Color Inspiration #115

Happy Thursday! Every Thursday I am happy to present you with another Color Inspiration challenge.

This week I was inspired by a card I made for my Easter Eggstravaganza Stamp Camp. My favorite color is purple, and I am very fond of Elegant Eggplant. It can be paired with many colors, but I really love it combined with Old Olive and So Saffron.

Daffodils just remind me of Spring. While the grass is still pathetic looking from the cold and the snow, the little green shoots popping through the ground remind me how soon everything will be beautiful again. Pretty soon the daffodils will be full grown and in their full glory!!

For my card, I used Confetti White as my base card. Confetti White has more weight than Whisper White and can support all the layers and embellishments I tend to load onto my cards. According to my fellow SU demonstrator Lisa Fast, the more layers you add onto the card, the more you love the person you're giving it to. Too cute!!!

The Elegant Eggplant layer measures 3" x 5 1/4". I ran it through my Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions Folder.

The Old Olive layer measures 1" x 5 1/4". I stamped the flourish and sponged the edges with Old Olive ink.

I wrapped a length of Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and tied it into a classic knot.

The focal image is a piece of Whisper White cardstock cut to 3" x 4". I colored directly onto the stamp with my Summer Sun and Old Olive Stampin' Write Markers. Huff (breathe) on the stamp to remoisten the ink and stamp onto the Whisper White cardstock. I lightly sponged the edges with Old Olive ink. To add some extra oomph, I used my piercing guide and paper piercing tool to add the pierced pattern in the top left and bottom right corners. Mat this layer onto a 3 1/8" x 4 1/8" piece of Basic Black cardstock.

The finishing touch is the sentiment......stamped onto So Saffron cardstock using Basic Black ink. I punched it with the Modern Label punch, sponged with So Saffron ink and popped it up on dimensionals.

As much as I love to make "cute" Easter cards, there is nothing like an elegant Easter card to make someone's day.

Here's my challenge to you........make a card using this color combination....and send it to someone. Go ahead and make their day!!!!!

Until next time.....Happy Stamping everyone!

Card Recipe
stamps: Abundant Hope
paper: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, So Saffron, Basic Black, Whisper White, Confetti White
ink: Basic Black, Old Olive, So Saffron
accessories: Modern Label punch, Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Mat Pack, Paper Piercing Tool, Perfect Polka Dots Impressions Folder, sponges, dimensionals

How To Wednesday! Reinker Float Background Technique

Good Morning Friends!

I have been playing with the reinker float technique for the last few weeks. I had an embossing class at my house and it was one of the techniques we covered.

I know that Crystal French from Denver came up with this idea. I heard about it from Sandi Maciver after she attended the the Stampin' Up! Seattle Regional Seminar. There it was demo'd by Connie Ingram. In other words, this is not my original idea. However... I never really "got" the directions for it, so my spin might be a little different from the original. I couldn't find a tutorial online for it anywhere to point people to, so here we go.

I originally saw this technique done with the large rose from The Manhattan flower Stamp set, but I think it works with any LINE ART type image, and my favorite to use with it is Embrace Life.

The Number ONE thing that you should absolutely have is shimmer white cardstock... This cardstock lets the water float on top instead of absorbing it... So, if you don't want to be frustrated... Get yourself some shimmer ~ or cardstock with that quality. How do I know?? Tried it.. :)

If you've never done embossing, there's a tutorial for it on the stampin up customer website here.

My tutorial has a few parts so hopefully I won't lose anybody.. :) First, the measurements to make your life easier if you're looking to reproduce this card.

Base: 11 x 4 1/4", scored and folded in half at 5 1/2" ~Rich Razzleberry
2nd: Layer: 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" ~ Bordering Blue
3rd Layer:5 1/4" x 4" ~ Whisper White
4th Layer: 4 x 3 1/4" ~ Rich Razzleberry
5th Layer:4 x 2 5/8" ~ Bordering Blue
6th Layer: 4 x 2 1/2" ~ Shimmer White

Next ~ What you will need to start
Your cut layer of Shimmer white
A pretty line art image that can overlap nicely
white embossing powder
versamark
heat tool
dry Paintbrush
Aqua painters, or a wet paint brush
Reinkers
Some type of plastic to put the ink on
a buddy and a pal..
So what's a buddy... Well you call a friend for your Pal.. but I use my powder pal tray.. This is much more fun with a friend, so call someone and use paper to catch your powder.

A buddy is a small rosin type bag, that helps you remove the static and imperfections from your fingers and the paper. So first ~ rub your fingers with the buddy then your paper and it will help the embossing powder not stick to you or unwanted areas of your project.

Next, using versamark ink, stamp a random pattern with your line art stamp. I overlapped mine to make the cool background. I couldn't really get a good photo for the versamark, so skipped that part.

But next I poured my embossing powder on top and flicked the back of my paper to remove any excess.


At this point ~ no matter what I'm embossing, I take a small paint brush and clean up any areas that have flecks of embossing powder where it's not supposed to be. By doing this, my embossing always looks clean and sharp.

Heat your powder and watch it melt. Make sure you embossed the whole thing, it should look shiny. Don't overheat or you'll scorch your cardstock.. oh and ummm watch your fingers.

Next I filled my glass dish with water, and used an aqua painter to pick up my ink droplets. Here I used rich razzleberry and bordering blue.
Notice I used an old dimensionals paper to drop my ink onto! Reuse it all! When it's done, it gets thrown out anyway.

Next I sprayed the BACK of my paper with water... Why did I do that??

Well ~ here's a dorky art thing that I learned in college... Whenever you do something to paper that makes it warp. (heat, water, etc.) do the same thing to the back and it wont roll up on you. By wetting the back first, I wont have curling cardstock.

After wetting the back, I turn my image over and sit it in a plate (hi Eeyore!) Then, really soak the top to make puddles of water. Note ** the embossed areas will keep the puddles somewhat separate, but it's fun to watch the reinker fly into other sections like a little flood.

So here, I'm showing the bordering blue being dropped onto my embossed shimmer. Isn't that fun??

After I was done with the blue, I painted more with the razzleberry and made a wonderful mess! Looky here mom!

I managed to get the paper off the plate without spilling my pools of ink. I set it under my room heater for about 20 minutes, You need to just walk away and let it dry. However, if you get really excited and can't wait, you could use your heat gun. :)

And here she is! This is my reinker float tutorial.. I hope this gets your creative "juices" flowing... (Oh I'm a geek).

I have two more examples online here and here. I hope you enjoyed my silly little tutorial and that it made you smile. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Selene Kempton

Saturday Sketch Challenge 142

Howdy! It's time for another Awesome sketch from your operators at Stamping 411. This week I encourage you to use up your scraps. This funky and fresh, modern design allows for the measurements to be whatever.. just play and lay some layers on top of one another.. toss some ribbon on there and see what happens!

Operator Gretchen, posted her measurements already (how lazy ~ I mean RESOURCEFUL am I?) so I'm copying them in here to save myself time. :) Thanks Gretchen! Each of these beautiful cards below link to the artist's blog if you'd like to leave them some love.

Let's get down to Measurements:

1. Layer One -- Bermuda Bay Cardstock cut to 8.5 x 5.5", scored and folded in half to form the card base.
2. Layer Two -- Certainly Celery cut at 4 x 5.25 and embossed with the Big Shot
3. Layer Three -- 3 x 2" piece of Certainly Celery Print
4. Layer Four -- 3 x 2" piece of Thoroughly Modern Print
5. Layer Five -- 1.75 x 2.25" piece of Bermuda Bay. Pass the ribbon over the top and attach to the back.
6. Layer Six -- 1.5 x 2" piece of Certainly Celery Print
7. Layer Seven -- 1.75 x 2.5" piece of Bermuda Bay -- trim one edge with the Scallop Trim Border Punch
8. Layer Eight -- 1.5 x 2.25" piece of Whisper White -- stamp image with Black Stazon Ink.

Never played with us before?? Well, it's easy!

1. Make a card
2. Post it online somewhere to your blog or other online forum
3. Post a link to Mr. Linky (Please be sure to link to your post and not just to your blog so we can find your post a few days later). need directions on that? Check out our posts on "how to use mr linky"
4. Have some fun and leave comments for each other (and for the operators if you like their work). ~ Everyone loves comments!

Patti Chesky



Robin Merriman




Gretchen Barron




Tiffany Bauer



Selene Kempton



Connie Babbert





Lee Conrey

...and just a reminder that links close on Thursday morning at 8 AM. (just in time for Patti's color challenge).