This first card uses my Altenew ink pads as my medium. I used the ink "smooshing" technique, which involves pressing your ink pad into a glass mat, acrylic sheet or something similar. One you have your ink pressed onto the surface you can then spritz it with a little water and start painting. You can slowly build up color, letting the panel dry between layers - depending on how dark you want the images to be. For this card, I went with a lighter hand to create something a bit softer. I finished the card off with a simple sentiment stamped on the card and then sprinkled with some iridescent sequins. I also use a Wink of Stella gel pen for the shimmer in the center of the flowers as well as added to a little water to give a faint shimmer to the background of the panel.
For my second card I used Lindy's Magical Shimmer Powders in the Northern Lights collection as my medium. It wasn't mentioned in the classes but they did mention using Altenew reinkers or shimmer sprays and I had neither of those on hand. However, I had seen an Instagram video or two using the above-mentioned powders so I thought I would try it.
I tapped a small portion of each of 5 powders out on my glass mat and then added a little bit of water to each one in order to activate the colors. I then used a water brush to start picking up the color and adding to the image. I chose the Seasonal Blooms stamp set which has this large image that covers an entire A2 panel. Very convenient. (image was stamped in embossing ink and heat embossed with a clear embossing powder.) When embossing on watercolor paper you do want to try and find a smooth watercolor paper as the usually rough texture will not take the stamped image very well. I had to stamp this a multitude of times in order to capture the entire image. Hard to see in these pictures but Lindy's Magical Powders are very shimmery and catch the light nicely. I only had 5 colors so in order to achieve some shading I would work on an area and then let it dry and come back and add a bit more color or water depending on what I was going for. These are not normally colors I would go for but I think this turned out so beautiful.
And now for the last card, it again is on watercolor paper. However, for this card I took the leftover paint created by the Lindy's Magical Powders that were spritzed with water on my glass mat and I just started smooshing the paper randomly into the little pools of paint. The panel it created was a really interesting mix of colors. I had already stamped the floral images from Lovely Camellias stamp set onto vellum and heat embossed in antique gold. Then I used one of the techniques from Pretty Posy Mix workshop that was a collaboration between Altenew and Pinkfresh - that technique was to color on the back of the vellum with alcohol markers. I did my best to match the colors of the Lindy's Magical Powders with my alcohol markers. 
You color on the back of the vellum because the embossing powder will damage your alcohol markers and you can achieve a more blended look of colors. This card might actually be my favorite of all. Not my typical colors but man I think it turned out beautifully. I reached into my "Magic Mug" inspired by Laurel Beard - which is actually just a little container I have where I have pre-foiled and die cut sentiments so I have them on hand whenever I want to quickly create a card. Finished up with some sequins in my stash that matched pretty closely.
Let me know which one is YOUR favorite.
Get inky today and let me know if you tried any of these techniques.
This coloring is so pretty!!
ReplyDeleteFantastic work!!!
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