Happy Saturday everyone. Lisa here with a masculine card that works for any occasion. I'vve got to admit that masculine projects are always a bit hard for me. I love my Steampunk and grunge and all that, but I also love my frilly lace and owls and girly girl stuff. I'm determined to spread out my creativity this year, and this card is what came out of that attempt.
I used a mixture of chalk inks, paint, Distress inks, embossing powders and Staz-On. Now, about that charm...
See that little clock hanging from the twine? I made that. I'm so excited by it 'cause the first few tries were a disaster! Here's a few tips for stamping on shrink plastic before you heat (that I wish I'd known before I started this project!)
- Stamp with Staz-On only. Archival Ink doesn't ever dry, even if you heat it. It just smears and sticks to your project while you're heating it. Give it a good ten minutes to dry and then cut around the stamped design, if desired. (I cut mine right away and smeared the ink.)
- I found that my non-stick craft sheet wasn't a good heating surface for the shrink plastic. I did better putting a piece of wax paper on my cutting mat and then on top of that, a large acrylic block. I used my tweezers to hold the shrink plastic down as it twisted and jumped all around.
- MANY videos will show you to flatten your hot shrink plastic by pressing another acrylic block on the plastic. DO NOT do this if you've stamped the plastic--the ink will stick to your block and then not only is your shrinky dink messed up, it's really hard to get the heated ink (which becomes paint-pen like) off your block.
I hope this inspires you to create a masculine themed project for the guy in your life. Thanks so much for looking and happy crafting! --Lisa Bedigian
