Crystal Magic

Welcome to another week of the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is to share a technique you love!

I have always loved trying out new techniques and this week I tried a variety of techniques with Brusho powders. 

Here is the end results of my playing all week. 

 Keep in mind I have this beautiful desk my husband built me that actually is large enough for me and a friend to ink it up.  As usual I have it full of stuff and working in a tiny area until my project is done then I clean the surface and put everything away and start again! (I also like that you can see my remote which controls the t.v. which is on the entire time I am in the craft room. Preferably PBS mystery shows!)

I first started with a resist using the new snowflakes from Stampers Anonymous.  I inked up the stamps with versamark and stamped them onto mixed media cardstock.  I heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  After that I added a bit of powder and and water until I got the consistency I wanted and then held it up to allow the watery color to run down the cardstock.  I cut this down into a tag and a card sized piece of paper after it had dried.

I didn't finish off either of these backgrounds yet... Expect to see it in some future project. :)  Next I decided to try to apply the crystals to the stamp.

I used a dry paint brush and picked up the powder and painted it onto a dry stamp I could have also inked up the stamp with Versamark which would have held the crystals.  The crystals carry a lot of color and they doesn't need much water to generate color.  Tip: The crystals will get everywhere and activate when you least expect it!  So make sure to clean your surfaces thoroughly when done or  work over scrap paper that you can through out when you are done. :)  I have added some color to other projects unexpectedly because of this. :O

I painted the stamp and then spritzed lightly the stamp with water and stamped it I was able to stamp twice with the same vibrancy and the third I cleaned off the stamp and then did it again when dry for my third set of flowers.   I did this many times on different papers with varying results.

I also tried inking up a stamp with the crystals mixed with water on acetate.   I added a tiny bit of spritz of water to the crystals and then inked up the stamp from that mixture.  You get varying results depending on how much water is in the mix and gets picked up on the stamp.

My next thought was to sprinkle the crystals through a stencil and see the effect.

I started with the new snowflake stencil and sprinkled a small amount of crystals into the openings and spritzed lightly to keep the watery image intact.   I cut this down to a tag.  Because I had lightly spritzed the crystals the stencil didn't bleed as much but my crystals also were not fully activated and there is some texture to the snowflakes.  To prevent this from bleeding if water activated the remaining crystals I laid the stencil back over the snowflakes sponged on versamark over the snowflakes and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.  This sealed them and kept the crystals intact. 

Right after finished the tag and while the stencil was still full of the remaining crystals and colors  I pulled the stencil up and spritzed more water to the stencil.  I then laid it back down to get the reverse image on a new piece of cardstock.   (I chose these colors because these are the colors I have in my brusho set.  I need to add the rest of the colors to my collection!)

I then tried to take a few photos of the process for you to follow along:

1. Place the stencil on mixed media cardstock  and sprinkle with desired mix of crystals across the surface:

 2. Start to mist the surface with a water bottle. I used a little one which controls the amount of water being used.  You will see the pretty colors start to blend and spread.  If you over saturate the crystals will bleed under the stencil and you will lose the image.  

 3.  Lift the stencil and you should see a lovely image on your card stock.
4. Take the stencil with the remaining watercolor and place face down onto another sheet of card stock:

Here are some of the results:  

The dark red one was the original one I took step #1 photo of before I misted and lifted the stencil.  I rubbed off the extra crystals with a dry piece of paper towel once it was dry to again prevent crystals from activating. Any of these images have a lovely wealth of color so if they get wet they will spread!  The outline of the stencil is on the right which I flipped onto a white piece of card stock.  The bottom left piece is from the step #3.  I don't know where step #2 disappeared to. I will have to go look for it! :)

I also was playing with coloring leaves in a pan of water with the crystals sprinkled in.  I took those leaves as they were drying and placed them in between pieces of white card stock and caught their imprint.

 Finally I played with stamping an outline stamp with the cracks and sprinkling the powders over the stamped image and spritzing them.  I also used the crack stencil and tried getting the same effect but the stenciled image didn't show up as much as I would have liked so I ended up with the stamp:

I also did try embossing paste with the crystals sprinkled on top after I had stenciled. It added a lovely bit of color and I think if I had mixed them into the paste it would have given a lovely colored paste.  Something to try for the next time I play with the crystals.

Products: Brusho Crystal Watercolors, Wendy Vecchi - The Beauty, Stampers Anonymous - Cracks, Tim Holtz - Layering Stencil - Crackle, Memory Box - Heartwood Stencil, Simon Says Stamps Sequins, Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee, Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz Snowflakes, Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Snowflakes, Darkroom Door - Wildflowers, Stampers Anonymous - Classic Stamps, Sizzix Fall Foliage Thinlits

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your favorite technique. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

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