Ink it up for Christmas...

...what a fabulous workshop - thank you Andy!

It has been an amazing day of trying different inky techniques and spending time with like-minded folk.

We started off by stamping some baubles onto black and white card using Versamark and then we embossed the images using gold and/or silver embossing powder. I chose to use gold on the black CS and silver on the white...

 ...and then the baubles were coloured using 'drawing inks'. These have very fine brushes a bit like eye-liner brushes and they contain mica to give the finished item a shimmer.
I used a crimson ink on two of my black card baubles...

 ...and then cut them out ready for adding some pearls...

 ...whilst also matting and layering a DL style card with gold miri, topped off with a text paper covered with some glitter swirl vellum.
Pearls were used to make the baubles look as if they were hanging from the swirls...

 ...so all done, apart from a sentiment which I will give some thought to.

The second technique we tried 'resist'.

Starting with two white CS baubles, I used Versamark to stamp a flourish design onto them...

 ...heat embossed with Arctic pearl lustre embossing powder and then shaded using a Teal Memento ink pad. The ink was applied using cotton wool balls but you could do the same using a blending tool.
Once coloured, the baubles were given a spritz of Spray & Shine...

 ...I used the silver version.
The base card for this project was an 8x8 white card blank that I matted and layered in blue...

...and white to match the baubles.
The top matt was embossed using an 8x8 embossing folder...

 ...to give the card a framed effect.
The poinsettias on this rough-cut from what looks like tissue paper...

 ...but it is actually a fabric voile...

 ...and looks very effective with a few more pearls. The baubles were finished off with some tiny satin ribbons.

Technique three for the day was some triple embossing.

Using some grey-board squares, Versamark and some different coloured UTEE...

 ...I ended up with these two panels that looked like metal.
Using some Graphic45 Christmas stamps (12 days of Christmas) and some black Stayzon...

 ...the surface was reheated and stamped. The square on the left was '2 turtle doves' and I think the design of the stamp was a little too solid for this technique. The square on the right is '9 ladies dancing' which seems to have come out better.
The edges were glued and gilding flakes applied...

...and then burnished to give a smooth sheen.

Considering we were playing with inks, it wasn't that messy - although I did go prepared with apron and latex gloves.

It was a fabulous workshop at Pinnacle Crafts and I got to spend a whole day playing and trying out different techniques. What better way for a crafter to spend a day......................................................