Make It Monday #286 & The Fusion Challenge

Today I have a card for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #286 - Coordinating Pairs and Fusion Card Challenge.  Fusion is one of my favorite challenges to participate in and this week's challenge sent me all the way back to how I found Papertrey Ink in the first place.

I started making cards in 2015 but initially, I didn't really stamp much and preferred to make them using die cuts only.  As I got a little more comfortable with stamping, I started learning techniques by watching Jennifer McGuire and Yana Smakula's YouTube Videos.  I was also looking at and pinning cards on Pinterest and came across this Make It Monday #98 technique video done by Betsy Veldman way back in 2012.  That led me to the Papertrey Ink Blog which led me to their store.  I had ordered one thing from them previously, but it was through someone's affiliate link and I hadn't taken the time to look around their store. After I found this, I became a regular reader at the Papertrey Blog and eventually a regular customer.

I tried Betsy's technique one other time quite a while ago, (maybe even more than a year ago) and it was fairly successful.  But I wanted to use different Papertrey products for this card.  I pulled Holiday Photo Finishers (a Vault set that I bought on the Papertrey FSOT Forum), Stitched Sentiments and Graceful Greetings for the main portions of my card.  I also used a couple of hearts from the Hero Arts Prayers Stamp & Cut Set.  I used my Mini Misti to line things up on my cardstock so I could stamp as much as possible in one stamping.

For my first card, I started with a panel of Black Chalk Paper that I got quite a few years ago from Stampin' Up.  It's no longer available but I still have several sheets of this as well as an additional pack. That's probably enough to last me at least 10 years!*Ü*  Betsy used Ocean Tides Cardstock for her video example but had done others on True Black Cardstock.  It's been over about a year and a half since I made my card in this style so I was happy to revisit this technique now that I'm a better stamper.

Both of these cards use Versamark Ink with Hero Arts White Embossing Powder. I put the left leafy branch, the Sentiment and the bottom flourish on for the first stamping, and then the right branch with the flourish above the greeting for the 2nd stamping. I don't know how Jennifer McGuire stamps 10 cards and then puts embossing powder on because even doing one card, I can't keep the Versamark wet enough to have good coverage.  My Versamark ink pad is new so it shouldn't need re-inking. We run our air conditioner starting around the 1st of May (if not sooner) so that contributes to the dry air.  But I would encourage you to do it however it works for you. So I stamp one side, sprinkle powder and then stamp the other side, sprinkle powder again and then heat set the whole panel. The hearts were stamped randomly by hand and heat set separately. The second card uses Ocean Tides Cardstock for the front panel and after all the stamping was complete I die cut it with the Gift Card Layers Die from WPLUS9 which is an exact 4.25 x 5.5 inch Stitched Rectangle Die.  I love the finished edge that die cuts give my cardstock. Although I am very good about changing the blade in my Fiskars Trimmer, it will just never be as crisp as a die cut edge.  The Chalkboard Paper was also die cut using the same die.

To get the "chalky" look on the cardstock, you can use white pigment ink very lightly on a paper towel or small sponge dauber. I did use this method on the black card, but for the Ocean Tides Card I notice that the powder I use for my powder tool looked really how I wanted it.  So that it would brush off I gave it a good mist with some hairspray but I think I'll get a can of the cheapest hairspray I can find next time I go to Walmart. My Bed Head Hair Spray worked great, but it's too expensive to use on cards. I like the results of the powder tool so much better and I wanted to keep that look.  I use a 1 inch watercolor wash brush with baby powder for my powder tool.  I like it better than an embossing buddy or the EK Success Powder Tool and my bristles aren't breaking off my brush. With the large size of the brush, it's also much faster.  Again, it's one of those things you have to decide what works best for you. I'm simply giving you another option to try. Baby Powder or Cornstarch are much silkier feeling than the chalky tools of so many other options.

Other than that, I did this technique exactly like Betsy showed in the video I linked above, including the sketchy look around the edges that was added with a ruler and White Prismacolor Pencil.  Mostly I have Polychromo Pencils, but I do have a couple of White Prismacolors for adding highlights or whatever to cards. I also have a few other stamp sets that I think would work really well for this technique the next time I need one.  I also used a Mini Round Ink Blending Tool with True Black and Ocean Tides around the edges.  At the time Betsy did her video, I don't think the Mini Round tool was out yet.

As you can see, the challenge of Fusion combined with the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #286 Challenge resulted in this pair of coordinating cards. Thank you so much for stopping by and spending a bit of time here today.  I love reading your comments so please don't hesitate to leave one for me.