Paper Towels, Distress Ink, and a Little Christmas Magic

I recently upgraded my access to Laurel and Justine’s Stress Free Cardmaking Summit with every intention of getting an early start. Of course, life had other plans, and I only managed to watch a few sessions. Thank goodness for the upgrade—I can now catch up at my own pace.

The other day, I watched Juliana Michael’s tutorial on embossing with paper towels. Yes, you read that right: paper towels! I was amazed by the result. The technique created a beautifully embossed texture and instantly inspired me to give it a try.

Like Juliana, I chose to use the reverse side of the embossed panel. I lightly swiped Distress Ink in Bundled Sage and Pumice Stone across the surface, then added touches of gold metallic rub-on wax for a festive shimmer.

I did make one small mistake: I cut the panel too short. Rather than starting again, I simply adjusted the length of the card base, so everything fitted together. Sometimes a quick design change is all it takes to turn a mishap into part of the creative process.

To complete the card, I found a “Joy” die in my stash from Chloe’s Creative Stamps. It had originally been a magazine freebie, and it was perfect for this project. I die-cut the word from red and gold card, then layered the two pieces with a slight offset to create a subtle shadow.

A couple of holly leaves and a berry added the final festive touch. This project was a lovely reminder that it is always worth trying something a little different—especially when an everyday item like a paper towel can create such a stunning result.

Stress Free Cardmaking Summit - Oct 25

 Got a few hours this afternoon to watch some more sessions of the SFCS - I watched Justine Hovey's Live presentation - on replay as it was too early in the day for me - and played along with her.   And then watch Juliana Michaels session - using precise smooshing.   All just using 5 items!

Justine did some masking and ink blending to make a lovely clean looking one layer card - I followed her placement of the masking stripes as I liked the design. 

I chose to use a green/blue background - blending with Altenew inks - Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake and Lagoon.   I used Mint tape to mask off areas to stay white.   Then stamped two flowers from an older CASual Friday stamp set called Pretty Posies.  I then stamped and fussy cut from masking paper before blending.  Used Emerald ink with a 2009 Hero Arts background stamp (Antique Background) to add some extra texture.  Once I removed the masking, I added some little sentiments from Altenew's Sentiment Strips 2.  And finished with some iridescent drops from Pinkfresh Studio.

My second card is more of a mixed media card - inspired by Juliana's session.  Included using a couple of homemade ink smooshers.   I already had a flat one, but made the bubble wrap one.  

Very different from my first card today.   I used light blue and purple inks to make my smooshed background.   Use the light blue with the flat smoosher and the bubble wrap one with the purple ink.   I then used a stencil from Ranger to added the purple.  Splatters of black, white and blackberry acrylic paints (Dina Wakely paints).  My focal butterfly is from Memory Box and I used an Ultramarine ink to smoosh the bottom layer.  I used Catherine Pooler Grass Green and Eucalyptus inks to smoosh onto white card and then die cut two of the leaves from Pinkfresh Studio Curvy Leaves die set.  Added the leaves behind the butterfly and added a teeny tiny sentiment - stamped with black and a Mama Elephant stamp set.  Added some holographic dots to finish.

Had a great afternoon crafting.  Can't wait to finish watching the summit presentations.