Technique Thursday - Reflection Technique

It's time for another installment of our Technique Thursday, and today I thought I'd share the Reflection Technique with you. This scene reminds me of the gorgeous sunset I saw on my way home from work the other night...then oddly enough at a SU! party Friday night one of the guests asked me to explain how to make a reflection on a card, and this card was born!
Here's what you'll need:

Stamp Set: Lovely as a Tree
Ink: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Basic Gray
Paper: Shimmery White works best for sponging, Basic Black, Poppy Parade. Also a piece of white computer paper ripped in half, keep both sides. A piece of white paper punched with the 1-3/4" circle punch.
Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Clear Plastic Sheet (translucency or window sheet)




Sponge the sun by first punching a hole in a scrap piece of white paper using the 1-3/4" circle punch (or whatever size sun you would like). Hold the negative piece over your base card stock where you would like the sun to appear. I used Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango and Melon Mambo to create this sun.
















Add the torn piece of white paper where you would like the cut off of the trees to be (I hope you can see it in the picture!), and stamp the trees over it. Some trees will be stamped full strength, then stamp others a couple more times before re-inking the stamp to make it look like they are lighter and behind the other trees.

















Now you will cover the stamped trees with the scrap of torn white paper, being sure to line up the pattern, and sponge the bottom "reflection" area, could be a pond or possibly snow? I sponged mine with Marina Mist and Basic Gray to give it a wintry pond look.















Stamp the trees repeatedly on the plastic sheet, and keep the top portion covered with the torn piece of white scrap paper, holding it in place to keep the pattern.











Flip the plastic sheet over so that the inked part is facing the card. Apply it in the correct position, hold it in place, and rub over the plastic with your finger to be sure that the ink is transferred from the plastic sheet to the card stock.



Once you remove the plastic, your image will look like this:


Next, cover the bottom reflection portion with the torn white scrap paper and sponge the sky. I used Old Olive and Not Quite Navy. **Be sure and cover your sponged sun with the punched white circle!

















Here is what your image will resemble once you've finished stamping and sponging. I sometimes (I did in this case) sponge over the reflection portion again, because like any reflection, you don't want it to be a perfect copy of the image above, just a vague copy of the image. Now just add a card base and you're all set! I didn't really think this card needed anything in the way of ribbon or embellishments so I left it as-is.













I hope you'll give the reflection technique a try, we'd love to see what you come up with!