Sponging With Heart

It's technique time at Heart 2 Heart, and the featured technique is one of my favorites, sponging.  There are many ways you can use sponging on your project, and I am planning a future post on the subject, but for now I want to highlight my favorite application which is resist embossing.  First you stamp your image using Versamark, sprinkle on some Clear Detail powder and heat it just until the powder melts.  Be very careful not to over heat it because it needs to stay shiny.  Wait a minute!  Where is the image if everything is clear? To make the image appear you sponge over it with water based, preferably dye, ink.  I like to work from the center our so that the color fades into the background.  As you build the color the image appears.  In this case I used the fir tree from a Close to My Heart Thanksgiving stamp set, Always Grateful, on Colonial White cardstock and sponged it with Crystal Blue ink.  I then layered on a little bit of Whisper to mute the blue and give a little bit of color to the edge of the paper.  I dry embossed snowflakes on part of the backing panel to complement  the "snow covered tree" feeling of my completed image.  The Thanksgiving stamp is now a Christmas stamp!

Thank you for stopping by!  Now please check out some other ways to use sponging at Heart 2 Heart Challenges, or better yet, try a sponging technique and enter the challenge!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Frosted, Frosted Gray, Champagne and Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Crystal Blue, Whisper
Stamp:  Always Grateful
Embellishments:  Gray Sparkles, Snowflakes embossing folder from Cuddlebug