Ink, Muslin and a little Fun!

Hey Ya'll,

It's Sassy Dude Day!  YAY!  Bobby here from Cricut Couple.  I hope you all love today's projects as much as I do.  I saw this card in a magazine with an ink and stamping technique, but I put a little different spin on it using muslin.  Here goes...

 For all of the cards that I made, I did half cards.  8 1/2 x 11 folded in half.  The first thing I did was prepare my muslin.

 You can see the measurements here.  For this technique, it's a little distressed in appearance, so I snipped a tiny cut and then tore it.  Then I picked a few strings here and there to fray the edges.  This is also a great base for doing embroidery for a card.

 I used CTMH AP for the shapes and Flower shoppe for the leaf cut.  With the AP cart having so many wonderful shapes, I didn't have to use Flower Shoppe, but I liked this particular leaf.

 This is what it looks like on the Gypsy screen.  Basically, you are creating a stencil.  For this technique, you want a shape within a shape so that you have the distressed edges on the outside as well as the inside of the shapes.  I wanted to do a few different styles, so these are the shapes I selected.  Since my Muslin was 5x6, the label shape I chose was 4x5.  I also used the Gypsy to turn the inside cuts to the way I wanted them to layout on the stencil.  I used a thin white card stock to cut these so that the edges would be crisp.

 These are how they come out on the mat.  Very simple shapes and very simple cuts.

 For the next phase, it works best if you use a thin piece of craft foam under the muslin that you aren't worried about getting ink on.  This gives you a protective surface as well as a cusion under your stamping and inking.  I used three different inks for this pattern starting with Sunflower.  You simply put your craft sponge on the ink pad and pounce to ink it up slightly.  Then you pounce on the muslin.  Cover the entire exposed area with the Sunflower Ink.

 You can turn your sponge as you go along.  I added a little bit of Sunset ink in the center and randomly on the outer edge.

 Then I added a bit of Pear ink here and there to balance the fall look.  Keep in mind that the ink will darken in the fabric as it dries, so you don't have to have much ink at all.  The more you add, the darker it will become and you are simply adding color hues.

 The next phase is using a black (or whatever color you choose) of an archival ink.  Simply ink up your phrase stamp and start stamping while still keeping the stencil in place.

 This is what it looks like when you have the stamping done.  doesn't look so great right now, right?  Hee! Hee!

Once you remove the stencil, this is what you have.  From here, you can design anyway that you want.  For the leaf card, I used some glitter glue around the frame edge.  If you choose to have more contrast, you can also use a good distressing ink like Chocolate or Cocoa around the outer edge.  You can also at this point, use a warm iron and an old towel and iron this piece.  This will flatten it out and also heat set the ink.  Since these are water based inks, don't use any steam.  Since these cards are a distressed look, I didn't iron them.

I added a label on the bottom and more glitter glue to highlight the shape.

 I wish that you could see the detail in the pictures, but it's not showing that well.  The glitter looks amazing and the details really stand out on the fabric.

 I kept the inside very simple.  I inked everything for this card in Sunset.

 Here is the Love card.  This one uses Roxie paper and an old retired CTMH stamp set.  I used Tulip and Blush and a little Cocoa on this one.

 I wanted to do lots of fun stitching on this one, but while attempting, our sewing machine decided to start breaking into many pieces.  Arghhh!!!  At least, I got the butterfly card done first too.  Hee! Hee!

 The inside is pretty much the same as the first.  I Inked this entire card with Tulip.

 I really loved how this Christmas tree turned out.  I used Olive and Ponderosa Pine and Cocoa on the outer edge.  I added a Merry Christmas label to the bottom with adhesive elements on the sides.

 Again, the glitter isn't really showing in the pictures, but I edged the entire frames as well as added dots on the tree and dots on the label shape.

 Inside was also kept simple.  I inked everything in Olive.

 For the butterfly card, I changed the layout a bit.  I used Orchid and Pansy Purple for the shading and then tried to do a frame border with the sewing machine.  I also added a label shape.

 I used the Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch (but you could cut them with your Cricut) and glued them everywhere that the stitching was messed up (as my sewing machine was dying).

I just added a simple sentiment mat to the inside and I inked the entire card with Pansy Purple.

Well, I was thrilled with the way all of these cards turned out.  I sure hope you enjoyed them and I would love to hear your comments.  Be sure to check out Cricut Couple and see what else we've been up to!  Thanks Sheila for inviting me to the sandbox!  Thanks for sharing your time with us today here at Cricut Couple!