Distress Resist

I don't know about you, but I could get lost on youtube tutorials for a year!  There are so many things that I want to try out, and I love learning new techniques so much! I guess I'm a technique junkie, but that's what makes amazing looking items with less effort.

It was after watching a video (that I can't locate at this moment) that I felt an overwhelming desire to go to Micheal's and get a large butterfly stamp that I had seen there a week or two before.  I had thought, what in the world would I use that for?  I hadn't thought about stamping the butterfly on an envelope, or this technique; so I didn't allow myself to buy it.  But after seeing the video, it became a necessity ;) ;)  I will try again later to find the video.

For some of these cards, I was over at my friend's house making them, and she didn't have any Versa mark.  She had an embossing ink pad by Paper Studios.  She was told by someone at Hobby Lobby that it was better than Versamark for embossing.  Let me tell you, it was not for this technique. 

 

The ones that were done with the Versamark ink pad maintained a vivid look, but the ones that were done with the Paper Studios ink pad took on a more watered-down look which tells me that when we wiped the embossed area with a damp cloth that the water was able to seep through the layer of embossing.

Oh, and I must give a shout out to my friend Frank who made me a small bow maker, it really made tying these bows a breeze.  I was down to the last two cards when I remembered it was almost as easy to make a double bow with it as the single bow.  I don't think I'll make single bows any more, the double bows are so much prettier, don't you agree?

Even though I can't find the video, I can explain the technique.
Step 1: put different colors of ink on the paper. (These are the colors that will show through) and let dry thoughly
Step 2:  use an embossing buddy (or any anti-static thing) and rub the entire square. I forgot to do this on the card where I used the "True Friends" stamp and that's why there's a haze around that butterfly.
Step 3: Stamp your image with Versamark ink pad and emboss with clear embossing powder.
Step 4: Ink entire panel with a dark distress ink
Step 5: lightly wipe off the embossed area with a slightly damp cloth and watch the colors pop!