A quick way to add color…

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great week! I can’t believe August is winding down! I have been busy getting my daughter ready for college, and as a family our school year starts in just a couple of weeks! Today I am guest designing over at Crafty Meraki.

Do you love to color? I know I do! Today I wanted to share with you a different way to add color to a floral image that is quick and simple. I also think it gives beautiful results when you are pressed for time. I was inspired by this design by 2 of my talented crafty friends Alex Syberia and Colleen Balija. I have linked their Instagram accounts as well (just click their names). Colleen also has a quick video on her feed if you want to see this technique in action! Thank you to my sweet friends for sharing your ideas! I am using the beautiful Hero Arts & Altenew collaboration set, Bloom and Grow.

To begin I stamped the image on Neenah 80 pound solar white card stock. I used Versafine ink in black and heat embossed the image using clear embossing powder. I then used three ink cubes from Altenew. I used Baby Pink, Fuchsia, and Magenta. To add the color I simply started with the lightest color by placing the ink pad directly on the paper. I started on the left side of the floral image and gently swiped the ink pad across my card stock panel. I then moved to the medium color Fuchsia and did the same thing. Last I added the deepest of the pinks, Magenta following the same pattern. I then added a bit of gold pigment ink by gently swiping the ink pad across the panel as well.

I then chose the sentiment from the stamp set and placed it in the top right corner using Versafine black ink. I die cut the panel and adhered it to my black card base. I added a few gold sequins to pull out the gold ink in the background. I truly love to color floral stamps! I was excited to try something different today! I hope you enjoyed it!

Crafty Hugs,

Natasha

Bold and Bright Ink Smooshing Florals

Happy Friday everyone! It has been a beautiful week here, lots of sunshine, gardening time, family boating, as well as crafting time! Today I am guest designing at Crafty Meraki. I was so excited to use the beautiful collaboration set from Hero Arts and Altenew – Bloom and Grow! This stamp is beautiful! Today I wanted to create a bold and colorful card using ink smooshing and markers! Let’s get started!

I started with a piece of Strathmore watercolor paper. To create the background I used an ink smooshing technique using a piece of acetate. I brought out my Stampin Up ink pads in the following colors: Pink Passion, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, Blue Bayou, Brilliant Blue, and Summer Sun. One at a time I smooshed the ink pad on my glass mat, added water, and picked up the color using acetate. Then I placed the piece of acetate in different sections of the panel and layered the colors. I completed this several times and dried the panel between layers with my heat tool. The last layer I let that air dry.

Once my panel was dry I used the large bloom in the stamp set. I prepped the area using my embossing buddy and then stamped the bloom using versa mark ink in black and then I heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. I created a mask for the bloom so that I could stamp the leaves behind the flower. Once I was done stamping I went back in with Karin markers to add deeper color. The colors I used are: Lipstick Red, Gold, Curry, Olive Green, Sapphire Blue, and Indigo Blue.

I then chose a sentiment from the set and heat embossed it on black card stock using white embossing power. I die cut the panel and adhered it to an A2 sized card base. To complete the card I added a few gemstones for added embellishment. I hope you enjoyed learning about this bright and bold technique today.

Supplies Used:

  • Stamps: Bloom and Grow
  • Paper: Stathmore Watercolor Cardstock
  • Coloring Medium: Karin Markers – Lipstick Red, Gold, Curry, Olive Green, Sapphire Blue, and Indigo Blue
  • Stampin Up Ink Pads: Pink Passion, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, Blue Bayou, Brilliant Blue, and Summer Sun

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a wonderful Friday and weekend!

Crafty Hugs,

Natasha