Batik Cards Using is Heat-Embossing Resist Technique

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Imagine

By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends! One of my favorite cardmaking techniques is heat-embossing resist. Today, I want to share with you how to make these Batik cards using this technique. It is a technique you can use to create fun and colorful backgrounds with heat embossing and ink blending.

Let’s get crafting!

Skill: Beginner
Time: 20 minutes

Direction:

Step 1
Cut out a piece of 8.5 inch x 11 inch white cardstock into 4 panels of 4.25 inch x 5.5 inch.

Using a blending brush, add some of the VersaFine Clair Avocado ink to one of the white cardstock panels.

Dry the ink on the cardstock with a craft heat gun.

Step 2
Add some of the anti-static powder all over the inked panel.

Stamp the images with VersaMark ink and add some of the clear embossing powder. Heat the embossing powder with a craft heat gun.

Using a blending brush, add some of the VersaFine Clair Grass Green ink on the panel.

Carefully dry the ink on it, not to make the embossed images melt too much. Let it cool down before touching it. Gently wipe off the extra ink with paper towel.

Step 3
Add again the anti-static powder on the panel.

Stamp the next images with VersaMark ink and add some of the clear embossing powder. Heat the embossing powder with a craft heat gun.

Step 4
After heating up the embossing powder, crumble the cardstock. Depending on the cardstock you use, you can spray the back of the cardstock lightly with water and then crumble it.

Flat it back on the craft mat and use the bone folder to smooth it down. You won’t get perfectly smooth cardstock back but the crumble lines are the one that will give the texture that we need for the batik look.

Step 5
The next step is adding more color to the panel!

Use the blending brush, add some of the VersaFine Clair Spruce ink on the panel.

You will start to see the pattern. Add more ink if needed to get more contrast between 3 colors.

Use a paper towel to wipe off the extra ink off the embossed images.

Step 6
On a piece of white cardstock, stamp the sentiment with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.

Dry the inked sentiment with a craft heat gun.

Step 7
Use a paper trimmer to trim the sentiment into a label size and punch a hole on one of the side.

Use a paper distress tool or a knife to distress all the edges of the background panel.

Step 8
Add the background panel on the card base using On Point Glue.

Wrap around some of the burlap twine on the card, before tie it up, add the sentiment label on the card. Put the tail of the burlap twine through the label hole. Glue the sentiment on the card with some white foam and Tear It! Tape.

Tie up the burlap twine into a bow.

This Batik cardmaking technique works well with solid images because of the heat embossing resist effect. You can pick any 2-3 colors of inks you can use that compliment each other.

Here’s the different look of the Batik card I made using the same heat embossing technique but simpler. So, instead of multiple times heat-embossing the images and blending the inks, this one is only once. Here’s the simpler steps:

First, heat emboss the image directly to the white cardstock panel.

Second, crumble the cardstock, flat it out back using a bone folder.

Third, using blending brush add the ink on the cardstock starting with the light color, medium color, then dark color.

I hope you will give this Batik technique a try and play around with different colors. Thanks so much for stopping by our blog today.

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

VersaFine Clair (Avocado, Green Grass, Spruce, Nocturne)
VersaMark Original (clear)
On Point Glue
Tear It! Tape
Imagine Craft Mat
Staz-On All Purpose Stamp Cleaner

Others:

Nature Silhouettes 3 Clear Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
Simple Sentiments Clear Stamp Set (Creative Worship Stamps)
Burlap Twines
Neenah Solar White Cardstock 80 lb
White fun foam
Blending brushes
Stamping tool
Acrylic stamping blocks
Micro-tip scissors
Paper trimmer
Hole Punch
Distresser Tool
Bone Folder
Bottle Sprayer / Mister Bottle
Paper Towel

Faux Stained Glass Christmas Card

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Imagine

By Ceil Pritchett

Hello Crafty Friends!
It’s Ceal, here. Today I am sharing how I made this faux stained-glass Christmas Card.

Skill Level: Beginner
Time: 30 Minutes

Directions:

Gather your supplies. You will three inks, Pink, Yellow and Blue. A blending tool, a silhouette die along with black, white and gold cardstock.

Step 1:
Cut the nativity die out of black cardstock, the backer out of white and the star out of the gold cardstock.

Step 2:
On the backer using a sponge or other blending tool, blend the blue around the outer edge of the panel and the pink and yellow inside the blue.

Step 3:
Line up the nativity over the backer and adhere it down with On Point glue. As you can see in the photo above, I use the corner of the MISTI to help me line things up.

Step 4:
Add the window to the card base.

Supplies:

Imagine Products:
• VersaFine Clair – Charming Pink, Cheerful and Warm Breeze
• On Point Glue
• Sponge Daubers

Other Products:
Misti 2.0 – My Sweet Petunia
Nativity Die – Stampendous
White Cardstock – CutCardStock
Black Cardstock – Hero Arts
Gold foil cardstock – Erin Lee Creative

Blackout Technique with Memento Ink and an Embossing Folder

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Imagine

By Alison Heikkila

Hello! I’m Alison Heikkila. Embossing folders are so popular right now, not just because of the dimension they create so easily, but because of all the techniques you ca do with them. Today, we’ll be doing a Blackout technique with Memento and VersaFine Clair Inks for Imagine, which is so much fun to do.

*Some affiliate links are used in this post. That means that if you shop through these links, I may receive a small compensation, at no cost to you. For more information, please see my Affiliates page, where I also have some coupon codes.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Time to Complete: 20-30 minutes

Supplies Used:
Imagine:
Memento Inks in Cantaloupe, Pistachio, Olive Grove, Sweet Plum, Elderberry, Rhubarb Stalk, and Tangelo
Memento Marker in Cantaloupe
VersaFine Clair Ink in Pinecone
Sponge Daubers
On Point Glue

Other:
Spellbinders: Nature’s Botanical Wreath 3D Embossing Folder
Spellbinders: Thanks Enclosed Sentiments Die Set
Strathmore: Smooth Bristol Cardstock
White Card Base
Purple & Yellow Cardstock

Learn the Technique in Creating an Eye-Catching Faux Scratchboarding Card

Posted on August 6, 2021 by Imagine

Faux-13-600

By Alison Heikkila

Do you remember Scratch Art? There’s a black piece of heavy cardstock and you use pointy tools to scratch the black away, to reveal colors underneath? Some folks made really incredible art with this technique…I know my kids always enjoyed doing it too. How would you like to recreate that look of scratch art, but in a lot less time? It’s fun, and it gives you another way to use your reinkers.

Skill Level: Intermediate

Time: 20-30 Minutes

Directions:

Faux-1

Step 1

Gather your supplies. You’ll need a gel printing plate (mine is a 6″x6″), reinkers ( I used 5 Radiant Neon colors), a brayer, and some copy paper. You can use heavy weight cardstock if you prefer.

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Step 2

Squirt a small amount of reinkers in lines on your gel printing plate. You don’t need too much. I have a little more than I needed on mine.

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Step 3:

Using a brayer, roll over the ink to get the colors to begin to blend. Try to keep from moving the brayer too much from side to side, as that will have the colors blend, and you’ll lose the distinction of each color.

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Step 4

Apply your piece of copy paper to the gel plate, and rub the back of the paper with your hands. Be sure to have contact with the entire surface. Once you think the ink has transferred, slowly peel back the paper. If you see you need to transfer the ink better, place the paper back down and rub the back of it again.

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Step 5

Choose your stencil and grab VersaFine ink in Onyx Black. Once the gel print is completely dry, tape down the stencil on top of the print.

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Step 6

Using an ink dauber, apply a heavy coat of Onyx Black VersaFine all over the gel print. Make sure you don’t move your stencil, and that you get a deep, even coat of ink across the entire area.

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Step 7

When the stenciled area is thoroughly covered with ink, remove the stencil.

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Step 8

Optional- You may choose to leave the background as-is, or to enhance it further with embossing powder. I opted to use black embossing powder to give it some shine. You may also use clear over the black ink. ***Take this a step further and use a different contrasting color altogether!

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Step 9

Pour the embossing powder all over the print and shake off the excess. If you see stray bits of powder where you don’t want it, use a small, dry brush to swipe it away. Heat the powder with an embossing tool, but please keep in mind that if you used copy paper, the paper heats up quickly.

Step 10

Trim down your background to 3 3/4″ x 5.” This will leave you a nice big strip that yuo can use on a different card another time.

Step 11

Cut a piece of black cardstock to 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2.” Adhere your stenciled piece to the black with the adhesive of your choice.

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Step 12

Ink up your sentiment with VersaMark Ink. The sentiment I chose had many other sentiments with it, but I only wanted to ink up one. I put tape on the sentiment above and below the one I wanted to use, then I used the VersaMarker to ink up the one I wanted. You can use the VersaMark Pad for this too, but the pen is nice and small.

Step 13

Remove the tape and stamp the sentiment on to a strip of black cardstock.

Step 14

Sprinkle white embossing powder on to the sentiment, shake off excess, and heat set.

Step 15

Apply Radiant Neon Ink in Electric Pink to the edges of your (white) card base.

Step 16

Adhere the top layers (including the sentiment) to the card base.

Step 17

Using On Point Glue, adhere flat-backed rhinestones around the sentiment strip.

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The end result is a fun, eye-catching card that can be used for many occasions. You can experiment with different combinations of reinkers and stencils to get completely different looks.

Art Supplies

Imagine

Radiant Neon Reinkers in Electric Pink, Electric Yellow, Electric Green, Electric Blue, and Electric Purple
Radiant Neon Ink Pad in Electric Pink
Embossing Powder in Black and White
On Point Glue
Sponge Dauber

Other

Sassy & Crafty: Stained Glass Hearts Stencil
Doodles Paper Playground: Neon Flat-backed Rhinestones
Taylored Expressions & Brutus Monroe: Simple Strips- Crafty
Black Cardstock
White A2 Card Base

Stamp with Ancient Dynasty Coins

Posted on July 24, 2021 by Imagine

By Kyriakos Pachadiroglou

Turn the Ancient Dynasty Coins into stamps using Tack ‘n Peel reusable cling sheet and decorate the background using VersaFine CLAIR ink pads.

Skill: Intermediate

Time: 1 Hour

Directions:

2021-jul-kyriakos-oriental-prosperity-card-step1

Step 1

Sprinkle drops of the Walnut Ink Willow on a 4x6in piece of card stock. Spray with Ink Potion No. 9 to dilute further and dry it.

Step 2

Stamp with the bamboo branch using VersaFine CLAIR Shady Lane and Verdant covering the left half of the card.

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Step 3

Place a small piece of the Tack ‘N Peel sheet on an acrylic block and then place the Ancient Dynasty Coin.

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Step 4

Stamp with the coin and the VersaFine CLAIR Rain Forest on the card stock.

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Step 5

Stamp the letters stamp using VersaFine CLAIR Tulip red ink pad on the right side of the card piece.

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Step 6

Cut a 4in long piece of the cotton ribbon and hand sew vertically some natural straws cut in various lengths covering only a small part of the ribbon.

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Step 7

Pass red cord pieces through the coin and Tear It! Tape.

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Step 8

Add Tear It! Tape to the back for the cotton ribbon and set on card.

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Step 9

Set the coin on the cotton ribbon next to the straws and wave the left red cod through the straws. Tie the right cord behind the cotton ribbon and fold the ribbon to half.

Art Supplies

Imagine

Ancient Dynasty Coins – Prosperity

VersaFine CLAIR – Shady Lane, Verdant, Rain Forest, Tulip Red

Other materials

Card stock – white

Red cord

Natural straw sticks

Cotton ribbon

Needle and green thread

Artemio stamp set – Life energy

Kaisercraft stamp set – Lush

How to Make Stunning Bookmarks Using Ancient Dynasty Coins

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Imagine

By Kyriakos Pachadiroglou

Make oriental theme bookmarks by distressing paper with Walnut Inks, stamping and embossing with Gold Mboss Embossing Powder and adding a Ancient Dynasty Coins that holds a tassel.

Skill: Intermediate

Time: 1 Hour

Directions:

2021-jul-kyriakos-oriental-bookmarks-step1

Step 1

Place a few Walnut Ink Crystals on a piece of natural color card stock and spray with some water. Dilute the crystals and dry well.

Step 2

Cut 8×1.5″ pieces of the card stock.

2021-jul-kyriakos-oriental-bookmarks-step3

Step 3

Score 1″ from the top.

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Step 4

Stamp with the leaves stamp and the VersaMark ink pad, cover with Mboss Gold Embossing Powder and heat set.

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Step 5

Stamp with letters stamp and the VersaFine CLAIR ink pads.

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Step 6

Distress the edges of the paper with VersaColor Black ink.

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Step 7

Place an Ancient Dynasty Coin to the score, leaving the hole of the coin above it, and mark around the coin to the long side. Cut around the marked half circle and the scoring line (only to the part of the long side of the bookmark).

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