The latest Papertrey Ink "What Do I Do With This?" challenge certainly had me asking that question a lot! I usually reserve my embossing powder for details or sentiments (though I recently added embossing to a stenciled design), but this challenge required "a background completely covered in embossing powder".
Here's the card I ended up making with a snowy background made from heavy white gesso and clear embossing powder:
I've used heavy white gesso before to make a snowy ground in my art journal and I liked the texture that I achieved, so I decided to use it again here. I spread the gesso onto watercolor paper with a palette knife and created some ridges in it, then poured a ton of clear embossing powder over the top. Then I tapped off the excess powder. Here's what my background looked like at this point:
From prior experience, I knew the gesso would take a long time to dry, especially since it was thickly layered. I was worried about heat embossing it too soon and possibly making the gesso puff up, so allowed it to dry for almost 5 hours before proceeding with the heat gun. (Even though I tapped off excess powder before, I still had MORE loose powder which blew all over my kitchen counter when I used my heat gun, eek! So I stopped and aggressively tapped more powder off the paper.) Here's my shiny embossed background:
With the embossed "snowy background" completed, the rest of the card came together fairly easily. I decided to try a new color for my feathered friend and also gave her a little haircut (snipping off the "tuft" on her head). The sentiment is actually 2 stamps from Big & Bold Holiday Wishes that I combined together.
Materials used:
Ink to Paper Love to Layer: Notched die
Ink to Paper Feathered Friends 4 die
Ink to Paper Nifty Plaid stamp
Papertrey Ink Layered Postmarks: Holiday die
Papertrey Ink Big & Bold Holiday Wishes stamps
Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist cardstock
Heavy white gesso
Wow! Clear gloss embossing powder
Watercolor paper
Daniel smith watercolors (for the trees)
Copic markers and Polychromos pencils (for the bird)
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