Acrylic Block Collage Cards

For the past couple of days I've had a lot of fun playing with a new (to me) technique, Acrylic Block Collage.  This technique was introduced in the Try a New Technique challenge this week at Splitcoast Stampers (you can see the challenge HERE).  With the Acrylic Block Collage technique, you color with markers or stamp pads on acrylic blocks (the same blocks you use to attach stamps that are not mounted on wood) starting with the lightest color and progressing to the darkest color.  You then spritz the ink with water and stamp directly onto paper.  Once the ink has dried (it only takes a few minutes), you can stamp random images on the collage area and then use a larger image and stamp it in a dark color over the area.  There are so many possibilities with this one, and I have had a wonderful time trying lots of different options with this technique.

The Clean and Simple Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers this week required us to make a Harvest-inspired card.  I decided to combine the two challenges for this card:

For this one, I inked shades of yellow, brown and green all over the block, then added a little orange in the center section.  I misted the block lightly with water so the colors would start to blend and provide this multi-hued Autumn background.  After the ink dried, I lightly stamped some leaves over the background, then added my large sunflower and sentiment. 

I really loved the colors on this card, but wondered how it would look without the orange, so I made another card:

I kept everything almost exactly the same but eliminated the orange.  I like the effect but still feel like it needs more color to help it "pop" off the card.  I would like to revisit this card and use more distinctive color blocks (one yellow, one green and one brown, for example).  Since these are CAS cards I had to restrain myself from adding anything else to these cards!

While I was playing with this technique I tried several different markers and ink pads, and I apologize for not capturing the specific ones used on these cards.  What worked best for me was to use mostly markers (especially for my lighter colors), scribbling and drawing and thumping on the block with them.  I did use ink pads, but mostly for the darker shades.  I also learned it takes a lot more ink than I expected.  I really had to get the ink built up on the block before I could get a good impression.  I only needed one or two pumps of water mist to get a good result (too much water just led to water spots).  I use a little travel-size mister bottle (I pick mine up in the travel-size products section at Wal-Mart or Target).  I held the bottle 8-12 inches from the paper and stamped immediately after misting.

Tomorrow I will share more cards using this technique.  I'm having so much fun playing with this one that I just keep trying new colors and designs.  I hope you'll give this technique a try and discover just how much fun it is to play with water and ink!

Thanks for visiting today!

 

Products Used:

 

Paper: Whisper White card stock (Stampin' Up!)

Inks on background: Various markers and dye ink pads

Ink on sunflower and sentiment: Colorbox Chalk Chestnut Roan (Clearsnap)

Stamps: Sunflower from "Friendship Bouquet" (Close to My Heart), Delight from "Paint Prints" (Stampin' Up!)

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand-spankin'-new craft blog! Whether you're joining me in the wee hours of the night while I'm stamping or during the day while I'm chasing around my very busy kids, pull up a chair, grab of cup of coffee (or a shot of tequila...I won't judge!) and join me in my crafting adventures!

It's finally cooling off and providing some much-needed rain in my part of the world.  It was another late night for me as I tried to learn some new techniques. 

This is the card I created for this week's Ways to Use It challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  If you're looking for a great online papercrafting community, you must check out Splitcoast Stampers!  It's a treasure trove of talented artists, inspirational gallery cards and very active user forums.  This week's challenge was to use markers in a new way.  They're not just for coloring, you know!  I chose to use two techniques on my card: Thumping and Misting.  These were both new techniques for me, and now that I've tried them I really want to work on perfecting them!  Here's my first card using these techniques:

I used a sunflower stamp from Mrs. O'Leary's.  I stamped on Ultrasmooth Vanilla cardstock (I don't think Stampin' Up! carries this anymore, but I believe it is similiar to Very Vanilla).  I inked the stamp first with Ancient Page ink in Saffron.  I then "thumped" it with several markers: Stampin' Up! Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Garden Green markers, and Tombow Art marker #879 (brown).  The brown was a little dark so I smudged it with my finger to lighten it.  The green was a little too bright so I wiped some of the ink off with a cloth.  I huffed on the stamp to moisten the ink, then used my mini mister to mist water into the stamp (VERY lightly, holding the stamp about 8 inches away from the mister) and stamped the image.   I repeated this process several times to make a border.  I wrapped three pieces of brown fiber (Adornaments) around this piece and adhered it to a brown cardstock base.  I stamped "thank you" (Studio G/Hampton Arts) in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!) on Ultrasmooth Vanilla, adhered that piece to another piece of brown cardstock and adhered it to the card using foam dimensionals.  Because this is a dark card base, I placed a liner of Ultrasmooth Vanilla on the inside of the card so I could write a message to the recipient. 

Now that I am a little more comfortable with the techniques I am looking forward to using them with other images.  I love the dimension the thumping technique provides, and the misting technique really softens the image.  I am sure you will see these techniques appearing on my blog again!

Thanks for stopping by!