Excuse fingers….
It’s Sunday, and it’s time for a project on what to do when you get fingerprints all over your lovely work! I suppose the key is
KEEP GOING!!
I used:
Promarkers
Detail Clear Powder
Clarity Moon Masks
Water
Here goes…
Stamp the Toadstools in Espresso on Claritycard.
Colour in with Promarkers.
Add the white dots.
Colour the whole image with Versamark Pen.
Add Detail Clear Powder.
Heat emboss for a fabulous glaze.
You can really see the glaze when the light catches it.
Delightful.
Add a moon.
We want to create a background…
Load the Brayer with Mushroom for the sky, using a
Splodgeaway blending mat.
Gasp.
AFTER ALL THAT WORK, I HAVE COVERED THE CARD WITH MY FINGERPRINTS.
In the words of Victor Meldrew:
“I don’t believe it!”
Keep calm and carry on….
Note to self:
Stop fiddling with the card!
Load the Brayer with Lettuce Adirondack and do the grass.
Lettuce is lighter, so you can’t see the blotchmarks so much.
Trust me – they are there….
It’s no good. We will have to grunge up the sky.
Sprinkle Ultra-thick powder over the whole card.
(I did this trick for a night sky blog recently – worked a treat)
Load the Brayer with Lettuce from the Splodgemat
and roll back and forth, moving the embossing powder around.
Well, that got rid of the fingerprints…
Clean off all the granules.
Still not ideal. Time to get out the big guns.
OPERATION WATER FLICKER!
Make a little puddle of water in the palm of your hand and flick water at your artwork.
Feels a bit radical, hey ho!
Blot with a Paper towel.
When you have finished flicking water and blotting,
and you have wiped the toadstools clean of ink,
remove the moon mask.
Buff your artwork with a paper towel all over,
layer up on a complimentary red,
then white square card.
Done
There, you see.
Nobody will ever know what a finger-blotchy mess we had here.
Now it just looks as though somebody shook and opened a can of coke too near it! But to those of you who are new to card-making, this is the arty, distressed look we strive for!
In fact, why not save yourself a lot of hassle and just buy a load of diet coke cans for hosing down and spraying! On second thoughts, a bit sticky. And may attract wasps….
Ah well…back to the drawing board…
with love
57 thoughts on “Excuse fingers….”
That is a great idea, but I bet if I tried the water flicking, I would drown it. xx Maggie
Me too Maggie!
Love it! You should try salt too, Barbara – has an interesting reaction. Really enjoying reading your blog, hun – keep them coming 🙂 xx
That is absolutely beautiful Barb!!! I must remember that trick…might save a few pieces of card going in the recycling bin!! Xxx
Well Barbara this is how I work all the time!! I don't design anything I just try to work out how I can cover my mistakes this time!!!! Mixed Media = finger marks, water, brayer !!! and for those wonky layers a bit of torn paper! What a lovely stamp that is, you card is simple and beautiful. xx
Oi Mrs Crowe! Less of the simple! Xxx
I can relate to that Sam!
Just noticed your comment Barbara made me LOL – I promise I will never use the word Simple ever again!!! Xx
You should come on the NHS , Barb as you're such a tonic and always brighten my day (well very late night actually). I'm pretty sure that the arty term 'distressed' was first used to cover up someone's mistakes and I love your use of it here! Hope you have a lovely Sunday x
This would definitely have saved a few from the bin in the past! Lovely card x
It looks as though it was always meant to be like this – I love it! 🙂 x
I love happy accidents because I so that type of thing often… Cool
…and I thought it was only me who got fingerprints all over everything! As Bob Ross used to say "There are no mistakes, just happy accidents." Love your blog Barbara. xxxxxxxxxxx
Great phrase, must remember that 🙂
Love this stamp and this is a lovely piece of work. I have lost count of how many bits of work I have binned due to blimming finger prints ! Some have been almost completed and the frustration is so much that I either just rip it to bits or screw it up and throw it ! Childish, I know but hey hands up those who have done it too … lol xx
Finger prints and stripes are my speciality! Love your tutorial here on not giving up and making a good thing out of what could be a 'disaster darling'…. So 10 out of 10 to you xxx
Love this card . Will try this next time .always end up doing something like this . finger prints, ink marks , etc but when I do get it right I am so pleased and makes it all worth while .xxp
Love it …..I really like plan B , it looks as if it was always meant to be that way……I doubt whether mine would …some of my booboos would take more than a sprinkle of water to disguise them. Xx
Absolutely brilliant! I am forever trying to work out how to improve/hide my mistakes. It does make me feel much better to see I am not alone! I just need to work out how to hide all the ink marks/splodges that appear where they shouldn't. Sometimes I have no idea how it even happened! x
Good morning Barbara. You really do inspire. No wonder you are award winning on all levels. Xx
It's so reassuring to know even the experts are good at fingermarks, although at least yours looked white, mine are always muddy or black! Love the card though and I agree it does look as if that is how it was meant to be all along 🙂
Hi Barb, great card, and who would know that you had to cover up finger marks if you did not tell us. May have saved some of mine. Have a great Sunday everyone. Bx
A great tip to rid our masterpieces of finger prints, I do this all the time but mine its usually inky prints. Joan x
Love the card and the idea for covering up the finger marks. I spend time trying to hide my mistakes too!
Hi Barb,
Well, this is fabulous. Not only does it look as though it was meant to be like this all along but it gives us all hope if the experts manage to get fingerprints everywhere as well! I don't know how many times I've tried to cover up with flowers, butterflies, sentiments etc, but usually they end up in the bin because the mistakes are too big! My biggest mishaps seem to happen with gilding flakes, I just think I've cracked it and then somehow I manage to smudge it and it just looks awful. Still I'll just keep trying. Thanks Batb, love Alison xxx
An unhappy accident turned into an even more beautiful piece of artwork.
gorgeous piece Barb and what a clever way to get rid of the fingerprints xx
Thank you for that great tip. I would have thrown the card away at finger mark stage but now no need to
Mxx
Oh that's really neat, the whitish spots are most star-ish.
I hate to make mistakes but find it takes me "outside the box' and usually produces a unique card.The only problem is its so unique that I can't repeat it! Heyho, thanks for all your wonderful ideas, happy stamping x
I hate to make mistakes but find it takes me "outside the box' and usually produces a unique card.The only problem is its so unique that I can't repeat it! Heyho, thanks for all your wonderful ideas, happy stamping x
Love the card, and especially how you 'got out' of the problem. Nice to see that you are human too!
Lovely card Barb and a cracking idea forcovering Up marks xx
What a great card and a fabulous way of covering up your finger prints. I tried the night sky effect with the ultra thick powder and it worked a treat so thank you again for sharing your how to with us
Jackie x
Morning Barb. Love this. I haven't tried the trick with the embossing powder yet, but I've had to resort to water flicking a couple of times. I must be a bit heavy handed with the water because then my skies look like a snowstorm! Have a great day. Xxx
Beautiful card love the stamp and your brilliant ideas. Great. I would have started again.
Hugs
CraftyJacq
Xx
Only one word … WOW! Hugs x
Another fabulous card beautiful stamp love the tutorial look forward to your blog everyday thank you xxx
You have so much patience Barbara. Mine would have been either in the bin, or the mushrooms cut out and used as a topper. So look forward to my daily visit to your blog, keep up the inspiration. xxx
Love this Barbara and the Mushroom Stamp is one of my fave stamps, Now thats what I call a Happy Accident xx Brilliant
Really effective techniques Barbara – any other special effects that you have for covering up mistakes will be really welcome!! Thanks Susan
Clever, love it.
Hi Barbara. Love the finished card and THANK YOU once again for sharing a way out of what could be a ruined piece! Brilliant way of covering up fingermarks, mine are often inky, like some of the other ladies, but I'm sure with these tricks a lot of work will be saved. Take care.
Thanks for the tip, it may save some of my work. Like others I seems to get fingerprints and stripes on my work, I'll keep working at it. Love the little snail on this stamp, have to put it on my list. Thanks again Jx
Love the finished effect on this artwork, definitely got to try this. Great tutorial as always xx
A beautiful image Barbara and it just goes to show that there's never an error in our work just an adaption. The idea of using Ultra Thick embossing powder with ink and a brayer is new for me so I must give it a go! Thank you for the idea! x
Great rescue work here Barbara and a lovely piece of finished artwork. I tried the ultra thick technique on a card recently and it looked great – I was really pleased with the result. Pat x
Stunning Barnara, my sort of card…..have a good Sunday…..x
what a lovely piece of artwork!. who would have known you had a load of finger prints on eh? i'm sure you did it on purpose as normally you don't even get a hint of that on your work….all in the name of art! hugs xx
Good rescue technique there – I would never have thought to use embossing power – would probably have cut the mushroom out and used it for something else. As for water flicking – well I would have got in a right mess!
Beautiful work and a fabulous save, must try the thick embossing powder technique soon, love to flick the water – gives a wonderful random look, thanks for sharing x
The finished image looks great Barbara, great tips that you've shared too. xx
That was well rescued, would have been in the bin for me probably. Butterflies or flowers usually recue me but sometimes mistake not in right place. The finished card looks fab, really would not have known you did a rescue job. Will have to remember this Lynne xx
So pleased to see that even the most experienced crafters do the same mistake than us…… Thanks for sharing that nice tip.
Laurence xx
love this, so delighted to know that it is not only me who makes such mistakes. Nie save though 🙂
x
Yet more great tips. Was hoping to do some crafting today, woke up with loads of ideas but didn't manage to get anything done as I ended up building some flat pack furniture to store all my craft materials. Two cupboards built and one to go but this will need to wait until next weekend.
Another great card Barbara, you make it look so easy, which is a credit to you:-)