AECP Level 1 - Easy Ink Blending Techniques

 Hello, friends!

Welcome back to my little spot on the web.  I'm glad you've stopped by!  Today's post is focused on the 4th class in my AECP Level 1 journey, Easy Ink Blending Techniques.  This course focused on learning techniques to achieve exceptional ink blending results in your cards and other projects.  I made two cards for this course - both with very different sources of inspiration.

Card 1 

Are you lucky enough to have someone in your life who lights up your world?  Or perhaps you may know someone who needs reminding that there is beauty to be seen around them?  I'm fortunate to have some amazing people in my life who show such beauty to me regularly.  Some may not even know that they do.  It got me to thinking about how to visually represent the sentiment of someone lighting up your life.  This was the perfect course to explore this idea since it involves colors and blending.  I created this card with it in mind, and I dedicate it to all those people.

 

I started by taking an A2 sized piece of white card stock and running it through my die cut machine with the largest die from a torn paper set.  This panel was used as the center of my card front.  I then took a piece of Watercolor paper and ran it through my die cut machine with a smaller torn paper die.  This piece was used as the center of the card front.

Watercolor paper was used because it allows for a nice, smooth surface for blending inks.  Regular card stock may be used, but it may pill easily if you rub the blending brush too hard against it.  I took the center piece of watercolor paper and was ready to start blending colors on it.  I wanted bright, sunny colors for this piece and chose: Altenew Citrus Burst Crisp Dye Ink, Altenew Snapdragon Crisp Dye Ink, and Altenew Coral Berry Crisp Dye Ink.  I started at the top of the piece with Citrus Burst, as you can in the pic below.  I then moved onto Snapdragon.  Going from lightest to darkest allows you to blend over some of the lighter color to create a gradient blend.  The last ink used was Coral Berry. 

 

Happy with my ink blending results, I next had to add my center strip to the middle of the larger piece of torn card stock.  I used a centering ruler to make sure the blended piece was properly centered and then used a pencil to make some small marks on the larger piece where it aligned. 

 

I applied Altenew Double Sided tape to the back of the blended piece and I set it it in place on the larger piece.  There were some small pieces that overlapped at the top and bottom, so I used some small detail scissors to trim those away.

 

It was now time for some stamping.  I took an A2 sized card base, used my centering ruler to put the combined torn piece in the center of it, and put some small pieces of Post It Tape in each corner to hold the two together.  A pencil was used to make a small mark at the top and bottom of the torn piece so that I knew where it aligned on the card case.  I did this because I knew I wanted to use double sided foam tape to prop the torn piece up from the card base.  This step ensured that I'd be able to do this and have my stamping align on both pieces.

 

I had signed up for the recent Crop & Create Cards event with Scrapbooking and Cards Today magazine and received the Altenew Bold Bouquet Stamp & Die set as part of the supplies for it.  I purposely didn't make the card for the event as I thought it would be fun to use it for this class instead.   I loaded the stamp onto my stamping platform and aligned my card with it.  Altenew Jet Black Crisp Dye Ink was applied to the stamp and I stamped it on to the card.  This step was repeated to make sure that I had a nice, crisp image that ran from my torn piece out onto the card base.

 

I could have left the uninked parts of the stamped image as plain white; however, I really wanted to emphasize the colored portion.  I chose three shades of cool gray from my Ohuhu Honolulu Alcohol Marker set that would show a similar progression of light to dark.  I chose a light gray to go with the Citrus Burst inked portion, a medium gray to go with the Snapdragon, and a darker gray to go with the Coral Berry.  I started coloring and blending them - first on the torn piece and then on the card base.

 

The next step was running a black alcohol marker along the edge of the torn piece.  I did this for two reasons - one was to emphasize it being a separate piece from the card base, and the second was to help add just a little more touch of dimension.  I put Altenew Double Sided Foam tape onto the back of the torn piece, aligned it to the base using the pencil marks that I made and pressed it into place.

This stamp set came with the stamps for the sentiment as well as a die to cut out the word you.  I stamped "You" onto a small piece of white card stock with Jet Black ink and cut it out with my die machine and corresponding die.  I put the "MATTER TO ME" onto a stamping block, inked it with the Jet Black ink, and stamped it onto the card base.  Double sided foam tape was put on the back of the word You, and I placed it on the card base.  A few Taylored Expressions Bits & Pieces Clear Drip Drops were then glued down for just a little extra pop.

 

I love this card - it makes me happy.  I think it truly represents adding some light to life and some color to a black, white, and gray world.

 

Card 2

At the risk of embarrassment, I'll share with you that the inspiration for my second card is a shopping bag from Bath & Body Works!  I always loved the combination of white, blue, and pink on the bag and wanted to use them on a card.  I also knew that I wanted a full, ink blended panel as the front of this card since the focus of this course is on ink blending.  I didn't necessarily have a vision as I did with Card 1 . . . just started to create.  I made some decisions along the way and am really happy with the resulting project.

I started with an A2 sized panel of white card stock, and used Post It Tape to mask alternating stripes down it.  I removed the tape covering the first, third, and fifth stripes and blended those areas with Altenew Iceberg Crisp Dye Ink.  I then put the tape back over those stripes, removed the tape from the second, fourth, and sixth stripes, and blended those areas with Altenew Eastern Sky Crisp Dye Ink  

 

 With the blue ink blending done, I took a ruler lined it up next to the line between stripes one and two, and made a white line with a Sakura Gelly Roll White Gel pen.  I repeated this step between each of the stripes.

 

I now had a card base . . . how would I incorporate the pink from the bag?  I looked through my stash of Altenew treasures and came across the Floral Halos Stamp & Die Set.  I saw the circular frames and the flowers and went with it.  I liked the idea of the circular frame adding a different shape to the card.  I took the die for one of the frames, a scrap of blue foil card stock, and put it through my die cut machine.  I ran the frame die through again with a scrap of white shimmer card stock to create the center for the frame.  I like the white shimmer paper from Recollections because it adds just a subtle bit of sparkle to the card.  I grabbed another piece of that card stock, took a floral stamp and a branch stamp from the set, loaded them with some Jet Black ink, and stamped them using my stamping platform.  I blended Pink and Shadow Pink together on the flowers using my Ohuhu alcohol markers to color them, and blended Yellow Green and Absinthe together for the leaves.  Barium Yellow was used to color the flower centers and Old Red was used to color the berries.  I then took my Sakura White Gelly Roll pen and added a little bit of white to the front of the flowers.  I like how it softens the pink.  The flower and branch were cut out using the corresponding dies.

It time to assemble the frame and flowers.  I put the frame face side down on my craft mat, placed the white circle face side down in the middle of it, and affixed a piece of scotch tape across the back to secure the two pieces together.  I flipped it over, applied double sided tape to the back of the flower and branch, placed them on the frame, put double sided foam tape on the back of the frame and adhered it to the card base.

For the sentiment, I chose to use the Altenew You Matter Die Set.  I cut large "you" from white card stock and the shadow from navy blue card stock.  I adhered them together with double sided tape, cut the extended part of the Y to shorten it a bit, put some craft glue on the back, and adhered it to the card.  I cut the "I BELIEVE IN" using the die cut on some navy card stock.  I adhered it to a scrap of white card stock using craft glue, cut off the extra white card stock, put double sided tape on the back and adhered it to the card.  Finished!

I now have two cards with different sources of inspiration but using two kinds of ink blending - blending using ink cubes and a brush and blending ink from alcohol markers.  I hope you enjoy them.  Until next time . . . be well!