Today, Lisa is sharing her top five heat embossing tips and they are perfect for the beginner crafter. See how she demonstrates three fun ways to use embossing powder on beautifully handmade cards.
Skill: Beginner
Time: Varies
by Imagine staff
Many of you may have heard of embossing powders by now. There are plenty of introductions on how to heat emboss. In fact, we feature a great introduction to embossing on a metal tin by Nicole Watt. Check it out! But there is no end to the many uses of this unique product. So, in today’s post, we thought we would highlight a fun technique with one of the cool powders that Imagine has in stock — Mboss in Clear Matte!
Choose a pigment ink and a stamp. Here I picked VersaFine Clair in Charming Pink and a Waffle Flower stamp.
Emboss the stamped image with Mboss Matte Clear. Notice how the Matte Clear deepens the Charming Pink color. With a regular clear embossing powder, a high gloss would show. With the Matte Clear, it simply enhances the stamped image without the high gloss. If you wanted to leave it as is then this is a great technique for enhancing a stamp. For embossing powders, you will need a heat tool. We listed a purchase option in the supplies below.
To take it a bit further, here is an embossing technique that can really intensify any papercraft or cardmaking project. In the sample above you can see the stamp inked with Warm Breeze in VersaFine and then inked again with VersaColor in Canary Yellow. One benefit of embossing is to lock the color of the first stamped image to the paper. It can be inked over with additional colors without affecting it. The plain stamp blends a bit and turns the image to a green hue. The embossed image keeps it’s turquoise color perfectly.
Last example again with VersaFine in Charming Pink — you can see the luster of the embossing keeps the deep pink color intact! Inked with VersaColor can turn the Charming Pink into a coral color (which is beautiful). With the Mboss the Charming Pink pops through the yellow background.
In today’s post, I will do a quick review of our ink brands and discuss the best inks for the thinner pages of journals and planners. If you are a planner addict or simply would like to craft some fun “goals” pages for the New Year then check out what we have to say about the best planner inks for 2020!
One of the unique qualities of planners is the thin pages on the inside. These thin pages are designed to be flexible and lightweight so journals remain easy to use and at a low cost. If you like stamping inside your planner then getting a great inkpad is crucial. Let’s start with VersaFine Clair in Nocturne! VersaFine is a solid ink for making cards, but on thin pages, it is going to show through on the following page. StazOn Jet Black is an excellent mixed media ink and will stamp on nearly anything, yet again it shows through on thin paper. So these two inks I would save for cardmaking.
VersaMagic is a highly pigmented chalk ink. The Midnight Black stamps well and does not bleed through the paper as heavily as other black inks. I vote YES for this ink on thin pages. Memento Tuxedo Black is a water-based dye ink that is an excellent ink for cardmaking and using with other inks such as alcohol markers but has a heavy bleed through on the thin pages. In my observation, it bleeds through the most.
If you really like a certain inkpad brand and feel you still want to use it on your planner or journal pages then you can try a lighter shade. Although Memento Tuxedo Black is too heavy for thin pages an alternative is London Fog. The grey tone is light enough for the journal page. I was inspired to try VersaFine Clair in Morning Mist, but again the tone of grey is too dark and the VersaFine showed through again. It is not an issue of the ink formula but rather the color hue of this particular grey.
When looking at different inks for journal pages consider different colors within a brand or brands with unique pigment qualities. The winners of this stamping-on-thin-pages test are Memento in London Fog and VersaMagic in Midnight Black!! Thank you and Happy Planning!
Hi everyone! Today’s video is all about heat embossing—from stamp layering with embossing powder, creating a faux branding iron look, to stenciling with VersaMark… these techniques really take heat embossing to the next level. If you like heat embossing and are eager to learn new tips and tricks, this video is a must-watch!
Hello all, I am sharing with you some of the great benefits of using the new StāzOn Pigment ink. I really love this ink and love how it works with different surfaces. Before I get into demonstrating several options available, let me cover the basic information that Imagine has provided about this new product.
StāzOn Pigment:
StāzOn Pigment ink is available in 12 colors
With the basics out of the way, let’s move on to see how well StāzOn Pigment ink works with other Imagine products as well as with different substrates and mediums. To best explore the crafty possibilities of this ink, let’s embark on a variety of explorations using StāzOn Pigment ink with different substrates and mediums. The 6 explorations below outline the manner in which StāzOn Pigment was applied, the different substrate(s) and medium(s) used, as well as provide a photo capturing the result.
StāzOn Pigment: Stamped flower with Piano Black and saying stamped with Peacock Feathers.
Substrate: Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, vellum surface, 185 lb.
Medium(s): Watercolor with Memento Dual Tip Markers.
Additional Medium added, Sheer SHIMMER Craft Spray – Sparkle
Artist Observations: The StāzOn Pigment ink did not smear with the application of the wet watercolors, nice! Plus, the crisp stamped image really helped the image stand out.
StāzOn Pigment: Stamped flower image with Piano Black.
Substrate: Flat panel canvas, pre-treated with gesso
Medium(s): DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics
Artist Observations: The StāzOn Pigment ink produced a vibrant stamped image that held up well against the acrylic paint. With the rough surface of the canvas, I found that a well-inked stamp and a little extra pressure was required to get a clean stamped image.
StāzOn Pigment: Stamped flower image with Piano Black.
Substrate: Untreated wood plaque
Medium(s): Fabrico Dual Makers with a DecoArt DuraClear Matte Varnish finish
Artist Observations: The StāzOn Pigment worked great on wood and didn’t smear with the application of the Fabrico markers.
Exploration 4 – Glass
StāzOn Pigment: Stamped flower image with Piano Black. Floral image colored with Snowflake, Chocolate Brown, Lemon Drop & Shamrock Green using Doodlestix Mixed Media Tools.
Substrate: Glass
Medium(s): irRESISTible Pico Embellisher
Artist Observations: I love the permanency of StāzOn Pigment on the glass and the application of the ink with a DoodleStix Mixed Media Tool was super easy and effective. The challenge came with working on a slick surface; I had to keep a steady hand when stamping to obtain a clean image.
Exploration 5 – Tumble Stone Tile
StāzOn Pigment: Stamped flower image with Piano Black.
Substrate: Tumble Stone Tile
Medium(s): Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens w/DecoArt DuraClear Matte Varnish finish
Artist Observations: The StāzOn Pigment ink worked beautifully on the tumble stone tile. There was no smearing with the application of color with the Artist PITT pens or with the use of the varnish sealer.
Exploration 6 – Metal & Glass
StāzOn Pigment: Stamped images with Piano Black. Peacock Feathers, Shamrock Green & Snowflake ink sponged onto surfaces with InkBlushers.
Substrate: Metal & Glass
Artist Observations: Sponging and stamping onto Metal with StāzOn Pigment ink worked like a dream. Vibrant color and crisp images resulted in a beautiful project!
As these explorations demonstrate, StāzOn Pigment ink works very well on a variety of substrates resulting in crisp stamped images that dry quickly. It also holds up to different mediums without running or smearing. Not only can it be used as a staple ink to stamp images on a variety of surfaces (to be treated with different mediums), it works well as a strong stand-alone ink that you can use to create entire projects with (see Exploration 6 – Metal & Glass).
For a paper project using StāzOn Pigement as a stand-alone ink, visit “Create a Stamped Collage Using StāzOn PIGMENT Inkpad”.
We are so excited to tell you about a new product that will be hitting the market soon—not only is Sheer Shimmer going to be available in Rose Gold, but also in an all-new easy applicator! Sheer Shimmer Stix can be held like a pen to swipe the dauber top applicator over a project surface to effortlessly and cleanly apply the elegant sheer shimmer you already love.
Keep your eye on the blog all month where our artists are going to show you some awesome technique ideas for this new product and the announcement they are ready to order!
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