Good Thursday morning!  I’ve got to tell you that so many exciting things have happened this week and I’m just bursting at the seams to tell . . .  only I can’t just yet!

I finally got to work in the studio late yesterday afternoon.  My card today is for the Crafty Secrets Challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  I love this weekly challenge . . .  it has become my favorite actually!  This week’s challenge is to emboss.  Since I can’t dry emboss, I decided to work with UTEE.  The only thing is, I experimented a bit and came out without something totally different than  what I had planned on or even expected.

I stamped the Santa image in cocoa on watercolor paper and lightly color washed the image with Ranger Distress Reinkers.  Once the painting was dry, I sponged Old Paper Distress Ink over the entire image to age the paper, and die cut/embossed with Spellbinders Classic Circles.  After the image was die cut, I began applying layer after layer of UTEE.  I probably had 4 layers built up when I decided to go one more.  I stamped on some embossing ink, applied Gold Perfect Pearls and then sprinkled on another layer of UTEE.  While still heating the UTEE, I continued to sprinkle on more.  I worked the Gold Perfect Pearls out to the ends and it looked like the edges were gold polished.  However, this is where I took the turn.  Once the UTEE had cooled, I decided to crack it.  Well  . . . . Santa’s face cracked right off!  Instead of melting the UTEE again (which would have been the obvious solution) I decided to peel the UTEE off the image.  What I had left was an image that feels like it’s coated in wax.  It is so cool!!!!  You can still see some of the UTEE and Perfect Pearls on the image, but in the process of peeling it all away . . . the paper crumpled and creased!  It looks even older now! 

At this point I had all this gold UTEE and nothing to do with it.  Remembering some small bottles I bought back in the summer, I grabbed one and filled it with the UTEE making the UTEE an embellishment.  HAH how cool was that!

• Stamps:  Vintage Christmas from Crafty Secrets
• Paper:  Arches Watercolor; Red and Green; Memory Box Spiceberry
• Ink:  Ranger Archival Coco, Distress Embossing, Old Paper, Peeled Paint, Broken China, Scattered Straw, Tattered Rose, Fired Brick, Weathered Wood, Faded Jeans and Vintage Photo
• Accessories:  Spellbinders S4-125 Scalloped Circles – Large, S4-114 Classic Circles – Large, and S7-014 Grand 12” Classic Lace Border; Ranger UTEE and Matte Accents; Tsukineko Sponge Daubers; May Arts Ribbon; DMC Embroidery Floss; Sewing Machine; Foam Tape

That’s all I have for right now.  I hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by!