Making Unique Papers with the Imagine

This is part two of my experiments making my own paper designs using white glazed and pearlized papers that are on the market these days. Yesterday, I showed you the results I obtained using these papers with inks and glimmer sprays.

Today, I am showing the results I obtained using my Cricut Imagine and these same papers.

When the Imagine debuted last summer at CHA, the demonstrators talked about using glazed papers. I went on the hunt for these papers and found them at Archivers. Made by Bazzill, its their famous textured cardstock with a glazed design on the paper and at $2.00 a sheet, it was more than I like to spend on paper. I was anxious to try out this method so I purchased a few sheets in white and cream colored sheets.

These first examples, I used Colorbok white textured cardstock (on the left) and the example on the right is the Bazzill glazed cardstock in the cream color. I liked how the colors looked deeper, the green/blue seems more intense too. Once I printed the papers in the Imagine, I took a cotton round and rubbed the ink off of the glazed areas. It did blur a bit on the edges of the paper along side the glazed design. I liked the way it turned out.

Here is another example, using the same papers (but the Bazzill glazed is on the left side) Its kinda cool how the glazed design shows and the deeper colors of the printed design.

Here is a close up of two more examples. Both of these papers are from the SEI pearlized paper stack. The design you get depends on how much or how little glaze there is on the paper. The paper on the left is mostly glazed and the swirls are the areas that retained the print of design from Imagine. The one on the right retained most of the printed design from the Imagine, as the glazed area was smaller. You can see the little flower designs on the paper.

Here is another photo, of the above papers.

Here is a layout I created using these papers. Both are from the SEI Pearlized stack and printed using the full 12 x 12 printing method on the Imagine. I used Cricut Cartridges Cindy Loo cartridge for the frame and the scalloped circle for journaling; Pagoda for the Kanji symbol and flower, and Gypsy Wanderings for the word Journey.

I hope you enjoyed today's feature. I enjoy creating these papers and look forward to creating more!

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Making my Own Papers

No, I'm not cutting down any trees, but I am using different methods to give me a wider variety of paper colors and designs.

I recently heard about some unique paper called Color Me. Its where you can use inks to create your own color paper with a design already printed into the paper. Since I'm impatient and couldn't wait for this paper to arrive, I thought I'd do some experimentation.

In my paper stash, I had a package of White Elegance from s e i. Its a white on white paper,described on the stack as "pearly foil papers". I had made a wedding book with this paper and had some larger pieces to experiment with.

I first tried Distress Ink with a cosmetic sponge and applied it to the paper. Now, I'm not the greatest when it comes to inks (or anything messy for that matter) But I was happy with the results. Here are some of my experiments.

I received a different effect with each patterned paper I used. I have always loved the watercolor colored papers and designs and that is what I was going for. The paper would soak up the ink more in the "unglazed" areas of the paper and depending on how much or how little was on the paper is how light or dark the paper became. I did use a clean cotton square to rub the ink into the paper and to remove the ink on the glazed areas. All these are great for future card backgrounds

I used glimmer sprays on the next three examples. I was not very happy with these, as they (I used Luminart Radiant Rain) have a high water content and will warp the paper. If I want to use these, I will need to flatten them out. The effect is ok, but I really liked the inks better. I had more control over how much ink and where I wanted it and the ink didn't soak up the paper like the spray did. Because of the high water content, I only used one color on a card.

Then I attempted to do an entire page. I used Bazzill's fairly new Glazed Cardstock. This one is white with white glazed images. On this particular sheet, its cupcakes. This is how it came out.

Pretty cool, eh? This will be great for a birthday layout for one of my granddaughters book.

So, with all the inked papers I had, I was able to create a few cards.

The first card was made with images from the Cricut Pagoda cartridge and the greeting was cut using Paper Lace.

I also used Paper Lace on the circle design with greeting.

Hope you enjoyed today's features. I love creating my own colors of paper and I'm anxious to find more papers that I can use with this method.

Tomorrow, I will show you the papers I created using my Imagine!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy

Monochromatic Birthday Card

Time to get back to crafting! Hi all! Hope you are having a great Monday. I appreciate all that have been visiting in the past month when I've been AWOL from my blog. I'm back and hope you all continue to visit.

Today's feature is a card made with several layers and one of my favorite papers - Core'dinations. I used this paper for the background, embossed with a Sizzix folder and sanded a bit to bring out the dots. Cricut Cartridge Cindy Loo was used for the open scalloped circle and its shadow. The shape is the circle design with the deer (page 69 of the handbook) and I used the Gypsy and the Hide Contour feature to remove the detail in the circle and just leave the open scallop design. The top circle with the greeting was cut using Cricut Cartridge Paper Lace - which is one of my current favorites!

I tend to go for less is more and like the simpler cards.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you soon.

Koala-t hugs,

Cathy