A new technique gone messy

For my second week hosting the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, we have a colour challenge.

I love these colours, and got a bit carried away, so have a few cards to share, as well as several bits for the stash! But having missed a few months with morning sickness, I need to catch up to have enough cards by December.

The first set were inspired by a technique Sheena Douglas showed on the telly a few weeks ago. I went out to Lakeland that afternoon to buy floor polish and tissues!

The first step was to emboss a design onto acetate (heat proof of course). I chose two Christmas tree stamps, then used my Sweet Dixie snowflakes. Gold powder, to fit with the challenge theme.

On the reverse of each, I then poured a bit of floor polish, and added turquoise brusho. I swirled it around to spread the colour. This was definitely not as easy as Sheena made it look on the telly! It was running everywhere, I struggled not to spill it and get it all over the front of the acetate. Watching the show back, I used far too much. Sheena added a little then spread it with a paintbrush.

I then pressed a single ply sheet of the tissue into the polish, allowing it to crumple. I used a brush to press it down flat, and to add colour if there were gaps. The tissue tore in a couple of places, I just took a bit from the side and filled the gap.

This is one piece from the back while wet.

I think this technique works better with more than one colour mixing together, so maybe this challenge wasn't the best time to try it! I could also have added gold glitter or gilding flakes into the polish for more interest.

I got a bit fed up with the mess, so for the snowflake piece I mixed the polish and brusho in a tub, then dipped the tissue and added it to the acetate. It didn't unfold readily, so I ended up with a much thicker layer. This would be fine for mixed media, but was a bit much for a card. Rice paper might work better, as it handles being wet with more resilience. Lots of things to try!

Here are the three dry pieces.

I cut each down to a rectangle, and used an embossing pen to run around the edge and give a gold border with more embossing powder.

The small words tree, I added a layer of white with the same gold border, and mounted onto an A6 card blank.

The larger tree I mounted directly onto a 5x7 card blank.

With hindsight, this is a little plain - I may still add something more.

For the snowflakes, I used a sentiment with border on white card. This stamp is from Docrafts, and is designed for tags. I stamped in versamark, then added turquoise and gold embossing powders.

I like the mottled effect this gives. The waste went into a spare pot, and I think will be lovely as a mix. I also edged this with gold.

This was mounted onto the snowflake background with super sticky tape, then I used a gel medium to mount the snowflakes onto a 5x7 card blank.

Lots to improve on with this technique, but I'm happy with this card for a first attempt.

For my alternative take on turquoise and gold see here.




To join in with the challenge and share how you play with these gorgeous colours, head over to the 52CCT blog. You have until midnight BST (7pm EDT) on Friday 18th May 2018 to enter your cards. Happy crafting!