I have been out of town. I neglected to post the challenge for July. It was the use of embossing powders. If you look at the post marked August Album retreat with Live Beautifully paper, you would see I actually did it just neglected to do this post so that you knew what I was doing.
On the left hand side, I stamped my words "Happiness is" in VersaMark clear ink and used White embossing powder. I then did a water color wash over the letters and they stand out. The second pink one was not such a success. I also used regular paper rather than Close to my Heart water color paper and you can see they wrinkled a little. You can turn the paper over in between a layer of paper towel and lightly iron the back. You can also use more adhesive on the edges to keep it flatter - most of the time just being in a page protector is enough.
These black flowers were stamped in Daisy White Close to my heart pigment ink and then White embossing powder used. I thought I could use clear but it is much more effective with the white. The stamp is an older one but it matched the flowers from the paper perfectly.
Both of these word stamps were stamped with VersaMark. The words from the top picture were done in black powder we used to have and the bottom were done in Gold. The reason for this was the both sets of letters have flowers inside and it makes it very easy to use markers but also you need to do it for water color. I also have "open" type alphabets that use the Black pigment ink with clear powder over patterned paper and then cut them out. It can be very effective also on plain cardstock or on water color paper do a "wash" on the letters.
The photo below are the same flower stamps just done in different pigment ink from the first photo above.
These flowers are "solid" stamping and were done with Close To My Heart pigment ink. You use Clear embossing powder and the color shows through. Using a little 3-d foam makes these embellishments pop out.
These flowers were done like the black flower in VersaMark but these were done in Gold embossing powder.
You can use tweezers or "alligator" clips with these small pieces as you use the heat gun to set the powder. I love the All Purpose mat from Close to my heart as you can use the heat gun right on it and all the powder can be wiped off easily. I was in a hurry and used the foam part of my VersaMat to put the powders on. I didn't put the heat gun near it but I can still fill the grit of the powders when I flip the mat.
The Clear VersaMark in is good for all the powders. There are time you want to have colored pigment in and either the clear powder is best for that. You can use any of the pigment inks with the gold, silver, white or clear powders. You will get different effects by using different colored papers. Have fun with your imagination and get you heat gun and powders out to experiment.
