TOTW #6 Last of the Flowers...or not?!

Hello and Happy Monday! I had a good weekend. I was making Bandanna Backgrounds until the cows come home, but that's because I've got a lot of soldered sign thingies that I want to make...I'm determined, though, to finish up some of the "series" of things that I've been showing...so here goes!

Monoprint Background with Adirondack(r) Alcohol Inks: I have so much fun with this technique because you never know what you're going to get. No surprise, this is a Tim Holtz technique, but "Robin-ized". I tend to like the bolder colors and use less Blending Solution. On the infamous Non-Stick Craft Sheet, squiggle or shake out various colors (don't go crazy with the shaking, it can be permanent on your clothes if you don't get it after with the Blending Solution!). Add JUST a dot of Metallic Mixatives-this is the step that people many times do overkill on. This is a very, very (did I say very!?) concentrated pigmented alcohol ink and a little goes a lonnnnnng way! Then do the squiggle of Blending Solution, which will help to blend and even lighten colors to get different gradations of color. Take Gloss Paper and with Gloss side down, place onto your "mixture" and spin or swipe and lift. It's okay if every area of the paper doesn't get covered...This sample was done on a postcard size piece of paper (1/4 of 8-1/2" x 11" piece of paper, or 4-1/4" x 5-1/2"), so I used the part that had the most ink coverage. Then just stamp with Archival(tm) Jet Black Ink Stamp Pad. Let air dry or speed drying with Craft Tool. you get the best backgrounds and can create wonderfully easy backgrounds for cards, scrapbook embellishments (great for die cuts).

Okay, a small aside....using a waterproof dye ink pad versus a solvent-based ink pad, such as Staz-on or even Ranger's Decor-it ink. The latter is overkill, and remember that solvent can remove solvent, so your stamped solvent based image may become blurry or "bleed" slightly because it is reacting with the solvent in the Alcohol Inks. Use the solvent-based inks for your non-porous surfaces where you need the permanency. and are not mixing it with another solvent based ink. Archival Ink or a competitor's waterproof dye ink is great for Gloss Paper!

Adirondack(r) Embossing Powders: These embossing powders are so much fun. They are different from other embossing powders in that they have a white resin core, and are coated in color. What that means is that when you emboss them, sometimes the "white" core comes out and you get a neat effect. When you mix different colors together and emboss, each granule retains its shape, so you get a true speckled effect! For Christmas, it's fun to mix even amounts of Red Pepper or Cranberry and Bottle or Lettuce (or all 4!) and use that new Holiday "Party Mix" to emboss an image. What I did here was to "color" the image stamped with Embossing Ink and then with my fingers, just sprinkled where I wanted color. it's really not that hard. I then just gently tapped off the excess and embossed. What a neat way to color in and create some dimension!

Adirondack(r) Color Wash Encaustic Resist: Last, but not least, another Tim technique-stamp image with Embossing Ink and use Clear Embossing Powder (use regular, not UTEE or Super Fine Detail) and emboss with Craft Tool on GLOSS PAPER...this is a must! Carefully spray various Color Wash onto the Non-Stick Craft Sheet; again, make sure you're wearing protective clothing! Then turn over and press (don't do the smoosh technique like with the Monoprint!). Turn over and "fill in" the blank areas by pressing down again. Sometimes I use a little mist of water from the Mini Mister(tm) to "cajole" the ink to the blank areas! Use the Craft Tool to dry the Color Wash, but don't overdo it because you don't want to

reheat the embossing powder. The Color Wash seems to "matte" the paper, creating the Encaustic effect that is made with wax.

Feel free to give these a try. It's a good idea to just play with one stamp and create a reference book of sorts so that you know what you get when you want to use a certain product. That's the whole idea behind Ranger U!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the various samples created with this stamp. I've still got some more pages of the "Meow" book and Ranger U frames!

Have a great evening!