(click on the pics to en-biggan)
The beauty of wood and wood grain never ceases to appeal and I frequently look for ways to combine it into my card creations! There are so many wonderful wood/wood-look products available now for paper crafts that it can be a little disconcerting to know what to use and how to use it.
Here are some of my favorites (consider yourself forewarned; I love loVE LOVE all things wood and faux bois!!!):
- Wood Veneers & Icons
- Wood Grain Washi Tape
- Wood Veneer Papers--yes, real sheets of wood that are paper or card stock thin!
- Wood Grain Stamps /Background Stamps
- Wood Grain Stencils
- Wood Grain Embossed Card Stock
- Wood Grain Embossing Folders
At times, I like to let the natural color and finish of wood embellishments/products stand on their own merits, and at other times, I enjoy altering them! In this article, I'm going to share some of my favorite ways to use a few of these beauties!
Raw wood elements, such as these icons by Prima Marketing, and veneers by Studio Calico, can be custom tinted with a variety of products. In the above photo are examples featuring (left to right) Distress Stain, Copic Markers, Mister Huey's Color Mists and Dylusions Sprays. You can also apply color using dye and pigment ink pads, water-based and acrylic paints and even pastel pencils; results will vary so spend some time experimenting to see what kinds of results you like best!
Note: If using water-based/non-permanent dye inks, exposure to moisture/water/wet glues (i.e. Ranger Glossy Accents, Tombo Mono-Multi, etc.) could potentially cause the colors to run/bleed so if that is a concern, you might spray items tinted with those mediums with some type of a clear acrylic sealant.
You can stamp directly onto wood paper and even heat emboss the images--just be aware that dye inks have a tendency to feather and bleed into the grain, resulting in a blurred image, whereas pigment inks will give a nice crisp impression. Be sure to heat set pigment inks to avoid smearing. If you intend to color the stamped image with Copic markers, note that alcohol ink also has a tendency to feather along the wood grains, so use a very light hand/touch to help control the flow of color.
NOTE: Many folks don't realize that Copics work not only with Memento inks, but also with pigment inks, just as long as the pigment is thoroughly dry!
Wood veneer paper is delicate, thin and light enough that you can punch and die cut through it--more intricate dies and punches may have difficulty punching cleanly all the way through, however. I often like to mount Real Wood [paper] to card stock, and then die cut; this can eliminate cracking or fraying along the edges, and just gives more support to the die cut piece.
For a texture upon texture effect, you can also pressure emboss Real Wood paper using an embossing folder! Again, I've found I get better results by first mounting it to some card stock for added support and then pressure embossing it because some embossing folders have deep patterns that can crack the wood in the process.
Prefer "faux bois" to the real thing? Try spritzing color over a wood grain mask, stamping with a wood grain background stamp or pressure embossing with a wood grain embossing folder. You can even embellish your designs with bleached wood Washi Tape by Jenni Bowlin!
Here are some finished examples of the aforementioned products and techniques:
The base card was sprayed using Mister Huey's Overdue and the Prima Marketing Wood Grain Mask; an additional layer of Linen card stock was edged with yellow card stock and Jenni Bowlin Birch Wood Washi Tape and a Studio Calico Wood Veneer was left in its natural state. Ranger Glossy Accents is a great adhesive for the thicker Wood Veneers as it dries clear, sets up fairly fast and create a strong bond to the paper surface.
Be sure to check out the gorgeous new Wood Grain Embossed Card Stock--it arrived to the store after I'd finished designing my projects for this article and I can't wait to create something with it! Gives me heart palpitations!!!
For this masculine design, I couldn't resist die cutting the adorable eyeglasses by Impression Obsession from some Wood paper (left raw/natural), because it went so well with the "spectacular" sentiment from the clear set "Incredible" by Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday! I'm a sucker for a good play on words... (!) I also added some Studio Calico Wood Veneer arrowheads that I quickly colored with my Copics.
This last card features the Hero Arts Wood Grain Background Stamp, white embossed onto white card stock--a beautiful look! and is topped with a wood paper floral tag! I stamped the Savvy Flower Blossom using Watermelon Pigment ink and then heat set it, angled the corners and created a reinforcer, also from a scrap of wood veneer paper.
By 3D mounting it with 1/8" foam dots, I could then tuck some veneer leaves (by Prima Marketing) that I had tinted with Ranger Distress Stain and Mister Huey's. The overall effect is even lovelier in real life than I could capture in the photo...
I hope these ideas will encourage you to play with wood--or faux bois--in the near future!
SUPPLIES & MATERIALS FEATURED IN ABOVE PROJECTS:
