Good Times

Hello and welcome to my first Visible Image DT post for 2024.  My cards this week are a variation on a theme using the Glitch Numbers stencil as the main image.  I’ve experimented with different media to make 4 cards that are essentially the same but different!

To begin, I ink blended some backgrounds using Distress Oxides.  If you want an even quicker make, you could use some patterned paper instead but I love ink blending so that’s where I started.  Making backgrounds like this makes this card very versatile and suitable for men or women.

Next, I took one of the backgrounds and simply blended Memento Tuxedo black all over.  My panels were 5¼” square so the stencil overhung the edges so I could secure it with tape.

For the rest of the backgrounds, I heat embossed and also used Ranger Distress Paste in Snowfall together with glitter and embossing powder – full details of each card later.

The sentiment is one of my all-time favourites and is from Blow Out The Candles.  I’ve snipped mine into 4 pieces rather than 2, so that it can stacked instead of being wide.  I blended some 1¾” squares of white card to match the panels.  Using my MISTI stamping platform, I positioned the first and third sentiments, closed the door and positioned the remaining sentiments to ensure they’d fit (top pic).  I stamped using Versamark ink, added embossing powder to match the panels and heat set (bottom pic).   The mini panels were then replaced in the MISTI and I lined up the second and fourth sentiment and repeated the heat-embossing.  Cutting the mini panels to the same size made stamping these really quick.

The panels were adhered to 5¾” square card blanks and the sentiments were matted onto a square of white ⅛” bigger and attached to the centre of each panel using thin foam tape.  This first card used a Versamark ink pad smooshed through the stencil and embossing powder.  My top tip for this is to always ensure that the inked background is completely dry otherwise the powder will stick where you don’t want it to!

A background blend of Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry with grey Smoky Quartz embossing powder.

The second card used Snowfall Distress Paste thought the stencil before adding silver embossing powder.  I left the paste to dry before heating the embossing powder which caused the paste to bubble up and give fabulous texture, as you can see in the photo at the top of the page.  This one is my favourite!

A background blend of Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves and Villainous Potion.

For the third card, I used Snowfall Distress Paste and poured over gold glitter and left to dry.  Once the paste had set, I brushed away the excess glitter using a soft paintbrush.

The background blend is Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness.

The final card is the one with the inked stencil as this needed to be smooth to be the inside of a shaker card.  I die-cut a frame and adhered acetate behind.  After applying foam tape all around the edges, I added some celebratory table confetti before sealing with the stencilled background.

To finish this card, I backed the sentiment with gold glitter card and added some die-cut numbers for a ‘noughty’ birthday.

The background for this is Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Carved Pumpkin.