Book Study-Pearly Mottled Paper

The latest technique we are playing with is Pearly Mottled Paper from Julia Andrus' book Paper Transformed.

For this technique you need Cardstock, a spray bottle with water that sprays large drops, dye rainbow ink pad, brayer, paper towel and Perfect Pearls. See Carol's blog for step-by-step pictures of the technique.

I tried the first samples using coated paper, and I was not impressed with the effects. It looked a lot like the bleach technique and lot of the white cardstock showed through and did not pick up the perfect pearls.

I experimented again with white 130lb matte cardstock and this seemed to work much better, and look more like Julia's examples in her book.

This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it.

Play day

I joined a swap in CCSwaps which is an alphabet swap and we must create something using the letter A as a theme, technique or medium. In order to create something I had a play day with a couple of techniques prior to actually making anything for the swap.

The first one was alcohol inks and I found a marbling techique while browsing the web. You fill a container with approximately 1" of water and drop some of the alcohol inks in an swirl them around, then lay some glossy cardstock on top and then lift it out. Do not submerge the cardstock!

The ones on the left are just AI's. The middle one, I added silver mixatives. Far right is AI's and Pinata` ink.

The Pinata` ink just kind of floated on the surface of the water, but I rather liked the effect. If you like really vibrant colours then you may not like this technique or you may have to add a lot more ink or maybe even use a coloured cardstock.

The second technique was one that a member of another group posted. For step-by-step instructions you can see them on Michi's blog. For this technique you need metallic cardstock, acrylic paints and acrylic glaze medium. Well it has been one of those weeks where Murphy's Law kicked in and nothing goes quite right. I accidently used extender medium instead of glaze. So I went back and used glaze on a few scrap pieces of cardstock to see if it made any difference and I think the glazed ones are a bit glossier.

The first pictures are done on metallic cardstocks and the next set are done on white matte to use up the excess paint the larger one is white glossy CS.

I also did one on a silver/pewter cardstock

Here are the ones I did on silver and gold cardstock using the glaze as in Michi's directions.

Her is one that I was not happy with. I think the key is to make sure that the paint mixture is not too thick and smoosh the cardstock and lift it up quickly to get the nice details. This one I may play with and add something more and then maybe I will like it better.

Book Study - Cosmos Paper

This is the third technique that Carol has introduced in our book study of Julia Andrus' book Paper Transformed.

Julia states that this technique is best done with areas smaller than 4"x4". She uses either illustration board or 3 - 5 layers of card stock glued together. You can colour the substrate with inks, markers, watercolours or coloured pencil. If you choose anything other than pigment ink, you need to apply Perfect Medium, VersaMark or clear embossing ink to the surface, then generally cover with UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) over the surface and melt. 

I did the base of mine using various inks and 130LB cardstock cut to ATC size (3½” X 2½”); you can also use chipboard as your base.  

I used Versamark to add the UTEE on all but the one that were covered with pigment ink and heat embossed them, then repeated this same technique twice. 

When cool I tapped them with Perfect Medium and brushed Perfect Pearls over the surface, covered them with UTEE and heated them. In this step the UTEE likely won't stick to the surface because of adding the PP's (Perfect Pearls). so if you use a heat gun to emboss, start by heating it well away from the surface to prevent the embossing powder from flying away, then slowly move in to melt it completely. (Carol used an old frying pan to melt hers then applied the heat gun.)  On a couple of the pieces I got a bit too thick a coating of the Perfect Pearls, but this just gives it a different look.

These are the colours and inks I used on my pieces:

Top Row: 

(L)-Mint & Sky Blue Pigment Inks/Forever Blue & Forever Green PP's

Middle- Canary & Pink pigment ink/Lemon Sparkle PP and Carnation Pink Pearlex

(R)- Apricot & Peony pigment ink/Heirloom Gold & Raspberry Sparkle PP's 

Middle Row: 

(L)Rose Mauder & Vermillion Lacquer Nick Bantock dye inks/Heirloom Gold & Rust PP's 

(R) Green, Sky Blue and Spring Green Vivid Inks/Kiwi & Blue Smoke, heated cooled then added some Kiwi PP and UTEE and heated again.

Bottom Row: 

(L)-Tangerine Colorbox Fluid Chalks, smear of Mica Magic red; Green Patina, Forever Red PP's, heated cooled then added some Fuschia Pearlex and UTEE and heated again.

(R)Tsukineko Brilliance  Lavander and Purple overstamped with Brilliance gold/Forever Purple & Pewter PP's.

One tip I have when using cardstock is to apply double-sided foam tape such as Mactac carpet tape to the back before embossing with the UTEE as this prevents the cardstock from buckling. 


If you wish, you can also stamp into the piece by heating it again then stamping into it with a stamp covered with clear embossing, coloured craft or Brilliance inks. Be sure to let it cool before removing the stamp. 

Book Study - Faux Patent Leather

Continuing with the book study the next technique from Paper Transformed was Faux Patent Leather. This is a fairly simple technique using cardstock, glossy gel medium and embossing.

You take the cardstock and glaze it with glossy gel medium and allow it to dry. I chose three different scraps of cardstock that I had left from other projects, black, a shade of brown and a red one that had some stamped words on it.

Once the pieces dried I ran them through my Cuttlebug embossing folders, polka dots, divine swirls and tiny bubbles. I liked this technique, it was fast and would make great backgrounds for all kinds of projects. I noticed that the black one has a couple of portions that are a bit fuzzy and am not sure what happened, but gives it a look of a bit of worn leather.

See my previous book study post for a link to Carol's blog for step by step pictures of this Book Study project.

Book Study

On New Generation Stampers  we are doing a Book Study of Julia Andrus' Paper Transformed, led by Carol S .

The first challenge was Luminous Paste. In the book Julia uses Perfect Pearls and Glossy accents, but has stated that gel acrylic medium may be used instead.

I did the first piece with Glossy Accents and Lemon Sparkle Perfect Pearls. Julia suggested that you could add glitter, so I did.

The other two pieces were done with gel acrylic (I thought), however I think I grabbed the wrong jar and may have used molding paste by accident as there is not real "luminous" effect to it. I am thinking I might add some PP's over the top and see if it makes a difference. I also think I got a bit "heavy-handed" with the amount of  medium I applied.

Not sure that this is a technique I would use a lot except perhaps on a canvas or something similar where I wanted texture. To each his own-it would be a boring world if we all liked the same things.!!

February Charm

The charm swap is continuing on CCSwaps and we are making another charm for February. I decided that I would use hearts for mine as of course Valentine's Day is during that month.

I took some beads and strung them together with various charms to match the beads. The left one is a heart from an old pair of earrings. The middle one is a charm to which I added the little gem. The right one is also a charm, but I coloured the middle heart and ribbon with Copic Markers. I hope my partners will not find these too simple, as I am still trying to learn about making charms.

Mini Memory for Jackie

Jackie is the February recipient for the Mini Memory swap in the DCI group and she chose vintage with earthy tones and gold as her theme.

I took a canvas and gessoed it then added scrunched up foil, cheesecloth and added some embossing paste with a stencil. I painted over the whole piece with various colours of acrylic paints to attain the vintage look.

I printed off  a vintage picture of a woman from digitalcollagesheets.com and glued it to the canvas. In my stash I found an old picture frame, which I touched up with paint. I cut out a piece of acetate and covered the picture, then attached the frame.

Added some vintage buttons that my friend Annie sent me awhile ago, a piece of paper tape and some book corners to finish the piece off.