I Just Wanna Make Nice Things

Hello, crafty friends and visitors! Any crafty New Year's resolutions for you? From my last post you saw I want to try new styles and revisit old tried and true techniques in a new way. I also want to try to use the things I have in a new way, even those things I might have just used a few days ago. I guess I just wanna make nice things! For this card, I took a CAS design I tried last week and made it into something I'm a little more comfortable with-grungy vintage in more of a mixed media style. I promise you, it didn't start out like that, but rather evolved.

My stamped (I used Tim Holtz Woodland Scribble set for the deer and the snowflakes in the background) and water colored focal deer and background pretty much was done according to my CAS card here, but things just started happening. I wanted to see what would happen if I took one of those die cut snowflakes and used it as a stamp. Here's how I went about doing that. I laid my snowflake into a puddle of watered down Distress ink, dried it just so it wasn't sopping wet and laid it down on my prepared background. I ran this through my die cutting machine as if I were embossing to transfer the color and then quickly dried it with my heat gun so the watery ink didn't spread. You can see it more clearly on a card previously posted and pictured directly below.

But you might also notice it just below the die cut snowflake (Tim Holtz Paper Snowflakes, Mini Thinlits) on the card featured in this current post in the photo directly below.

Anxious to try out my new found way to use die cuts on this card, I applied the same technique to the card blank and layering card, taking care to line up my die cut to appear as one stamped image. I might better explain by the photos below. It looks messy in the process, but it adds some nice interest to the layers. Perhaps it looks better to me in real life! Be prepared to see this done on future projects!

Like I said before, I basically was copying my card design from a previous post, but I wanted to see if my Hidden Color embossing powder would look any better using a colored ink. So what did I choose? Picket Fence Distress ink, of course! Duh! Where's the color? Using this did not produce any different results than clear embossing ink. Note to self: try a dark color next time!

Eventually I did try it with Tumbled Glass Distress ink and it gave these results. The color is supposed to be copper, but it looks almost pearl.

To make this more in the mixed media style, I simply splashed on some watered down inks and white acrylic paint after placing a mask over the deer and distressing the edges. I even tucked in a little scrap of burlap from Tim Holtz Textured Surfaces I had in my recycle bin. (Another crafty promise to myself--use those scraps!) A few die cut snowflakes colored with Distress ink and heat embossed with brown Embossing Puffs (Another resolution--use some of those old products in an unexpected way) and a Chit Chat Small Talk sticker give this simple design some texture. This is my husband's favorite of my deer series.

I am sharing this with the following challenges:
Frilly and Funkie-New Year's Inspiration
Scrapy Land Challenge 57-Anything Goes (using at least one die that Scrapy Land sells) I used the Sizzix Paper Snowflakes Mini Thinlits die.
Mixed Media Place December Challenge

Penny Black and More January-Anything Goes

Country View Challenges- January 2017-Anything Goes

Dies R Us Challenge #64-Anything Goes Using Dies

Noor! Designs January Challenge 2017-'Anything Goes'

The Artistic Stamper January 2017 Creative Team Challenge-Anything Goes

Southern Ridge Trading Company-It's All About Winter

Fashionable Stamping Challenge #119 -Winter of Spring

Thank you for stopping by today and for all your wonderful comments!

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily