Hello and welcome back!

Today I have a bright, cheerful spring card that is perfect for Mother’s Day! I have just completed the lessons for the Easy Ink Blending Techniques Class over at Altenew Academy, so this homework assignment includes faux watercoloring and emboss resist techniques.

Setting up my focal image was the most time-consuming part of the process.  I did not have a bouquet cluster like this in my stamps, so I used layering and masking of other individual blooms to create this lovely arrangement. To start, I stamped each element onto masking paper and fussy cut it out, then I played around with my masks until I was happy with the layout.

Then I got started with my stamping and heat embossing.  You always want to stamp the forward-most image first, so I started with one of the large blooms from Beautiful Day.  I lined up the stamp on top of the masked image in my Misti so I knew just where it belonged, then I removed the mask cluster and stamped in Versamark ink onto the smooth side of Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  I used Hero Arts White Embossing powder and heat set the first image.  I tried to catch the white-on-white flower in this photo:

Once cooled, I applied the mask and then referred to my arrangement to see which to stamp next.  I repeated this process for both large blooms (from Beautiful Day by Altenew), two smaller blooms (from Wonderland by Altenew), and 3 leaves (from Delicate Primrose by Altenew).  Finally I stamped the squatty round vase from Versatile Vases by Altenew.  Note that for each of these I only used the outline image.

This definitely took some time and patience.  This card is for my amazing mother and, to me, it was worth the effort to create something extra special for her (she really is the BEST!)… but if you wanted to make a quicker version of this card, try to find a stamp set that already has a cluster or bouquet of flowers so you don’t have to deal with all the masking.

The end result was exactly what I wanted – a nice compact little vase of florals.

Now that the embossing was complete, I could get busy coloring!

I used low tack tape to adhere my panel to my glass mat since it had warped a bit from all the embossing.  I pulled out various spring colors of Altenew Crisp Dye inks and Distress inks – both of which are water based and great for faux watercoloring.

For each element in my design, I started with a very light application of color that I blended on with a finger dauber.  I went outside of the lines so there are faint halos of color around the whole image.  Then I smushed the ink pads on my glass mat and used a wet paintbrush to add layer upon layer of color, letting them dry in between. This gave me the look I was going for: a loose, impressionist suggestion of flowers with visible water staining and enough color to reveal the embossed outline of the flowers.

When I was happy with the watercoloring, I added some splatters and a little color under the vase to ground it.

Finally, it was time for a sentiment. I used a Stitched Rectangle Die from Simon Says Stamp to trim out my panel in my Big Shot.

Then I very carefully stamped my sentiment using letters from Concord & 9th’s Sophisticated Script stamp set and “you are the best” from the Smooch stamp set by Technique Tuesday.  Because I had spent so much time on the embossing and painting, I used my Misti and was super careful to get my sentiment straight and smudge-free (a huge feat for me sometimes!)

To assemble the card, I popped my panel up on some craft foam and mounted it on a card base of matching fuchsia cardstock… then the finishing touch was a few moonshine sequins from Simon Says Stamp.  Voila!

Here are some close ups of the finished card – I can’t wait to send it to my sweet mama… I know it will brighten her day!

Thanks for stopping by today.  See you soon with another inky project!

xo,

Tricia