Emboss Resist Rainbow Birthday Card

We are having a snow day today!  My boys are pretty excited and I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere today.  But if we are having a snow day that means there is snow outside.  Snow means it's not spring yet.  Oh, well.  I thought I'd brighten up the day with a fun card I made over the weekend!  This is something I've been wanting to try and it turned out super fun!  It's another one layer card that uses an emboss resist technique. 

I started off this card by stamping my sentiment with some white pigment ink and then embossing with clear embossing powder.  I made a mask to cover my sentiment and then stamped random stars all over my card front using Versamark ink.  I then heat embossed the stars with clear embossing powder.  (Sorry that I didn't take pictures of this process.  What was I thinking?!)  At this point I had a white sheet of cardstock (cut to fit the front of my card) with the embossed sentiment and stars that couldn't really be seen (they will be shiny but will blend into the cardstock).  I will be doing this technique again and I'll be sure to take pictures next time.  

I then got out my craft mat and pressed some Distress ink onto the mat in reverse rainbow order.  If you put the colors down on the mat in rainbow order the colors will be backwards on your card (I learned this the hard way).  Once all the colors were on my mat I spritzed it with a little water and laid my embossed cardstock in the ink embossed side down.  I then picked up my image and voila!  The ink covers the paper but not the embossed images!     

I used my embossing gun to help speed up the drying process (or you could let the paper air dry).  You have to be careful not to go too crazy if using an embossing gun or you might burn your embossed images.  Once the image was dry I used my ink and sponges to go over each color to add more shading.  This doesn't cover up the drips and drops of ink, which was what I wanted to show, it just helps brighten the colors (and cover any spots that might not have gotten ink on them).  Then you can wipe off any excess ink that might be on your embossed images.  It's so fun to see the images show through all that color!  

I love the way this card turned out!  If I do a card like this again I might do the sentiment in black or another dark color to help set it apart from the rest of the background.  I was hoping the white ink would look different from the Versamark stars but it didn't work out that way.  I love the splotches of ink here and there and the fun rainbow colors!  I hope this card brightens your day and you'll give this technique a try.  Thanks for stopping!

Supplies:

• cardstock- misc
• stamps- Advantus Corp. (Heidi Swapp Happy Birthday), Gel-a-tins (Super Star)
• ink- Close to My Heart (White Daisy), Versamark (Watermark), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive, Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord)
• embossing powder- Ranger (Superfine Clear)
• tools- We R Memory Keepers (Corner Chomper 1/8"