Techniques with Ranger Stuff

I'm sooo behind in posting the cards from last month's Techniques class, so I'm taking time out from working on my Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas (and before tonight's Techniques class) to post the pics and some info about them.

For this first card, I used some acetate (or any recycled plastic from packaging), and colored the backs with some Ranger Alcohol Inks.  They dry pretty quickly, so I then used some Ranger Paint Dabbers, and went over the Alcohol Ink until covered.  When dry, I die cut them into leaves, added some black Sharpie to draw leaf veins on the fronts, and hit them with the heat gun to melt and shape them a little.  I decided to pull out some River Rock card stock for the base, and stamped it with Versamark ink and the Canvas background (love this stamp); added some retired Autumn Spice DSP from 2010's Holiday mini catalog, a strip of Cajun Craze punched with the Scallop Trim Border, and a little hemp bow around the stems!  Added my sentiment with some Early Espresso ink and it's done!

This next card was done on Old Olive cardstock base with some First Edition DSP.  I sponged some Crumb Cake ink on the DSP before adhering to 'age' it a little, and then wrapped some purple hemp around a tied a knot.

I stamped the flower on some watercolor paper using Black StazOn, and colored it using our Watercolor Crayons and an Aqua Painter.  I painted the center of the flower weith Daffodil Delight, but it didn't 'pop' enough for me, so on my finished card, I added a So Saffron button with some Linen Thread tied through the holes.

To make the frame, since I don't have a scalloped square frame die, I just cut a scalloped square of Elegant Eggplant cardstock.  Then, using my paper cutter, I cut out the inside leaving a 1/2" border all around.  I inked the inside and outside edges of this as well to 'age', and to really make it look old, I covered the frame with some Ranger Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

This last card was one I made at Convention (I believe).  It's been displayed in my classroom for about a year now, and my students have been patiently waiting to make it. 

It's made using our new Letterpress Plates.  The trick to using these plates is to use watercolor paper, and our Craft Ink.  I squeeze a drop of ink onto some scrap plastic to use as a palette.  I then apply the ink using a Dauber directly to the areas I was colored on the letterpress plate.  I carefully laid the watercolor paper on top and ran it through the Big Shot.  You end up with a stamped, slightly embossed image ... just beautiful!  I added some Regal Rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, a Melon Mambo card base with a layer of Regal Rose cardstock in between.  One of our Basic Rhinestone Jewels finishes it off with the perfect elegent touch.