In my card class this week, my sideline/helper taught a great new technique (to me) called Joseph’s Coat. It is essentially a sponged, emboss-resist surprise (as in you never know what you’re going to get at the end) type of technique.
This is the card we made in class. Isn’t it so pretty? I’m going to walk you through the steps that we used to create this card.
First, you start with a piece of Whisper White cardstock. Make sure you have scrap paper beneath this cardstock (c/s) to protect your work space. As you can see below, there’s good reason!
Start by choosing 3 colors to sponge onto the c/s. Remember Mr Miyagi? “Wax on, wax off”. That is essentially the technique: in a circular motion, starting on the scrap paper and with a light touch, sponge each of the 3 colors onto the c/s. In this case above, start with Pear Pizzazz (bottom), then alternately add Seaside Spray and Rococo Rose. You may be able to see that I did Rococo Rose in various spots and Seaside Spray in other “circles”. Heat set the sponged c/s for just a few seconds, then wipe your sponged c/s with the embossing buddy. Now comes the part that makes the emboss-resist – stamp your flowers and ferns with VersaMark ink onto the sponged c/s. As you see, I concentrated the ferns at the bottom, then stamped the large daisy in the upper center, and several medium daisies on the edges randomly. Sprinkle the c/s with CLEAR embossing powder and use your heat tool, watching the stamped images magically appear! So fun!
You’re not done yet though. Next, to make the stamped colors come through to make “Joseph’s Coat”(of many colors), you need to completely sponge a dark color overtop of the stamped/sponged c/s. This should help to make the sponged areas “pop”, but once you’ve finished sponging the dark color, “wax off” with a tissue/paper towel. Just to warn you, your fingers might be inky!
The last step was to emboss the large daisy with VersaMark ink on a scrap of Rococo Rose, sprinkle with WHITE embossing powder and punch out the daisy. You may or may not want to pop up the punched daisy with dimensionals – I chose not to. I gave dimension to the center however with a clear faceted gem.
One last item to share with you – this is how I store my sponges. I use a container that is probably used for storing embroidery floss skeins in (or that’s what I used to store in here when I did counted cross-stitch).
I cut each stamping sponge into 6-8 pie-shaped pieces, then punch out a matching color of cardstock with a long-retired “index tab” label punch. I staple the punched c/s onto the sponge so there’s never the possibility of sponging Real Red in my Daffodil Delight ink! (*I realized that I didn’t give you the product number for sponges in my supply list. You can order stamping sponges HERE.
Thanks for joining me again! I have another card to share with you tomorrow using the same technique. (You’ll have a head start on seeing the card if you watch my FB live on page, Jeannie Nielsen the Card Lady. If you don’t have Facebook, no problem! You can still watch me on my YouTube channel HERE.
Card “Recipe”:
Dimensions:
Rococo Rose c/s, 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, scored at 4 1/4″; scrap 3″ x 3″
Seaside Spray c/s, 4″ x 5 1/4″
Whisper White c/s, 3 3/4″ x 5″
Follow the steps as above to sponge and emboss the Whisper White layer. Stamp and emboss the Rococo Rose scrap with the daisy image and punch out Daisy Punch. Attach daisy over top of the stamped daisy in center of card and attach the faceted gem. Attach all layers together.
