Cracked Glass - End of the week Technique # 61 / NAC #28 / My Challenge #55

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Hey y'all! Happy Saturday! I hope you're having a great weekend so far. I've got a new technique for you tonight. Ok, so not a "new" technique but new for me and this blog. Many of you know I haven't been able to post 5+ times a week since I started my new job. This has impacted my ability to do a lot of my specialty posts. I will still be doing my "End of the Week Techniques", I just will likely not be doing one each week. To be honest I had planned on decreasing the weekly techniques anyways, not because there are not enough techniques but because I was finding it stressful to try and find one to do each week that fit in with the kind of cards I was doing for the week. One of my goals for last year was to do one technique a week and I surpassed that so I feel very good about that. I hope you have enjoyed them and hopefully found some inspiration with them. I hope you will continue to find inspiration with the ones that I post this year. I will continue to do tutorials whenever I do a new one here and will try and remember to link back to old ones when I repeat a technique. That being said, I've been wanting to try this one for almost a year and finally I've managed to get it done. Here's this week's technique card-

What do you think? If you know me or have followed me for any time you are probably checking to make sure you're really looking at my blog, or rubbing your eyes to see if you're seeing correctly. This is so not my style. Not only is it Vintage-y but there's torn and crumpled c/s. Will miracles never cease? I kinda took my inspiration from the technique & the rest kinda followed. I still can't believe I did this card. I'm not sure it's gonna make the All-Time favorite list but it definitely makes the list for making me step out of my comfort zone.

This card is for this week's Nacho Average Challenge. Love those ladies! I try not to look at the DT creations before I make my card, because I don't want to be influenced by them but this week I was going through my regular reader feed and came across Tammy's card and was really glad I accidentally saw it. When I first saw the challenge, Elements of Style came to mind and that's what she used. So I had a double challenge, one for the color challenge (you know those are soooo hard for me) and one to use something besides Elements of style. I really don't know why Tammy couldn't have just made some Lucky Limeade Snowflakes. If anyone could get away with it she could. (If you know her, you'll understand that comment. Hi Tammy!) Here's what I was working with this week-

I started with a base of Island Indigo c/s. To this I added a piece of Whisper White c/s that I stamped my En-Francais Background stamp in Marina Mist. You know I wouldn't normally age c/s like I did but a crisp clean image just didn't seem to go with my focal point. Also even though my focal point was done on a piece of W.W. c/s it no longer looked white after my technique, but it didn't quite look Very Vanilla either. I originally stamped the background stamp full strength but it was too dark so I tried again, stamping off once and liked that much better. I crumpled my c/s (ooooooooohhhhhh you know I hated that right?) then I sponged Crumb Cake over it to make the crinkles show up more. It still seemed like it needed something else so I did the almost un-think-able and tore my c/s. *Shudder* Yes, I said I tore it. But only because there wasn't any of my stamping friends nearby to do it for me. My stamping buddies will totally get that. (shout out to the Fabulous Michelle Suit and April Sinclair) Once those two things were done I sponged the edges with Soft Suede and  Tombowed this layer down. I finally felt like I had a nice background for my focal point. Here's a closer look at this weeks technique and today's focal point-

I used the floral Image from the You are Loved set. I used the three challenge colors to color my stamp and then rotating the image kept stamping it until I had my c/s filled. I roughed up the edges before doing my technique and then mounted it on a strip of Island Indigo that I embossed one edge with my Fancy Fan E.F.-

I thought the scalloped image mimicked the scalloped edges of the petals. The floral strip was adhered to the I.I. piece with multiple Dimensionals since it was so heavy. This entire panel was adhered to the card base with Tombow. The sentiment was stamped in I.I. on W.W., punched with my Oval Punch and then adhered to a scrap of I.I. that I punched with my Scalloped Oval Punch. I stacked two Dimensionals under the Right edge to raise it up and make it level and my card front was done. Whew! It was a lot but in the end I think it was worth it.

Here's the inside-

The sentiment is from the same set and is stamped in I.I. Since the front was so involved, I tried to keep the inside a little less..., I don't know, just less. Of course you know that doesn't mean it shouldn't be pretty so here's a closer look at my little bit of pretty-

I wish you could see how pretty and sparkly this is in person. It just sparkles and shines. Sooooo pretty! So what do you think? I hope you like it and I really hope those fabulous ladies over at NAC like it too.

Now for this week's technique-

Here's what you need for the Cracked Glass Technique-
Cardstock, (I think Whisper White or Very Vanilla would probably work the best but who knows maybe a light color would work too), Stamped Image of your choice, VersaMark Pad, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, and a brown color to "Antique" your image and enhance the cracked areas (I used Soft Suede).

Here's how you do it-
1- Stamp your image onto your c/s.
2- Take your VersaMark Pad and "stamp" it all over your stamped piece of c/s until it is completely covered.
3- Apply your Clear Embossing Powder over entire surface and using your Heat Tool, heat the entire c/s until all of your embossing powder is heated and glossy. Allow this to cool.
4- Reapply VersaMark to the entire embossed surface and cover once more in Clear Embossing Powder. Heat again and allow to cool completely.
5- Repeat step 4 at least once more. You could even repeat it 2 times more if you wanted. Make sure to allow it to cool completely in between applications. This is a good time to work on the rest of your card.
6- Allow your piece to cool completely. If you're impatient you could put it in the freezer for just a few minutes.
7- Bend your embossed c/s in multiple places and going in multiple directions. This bending action will cause the glass like coating to crack. Continue doing this until you get the desired look.
8- Take a brown color of your choice, I used Soft Suede but a darker color like Early Espresso or Chocolate Chip would probably work well too, and sponge it over the entire surface using a circular motion. This will help to get the color into the cracked areas. You can even bend the c/s slightly and sponge to really get in the cracked areas.
9- Take a paper towel or old cloth and wipe over the surface. This will remove the color from the surface and will just leave it in the cracked areas. Such a cool effect! Here's another look-

 10- Smile when you see what you have created and smile even more when you think about the smile that it will bring to it's recipient. I really do love that part!

Well, that's all I have for you tonight. I hope you liked the techniques and the card. I really hope it inspires you to try something new! If you liked today's card/technique or have questions about it, I hope you'll leave me a comment below. I love hearing from you and your comments really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin it, I've put those buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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