witticisms by Jess Witty

April 13, 2011

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)

37 comments:

Natasha said...

Wow! This card is totally genius!! Love the idea of just freely mixing the different colours of embossing powder (and thanks for the tip, I would've heated it from above and had a disaster)

Kathy Mc said...

Such a different technique with a variety of embossing powders ~ looks great. Sounds a bit risky to me though as I can see catastrophe written all over it in my craft room. Love the colors you chose and the "stoked" sentiment is perfect!

Joan B said...

I'm impressed at your design and your courage!

Tanja said...

Wow I love this, I wish I had a few more interesting embossing powder colors.. but I do have white!

Pam said...

Wow! What a fabulous technique! Love your card.

Wendy ten Hove said...

Hi Jess! I looove how you try these new things and show them to us!! And love your style of writing as well, had so much fun reding this post! Great tip as well, ha ha, could have been me pointing the heatgun on a pile of powder and while doing it, thinking: would this work? ;-) Oooops, no! Ha ha! The card is very, very original and I love it!! Thanks!
Hugs, Wendy

Anonymous said...

Great card! It's a cool, grungy style that boys will love - and I'm loving your embossing powder technique. Got to try it! Hugs, Ruth S

Unknown said...

Jess! This is the kind of revolutionary thinking that made the US a superpower! Canada is in the midst of electing a new Prime Minister. Please throw your name in the hat? This is the kind of thought process I jive with ;)

Love your work!
A Canadian fan

btsoi. said...

Really neat technique! And your warning made me laugh... but so necessary because I would have probably went the gun-to-powder route.

Brooke said...

Loved your card from today Jess. And the full run down on your awesome technique. I hope not all those tips came from you learning the hard way, but thank you because if you didn't share them I may have burnt the house down!

I bet the boys love the touchy feely side to this card too.

Maureen Merritt said...

Wow, how cool is this!!! And, so boy!!!

Tracey said...

What an amazing idea!! I love it!!

Unknown said...

Cool! Cool! Cool!! Yeah, I don't know if I'm quite that (something quick) quick. LOL! But I hope to try this little technique out. You're so right boys loves messes-even though mine is grown and on his own he still proves he likes a mess...his room is proof! Jessica, this card totally rocks!

Ginny said...

Love your card and the technique. Very cool and boyish.

wendy said...

whow what an idea !!!!! love it

jan metcalf said...

Very clever, very grunge, very handsome!!

Tigriswillreign said...

Again, Jess, such genius!!!! I'm almost scared to try this one out but I LOVE the effect!!

ginalovesdave said...

THAT is a crazy cool idea! Love it!

Sarah said...

This is a totally awesome effect, especially paired with the grunge stamps. Love it!

Broni said...

Oh my goodness, you are just brilliant!! I LOVE this and I know my grandsons would think it was so cool!

Brittany said...

I love this technique and can't wait to try it out. The tip from heating below is perfect, I never even thought of that and have made disasters in the past :)

Ashley Harris said...

Dear Jess Witty. You, my friend, are flippin AMAZING!!!! Absolutely love this! Hope you are well!

Heather in FL said...

This is SUCH a cool idea. And heating from beneath to not blow the powder everywhere is genius. The card came out beautifully messy... perfect for a boy!

Renee said...

This card is AWESOME!
LOVE it!
And if you had not passed along the tip of heating from below...
because I'm the smartest woman alive...
yeah...
I would have still been cleaning powder at Christmas!
Thanks for the tip...
and the totally rockin' card!

Anonymous said...

What a unique idea - love the colors on the card. thanks for the great tutorial!

Cassie_lu said...

amazing idea for embossing powder and stamps

Bev Gerard said...

Oh my gosh!
This is truly stinkin' COOL!!
Wooooohooooooooooooo!!

<3

Lani said...

wow, you are the queen of techniques!

Noreen said...

Wow! I would never have thought to do that with them!

Helen L said...

Great card: and I loved your tutorial on how to do the embossing powder. That would have been me heating it from the top and creating a powder storm:-). I also didn't know about stamping the stamp in the ink first, so for a stamper of 16 yrs, you've taught me something new: thanks!!

Carmen said...

Love it! And your explanation is very thorough!

Jessie said...

Wow! What a really neat idea! And so glad you told us to warm from the bottom! :)

Glenda J said...

Your brilliance never ceases to amazing me! I love this. I've never seen this done before - love it!

Steph said...

What an awesome technique!! This card is fantastic!

Creative Tara said...

Now that is a pretty fantastic boy card, love it! So great to be reminded of techniques I haven't played with for a while...

denali said...

ACK! That has got to be THE.SINGLE.MOST.FASCINATING card I've seen in ages! So intriguing and downright cool at the same time. Color me a new fan :)

(I am not a stamper, but you make me want to try! Clear ink, basically? How interesting!)

jodpea said...

I'm really amazed that that worked, I was waiting for you to say that u'd splodged some versamark down before u loaded up the powder. Yes, I have fallen foul of the aiming the heat gun in the wrong direction, embossing powder just gets EVERYWHERE doesn't it?