Ink Blending

One of my favorite techniques in card making is ink blending on Watercolor Paper. For this Card I am using Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper.  It's a lot of fun to take a plain piece of white and watch it magically become a beautifully colored background. It's also a really fantastic way to create a one layer card that has lots of hints of depth and dimension. If you combine that with another favorite technique, heat embossing, it can create a visually impactful card.

I have a couple of girlfriends who are battling Breast Cancer right now.  One lives near and the other lives in Carolina Panther Territory.  I have made them both several cards. For my girlfriend who lives nearby, I take a home cooked meal out before each Chemotherapy Session so that she doesn't have to cook for a few days following her infusion.  Growing up in a family of 6 kids and 2 parents, I have still never learned how to make smaller portions, so I have enough homemade Chicken and Noodles to feed a small army!  Between me, her family, her church family and her friends, I hope she has enough food for quite a few days and I hope I'm doing enough to help.

Angie's favorite color is Orange and I wanted to make a card to take out with the meal we're dropping by tonight.  Normally, we take it out the day before her infusion but I won't be around this weekend so we're going to drop it by this evening.

Like me, Angie likes a little bling.  I used SU!'s Calypso Coral with a Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool to ink up this background panel, applying a heavier concentration of color toward the center. Once I had that done, I spritzed it all over with some Iridescent Gold Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. The Glimmer Mist I have is several years old and was purchased locally when I lived in Dallas although that store is closed now and Simon Says Stamp doesn't carry it but I think the Tsukineko Gold Shimmer Spritz would do the job for you. I think you can catch a little bit of the sparkle and shine in the photograph, but it's so much more beautiful in real life!

One of my favorite things I've discovered recently is Metallic Glitter Embossing Powders.  For this card I used Ranger's Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder with Papertrey Ink's Mehndi Medallions and Graceful Greetings which is my current favorite sentiment set.  I just love the typography of this font and I hope that Betsy Veldman will create others.  It's important to note that the ink and the shimmer sprays must be completely dry before you attempt embossing and you do need to use a powder tool, powder pouch or even just dust the front off with cornstarch before you attempt to emboss it so you don't get powder where you don't want it.

Once I had all my stamping completed and heat set, I used the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle to die cut the panel and adhered it to a top folding A2 white card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this week is one-layer cards so I'll be entering this card over there.  The Mehndi Medallions make really quick work of a lovely looking card that stays flat for mailing.  Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you'll come back soon.