KimzKrafts: Marvellous Monday with Visible Image

Is it starting to feel a little cold where you are? Winter is on its' way. I have so far managed to refrain from getting too Christmassy (is that how you spell it? Spell-check doesn't like any of my attempts to spell it!) but this week I am showing you something I have made which could be a Christmas gift.

NEWS -NEWS - NEWS - NEWS -NEWS - NEWS - NEWS

New stamp release from Visible Image - pre-orders now being taken!

You are going to love this new selection of stamps from Visible Image,

trust me I have seen them ALL and they are amazing!

*****************************************************************************

I am partial to a bit of up-cycling as you know. Remember the little chalkboard cum key rack that I modified recently? Blog post HERE Well, this little drawer unit started out quite plain and uninteresting but I have decorated it using the Revolution stamp set from Visible Image. I picked it up in a charity shop and have had it in my stash for a few months now. I suspect the previous owner used it for storing cotton wool balls in as the inside was a little fluffy to say the least! Anyway, after some sanding down and de-fluffing I set about beautifying it.

I started by giving the whole thing a coat of matt varnish, one with a dye included. Not only did it liven up the dull wood but it also gave me a good base to stamp onto. I have found that stamping directly onto wood can be a bit hit and miss. It can sometimes 'bleed' into the grain and you get a blurry image. OK if you want that look but I needed this to be sharp and crisp as the script stamp is so detailed, I wanted to keep it readable!

Once the varnish was dry I stamped the script using black Stazon ink. Although this usually dries very quickly I left it for an hour before doing the next lot of stamping 'just in case'.

Next I stamped some of the decorative elements using black embossing powder. I admit that it didn't work as I wanted it to. It got lost on the background and so I re-stamped the elements this time using gold embossing powder. This turned out to be a good mistake as this gold over black gives a shadow effect which I really like. Lastly I added some red Stazon swirls.

As the piece is decorated with permanent stamp ink and the embossing is technically waterproof, I opted not to give it another coat of varnish. I was worried that there might be a reaction or that the varnish would cause the ink to bleed. It is obviously not a piece I would recommend to be used in any wet, damp rooms, like a bathroom or a kitchen but I would think this would be perfect for a bedroom for your jewellery, or make-up or even cotton wool balls!