Sunday, February 27, 2011

We've gone Postal over at OPUS GLUEI

This week on OPUS GLUEI the challenge is to make a postcard. Well, this sounds easy enough.

I decided that mine would be mail-able. SO, I opted for flat postcards.

I have some 4x6 photo paper from my portable photo printer that for some reason was left over. I am not quite sure how this happened, but the size is perfect, AND the back has postcard printing. Seemed like a natural fit to me.

At first I thought I would just drop different colors of alcohol ink and stamp on top of that.



Well, it turned out to be a beautiful background, but my stamping was horrible. So, I set this aside and grabbed another 4x6 photo paper.

This time I thought I would try something different. I dropped the alcohol inks onto the photo paper, and because of the slick surface, it took a bit to dry. Before it dried, I placed a piece of cardstock on top of it. My intention was to soak up some of the ink, leaving a little. Here's what I saw when I lifted the cardstock.



 Hardly any of the ink stayed behind. Darn it. UNTIL......

I took a look at the cardstock. It was perfect. I got all the colors and the pattern. BUT the colors were muted enough for the stamping to really show. (INSERT HUGE SMILE HERE!!!)


(You can't see it, but the butterflies are perfect pearled. All of the stamps are SU. I accented with poster paint pens.)





(The border is a SU stamp. Same one used in the first one. The butterfly and the poem are ancient rub-ons. Accented with poster paint pens again.)





(This one was stamped with an irridescent ink using an unidentified stamp. The border on this one is one of Tim's swirls. As are the butterflies and the quote. The quote on this one wasn't standing out as much as I would have liked, so I painted a little white to stamp it upon. The butterflies are perfect pearled. The swirl has been accent painted with poster paint pens. Again.)



And because you have stuck with me this far, I'll share my major fail. It was almost perfect. Then I sprayed some water to get the ink from behind the Perfect Pearled DREAMS stamp to bleed. I sprayed too much water and the cardstock warped beyond repair. SIGH. I'll try this design again with a different paper. 



(This background was done with smushing the ink on my non-stick mat thingy. I know the name of it, but it eludes me right now. The butterfly, border and DREAM stamps are all SU. Butterflies are perfect pearled, as is the DREAM stamp.)



I hope my mistakes help you out.

9 comments:

Lori said...

They're not mistakes, just crafting opportunities. And they all look AWESOME, I tell you. Fabulous. Gorgeous. LOVE THEM!

Nancy said...

Gorgeous Postcards! Even your 'mistakes' are fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing all those techniques!
Nancy :D

Deena said...

these look awesone...love the mix of techniques...gorgeous!

Tyggereye said...

So pretty!! These turned out as a fantastic "mistake" opportunity! Awesome!

Rosemary said...

These are beautiful - I love the richness of the colors and all the stamping! The highlights add a wonderful fantasy feel to the cards. Absolutely lovely!

Bobbi said...

Jana, you cards are fabulous, love the colors and designs, I haven't worked much with ink. It's been awhile since I visited your site, I like your new title name. I've been toying with giving my blog a new title too, seems all the good ones are taken.

go ahead a splurge.. get the Kindle, LOL

Bobbi

Electra said...

Always, my friend, Always.

Barb said...

Thanks for sharing, I'm going to have to get some photo paper out and give it a try. Blessings~Barb

Von said...

Can't say I have ever used photo paper only glossy card, but love the effect of it on the card :) will have to see if it works for me :)
Thanks for sharing your ideas
Von x