He has Risen Indeed!!

Sharing the joy as my family and I celebrate that "HE IS RISEN!"

I love the soft look the Distress Oxide  used as a watercolor on this clear embossed "iron-off" Easter card.  I love the look of iron-off and I use it to make a lot of smooth backgrounds. If you haven't ever tried it, let me warn you... it's addictive!!  It's also easy!  Here's how:

1. Clear heat emboss your image onto paper.  I have used water color paper, heavy card stock (110lb), and lightweight (85lb) and all have worked well for me, but there are slight variations between regular and watercolor papers.  Today's roses are on light weight cardstock.
2. Paint your paper with water reactive color.  In this example I used a paint brush to apply watery color with a splooshy effect --- respecting the outlines.  Pre Colored sprays will give you a more random look
3. Spritz with a little water and let dry (to some of these I added shimmer powder to the water!)
4. use a heat safe surface, placing the image face up and covering completely with a clean piece of copy paper before ironing over it (on high heat)

All of the clear embossing will be absorbed into the copy paper leaving your original image smooth and flat!  Where the embossing used to be will be white (or the color of your paper) outlines.  It is so pretty because of the way the water color appears to have pooled without line barriers!  

I think the softly pooling colors look excellent with this English Rose design.  I have also found that any image without much detail does not work well as there is too much resist (the embossed areas) and not enough space for color to beautifully pool.  

You may choose to add color in large blocks or blobs directly from the ink pad or spray bottle with equally beautiful results!  If you're using regular paper be sure not to over work it as it will pill with lots of liquid, but the curling can be reduced by anchoring your paper to a flat surface.  The ironing also restores the paper to a nice, smooth flatness!!

If you're using watercolor paper it is a good idea to anchor it to a surface and saturate with color.  Then you can heavily spray it with water and get a lot of movement in the colors - even removing harsh lines from the original inking!

I have found that even my "fails" turn out so pretty!! Oh, here's another hint.  If you like the white lines to be more "blobby" then press your versamarked stamp with MORE pressure. This will spread out the lines as you squish the rubber down to the paper!  If you like a more crisp line then be sure to ink 2 or 3 times - with LESS pressure.  You'll know as soon as you slide the embossing powder across it and can adjust your pressure from there!

Thank You for Stopping by!

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