With so many spray stains on the market these days it’s hard to figure out how to use them in more than just one or two ways. Today I’ll be sharing more ideas to get the most out of your spray stain collection!
I’ll start by using a spray stain to full opacity. I had a black ATC card size piece of heavy weight black card stock. It is 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ so quite small. For this project I used 3 spray stains in the Distress Mica Line by Tim Holtz: Tart Cranberry, Burning Ember & Unraveled.
READ ALSO: SAY IT WITH FLOWERS
I first used Burning Ember, then Tart Cranberry, not spraying solid coats, but overlapping them until the black card stock was coated. Then I lightly added Unraveled. When this was almost dry I ran it through my die cutting machine using a 3D Embossing folder from Sizzix/Tim Holtz called Mini Brickwork 3D Embossing Folder. It is the size of the card stock that I used. I ran this through my embossing machine.
My card stock was a bit damp when I put it through so this ensured that my embossing would be very crisp. But it also meant I had to wash my embossing folder after. When it was dry, I created a card using Mintay Papers Collection called Golden Days. I used a piece for the background and also fussy cut some of the images included on the cut apart page.
The next way I used a stain was as a painting medium. I spritzed a bit of the Tart Cranberry onto my glass work mat and watercolored the inlaid pieces of this die.
The paper underneath was a dull red so the spray stain really looked nice and sparkly! To finished this card I used 3 papers from the Scrapbook.com Harvest Patterned Collection and the Harvest Smooth card stock collection. I used a word die from my stash – stamped the actual sentiment and die cut the shadow layer 3 times. I added little orange gems. The Leaf die is from Memory Box called Grand Maple Frame.
My next method is spraying directly onto paper or silk flower embellishments. I used 3 different sprays to see what they would do. On two of the smaller pink flowers I used Sugary Gumdrop from Tim Holtz.
On the bright pink one I used Pink Chroma Mist from Brutus Monroe. On the white flower I used Ornament Gold from Brutus Monroe. For my card I used a light pink card stock and die cut a small panel using a fancy label die from my stash. I then ran it through a 3D embossing folder. For my background I cut a 4″ x 5 1/4″ panel of the same pink card stock and stenciled it using the Feather Leaf Stencil from Lavinia Stamps and Fall Snow Glitter Glaze (my favorite!) from Brutus Monroe. I popped up the smaller center panel and adhered my sprayed flowers with gems as centers and a die cut sentiment.
This next method is using Distress Oxide Spray Stains. I chose a rainbow of colors and splattered it with each color – drying in-between splattering. This way the colors layer and don’t blend. I die cut my sentiment 3 times with white card stock, glued them together and then inked blended coordinating colors with Simon Hurley Ink. I added rainbow confetti for sparkle.
My next two examples are very simple – just spritzing once or twice across the panel.
This was a random paper panel from my stash…it had a very soft vintage feel. I used Unraveled from Tim Holtz. To finish my card I stamped on a sentiment and added 3 pearls in the upper left corner.
This card uses paper from 49 & Market. I used Frosted Juniper from Tim Holtz and a coordinating rub-on from 49 & Market. I distressed the edges of the panel, tied a bit of teal metallic thread on the left side, added some teal drops and a sentiment from Pink Fresh Studios – the have packages of sentiments that are all die cut so you just need to add them to your project!
I hope you have found some inspiration for your Spray Stains!
Betsy Birge is from Liberty, US. She has been writing for TPC since 2023. Betsy started paper crafting in 2006 and she mostly makes cards. Her style is a bit of everything and she loves watercoloring both her cards and fine art showing in local galleries.