Specimen No.3616 - Stampers Anonymous

How beautiful are the insects on the new Specimen stamp set from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous?  Beautiful! Right?  And they make putting a lovely card together super easy.

This card began with one of the iron-off resist techniques from this post, using the Distress Embossing Glazes.

I stamped the Renaissance stamp with clear embossing in and embossed it with Walnut Stain Distress Embossing Glaze, then colored with Distress Ink and then I put another piece of Heavystock over it and ironed it with a hot iron until the Glaze reheated and melted into the second piece of Heavystock. It left behind bits of the dark glaze, but I love the light resist the glaze created. It's fabulous.

I added some focal text above and below the butterfly using some wording from the Specimen stamps.

The detail in this butterfly stamp actually makes it seem like it is textured. Incredible! I stamped it on Distress Mixed Media Heavystock in Black and Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink. Then I watercolored it with Distress Inks.

Here is a look at the other side of the background resist technique. I love it with the Renaissance stamp!

I decided I wanted a tiny bit more detail on the background of the stamp, so I used my hand and lightly stamped parts of the script stamp from the Dearly Departed CMS413 stamps. There are many stamps from the Tim Holtz line from Stampers Anonymous that have a script stamp, so if you didn't purchase Dearly Departed (yet -- it's a lovely set!) but you have a different one with a script. I recommend this technique of just using bits of it to add some detail.
 

 That's it! It is an especially easy card to make if you spend some time making a bunch of your backgrounds first and then adding the focal points afterward. That's a technique I learned from Tim and it has served me well.

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

Troublesome Ending - Stampers Anonymous Specimen

I am so grateful to have been asked to make some samples with the new Halloween release from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous. There are some great stamps that can be used for so many occasions all year long. Today's card uses several of the new stamp sets that are all linked below if you haven't gotten a chance to order them yet. LOL

In my post yesterday I gave a photo tutorial for making these backgrounds. You can find that tutorial here. I used two of those backgrounds in today's card. The main background is the iron-off piece pictured in the bottom of the photo above. It is the smaller pattern from the Tapestry CMS414

The resist is so light that it gives the feel of a watercolor stamp, but you can see a slight blue from the Speckled Egg Distress Embossing Glaze.

I love how there are still some slight little details in areas.

The background for the beetle from the Specimen CMS410 stamp was the iron-off of the background set below. I die cut the Stacked Labels die from Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations and then stamped the beetle on the piece with Black Soot Distress Archival Ink.

 I used the bottom piece. It is the piece with the Ironed-off Walnut Stain Distress Embossing Glaze. You really can't tell that it is the upside down image of one of the Renaissance CMS415 stamp set, but if you look closely you can see some bits of the arch way and some of the carved details.

 I stamped not only the beetle, but also the sentiment from Tiny Text Halloween on that piece.

 To make the beetle stand out, I matted the label shape with a piece of Blackout Cardstock. Then I stamped the beetle a second time on some Distress Mixed Media Heavystock and then I colored it with some Distress Inks, I cut out just the body, sprayed it with Distress Resist Spray and then popped it up from the background so that it had some dimension.

 I also popped the entire label piece up from the Blackout Cardstock for even more dimension. and machine stitched around the outside edge with a Sewing Machine before adhering it to a black card back.

This card went together really quickly because I already had the backgrounds made. I highly recommend working on a bunch of backgrounds at once so that when you are ready to make cards, you can put them together quickly without getting out a bunch of products.

Tami

I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp and Scrapbook.com so the links below send you to one of those stores depending on which logo you choose.  If you wish to purchase something from either store and use one of my links below, I get a small percentage of your order, at no additional cost to you. This helps me to defray the costs of this blog, the time, the ideas and tutorials I post here. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!