That's Crafty!: Breathing Life Into It by Wendy Mallas

Hello again, all. It's lovely to be back at That's Crafty! for a third time. This project is a little quicker than the first two. It's a card that can be sent when some encouragement is called for.

I used a piece of coated stamp card and blended Distress Inks from one end to the other, ombré style. I started with Squeezed Lemonade, then Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers in that order. The transition between Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers was too visible so I blended in some Cracked Pistachio, which helped. I misted the card with a Ranger Distress Sprayer and blotted with kitchen towel. The water helped blend all the colours together beautifully.

Here's where the fun starts. I stamped the mouth from Dare To Be Different by Visible Image using Versamark ink, then coated in Stampendous detail black embossing powder and heat set it. The teeth aren't covered with the stamp and are therefore meant to be left white, but I had stamped it onto a blue-green background (attractive.... not!) Using a Versamark pen, I drew over the teeth, then coated with Stampendous detail white embossing powder, finishing with a quick blast of heat to set it. Almost perfect.

I stamped a Visible Image sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black at the bottom and then had a rummage through my Stickles bottles. I chose Glam Pink, but you could use any other colour that you may have. I added the Stickles to the lips, spreading as smoothly as I could with a small brush. This is when I thought disaster had struck. I had smeared the sentiment quite badly. As I had used coated card, the Versafine was still wet so I wiped the whole sentiment away with a baby wipe. It came away cleanly with little or no disturbance to the Distress background.

I left the Stickles to dry overnight (just to be on the safe side!) and reapplied the sentiment. I added some Chipped Sapphire to the edges with a blending tool and mounted the card onto a piece of dark blue pearlised paper. I added a strip of silver glitter tape to the bottom and then mounted the whole thing onto a card base.

Just a final touch - three dots of Nuvo drops in Morning Dew to the top left and bottom right, oh, and some touching up to the teeth with a white gel pen and the card was finished.

I hope you're inspired to make something similar and I'd love to see what you make. Now you know how to avoid things going too wrong, but also that most things can be fixed if they do go a little awry.

Love and peace,

Wendy x