of water.

Splatt your inks randomly arond the page.  For the paints you will have to add more water to get a good spread.

Be careful not to layer too many colors on top of each other, you may get mud pies on your page.  :)

I dried with my heat gun to set the color.

I cut my sheet into 2 tag bases for future use.

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you are inspired to try this fun background technique. Thanks to Limor Webber for the inspiration.

If you would like to see what these bases ended up as please visit me over at Art Anthology on April 13th.

A Life Without Dreams

Saturday I shared with you an inking technique that Dyan Reavely taught in a workshop I recently took at Scrappy Chic.  I mentioned that I would share the finished project with you and I am here to do just that!!
I am so excited with how my tag turned out!  All Dylusions products (except for the tag and pens) on this baby!!  Stencils, ink, paint, stamps...I had SO much fun!!

Fun right?!?

I can't wait to get to work in my journal!!
Thanks for coming back to check it out and don't forget to look at our drills, you could win a fun prizes!!

February Basic Training-Inking with Painters Tape

Happy Valentines Day!
Last week for Drill #49 the team shared some Valentines.  Today I would like to show you how I created the background on my card.

I started by choosing 3 Distress Ink colors and grabbed some painters tape.
I used watercolor paper for this technique cut to size before I started inking.

I put my paper on a paper towel in case I over inked.  Tear a piece of tape a bit longer than you paper and drag across you stamp pad.  I went back and pushed it down with my fingers also.

Tape across your paper and push down to spread the ink.  Repeat as many times as you would like.  I chose 3 colors so I have three stripes.

Gently peel back the tape...viola!
Once it dried I stamped my Valentine image of LOVE from Viva Las VegaStamps with archival ink.  I didn't apply even pressure on the stamp because I wanted a vintage look.

May Arts tulle is wrapped around the sentiment.

And the finished product.

As always we really appreciate your visit and look forward to having you back again soon!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

January Basic Training-Add a little Sparkle!!

Welcome to 2015!!!
Today we are going to bring on the twinkle and look at a way add some sparkle to any project.
I have been hearing a lot about a technique using a used dryer sheet so I had to look into it...WOW does it add some serious sparkle!!
So here we go...

You will need:  a stamp, cardstock (cut to size), ink, spray adhesive, extra fine glitter and a used dryer sheet.

I stamped my main image in black archival ink then used a grey to stamp offset then again without reinking.  You could also just stamp a couple more time with your black ink with out reinking.

Smooth out or iron your dryer sheet, cut to size with scissors or on your paper trimmer.

Spray your paper with a generous coat of adhesive.

Adhere your dryer sheet.

Right away before the adhesive dries coat with glitter.  Tap off excess and trim dryer sheet if necessary.
That's it, easy peasy!!  Now you are ready to create, I made a card.

I used Authentique Believe, Viva Las VegaStamps, May Arts ribbon, Um Wow Studio snowflake confetti.

These pictures really don't do the sparkle justice!!  It twinkles and catches the light!!  I think I need to use this on my holiday cards next year!!!
Thanks for stopping by and remember to check out our drills for January!!

December Basic Training-Framed Stamping

Where has this year gone??!  Can you believe it is time for our last Basic Training of 2014?   Since Christmas is right around the corner I am going to share a new technique I learned on a Christmas card.  Over at Viva Las VegaStamps! DT member Hermine is one of my stamping idols and she shared a technique with overlapped circles framing some awesome stamping....here is my take on it that technique.

You will need a piece of cardstock with 2 different size circles (different but close), ink, stamp, pen, stencil and a bit of washi tape.

I started with the larger circle.

Traced the circle.

Then used the smaller circle, offsetting and traced.  I did this a couple of times.

Then I aligned my circle to use as a mask.

Taped it with the washi and stamped the image in the circle.  I used a Viva Las VegaStamps! Santa Smoking.

I used black ink because i planned on watercoloring the image.

I used my favorite Um Wow Studio mask, star confetti, and stenciled some of the tiny stars where the lines overlapped.

I absolutely love this technique!!!  There are just so many possibilities...

All Authentique paper, Bo Bunny doily, May Arts silk ribbon, Distress Markers, Um Wow Studio star confetti and flair from the Be Merry set.

Thank you SO much for sharing a part of your day with us at this busy time of year!  I hope you are inspired to try this fun technique AND have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

November Basic Training-Stamping Through a Stencil

It is just starting to get cold here and we even had some snow...it is hard to believe it is already November.  Where. does. the TIME. go???

Michele here and today I am sharing a quick technique for stamping through a stencil.  I started with a tag that I already had a few layers of mixed media goodness on, I wanted lots of layers on this tag I made to remind me of the short summer we had.

For this technique you will need a stencil, a stamp, ink, gesso and a spatula (or your finger :) works too).

Lay your stencil down flat.

Apply some gesso.  I used heavy gesso but any type will work.

Carefully lift your stencil off.

Let dry or hurry along with your heat gun.

Lay your stencil back down in the same place.  Make sure the gesso is completely dry before you do.

Stamp over the stencil.

 Make sure you apply pressure to make sure the ink takes to the gesso.

Lift the stencil off and viola!

If you would like to see the complete tag pop over to my blog for details, stuffbybelle.

Thanks so much for sharing a part of your day with us!  We look forward to seeing your beautiful working linked up for our challenges.

October Basic Training-Gelatos

Michele from Stuff By Belle here today and if you are like me you have some gelatos that you have played with a little, but never really knew what amazing things you could do with them...well, I saw an amazing Ustream show by Limor Weber that opened my eyes to a great technique for a background.
Today I am going to share my version with you.

You will need some paper (I used a scrap from my stash), clear gesso, a stencil, a paint brush and gelatos.

  Any combination of colors of gelatos that you like, as many as you want along with black and white will work.

Paint a layer of gesso on your paper and let dry or dry with your heat gun.

 Randomly color with the gelato colors all over the paper.

  Blend with your finger and then flick water on the paper.  Dab with a paper towel, this will create awesome water spots.

 Grab one of your favorite stencils, I used one from Prima.  Lay it on your paper.

 Use some of the black gelato randomly in the stencil, blend with your finger.

 Make sure to fill in the entire opening on the stencil.

I also used some paste in the stencil too.

This is Faber Castell glass bead glitter gel.  It dries clear and sparkley, great texture!!

I used the white around the black for some definition and then shaved some of the colors on the paper and heated them up so they melted.

I used distress ink all around the edges and had a perfect layer for a mixed media card!!

I just love how you can still the see the pattern from the paper through all the layers.

Thanks so much for joining us for Basic Training today!  And don't forget to link up to our drills for your chance to win an awesome prize.