3 Ways with Altenew's Pen Sketch Mandala Stamp Set

It's Monday and time for another 3 ways with post, today I am focusing on the Pen Sketch Mandala Stamp set from Altenew.

Those who know me well, know that I love Mandala's and as soon as I saw this stamp set I knew it would be making regular appearances in my crafty projects. So let's jump in and I'll talk you through this weeks cards and all the techniques I used.

Watercolour with Embossing power resist

I love to used embossing as a resist for watercolour and thought it would be fun to play with the Mandala and see what I could create.  I started by stamping the Pen Sketch Mandala on some Hot Pressed water colour card, I chose to use hot press card as it is smoother and allows for a better emboss.

I used the Golden Peach Embossing powder from Altenew along with their embossing ink which gave a lovely base for me to add colour. Once it had cooled I thoroughly soaked the card stock and dropped in some water color  and allowed it to bleed.

When the card had dried I decided that I didn't want the bold embossed lines so did a little trick to remove them.....Yes, you can remove embossing powder using an Iron and some Printer paper.  I set my iron to a medium heat and turned the steam function off. I then place the printer paper over the to and gentle run the Iron over the surface.  This melts the embossing powder and the paper soaks it up.

To my surprise (as I've only ever done this with clear embossing powder) it left a light peach colour where the embossing powder had been, it looks very vintage/distressed and I LOVE it!

Alcohol Markers and Embossing Powder

Now I dont know if you've ever tried colouring a heat embossed image with Alcohol markers only to find that they melt the powder and it ruins your project, well I have and it drives me crazy.  Also if you want a light embossed line and darker colouring it's almost impossible to do in the normal way of embossing and then colouring.

So I got to thinking, how about I use my stamping platform and stamp my image in a light alcohol proof ink, colour it with markers and then heat emboss....genius right? I imagine lots of people do this but I wanted to share the idea for those who dont.

I found that a light grey alcohol proof ink worked well to give me a guide for my colouring. I made sure to leave the stamp in the stamping platform so that I could put my card back in the exact place and emboss over the stamped lines later.  This worked so well, and as the heat embossed lines are a little thicker they hide and stray pen marks,

Sorry that the lighting in the above photo is a little dark but it was so hard to try and capture the shine of the embossing powder. The sentiment comes from the Wings of Hope stamp set.

Clean and Simple

My last card is so quick and easy but looks very elegant.  I love a clean embossed image on black card, I kept with the theme of Golden Peach Embossing.  Now a anti static bag is a must when heat embossing but especially important when embossing on black as every stray particle shows up.

If you don't have an anti static bag you can easily make one at home by adding wither corn flour/startch into a piece of muslin or a stocking, or if your in a rush you can  just sprinkle some baby powder onto your card and used a soft brush to swipe it over the surface.

I hope you've liked to days post, I will be back next week with something new but until then all thats left to say is, links to the products used are below for you to use

Products Used

Pen Sketch Mandala Stamp Set
Wings of Hope Stamp Set
Golden Peach Embossing Powder
Embossing Ink
Watercolor Brush Markers - Spring Garden Set
Artist Markers - Set D


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