Mudra Craft Stamps: Chalkboard technique with a twist

Hi Everyone,

Mirella here, hope you're having a wonderful week!

As you all know, this month's challenge on our blog is "Chalkboard technique". I have to admit, when I saw the theme, I got a bit worried - I have never tried this technique before, and I had no idea where to start, or what designs to think of that would be suitable for the challenge. The more I played with my new Mudra Stamps (wow the recent releases have been awesome, haven't they?), however, the more confident I got, and the ideas just kept coming!

Now, you all know, I am more of a colourful gal when it comes to card making, but I have to say - black and white with a bit of colour here and there is starting to grow on me, and you might see more of it soon!

CARD 1 - heat embossing on the "blackboard"

1. The moment I saw the Painted Alphas in caps, I knew I wanted to try out this design! Note: I haven't removed the stamps from their original packaging to make this card - I added some double sided tape to the front of the packaging, and temporarily adhered the whole stamp set to my MISTI (you could use any larger stamping tool/block, or - if you don't have any - you can still recreate this design by stamping each letter separately - it'll just take longer and be a bit more complex to align).

2. I inked up the H and I with Versamark ink and stamped the letters on black cardstock. I then heat embossed them in gold.

3. Next, I inked all of the remaining letters with white pigment ink, and stamped them in the same position. I had my stamp set mounted on the MISTI, hence I could have easily re-stamped, to get a better and more perfect ink coverage on the cardstock, but I believe that the slightly "distressed" look is simply perfect for the chalkboard effect.

4. I sponged a bit of the white pigment ink in random places all over the card, and inked up all of the edges.

5. I mounted the black panel on some gold foil paper (to go with the gold embossed sentiment), and then adhered it all to a cream square card base.

6. In real life, the card seriously looks like a piece of a blackboard with chalk writing on it - I love it!

CARD 2 - Getting chalky with Perfect Pearls

1. I wanted to try something slightly different, so this time I decided to use Perfect Pearls as my "chalk". I only wish I had them in different colours (I only have the "Pearl") - I think they could give awesome effects. Maybe you can try, if you have them, and let me know?

2. I stamped the images from the Let's Party stamp set with Versamark Ink, and then gently brushed on some Pearfect Pearls. To set them, I lightly sprayed the panel with water mixed with some Perfect Pearls (lots of them in this project!) - this way I also have a delicate shine on the whole panel.

3. I sponged some white pigment ink all over the panel for an additional "chalkboardy" effect.

4. Next, I adhered a few of Mudra clear sequins, to decorate the stamped cake.

5. Finally, I mounted the black panel on a pale yellow card base - I think this colour goes really nicely with the black and pearly shimmer.

CARD 3 - Because I couldn't resist some colour and butterflies!

1. I blended Distress Inks (Peacock Feathers, Wild Honey and Hickory Smoke) onto a piece of white cardstock. I then lightly sprayed the panel with some water mixed with Perfect Pearls, for some shimmer and additional interest.

2. I dry embossed the panel, using the beautiful Mandala stencil. In real life, you can see the embossing a little bit better than in the photos - it's really gorgeous!

3. I gold heat embossed the butterfly and the sentiment on pieces of vellum. I wanted the butterfly to have some shine & sparkle, to correspond with the sentiment, and so I covered it with Gold Wink of Stella. Truth be told, I only wanted to use the clear one, and if I were to make this card again - I would try the clear one for sure, but since I grabbed the gold one by mistake and I was happy enough with the result - I decided to use the golden butterfly.

4. I adhered the butterfly & the sentiment to the colourful panel, and - before adhering it to the card base - I matted it with some striped patterned paper.

5. To finish the card off, I adhered some of the gorgeous Mudra sequins here and there (can you tell that the colours of the card were inspired by the yummy sequin mix?).

What do you think? Should I mostly stick to using colour on my cards, or was it an OK enough attempt to tone it down a bit? :o)

Here are the Mudra supplies I used for today's cards:

Don't forget about our chalkboard technique challenge - and if you feel a bit intimidated by it, just like I did - just give it a go, you might be surprised with how much fun it is!