Tutorial - Autumn Days emboss resist

The holidays are here and everyone's having a well-earned break. Since they all seem happy and busy I thought I'd put together that emboss resist tutorial I mentioned yesterday. I've made another card using the Right on Track wheel because I'm fascinated by the idea that it makes a good fence!

It may look complicated but it's actually much easier than you think. Don't be daunted by the long list of instructions - it's long because I've tried to be thorough! If you click on the pictures you'll find it makes them much bigger.

This is what you need:
Whisper White card stock 13cm x 9cm (3 1/2" x 5")
Right on Track wheel with Chocolate Chip ink cartridge
Autumn Days stamp set
The trees from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set
Versamark pad and versamark pen
Clear embossing powder
Heat gun
Ink: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue
Markers to colour the pheasant: Really Rust, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa

First use markers to apply colour directly onto your pheasant stamp. I used Really Rust for the head, breast and wing of the bird, More Mustard for its speckled back and tail and Close to Cocoa for its legs (although with hindsight I should perhaps have used Chocolate Chip!)

Breathe onto your stamp to remoisten the ink and stamp it onto the bottom right-hand corner of the card stock.

Now go over the whole image with the Versamark pen. Then get a piece of scrap paper, fold it in half and then open it out again. Put your card stock onto the paper and cover the pheasant with clear embossing powder. Tip the embossing powder off the card stock onto the paper and return to its pot using the fold in the paper as a pouring channel.

The pheasant will look all pale and powdery - but not for long! Heat it with your heat gun, holding the gun about 6cm above the card stock and keeping it in motion to avoid scorching. The image will suddenly come to colourful life when it's embossed. Make sure it's all done.

This is what it looks like when it's done. It's gone shiny! More importantly, it's become waterproof so any ink stamped over it will simply wipe off. That means that what you stamp over the top will look as if it's behind the pheasant.

Now get your foliage and grasses stamps and an Old Olive ink pad. Load the stamp with versamark first, then tap it into your ink pad to load colour and then stamp it onto your card stock. (Yes my versamark pad is covered in ink! I have a clean one  that I use for watermarking pale card stock and this one that I use for emboss resist.)

Now repeat that step with the other two grass images loading the stamp with versamark first and then with ink. I used Always Artichoke for one of the grasses and Creamy Caramel for the other.

Okay! It's time to heat emboss again. Put your card stock on that piece of paper with a fold in it, cover the stamped grasses with clear embossing powder, tip the powder off onto the paper and pour it back into the container. Then heat the image as before until the colour comes through and it becomes shiny.

Next, wheel the Right on Track image across the card stock to make a fence. Don't forget to start wheeling just off the paper so that the wheel has a chance to get inked up. Some of the ink will get on the pheasant and grasses so you need to wipe it off carefully with a cotton bud or a bit of tissue.

Now go over the fence image with your versamark pen, cover it with clear embossing powder and heat it with your heat gun. (I haven't shown a photo this time because you know how to do this by now!) Now your card stock should look something like this.

Time to stamp the trees! I used Chocolate Chip ink and because the image didn't reach all the way across, I stamped it again to fill in the gap.

Stamp some more foliage and grasses 'behind' the fence and carefully polish off any ink that goes on the fence or the pheasant.

Now add some colour. Take a sponge dauber and sponge Always Artichoke on the bottom of the card stock going darker at the edges.

Daub a little Certainly Celery in the branches of the trees with another sponge dauber. Add the colour gradually - remember you can always add more but you can't take it away! Then lightly sponge the sky with Bashful Blue, again concentrating on the edges of the card stock.

I smudged a little Chocolate Chip ink on my card stock by accident so I doodled some birds in to disguise it! Who was it that said that mistakes are just an excuse to add an embellishment...?

To finish the card, I added a sentiment from Happy Moments punched out with the word window punch and sponged round the edges with Creamy Caramel ink. This was fixed to the image with a copper coloured eyelet from the Metallics assortment and a piece of Linen Thread was knotted through it. The panel was then adhered to a card base made from half a sheet of A4 Whisper White folded in half.

I hope this tutorial has inspired you to try some emboss resist.
Thanks for spending your time with me.
Happy Easter!