A: Masking is a simple technique that adds a huge amount of dimension to a card. Plan your scene and stamp the foreground image(s) first. Then stamp the same images onto a Post-It note, and cut them out to the inside of the outlines. Layer these masks over the stamped images, then stamp the background images over the masked images. When the masks are removed, the second set of stamped images will appear to be behind the first. You can click HERE for a photo and video tutorial.

A: Both mediums have a watersoluble wax binder which allows the pigment to be blended with water. Watercolor crayons are great for backgrounds since they can easily be used to cover a large area with color. You can remove the wrapper and color with the entire side of the crayon to cover a background quickly and easily. Pencils have a harder core, and are wonderful for adding texture and finer details once you have larger areas of color blocked in.

A: It can be done. From my experimenting I found that pigment ink helped the powder stick the best (I used Memento Luxe). Ranger's Perfect Medium also worked well. Smoother fabrics will give the clearest image. Bolder designs work better than fine outline images... on smooth cardstock, the grains of embossing powder melt into each other, but on the rougher surface of the fabric, they seemed to just melt in place, pulling away from each other. Finer powders yielded a cleaner outline than the more coarse ones I used, but were harder to brush away around the image. Experiment on scraps of fabric to determine what will work best for you. Pieces are washable but should be dried flat.

A: Drywall tape is a gridded mesh strip with a light adhesive on the back; it can be found at any hardware store. You can use a cut piece as a stencil - stipple paint or watercolor through the openings or rub in texture paste with your finger. You can layer the tape onto a mixed media project to add texture, then paint or add other mediums over the top. I sometimes will roll the whole roll of tape through wet paint and use it like a stamp. I also have tape wrapped around a large soup can that I use as a roller to pull off paint when I'm gel printing.

A: I am terrible about cleaning things off too... I do take care of my brushes but let layers of paint build up on my brayers. A good spritz over with rubbing alcohol will loosen acrylic paint from stencils and brayers so they can be rubbed or brushed off under hot running water. You might need to reapply the alcohol between brushings if the paint is thick or old.