Visible Image Wednesday & Express Yourself.

Hi Folks

Today I have a card created with the Amazing Visible Image stamps some old and some very very new, In fact so new it was only launched at the weekend and pre orders coming in very fast. This new launch has a set of six sets of Inspirational sentiments from the Visible Image family of Mark and Helen. Here is there promo pic that you may have seen on Facebook if you have it featuring all the sets.

 I know you can't see it very closely but no fear more photos will follow of the sets as I use them and the link above will take you straight to all six sets to have a look at, so whether you are a card maker or an avid scrapbooker there will definitely be a phrase or sentiment here you are sure to need in your stash.

Here is today's card using The Make me Smile set. Created in rich purple/pink and Orangey warmth for Autumn with touches of natural fabric in hessian and a burlap bow I hope you all enjoy how I put this one together.
I have a full tutorial with lots of pictures for this one so please get yourself a nice cuppa and enjoy putting this one together with me.

 Ok, to start this one I ran my Anti static pad over the card,  I took my "You make me smile" stamp and Perfect medium Ink with clear embossing powder and stamped somewhat randomly over the piece of white card I had chosen as my base colour. I heat set the embossing of course and then moved on to choosing the ink colours for today's card look.

 The first colour I chose was Dried Marigold distress and I used my usual method to apply the ink, cut and dry foam and added the ink in my usual side side middle way. Of course the first layer of ink as I have said on several cards now is just a blending layer and so just throw it on there , to wet the card fibres a little and if it is patchy as mine is above , don't worry. You know me now ladies and you can here me saying it just doesn't matter can't you.

My next colour is the gorgeous and vibrant Seedless preserves, I just love this colour with the orange palette its so gorgeous. So this is coat one complete and just look how patchy and swirly the colour is, at this stage people give up but don't. While that ink is still tacky ladies ( and gents) go back in with your second coat to smooth the colours out.

 So, coat two. Much richer and deep but still a little blending needed but not too much as I have not finished with layering on this background yet.

 Deepen the edges with darker shades or another coat of colour on the edges. I used Rusty Hinge on the Marigold to deepen and the same Seedless preserve with a little vintage photo all over the edges to really bring out the dark edge and mix of colour here.

So here I started to introduce some of the other stamps Visible Image retail. Here I started tone on tone with the Ink splat set in the same rich colours and didn't mix them much at all. So keep within the purple with purple splats and so on. Quick blast with the heat gun here.

 Next, I wanted to have some lighter splodges for want of a better word but you could wet a stamp and lay that image down too and it will have the same effect as I used here , so the lighter drops are water spritzed into my hand and dripped onto the card and ink and left a few seconds then dabbed off with kitchen paper. Dry again here pretty well this time.

 The next background I added was the Crackled Background and I used Black archival and held the stamp in my hand and added random and small amounts just around the edge of the card and again blasted to heat set this one, or the ink would have smudged. I also used my anti static pad very well here to make sure all was dry or the ink would pick up the embossing powder in the next stage.

My last background here I again held off a block in my hand and this was the grunge polka dot and I used  white embossing ink for this one in several areas  and once all was done and heat set I used a micro fibre cloth to buff up all the clear and white embossing to remove any ink that had tinted the whites. I then added that piece to a piece of black card with just a very small border. I then set aside.

I had this little chippie frame so I coated it with perfect medium and gold embossing powder and heat set , I cut it the frame in half and set aside too.

I stamped out the main Sentiment I wanted to use from my set first of all and I stamped it in black archival and then simply used a very thin and pretty shimmery gold stardust gelly roll pen from sakura to add a slight halo effect on the words which you can only just see here, I then mounted that white piece onto some black also and added the two halves of the gold frame to the back with a gap in the middle.

 I added a second double mat under the over all card with foam in between for some elegance and cut a piece of hessian which I then frayed and added on an angle to the front of the card, I then added my sentiment and frame concoction on the other angle to create a sort of 'X' at this point on all I needed to do was build it and add the two small flower displays.

This is the bottom right flower in rich plums and orangey/peaches and white to match, I also took a couple of the little orange leaves I stamped out from the Poinsettia set and used those to go under the flowers on the card.

I wanted to add a little close up as I added some white gel pen to the roses and also some glossy accents very finely with some iridescent glitter added to them too for a little sparkle. You can also see the layering of the stamping we did on this image, which I love and feel it gives such depth the a background this way.

And here is the sentiment in place on the card and you can just pick up the tin sparkle on the letters here too.
So there we have it guys the way to layer inks and embossing to give a look that can be subtle if needed but easily taken to the grungy stage with real dark inks to blend and over layer.

I used some stunning stamps for this one and here I will add them and the links.

                                      Ink splats.                                        Crackled Background.

                     Grunge Polka dot Background.                           You Make me Smile.

                                                                   Poinsettia set.

So lots of stamps used for this one to create a inky beautiful well framed background to use to push forward our sentiment from the beautiful new Express Yourself Launch from Visible Image.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial on how to and that you can see colours that you really think sometimes no way will they go actually do and you can make them anyway by adding in all the layers of stamping and embossing to diffuse the concentration of the colours. Have a go and see how surprised you are to get these results just with a little ink .

** So by way of a little update. My mum is now clear of ICU and on a ward in the hospital, she still isn't walking yet but they have twice now had her sat in a chair and she is eating without tubes feeding her now so although she is a very ill lady her condition, now the infections are leaving her is improving for her and she has had to have a barrage of scans to see if anything else is going on as she is very confused at times and has very little short term memory too but at least she is on the mend, her illnesses are such that she is unlikely to have too long but the hospital remain hopeful she can be well enough to manage again for a while. Thank you for all your kind wishes and patience regarding posting at this time and i really do appreciate all your kind words on here and fbook etc. **

Huge hugs 

Love

Kim 

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