Stampers Anonymous Halloween Release!

 

What a great Halloween release from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous right?  I love how versatile each of them are. Definitely not your regular Halloween stamps. They can be used for all kinds of things year-round, so if the term Halloween is turning you off of this release, set it aside and take a look anyway because you might be surprisingly intrigued! 

I am not doing a tutorial on any of the samples in the collage above today. Instead I want to focus on what I did as soon as I got the stamps in the mail, which is to try out a background technique with two of the new sets. So let's focus on that technique today because I used many of these in my samples.

I began by stamping each of the background stamps from Renaissance CMS415 and Tapestry CMS414 onto Distress Mixed Media Heavystock with Distress Embossing Ink and then heat embossing them with Distress Embossing Glazes. I used Speckled Egg, Hickory Smoke, Walnut Stain, and Weathered Wood on these four.

Then I inked each background with Distress Ink and spritzed them with water. I set them aside to dry on their own.

On the Hickory Smoke Tapestry I used Peackock Feathers and Brushed Corduroy.

On the Weathered Wood Renaissance I used Vintage Photo, Fossilized Amber, and Hickory Smoke.

This Renaissance background was stamped in Walnut Stain and colored with Chipped Sapphire and Crushed Olive.

Lastly, this very detailed Tapestry background was stamped in Speckled Egg and colored in Ground Espresso and Wild Honey.

Once the backgrounds are dry, then get a second piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock, line it up perfectly over the background, with the embossed side facing the Heavystock. Then Iron with a hot, dry iron. Do this will all of the backgrounds.

The heat of the iron will reheat the Distress Embossing Glazes and they will soak in to the paper on top giving you two prints from one. I love how the Walnut stain leaves I light brown resist on the original but a bit darker on the iron-off piece.

Not gonna lie, the Speckled egg was an immediate favorite!

Weathered Wood is amazing too! I love how the Embossing Glazes leave a little color behind on resist side while still having the most color on the iron-off side.

Hickory Smoke is a WOW! Look at the left behind color that is a light Pumice Stone and that smoldery iron-off color.

I colored each of the iron-off backgrounds with the same colors as the original, then sprayed them with water and let them dry.

These look really similar, but you can see the iron-off one is darker.

I know you loose a lot of the amazing detail on the Renaissance stamps using this technique, but I love how they give a super cool bit of resist detail interest to the papers.

This one is still favorite! I love how the iron-off side on this one has a watercolor affect.

I made two more backgrounds once I got started making cards and I didn't photograph the process but I wanted you to see them before I used them on the samples. This one I stamped the large Tapestry background in clear Distress Embossing Ink, and embossed with Fossilized Amber Distress Embossing Glaze. I colored the background on this one with Barn Door and Aged Mahoghany Distress Spray stain, then let them dry before I did the Iron-off technique I detailed above. It left a warm yellow on this side. I haven't used the iron-off side yet.

This one is a favorite! Wow! I stamped the smaller patterned Tapestry stamp in clear Embossing Ink, then embossed it with Rusty Hinge Embossing Glaze. The background was colored with Black Soot Distress Ink and sprayed with water, then sit aside to dry, I used the Iron-off Technique and it left a fabulous aged orangey yellow color behind with bits that turned brown. I forgot to photograph the iron-off, but it made a great orange color. I'll try to do a remake when I post the card I used it on.

That is it for the backgrounds on my cards.  Now when you see the cards you will have an idea about the backgrounds and I hope you are inspired just to get out some background stamps and play around with the Distress Embossing Glazes and your inks. It is really, really fun!

Happy distressing!

Tami

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