Creating New Colors Without buying New Inks

I promised last week that I would get working on this post for many of you who asked about how I created the colors I used for the Butterflies and Lady Bugs using the Petals & Wings Stamp Set from Gina K Designs.   I wanted colors that matched my patterned papers, but no one brand of inks had the colors I wanted so I did a bit of experimentation.

I received a package in the mail that included the card on the left from Karen Hightower.  While I realized where the butterflies came from, I hadn't used my set yet, so I hadn't realized there was a ladybug in the set.  My best friend loves ladybugs so after that,  I got my stamp set out to use it!

I had four sheets of this patterned paper in my stash from an older My Minds Eye paper pad that I knew would match the style of cards I was planning to make and that it was also a similar style to the design of the stamp set itself.   So I set about to play around with colors to see what I could do to make the colors a bit of a better match.

Because I wanted to stick with all Gina K Designs Inks as much as possible, I just pulled out my tray of Gina K Ink Cubes and started playing around a bit with color to see what I could do.  While these are not a perfect match, they are pretty dang close so I wanted to share with you what I did.

Here are some of the many Images I stamped to get just the right color for the cards I was planning to create.

If you have a basic understanding of how colors work, it's pretty easy to figure out what to use for your combinations.  All of the bodies were stamped with Black Amalgam Ink.  In order from left to right are the following:  Tranquil Teal, with no other color added.  Next, I used Bubble Gum Pink for the base layer with Passionate Pink added on top.  The third set is Cherry Red (my favorite Red) all by itself.  Next up comes Peach Bellini with 2 layers of innocent Innocent Pink on the top layer.  That gave me the kind of peach pink I was looking for.  The last set on the top row is Blue Lagoon with no additional color added.

For the second batch of Butterflies and Ladybugs, I used Dusty Rose with Bubblegum Pink on the top layer.  The next set was done using a base layer of Lovely Lavender with Innocent Pink for the Top Layer.  Next up, I stamped Wild Lilac with Passionate Pink for the Top Layer.  And they last two sets are both done in Turquoise Sea which is such a gorgeous color all by itself.  The softer colors were the ones I mixed two colors to achieve the ones I wanted a blended color for.

On this particular card, I used two layers of Peach Bellini with two layers of Innocent Pink.  I needed the slightly pinker version to go with the DSP, so I did double layers of each color to make it really pop off the background panel.  I used the Gina K Designs Elegant Oval die for the DSP.

I should also mention that is is the rare card that doesn't get some shimmer mist added to it somewhere.  That's the kind of "sparkly" areas that you can see on the images in all the photos.

I actually mailed one of these cards to Gloria (my BFF) before I photographed it but these cards were all along these same lines. You can see that the DSP I used was a great fit for the style of the butterflies and ladybugs.  Once I ran out of DSP, I grabbed some of my Alcohol Inked Backgrounds that I thought I might never use and went to town with them. Dies used for these backgrounds are the Elegant Oval, Heart Circle Die, Single and Double Stitched Circles which are all Gina K Designs.

For this card just above, I did a very light layer of Plum Punch with a heavier layer of Passionate Pink.  I used Plum Punch Cardstock as well as white and Gold Cardstock.  I saved a few of the little hearts from the Heart Circle Die to add to my greeting and then went over them with Crystalline Drops from Gina K Designs.  These work like Glossy Accents, but are much easier to control because of the dispenser.  The other card was one layer of Lovely Lavender with one layer of Innocent Pink.  I still have my MISTI set up to stamp more of these.

This card uses an alcohol inked background that I die cut using the Elegant Oval Die with Turquoise Sea ink.  I added a few Sequins with gems in the center for a pop of color.  It also so happens that I am a shimmer cardstock Junkie and this particular cardstock is called Peacock.  What a perfect color, huh?

I rarely buy DSP unless it is foiled but I do have the odd sheet or two of it in my stash.  I also really love the way this particular card came out.  These butterflies were stamped using tomato soup with two layers of Peach Bellini over it.  I used a scrap of soft aqua cardstock to cut the background panel because it tied into just the very few little aqua colored flowers in the paper.  I think those colors just pop off the paper together.  Again, a few sequins with gems in the center add a finishing touch.

And last but not least, a traditional colored Ladybug card done with Cherry Red Cardstock, Black Onyx, and some Creative Memories Gingham from many years ago for a fun card.  Once again, I used the Crystalline Drops for the hearts.  I also used Crystalline drops on many of the dots on the ladybugs in all of the cards.  It was a fast and easy way to add the dimension to the spots and more forgiving that Nuvo Drops although I did a few of the cards using them.  But the first time I messed one up, I switched to the Crystalline drops.

I was making these cards last week when we were expecting company on Saturday, so while I was cleaning off my desk and cleaning up the studio, I came across a few random things plus I put extras in my little dish on my desk.  While cleaning, I had to stop to pull one more card together for an upcoming birthday card.  The pink gingham, the white belly band, the black background panel and the two circles (one with a sentiment) were all in the pile on my desk along with the pink butterfly and ladybug, so it literally only took a few minutes to put this card together.  It's one of my favorites and I already have a young lady in mind that I'm planning to give it to.

The point of this post is this - if you don't have quite the right color of ink, play around with layering them until you get what you want.  For example, Mauve tones are pinks with a bit of purple in them.  So I used a lighter purple for the underneath color and added pink on top.  Just think about what undertones the color you want to use has in it and then add the secondary color.

I hope this information has been helpful to you all.  Stamps, Inks, and Dies are all Gina K. Designs and my affiliate link is here.  I appreciate it when you shop through my link as it supports my blog so I can continue to bring you content, techniques, and ideas.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I appreciate you very much!