Mask-erade Day 4--Freezer Paper Masking

Online Card Classes' "Mask-erade" class is wrapping up this week. While I have had my share of frustrations with some of the techniques not quite working out as planned, it has been fun, as all their classes are! I have 2 more cards to share today, both based on lessons from Day 4 of class.

My first card was inspired by Shari Carroll's lesson on "Masked Sentiments," and Kristina Werner's lesson on "Masking with Mists." I first die cut several arrows from freezer paper, using Spellbinders' "Shoot!" and Momenta arrows dies. I also stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Shoot for the Moon" set, on a piece of freezer paper. I cut that piece into a banner shape, and arranged it and the arrows on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I placed a piece of copy paper over the top, and used my iron (yes, the kind that normal people use for clothes!), set to a medium-high heat, to adhere the freezer paper to the watercolor panel. This melts the waxy backing of the freezer paper into the watercolor paper, creating a mask that will stand up even to wet media.

Once my pieces were adhered, I painted over them with watercolors in the blue/green range. I let that dry, and then peeled off the masks. They actually come up quite easily, & leave no apparent residue. All that was left then was to mat the panel with a piece of black paper, to the right of the panel, and mount it to a white A2 card base.

I did my second card with the same basic technique. This time, I used Spellbinders' "Butterfly Magic'" die. It cuts a pattern about 4x6", that can be extended if necessary by lining the die up with the previous cuts and running it through your die cutting machine again. For my card, though, I only needed to cut it once. I did have to try 4 times, however, before I got a clean cut through the whole die. On my last--and successful--attempt, I ended up running the die/freezer paper through my Grand Calibur 4 times, rotating the plates and die/paper to get all areas cut.

Once I had the die cut and all the inside pieces popped out, I ironed it onto my watercolor paper. This time, I used watercolors in reds and blues, which also mixed to create purples. When I finally had the depth of color I wanted, I let it air dry. Once dry, I peeled off the mask. I had a couple of spots on the butterfly's wing where the mask had not totally adhered, so watercolor had gotten underneath. So I took some sequins by Doodlebug Design and glued them down with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I added more sequins, basically forming a line that corresponds with the angle of the butterfly, kind of like a flight trail that keeps on going!

I'm entering my cards in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's June Challenge: "New" (Sending Smiles card--new technique)
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Rainbow" (Butterfly card)