Saturday Showcase - Distress Embossing Glazes

Hello and welcome to this weeks Saturday Showcase. It's Sara Emily here, and today I'm sharing my play with Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Glazes. Since tomorrow is Easter, I'm starting off with a mixed media Easter card with a message of renewal using one of the glazes. But sit back and relax; I have a lot of samples showcasing these fantastic translucent powders along with some how-to's and tips.

I promised you I would share how I used the glazes on my frame of my card HERE.  Sadly, I somehow lost those photos, so I've started over with a Baseboard Frame from Tim's Halloween Layers and Baseboard Frames pack.

I started by spreading Opaque Crackle Paste over the frame. I used a palette knife this time and spread it quite thickly.  I used the knife to create different textures, just for fun. With this frame, I used my finger and spread it rather thinly and smoothly. This gives a whole different effect.

While the paste is still wet, I drown the frame in Broken China powder and tap off the extra  and return it to the jar. Set the frame aside to thoroughly dry.

After the paste dries, you see the cracks, and some flaking. Not to worry; it adds to the effect.

Heat the powder with your heat tool and watch the magic! You can see where a bit was starting to flake off, but when heated it curled and it is STUCK! Normally, I do not like shiny, but there's something really cool about how the light hits the peaks and valleys that is very desirable on this, so I'm leaving it alone. If you want to minimize the shine you can buff it gently with steel wool, as you will see I've done in future samples.

Note: The frame HERE is smudged with Distress Crayon (Walnut Stain) which also minimizes the shine.

On the next sample, I wanted to see what would happen if I used Vintage Photo Collage Medium to adhere the Embossing Glazes. Here I used the bricks from the Mini Stencil Set 28 along with Fired Brick on a Mixed Media tag.

The darker area uses the vintage collage medium in varying thickness to adhere the powder. Once I had allowed that to dry, I heated the powder. If I had heated it while still wet, I would get nice bubbles which would add to the texture. Because of the varying thickness of the medium, I got different shades of brick.

 I went back in with the stencil and blended Vintage Photo ink in the void areas. Working quickly, I sprinkled a tiny bit of the Fired Brick powder and tilted the tag as to allow the powder to slide over the bricks toward the central part of the tag. Heat immediately. I love the subtle texture this makes.

Tip: Although Distress inks can be used as embossing ink,  it is water based and dries quicker than true embossing ink. Do not allow the ink to dry before applying the powders, and heat the powders quickly after applying. If your ink dries, just give it a light spritz of water and apply your powder.

To finish the background, after completely cooled, I blended with Weathered Wood ink. You can see there are some bare spots, even though I really smooshed that ink in. It is one of the mysteries of Distress, and I will cover it up with a Paper Doll or smear on some Distress crayon in the future.

I'm using this next example to show you what NOT to do.  I wanted to make some 'rusty pipes' on a sheet of Abandoned Paper Stash, but I don't have the Rusty Hinge powder or the Circuit stencil yet. (I've linked it below, nevertheless.) Once again, I used Vintage Photo collage medium through a stencil oddly called Short Circuit from my stash.

I decided to use the powders I had to try and make a rusty effect.You can see which colored powders I used in the photo further below. I realized (too late) I dumped on way too much Fired Brick powder. Following Tim's instructions, I did the finger tip dance under the paper to be sure not to muddie the colors, but because I used too much powder this I wasn't successful. Perhaps the separation of colors would show up more on a light paper.

 Tip: To use several colors at a time, pinch just a little of each color between your finger and thumb and rub them together like you are lightly salting your food, leaving a little space between colors. Then tap your fingers on the back of the card to move them around before heating.

Does anyone else think it looks like the lines are recessed rather than raised in the photo below, or is it just me???

After the collage medium dried, I heated the powder.

I saved all that mingled powder I dumped off to make what I hoped to use as rust in a future project.

For my next sample, I used Translucent Grit Paste knifed through the stencil, and I actually used my collected powders left over from my over pour above, which consist of the ones shown below.

Note: Please replace Broken China for the Cracked Pistachio--I goofed when I posed the photo and didn't realize it until editing the post.

If you look closely at the photo below, you can see the colors of the paper through the stencil work, since I used a translucent medium AND the powders are translucent. Compare to the sample above where I used Vintage Photo Collage Medium to adhere the powders.

Distress Embossing Glaze powders can be used to color your metal embellishments, too. In Tim's video,  he advises using silver toned metal as opposed to the brass or copper toned embellishments, so I tried it on this silver and black metal ruler piece. I brushed on collage medium and sprinkled with Cracked Pistachio and heated to melt.

 I love the texture, but I wanted a bit of a more rusty texture,  so I smeared on translucent Grit paste, sprinkled with my rust mixture and heated to melt. After it cooled, I smeared with Cracked Pistachio crayon.

Here's how I used the ruler piece along with one of the stenciled Abandoned panels on a masculine birthday card. I also used one of the Distress Embossing pens along with Weathered Wood powder on the professor's lenses.

  On close inspection, you see I scuffed the pipes with steel wool to dull them, but left the lenses shiny.

 Next up, I scraped what was left at the bottom of my Crazing medium container and applied it through Tim's Crackle stencil over a die cut that came in the little gift bag Linda includes with all her orders. Like I did with the crackle medium on the frame above, I added the embossing glaze powder while the medium was still wet, allowed it to dry and heated the powder to melt. Because the medium was quite old and rather dry, the powder didn't stick as well, leaving some white areas. I love the effect in the end.  Don't throw out those last bits of mixed media supplies!

I blended with Weathered Wood ink and edged with Vintage Photo crayon.

Here, I applied Distress Embossing Dabber to a flower stamp from the Illustrated Garden set. I chose this stamp, not only because I love it, but I wanted to see how well this slightly chunky powder works along with such a detailed image. I was quite impressed.

Tip:  It's best to store your Dabber face down, so the ink stays at the ready near the applicator. Even though the name is Dabber, don't dab it on your stamp, rather smooth it on. Practice this once or twice so you get a feel for how much to apply.

This sweet bunny from Bunny Hop, an advert from Field Notes and a Transparent Wings butterfly top the background, and an old Small Talk sticker provides a positive message. I sent this to my friend who is one of the brave hospital doctors on the front line near Pittsburgh, PA.

I have one more background to share with you. Applying ink through the Floral stencil with the blending brush allows you to apply color just where you want it and in varying intensities. On this background, I just moved my stencil around to randomly ink flowers all over the panel.

  Using the brush from the embossing pens set gives you full control of how much embossing ink to apply to each flower and leaf.  Hopefully, you can see how little I applied in the photo below.

I used Tattered Rose powder on the flowers and some leaves and Weathered Wood on other leaves, applying and heating each flower and set of leaves individually before moving onto the next. It sounds time consuming, but it moves along quickly. I love how the glazes deepens the tones, making those flowers just pop off the paper.

Once you add a pinch of powder, tap gently from underneath, slightly tilting your card to move the powder out to the edges of the flower. (It looks like I used a lot of powder, but that was just what I accumulated after doing all the flowers.)

You can see on the completed background further below that I also just applied the powder and dumped it off,which applies the glaze o just where you put the embossing ink. This is intentional, because all flowers look different.

 It's almost too pretty to cover up.

I hope these examples give you inspiration to get your Distress Embossing Glazes out and play. I'm happy to say that at the writing of this post, Linda has restocked her shelves with these lovely little jars of translucent color. So if you haven't gotten them yet, The Funkie Junkie Boutique continues to serve you and is open and shipping directly to your door with their usual level of speed and customer service you have come to know.

On another note, our current challenge  'April Showers Bring May Flowers' is still open, and  we'd love to see your take on the theme.

Take care of yourselves and stay safe.

Sara Emily

The following products were used on these projects and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Distress Embossing Glaze - Weathered Wood, Tattered Rose, Fired Brick, Cracked Pistachio,       Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo, Broken China
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Dabber
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Pen 2pk
Distress Collage Medium Matte, Vintage, Crazing
Distress Pastes, Distress Opaque Crackle Paste, Texture Paste, Translucent Grit Paste
Sizzix Chapter 1 Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies - Bunny Hop
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp Set - The Professor 2
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Crackle
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils - Set 25
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencils - Set 28
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Stencil - Circuit
Distress Spray Stain - Antique Linen
Distress Crayons - Cracked Pistachio Vintage Photo
Distress ink Cracked Pistachio, Ground Espresso, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Tattered Rose,       Vintage Photo, Weathered Wood
Distress Archival Ink - Black Soot, Ground Espresso, Vintage Photo, Faded Jeans
Distress Oxide - Cracked Pistachio, Fossilized Amber
Distress Mixed Media and Kraft Tags
Abandoned Paper Stash
Distress Mixed Media Heavystock
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Ephemera, Field Notes
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Transparent Wings - Clear & Color
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips, Theories
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Layers & Baseboard Frames, Halloween
Tim Holtz Distress Blending Brush 2 pk

Saturday Showcase - Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 1 Collection

Hello and welcome to Frilly and Funkie's Saturday Showcase feature. It's Sara Emily here shining the spotlight on five dies from Tim Holtz' 2019 Sizzix Chapter 1 Collection. I don't think I've ever been so excited about ALL of his new dies like I am with this release. The ones I'm focusing on in this post are just five of my favorites. They are so detailed, and the designs pair up so easily with one another.

I decided to make cards, each featuring one of the three dies included in the Geo Springtime Thinlits set with supporting roles from four other newly released Thinlits sets. Wow! The possibilities are endless, and my head was spinning with ideas. In fact, at the same time I made a couple or so more projects using these dies, but this post would be way too long to include them all.

Butterfly Mosaic Card

I do love butterflies, and this one is so unique that I just had to add it to my collection. (It didn't hurt that the set has a hummer and a bunny, too!) When I first saw this die, I thought 'inlay', but I had no idea where it would end up. This is just a card, but I could picture these die cuts used on a canvas (Well, the butterfly already IS on a canvas, but that's for another day.) or even on an assemblage project. I love it when a product can be this inspiring! Let's get started!

 **Remember to click on any photo to zoom in.**

Cut the largest of the circles from Tim Holtz Stitched Circles Thinlits and sand it lightly. Using the Geo Springtime butterfly, cut one from the circle. Adhere Stitched Circle to black card panel. Cut a second butterfly from black card.

 I saved all the bits from the metallic butterfly in a plastic bag, thinking I would use them as the inlay with the black butterfly being the outline. Then it occurred to me how beautiful it would be if it were two toned (or even three!).

I found these two panels in my stash. The one on the left is a failed alcohol lift technique (done on the old alcohol ink card), but I knew it would be great for die cuts eventually. I've already cut something from the panel for another upcoming project, but I had just enough left to cut a left and a right wing. The masterboard on the right started out as a mop up from other projects, and it's a combination of Distress Oxides and inks.

Cut a right wing and a left wing from each panel. I did this out of necessity, because my scraps were small. But it also serves to keep track of which pieces go in the right or left wing when it comes time to inlay.  Place all pieces including the actual die cut into a baggie and set aside. By including the die cut, it helps identify if the bits go in the right or left wing.

Turn the black die cut face down and apply Distress Collage Medium Matte with a brush. Adhere the butterfly in the aperture left in the Stitched Circle, taking care to make sure all surfaces come in contact with the back panel. Blot away excess glue with a paper towel.

I don't have any photos of the last step, which is inlaying all those little pieces, but I did snap one at the half way point. It was a much needed break from all that concentration!

 I added an Ideaology Quotations Metallic Sticker and backed the panel with more of the masterboard and called it done.

The alcohol ink paper is a bit thicker than the masterboard on mixed media paper making for an interesting texture when you run your hand over this mosaic.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Cut a rabbit from the Geo Springtime set from a panel inked with Distress Oxides and one from a scrap of metallic card. Set the pink die cut aside for another use. I decided later to ink the card with Frayed Burlap to give it a vintage look.

Flip the die cut panel over and adhere a small panel of yellow vellum with collage medium. Flip the card face up and adhere the bunny die cut in accordance with the butterfly above. Blot away any excess collage medium with a paper towel.

Cut one of the flowers from Wildflower Stems #2 Thinlits set from watercolor paper. Cut off the flower, so that you are left with what looks like a tuft of grass.

Cut another flower from the same set (there are 5 in the set!) from watercolor paper. Cut two flowers from a scrap of the yellow vellum. Vellum can be a little tricky to cut, but the intricate stamens just needed a little prodding from my pokey tool. The details these dies cut are amazing!

Blend a Small Talk Sticker with Frayed Burlap ink. The little ball was going to be Peter's tail, but I ended up using a flower cut from the new Organic Thinlits die cut instead, inking it with Antique Linen Oxide and popping it with a foam dot. Use the leftover negative panel of metallic card from Butterfly Mosaic card to make a frame. Sand in a crisscross fashion.

Layer the frame over the pink panel, and layer that over a card blank cut from watercolor paper .

I was inspired by Autumn's layered leaf card and layered the lily. I got a little too vigorous with my sanding and wrinkled the frame. LOL.

For those wondering why my sentiment is at the top, I initially was planning to make a square card, and cut the aperture according to that plan. Then, I got the idea to add the tail, and had to use the sticker to go with it. In spite of my poor planning and lack of time for a do-over, I still think it works, don't you?

Hello There

I didn't take many process shots for this one, but I started off with another panel from my stash. This one is painted with gesso, and then I inked either with Distress Spray Stains or oxide inks.  I really wasn't planning on making a card with this, just trying out Tim's new Retro Repeat Thinlits die. You can see that the die is shorter than the border I cut into the panel. Tim explains how this works in his video. The innovative die design makes it quite simple to repeat the pattern either vertically, like I did, or horizontally. It's so easy, I got it right on the first try, and I just had to make this into a card.

Die cut just the head of one of the flowers from Wildflower Stems #1 from a scrap of Metallic Kraft Stock. Cut a second flower head and a hummingbird from black card. Cut just the wingtip  from  a scrap of metallic card . Not shown, cut 'hello' (Friendship Words, Script) from black and metallic card.

Layer the metallic and black flower, offsetting just a bit for a shadow. Do the same with 'hello' but reverse the order. Adhere the hummingbird die cut and inset the wingtip pieces. Add a metallic sticker to complete the sentiment. Layer over a black panel, a metallic panel, sanded and edged with Black Soot crayon, and another black panel.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing these simple ideas on how you can use these wonderful new dies. I've also enjoyed playing with Faceted Heart along with Organic Thinlits dies HERE.

 A list of the products I've used on these cards is listed below, all available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  The new Tim Holtz dies are in stock in the shop and ready to ship.  And you can get them for 20% off MSRP by using the coupon code 'diediscount'. I can't wait to see what YOU will create using these great new dies!  And remember you still have a few more days to enter our current  Frilly and Funkie challenge HERE.

Happy crafting!

Sara Emily

Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Geo Springtime
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set - Retro Repeat
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set- Wildflower Stems #1
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die Set- Wildflower Stems #2
Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Die - Organic

Sizzix Framelits Die Set 6PK - Stitched Circles	Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Kraft Stock	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quotations Metallic Stickers	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDA47933	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926
Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Mushroom	Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink - Slate	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Teakwood TAL40743	Ranger Inkssentials Alcohol Ink Applicator With 10 Blending Felts TIM20745	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Blueprint Sketch
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Blueprint Sketch TIM43195	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Wilted Violet	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Wilted Violet TIM43263	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Festive Berries TSS42273	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Festive Berries TIM32861
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Shaded Lilac	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Seedless Preserves	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Antique Linen