October Is My Month For Counting Blessings...

Happy October everyone... and if you are popping in from the Graciellie Design blog hop today, Welcome to my blog!  Today I am sharing the cards I created using a brand new Graciellie rubber stamp set "May Blessings Follow You", one of several stamp sets being released today by Unity Stamps.  This stamp is available in both rubber and digital formats and with today's release there are lots of prizes and discounts and give-aways being offered.  Go HERE to find out all about them! 

I created these cards using one of my very favorite techniques using pigment powders and heat embossing:

 

This technique works particularly well with this stamp set because of the lovely line work in the design, which give a place for the colored inks to pool.

And I am detailing my process below:

 

Start by stamping and heat embossing the images on a heavy paper that will accept a lot of water.  I like to use 100lbs mixed media paper with a vellum finish.  Stamp your images with an embossing ink, cover with a fine detail white embossing powder and then heat set your images.

 

Because you need to work fairly quickly you will want to cut your paper into smaller, more manageable sizes.  I used the new Westcott rotary trimmer which works beautifully on this size paper.

The wider 9-inch platform and locking mechanism on the cutting strip holds the paper firmly in place for clean, straight cuts every time.

 

Now for the fun!  Spray enough water onto the embossed images so it starts to pool in the cells created by the embossing.  This is why it is important to use a card stock that will be able to accept a lot of water.  Watercolor paper does work but is harder to cut.

 

Once the paper is fully wet sprinkle on the pigment powders.  My favorite product are the Magenta Nuance pigment powders because I love all the the wonderful colors and how they react with water.

 

You want to work fairly quickly at this point (which is why you need to cut your images into smaller, more manageable sizes) and you will need to have LOTS of water and paper towels available to spray and blot, spray and blot.

 

You want to work quickly after sprinkling on the powders, continuing to spritz the paper with more water and encouraging the colors to move and blend.  I like to use a paint brush to help direct the colors into cells.

 

The longer you allow the ink to sit on the paper the stronger the colors will be, but watch carefully as the colors mix together and blot quickly when they begin to look muddy!

In my experience, no matter what colors you choose, the results are always lovely.

And you can continue to add more pigment powders and activate with more water until you like the results. (or until your paper can't take it any more!! Grin)

The hardest part of this entire process is waiting for the paper to dry.  And DO NO USE your heat gun, because if you force dry these pages you will either melt your embossed lines, or they wills start falling off... so Be Patient!

 

Once the papers are dry you are ready to cut out your colored images.  For this step I tried out these scissors from Westcott for fine cutting.  I particularly liked the lanyard for wearing them around your neck because for once I could always find my scissors!
 

I kept my backgrounds simple, using only embossed white card stock and a few foam pop dots to create some dimension, because I really wanted to showcase these beautiful images.

 

 

 

So that's it for today.  I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and now pop on over to the next stop along the way in today's Graciellie Design Blog Hop:

MARIA PILAR

As always, THANK YOU for stopping by to see what I am up to today, and please do leave me a comment if you like what you see!
 
Lynne Mizera
for the Graciellie Design Team
 

Graciellie Design/Unity Stamps Used:

This set is also available in digital format at the Graciellie Design Etsy Shop

Westcott Products Used:

Westcott Rotary Trimmer

Westcott Scissors

Westcott Scissors