Floral Brusho

 

     This month at The Paper Funday our optional theme is flowers, so I have raided my stash and used an old rubber stamp by Heartfelt Creations.

     The image was stamped on watercolour card and white embossed. Then I used a clean paintbrush to add water to individual areas of the card before sprinkling Brusho on top and letting it do it's magic.

     If you 'paint' the areas separately you can keep the colours from running into each other but you do need to let one area dry off before colouring the next.

     The choice of mat colours was to pick out the colours in the image, it then went onto a kraft card, I thought a white card may take away from the image.

     Once mounted on the card blank I stuck tiny gems of various co-ordinating colors in the middle of each little flower.

     Using Brusho like this makes it look like you've spent hours painting, it's such fun to do.

     Please pop over to The Paper Funday and join us with your creations, we'd love to see them.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Galz - Mother's Day / Special Lady

Shopping Our Stash - #444 I Made This For You Mum     (Top 3)

Dare2BArtzy - Flowers

Stamping Sensations - Beautiful Blooms

Printing Plate Comparisons

     This comparison is purely my findings, it is not a definitive guide, my skill level is very much 'still learning' so please try these for yourselves. It was inspired by watching some very talented people using a Gel Plate, I wondered if I could use what I already had to get a similar effect.

     I have used four different printing plates, there are many other brands available. Three of these will fit in my stamp platform, making them very easy to use and build multiple layers, without re-aligning, if desired. Thickness ranges from 2.5mm to 3.25mm. The Gel Press is too thick for my press at 8.5mm, so this was used on a craft mat, laying the card on top to get an image making multiple layers more difficult, but not impossible.

     All these samples have been stamped on to the same type of card - Limetree 250sgm Silky Smooth. I've also used similar colours to make comparison easier.

    

     Plate - John Next Door Media Plate

     Ink - Izink Dye inks     Mer Du Sud / Nuit / Encre

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, daub edges with ink, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

     Plate - Inkylicious Mini Splatter Circle

     Ink - Izink Dye inks     Mer Du Sud / Nuit / Encre

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

     Plate - Crafty Roo Poly Plate

     Ink - Izink Dye inks     Mer Du Sud / Nuit / Encre

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

     Plate - Gel Press

      Ink - Izink Dye inks     Mer Du Sud / Nuit / Encre

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate, spritz with water and stamp.

     Plate - John Next Door Media Plate

     Ink - Izink Pigment inks     Sky Blue / Aqua / Light Blue / Violet

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, daub edges with ink, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

     Plate - Inkylicious Mini Splatter Circle

     Ink - Izink Pigment inks     Sky Blue / Aqua / Light Blue / Violet

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

     Plate - Crafty Roo Poly Plate

     Ink - Izink Pigment inks     Sky Blue / Aqua / Light Blue / Violet

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

      Plate - Gel Press

      Ink - Izink Pigment inks     Sky Blue / Aqua / Light Blue / Violet

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

     Plate - John Next Door Media Plate

     Ink - Distress Oxide  Tumbled Glass / Broken China / Faded Jeans / Wilted Violet

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

     Plate - Inkylicious Mini Splatter Circle

     Ink - Distress Oxide  Tumbled Glass / Broken China / Faded Jeans / Wilted Violet

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, spritz with water and tip to mix inks, stamp, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp again.

     Plate - Crafty Roo Poly Plate

     Ink - Distress Oxide  Tumbled Glass / Broken China / Faded Jeans / Wilted Violet

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate and stamp.

     Plate - Gel Press

      Ink - Distress Oxide  Tumbled Glass / Broken China / Faded Jeans / Wilted Violet

     Brusho mixed to paint - Ultra Marine / Purple

     Method: ink plate, brayer, flick water on plate, flick Brusho paint on plate, spritz with water and stamp.

Conclusions and discoveries

Conclusions - I need LOTS more practice, especially with the Gel Press.

                      If I get this messy with just inks maybe paint would be a bad idea! But I did enjoy it.

Discoveries - Each plate reacts differently with the inks because they are made with a slightly different material. Some with 'bead' on the surface, others don't.

                      Cover your card when flicking Brusho on the plate to keep it clean - unless of course you want the splattered look. It's also a good idea to cover your work area, use copy paper for future backgrounds.

                      Do not clean your plates once used - just wipe with a damp cloth to save colour contamination - they need to be 'dirty' to work well. If your plate stops sticking to your platform just give it a gentle wash to restore the tack.

                      Brusho may stain your plates. Some inks may stain them too but they will still work.

                       Clean your brayer off on spare card for future use - the odd marks you may get are from the edges of the plates or bumps under your card but they add character so don't worry.

      Printing plates can also be used with paint, alcohol inks and probably much more. There is a wealth of talent out there in blogland, You Tube and on Facebook so go and take a look. Don't be afraid to play, just remember no sharp objects - they can damage your plate and be careful with heat and sunlight for the same reason.

      To say it's only card is all very well but card costs money, as do inks. Playing is a great way to find out what you can achieve, so I would suggest working on smaller, say A6 or ATC size, pieces of card. Some of these experiments will turn out to be amazing, great for smaller greeting cards and some will be for recycle but with lessons learnt. For this experiment I have used A6 for the plates and some 6x3 strips of card I have had lurking around for a while for the brayer run off.

     

More Mistletoe Magic

     Mistletoe has featured quite a lot in my cards this year, all because Lavinia Stamps have a gorgeous stamp that is also available in a stencil and die from Sweet Poppy.

      The stamp is smaller than the stencil and die so makes for some easy batch making of A6 cards. When cards are batch made by hand they will always come out a little different so I don't feel it's cheating atall.
      Using watercolour card I stamped and embossed in white, then spritzed the card with water before lightly sprinkling Brusho over the card. Once dry I felt the edges needed a little definition, so I used Distress ink to add a touch of darker green all the way around.
      For the Brusho panels I used some gold paper and a little dark green card to mat and layer them.

     The panels looked a little odd on a plain white card so i used the stamp and some gold ink to stamp all around the edge before adding the panel.
      To finish off I added some tiny half pearls as berries and a small gold organza bow, after watching some YouTube videos I bought a nice fork in a charity shop that I now use just for tiny bow making.
      For the other two cards I stamped the same image on to white card and embossed with a dark green powder. I used the same card and paper as before but switched it around so the green was first and then the gold.
      Again I used the stamp to decorate the white card blank but this time using a very pale green. They also have tiny pearls and a little bow.
      Both card styles have the same greeting, just embossed with different colours and die cut with a small oval die, then mounted on thin foam pads.
      This is one stamp that won't be put away in the Christmas stash, upside down it looks like seaweed so I can use it all year round. I've really enjoyed making these cards so the Christmas stash will probably stay out for a while longer so I can get a head start on next year!

I would like to enter these cards in the following challenges:

ABC Christmas - Y~ Your Favourite Thing   (a stamp with multiple use)

      Christmas At Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas

The Holly and Ivy - Anything Christmas 

The 12 Months of Christmas - Anything Christmas

MHK Designs April Challenge

     Sorry I'm a little late with my project for MHK Designs challenge, I seem to have lost more than one hour as the clocks changed! The card was made but the post wasn't ready.
     For this card I have used the new set called Caring Crocus. I printed the image and then used an embossing pen to trace around the edges of the image, then I used coloured embossing powder to outline it.
     To colour the image I have used some powder type paint sprinkled over each area after it has been painted with a water brush, I have found it's best to work one small area at a time.
     Finishing off with a bit of matting and layering in matching colours it was completed with a layered greeting popped up on a foam pad.
    Please pop over to MHK Designs blog, if you haven't already, and take a look at all the DT inspiration for this gorgeous spring set.

Caring Crocus

Blooming House Of Cards

     The House Of Cards challenge this month has a gorgeous photo prompt with pretty shades of lilac, mauve and purple.  Needing no excuse to break out the Brusho's, as soon as I saw the colours for this challenge the box was on my desk.

     The flowers have been stamped and embossed in white on watercolour card. Then the fun began, using a water brush I painted one petal and sprinkled purple Brusho on it, blew away the excess and moved on the the next petal.
     All petals were done one at a time to make sure the paint stayed just where I wanted it, the stems and leaves have been done the same way.
The flower centre were done last so that the petals were completely dry, these were done with grey.
     The thing I love about these paints is the way they show the component colours when not completely mixed or saturated, giving some great effects.
     All that was needed was a mat layer to compliment the image and then on to a white card blank. The greeting comes with the flowers in a Woodware set called Erica, this was embossed in silver and die cut before mounting on foam pads.
   

   
     Our challenge at the House Of Cards runs all month so please come and join us with your creations.

Pop Up Brusho Flowers

     This card was made using a pop up die from Stampendous. It usually stands up portrait style but I wanted to try it landscape, it still work, especially with flowers and doesn't try to close. With the addition of patterned paper for the background it fits perfectly for our challenge at CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge.

   
      I have several tubs of Brusho and wanted to try the White embossing technique I had seen on Pinterest.
     The image was stamped with Versamark and them embossed with white powder on watercolour card. Brusho were sprinkled over the card and a gentle spritz of water added to make the colour flow. As the images were going to be die cut it didn't matter about over run colour, just that the colours looked good on the images. Once dry all flowers and leaves were die cut ready for assembly.

     The patterned card was cut to size and then using the pop up die the creases and tabs were cut. After cutting it was trimmed to fit an A6 landscape fold card blank, sticking the pop up mechanism inside with care not to stick the tabs down.
     Each flower was added to the tabs to build the bouquet and the leaves were added to the background on foam pads. The addition of one flower to the other side of the card just left the space for a die cut greeting.
     A matted patterned layer on the front with another flower finished the card off, it all folds quite flat so it will post if required.
    Remember CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge runs all month and just requires the use of patterned paper on your project.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

A Gem Of A Challenge - Embossing Wet or Dry
Allsorts - Embossing
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes