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Thursday, August 11, 2016

Creative Chemistry 103 - Day 1




Yeah! My Summer of Creative Chemistry continues with the new Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 103. Right out of the gate Day 1 was jam packed with five techniques. As I want to try to get as much out of the live portion of CC103, I think I will for the most part be going with the Tim standard of using number 8 tags for the techniques. With the weekly focus for the Summer of Creative Chemistry rehash of CC101 and 102, I was able to pick and choose and combine techniques that I wanted to try and I had made cards for the previous 8 weeks. However, I do not think that will be as efficient given the number of new techniques being presented. That being said, I still found that I kept in mind how I was going to use the tag on a card when I chose the items and themes so most will likely be made into cards in the future.


First up, Ombre DIY stamp pad.




Supplies: manila tag, Distress inks [Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Candied Apple, Picket Fence, Spun Sugar], Rock Candy Stickles (Ranger), Random Quotes and Clear French Market stamps (Stampers Anonymous)


As I had learned from my Week 8 snowflake card experience, Picket Fence can provide some opacity to other Distress ink colours so I applied a layer of Picket Fence ink using the small round applicator around the edges and then went in with Spun Sugar. As one who likes to experiment and try things just like Tim continually encourages participants to do, I tried using the Clear Rock Candy Stickles even though I knew it would re-activate the Distress colours that I had already applied as a border. I had hoped that there would be enough of a hint of pale pink to compliment the ombre and it worked!


Next up, Distress Highlight Stamping. If you had previously read my Summer of Creative Chemistry Week 8 post on my snowflake card and my Picket Fence experience, I found a solution to the dilemma.  I added a lot of reinker to the pad and stamped the image three times using my MISTI and that made a substantial difference.




Supplies: kraft tag, Distress ink [Picket Fence, Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, Tea Dye] (Ranger), Papillon stamp set (Stampers Anonymous)

This was actually the second attempt at this tag. While I had no actual issue with the technique, I wanted to mask the butterflies prior to stamping to add colour to the background. So in the spirit of experimenting, I tried using Micro Glaze to mask versus making a paper mask. Well I learnt something new. 




Kraft is not an ideal surface to use this product with as it left a darkened area even after heating it. Not to be deterred, I stamped a second attempt and just made a small cut-out mask shape to get the effect stamped background that that I wanted.


Off-Set Stamping was the next lesson. In looking through my few Tim Holtz stamp sets, I realized that I do not have any from his collection that have enough open areas for colouring so I had to improvise and make do.




Supplies: watercolour paper, kraft tag, black Archival ink, Distress Inks [Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Picket Fence, Lemonade Stand, Mustard Seed, Vintage Photo, Twisted Citron, Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Cracked Pistachio], Dina Wakley Scribbly Birds stamp (Ranger), Random Quotes stamp and Blossom stencil (Stampers Anonymous), pen (CTMH)


The quote on the tag says it all (and the reason I chose that quote) "Out of Limitation comes Creativity". I solved the problem by using a stencil instead of a stamp for the leaves/branches and I went with a Dina Wakley Scribbly bird stamp.

The Distress Washed Watercolour, I found the most challenging and not for what you might think. 




Supplies: watercolour paper, manila tag, black Archival ink, Distress Inks [Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Cracked Pistachio, Walnut Stain], Distress Stains [Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, Wilted Violet, Twisted citron] Micro Glaze (Ranger), Ribbon stamp from High Society Blueprints stamp set and letters from Clear Thoughts and Phrases stamp set (Stampers Anonymous), Remnant Rub friend word (Advantus)


I had a hard time getting the wash colour area just the right colours and the way that I wanted it to coordinate with the ribbon's blue.  In the end, I was able to achieve it with patience for letting the stains dry between adjustments and then following Tim's advice about going in afterwards and adjusting the colour with Distress inks.

I think the Distress Micro Glaze Resist was my favourite technique of the five. I love how this one turned out!




Supplies: manila tag, Distress Stains [Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo], Micro Glaze, Emboss It dabber, Sticky Powder, Gold Foil Sheet (Ranger), Harlequin, Gothic, mini set #1 and Wildflower stencils (Stampers Anonymous)


The photo just doesn't do it justice. It doesn't capture all the details and colours as seen in real life. I had initially stencilled the Wildflowers in black but didn't like it so I realigned the stencil, used the Emboss It dabber, Sticky Powder, and gold foiled over it. It worked wonderfully and was a way better match.


I added a Spun Sugar dyed crinkle ribbon piece to the ombre tag and coordinating trim to the OffSet stamping one.




They are now bookmarks for my daughter and I. Love the results!


TTFN,


1 comment:

Deb said...

Great tags, isn't it a wonderful course? I've watched all the videos but haven't had much time to play so can't wait to give all the techniques a try. Thanks for sharing your beautiful results! Deb xo