Technique Tuesday

Welcome to another edition of Technique Tuesday. Today I am sharing a Faux Woodgrain technique I saw on an Instagram reel by @pspapercrafts. 

My colour palette was inspired by playing along to the Color INKSpiration challenge #203 to use Smoky Slate, Azure Afternoon and Balmy blue - a perfect palette for this technique and the country kitchen vibe I wanted to create.

I’m getting inky with the Sunflower 3D embossing folder, Stylish Shapes dies, Smoky Slate ink, Afternoon Azure ink and blinds and Balmy blue ink, rhinestones and unbranded silver twine.

Process video 

Written tutorial:

You want to use your scoring board and add score lines down your paper every 1/4 inch to create the wood slat look. You can do the slats vertically or horizontally depending on your design vibe. 

Using the direct to paper technique drag a neutral wood colour across the surface to start - I used Crumb Cake for my first layer and then went over with the Smokey Slate to give the wood a white wash vibe. 

Next you want to emboss the scored paper - if using a folder by Stampin’ Up! with the logo on top you want to Insert the paper with the inked paper face down so that it’s the debossed side once it’s embossed. 

Next use your light colour of choice to drag ink across the debossed side - so I used the Balmy Blue for this step.

Once you have the light colour coverage you desire use a sponge dauber and a darker shade of ink to go in and add any shading desired. I am using the Azure Afternoon here. 

Once you’ve finished adding ink shading and have the look you are happy with you can complete your card design by adding your card front to the mat and base, add a sentiment and any other embellishments you desire. 

Tip - if you don’t have bling in the colour you desire you can colour rhinestones, pearls or white ribbon with an alcohol marker in the colour you want - this is how I created the blue rhinestones for my design. I always keep lots of these stocked as it’s so much easier and saves money on buying a bazillion different embellishments.

Just love the country kitchen vibe this technique gives combined with the sunflower folder - so much I made several cards for different occasions. 

Which embossing folder would you try with this technique? 

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Technique Tuesday DIY pop up

Welcome to another edition of Technique Tuesday. Today I am sharing how easy it is to create a DIY pop up mechanism to your card while still keeping the card flat enough to send through the mail.

Colour palette inspired by playing along with the Color Dare challenge #690. I have chosen Lemon Lolly, Balmy Blue and Pretty in Pink.

Getting inky with the Beautiful Butterflies bundle, Triple Banner punch, circle punch and some rhinestone blinks.

The Beautiful Bokeh DSP is so pretty. There’s even some green hues where the blue and yellow mix.

Process a video of the card coming together.

The little pup up mechanism is so easy to make - it’s just a strip of paper folded so each side has a little accordion fold. How many folds you put on your accordion determines how much it will pop up. 

Final design a gorgeous little butterfly popping up to say HELLO.

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Technique Tuesday - Braided/Weaved Paper

Welcome to another edition of Technique Tuesday. Today I am showcasing the Braided Paper Technique.

I’m getting inky with Made wth Love DSP, Sweet Jars stamp set, Secret Sea, Poppy Parade and Flirty Flamingo papers and inks, Strawberry Slush and Pretty in Pink gems, and from my stash the Be Mine Stitched dies, Rhinestone gems and silver twine cord. 

Braiding the paper is akin to weaving fabric in fact weaving might be a better name for this technique. 

Once you have created your braided or woven pattern you can cut with a die if desired. For today’s card I am cutting two hearts with the Be Mine stitched dies. 

Quick process video 

Love the final design!

Close up views to show off the pretty textures created with the braiding/weaving of the paper. 

 

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Faux Flocking Technique

Welcome to another edition of Technique Tuesday. Today I am going to be sharing an oldie but a goodie “Faux Flocking”. 

I’m getting inky with some sneak peeks from the upcoming January-April 2026 mini catalog you can see the products in my unboxing video below. The Woolly Friends bundle is SO much fun … I’ve paired it with the Summer Splash 12x12 DSP from the January Online Exclusive. 

DETAILS

- 12 sheets: 2 each of 6 double-sided designs

- 12" x 12" (30.5 x 30.5 cm)

- Acid and lignin free (this product is photo-safe)

- Includes gold and iridescent foil

- Colours: Azure Afternoon, Balmy Blue, Bubble Bath, Daffodil Delight, gold, Highland Heather, iridescent, Lemon Lolly, Pool Party, Pretty in Pink, Shy Shamrock, Timid Tiger

The sneak peeks of the Lovely Stripes Embossing folder - think this one’s going to be a hot one like the mini corrugated folder from the summer. The All In A Row Embossing folder is just too adorable. I love the stripes, dots and floral combo. 

Also using the Everyday Arches dies, Triple Banner punch, Frosted Iridescent dots and Balmy Blue ink and marker.

 

Faux Flocking Tutorial 

You will need:

• Cheese Grater
• Scrap paper in colour of choice. I am using basic black and whisper white
• Container to hold your flocking 

It’s really easy to make. You basically take your scrap paper and fold it up into a square and than using the medium side of grater you go to town and grate the paper until you have the desired amount of flocking for your project. Easy peasy lemon squeezie! 

But how stinking cute are these little Ewes? I couldn’t resist giving them the wobbler head. 

Baa Baa White sheep how pretty is your wool? See why I felt that this technique was just perfect for this stamp and bundle set? So many colours of wool!  

The rest of my January-April 2026 sneak peeks can be seen here:

Happy Stampin’ 

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Technique Tuesday - Chalkboard fun

Welcome to another edition of Technique Tuesday - today I am exploring the fun of chalkboards both traditional white chalk and the neon glow chalk! 

My colour palette is the Color Throwdown challenge #ctd844. I have chosen Pool Party, Pretty in Pink and Lemon Lolly to play along. 

Materials wise I have chosen to play with the Elegant Pine Snowflakes stamp set, Christmas Word Collage embossing folder, Greetings for All ephemera,  black and gold twine and rhinestone gems. White ink for the chalkboard version and Versamark and white embossing powder and blends in my color palette for the neon chalkboard. 

For the traditional Chalkboard it’s a very quick and easy technique - you simply stamp with white ink on the black background and you can add some white ink to a tissue and gently rub on the chalkboard to give the look of a board that’s been wiped of chalk and new chalk added. 

For the Neon Chalkboard instead of the white ink you want to use Versamark to stamp your images and sprinkle with white embossing powder and heat set. Once heat set you than colour your “chalk” with bright colours to give that neon chalkboard look.  

I love the Greetings for You ephemera set for the black and white sentiments as they are perfect with this technique as you can add colour to the white lettering to make a neon chalkboard sentiment.

An extra bonus card from the scrap I used when testing my white ink pad to ensure it was juicy and not in need of drinking. Waste not want not!

Happy Stampin’ 

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Technique Tuesday - Emboss Resist

For today’s edition of Technique Tuesday I am playing with the Emboss resist. I have chosen to play with my Prairie Grass stamp set as it’s perfect for showcasing this technique.

I am also playing along with the Case-Ing Tuesday #CT530 over on Facebook where we case a card from the catalog from Stampin’ Up! 

My colour palette was chosen from the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge #HSS472 of Pretty Peacock, Darling Duckling and Timid Tiger.

I love how gorgeous this technique works allowing that pop of white to shine through against the vibrant background. Perfect for an I’m here for you card! 

This sketch was a lot of fun to play with. There’s something extra therapeutic about tearing your pretty paper - it’s like a message of contradiction in the brain being faced from your childhood teachers saying that you don’t tear paper and now has been won by the adult brain saying go ahead I can do whatever I want now I’m an adult 🤣

Have you used paper tearing in your paper crafting design? 

If you haven’t done the Emboss Resist it’s one of the easier techniques that gives a lot of WOW factor. 

All you need is your stamp, white paper of coloured inks of choice plus a Versamark or other brand of sticky ink pad, clear embossing powder and a heat gun. A anti static powder is also handy as it prevents the powder from sticking to any fingerprint reside from handling your papers. I also keep a small paint brush with my embossing supplies for if the anti static powder wasn’t enough to delicately brush away stray powder I don’t want on the paper. 

So use your anti stick powder over the paper, stamp your image in versamark onto the paper, sprinkle with embossing powder and shake off excess. I love using a coffe filter to catch my excess to be able to easily pour back into my powder pot. Use the heat gun to set the powder. Make sure it’s all turned shiny and fully set. I usually heat from the back first so that it’s less likely to blow off my powder on me. Than I do a second time over the front.  Once your powder is set you can blend colour with sponge or brush or use a brayer to add colour over top of your image as desired and than use a paper towel to clean off the embossed areas to reveal your white pop of wow 🤩 than finish your card design! 

Happy Stampin’

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love 

Be Totallyawake4-life

Technique Tuesday - Black Ice

Welcome - today’s Technique Tuesday has me playing with the Black Ice technique on the new Earthen Tone Metallic DSP from Stampin’ Up!

Playing along with the TGIF Challenges #tgif542 sketch challenge. Love the tilted squares.

Paired the sketch with a game of Tic Tac Toe challenge #tttc279. I chose the metallic, square and embossing row for the win!

I’ve chosen to use the Beautiful Butterflies stamp set. The Streaked Dots and copper Embossing powder also pair well with the Earthen Tone metallic paper. 

Black Ice tutorial - you will need:

• Metallic paper 
• Black Archival ink 
• Versamark
• Clear embossing powder 
• Heat Gun
• Stamp of choice

First step:

Choose a metallic paper - so gold, silver or copper work great. Cut to size you want for your focal piece. Handle paper by edges as much as possible to avoid getting fingerprint/ oils on the surface.You can use painters tape to hold the paper in place to avoid handling and getting fingerprints on surface. 

Second step:

Take the black archival ink and using the direct to paper technique gently drag across your metallic paper from top to bottom in straight line to give you the vintage base to the black iced look. Repeat until you’re happy with the look. 

Third step:

Using the black archival ink stamp your focal image onto the metallic paper. Other inks will smear in the next step so it must be archival ink - I use Stazon but there are other brands that will work. Make sure image is completely dry to avoid smearing in the next step. You can use a heat gun to speed drying or let air dry for a while.

Forth step:

Once image is completely dry, using your Versamark ink pad and the direct to paper technique, very gently run the Versamark ink pad across the cardstock from top to bottom. Sprinkle the entire cardstock with clear embossing powder and then set using your heat gun. 

Final step:

With your black ice focal point you can complete your desired card design.

I have carried on the embossing in my design and added copper embossing edges to my crumb cake squares as well as on my Happy Birthday sentiment. I have added the Streaked Dots embellishments and some twine cord to add some additional dimension to my design. 

It’s hard to capture the butterfly image on the still camera. This is another version using gold foil paper. 

Have you played with the Black Ice technique yet?

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life