Valentine cards

I taught a technique class for Cre8Joy Workshops this past week and made these Valentine cards for samples. The first one is the "waxed paper resist technique" where you crumple a piece of waxed paper and sandwich it between two pieces of glossy cardstock, iron, and then brayer dye ink over the glossy paper. The waxed paper crinkles will resist the ink and makes an interesting pattern. The first picture shows the technique sample and the second is the card I made using it for the background behind the hearts. The colors came out different but the ink was actually the same in both. One student did the resist on white glossy and then inked with black and it was very subtle and elegant looking - I wish I had taken a picture!

The second technique was the "split negative technique" where you stamp the same image twice. Here I used a white embossed image on red cardstock and a red embossed image on white cardstock. These were cut in half and repositioned (you can actually get two cards with these cut images) and then layered on the opposite color cardstock. This is a simple technique that gives a dramatic effect and looks far more complicated than it is.

Another technique taught was "Elmers Glue crackle paint technique." This is a very inexpensive alternative to expensive specialty crackle paints. Either start with a colored cardstock (or other substrate) or you can paint the first layer whatever color you want to show through the cracks. Spread a layer of Elmer's glue wherever you want crackle (thin layer for finer cracks; thick layer for larger cracks) and, while the glue is still wet, spread a thick layer of acrylic paint over. The trick here is to just brush the paint over once - do not rebrush as it mixes the paint and glue. Dry thoroughly and the cracks will magically appear. There's something chemical happening here probably, but I imagine the glue shrinks as it dries and separates from the paint leaving cracks. Here is the sample I made using only a small torn portion of the crackle paper and a heart punched from the same piece.