Welcome to our regularly scheduled Stamp Review Crew blog hop. Are you new here? We are a group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators who want to show you how much you can do with one stamp set. We will feature one set with each blog hop, and each stop on the hop will show you a different idea using that set! Just follow the links in each blog post to go to the next or previous blog or, if you want to see a list of all participants (even after today), click the banner, above.
Today’s featured set is Happiness Abounds. In addition to the lovely botanical images, this set has wonderful sentiments. Those are reasons to love this set! I am confident Jay Soriano of Mitosu Crafts has created something marvelous for you, I just can’t see it yet!
In the United States, we are celebrating a national holiday today. But I know that across the world, someone, somewhere is celebrating a birthday! So my card takes note of that special day with an explosion of color and texture:
Because July is World Watercolor Month, I chose to use a watercolor technique to color this bloom. Reinker spread allows you to color an image with varying intensity. It is simple:
- Start with an image that’s been stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed. You might as well make more than one, because you’ll want to try this again right away!
- Using a water brush, like one of our Water Painters, wet the cardstock (I used Shimmery White here) so that there are no dry spots. You should see the water “pooling” in each of the areas surrounded by embossing. These are the wells.
- On a palette, a plastic lid, or a clear block, place two drops of ink refill, separated. One drop will remain undiluted; add several drops of water to the other ink drop to lighten the color.
- Pick up some diluted ink with the (wet) brush, then touch the brush to one of the wells. Do not brush the color on; note how the color naturally and irregularly spreads (if it’s not spreading, the area is not wet enough).
- Continue working around the image, making each well different (avoid a uniform appearance). Go back and add a small amount of undiluted ink to the still-wet wells for further shading.
- Let your image dry. I place my damp-ish work in between a couple thicknesses of copy paper, place it in a book, and sit on it to make sure the image flattens out. Of course, a curled effect might be just what you’re hoping for!
Here’s a closeup of my flower:
Ready for more fun with that extra sample you made? Try more than one ink color!
I’ve included the list of ingredients at the end of this post, but it’s time to move on to With a Bow on Top, the blog of Lou Kitzelman. Have fun there!
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