Saturday Showcase - Easy Mixed Media Techniques With Tim Holtz Ice Flake Bigz Die and Embossing Powders

Hello and welcome to the first Saturday Showcase of 2019! We hope you enjoyed your Christmas and New Year's celebrations and are ready to get back to crafting! Today I am shining the spotlight on Tim Holtz' Ice Flake Bigz die and some of the embossing powders Linda stocks in The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

I was a little sad that I only got to use my Ice Flake die once for Christmas crafting on my altered book, but with most of winter still ahead of us (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway), I think it will get plenty of use for winter birthday cards and other wintry projects. And there's no time like the present to get started on next year's Christmas cards.  In keeping with our current challenge 'Inspired By', I stalked a few of my favorite blogs for ideas.

I wanted to make some winter cards to send as New Year's/thank you cards, so I grabbed my die and started cutting into all kinds of substrates. I ended up using thin chipboard, Metallic Kraft Stock and corrugated card board waste packaging for my projects. Sadly, the thicker cardboard didn't cut cleanly due to a die cut machine problem. But I thought it looked kind of cool, so I set it aside to use. I discovered I can get a clean cut from this detailed die if I rotate the die one turn before removing the substrate and then make a second pass.  Let's get started! Remember to click on any photo to zoom in.

Boundless Imagination

I was really inspired by Zoe Hillman's grungy Christmas card for my first make. Well, I'm just inspired by anything she creates.

Here's how I made the background:

 Cut Metallic Kraft Stock to size and emboss with Kaleidoscope 3D Texture Fade. Apply Picket Fence Distress Paint with a cosmetic sponge randomly.

 Next apply Frayed Burlap paint and spritz the panel to blend the colors. Heat dry a bit, and wipe with clean paper towel to remove some of the wet paint.

 Make sure the panel is dry before sanding with sanding grip, exposing the kraft from the raised areas. Lastly, swipe Ground Espresso Distress ink pad over the panel to ink the exposed kraft.

Die cut the Ice Flake from chipboard and heat emboss with Ranger Hammered Mixed Media powder. I love the variation of coverage of the powder from a single application which it makes it look like authentic hammered copper. Cut a second Ice Flake from black chipboard and adhere the two with Distress Collage Medium Matte, off setting a bit. (Sorry, I grabbed the wrong jar for the 'missed steps' photo shoot in this photo and others further along.)

Alter an Ideaology Word Band by rubbing Black Soot paint into the recesses; then wipe the paint from the face. Edge the band with Antiqued Bronze paint and emboss with the Hammered powder.

To complete the card, wrap the gold panel with Ideaology Jute String strung with the altered Word Band and adhere that panel to black card. Swipe Prima White Gold Metallic Wax around the edges of the black card before adhering to a card blank. Adhere the Ice Flake with black adhesive foam tape and add a black heart diamond cluster sticker.

Now let's take a closer look at the finished card so you can see how it all came together. Excuse the bad photo--the relentless grey skys we've had here are terrible for photographing metallic images.

Here's a closer look which shows the true colors.

Possibility

This make was inspired by the way the Ice Flake did not cut entirely from the waste packaging, but I turned to Tim Holtz for the background details.

After cutting the Ice Flake make sure all points are set back into the panel and use the chipboard waste from the previous project to act as a mask. Pounce through the mask with an embossing dabber.(You can see I forgot to take a photo of the panel before I applied the embossing ink.)  I chose the dabber over an embossing ink pad, so I could get it in all those fine areas. Sprinkle with Bone Mixed Media powder with the mask in place. Tap off the excess powder, pop out the parts that are cut through before heat setting, so they won't stick into the background.

Ink the panel with Ground Espresso ink and wipe off the ink from the embossed Ice Flake. Mask the flake with another die cut and splatter with Ground Espresso and Tarnished Brass spray stains. I made sure the darker color was dry before splashing with the metallic.

To capitalize on the peekaboo areas left behind the Ice Flake, cut a backing panel from Metallic kraft stock. The Stamp Platform makes it easy to stamp a pattern around the edge. I used the pattern on the left from the Ornate Trims set, inking it with my Versamark embossing pad. The stamp on the right is not inked and is just there to provide stability when pressing down on the platform cover. The piece of tape marks where I need to stop applying ink to the stamp, so there's no overlap.

Heat emboss with clear embossing powder then swipe with Black Soot paint. Let it dry just a bit and then wipe off the excess with a clean paper towel.

Adhere the Ice Flake panel to the gold background, and add embellishments. Cut 2019 from a scrap of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock using the smallest of the Stencil Numbers dies, then heat emboss with more of the Bone powder.  Color the Ideaology Word Band and Hex Fasteners with Picket Fence paint and the gumdrop with Mushroom alcohol ink.

Here are some photos of the completed card and closeups that show the details.

Winter

I love Tami Bastiaans Ice Flake Etcetera Tag! Her Ice Flake is so ICY, and her background is mixed media magic!  I didn't want to make a direct copy, so I used different products and techniques to achieve a similar look on my Winter card.

Die cut a Layered Snowflake and emboss with the included Texture Fade. Cut the snowflake into sections and adhere to a Heavystock panel using matte collage medium (not the multi medium shown in the photo). Paint over the entire card with Impasto Snow White paint. I used my finger for this. This is very thick, and works to add another layer of texture. (I also chose this medium to see how it would react with the crackle paste.) Thickly apply Opaque Crackle Texture paste and leave to dry over night.

 After the crackle thoroughly dries give it a coat of Collage Medium  before and after applying and wiping back Weathered Wood Distress paint. Finally, scribble with Tumbled Glass Distress Crayon and blend it around the panel with a dampened finger. Adhere this panel to black card.

Adhere an Alcohol Ink Foil Tape Sheet to a piece of scrap card. These are adhesive backed sheets of thin metal that come in two sizes. The 4 ¼ x 5 ½ inch size is perfectly sized to cut out this snowflake and word embellishment.

Cut the Ice Flake and a small panel from the metal card and from black card. Die cut the word Winter from the Holiday Words Thin Thinlits set. Color both pieces with Sailboat and Mushroom alcohol inks using an alcohol ink applicator and then heat emboss them randomly with Emerald Creek Fractured Ice powder. This powder is one of my favorites for creating authentic icy looks. Adhere both the Ice Flake and Winter panel to the black panels.

Cut a sparkly panel, (this is from my stash) mount on a black card blank and adhere the crackled background to it. Adhere the Ice Flake and Winter panel to the background using black adhesive foam tape.

Here are some shots of this completed card.

I hope you've found some inspiration in these ideas on how to use this versatile die and these gorgeous powders. A list of the products I've used is listed below, all available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. And remember there's still plenty of time to enter our current  Frilly and Funkie challenge, 'Inspired By'. Be sure to stop back on Wednesday when the Funkie side of the team will be showing you how they are inspired.

Happy crafting!

Sara Emily

Sizzix Bigz Die - Ice Flake by Tim Holtz 663109	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 38PK - Stencil Numbers by Tim Holtz 661187	Tim Holtz Thinlits Holiday Words Thin	Sizzix 3-D Impresslits Embossing Folder - Kaleidoscope 663296	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Ornate Trims
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Mixed Media Heavystock 8.5x11 inches - TDA53842	Tim Holtz Idea-ology 8 x 8 Metallic Kraft Stock	Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Foil Tape Sheets 4.25x5.5"	Tim Holtz Stamp Platform by Tonic Studios	VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad
Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear - Super Fine Detail EPJ37385	Ranger Mixed Media Powder - Hammered	Ranger Mixed Media Powder - Bone	Emerald Creek Alure Powders - Fractured Ice	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte TDA47933
Ranger Opaque Crackle Texture Paste	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Mushroom	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Sail Boat Blue TAB25535	Ranger Inkssentials Alcohol Ink Applicator With 10 Blending Felts TIM20745	Ranger Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Mini Applicator Replacement Felts
Gold Resin Gumdrop - Set of 5	18mm Heart Diamond Cluster Stickers Black	Prima Art Alchemy Impasto Paint - Snow White	Prima Art Alchemy by Finnabair-Metallique Wax - White Gold	Ranger Tim Holtz Ground Espresso Distress Spray Stain TSS44161
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Tarnished Brass TSS42549	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence TDF53170	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Black Soot TDF52937	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Weathered Wood TDF53378	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Frayed Burlap TDF53071
Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Antiqued Bronze TDF52913	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Ground Espresso TIM43270	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #5 TDBK51756	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crayons - 6PC Set #3 TDBK47926	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Word Bands TH93000
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Hex Fasteners	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Jute String TH93139	Ranger Adhesive Foam in Black