Tim Holtz Technique based cards

Have you ever seen some of Tim Holtz’s amazing stamping work? He has created some amazing techniques over the years using his range of products but the beauty of his techniques is that most of them can be reproduced using alternative products. I’m going to walk you through his basic technique here and then as a bonus, two other alternatives to his technique that I have seen over the years.

Tim Holtz technique

1. Begin with a piece of white card. Using a versamark stamp pad or an alternative clear embossing pad, ink your stamp and stamp. Pour embossing powder over the stamped image and heat set

2. Next, get out your choice of coloured stamp pad (I chose a pale pink even though the photo doesn’t reflect this) and using either a balled up tissue or a cotton ball apply ink to the card by rubbing it into the surface in a slow circular motion.

3. Continue applying the ink using the cotton ball or scrunched tissue. Ensure that all the tiny grooves around your embossed image are filled with the ink. Don’t be afraid to go over the top of the embossing as this will wipe off when you are finished.

4. Leave for a few minutes to give the ink a chance to dry then rub over with a clean tissue or cotton ball to remove any excess ink that has accumulated on the surface of the embossing.

To finish my panel and of course my card, I then went in and re-inked the edges of my card with a darker pink ink and the same technique as above.

Alternative Technique 1

1. Follow steps one and two of the original technique described above but use a glossy card stock rather than a standard piece.

2. Using a brayer and a multi tone stamp pad, roll the ink liberally over the surface of the card. Re-ink the brayer as necessary, taking care to roll in the same direction each time to keep the gradient effect.

3. Once completely covered, leave to set the ink for 10-15 minutes before rubbing down gently to remove any excess ink. This also gives the surface a kind of polished effect.

4. Attach to your card and decorate as desired. Here is a photo of the card I completed using this effect.

Alternative Technique 2

1. Choose 2 coloured ink pads that will tie in with your final colour scheme. Using one cotton ball for each colour, apply ink to the cotton ball and randomly dab it over the card surface. Repeat with the second colour.

2. Leave to dry thoroughly. Apply a thin layer of talcum powder to the surface and brush off any excess.

3. Next, stamp your image over the surface with clear embossing ink and emboss with clear embossing powder. I chose to stamp flowers around the outside edges of my card because I knew that the centre of the image would be covered.

4. Finally rub ink over the whole surface of the card as we did in the first technique, ensuring you cover the surface completely.

Leave to dry for several minutes before rubbing down carefully with a clean cotton ball to remove any excess ink. Here is the final card I create using this effect –

Note... Try this effect with vibrant coloured dabs and black inking over the top or for a grungy effect, try dripping ink droplets onto the surface and then stamping/ embossing/inking over the top.