Tag Archives: Distress markers

Stamping and Spraying on Coated Paper in Five Easy Steps

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Sometimes, when I order some of my card designs printed, the printing company adds one or two blanks. These are sturdy, completely white cards; they are also coated, for it is a form of photo paper. So it won’t react to mixed media like your usual assortment of craft papers.

I have created a card with such a blank before, using it as an easy base for design paper. You can check out my step-by-step video on that here.

This time however I decided to try out some mixed media techniques to create a card from one of these coated blank photo paper cards. Here’s what I did, and how it worked out.

1. Stamp and color an image

I chose StazOn ink for this, because that is suited especially for smooth, non-porous surfaces – like photo paper. I also colored the stamped image, using Tim Holtz Distress Markers.

In hindsight, that turned out not to be the best combination, for the StazOn ink reacted a little bit to the Distress Markers. So, my tip here is: IF you want to use water-based markers to color your image, then do NOT use an alcohol-based ink to stamp, but an oil-based ink like Archival Ink.

Stamp an image that speaks to you

2. Seal your image

If you’re going to spray a background, you’ll need to seal your colored image first, otherwise it will either run and wick, or it will be covered up by your sprays (depending on the mediums you choose).

I wanted to use Distress Spray Stains, which are water-based, and since I already used Distress Markers to color the image, I knew exactly how to seal it: with Distress Micro Glaze.

Simply dab your finger lightly in the jar, and rub it all over the colored image.

Side note: of course there are several other products on the market to seal your image. For instance, transparent gesso, or mod podge, to name a few. I’m simply mentioning the one I used. #nonspon

3. Spray your inks

Spray your entire card to your heart’s desire. Then remove all of the sprayed inks from your stamped image with a paper towel. Thanks to the Micro Glaze, none of the sprays will stick and will come off easily, without messing up the colors of your image.

Also, because my paper was coated, it didn’t really absorb the inks too well; there were several spots where the ink didn’t take, causing a great bonus effect!

The materials I used

4. Add special effects

I added some transparent medium to create a bit of a glass effect for the glasses: I used Nuvo Crystal Drops for this, but you could use several alternatives, like Glossy Accents, Paper Glaze or any other dimensional transparent medium.

5. Add a sentiment

Last but not least, I stamped a sentiment – this time with Archival Ink (having learned my lesson from step 1).

Alternatively, you could also go dimensional and use wooden or chipboard sentiment pieces.

And done!

Have you ever crafted with coated paper like this? Feel free to ask any questions, or to let me know what you think, below in the comment section!

Watercoloring with Distress

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Watercoloring is a great way if, like me, you’re not a particularly good colorist, mainly because it’s a relatively forgiving technique. Water will help you blend out colors and sharp lines, at least a bit. Of course there is much to learn here, but even as a beginner I felt confident enough about my first water colored cards to actually send them out to people.

In the second half of the video I’m showing you some technique, when I’m coloring one of the envelopes. I used several colors of Distress Ink (minis) and Distress Markers. It was simply what I had, hence the combination of inks and markers. Since these Distress products are all water-based and really work well together, it’s great to combine them and create the color palette that you’re looking for.

Watercoloring is a great technique if you’re out on the road: contrary to scrapbooking, it takes very little to take with you what you need, and to have some relaxing moments while you’re not at home. Just do the stamping at home, and color them on the road. So while this will probably not become my main hobby, it will definitely stay in my papercraft repertoire!

Tutorial: Distress Stickles gradient technique

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Here’s a fun new gradient technique I discovered while using Distress Stickles and Distress Markers on the same surface area. I found that this technique works on any surface on which you would use your distress products (card stock, chipboard, wood etc.). I used this technique on the cute little wooden sunglasses I showed you in my last blog post, when I shared my Thinking Inside the Box project, and I promised you all a free video tutorial. So here we are – you’ll find the video below 🙂

The trick is to cover a darker color Distress Marker with a lighter color Distress Stickles while the marker is still wet.

The second trick is to specifically use Tim Holtz’s Distress product line, for these react with water – and with eachother. I haven’t tried out any alternatives extensively but in the few instances I used different products it did not cause a gradient effect.

So, on to the video – hopefully you’ll find this technique inspriring and fun!

 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

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