who can resist again?

Happy Monday everyone! It's Kassi here to bring you another Inspiration Monday!!! YAY!

Ok, so this tutorial is a little picture heavy, but I love the look of the final product with this technique, and I wanted to make sure all the steps are easy to follow even if you don't have much experience. =)

So, let's jump in and get our hands sparkly!

I am working on a piece of cheap white cardstock that you can pick up at Walmart.

Step 1: spray some water on you paper. It doesn't need to be drenched, just a little to help the paint spread evenly over the large surface.

Step 2: cover your paper with your choice of Creative Inspirations paint. You can use as many colors here as you want. However, to keep it simple, I chose to just use one color; Sea Foam. (I love this color!!!)

Step 3: Let your painted paper dry completely. This is very important! If you are impatient, like me, you can use a heat gun. Don't forget to make sure the back is completely dry too.

Step 4: While your paper is cooling (if you used a heat gun) ink up your chosen stamp with VersaMark (or any clear embossing ink). For this technique, bold designs show the most contrast, but you can use what ever you like.

Step 5: Stamp your image.

Step 6: cover with clear embossing powder. This is the reason you want your paper completely dry. If your paper is wet in any spot, the powder will stick there as well as where you inked.

Step 7: Heat emboss as normal... I was actually surprised how well it showed up in the photo... in RL it isn't always easy to see where the clear embossing powder is... Finding the right lighting is the key there.

Step 8: Using a darker dye ink, go over the entire project with your ink pad. This is often referred as direct to paper inking (or something along those lines). Because of the paint base on the paper, this will be streaky and uneven. Don't worry. We will fix some of that in the next couple steps, and what is left gives it a certain charm that you don't get when using other products for this technique. =)

Step 9: If you have an ink blending tool, you can use that here. I often just use a make-up wedge. They are cheap, so I can easily keep one for each color ink. Anyway, whether you are using a make-up wedge or an ink blending tool, you want to ink it up with the same ink you were just using.

Step 10: Rub your blending tool over your paper. Work the ink into the little niches that were missed by the pad. Work out the streaks left behind by the pad. Basically just blend the ink over the entire project.

*side note: If you wanted to skip the direct to paper part with the ink pad and go directly to the blending tool, you can, however your ink coverage won't be as dark, and the paint may not get covered up as well.*

Step 11: Now comes the magic. Using a slightly damp q-tip, wipe the ink off of the embossed image. The embossing powder will act as a resist. so it should come off without any trouble.

You will end up with something like this. Isn't it pretty! I think the unevenness of the ink on the background gives in character that you can't achieve if you only use inks.

One of the cool things about this, is even though you covered your entire background with ink, the SHIMMER still shows through. So it makes it look like a metalic ink was used. Love it!

here is just another sample of this technique with different colors. I used a blue ink and Blush CI paint. There are countless color combinations. Colors with more contrast will give you more "pop" while colors with less contrast will be a more subtle effect.

Of course, I have a finished project...

Paper: DCWV, white cardstock, mulberry paper

Stamps: Hero Arts "Silhouette Burst", Basic Grey "Swirly"

Ink: Archival ink, Printworks Designer ink, VersaMark

Creative Inspirations paint: Sea Foam, Fairy Dust

Other: embossing powder

For the edges of the card, I used my make-up edge to add a hint of color. I then sponged on some Fairy Dust CI paint to give it that subtle shine.

Pretty fun, huh!

One thing I learned is that if you use Tim Holtz Distress ink for your dye ink, it takes a while to dry. It also doesn't cover the paint as well.

I used Peach, Sky Blue, and Green Olive CI paints with Vintage Photo distress ink. It has a totally different look, but, it is still fun!

Reminder: Link your projects using CI paint to our blog using the link button at the top of our sidebar. You just may be our next featured designer!

Also, don't forget that this Sunday (August 15) will be not only our first ever blog hop, but we have some exciting news to share... and of course there will be a prize to win... So, come join the fun!

~Kassi