By: Sandra Blackwell, Artistic Guide

The inland Northwest has had a VERY cool and wet spring.  I am really anxious for warm sunny weather and time on my patio.  I created this project to help me take my inside stuff outside to the patio!   

Supplies:
Stamps: 
Star  (PandaMonium)
Paper: 
Plain white 2-ply paper towels
Ink: 
Various colors of re-inkers
VersaMark Embossing ink (Tsukineko)
Other: 
Black embossing powder (optional)
Gloves (unless you like colored hands)
Mod Podge
Paint brush
Heat gun for embossing
Glass jar (I used a small jam jar)
Various ribbons and beads for embellishments

Comment: I recently took a class on dying fabric.  We used paper towels to wipe up spills and wipe our gloves off.  I quickly noticed how very beautiful the paper towels looked.  I started to pay attention and change towels after a couple of color wipe ups, so I didn’t get them all totally muddy.  When we were done, I even raided the garbage can to pick up towels from my classmates.  We also talked about what I would do with the towels, and at the time I wasn’t sure.  Our instructor said that if you save the towels they are great in journals.  I can totally see using these in altered books, and I am sure everyone could come up with lovely ideas.

Directions:

1.  The look can be duplicated by dropping ink in two or three complimentary colors on a piece of plastic.  Spread the drops of each color out a bit, and have the different colors all over the plastic.  You could draw a line through the drops with a stick, or your gloved hand.  Don’t mix too much, or the colors totally blend so you don’t get a mottled look on the towel. 
2. After the ink is on the plastic, loosely wad  up the paper towel, and mop up the mess you just made.  Turn the towel over, and refold it, to make sure the ink gets all over.  There may be white spots still.  You can leave those as part of the design, or drop more ink to wipe up. 
3. Spread the towel out to dry.  If you do more than one, lay them separately so the colors don’t bleed into each other…unless that is the look you want.
4. Iron the paper towel once it is dry.  
5. Measure the jar on the paper towel.
6.  Use a paint brush with just water to mark the line.  This makes it easy to tear the edge for a softer look.



7. I wanted to stamp a sun on one of the paper towels, so I used spray starch to get a nice crisp paper towel.  I used my pounce bag to keep the embossing powder from sticking. 
8. Stamp the first image and emboss it.  Then place that image where you want it to end up.  If you want another image, you need to carefully mark where the second image should be.  Stamp the second image and emboss it as well. 



9. Paint mod podge all over the jar.  Starting in the middle of the paper towel, or with one of the embossed images, place it on the wet mod podge, and smooth it around the jar  Go over the top of the paper towel with more mod podge.  Set it aside to dry for a couple hours.








10. Tie 3 or 4 ribbons around the neck of the jar, adding beads to the ends.  Even candles need a bit of bling!



11. Put a tea light in the bottom, wait for the rain to stop, take your new light to the patio and enjoy!