SNOWFLAKE SPARKLE

Technical difficulties today. 

I always take the photos for my blog with my little Canon digital camera, then import them to my computer so I can send them to Photoshop Elements to work with them.

This was a difficult card to photograph. You see, it sparkles so much you almost need sunglasses. I took so many photos just trying to capture its beauty that is apparent in real life.

Today, however, when I plugged my camera into my computer, there was no communication between the two devices. Uh oh. I know nothing about those kinds of things! I even rebooted my computer, hoping that would clear up any glitch. But no. That wasn't it. The computer just did not recognize the presence of my camera.

Now what?

I had taken a few photos of the complete card with my Smartphone to put up on Instagram. So, that was my only option (for this little pea-brained person). I sent the phone photo to Photoshop and worked with it. 

And here you have it:

I had been designing this card for an upcoming Stamp-In Workshop. It turned out to be way too frustrating, long and complicated though. So, I opted for a simplified rendition of the same look for the workshop.

However, I did like the way this one turned out. So, I thought I would share it with you, and tell you how I did it. If you are interested.

I started with a 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" piece of watercolor paper. After rubbing the Embossing Buddy well over the paper, I stamped the snowflake from Holly Jolly Greetings (page 34 in the big catalog) several times in VersaMark ink. At the heat station, I covered all the snowflakes with white embossing powder, and heat set it to emboss.

I had added single drops of three retired reinkers to a little paint tray. I then watered down the reinkers with water. I spritzed the watercolor paper well with water so I was working wet-on-wet. Using a paintbrush, I picked up one of the colors and kind of dripped and splattered it onto the wet paper. I repeated that with all three colors, letting the inks run and blend into one another. 

When you are working wet-on-wet, you need to be very careful about the colors you choose, because as they run and blend, certain color combinations will give you a yukky shade of brown. Since I was using shades of blues and purple, I didn't have any problems with mud.

With a paper towel, I absorbed some of the excess ink, started to dry it with my heat tool. Dabbed again. Once it was dry, it was much too light. Remember, I was using very watered-down inks because I didn't want too-saturated colors in any one spot. So I repeated this same process three times until I got the color intensity I really wanted. The white snowflakes had popped through its colored resist beautifully.

Then, I was ready to try a sparkly technique I had come across somewhere. Using Elmer's Glue in another of the slots of the paint tray, I watered the glue down considerably with water, and stirred it until it was well mixed together. Then I took another paintbrush and flicked the watered-down glue all over the background. The next step was to add Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to the wet glue spots. 

It worked well, but the splotches of sparkly glue were much more dimensional than I would have hoped. Even so, I definitely do like the look of it. Sometimes, during a heavy snow, the flakes come down heavy and thick, clumped together. That's the effect on this card.

I know you hear this all the time, but you should see it IN REAL LIFE! This photo does not do it justice whatsoever. 

So, enjoy this single photo of the card. I've wasted enough time trying to figure out these technical difficulties. Hopefully by my next blog post, I will have it worked out. If you have any ideas for me, please let me know!

Sparkly

Smiles.