Melissa Frances papers always speak to the girlie side of me. When I saw Tim's tag this morning I immediately thought of the Deck the Halls collection, but it was not until well after lunch time that I was finally able to head in to my studio to begin today's adventure.
Today I wanted to explore what media I could use to lay color over a surface covered in Picket Fence Distress Stain. I knew that I could use colored Distress Stains over the top to alter the appearance making the stains more pastel in nature. I also knew that I could use my ink blending tool and Distress Ink Pads, but I wanted to see if other products would work.
To create a softer look I decided to create my own resist paper using red ink, yet I wanted my focal image to really "pop." I created a mask using Hero Arts holly image and stamped over the mask using Vermillion Archival ink. At this point I didn't know if I would try watercoloring and so I went with a waterproof ink.
Tip: It is much easier to stamp words straight if you get them on your acrylic mounts straight. I have found the easiest way to do this is to set my cling image on my work surface and then align the grid pattern over the sentiment. A slight press and the cling words attach to your mount - now it's easy to stamp straight!
Stamp the words using Distress Embossing ink and cover with clear embossing powder. Remove excess and heat.
I'm not certain if my Picket Fence stain is thicker than Tim's but as you can see it goes on quite white and thick. I like that it does this because it allows me the opportunity to really cover darker items.
To remove the excess stain from my project I simply moisten an old diaper using my mister and rub away the excess Distress Stain as shown above.
I then added a little more back in around the edges.
To stamp the holly I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig. I can't live without this tool - it helps my sanity because I like things perfect - LOL!
I decided to try one of my favorite go-to tools - Prismacolor Pencils. I then added in some Faber-Castell Pastel Pencils.
As you can see the effect is really quite beautiful. On a practice sheet I then tried rubbing additional Picket Fence over the colored image, but felt it dulled it just a little too much. I forgot to snap a photo to share it with you. I will try and do so and then come back and add it to this post when I return to work on Monday.
I attached some of the red Deck the Halls paper to a piece of Craft-a-board (this adds body and stability to the deer) using Sookwang tape and then diecut this gorgeous deer. Adding a Vintaj chain and a Jenni Bowlin pearl necklace (I removed the silver eye pin and replaced it with a Vintaj antique brass head pin) helped give the deer a more feminine touch.
I look forward to giving watercolors a try over top the Picket Fence stain soon!
stamps: Hero Arts Cling Classic Holly and Collage Music, Tim Holtz Christmas Memories
ink: Vermillion and Jet Black Archival, Distress Embossing Ink Pad, Picket Fence and Bundled Sage Distress Stain
paper: Inkssentials #8 Kraft Tag, Melissa Frances Deck the Halls 6x6 Paper Pad
accessories: Tim Holtz Reindeer Flight and Vintage Lace Dies, Craft-a-board, Burlap Panel, Essentials Ribbon, Hemp, Jenni Bowlin Pearl Charm, Vintaj Figaro Chain, Head Pin and Star, Clear Embossing Powder, Faber Castel Pastel Pencils and Prismacolor Color Pencils
We would love to hear from you, simply leave a comment on today's post telling us what product or products you like to use the most. We will once again use a random number generator to select our winner. You have until Sunday, December 4th noon Pacific Time (one comment per person please) to share your comment.
Thank you for joining me again today!
