To My Lil Hoot

I've been taking Online Card Classes' "Mask-erade" class the past couple of weeks. On Day 5 of class, Jennifer McGuire had a lesson on masking with clear embossing powder.

I really can't say how many attempts it took to get this card right. I simply lost count! I would guess this is at least the 5th attempt, though. Part of the technique, since my owls are a lined image--was using a Versamark pen to ink over the colored image, which you then coat with clear embossing powder & heat set. On my first attempt, I used colored pencils. I discovered--the hard way--that apparently the ink in the Versamark pen reacts with the wax binder in colored pencils, and blends the color. My poor little baby owl got a black eye as a result! I next tried Inktense pencils, which are permanent when dissolved with water and let to dry. For some reason, the Versamark pen had the same effect. :(

For my final attempt, I decided I had to "fudge" a little. I stamped the owls (from Hero Arts' "Lil Hoot" set) in Ranger Archival Jet Black ink on to a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I then colored them in (again) with Inktense pencils, using a damp brush to blend the colors. I stamped the owls again on masking paper, and used that to mask them off. Then I masked off a circle around them, again with masking paper. I used Hero Arts Silver & Unicorn inks with sponge daubers to ink the moon, and coated that with clear embossing powder. After removing the mask from the owls, I melted the powder to "seal" the moon. Then I pressed my Versamark pad over the moon & owls, and clear heat embossed them. Finally, I removed my "moon" mask. I did go over a bit on the leaves that had been previously masked, with the Versamark pen, being careful NOT to blend the colors too much! Then I clear heat embossed that--now I was in business! :)

For the stars, I used Simon Says Stamp's "Falling Stars" stencil. I taped it over my watercolor panel, and applied Unicorn ink through the stencil with a sponge dauber. I clear heat embossed those. Next, I used watercolors to paint in the night sky. I had to go over the sky a few times to get the depth of color I was after. It still wasn't dark enough, so I ended up watering down some Chipped Sapphire Distress ink and going over the sky once more with that. The heat embossed stars, moon, and owls resisted the watercolor, so all I had to do was wipe the excess color off of those with a dry paper towel.

After I'd finished with the watercolored panel, I set that aside to dry. For the borders, I CASE'd the background on a card by Darlene Devries. I cut a piece of light grey cardstock, and ran it through my die cutting machine with Darice's "Diagonal Stripes" embossing folder. I trimmed the strip into 2 pieces, to go on either side of the main panel. When the watercolor piece was dry, I adhered that and the border pieces to a white A2 card base, lining up the embossed pattern on either side of the main panel as closely as I could.

I used 2 stamps for the greeting. The first part of the greeting is also from "Lil Hoot," and the second part is from Hero Arts "Shoot for the Moon" set. I stamped each onto a scrap of vellum, using Versafine Onyx Black ink. (I didn't want to use cardstock for the greeting, since that would not integrate as well with the background.) I clear heat embossed that, and cut each part of the greeting into a banner shape. After running them through my Xyron Creative Station to apply adhesive to the backs, I adhered them in place. FINALLY--after 3 days and several failed attempts, I succeeded in producing a card!!!! :)

I'm entering this card in the June "Vellum" challenge at Live Love Cards.