Christmas Spiral Branch and Tutorial

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well.  I would like to welcome the new followers and again thank everyone for your visits and kind comments.  You make blogging very enjoyable :)

I had the thought that Designs by Ryn's new beautiful Spiral Branch would make a nice background for a Christmas design.  And then I saw Bianca created a beautiful Christmas card using it, which you can see here at this post.   She inspired me to almost immediately create this card :)  I've also included a tutorial on how I created the background.

Click for a larger photo

The background was created with Broken China, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink using the Acrylic Block Technique (but I used a small plexi glass sheet).    I did all the stamping with Cobalt Blue Archival Ink.   I coloured the leaves with several Gelly Roll pens, two are sparkly.  I used Sapphire DI around the edges.   I die cut the flowers that have a snowflake shape from white cardstock and coloured by blending Distress Inks over them. 

Stamps:    Designs by Ryn, Spiral Branch
                Chocolate Baroque, Bold Christmas Words
Dies:        Crealies, CL CF 18

I promised to create a tutorial using Distress Inks with an Acrylic Block, so I've taken photos of the steps.   I apologize for the quality of the pictures, it's hard to work with one hand and photograph with the other.  I don't have a tripod and probably a video would be better.

Here are the steps I took to create the background:

You need:  Distress Inks -  Broken China, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers, Spray Bottle & Water (with a light mist), Card stock - I used 140lb Mixed Media paper with Vellum Coating, Acrylic Block or Plexi Glass plate.   I always work over a Craft Mat and mine has pit marks from a table that is not smooth, but it still works fine.

I use the plexi glass plate as it gives me a bit more room for ink

Add ink direct from ink pad to the glass plate (or acrylic block)

I've placed a large sheet of white cardstock under the glass just for photograph purposes so you can see the ink  (NOTE:  I am NOT using a Gelli plate here)

Here you can see I've misted the ink

I've placed my cardstock on the glass with the wet ink and I move it around a little

I've turned it over so I can see the ink (but you don't have to, if you like a surprise)

Again I move the glass sheet around a little to spread the ink

I've removed the glass plate

Dry with a heat gun (or air dry)

When dry, I added the remaining ink that was left on the plate which will give a splatter look (similar to the wrinkle free technique using your craft mat).  If you don't want splatters or drip marks, skip this step.

I've used all the ink that I had on the plate, I could have added more at the start.   I want more ink around the parameter and decide to add more Broken China Distress Ink with the glass plate

I add the ink to the plate and mist again

I've placed the cardstock onto the plate and move around the parameter

I've turned it over to see what I'm doing :)

I remove the plate, dry and trim to the size I want to work with

I enjoy using this technique, the results are never the same.   If this is new to you and want to give it a try, just play and have fun to see what results you get.  

Glenda, the owner of Chocolate Baroque has posted informative tutorials at their website.    She included a great lesson using the acrylic block with various inks and you can see it here.

Below is a close up of the finished card.   

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your weekend,
Shirley