Boy Basics

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That would be today's sneak peek.

We're coming back at ya with another post in April's Papertrey Ink countdown and today's post is all about the boys... Boy Basics, that is. All of the design team members are featuring different Boy Basics set and man, oh, man, do I love mine... Simple Circles.

It. is. sweet.

The kind of set I totally *love.* It can be used for a million and one different cards and then a million more after that. LOVE.

Today I'm showing how these simple circles can go super messy...

I'm not sure there's anything my boys love more than a mess.
Unless it's ice cream.
But that's basically messy food, so that one counts.

I was going for lots of texture and cool effects... no overthinking allowed. Here's how I started...


The main idea here is to basically pile up a thick layer of embossing powder, then heat it up and immediately press your *well-inked* stamp into the melted powder.

It's seriously fun.

You never know exactly what you're going to get, and if you don't like what you got, you can just heat it back up and start over. Win-win.

The normal idea is to stamp an image with watermark ink and pour the powder over it so that it sticks to the wet ink. Because I was going for a free form, free flowing look, I just piled the powder directly onto the cardstock... no ink.

I used a few different colors and let them get all nice and friendly with each other.
See how they like each other? :)

Remember yesterday's warning not to overheat less a major disaster will occur?
Warning of the day today... for the love of all that is crafty, DO NOT pull out your heat gun and point it down onto those piles of embossing powder.

Oh, holy cow, what a craftastrophe that would be.

Just gently pick up the piece of cardstock and start gently heating it from beneath. Keep at it and eventually all of those little piles will magically melt without blowing into oblivion.
 
Once all the powder is nice and melty just set it back down and heat it from above. I start reaching for the pre-inked stamp and get everything kind of ready for the next step.

Now, quick like a, um... something quick, stop heating and press the stamp down into the powder. Leave it there for a few seconds to cool down a bit... work on building your patience here... then gently pull the stamp off. The watermark ink helps it release cleanly, but it you don't like what you ended up with, just heat it again, let it melt back together and give it another shot. Just make sure to re-ink your stamp with each impression.
 
The one thing to be careful of is spacing your images too close together in the embossing powder. You probably won't be able to emboss more than one image at a time, and if you get too close to the previously embossed images you'll end up remelting them a bit.

I added the background images (more circles from Simply Circles and ink blots from the Grunge Me set) by just stamping right over and off of the embossing with more watermark ink. By doing that part after the embossing you don't run the risk of unintentionally embossing those images.

I added a sentiment from Skater Dude to finish everything off.
  I'd be lying if I said the stars weren't my favorite.
Although I love the stripes, too.

Ha... I just realized that I said the stars and stripes are my favorite... wow... I am such a dork.
But these girls definitely aren't :)

Be sure to check out all the super boy projects they're bringing to you using all the new Boy Basics sets... Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey 
Heather Nichols 
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Later, friends!


{Totally Stoked} card
Stamps - Simply Circles, Skater Dude, Grunge Me (to be released 4/14)
CS - Smokey Shadow
Ink - Versamark, Smokey Shadow
Embossing powder - Filigree Detail White, Zing in Powder & Cricket (Powder & Cricket)