FOAMIRAN FLOWERS

                                                              

                                              Hello everyone

                          Today I ,Uma Didwania , on crafters corners blog

                                  In this post I'd love to share with you  

                                                my latest love Foamiran flowers

WHAT IS FOAMIRAN?

Foamiran is a stretchy material

 with 0.8mm thick which somewhat look 

 like paper, easy to shape when

 it is warm. I mentioned the thickness

 as thickness is very important. This is

a special kind of foam dedicated to

 flower making only.

 It is not the ordinary craft foam which is generally 2mm thick

which you can buy in crafts store.

Its a special foam made in Iran and that is why its known as FOAM-IRAN.

Foamiran flowers are my love these days and i m going GAGA about its multiple uses....

They are the best if you cant invest in many things and need something to do to keep you busy.

The best part is that these can be die cut with your Big shot machine or any other die cutting machine.

They can also be handcut if you dont own a machine so they .

You can also buy hundreds of accessories from DRESS MY CRAFT too which will help you to jazz up your flowers.

 (at Crafters Corner)  .

Now ....

I have a tutorial of this beautiful flower

Required Materials:

1:  Foamiran sheets (white & olive green).
2:  Archival ink (pink peony).
3:  Floral wire ( soon will be at the store ).
4:  Floral green tape ( soon will be at the store ).
5:  Kitchen foil.
6:  Hot glue gun.
7:  Iron any or craft iron from Crafters corner .
8:  Pair of scissors preferably Tonic only.
9:  Sparkling dust from dress my craft 
10: Clear glue .
Here is step by step

Step 1:
cut the square pieces of white foamiran sheeta (as shown in the pic)

Step 2:
Cut the three edges of square pieces in curve shape & give them petal shape

Step 3:
Color the edges of the petals with archival ink

Step 4:
Set your iron on the low temp.

Step 5:
As you heat the petal quickly twist it.

Step 5:
Open your petals and slightly stretch it with your fingers & give them curve shape. ( do it very softly otherwise it would tear)

Step 6:
Crush the kitchen foil & shape it like a rose bud.

Step 7:
Attach the floral wire in the bud with hot glue.

Step 8:
Now arrange the petals on the bud ( start with smaller one)

Step 9:
After you paste the smaller petals your flower would look like this.

Step 10:
Finish with the medium sized petals like this.

Step 11:
Now start with the large size petals, paste them randomly.

I made more flower, rose buds and leaves. Now attach them with floral green tape.

Step 12:
Apply the glue & sprinkle the sparkling dust.....and you can see that i love this dust badly :P

Hope this tutorial will help you all.
So start making foamiran flowers nowwwwwwwwww......

Love n hugssss
Uma 

Stamping It is !!

Good Morning Everyone

How are you all doing??
I am back again with another post, I hope you are enjoying the super awesome posts by my fellow DT's.
Today, I am going to share some cool ways you can jazz up your projects by stamping.
Let's get started.

I am going to use these stamps for today's post 

STAMPING BASICS: 

Stamps - There are two types of stamps available one is acrylic and other is wood mounted rubber stamps.

Acrylic Blocks sold separately then stamps and comes in different sizes.

Ink Pads - You will need some ink to stamp. Variety of inks are available archival ink ,  momento dye based ink, staz on are to name some.

Paper and colors (distress inks, chalk inks, water colors etc)

You can use any of the two to stamp until and and unless purpose is just plain stamping 

 In the above two pictures you can see the difference how crisp the image is when its is stamped with archival ink, I have used memento and archival ink.

Once you go ahead further beyond stamping like water coloring the stamped images, here you can spot the difference between two of them, Memento Ink reacts with water where as archival inks does not react with water. So a big thumbs up to archival ink if you are fan of water coloring or playing around with some fun techniques with distress inks.

Now coming over to projects that I have made from these stamps - 

For this cheerful bright card I have first done some heat embossing using clear embossing powder, then have used distress inks to water color the background as you can see. 

Voila simple easy peasy card is ready!! 

You can use any sentiment of your choice. 

Here I have used die cut saying HELLO!!

I have gone so carried away with heat embossing, have made some more projects with the same technique of heat embossing 

Take a look 

You will be needing stamp, embossing powder , paper, heat gun and Versa mark ink for stamping.

I have randomly stamped image on white paper and poured some different color embossing powder over the stamped image and heat set it with heat gun. And results are just splendid 

I have made these tags and small card.

They look absolutely gorgeous in person. 

Now moving over to second stamp set "Carte Postale"

When I opened by DT Pack and saw this stamp set, my reaction was nothing but ???? what I am going to do with stamp... 

Well I am a distress ink fan and there was no going away then playing with some basic distress ink techniques.

To begin with I have randomly stamped over piece of paper, doing some generation stamping technique 

Moving from top left corner image I have distressed the paper using vintage photo and rusty hinge distress ink, followed by heat embossing with golden tinsel and black embossing powder.

And lastly covered the entire piece of paper with clear embossing powder and heat set it.

I am so much in love with the vintage effect!!

To finish the card I have decorated it by these gorgeous handmade flowers with heartfelt creation sun kissed stamp and dies.

Last but not the least I have made key chain or embellishment you can say using the stamp set,

You can also use the same as charm in your mini albums ...

I have stamped the image ( 2 pieces), distressed the same with vintage photo

Adhered them with tacky glue

punched hole with crop a dile set eye let and voila your are ready to go..

I hope you find the post interesting and was able to inspire you all...

Do keep watching the space for more awesome  

Supplies used :

Ranger Heat tool

Embossing powders: black, clear , butter cup , golden tinsel

Ranger Craft sheet

Crop-a-dile

Distress Inks- Vintage Photo, mustard seed, picked fence, salty ocean, worn lipstick

Heartfelt creations: sun kissed fleur stamp, sun kissed fleur die 

Charms

Archival inks black, memento black ink, versamark ink

Acrylic blocks

Tacky glue

 

 

Let's go Inky!

Hey Friends,

How are you all? Neha here. Today, I am going to talk about 2 topics.

                - Different kinds of inks available at crafters corner

                -when to use which black ink & why (as I believe, If you know why 

                  behind anything...you never have to remember when and which...:) )

Dye-based inks 

                 

                        - Dye-based inks are quick-drying and excellent for basic stamping.

              -  It’s pads are  hard felt pad, which means it’s difficult to over-ink 

                 your stamp, so it gives clean, crisp images 

              - perfect for stamping outlines and ideal for those new to stamping.

              - They are more  transparent and thinner than pigment inks.

              - They get absorbed in paper so gives brightest image on white CS. 

                  They don't give good results with dark CS.  

              - They dry quickly so not recommended for heat embossing.

              - They can be permanent/ waterproof upon drying(ranger archival inks) 

                  or non-permanent i.e activated with water
                  even after drying.(eg. distress inks)

I am listing inks from the store which falls under this category with a brief description.

1.) Archival Ink Pads by Ranger :

        - Archival quality means fade resistant over a period of time. The inks are acid free, non-toxic and permanent on most paper.

         - On glossy surfaces, inks should be heat set to ensure permanency.

                                - waterproof makes it great for using with watercolors and/or water based markers, acrylic paints.

- Stamp cleaner is required to clean your stamps.

2.) Chalk Inks :

Chalk ink Edger by Prima               &                       ColorBox fluid Chalk inks  

                -  These inks are special kind they are dye inks with chalky pigments.

   - they provide opaque, matt, chalky, lustrous  ink coverage.

   - can be used to stamp even on darker colored card stock

   - These inks share the resilience of pigment ink

      but stamp and blend like dye ink

   - dry quickly on absorbent surfaces but if you work quickly

      you can heat emboss with them

                -  permanent when heat set, they resist smearing, 

                   bleeding or fading even when air dried. 

                - great for stamping and edging and direct to surface techniques.

                -  Works as water colors too.   

3) Distress Inks : 

            - These are water based dye ink.

             -You can use them to create an aged look on papers, fibers, photos 

           -Developed to produce a realistic weathered look

           -It has some chemical agent which delays drying time

            and makes it more blend able

           - Use it with blending foam to create beautiful back grounds.

           - excellent to use it with paint brush as water colors

              to color stamped images.

4) Memento Dye Inks : 

                 -  Tsukineko's Memento inkpads feature extraordinary fade-resistant

                    dye inks that have made them a staple for new 

                    and  experienced paper crafters.

                 - These inkpads capture fine details and offer even coverage.

                   Memento is fast drying on most papers.

                - Also, Memento inks are compatible with Copic Markers.

                - They comes in this due drop size and full size pads too.

                - If you are new to stamping and paper crafting, go for these

                  pocket friendly inks. They last for a long time and comes in 

                  many vibrant colors. They Also comes in full size pads.

5) Hero Arts Shadow, Mid tone Inks, Ombre inks 

           

Shadow  inks are specially formulated to blend into paper surfaces

 leaving a soft translucent image

 while  Mid-Tone Inks gives rich vibrant image.

The Shadow Ink line is made up of pastel tones and Mid-tones

 are rich vibrant colors.

     Ombre three of the Hero Arts midtone formula dye inks in one beautiful

 ombre  pad to give color gradation while stamping.

6) Ranger Dye Inks:

- These water based dye inks are both fade resistant and waterproof when dry.

-  Acid free. Non-toxic. Gives even coverage.

This is the card I created previously with various dye inks

Pigment inks:

-Pigment based inks are also water based but, unlike dye inks, they contain little

 particles of color. Because of this, they leave an impression that is more 

 vibrant and more resistant to water (once dry) than their dye based counterparts.

- They are fade resistant.

-They also stay wetter longer so they are suitable for embossing.

-Their pads are made of soft foam so be careful while inking stamp to prevent over-inking.

-On the negative side, they can't be used on gloss stock - they smear.

-A stamp inked with pigment ink can usually be cleaned with a wet paper towel but the darker colors 
may require the use of a stamp cleaning solution. 

Products in this category are

Mama Elephant Inks:                                                Ranger Pigment Inks

check my previous post with these inks HERE 

 

Clearsnap Colorbox Inks                                                            Memento Luxe Pigment inks.

Versafine Inks

Versafine is Tsukineko's unique pigment ink with an extraordinary ability to

 crisply capture finely detailed images.

         It requires separate mention as they are natural oil-based pigment

 ink that dries quickly on matte cardstock delivering great stamping results for fine detail. 

Their pads are hard and made of felt unlike other pigment ink's soft, foam pads.

The ink works with watercolor and markers.

                The inkpad is designed to last 3-5 times longer than regular inks.

In my opinion this is the finest stamping ink.

Solvent-based inks

-StazOn is a popular brand of solvent-based ink, as it has a mild smell and is 

available in many colours.

-Solvent-based inks are quick-drying, archival, acid-free, permanent inks.

-They are designed to use with non-porous and semi-porous surfaces like  acetate, glass, plastic, cellophane, aluminum foil, leather, shrink plastic and even metal.

 - You need stamp special stazOn cleaner to clean your stamps.

 Many reviews says they damage clear stamps.

- As it is  solvent based, ink pads dry out faster and needs re inking frequently. 

Alcohol inks

-These are special dye-based inks designed to give a pretty, polished-stone effect.

-They are quick-drying and permanent, and can be used on lots of surfaces including glossy paper, acetate, shrink plastic, foil and metal.

- Use this transparent alcohol ink to create colorful and dazzling effects on these slick surfaces.

-This acid-free, fade-resistant and fast-drying ink comes in an easy-to-use precision tip bottle for easy application.

You have to use special ink blending tool with felt applicator and blending solution

 to get desired effects. 

-Check the pendants I created last year from washers HERE.

A acrylic  tag for Keys,  stamped with stazon. 

Acrylic tag, coloured from back with blue alcohol ink. Front stamped with Stazon  and printed paper glued on the back.

Acrylic tag painted with  alcohol inks, golden mixative. Silver heart charm was colored with gold mixative.

 Now I will come to the second topic.

-when to use which black ink & why 

-As we saw,  there are two variation of inks 

permanent/waterproof and non-permanent.

-Permanent inks have alcohol in their ingredients which makes them water proof.

-While non-permanent inks has water as their ingredients

 and so they are not water-proof.

-Now, as we know that water and alcohol do not react  with each other.

- If you use a dye ink with a water-based marker, your image would run when you color. This is because dye inks are water-based, and water-based products  will react with each other 

-And same way if you stamp an image with an alcohol-based ink and then color it with an alcohol-based marker, the image will smear. This again is because the two products  have ingredients that will react with each other.

- So use opposite inks and medium e.g for water coloring use Versamark or Archival and for copic or any other alcohol markers - use Memento.

Following are few swatches I made using Memento, Versafine, Archival & StazOn for stamping flowers and  different mediums to colour them. 

For the above swatch, I have used Distress ink for water colouring so you can see memento bleeds if you use with water base medium. Check the crisp  stamped image with versafine & it works with water based medium too.

Above, I have used water color marker... all three except memento works. But detailed stamping with Versafine is incomparable.

For the last one I have used Copic to colour. Memento works best. Archivsl and stazon doesn't as they have same ingredient - alcohol as copic.

You can use Stazon with water color but I wouldn't recommend it as they spoil your clear stamp and leaves black residue even after cleaning. It is ment to use on nonporous surface so let's stick to it...:) .

See how Stazon will mess up with your stamp. The stamp is permanently stained. As you can see on the paper, I tried to clean it with cleaner ( it is regular cleaner not specially for stazon) and stamp off ink but that thing wouldn't budge.  So be careful  while using so specific products.

So if you have memento and versafine you are good to go as far as paper is concerned . No need for stamp cleaners too. 

 There are lots of products available so figure out why exactly you want it. 

READ PRODUCT DESCRIPTION.

Invest in versatile products.

Never buy a thing just because someone is recommending or using. 

Read reviews and make a conscious choice.

And most importantly, enjoy whatever you do!  

Supply used from store:'

StazOn Black Ink